Quandary!

I find myself in need of advice from the sensible people who regularly read this blog.

Making lists, checking them twice.

This post has existed in draft form for…well, yikes, almost two full years. Something came to light yesterday, that made me come back to it. And you, lucky readers, get to read my thoughts.

As I’ve mentioned before here and elsewhere, I do have a list of authors who, in my opinion, behave badly.¹  And, since my time, emotional labor, energy, and money, are limited, I quite simply refuse to even try their work. It’s still, at least in this small area, a free country.

By the same token, I have a much, much, much longer list of incredible people who are authors who will always get my support.

Advice to parents–from a misogynist

(Originally posted to the Community section of MyMedia)

Now for some levity.

Male writer for Slate tweets, “Advice to parents: teach your daughters to say “no” firmly and mean it. Men sense women’s willingness to yield.”¹

Women on twitter: Do you even know how many women are killed by men they said “NO” (firmly and clearly) every year?

Male writer: ‘Actually’ I wasn’t talking about sexual assault, I meant like Maxine Waters exchange with Steven Mnuchin.²

Women: Oh, you mean when she had to repeat 39 times “Reclaiming my time” as he spoke over her; then when she had to ask the MAN with the gavel to explain the rules to Mnuchin after she had just explained them to him, and STILL he didn’t actually answer the question?

Male writer: These women and their “twitter outrage!”³

Online abuse and gender: comments on The Guardian

(Originally posted to the Community section of MyMedia)

Over at my blog, on posts that are not network-tv safe, I have discussed the prevalence of violence against women who dare express their opinions in public, and particularly online.

At The Guardian, where comment threads are often turned into cesspools, someone finally decided to examine how online abuse falls on the gender divide. Not surprisingly (for anyone who’s been paying attention), the results confirm a prevalence of misogyny fueled by anonymity: