Alexis Shotwell, author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Implicit Understanding, has accepted a position at Carleton University. Interestingly, her position is not in the Philosophy department. Instead, she will join the faculty of their Department of Sociology and Anthropology. This strikes me as a lovely gain for Sociology and Anthropology; I am trying not to think of this as a loss to philosophy, and to take my lead from Alexis’ comment, “I find it inspiring!” Surely we should find it invigorating that an excellent philosopher can contribute notably to analyses in other disciplines. Way to go, Carleton University! (And our sympathies to Laurentian University.)
Day: May 30, 2012
Disney’s Brave Child-Heroine is Mattel’s Sexy Doll
I never thought, when I joined this blog, that we’d need a “sexy doll for kids” label, but actually, there’s some good news in with the bad: While Mattel makes a doll based on the strong and gutsy girl in Brave which looks, as one blogger says, like the character’s hotter, older sister, Disney actually offers dolls and toys which emphasize her more youthful and active qualities. “Merida is described as passionate and fiery. She is most at home in the outdoors honing her impressive athletic skills as an archers and swordfighter, and racing across the Highlands on her Clydesdale.”
Excellent!
Firefighters are still ‘firemen’ in Australia?
Standards Australia released a report proposing an overhaul of how employers advertise jobs and evaluate candidates, including suggestions to employers on how to list criteria sought. The Gender-inclusive Job Evaluation report said gender bias often occurred where jobs were not properly described.
All fine, but I admit I was surprised that these changes hadn’t already been made. The report recommends switching from ‘firemen’ to ‘firefighters’ and from ‘secretaries’ to ‘office managers.’ I thought that these sorts of gendered job titles bit the dust decades ago. Guess not.
More here.
Feminist Philosophers 