A recent telephone survey carried out at the behest of the government, reveals the circumstances in which the respondents consider it ok to hit or slap a woman. Here are the results.
White House Women’s and Girls’ Council March 11, 2009
Today is the day that our fearless leader is set to sign the executive order that will bring into existence the very first White House Women’s and Girls’ Council! What a happy day! Amie Newman has written a nice little post on the matter over at RH Reality Check; click here to check it out.
(Two asides: first, RH Reality Check is really interesting. Do have a look round the blog while you’re at it; and second, be sure to read the comments at the end of Newman’s post, where you’ll learn–I bet you had no idea–about the epidemic of Female Teachers sleeping with underage male students. I’m personally shocked. You learn something new every day.)
Help Save Liverpool Philosophy March 11, 2009
UPDATE: Perhaps in response to widespread outcry, the University is now backpedaling. It is undertaking a review, rather than planning a closure. I imagine supportive comments would still be very useful.
Liverpool University has apparently decided to close its philosophy department, due solely to what it considers a poor showing in the latest Research Assessment Exercise, despite the fact that the department is a strong recruiter and a money-maker. Reasons for feminist philosophers to care: We’re philosophers, and we should care when a major university starts talking about shutting down its philosophy department. There’s an unusually high ratio of women: four out of ten full-time staff are women. There’s some important feminist philosophy going on. More generally it’s a department which values and promotes a diversity of approaches, including analytic, continental, Indian and Buddhist, and a department which works hard to widen access with continuing education programs. And, of course these last traits make it harder to do well on the RAE: widening access takes time, and unusual approaches are high risk when it comes to research assessment exercises.
So how can we help? Letters about the value of what Liverpool does and the importance of keeping it open are probably the most useful thing right now. If you have specialised knowledge of the work of any of the staff members and can speak for its high quality that would be great. The staff directory can be found here. Send your letters to Sir Howard Newby at Howard.Newby@liv.ac.uk.
You may also be interested to know that there’s a Facebook Group devoted to saving the departments targeted for closure.
The biological clock ticks for men too March 10, 2009
Or so it is looking. In addition to an increase risk of schizophrenia and autism, children of older fathers typically have lower IQs, according to a report described in the NY Times.
According to Dr. Dolores Malaspina, a professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, who has written studies on the risk of schizophrenia among children of older fathers as well as the lower nonverbal I.Q. scores found among teenagers with older fathers:
It turns out the optimal age for being a mother is the same as the optimal age for being a father. The fact that men can stay fertile longer is a different issue.
CFP: Social Philosophy: 3/15 deadline March 10, 2009
Call for Papers
Submission Deadline: March 15, 2009
Twenty-Seventh International Social Philosophy Conference
Sponsored by the North American Society for Social Philosophy
July 30- August 1, 2009
At St. Joseph’s University
Philadelphia, PA
Special attention will be devoted to the theme:
At St. Joseph’s University
Philadelphia, PA
Special attention will be devoted to the theme:
The Public and the Private in the 21st Century
But proposals in all areas of social philosophy are welcome.
But proposals in all areas of social philosophy are welcome.
Submit 300-500 word abstracts (preferably via email) to both of the following members of the program committee:Margaret Crouch
Department of Philosophy
Eastern Michigan University
701 Pray-Harrold
Ypsilanti, MI 48103
734-487-1018
mcrouch@emich.eduNancy Snow
Department of Philosophy
Marquette University
PO Box 1881
Milwaukee, WItel. 414-288-3670
Nancy.snow@marquette.eduContact organizers for info regarding graduate student prize.
Radio 4 explores “Feminism” March 10, 2009
The first in a three-part series looking at what it is to be a “feminist” (ie, what it is to call yourself by this title) aired on BBC radio 4 this morning at 9.00. You can catch it again tonight at 21.30GMT, or listen again online here. The discussion ranges from silly, to insulting, to interesting and insightful; in other words, I think you’ll be annoyed but still glad you listened.
Historian Bettany Hughes presents the first in a series of three discussions tracing the development of feminist ideas from the 1960s onwards.
A panel of guests explore the issues which motivated women to join together under the banner of feminism. While activists pursued campaigns involving street protests and fighting through the courts, other women were alienated by their arguments. Both feminists and non-feminists join Bettany to recall key events.
