“We like Katniss, so we want to believe she’s important. But she isn’t a politician. She’s not a military strategist. She’s not a revolutionary thinker. She’s a survivor, and can handle a weapon, but that’s true of most soldiers. The only real value Katniss Everdeen has to the revolution is the fact that people like seeing her on television. She’s a weapon of mass sympathy; if she believes in this war, people at home will join it. And then they will die.”

And in wider, actual society:

“Taylor Swift… recently opined that ‘so many girls out there say “I’m not a feminist” because they think it means something angry or disgruntled or complaining. They picture like rioting and picketing, it is not that at all.’ Actually, it is that—rioting, picketing, and complaining, the synonym for all of these being ‘protesting,’ are pretty darn essential—but hey, who am I to stand in the way of mass appeal?” [In These Times]

Does rap have an immaturity problem? If so, Eminem’s its poster boy. [Grantland]

February 14, 2014

On the (Rest of the) Net: Galentine’s Day Edition.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged American Horror Story, Australian Women Writers Challenge, Bitch Flicks, Brad Fulchuck, child molestation, Down Syndrome, Girls, Glee, LA Review of Books, NYTimes, Ryan Murphy, Schappelle Corby, Sociological Images, Stella Prize, The Conversation, Valentine's Day, Vanity Fair, Woody Allen, Zosia Mamet ¶ Leave a comment

Vintage Valentines Day cards that glorify intimate partner violence. [Sociological Images]

The Stella Prize’s 2014 longlist is out and the Australian Women Writers Challenge has a compilation of reviews of the finalist, including two of mine.

Woody Allen responds to the 20-year-old accusations that he molested his daughter, while Vanity Fair has 10 facts from the case that put the he said, she said in perspective. [NYTimes]

Down syndrome on Ryan Murphy and Brad Fulchuck’s Glee and American Horror Story. [Bitch Flicks]

Marnie’s pretty girl problems. (Also this.) [LA Review of Books]

Supporting Schapelle Corby is not a feminist issue. [The Conversation]

Girls star Zosia Mamet gives life and relationship advice in Glamour magazine.

Image via Sociological Images.

February 7, 2014

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged Bitch Flicks, childcare, Dylan Farrow, Ellen Jacobs, Feminist Times, For a Good Time Call..., Hillary Clinton, Jezebel, lesbianism, New York City, NYTimes, pedophilia, Rihanna, Russia, Shakira, Slate, WaPo ¶ Leave a comment

I’m writing about female friendship in For a Good Time, Call… [Bitch Flicks]

One of the things that struck me during my trip to New York was the abundance of women of colour caring for white children. The movies would have you believe that most nannies are white (The Nanny Diaries, Uptown Girls, Mary Poppins) but I don’t recall seeing any. Ellen Jacobs’ photo series documents these women and their charges. [Slate]

I Kissed a Girl: Rihanna and Shakira’s faux, male gazey lesbianism. [Jezebel]

Meanwhile, Russian lesbians shouldn’t be seen. [Feminist Times]

Dylan Farrow’s side of the story. [NYTimes]

What Hillary Clinton’s possible 2016 presidential run might look like in today’s social media and political landscape. [WaPo]

Image via Bitch Flicks.

September 6, 2013

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad, Collapse Board, Columbine, consent, Daily Life, Film School Rejects, Jezebel, Ken Lay, male privilege, MamaMia, MamaMia Body Positive campaign, Monash University Student Theatre, Ms. Magazine, NYTimes, PETA, selfie, Skyler White, The Hoopla, The New Yorker, TheatrePress, veganism, Victoria Police, violence against women ¶ 2 Comments

PETA get more anti-women with each ad campaign. [Daily Life]

On favouring the internet over books. I’m a rapacious reader; if I don’t get at least an hour’s reading time in each day, I will slowly start to go insane. Some of my friends tease me ’cause it can take me up to a month or six weeks to finish a book (the most recent was Stephen King’s Under the Dome, and what a waste of two months that was!), but that’s not taking into account the copious amounts of other reading I do. On a good day, I’ll devour every article on TheVine, Daily Life, MamaMia and Jezebel, and fit in some before-bed book reading. On the weekends I can get through The Age‘s lifestyle sections, long-form articles I can’t commit to throughout the week and magazines that have been languishing on my bedside table for weeks, on top of all the rest. I read probably millions of words a week. I don’t think there’s any harm in some of those words being from the internet. These days, reading is about so much more than books. Just so long as I can get a chapter or two in every night or on the bus, I’ll take my reading where I can get it. [Daily Life]

Reading letters to Ms. magazine’s editors from the 1980s. [The New Yorker]

The rise of the Trojan Horse TV show. [Film School Rejects]

Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ken Lay, pleads with the public to view violence against women as not just a women’s issue. [The Hoopla]

I review Monash Uni Student Theatre’s production of Columbine. [TheatrePress]

Anna Gunn, the actress who plays Skyler White on Breaking Bad, weighs in on the vitriol directed at her character. [NYTimes]

