You think I just don't understand, but I don't believe you.

See here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here.

By the way, Male Violence: It’s part of the reason Women want space AWAY FROM YOU.

“Mothers don’t kill their children unless they are very ill,” said Diane Sanford, a psychologist who has written two books on postpartum depression.”They believe they are protecting their children from having a life of misery and suffering.”

“Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” ― Howard W. Hunter

“…One of the reasons so many women say “I’m not a feminist but…” (and then put forward a feminist position), is that in addition to being stereotyped as man-hating Amazons, feminists have also been cast as antifamily and antimotherhood.” ― Susan J. Douglas

“So how on earth can I bring a child into the world, knowing that such sorrow lies ahead, that it is such a large part of what it means to be human? I’m not sure. That’s my answer: I’m not sure.” ― Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. -Honoré de Balzac

The hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

-W. R. Wallace

Many months ago, my friend Phonaesthetica wrote a blog post about Women contemplating Motherhood and Mothers and their Sons. As the Mother of a Son, I enjoyed the post.

As a Mother of a Son, I am sometimes discomfited by discussions about  Male Violence or its inevitability (and I do not believe in the inevitability of Male Violence).  Discussions about Male Violence, however, are important and necessary to Women’s Liberation and we have lots of them here and here. And we need to have them, no matter how much our personal bias makes us feel uncomfortable.

This isn’t a blog post about Mothers and Sons or Male Violence. [...]

Where Men gather, Women are exploited.

And where there are Women to be exploited, there are Men who have turned to the Internet to “rate” their experiences of raping exploiting Women.

Please understand this – there are websites DEVOTED to giving Men a forum to compare their experiences of Raping Women.

You know, so Men can tell other Men how to “get value for money.”

Have you ever looked at these mongering websites? In the UK, you have PunterNet, in the US, you have the innocuously-titled USA Sex Guide.

Women, you should Believe What Men Tell Each Other.

The Invisible Men: Let’s Talk About His Choices is a 31-day project for May. Each day, the blog will feature an image of a mask with a price tag, overlayed with text extracted from PunterNet reviews. The price tag shows what he paid in that particular transaction. Extracts will cover everything from rape/racism/trafficking/exploitation of poverty/age/pimping etc.

Maybe you’re one of those people who think “Sex Work” is Empowering. You should read what punters actually think and do, and consider the choices of Men.

Follow the Project on Twitter at @invisiblechoice, and the Tumblr blog here.

Consider the choices of Men and what they tell each other.

I listen to music that is “not Feminist.” Here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I know that it is “not Feminist.” I still like it.

I eat meat, although I was a vegetarian for many years.

I drive a car.

I have a chronic medical condition.

I forget to turn off the lights sometimes when I leave a room (I do recycle, though.)

I have not yet been to the Michigan Women’s Music Festival (but I am going this year).

I buy my dogs from breeders.

I am not a fan of the Indigo Girls (even before they gave in to Trans Activists).

I think this is hilarious.

I am Female.

I am White.

I am 42.

I have given birth to two children.

I am a child of immigrant parents.

I am the only person in my immediate family to graduate from college.

I am a product of parents with Union jobs.

I am a product of middle and high school drop outs.

I am a “masculine appearing Woman.”

I have been mistaken for male my whole life in certain circumstances, even when I had long hair.

I have been in an abusive relationship.

I have been assaulted.

I come from a poor economic background.

I am now well-off financially.

Have you learned something about me?

Do you know me now?

Do you need to learn more?

Can you put me in some order?

Do we need to do this with each Human on the planet so that we can put all Humans in order of most oppressed?

(Some of these things are not like the others).

Do you see how productive this is?

I’m already bored.

Recently, in a fit of whatever rageful demons motivate her, the pseudoanonymous blogger Gallus Mag ad hominemed me relentlessly on Twitter (“coincidentally” after my lawyer sent her a letter telling her never to contact me again).

Whatever. Haters hate, trollers troll, Gallus galls.

However, she has *unwittingly* given birth to a new slur to silence Women that has sparked real conversation among Women

Let me introduce … Man Dater!

Who is a Man Dater? Well, a Man Dater is a Woman who dates Men. [...]

I recently finished the book The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker. A feminist friend suggested I read it because of the online harassment I get from Men (and Women, even from “Feminists”). I commend it to you, it’s a good read (oh and there’s a discussion of “sociopaths” in there for all of you who think I am a sociopath. Sadly, there is no discussion of mandaters or whatever other thing I am supposed to be today).

One of the messages of the book is to listen to your intuition. If someone makes your creep-dar go off, honor that (oh and also, if you think I am a creep, honor that and don’t talk to me. PLEASE). Listen to what people tell you. On the Internet, that means “Read the words that person with the My Little Pony avatar writes.” Don’t make excuses for what people say, and don’t project onto the words what you THINK a person is feeling.

Read what they say and understand what it means. [...]

Recently, a friend ran across a PowerPoint from 2009 entitled Transgender Inmates in California’s Prisons: An Empirical Study of a Vulnerable Population. The PowerPoint apparently summarizes a study that examined the significant problem of prison rape and the responsibility of prison officials under the Prison Rape Elimination Act to prevent it. No doubt, prison rape is a significant and troubling problem. No person deserves to be raped under any circumstance, and prison officials have a duty of care to ensure inmates in their custody are free from rape and other bodily harm.

Let me repeat this: No Feminist supports sexual assault of Men or Women who are incarcerated.

Ok, remember that. Let’s proceed.

The PowerPoint is not particularly well done (I don’t know about the study itself), and I am not a statistician, but a few things stand out.

First, methodology.  Dr. Valerie Jenness, the Dean of the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine and a Professor in the Departments of Criminology, Law and Society and Sociology, conducted the study, which does not seem particularly rigorous with regard to the determination of subject inclusion.  Jenness indicates that the study consisted of interviews with 315 inmates “Determined to be Transgender.”

Dr. Valerie Jenness

“Determined to be Transgender”? [...]

This is Joelle Ruby Ryan.

He’s posted student work on Facebook and invited others to mock it.

He’s also wished death on Janice Raymond.

He teaches women’s studies, yet defends a man who calls women “fish.”

I made up a new word today. It’s called transpocrisy.

Also, Joe, if you let your dog poop on a person’s lawn without picking it up, you deserve to be sprayed with a hose.

By June42. You can read more of her on her blog.

I have recently started getting involved with a radical feminist group, something I have been intending to do for a couple of years.

Part of why I have wanted to get involved is that I have found feminist thought on a number of issues (gender roles, women and the medical profession and reproduction) very useful in helping me explore and come to terms with certain aspects of Turner’s syndrome or TS.

There are serious issues around the way doctors deal with women with TS. The medical profession is still, like many professions, dominated by men. While I have experience of several female GPs, I have had very limited experience (if any) of being treated by female consultants. My treatment by male consultants has impacted how I view myself as a woman, and how consultants project a view of what is feminine onto girls and women with TS.  Feminists have been the one group who have examined the way the medical profession has treated women and how it is an inherently patriarchal profession (as most are!) [...]

All Hail Greggawatt, King of the Feminists!

Oh San Francisco, I love you, but your porny bullshit is tiresome. [...]