Bettany’s guests are journalist Ann Leslie, American academic Elaine Showalter, activist and historian Sally Alexander and co-founder of the US National Organisation of Women, Sonia Fuentes.
Dangers of incautious parsing March 9, 2009
I completely misunderstood the phrase “gag toy for men“. (Thanks, Jender Parents– for the article; the bad parsing was totally my doing.)
Woman-Blaming at its best March 9, 2009
CNN has an article on an important and horrendous thing going on in Iraq: girls and young women being sold into prostitution by their parents. But what do they call it? “Iraq’s Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Pimping Their Daughters”. Yeah. Because we all know men play no role at all in prostitution. The article itself does a good job drawing attention to the many forces producing this situation: a government that is not sufficiently concerned about women; police imprisoning women who speak out; cultural devaluation of women; war; poverty. But the headline makes it sound like it’s just a matter of mothers who are horrible to their daughters. (Thanks, Jender-Parents!)
Trans-positive bank advertising! March 9, 2009
Careful with watching it though: you may decide to put all your money in an Argentinian bank. (But who knows? Maybe that’s actually a GOOD decision these days.)
Via Shakesville.
By the way, I’d love to have a bit more context for this: Why has this bank, at this time decided to do this? I would think that all banks right now are especially concerned to do things which improve their financial position and avoid things which jeopardise this. So, for example, I find it hard to imagine an American bank taking the risk of boycotts which would come if they ran this ad. Are things different in Argentina with regard to transphobia? Or are things perhaps so bad financially that they’ve decided “if we’re going under we might as well do some good in the world at the same time”? It seems important to know this, as it’s vital to know what can motivate people to go ahead and take a principled stand like this, especially in troubled economic times.
Any new fun APPS for your iphone? March 8, 2009
How about IGIRL!?! It’s on the list of the top 25 apps. And look what you get for only $0.99; why, as they say below, controlling her is about as much fun as a fart.
Have your own virtual girl friend on your iphone for less than the price of a cup of coffee or a beer, and shake her around!
iGirl Combines Fun and Flirtation to Offer Users a Playful App for Entertainment.
The iGirl application consists of a beautiful 3-dimensional female model that can be manipulated by the user to perform various actions, including dancing and speaking. Users can interact with iGirl on their iPhones and iPod Touches by shaking the device and touching the screen. The 3D model’s hair color, skin color and clothing can be modified to change her overall appearance.
Features:
1. Zoom and rotate the igirl with the iPhone touch screen to enjoy the iGirl from any angle or distance.
2. Use the dance icon to make the iGirl dance.
3. Shake the iPhone and see how the iGirl reacts.
4. Touch the iGirl to give her a tickle.
5. Visit the settings menu to name your iGirl and change her clothes, ethnicity and hair color.
6. IGirl is multi-lingual. Visit the settings menu to change her language!
7. New animation activated by blowing on your iPhone: The Famous Marilyn Monroe pose!
8. Ability to create your own custom voice for your igirl, visit Settings -> Language -> Custom
iGirl serves as the perfect virtual companion that you can take with you anywhere. Entertain your friends with iGirl’s unique personality and interactivity.
Recommended for fans of: Bikini Blast, iFart, iBeer, Wobble, ijiggle, mafia, iSteam, Yo Mama, and just about any fart or joke app.
She does look pretty depressed.
A life for a life? March 8, 2009
Or: when 1+2 may add up to zero.
A nine year old child was pregnant with twins after she was raped by her stepfather, In Brazil, she met the two conditions, either of which is sufficient to make an abortion legal: rape and threat to the mother’s life. According to doctors interviewed by the BBC, the girl’s uterus is too small to hold even a single child.
These facts have not satisfied the Roman Catholic Church, which is excommunicating all the doctors involved in the abortion.
he Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao also told Reuters “I believe the position of the church is extreme, radical, and inadequate….I am shocked by the radical position of this religion which, wrongly saying it is defending a life, puts another life in danger that is as important as any other.”
The girl’s mother is also up for excommunication. No word on the father’s status in the religion, but the child is too young to be thrown out of the church.
Rush Limbaugh tries to pass as a Sunday Cat March 8, 2009
Sundays we typically have a real Sunday Cat, and this week’s is fine indeed. I thought it might be telling to see Rush Limbaugh as a failed candidate for such a post. It might in fact help you if you see him as a big carnivorous cat.
