she listens like spring

closetospring:

from her email:

last night, an arsonist torched the office of Women With a Voice, a new orleans-based organization that helps marginalized women: poor women, sex workers, women with substance abuse problems, and transgender women.  their supplies and ability to help women have been devastated, and i’ve been trying to get the word out:

http://louisianajusticeinstitute.blogspot.com/2012/05/break-in-and-arson-at-offices-of-women.html

http://wwav-no.org/arson-destroys-women-with-a-vision-office

the second link describes what happened, what donations can help them buy, and a donation link.

from her email:

last night, an arsonist torched the office of Women With a Voice, a new orleans-based organization that helps marginalized women: poor women, sex workers, women with substance abuse problems, and transgender women.  their supplies and ability to help women have been devastated, and i’ve been trying to get the word out:

http://louisianajusticeinstitute.blogspot.com/2012/05/break-in-and-arson-at-offices-of-women.html

http://wwav-no.org/arson-destroys-women-with-a-vision-office

the second link describes what happened, what donations can help them buy, and a donation link.

bb-goose:

and I just examined it now, and it has scented handles

and all I can think is

finally

I am so tired of holding a razor in my hand and smelling only plastic and the patriarchy

and now I have a fruity-smelling handle not only on my razor but also my life

(Source: svetlana-del-rey)

patchworksquares:

some feminists hate men

and considering what men do to women on a systematic daily basis they have every right to

seriously, get over it

amaditalks:

The recent illustrations of Siri, the iPhone 4S voice-recognition based assistant, failing to provide information to users about abortion, birth control, help after rape and help with domestic violence has gotten a lot of notice. Yesterday’s post with screenshots from a Twitter conversation I was a part of has netted 200+ notes the last I looked.

There have been a number of arguments, three of which compelled me. The first was “why aren’t there screenshots?” Here, you have them, in spades. The second two:

• “It’s just a phone, why do you expect it do all this?”
  Siri can answer a lot of health related questions perfectly well, why shouldn’t we expect it to be able to answer reproductive health related queries too? Why treat reproductive health as a walled-off garden that the general public can’t or shouldn’t be exposed to? It’s not simply that in some places Siri has sent people to distant anti-choice fake clinics when they’ve asked where they can get abortions (and there are providers near to them) it’s also that in some locations (including mine) Siri refuses to disclose abortion clinic locations at all. Watch:
  
  
  
  So even though there’s a clinic less than 3 miles from where I was sitting at the time, Siri couldn’t find one. Nor could Siri even define abortion. And note what’s missing: no offer to search the web. Usually when Siri can’t find an answer, there’s an offer to search the web for you, as I found when I asked about abortion counseling
  
  
  
  So Siri won’t help me find where to get an abortion or search the web for me about it, but will search the web for me to find someone who will talk to be about abortion. Huh. Odd.
  
  But what if I know the name of the clinic I’m looking for? What does Siri do then?
  
  
  
  This particular clinic’s name is unique, so much so that if you simply Google “Allegheny Reproductive” you find it, first result. (The website is alleghenyreproductive.com) But Siri is stumped. Not so with other businesses that you provide a full name for, such as:
  
  
  
  South Hills Hardware isn’t actually the name of the Hardware store, it’s South Hills True Value Home Center. But that didn’t stop Siri!
  
  But how about if we get a little more specific? City names, or even street names attached to the full and proper names of the other abortion providers in Pittsburgh?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Well, maybe the problem is that Siri just doesn’t have a good index of locations in Pittsburgh? No, I don’t think so.
  
  
  
  And as has been discussed elsewhere, it’s not just abortion. It’s birth control. You know, that stuff that 99% of American women will use in their lifetimes. (More common than gyros for certain.)
  
  
  
  No birth control clinics to be found. Okay, two questions are raised: why is Siri’s response to the keywords “birth control” mapping to a search for birth control clinics to begin with? Second: why, again, is there no option to search the web? If you search the web, incidentally, for “birth control clinic Pittsburgh” guess what you get?
  
  
  
  And if you search, more meaningfully, on Google for your express need, it’s simple to see where you should go:
  
  
  
  Siri can’t help in a situation where you need emergency contraceptives, either, a situation that is very time sensitive and when a person might want the app that’s being used to sell their phone, branded as a convenience device that’s meant to save your time, energy and provide what you need at the speaking of a sentence, to be able to help. Here’s Siri’s take on EC:
  
  
  
  Now it might be reasonable to think that “emergency contraceptive” means “emergency room” because that’s where emergencies go. But it’s not helpful. EC is available over the counter to adults, at any pharmacy (that’s willing to stock/dispense it). You don’t need or want to go to an ER for it. So while the thinking is clear, it’s wrong. And what happens if you ask for EC by it’s more colloquial name?
  
  
  
  And what if you ask for EC by its brand names?
  
  
  
  Siri can’t recognize “Plan B.”
  
  
  
  And Siri believes that “Plan B One Step” is a company, and provides a stock report. I’m not sure what PLB.AX is but it can’t help me to not get pregnant.
  
  But maybe the issue is that Siri just doesn’t understand the names of medication or where one goes to get medication. That could be beyond Siri’s programming. That’s possible, right?
  
  
  
  Nope.
  
