I’m still pretty enthralled with Stieg Larsson’s Girl trilogy, and almost through the final book.  Sadly, the second film isn’t going to be shown anywhere near where I live until the end of August, so I’ll probably end up reviewing the final two books before I get to the second film.  In the mean time, there are plenty of other bloggers out there writing some great stuff about the series.

(Beware of spoilers for the first and second books if you haven’t read them yet.)

Why “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” Is So Important [Women Undefined]

Yet what on the surface seems to be an entertaining but purely aesthetic read offering little to no intellectual exercise, there is a gripping examination of gender equality and discrimination in Sweden (by extent Western society). Larsson examines the state of the country’s gender relations and brings to light such issues like violence against women ( often brutal violence) , discrimination against sex workers, gender equity in the workplace, child abuse and molestation, rape, sex trafficking, and the stigmatization of female rape victims worldwide.

Stieg Larsson’s 4th manuscript clouded in mystery [associated press]

“The question about the fourth manuscript is entirely hypothetical,” head of publishing at Norstedts, Eva Gedin, said. “We have never studied this manuscript and therefore don’t know if it exists, how much has been written and if so what shape the manuscript is in.”

The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut [the new yorker]

But where in Sweden were they? There was no way to know, especially if you’d never been to Sweden. A few chapters ago, for example, an unscrupulous agent from Swedish Intelligence had tailed Blomkvist by taking Stora Essingen and Gröndal into Södermalm, and then driving down Hornsgatan and across Bellmansgatan via Brännkyrkagatan, with a final left onto Tavastgatan. Who cared, but there it was, in black-and-white, taking up space. And now Blomkvist was standing in her doorway. Someone might still be following him—but who? There was no real way to be sure even when you found out, because people’s names were so confusingly similar—Gullberg, Sandberg, and Holmberg; Nieminen and Niedermann; and, worst of all, Jonasson, Mårtensson, Torkelsson, Fredriksson, Svensson, Johansson, Svantesson, Fransson, and Paulsson.

While Stieg Larsson’s literary Girl trilogy has received generally positive reviews, reactions to the Swedish film have been mixed.  Having finished the first and second books, and now having viewed the film, I feel ready to throw my two-cents out there.  But first, the disclaimer-y stuff: There are certain to be spoilers, but I’ll try to keep it to book one and the film.  Also, be aware (if you aren’t already) this series contains graphic depictions of violence against women and sexual assault.

I’ll start with my summary and conclusion in case you’re using this to determine whether or not to read the series or watch the film:

If you’re the kind of person who likes psychological thrillers, non-slasher horror films, and murder-mystery style suspense, you’ll probably like this series.  If you like those types of things AND choose to view the themes of the series through a feminist lens, you may well be impressed.  But if you can’t handle violent films on the principle of the matter, this film will overload your system.  If you can’t handle violent films AND choose to view the themes of the series through a feminist lens, you’ll probably be pissed.  And revolted.

Let’s take a look at the first installment in the series. Read the rest of this entry »

Splice is a sci-fi horrorish film that is in many ways a modern retelling of the story of Frankenstein.  What Splice does differently from most sci-fi horrorish films is to incorporate complex, intelligent female characters and examine (both directly and indirectly) female emotional and sexual development in an extreme situation.  Until it blows it at the end.

Also, I have never seen so many people stand up and exit the theater so quickly when the credits started rolling, but that might be a Utah thing (more on that later).  If anything, the strong reactions of my fellow theater-goers only made me more thoughtful about this unusual movie.

Here’s what you need to know: Clive and Elsa are a couple (literally) of scientists who have been working on splicing together DNA from different animals to create new species in the hopes of developing cures for livestock diseases.  They think it would be a good idea to take this to the next level – the human level – in order to find cures for human diseases, and pretty much just to test their theory about how awesome they are.  They’re told no, but they do it anyway.  What they end up creating is first a creepy slimy thing, which evolves into a cute rabbitish thing, and finally into a human chimera thing.  Although Clive was recently trying to talk Elsa into kids, she wasn’t interested.  Now she has become very attached to their creature, Dren, and he’s the one with serious second thoughts.  Spoilers ahead. Read the rest of this entry »

Between her portrayal of Det. Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU and her own humanitarian work on the behalf of survivors of rape and domestic violence, Mariska Hargitay is consistently rocking my world.

“They [untested rape kits] must all be tested. We are consciously letting criminals walk again.”

Transcript at cbs.com.

Here’s a little more from Eve Ensler, on how the world fears girls because of their strength.

Ahh football.  I would say that football and I are like cats and dogs, but I have seen cats and dogs snuggle.  I would say that football and I are like oil and water, but oil and water are both ingredients in making sweet, sweet cupcakes.  There is no love between me and football, there are no good feelings, there are no snuggles, and there are no cupcakes.  Guys like this certainly don’t help.