Can you perform a gay anthem if you’re straight? [Jezebel]

The privileged male sexuality of “Blurred Lines”. [Collapse Board]

In defence of the make-up-free selfie. I like MamaMia‘s Body Positive campaign, but I think it’s just the concept of the selfie I’m a bit iffy about. I’m all for taking a photo of myself after exercise or of a body part that I’m self-conscious about, but I just can’t get behind selfies (so to speak). Maybe it’s also an insecurity about my face without makeup. Apart from my legs, my bare face is the body part I most struggle with. I love the structure of my face, and I think my eyes are my best feature, but I’m still sporting the scars from years of late-adolescence/early-adulthood acne which means I’m not ready to upload a make-up-free pic of myself for all the interwebs to see. Plus, I think selfies are kind of narcissistic—there’s a difference between a light-hearted holiday or dancefloor snap with friends and a duckface bathroom pic which just screams “validate me!” What do you think of the whole selfie phenomenon in general?

Some slighted feminists sick of receiving dick pics have decided to make them into an art exhibition. And that’s where the issue of consent comes in. [Daily Life]

Image via SMH.

April 26, 2013

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged AV Club, Batman killer, Bitch Flicks, Boston, Columbine, Daily Life, Douchebags of Grindr, feminism, Gabrielle Giffords, gun control, James Deen, masculinity, MasterChef, Nice Guys of OK Cupid, Nora Ephron, NYTimes, rape, Sandy Hook, sexism, slut-shaming, Spring Breakers, The Guardian, The New Enquiry, Tribeca Film Festival, Twitter, Tyler Perry, Vulture, Women's Media Centre ¶ Leave a comment

The age disparities between leading men and their love interests. [Vulture]

I’m on Twitter! Follow me @ScarlettEHarris.

Nice Guys of OKCupid has paved the way for homosexual creeps with Douchebags of Grindr.

Why was Boston “terrorism” but not Sandy Hook, Aurora or Columbine, for example? [The Guardian]

Feminist awakenings. [Daily Life]

Sexism on MasterChef. [Daily Life]

A collection of essays on Spring Breakers. [The New Enquiry]

Shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords on the recent vetoing of background checks for gun buyers by the U.S. Congress. [NYTimes]

The Tribeca Film Festival is honouring one of its female filmmakers with the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize! [Tribeca Film Festival]

If we needed a reminder of the patriarchal corners of the world women have yet to be granted entry into, there’s now a Tumblr dedicated to just that! [Boys Clubs]

How to discuss Tyler Perry without sounding racist. [AV Club]

The symptoms of and treatment for feminist burnout. [Bitch Flicks]

James Deen on gender equality and slut-shaming (NSFW). [James Deen Blog]

Gun control does not mean penis control: guns and masculinity. [Women’s Media Centre]

How much murder and rape is there on TV? [Vulture]

Image via Vulture.

March 15, 2013

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged abortion, AFL, Anne Hathaway, condoms, Daily Life, Erin Riley, feminism, Film.com, Frank L. Baum, Girls Gone Wild, gossip, Jennifer Lawrence, Jezebel, male body image, NYTimes, Oz The Great & Powerful, prostitution, Sweet Valley High, The Feminine Mystique, The Kenyon Review, The Wizard of Oz, Vice, YouTube ¶ 1 Comment

Considering Frank L. Baum was writing about Dorothy and Oz over one hundred years ago and those tales were more progressive than Oz the Great & Powerful paints a pretty bleak picture of women in Hollywood. [Film.com]

“Vale Girls Gone Wild.” [Daily Life]

Division of household labour between couples. [Jezebel]

On male vanity. [Jezebel]

Celebrity gossip as anthropological experiment: why gossiping about John Travolta’s sexual orientation, whether or not Rihanna should take back Chris Brown and Kristen Stewart’s motivations for cheating on Robert Pattinson tells us more about us as people that in does about celebrities. [YouTube]

AFL fandom: women need not apply. [Erin Riley]

Using “Abortion Humour” to destigmatise it. [Daily Life]

Is My Kitchen Rules racist? [Daily Life]

I was a Sweet Valley High ghostwriter:

“The O[xford] E[nglish] D[ictionary] says the word ‘ghostwriter’ was first used in the 1920s to mean a ‘hack’ hired to write another person’s story. OK, hack, then. So be it. But a hack-in-demand. A hack they wanted. A type-A hack, the Elizabeth Wakefield of hackdom!” [The Kenyon Review]

If you’re a woman, particularly of a minority, carrying condoms in New York City, watch out: you could be arrested for prostitution. I’d better clean out my handbag before I jet off there in October, then… [Vice]

“Anne Hathaway, Ourselves”: why Jennifer Lawrence is your cool bestie, and why you are awkward Anne. [Jezebel]

Does it really matter if you do or don’t call yourself a feminist, as long as you’re advancing feminist causes? Hmm… I still think it’s really important to call yourself a feminist if you believe in and are advancing feminist causes, because it emphasises that gender equality (hell, equality of any kind) isn’t a dirty notion. But who knows? Maybe in the future we won’t need to call ourselves feminists because everything we’re working for will just be part of daily life… [Jezebel]

The Feminine Mystique, 50 years on. [NYTimes]

Image via Ace Showbiz.

