Micromentoring at MAP

Map for the Gap,  “a collection of students in North American philosophy departments that aims to examine and address issues of minority participation in academic philosophy,” now includes a micro-mentoring program.  If you are a philosophy faculty member, do consider volunteering here at the bottom of the page.

And check out their home-page for a shot of hope for the future:

Through MAP’s network, students can exchange ideas on topics related to minorities and philosophy, meet and support peers, and learn from other philosophy departments. MAP chapters can choose to provide their respective departments with regular feedback on the department climate.

French law against beauty pageants for the under 16

As part of a project on gender equality legislation, the French Senate voted for a law prohibiting beauty pageants for the under 16. The prohibition affects events featuring exclusively girls and carries sanctions of up to two years in prison and 30 000 euros. The stated motivation is that young women should not grow up believing that they only derive their value from their appearance. Here, in French.

Sometimes I can’t even tell what’s parody anymore

So I’ve been reading horrible things on the internet about being a “pick-up artist”, as part of research for an introductory presentation on gender norms and the culture of masculinity (oh, the things that teaching feminism will make you do. . .)

Anyway, I read this article in The Guardian – not carefully, mostly skimming the intro sections – and didn’t realize it was parody. I published a bitchy post about it. Jender had to gently point out to me that it was probably parody, and when I went back and read it (more closely, especially the intro) that reading became obvious. But, to be honest, that it might be parody hadn’t even occurred to me. I’ve been reading so much of this, and both the tone of the article and the kind of stuff being said were exactly the sort of thing I’ve been reading. Except that this article is a little more polite, and a little more respectful of women.

Increasingly, it seems like the rape-y, misogynistic aspects of a certain brand of masculinity are so hyperbolically displayed that I can’t even tell what’s parody anymore.