MetaFilter posts tagged with women

Yes, llamas sure are scaly!

MartinWisse — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:33:19 -0800

Because you’ve seen this story so many times, because you already know the nature and history of llamas, it sometimes shocks you, of course, to see a llama outside of these media spaces. The llamas you see don’t have scales. So you doubt what you see, and you joke with your friends about “those scaly llamas” and they laugh and say, “Yes, llamas sure are scaly!” and you forget your actual experience. -- We Have Always Fought: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle and Slaves’ Narrative by Kameron Hurley.

Bearing Witness

zarq — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:45:48 -0800

Private Ceremonies. "Most women don’t talk about their abortions and miscarriages. Virtually none go through the experience with a loved one at their side. The greatest gift an abortion counselor can give is to bear witness, to be with a woman as she goes through this private journey, to witness her strength and weakness, her grief, her relief, her pain." A first person essay from a former abortion counselor.

Trans*Scribe

jiawen — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:43:43 -0800

Since February of this year, Autostraddle ("News, Entertainment, Opinion and Girl-On-Girl Culture") has been running a very interesting series of articles about trans experience (primarily focused on trans women) called Trans*Scribe. So far, they've run:

Best worn with tiny loincloth and underboob-straps

prize bull octorok — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:34:28 -0800

The thirteen types of armor female characters are forced to wear in the majority of MMORPGs (via)

On Misogyny in Industrial Music

cthuljew — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:53:58 -0800

"But something happened. Once industrial music had fully transitioned from avant-garde venues into nightclubs, the stench of Axe body spray began to dominate the subculture as a certain douchey, bro-tastic vibe emerged. Where the goth/industrial scene had once existed as a safe haven for artists, weirdos, outcasts, geeks, dreamers and rebels, a disturbing trend of sexism, racism and anti-intellectualism is driving people out."

The teen who's keeping you safe from TV spoilers, one tweet at a time.

shiu mai baby — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:19:36 -0800

Meet the 17-year-old kid who won a Boston hackathon by creating a killer hack for Twitter, blocking out TV show spoilers. Also, she's a girl, and the only solo entrant.

Women of Punk

ifjuly — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:09:29 -0800

Women of Punk 30 shows containing almost 400 video clips exploring the role women have played in Punk music from the 70's to today, with rare interviews and concerts, videos, documentaries and feature films.

Disney Rejection Letter, 1938

latkes — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:02:52 -0800

Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.

"Never, ever let anybody use your gender as an excuse."

zarq — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:55:06 -0800

"Women get flustered under fire. They're too fragile, too emotional. They lack the ferocity required to take a life. They can't handle pain. They're a distraction, a threat to cohesion, a provocative tease to close-quartered men. These are the sort of myths you hear from people who oppose the U.S. military's evolving new rules about women in combat. But for women who have already been in combat, who have earned medals fighting alongside men, the war stories they tell don't sound a thing like myths" Multi-page link to the article. Additional Feature * Women of the 101st Airborne Division: "As part of Nathaniel Penn's "Natural Born Killers"—an oral history documenting the experiences of American female soldiers on the field that marks the official lifting of the U.S. military ban on women in combat roles—in the May issue of GQ, we spoke to a group of female servicewomen currently stationed in Fort Campbell, K.Y. as they prepare for deployment to Afghanistan this spring. These soldiers were assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division roughly a year ago as part the Women in The Service Review program. The program first introduced women to historically male-held roles in combat arms battalions—an experiment, in part, to make sure that they could handle it. Mission accomplished. Here, five of them talk to us about past deployments, navigating expectations, and their changing roles in the Army."
Video * "Natural Born Killers: Battle Tested" * "Natural Born Killers: Battle Ready, Women of the 101st Airborne"

Grimes is not your waif

mrgrimm — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:08:38 -0800

"I don't want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living" - Claire Boucher, a.k.a. Grimes, has apparently canceled her 2013 tour via Tumblr. (previously)

Oh don't lean on me man, cause you can't afford the ticket

acb — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:19:17 -0800

Chako Paul City is a women-only city in the north of Sweden, established in 1820 by a wealthy widow. It is "a place that is respectful of women's love, but with a rule that men cannot enter"; the few who have tried have found themselves beaten half to death by the formidable Amazonian sentries at its gates. It has a castle, and its main industry is forestry, with a sideline in lesbian tourism. Of the 25,000 women, from all over Europe, living in Chako Paul City, those wishing to seek male company are allowed to leave, but may only reenter after having bathed and undertaken several other measures to avoid negatively affecting the mental state of the other residents. Chako Paul City (also known as Shakebao City) doesn't actually exist; it originated in a fictitious story in a Chinese provincial newspaper. The story spread in 2009, and soon Swedish tourism agencies were beset by inquiries from China. Since then, the story of the fabled Swedish lesbian utopia in the forests has reportedly spread to Japan and South Korea.