January 25, 2013

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged Alan Jones, Alecia Simmonds, American Horror Story, Andrew Bolt, Arab Spring, Barbie, breastfeeding, bystander effect, Chris Brown, Daily Life, feminism, Hurricane Sandy, intimate partner violence, Jezebel, Kasey Edwards, Lena Dunham, Miss America, NYTimes, Occupy protests, race, Reclaim the Night, reproductive rights, Return of Kings, Rihanna, Roe VS. Wade, Show Your Vagina, Slate, SlutWalk, TheVine, Vogue ¶ Leave a comment

To pay tribute to the emergency and service personnel who helped in Hurricane Sandy, Vogue does a fashion spread inspired by the superstorm. Naturally. [Daily Life]

Apparently young Australians just aren’t into protesting the injustices we face today. Um, hello? Reclaim the Night, the Occupy movement, SlutWalk, the Arab Spring… all activist events started by Gen Y on social media which encouraged Time magazine to name the Protestor as its 2011 Person of the Year. Writer Alecia Simmonds does make a fair point that Aussies are particularly apathetic towards causes, but her assertion that online petitioning, blogging and social media doesn’t compare to on-the-ground activism kind of undercuts fellow Daily Life columnist Kasey Edwards’ argument last week that “Big social changes don’t just happen… Social and cultural change evolves out of a meandering path of small victories. Seeds need to be planted and ground needs to be fertilised.”

The latest trend in labiaplasty: the Barbie, in which the entire labia minora is cut out. [Jezebel]

And, in an attempt to counteract the alarming trend of wanting your vulva to look like a plastic doll’s, check out this (NSFW) Tumblr, Show Your Vagina.

What is it about our twenties that make us who we are? [Slate]

Miss America and race. [NYTimes]

Is freedom of speech overrated? Personally, I think so, as it allows those with abhorrently narrow-minded views to spill hate speech. This article makes the observation that free speech only seems to be defended when people like Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt put their foot in their mouth. [Daily Life]

Lena Dunham thinks that perhaps Rihanna should have been the one to sing “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” to Chris Brown. [TheVine]

American Horror Story: feminist or anti-feminist? [Jezebel]

Jane Roe—of Roe v. Wade fame, which had its 40th anniversary this week—ain’t what she used to be: now she’s an anti-choicer. [Vanity Fair]

Glee‘s Puck is a rapist, allegedly. [TheVine]

Nine of the ugliest feminists. [Return of Kings]

Breast feeding-shaming. [Daily Life]

A photojournalist documents an abusive relationship. Should she have stood by and photographed an incident of domestic violence or does her work portray an important aspect of lower socio-economic partnerships “unflinchingly”? [Fotovisura, Kiwiana (Inked)]

Image via Daily Life.

January 18, 2013

On the (Rest of the) Net.

By Scarlett Harris ¶ Posted in On the (Rest of the) Net, On the Net ¶ Tagged allisms, atheism, Australian Women Writers Challenge, Beyonce, Bret Easton Ellis, cosmetic surgery, Daily Life, Disney princes, Disney princesses, Girls, GQ, James Deen, Jezebel, Kelly Osbourne, Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Little Monsters, NYTimes, Paul Schrader, rape culture, Sharon Osbourne, South Korea, The Canyons, The King's Tribune, victim-blaming, Wronging Rights ¶ Leave a comment

Here’s what happens when Lindsay Lohan is cast alongside James Deen in Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Schrader’s The Canyons. [NYTimes]

Do you keep a “list”? You know the one… [Jezebel]

For the perils of Disney princesses; let’s examine the damaging notion of the Disney Prince. [allisms]

How about instead of responding to rape culture with the view that women should be more careful, what can men do to make our society safer from sexual violence? [Wronging Rights]

Gender disparity and front page news. [The King’s Tribune]

In defence of Girls’ “ugly sex”. [Daily Life]

Dissecting Beyonce’s interview with GQ in which she admonishes the gender pay gap and the fact that men determine what’s feminine and sexy, but is posing in a decidedly male-gazey, feminine and sexual way on its cover. Hmm… [Daily Life]

Are you sick of the lack of books published and reviewed by women? Then enter the Australian Women Writers Challenge in a bid to make a difference.

Why are South Korean women so obsessed with cosmetic surgery? [Jezebel]

Well here’s a convoluted catfight between Kelly Osbourne and Lady Gaga: Gaga’s Little Monsters have apparently been cyberbullying Kelly, which she mentioned in an interview, which prompted Gaga to write an open letter to Kelly. Then Sharon Osbourne got involved… [LittleMonsters, Facebook]

What it’s like to raise an atheist 7-year-old. [Jezebel]

Image via E! Online.

June 1, 2012