Because when you can start out a links list on sex and gender with an xkcd comic like this, why wouldn’t you?

Since this is the cleaning-up-my-feeds-from-Oregon edition, this is gonna just be authors, titles and selected quotes folks. I’m trying to get my blogging feet under me again (not to mention my work feet, in-school feet, and domestic-life feet), so posts might be a little more sluggish than usual in the coming weeks. Maybe even the next few months, depending on work schedules and how the writing of my thesis (eek!) goes, so bear with me. I promise I’ll try not to disappear entirely. But the one-a-day rate I’ve been posting this past six months will probably not be possible in the immediate future.

Amanda Hess @ The Sexist | Deconstructing Rape Myths: On Short Skirts (On Lesbians). “If she’s out in a same-sex couple that’s perceived as insufficiently feminine, she’ll get negative attention. If she’s out in a same-sex couple that’s perceived as fuckable by the standards of some heterosexual male passerby, she’ll get negative sexual attention.”

Amanda Marcotte @ Pandagon | Women chasing, men running. “suggesting that couples that are living together are generally stuck in the she’s chasing/he’s running mode doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Amanda Hess @ The Sexist | College Sex Columnist on Masturbation, Money Shots, and Scandalized Grandmothers. “Over the past couple of months, Hill has heard from the haters (‘Can you tell me how talking about masturbating is ‘progress’ in female journalism?’), lovers (‘THIS ROCKS SO MUCH’), and one student who wrote in opposing Hill’s column because her grandmother read it one time and became overwhelmed by the column’s impolite subject matter. Seriously.

Thomas @ Yes Means Yes | Review: Guyland. “I don’t think Kimmel’s assertions about Guyland bear being generalized. But as long as I read them as critiques of a subculture, of Dude/Bro, I thought they were very good.”

Also by Thomas @ Yes Means Yes | Affirmative Consent as Legal Standard? “If two people lean in to kiss each other at the same time and stick their tongues in each other’s mouths, I think we can be pretty clear on consent.” (Long and complex, but worth reading if you care about how to support better legal and cultural expectations about consensual sex).

Natasha Curson @ The Guardian | Trans people still miss out on equality. “If you were to decide, for your own comfort and wellbeing, that you wanted to present at work as one gender two days a week, and another for the rest of the week, the law does not provide for you, and only the most enlightened of employers are likely to support you. But why shouldn’t someone be able to do that, if they feel comfortable enough with themselves to want to be visible?”

Susie Bright @ Susie Bright’s Journal | My Little Runaways – What You Won’t See in the Movie. “Let me make something clear that the movie only hints at: The Runaways band would not have happened, could not have been conceived, without the Underground Dyke Punk Groupie Slut culture that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to the bowels of Orange County.”

Greta Christina @ The Blowfish Blog | Some Evolving Thoughts About Weight and Sex. “A huge amount of my libido right now is focused on the changes my body is going through, and the ways it’s different from what it was before. Which is understandable: things that are in flux get more attention than things that are in relative stasis. But this has had the unfortunate effect of making me feel weirdly disconnected from my body and my sexuality of the past.”

Rebecca @ The Thang Blog | Talking to highschoolers (about being trans). “I did have one student ask, ‘So, if you did get…the surgery, and you like women…how would you have sex after?’ One of the other students waved her fingers in front of his face, which made me laugh.”

Roxann MtJoy @ Women’s Rights Blog | Panel Says Pregnant Women Don’t Have the Right to Refuse Surgery. “Personally, I would think that since a pregnant woman is still a human being, she should still have all of the rights of any other human being in this country. I would be wrong.”

Chloe @ Feministing | Pretty ugly: Can we please stop pretending that beautiful women aren’t beautiful? “So, what does it mean when even the ‘ugly’ women on our screens are conventionally beautiful? Firstly, it means that the bar for female beauty is being set higher than ever: if Tina Fey, Lea Michele and America Ferrera are ‘ugly,’ what hope is there for the rest of us? It also means that we’re being told one thing and sold another.”

Ashley Sayeau @ Salon | Help! My Daughter’s a Girly Girl. “I would never have imagined that I would essentially live in the Disney palace, forced by my daughter to talk in “a handsome voice” and mostly about getting married or mopping the kitchen. “Cinderella loves tidying up!” she frequently proclaims.”