  Overall, Siri is really limited here. There is no legitimate reason that inquiring about a business by name and with the name of the street on which its located (to a device that can pinpoint your location within meters and can use it as a starting parameter for a search) should get a response of “can’t be found” with no option to search further. There’s really no reason why it should be handling birth control requests the way that it does, and no reason why the same keyword searches on these topics give results on Google (or any other general search engine) and nothing on Siri at all.


• Another objection I saw was along the lines of “Why would you use Siri if you were raped or beaten by your husband?
  This is pretty obvious to me: maybe because if you’re hurt badly, all you might be able to do is hold down one button and say what happened to you. Nevertheless, if Siri can understand “I broke a tooth” and direct you to a dentist:
  
  Or knows what to do if you’re simply “hurt”:
  
  Then there’s no excuse for her to be a smartass about serious violence:
  
  
  
  At least somewhere in the mix of rape-related inquiries and resultant snark, Siri did sneak in an offer to search the web for me.
  
  
  
  Note, however, that Siri does know what rape is, as demonstrated by this query and response:
  
  
  
  Why the programming treats that inquiry that way (and can’t find PAAR which is 1.5 miles from where I sit) I do not know. This would be a great time to list those ERs, or perhaps even law enforcement, but apparently rape is just sexual abuse, never a medical or legal issue? I can’t begin to understand this thinking.

Is this the most terrible programming failure ever? No. Is this worth a boycott of Apple? I don’t think so. What it is, however, is a demonstration of a problem. Especially when certain topics seem to be behind a black wall where information that’s readily available online is not being “found” or presented. This is something that Apple and/or Wolfram Alpha need to address and rectify.

People have suggested that this about a lack of female programmers. I don’t think it is. One doesn’t have to be female to know that if you’re going to provide your customers with the benefit of the doubt that they’re adults and will give information on where to buy condoms, beer, the names of local escort companies and “tongue in cheek” locations for hiding a dead body, you should provide information about health clinics, especially when customers know their full names and basic locations. I don’t think you need females on your programming staff to know that a person can go to an ob/gyn for birth control, not just a “birth control clinic.” I don’t think that it’s necessary to be female to know that rape is a violent crime and that a rape victim will need a hospital and/or the police before they need a “treatment center.” This isn’t just about gender. This is about something more esoteric and far far less simple to explain.

nom-chompsky:

grumbelina:

rabblevolunteer:

thelefthandedwifeisundercover:

thusspakekate:

lucillebruise:

I mentioned earlier today that I think our Tumblr community could better discuss the Women of Harry Potter than the panel that gave today’s talk. I think you’d all agree.

What was problematic about the panel was the speakers’ unwillingness to actually DISCUSS the problems with the way JK writes women. When Reelbrains asked “How do you feel about all of the characters getting a heteronormative ending?” (family, kids, all with 2 straight parents of binary gender), they completely dismissed her and tried to gloss over it saying, “Well everyone got normalcy and a happy ending!”

WUT?

NORMAL? So apparently, a single parent or homosexual parents or deciding to be childless and happy with it is abnormal. I mean, according to these women. We tried to push it further by inquiring about the way women were treated and the way women were idolized in the wizarding world, the way they were portrayed in relation to their male counterparts, and again, they had nothing critical to say about it. I’m pretty sure they just wanted to have a circle jerk of HP appreciation.

Things really started coming to a head when I asked about how they felt about Umbridge’s “comeuppance”. The implied rape, and the use of rape as a “punishment” for someone. One of these women actually said that “if anyone deserved it, it was Umbridge”. AND THEN THEY CLOSED THE PANEL. Which sucks, of course, because people were actually getting riled up and debating about it. We overheard someone say to her friend as they left the panel “Well, now I feel really uncomfortable.” Good. I’m glad I was able to challenge your thoughts a little bit. Because let’s get down to it, no one deserves what happened to Dolores Umbridge. Not even Dolores Umbridge.

AT ANY RATE.

All the feelings were had and most were hashed out. I know you were all interested about this one, but I’m sorry to say that it fell short. It sparked some GREAT post-con conversation though!

I have SO MANY FEELINGS on the way that JK writes women and SO MANY FEELINS on the way it is defended by fans because of sheer lack of anything better.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

I JUST finished reading OotP and I don’t remember any implied rape at all. What!?

If there’s any more to that line of thought than “because that’s what centaurs used to do in classical mythology” I haven’t heard about it.

People also use the shock/PTSD she suffers (seen in St. Mungos) afterward as evidence. I can see why people go down the Umbridge rape path, but I personally don’t accept it as canon.

yeah, this part:

Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling …. Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were still bits of twigs and leaves in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.

‘Madam Pomfrey says she’s just in shock,’ whispered Hermione.

‘Sulking, more like,’ said Ginny.

‘Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,’ said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.

‘Anything wrong, Professor?’ called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.

‘No … no …’ said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows. ‘No, I must have been dreaming …’

the fact that she’s so traumatized coupled with no visible damage (and the myths) makes me definitely wonder. idk if i think that’s what jkr intended — and i rly don’t want to think about the line of thought that hermione knew that’s what would happen — but i can def see where people are coming from when they read it that way.

also that panel…. smfh