Crowd Taunts Roethlisberger With “She Said No!” Chant During NFL Draft [mediaite]

Yeah, that pretty much says it all for this one.

Despite Rape Accusations, Nike Stands By Its Man [Jezebel]

Roethlisberger was accused of raping a woman in Lake Tahoe last summer. He denied the accusation and no criminal charges were filed, but now a 20-year-old college student has alleged that he encouraged her and her friends to take shots at a Milledgeville, Ga. bar, then had his bodyguard “escort” her into a hallway, whereupon Roethlisberger raped her.

4 Ways The Cops Screwed Up The Roethlisberger Case [Jezebel]

A friend of the victim says [Sgt.] Blash told her, “You can file a statement but this man has a lot of money and good attorneys.” When the victim asked “whether she should just forget she was raped and not file charges,” Blash reportedly “became defensive [...] accusing the alleged victim of trying to put words in his mouth.”

After the victim made her accusation, Blash immediately notified Roethlisberger and his “associates.” One associate says Blash announced: “We have a problem, this drunken [expletive], drunk off her ass, is accusing Ben of rape.”

Former Steeler charged with domestic abuse [UPI]

Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mike Tomczak has been charged with assaulting his wife at their home in Bell Acres, Pa., police said.

Y’all are saying it better than me this week:

You’re not a feminist, but … what? [guardian]

“I’m not a feminist, but …” is a way of telling the world that we don’t pose too much of a threat. It’s a way of saying that we don’t plan to rock the boat too much, that we will play nice. And yet, feminists are people who dare to imagine a world in which women are 50% of Congress, where women are paid 100% of what their male colleagues earn and where every person who violates another human being is reported, prosecuted and convicted.

Disclosure & Choice: When Do We Deserve to Know Someone’s Sexuality? (Handy Flowchart Included) [feministing]

I can’t help but be struck by the hypocrisy of an America that forbids disclosure from their armed servicepeople and demands it to the point of issuing a frenzied media mandate from everyone else. Whether the criticism was coming from other gay men and women or not, rushing to judge the timing or impact of his decision fails to acknowledge his humanity and undercuts the ownership of his decision. As long as our reaction is an invasive, entitled “duh” rather than an informed, supportive “thanks for choosing to share”, our collective privilege is showing, and we’re not making real progress for the LGBTQI rights agenda.

One in Three [this ain't livin']

There is no safe space to be an asshole. When you parrot rape apologies, you do so not only in the knowledge that there might be a rapist in the room who is internalizing those messages, you do so with the knowledge that there might be a rape victim/survivor in the room who is also absorbing that message. Who is being reminded that she did something wrong in your eyes. That she deserved what she got.

The IUD Reborn [newsweek]

“The demographic group that is most likely to benefit from contraceptive use is exactly the demographic that is least reliable,” says Matthews. “Take for example the 17-year-old teenager. There is the greatest negative impact if she gets pregnant. [Old] FDA standards and World Health Organization literature would say she is not a candidate for an IUD, but she is in fact the ideal candidate. “

Friday Night Lights is an amazing TV show, and if you’re not watching it, you should be.

I’ve been in love with the show since about halfway through the first season. I, like many fans, grew a little concerned as the early part of second season brought in some elements that seemed out-of-place, but I chock that up to the network getting involved and since those few missteps the show has returned to being one of the most sweet, gut-wrenching, beautiful, raw, poignant and genuinely optimistic shows on television. While I can try to articulate its awesomeness, however, I know others have already said it so much better…

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll admit that I usually link to others when I’m too busy to generate my own posts, but I came across so many others making points better than I could this week, that I had to give some shoutouts around the blogosphere.  Check out the following posts:

Tina Fey: Esquire Fantasy Edition [bitch blogs]

Help me out here, folks. What do we make of the celebrity Tina Fey? She’s hilarious and smart as a whip, but she’s also been in a slew of sexy photo shoots lately that reinforce the notion that a funny woman can only be famous if she is also hot (a recurring theme in 30 Rock, but does making fun of something make it any less problematic?).

Pretty ugly: Can we please stop pretending that beautiful women aren’t beautiful? [feministing]

So, what does it mean when even the “ugly” women on our screens are conventionally beautiful? Firstly, it means that the bar for female beauty is being set higher than ever: if Tina Fey, Lea Michele and America Ferrera are “ugly,” what hope is there for the rest of us?

An Ode to Law and Order [femunity]

The conversation that I got to have would have never happened if it was not for Law and Order taking on such an epidemic. And I hope, I really hope, that my conversation was one of many that took place last night as women and men watched the show and simply asked–why?

