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Is Holiday Baking Anti-Feminist?


The first pumpkin pie to come out of the oven for Thanksgiving last week rang in the official start of holiday baking season. Those of us who love to bake are armed and ready to spread holiday cheer through butter, sugar, and seasonally-appropriate fruits, nuts, and spices, and I’d venture to guess that most of us are women. But as Steph Larsen pointed out on Grist today, some of us are uncomfortable with the implications of our favorite holiday pastime on our feminist ideals. With rolling pin in hand, we wonder if toting that tray of gingersnaps to the office will somehow betray our professional mien, putting us dangerously close to the category of “domestic” that we work so hard to avoid. … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Is Holiday Baking Anti-Feminist?

Sarah Palin’s America by Heart: Feminists, Beware


We’re sure you were in line at Barnes and Noble at 7:00 a.m. yesterday so you could get your very own copy of Sarah Palin’s latest masterpiece, America by Heart. No? Great, you aren’t nuts. But we know that you have a perverse desire to see what kind of backwards gems are hidden within the book’s patriotic pages. So, to save you the trouble of putting a paper bag over your head and flipping through the pages at your local book store, Slate’s Jessica Grose read it so you don’t have to. According to her, it’s safe to say that America by Heart won’t become a feminist classic any time soon: … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Sarah Palin’s America by Heart: Feminists, Beware

The Intercourse-Is-Rape Argument: What’s German for Déjà Vu?


I don’t know how to say “déjà vu” in German, but the recent argument between German feminist Alice Schwarzer and Kristina Schroeder, the German Minister of Families, over the nature of hetersexual intercourse is making me feel like I’m in Women’s Studies 101 all over again. (If you haven’t read about it, Schwarzer claimed that sex subjugates women, Schroeder disagreed, and insults ensued.)

In 1987, radical American feminist Andrea Dworkin’s published the book Intercourse, sparking especially strong controversy with comments, like the following, that imply the inherent violence of intercourse: … More »

Post from: BlissTree

The Intercourse-Is-Rape Argument: What’s German for Déjà Vu?

German Feminist Alice Schwarzer Says Heterosexual Intercourse Subjugates Women


In a public feud, Germany’s leading feminist campaigner recently called its minister of families and women “incompetent” and “hopeless” — not what we think of as an empowering way to treat other women, but hey, it’s Germany, what do we know? When we read up on why they’re fighting, though, we started to feel a little more strongly: Their disagreement stems from comments by Alice Schwarzer, Germany’s foremost feminist campaigner, claiming that “heterosexual sex was hardly possible without the subjugation of women.” … More »

Post from: BlissTree

German Feminist Alice Schwarzer Says Heterosexual Intercourse Subjugates Women