Courtney E. Martin @ The American Prospect | A Manifesta Revisited. “They made it okay to be feminist and funny (this had always been the case, of course, but I’d been duped).”

Tracy Clark-Flory @ Salon | Sexual shame is so hot right now. “As I see it, young women have fully proved that we can have one-night stands, hear us roar — and maybe we’re beginning to also allow ourselves more nuanced feelings about our hookups.”

Marty Klein @ Sexual Intelligence | Court Finally Limits Persecution of Teen Sexuality. “These parents are heroes for insisting that the government doesn’t own their kids’ bodies or sexuality.”

Hadley Freeman @ The Guardian | Why everyone deserves to go to their high school prom. “When McMillen protested, saying “I won’t pretend ‘I’m not gay’ and brought in the lawyers, the school cancelled the prom. ‘Thanks for ruining my senior year,’ one classmate sneered.”

S @ The F-word | Painful Vagina? Your Poor Husband! “I am convinced that a young man of my age, complaining of serious sexual dysfunction and pain, would not have been treated in the same way. Firstly because in an otherwise healthy young male, loss of sexual function would rightly be seen as devastating (whereas for me it was treated as a mild difficulty), and furthermore because I do not think these doctors would assume a man was being ‘over-emotional’ or was suffering from a psychological problem rather than a physical one.”

G.L. Morrison @ SexIs | Labels and Street Signs: Navigating Gender & Orientation in the Global Village and Cyber-ghettos. “Should I define myself (gender and orientation) by what I am, what I am doing, who I am doing it with? If I were sleeping with multiple men or looking for male partners I would call myself bisexual (though I wouldn’t believe it) to protect other lesbians from the advances of men wanting to be ‘the next exception to the rule.'”

Amanda Hess @ The Sexist (can you tell she’s my new blog crush?) | Why Rape Isn’t One Big Misunderstanding. “Researchers then asked the men how they know when a woman is refusing sex. The men indicated that women also often rely on body language and euphemism to relay their lack of consent. Interestingly, even though the men professed to favoring the exact same tactics, they attributed these devices to the way that ‘women are.'”

Greta Christina @ The Blowfish Blog | Closeted Politicians and Bi Invisibility. “It’s occurring to me that it might make more sense to talk about right-wing homophobic politicians who are secretly having sex with same-sex partners . . . instead of talking about right-wing homophobic politicians who are secretly gay.”

Amanda Hess @ The Sexist (see?) | Fucking While Feminist, With Jaclyn Friedman. “A couple of guys were shocked that I like to play various games in bed, because I’m a feminist. That’s always really interesting to me. I’m always like, ‘Are you kidding me? The feminists I know are the craziest women in bed you can find!’ Those are the moments where I feel like a one-woman feminist PR machine.”

And before this post gets more unwieldy than it already is, I leave you with Shaker Maud @ Shakesville | On Being a Woman, Not a “Female.” “Referring to women as ‘females’ defines them solely in terms of gender, denying them any other attributes of personhood, and specifically denies them womanhood, marking that as a condition which is the speaker’s to confer or withhold based on their list of qualifications.”

This’ll be your last Sunday Smut list until I return from Oregon, so watch for no. 15 to appear on March 28th. In the interim, you’ll be on your own when it comes to the latest sex and gender related gossip in the blogosphere.

This week, to start us off, we have dueling videos: made-of-awesome and made-of-misogyny (not to mention misandry). On the pro-side we have a “That’s Gay!” segment posted by lisa @ Sociological Images that lampoons the discomfort surrounding Johnny Weir’s appearance at the Olympic games (“is Johnny Weir too gay for figureskating? . . . Wait. Is that even possible?”). On the con side, we have a PSA video produced by the socially conservative sexuality education organization SexReally posted by Jos @ Feministing (and just about every other feminist blog). It indulges in a whole host of harmful stereotypes, not the least of which is the idea that all men are sexual animals whom women must protect themselves from via safer sex practices.

Elsewhere, SKM @ Shakesville shares Johnny Weir’s response to critics (web video + partial transcript).

