Tag Archives: sexuality

Queereka and Myths About Trans Women

4 Jan

Skepchick has a new sister site, Queereka, which looks like it’s going to be exciting. From their About page:

Queereka is a place for skeptics and nonbelievers who are interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues. We seek to promote the inclusion of LGBTQ topics, voices and individuals in the skeptic and secular community and movement, promote rational and evidence-based approaches to LGBTQ topics, encourage critical thinking about gender and sexuality, and combat misinformation and mistaken pseudoscientific, superstitious, biased, religious, irrational, unsubstantiated or bigoted beliefs about LGBTQ topics, lives, individuals and experiences.

I highly recommend checking it out; although there isn’t a whole lot to see just yet, you can sign up for their RSS feed, follow them on Twitter, and like them on Facebook.

I’m particularly interested in reading the Perspectives column, which plans to examine queer genders and sexualities from an anthropological/historical/cross-cultural standpoint, but I’ve already learned some things from a pair of posts on 13 Myths and Misconceptions About Trans Women. Part One was posted at Skepchick, and Part Two is over at Queereka. Both seem worth a read, and there is some interesting discussion going on in the comments as well.

It’s good to see a space like Queereka being built in the skeptic community, which so often fails to address these sorts of issues, and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow.

Looking for Great Movies for Kids

27 Dec

Margot Magowan at the Ms. Magazine blog has a list of 14 questions to ask when choosing a movie for your kids:

  1. Is the movie titled for a male star?
  2. Is the movie centered around the quest of a male?
  3. Are the females in the movie helping the male achieve his goal?
  4. Which character goes through a transition?
  5. What is the ratio of males to females? Main roles? Crowd scenes?
  6. What are the females wearing? Does their clothing expose belly buttons and other body parts?
  7. How many lines do the female characters have?
  8. How many of the females’ lines have to do with what they’re wearing, what they look like, romantic relationships, or shopping?
  9. How many of the males refer to the females only in reference to romance and how they look?
  10. How do the females in the movie interact with each other? Do they interact at all?
  11. How are female friendships depicted in the movie? Are there any?
  12. Is a female character rescued by a male character?
  13. Does a female character make a rescue?
  14. What heroic acts or acts of bravery do the female characters perform?

I think this is a great start, especially as the mother of an 8-year-old daughter. Continue reading 

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