Weddings as Art

divabat — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:12:01 -0800

Weddings are inherently a form of performance art, and various artists have explored weddings as an artistic form. For example, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens held a wedding every year for 7 years to various parts of the environment and Maria Yoon held weddings in every US state to explore marriage as an Asian-American woman. Second Life also hosted a performance art wedding while Gavin Turk and Deborah Curtis incorporated their House of Fairytales project into their own wedding. Kathryn Cornelius married and divorced seven suitors every hour on the hour while Chen Wei-yih opted to marry herself.

You've always wanted to know who it was...

deezil — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:34:53 -0800

Who is that hot ad girl?

Eye candy, if you insist on calling it that

infini — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:30:38 -0800

The 10 Most Overlooked Women in Architecture History (PHOTOS)

Feminists aging together.

what's her name — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 08:04:05 -0800

French Feminist Babayaga Thérèse Clerc, is captured by photographer Elisabeth Schneider in a short French documentary. Thérèse Clerc is the founder of Maison des Femmes de Montreuil, a women-only feminist retirement community, in Paris. Over 15 years ago, French feminist and activist Thérèse Clerc created an idea for a women's self-managed retirement community and in October 2012, her dream became a reality. The self-defined Babayaga has radically changed the future for aging feminists. English radio interviews of her success here and here.

Star gazing girls of Georgian England

salishsea — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:06:18 -0800

An intriguing essay on how young women in Georgian England were able to do science by hiding in the pursuits of the domestic arts.

"Women didn’t find it easy to participate in late eighteenth century science. Experimentation and discovery were not easily compatible with the ideals of domestic femininity – but there were women who rejected these social expectations and became active and renowned."

The Feminist Housewife

Kitty Stardust — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:29:18 -0800

Kelly calls herself “a flaming liberal” and a feminist, too. “I want my daughter to be able to do anything she wants,” she says. “But I also want to say, ‘Have a career that you can walk away from at the drop of a hat.’ ” And she is not alone. Via.

How African Feminism Changed the World

infini — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 03:43:06 -0800

'Feminism' has often been seen as a Western concept, but African women are increasingly redefining it to suit their own purposes. This, in turn, is influencing the rest of the world.

Go, Gibson guitar gals!

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 01:45:25 -0800

As American men went off to war during World War II, women stepped in to fill the jobs they left behind, keeping the factories and shipyards running, and the economy humming. While most were praised for their patriotism, one unheralded group of women worked in the shadows building Gibson guitars. The maker of the famous instrument never confirmed that women crafted its guitars during the war, and in an official company history, even reported it stopped producing instruments for those years. But now the time has come to shed some new historical light on the Kalamazoo Gals. Though I couldn't find any audio samples on the web from the CD by Lauren Sheehan that features her performing on twelve different Gibson "Banner" guitars (the album's official release date was just two days ago), there are various YT clips and audio samples at her website.

The Dark Side of the Miss USA Pageant

reenum — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:10:30 -0800

Donald Trump trumpets the integrity of the Miss USA pageant. The truth is a bit different.

This post entirely SFW

zarq — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:01:18 -0800

Female porn stars, with and without their makeup It's a large bandwidth-intensive imgur gallery. (Via)

Not just right, but necessary

talitha_kumi — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:27:00 -0800

"Not so long ago, the idea that women might rule the world seemed slightly ridiculous - like something out of science fiction. But in an essay to mark International Women's Day, political analyst and former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers argues it's now a topic that can be seriously discussed."

This Is My Body

Leucistic Cuttlefish — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:06:25 -0800

"This is My Body, not yours." [slyt] "It is time for you to accept that I am fully aware, capable, and accountable for myself. I don’t need a hero or saving because I’m not in distress. I’m not defined by my need of a man or partner, but I have the right to be made happy by one, in a safe and supportive relationship. I’m not defined by my weight, hair, make up, skin color, or breast size. I do not exist to be your play toy. I won’t wait my turn nor be quiet nor heed you. I know my physical and mental strength and I do not fear you. I’m beautiful, despite what you think, with or without your approval. This is my body, not yours."

Right to privacy

roomthreeseventeen — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:54:59 -0800

The Arkansas House voted today to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of the earliest abortion ban in the nation, 12 weeks of pregnancy, just weeks after voting to override a similar veto on a law banning abortions after 20 weeks. Adoption of the law, called the “Human Heartbeat Protection Act,” is the first statewide victory for a restless emerging faction within the anti-abortion movement that has lost patience with the incremental whittling away at abortion rights — the strategy of established groups like National Right to Life and the Catholic Church while they wait for a more sympathetic Supreme Court. The Human Heartbeat Protection Act bans abortions at 12 weeks into pregnancy if a heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for cases of rape or incest, to save the life of the mother or for a lethal fetal condition. The vast majority of abortions — 91.7 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — happen early in the pregnancy, prior to 13 weeks gestation. That still leaves about 10 percent of abortions occurring after the first trimester, the time period that this Arkansas law would outlaw, according to Wonkblog. ACLU of Arkansas responds (dated 2/28)

Some call it whining. I call it facts.

roomthreeseventeen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:04:32 -0800

Today, VIDA (Women in Literary Arts) published their annual VIDA count, breaking down the treatment of women in literature in 2012 and the past three years of trends.