While there’s a lot a feminist critique of Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond flick, could cover, such as the other-ing of the voiceless “ethnic” communities/Bond’s sense of entitlement to their culture and resources, Judy Dench’s role as M, or the current, very real political turbulence in Bolivia (FYI? George Bush is still our president), this post mainly focuses on the use of the rape-revenge themes and surprise, surprise, the objectification of women found in the movie.
And yes, there are spoilers.
Since another PETA ad campaign is making the rounds in the blogosphere -- this one persuading Ben and Jerry's to use breast milk instead of cows' milk (Breast is best!) -- I wanted to offer a little bit here and send people over to a post that captures some of what's on my mind. Namely, the all-too-common refusal of non-veg*n feminists to even engage with the legitimate animal cruelty issues raised by organizations like PETA, and, as another example, the recent Skinny Bitch book series.
If you live in Los Angeles, please join the Make/shift Collective, me, and lots of others for a film/video screening followed by a participatory discussion about contemporary feminisms, privilege, power, difference, and so much more...
So New York lawyer Roy Den Hollander once married a young woman he met while working as a private investigator in Russia. Once Den Hollander moved himself and his foreign bride back to New York City, though, she took a job as a stripper and proceeded to dump him within months.
It's a sad little story, and probably not nearly the first of its kind. But to say Den Hollander seems to have had a wee bit of trouble letting it go would be a massive understatement. Since his marriage ended, the spurned groom has turned into a men's-rights crusader so convinced that feminism is the reason for all his personal woes that he's literally made a career out of litigating against it.
B-Word/Bitch magazine is thrilled to announce our first lecture series, “Feminist Perspectives in Pop Culture,” a four-evening series made possible by the generous funding of the Oregon Council for the Humanities! We are so happy that we've been dancing around the office. And then panic set in because we need a confirmed line-up of folks to speak!
So, I thought I'd share our potential speaker list, the folks we'd LOOOOVE to partner with and see what y'all have to say about it. Drumroll please.............
We are thrilled, estatic, honored, and pleased as heck, to announce that artist Judy Chicago, whole ideas and work have shaped the feminist art movement (see an interview with her in our Super Issue), has agreed to be our Honorary Chair for sm[art], our fall art auction. Damn, I have nothing else to say at this point, but that it is pretty sweet. And good news to kick off a 3 day weekend. Hope all of you each get something good like that coming your way.
Thank you, TrumbullPlex folx, for letting us use your space for Sunday's discussion. Thank you, Adele, Clara, and Jess for making the event happen here, and for getting the word out (and special thanks to Clara for the tour and history of the TrumbullPlex, a radical housing collective in the Woodbridge neighborhood of Detroit). And a huge thank you to everyone who attended. I didn't count, but I think between 20 and 25 people came. I felt honored to be in the presence of so many people committed to honesty, sincerity, openness, and creating a safe space to share what are sometimes difficult and differing perspectives.