Jane Austen’s Fight Club. Posted for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t seen it on Jezebel yet ;) Chally at Feministe kindly did a transcript for it too!
10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life
Here’s the thing: it really bothers me when people dismiss the internet because they have limited experience with it and/ or they don’t understand it. The paper I’m writing actually touches on the topic of how the internet has enriched my life, and until now I thought that my observations and experiences were fairly common but as it turns out, it might not be such a common thing. I don’t use the internet for porn or downloading things illegally, is that such a shocking notion? It could well be…
I don’t have kids, and I vote
News with Nipples points out that people without children, without an easily digestible mantle like “working families”, are being ignored in this election. It doesn’t mean we don’t exist… in fact, there are a lot of us! If you’re not a 20-40 something with kids, the pollies don’t really care to talk to you. You’ll probably ask difficult questions, like “Why do you keep calling legitimate asylum seekers ‘illegal boat people’, you daft donkeys?” or “What are you going to do about housing prices, or baby boomers who keep buying all the low price housing to use as investment properties, because we can’t find affordable entry level properties and our parents keep giving us shit about renting?!”
Something I have been thinking about a lot
Marisa reflects on how the relentless pursuit of perfection in beauty has actually hurt her. It’s a really beautiful piece of writing, I encourage you to go read it in full, but here’s a snippet:
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s no point in robbing people of what makes them different or unique and they may very well end up resenting you for the imposition into their lives. What you may consider a defect or an oddity, they may consider a vital characteristic of their personality. And you do not have the right to take it from them or to characterize what it means for them.
Louise Evans does design/ illustration the way I do it! It’s always confusing trying to explain my style, I end up saying I’m a graphic artist or illustrative designer. You must go see the rest of Louise’s work – lots of papercutting and hand drawn type!
How can Sarah Murdoch lend her good name to this toxic show?
Melinda Tankard Reist asks how Sarah Murdoch, who sits on the “National Body Image Advisory Committee” can be part of the terribly lady-hatin’ Australia’s Next Top Model. Most of the interesting stuff is in the comments, where Charlotte Dawson learns that flaming people on the internet makes you look like a not-very-nice person. Actually I don’t think she’s learnt that lesson yet… I think Melinda mentioned on Twitter last night that Dawson was STILL commenting! Oh dear.
The sisterhood? Jesus. How about common decency?
I knew this election would be different. Because a woman is running for the top job. Because it’s perfectly ok to dissect her hair, her clothes, her love life, her fracking EARLOBES instead of talking about her policies. Note to you: it’s not perfectly ok. PLEASE STOP. And please stop bitching about other women while you’re at it. Bernard Keane smacks the Australian media on the wrist.
“I don’t use the internet for porn or downloading things illegally, is that such a shocking notion?”
I do use the internet for porn and for downloading things illegally. I also use it to shop, to talk to my baby niece all the way in London, to encourage people to let go of body hatred, and to connect with loads of awesome people without social paranoia (ILU twitter).
The internet has allowed me to watch shows and listen to music I never would've found otherwise. It's given me some wonderful friends. It's introduced me to fat acceptance. It's allowed me to discover new parts of my sexuality and has helped improve my sex life. It's an amazing thing.