You are invited to view this in those terms:
<
International Women’s Day March 8, 2009
Today is International Women’s Day. In honour of the day, Amnesty International have released a statement entitled Failure to Respect the Rights of Women Deprives Us All. Also, Oxfam have published a report into the worsening plight of women in Iraq; and they’ve added a special section to their website featuring a small selection from the millions of women doing amazing work in the service of poor communities Oxfam supports worldwide. If anyone else finds Women’s Day links they’d like to share, please do leave them in comments. Happy International Women’s Day!
This is not an invitation to rape me March 8, 2009
An excellent billboard campaign from Rape Crisis Scotland. (Thanks, CR!)
Thanks, Jender-Parents!Rush Limbaugh thinks Obama is the Messiah. March 7, 2009
Or there’s an alternative at least as bad.
A few times philosophy actually makes things simpler.
Here are the reasons for the conclusion above. Taken together, they establish that it is true, IF they are true AND Limbaugh believes what he says. Hence, they do allow two alternatives and both are arguably as bad as Limbaugh’s believing the Obama is the Messiah: Limbaugh does not know what he is talking about OR he is lying in an attempt to turn the country against the president.
First Part of the Argument:
- ”Ought” implies “can” (and “ought to have” implies “could have”).
- Rush Limbaugh asserts Obama ought to have straightened out the economy in his 6 weeks as president, at least to the extent of stopping February’s job losses in the States.
- Knowing #1, Limbaugh believes Obama could have done it.
- Only a person who is a miracle working with divine powers (i.e., the Messiah) could clear up the economy in six week.
- Limbaugh believes #4.
Therefore, Limbaugh believes Obama is a miracle worker with divine powers.
Of course, it is possible that Limbaugh does not know or believe #1 or #4 or both. If this is the case, then one of the leading voices of the Republican Party lacks a grasp of basic features of moral thought or economic reality. In a very profound way, he does not know what he is talking about.
And there’s another alternative. The argument moves from what Limbaugh asserts to what he believes. But perhaps Limbaugh does not believe what he asserts. He may misrepresent what he thinks is true in order to turn the country against Obama.
No wonder the Democrats are thrilled to think Limbaugh is now the voice of the Republican Party. In fact, we might have another fallacy. It is the fallacy of muddling the problem by ignoring the implications of what one has said and simply emphasizing the emotion impact of the initial statement. “Is this what you voted for?” Limbaugh kept asking on Friday as the job figures became clear, as though having voted we are now entitled to make the guy in the job the target of our woes.
Fathers’ Stories March 6, 2009
In a couple of our recent posts, we’ve had some very striking anecdotes about obstacles that fathers face when trying to do an equal share of childcare. On Helping Fathers Get Involved, Telbort wrote:
I’ve been very keen to be involved as much as possible, but as a male, my efforts were derided by professionals – for example, the maternity nurse took the baby away from me during my half-arsed attempt at a nappy change, and said “your a man you don’t know what you’re doing” whilst my partner, who could barely stand after the caesarean, was instructed to get on with it. Also, my motives in wanting to take on a fair share of responsibility of caring have been viewed with some suspiscion. There are many instances, but two stand-out.
First, during my first visit to a “parents” room (at a shopping centre) where I went to feed and change Telbort jnr two mothers in the room quickly bundled up their babies, eyed me with a knowing (and disaproving) look, and left indignantly.
Second, and most disturbing to me, was the following. Whilst we’re not in the U.K., so don’t have access to any statutory parental leave, my University has tried to create policies which allow fathers the same amount of paid parental leave as mothers. The university takes this very seriously. However, when I enquired, the administrator responsible for the scheme expressed some scepticism about the scheme’s value, and suggested that as a male I was unlikely to help my partner and would probably use the time to play golf.
And on the Equally Shared Parenting post extendedlp wrote:
our gp’s surgery; our health visitor; the nursery school; and on and on all only talk to ME. they only have time for mum. they don’t even ring out home (shared) number: they ring *my* mobile. with nursery, i got in the habit of saying ‘i’m sorry, i don’t handle this sort of thing [didn't matter what sort of thing it was], so you’ll need to ring my husband’, and they did eventually sort of get the picture. from the health visitor, dad taking baby in for his weekly checks resulted, first, in questions like “and where is mum?” and eventually with health visitor ringing my mobile and demanding to visit me and baby at our home. my child is older now, and so i’m braver, so i’ve instructed mr lp that the next time he gets an “and where is mum?” he must reply “at home watching football on the telly with a big cold can of lager in her hand”.