To Speak Softly or Roar Loudly? That is the question. [gender across borders]

According to an article in the Jobs section of the NY Times, “Ultimately, women must be more mindful and use greater finesse when conveying their messages. We need to become better chameleon communicators and to carefully read our audience, adjusting our style to the circumstances.”My knee-jerk reaction is: NO. I don’t want to have to accommodate a patriarchal culture. The culture needs to change to accommodate me, and the other 50% of the population.  But I would like a successful career.

Soldier As Rapist: All Too Common [ms. blog]

Since one-third of women who join the military are raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers, we must recognize that the soldier as rapist is all too common. Given that rape and sexual assault rates rise in the civilian world during wartime, we must also recognize that militarized sexual violence is trickling down into our communities.

Read on!  And as always, you are more than welcome to leave links to other posts that caught your eye or that you’ve contributed to the discussion in the comments.

In looking for an image to go with the links I posted on sexual assault earlier this week, I came upon these posters.  They are from 2007 class project, and as far as I can tell the campaign no longer exists (you can check out the original link here).  I don’t doubt that the motives here were well-intentioned, but I think that the posters that the students developed are a prime example of how we talk about sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence in our culture.

Myth #1: Rape doesn’t count unless she was a virgin

This poster says “No one has the right to take it by force.”  Reasonably and appropriately, “it” means sex.  However, the imagery here of a bruised and wounded cherry doesn’t imply “it” as sex – cherries are a notorious symbol of virginity.  The poster essentially says “No one has the right to take [your virginity] by force.”  The truth is that no one has the right to demand or force sexual contact ever, regardless of virginity or purity or anything.  Whether a woman* has had sex before or not, even whether she has had sex with the partner demanding sex or not, does not negate her right to say no at any time, for any reason.  Rape and sexual assault have nothing to do with “cherries.”

Truth #1: No one has the right to force sexual contact, under any circumstances

Myth #2: Victims of sexual assault are irreparably damaged

As a graduate student in the field of psychology, I would be about the last person to say that survivors shouldn’t seek help.  However, the image of a shattered plate that needs someone to piece it back together is not a very flattering metaphor for survivors of sexual assault.  Even the use of the word “survivor” rather than “victim” begins to return power and control to the individual.  Survivors need to regain a sense of strength.  The fact of the matter is that no matter what happened, she survived. In fact, many in the field of psychology have begun taking strength based approaches to working with clients, allowing the individual to “own” their own change and recovery.  This is especially important for survivors of rape and abuse.

Truth #2: Survivors have more strength than they know

Myth #3: You need to talk about it to get better.  Now.

Again, I would be the last person to say that assault survivors don’t need help.  However, there are not rules about these things.  Remember that tip above about the survivor taking her power back?  Shaming survivors into seeking services is counterproductive.  First of all, as with any other type of recovery or change, there is nothing that the people around someone (friends, family, therapists) can do if that individual isn’t ready for change to happen.  Many people do find that talking about what happened has a healing effect – but that talking needs to happen on her time frame, not yours.  The best thing that you can do is let her know you’ll be there when she’s ready.

Truth #3: She’ll talk when she’s ready.  Be there, but don’t be forceful.

Myth #4: Victims are too busy defending their abusers to face the facts

This is quite possibly the most victim-blamey poster of them all (although you could probably make a strong argument for each of them to win that prize).  This poster essentially says “We can see you’re messed up, quit making excuses.”  There are lists a mile long of reasons that women stay in abusive relationships, and many of the reasons are understandable.  Just like any other decision one must make, there is a cost-benefit ratio that must be considered, and leaving is much harder than it sounds.  Defending one’s abuser and/or minimizing the abuse are just two of many psychological self-defense mechanisms that may be involved.  Rather than blaming women who stay, we should work towards making it easier for them to leave.

Truth #4: Leaving isn’t easy, and survivors need support to get out of an abusive relationship

*For the purposes of simplicity I’ve used female pronouns throughout this post, but another common myth is that only women can be assaulted.  Men may also be survivors of sexual abuse, assault, rape, and domestic violence and are less likely to come forward for help due to cultural attitudes about “masculinity” and “victimhood.”  Although the post uses female terms, all of these points also apply to males.

I hope that seeing these posters in a new light helps you understand how deeply ingrained our stereotypes about sexual assault victims are – even when trying to help we might imply these blaming, shaming messages.  Think critically about the language and imagery we use in day to day life (whether it be talking about sexual assault only when it happens to “nice girls” or using the word “rape” casually ex. “That test raped me!”).  Be aware of these myths and truths, and educate the people around you when they fall into those traps, too.