Sexism and Feminism in Geekery 12

It's been a quiet month on Galavanting Girl Books.  I apologize! NanoWriMo has been soul-consuming.  But the blog must go on!

Swedish Cinemas Give Films the Bechdel Test

The state-funded Swedish Film Institute supports the initiative, which is starting to catch on. Scandinavian cable TV channel Viasat Film says it will start using the ratings in its film reviews and has scheduled an A-rated "Super Sunday" on 17 November, when it will show only films that pass the test, such as The Hunger Games, The Iron Lady and Savages.

Many people have pointed out while it's good to consider the Bechdel Test when writing/reading/watching media, it's also not a perfect test and it's unfair to write off any movie that does not pass the Bechdel Test.  The fact that the Harry Potter films don't pass, even though personally I consider them empowering to girls, is an example of the flaw in the system.  Read more here.

Foz Meadows Gets the Worst Comments

So Fox Meadow posted a pretty epic rant about a sexist comic on Penny Arcade that boils down a television show with complicated women characters to their component body parts (aka boobs).

Shit like this is why women are routinely shut down by sexist, sizeist fucks who think that telling us we’re fat or ugly must necessarily invalidate whatever point we’re making, because if a woman isn’t conventionally pretty, then she has no right to take up space by speaking.

The post itself is pretty great, but honestly the only reason I came across it was because she had a super special sort of comment.  And I thought it was on this post, but if you look at the comment section you'll see why I'm struggling to locate it.  But, Foz put it on her tumblr so here is the comment from hell. Even if they are unconnected, both are worth sharing.

Am I sexist? I hope so. Sexist means you can observe reality. Guys and girls like different things. Girls like to infiltrate the boys’ clubs which tends to drive out the boys. Most good writers are men, and as a man, given the choice I will naturally prefer an equivalent male to a female.

Read the full post about Penny Arcade here.  Read the full weird comment here.

Joss Whedon says Some Things about Feminism

Joss Whedon, acclaimed creator of short-lived shows, gave a speech about the word feminism.  At first, a lot of people seemed pleased with the speech but it didn't sit well with others, as most "re-branding" attempts of feminism by men won't.

This is why feminists are feminists—it's why there needs to be a name. Social, political, and economic equality is not the default. The reason Whedon can stand up at the podium and say that equality is natural is because all these feminists he doesn't talk about, from Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth on up, have fought exhausting battle after exhausting, grinding battle to get to this point. "Feminist" is a movement, a history, a faith, and a hope for change—as Firestone says, "if there were another word more all-encompassing than revolution we would use it." Saying equality is natural sounds like a good thing, but Whedon uses it rhetorically to ignore the entire history of feminism.

Read more here.