We need to hear these stories, because we’re never going to get gender justice until fathers are able to be equally involved in parenting. So please, leave us more stories in comments. (And, as a side note, I find them incredibly useful in teaching. My students are generally very shocked to hear about these sorts of barriers.)
Equally Shared Parenting March 5, 2009
A damn good idea. And now there’s even a blog about it. From their mission statement:
The number of web resources available for parents is overwhelming. There are wonderful websites for fathering, working moms, stay-at-home moms or dads, parents in general. There are rants and eloquent webzines on the problems with motherhood in American society. There are hundreds of parenting blogs. What doesn’t seem to exist, at least until now, is a website devoted to true equal sharing from a couple who practices it. In fact, if equally shared parenting is mentioned at all on most other parenting websites, it is usually in the context of its impossibility – as a utopian dream.
I haven’t had time to look at it thoroughly, but do go check it out– and let me know what you find. (Thanks, HA!)
Barbie at 50 March 5, 2009
There’s a movement on to ban her, for reasons familiar to feminist philosophers. But there are also some surprising bits of history to be found in this article… Apparently there was a genuinely feminist idea involved in Barbie’s creation, however imperfectly executed: to give girls something other than a baby doll to play with so that they would be able to play at aspirations other than motherhood. The article also mentions the famed “Math class is tough” Barbie (whose voiceboxes were swapped with some GI Joes in one of the most wonderful acts of industrial sabotage I’ve ever heard of). And one version of Skipper, Barbie’s sister, whose breasts apparently grew when you rotated her arm!! I was also unaware that there is now a Barbie for President.
I must say that I still have fond memories of the Gay Ken incident in the 1990s. I remember reading at the time that in an effort to make Ken cooler, they sent some employees off to the Village to find out what the kids were wearing– which is what led to the purple mesh vest and cock ring.
Shave-me Ken was also a bit of a high point for me.
Anyway, I thought it was at least noting the upcoming milestone for this rather important bit of pop culture. (Thanks, Jender-Parents.)
Female philosophers, anyone? March 4, 2009
Here’s a quick story. A glance at the history of many things tends to reveal a long list of men’s names, and very few women’s. Does that mean that no women were involved in that history? Or that their involvement was less important, their contributions less grand? No, folks. In many cases all it reveals is who became famous. And in many cases that’s not the women. No doubt there are many explanations for this phenomenon. But it’s easy to see that once the thing gets going, the ball keeps rolling. The men who get noticed are the ones who get mentioned in books, whose works are studied, about whom documentaries are made, and so on. They are then the people most likely to be noticed. It will be no surprise to readers of this blog, at least, to hear that this is not just a historical phenomenon. It seems, e.g., to be happening in our profession right now. You want to organise a conference on x? For some reason, it’s the names of men working on x that spring most readily to mind. Those men get invited to speak at the conference. People attending the conference will then think of those men as the people working on x. They will get invited to write books on x, to contribute to encyclopedias about x, and so on. The women working on x thus get sidelined. One of our concerns over at FP is to try and raise the profile of women working in the profession. One way to do that is to persuade conference organisers, encyclopedia writers, and so on to take just a minute and consider whether there are some female philosophers who should be included. I’m not talking about substituting a mediocre woman for a great man. I’m talking about asking yourself whether there are women who work in the area whose work is as deserving of praise and discussion as the perhaps more famous men. The answer will inevitably be ‘yes’.
Given the above, you can perhaps see why we were a bit disappointed with Brian Leiter’s recent poll (now closed), which asked readers to vote for the greatest twentieth century philosopher, and contained not a single woman. Yes, we know it was just a bit of fun. But it still gives the impression that there were no women philosophers of note throughout the whole of the twentieth century. So just for fun, here’s a chance to vote for your favourite twentieth century female philosophers. (I’m writing this in a hurry when I should be making porridge, so if you want me to include someone else on the poll, just drop me a comment.)
Edited to add: the poll has grown and grown throughout the last couple of days and is now an inspiring list of twentieth century female philosophers. I will keep adding further names to it as they are suggested. In recognition of the fact that many feminists (including a lot of us here at FP) dislike the selectivity and hierarchy involved in ranking people, you can now vote for as many people as you want as many times as you want. And no results will be published ;) Follow the link to see the poll…
(more…)
Recent Comments