Good Reads: Sexuality, Gender, and Feminism

Jessica Valenti celebrates Jennifer Lawrence's public response to the theft of her photos, and a couple more articles on the same topic:

• "Jennifer Lawrence's Outraged Response to Nude Photo Leak Marks an End to the Era of the 'Shamed Starlet'" (The Guardian, via AlterNet)
• "Jennifer Lawrence Says Don’t Look At The Pictures" (Thomas MacAulay Millar, Yes Means Yes)
• "Jennifer Lawrence Does Not Owe Us" (Thomas MacAulay Millar, Yes Means Yes)

An interesting article on how people respond when their other-sex spouses come out as gay:

• "How Straight Spouses Cope When Their Partners Come Out" (Christine Grimaldi, Slate Outward)

More articles on affirmative consent:

• "Yes Means Yes Culture of Consent Catches On" (Tanya Serisier, Good Men Project)
• "No, California’s new affirmative consent law will not redefine most sex as rape" (Maya, Feministing) 

For people who don't understand what male privilege is:

• "Why I Refuse To Be One Of `The Good Guys'" (Charlie Glickman, Role Reboot)

Good Reads: Sex, Gender, and Feminism

Interesting piece on gender identity:

• "Appearance, Gender and Why I’m Not 'Cis'" (Ms Naughty)

A piece about how differently men and women's sexual functioning is treated by doctors, and then a more personal account of Beismer's journey of recovery:

• "On Women Having Sex After Surgery" (Lynn Beismer, Role Reboot)
• "How I Learned To Love My Frankengina: Recovering sexual functioning after surgery" (Lynn Beismer)

Interesting article on the first amendment issues surrounding "revenge porn":

• "Should Revenge Porn Be a Crime?" (Michelle Goldberg, The Nation, via AlterNet)

Amusing video:

• "If Buying Condoms Was Like Buying Birth Control" (Buzzfeed Video, via Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross)

Finally, we have a wonderful article connecting the marriage equality movement to the overthrow of older ideas about marriage as ownership:

• "When 'Redefining Marriage' Meant That Women Had To Be Treated Like Human Beings" (Ian Millhiser, Think Progress)

The article begins with the following quotation from Sir William Blackstone, in 1765:

The very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband; under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs everything.

Indeed, until passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, a married woman could not get a credit card in her own name in some states without her husband's permission. Etc, etc, etc.

Bharath Vallabha on "The Function of the Philosophical Gourmet Report"

In a discussion over at Feminist Philosophers, Bharath Vallabha made an interesting set of comments about the role that the Philosophical Gourmet Report plays in philosophy. It turns out that there is a longer version, "The Function of the Philosophical Gourmet Report", which Bharath has given me permission to share. Obviously, you should click the link to download it.

Good Reads: Politics, Sports, General News

Some good recent articles on politics, sports, and general news.

• "Stewart, Colbert Save the Day: Bill O’Reilly and Fox News’ ISIS Insanity Makes Them More Essential than Ever" (Sophia McClennan, Salon via AlterNet)
• "People In England Are Harnessing The ‘Power Locked In Poo’ To Fuel Their Homes" (Emily Atkin, Think Progress)
• "The NFL’s Concussion Problem Just Got A Lot Worse" (Michael Kasdan, Good Men Project) 
• "76 of 79 Deceased NFL Players Found to Have Brain Disease" (PBS Frontline) 

I'll post collections of such articles periodically, when I've got a few saved up.

Good Reads: Sex, Gender, and Feminism

Some good recent articles on sex, gender, and feminism:

• "Frat Brothers Rape 300% More" (Jessica Valenti, AlterNet)
• "Why It Matters That Lena Dunham Wrote About Being Raped In College" (Tara Culp-Ressler, Think Progress)
• "The Smartest Constitutional Argument for Marriage Equality That No One Is Making" (Susannah W. Pollvogt and Catherine E. Smith, Slate Outward)
• "Ladies Come First: Why Every Secondary School Needs a Lesson on the Clitoris" (Alice Holloway, Vagenda)
• "What Do We Really Mean When We Say Women Are Sexually 'Fluid'?" (Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart, Slate Double X)
• "St Louis Study Confirms That  IUDs Are the Key to Lowering Teen Pregnancy Rates" (Amanda Marcotte, Slate XX)
• "Please Stop Saying That Trans Women Were 'Born Boys'" (Mari Brighe, Autostraddle)

I'll be posting these sorts of lists periodically, once I've collected enough articles.

Can You Sign the September Statement If You Object to PGR in Principle?

I have had several people write me now to explain that they can't sign the "September Statement" because doing so would be implicitly to endorse PGR. This is the weirdest flipside ever of Leiter's insistence that the true agenda of the authors of the September Statement is to destroy PGR.

Two Great Pieces on California's New Affirmative Consent Law

A couple days ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law in California establishing "yes means yes" as the standard by which sexual consent must be judged by colleges in California, rather than "no means no". Feminists, and other decent people, too, have been pushing for this sort of change for years, and it is important. Symbolically, it recognizes in the law that women are sexual agents and subjects of desire, not just passive objects of male sexual desire whose only choice point is to say "NO!!"