Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Last fall I published a set of rules for male feminist discourse. I stand by them. The big ones are: 1. It’s not about you. 2. Sometimes it is about you. 3. It’s always about them. Rule 1 reads: This is the most important thing to remember. At the core, feminism must begin and end …
How is a daddy supposed to deal with Disney? My daughter, who is not quite 5, sings “Let it Go” at me approximately eight thousand times a day. What she lacks in intonation she more than makes up with the verve and gusto with which she goes after the song, not to mention the slamming …
Last May, I began an essay on gender norms and my daughter this way: When the rocket scientist Yvonne Brill died in March, The New York Times celebrated her as the maker of a “mean beef stroganoff” and “the world’s best mother.” When my 4-year-old daughter, Ellie, a wildly creative and interesting girl, finished a …
Yesterday a piece in Inside Higher Ed on a rescinded job offer raised quite the twitterstorm on the academic net. And with good reason. According to a post on a philosophy board, a woman received a job offer from Nazareth College, in Rochester NY, then began to negotiate over terms of the contract. The department responded by …
I’d like to clear up some details about Georgia vs William Jeffrey Dumas, the case involving the alleged multiple rape of a woman with Down syndrome (I call her Jane). You can read the judge’s decision (redacted to protect the identity of the alleged victim) here. You can read District Attorney Ballard’s appeal (redacted to …
Did you read it? Did you laugh? This meme is all over my Facebook feed again this week, though it’s 2 years old. Over half a million people have liked the version on Takei’s page, tens of thousands sharing, and there are over 10,000 comments. The ones I saw were all positive, though I read …
This is an essay about code-switching as a college skill. It starts, though, with questions about privilege and clothing. In a few minutes I am heading off to teach a class on Crusade and Jihad in the Middle Ages. We’ve just reached 1200 and I’ll be asking the students to break into groups and tell …
Go to http://xkcd.com/896/ for the full comic. It’s good. It’s not exactly news that women have often been denied credit for their contributions to major scientific discoveries or inventions. Rosalind Franklin, one of the discoverers of DNA, is justifiably the most famous, and her case still infuriates. Gender bias in the classroom still raises barriers for women …
I decided to weigh in on the Jonathan Ross/Hugos story because of what I saw as gendered discourse in the backlash to the backlash, and because Seanan McGuire is someone I know (and I make music with her girlfriend) and deeply respect for her non-fiction writing on feminism, sexual orientation, and representation in fandom and fiction. Her …
Lately, thanks to a long and thoughtful thread on Steve Brust’s blog (which you should read), discussions about sexual harassment in fandom, the fake geek girl issues, and so forth – I’ve been thinking a lot about online bullying, gender, power, and the speculative fiction community. Especially in the SFWA (Science-Fiction Writers of America), issues pertaining to …