Why Anger is Necessary

Kira Cochrane writes about the backlash against feminism in the Guardian. This is definitely a must-read. I wish I could wear this article for the next few weeks so that everyone I meet will read it. Here are some highlights:

On Women and Work:

{Flicking through the newspapers one day, I came across an interview with Theo Paphitis, who appears on the TV show, Dragon’s Den, as well as on the country’s Rich List each year; he is easily one of the UK’s most prominent business people. “All this feminist stuff,” he said, “are we seriously saying that 50% of all jobs should go to women?” Paphitis went on to note that women “get themselves bloody pregnant and … they always argue that they’ll be working until the day before, have the baby, go down to the river, wash it off, give it to the nanny and be back at work the following day, but sure enough, their brains turn to mush, and then after the birth the maternal instincts kick in, they take three months off, get it out of their system and are back to normal”. On the subject of paternity leave he suggested that he thinks “it’s a bit soppy”.}

On Rape:

[the rape conviction rate in Britain has plummeted from 33% in the 70s to just 5.7% today, and that the 14,000 rapes reported each year are thought to be the tip of the iceberg - Solicitor General, Vera Baird, suggested that only 10%-20% of all cases are brought to the attention of the authorities.]

[Today, with rapes at an unprecedented high (the tally of recorded rapes rose by 247% between 1991 and 2004), the number of Rape Crisis centres has almost halved - there are now only 38. This massive shortfall in services is less surprising when you consider that three of the most important women's charities in the UK - Refuge, Women's Aid and Eaves Housing for Women - all of which support female victims of violence, have a combined income considerably lower than that of The Donkey Sanctuary, a charity that supports ageing donkeys.] (emphasis mine)

On the Beauty Industry and Female Beauty Standards In General:

[The constant message is that women's bodies are not our own. They belong to everyone but us, and are there to be picked apart. Women can try to curry favour, come up to snuff, spend hours like, say, Madonna, working out, perfecting themselves. But there's then every chance that they will be derided for the veins on their hands. There's something essentially depressing about women being derided for their veins.]

Yet Another Reason Why Craigslist Rocks

I was perusing the Toronto Craigslist site, when the “Strictly Platonic” Section caught my eye. What would people post under strictly platonic? Would they post beginnings of awkward conversations? Talk about their four-year-olds incessantly? Discuss Plato’s Republic and/or the Laws? What the hell would one post under “Strictly Platonic”? I had to find out, so I ventured into the strictly platonic abyss… and found this:

“Hello,

I would like to wish everyone a happy canada day. I hope you are all out enjoying it, especially since the weather outside is pleasant enough. However, if you find yourself mind-numbingly-bored at your desk like myself, trying to space out or at most make time fly by that much faster while working away than let us giggle like schoolgirls over msn regarding the new Batman movie, how much Wall*e kicked ass or how cool it would be if there was an alien invasion planned for later this afternoon!”

I now realize that I should really be spending more time outside.