There’s been a lot of talk this week about the current state of sexism in popular culture, and how certain practices are being marketed to women as feminist when, possibly they aren’t all that different from traditional notions of how “nice girls” ought to feel and behave. Susan J. Douglas @ In These Times asks whether sexism is being sold to women as “empowerment”; Jessica Grose @ Slate’s DoubleX muses about cycles of slut shaming and the powerful cultural taboos over casual sex (Rachel @ The Feminist Agenda weighs in); Lucy Mangan @ The Guardian musters a quality rant on how Helen Fielding and her character Bridget Jones “destroyed my 20s”; and finally, Charlotte Raven @ The Guardian reviews several new books of feminism and culture, and suggests that it’s time for more women to become re-politicized about their position in society: “In the 50s, as now, the early gains of feminism had been squandered by a generation who thought it unglamorous and inhibiting.”

A new report shows that sexually-active Americans know alarmingly little about pregnancy prevention and how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections. Amie Newman @ RhReality Check reports the cold, hard facts, while Amanda Hess @ The Sexist offers us sex ed, Microsoft Paint edition.

Over @ The Lesbian Lifestyle, goldstardyke announced the winners of this years Lezzie Awards in blogging; of the blogs I follow, Feministing.com won in the category of Best Lesbian Feminist/Political Blog and Essin’ Em’s Sexuality Happens was a Runner Up in the category of Sex/Short Story/Erotica.

Congratulations are also due to Samhita @ Feministing, who has been chosen by the members of Feministing’s collective as the first to fill the rotating position of Executive Editor.

Cara @ The Curvature offers a powerful and scathing analysis of the recent report on sexual assault on college campuses and the continued failure of officials to respond meaningfully or create a climate in which victims of sexual violence are willing to come forward and report. Her argument is nuanced and worth digesting in full, but a few choice quotations (bold emphasis mine):

This idea that some rapes are Really Bad Rapes, and other rapes are Eh, Not That Big of a Deal Rapes, is incredibly damaging — especially when the only kinds of rapes that count as Really Bad Rapes are the kinds that are the least common — and also incredibly pervasive. Some rapes are more violent than others, but the bottom line is that rape is rape.

Saying that there are “middle” rape cases, that involve miscommunication and mutual intoxication, first of all, is patently false. Rape does not occur because of “miscommunication” — it just doesn’t. It occurs because of one party’s decision to ignore, disengage from, and/or reject communication. The idea that there are hoards of rapists out there “accidentally” raping is absurd on its face. But even if it was true, it results in a no less responsible rapist. If you don’t want to rape someone, you make sure that the other party is enthusiastically and meaningfully consenting. If you fail to do that and rape someone, there was no accident involved — just the likely and logical outcome of a conscious choice to disregard the bodily autonomy and safety of another person.

. . .

Here is where the overarching problem with schools’ disciplinary procedures, as well as the problem with how we as a society evaluate rape in general, comes to light. We spend more time looking at how the rapist thought about the event, rather than what the rapist actually did. We spend more time thinking about how the rapist might have meant things differently, rather than looking at the violence and oppression the rapist actually enacted. And we give more credence to the rapist’s intent than to the victim’s trauma and sense of violation.

And there can simply be no justice for rape victims when the first order of business is always to consider how the rapist feels.

Read the entire post at The Curvature.

Also (sadly) in the annals of rape culture Melissa McEwan @ Shakesville reports on a columnist who claims women joggers who desire solitary exercise are asking to be raped and murdered.

The Women’s Collections Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists reports that the awesome Women and Social Movements online collection is free for the month of March in celebration of women’s history month.

While Heather Corinna conducts a study on attitudes and experiences of casual sex, Sady and Amanda @ The Sexist ask is hook-up culture eating our brains?

Via SFSignal (thanks to Hanna for the tip), Lambda Literary announces a new webzine devoted to book reviews, author interviews and more.

And finally, a slightly dated (from last August) post from mlawski @ Overthinking It making the case that Strong Female Characters ™ are actually detrimental to the feminist cause. I should note that this post prompted a lively discussion in our household due to the classification of Leia in Star Wars as a modified Damsel in Distress ™. Hanna argues that mlawski is cherry-picking examples and thus destroying her case; I bow to Hanna’s mastery of the history of genre film in general and Star Wars in particular while maintaining that mlawski’s identification of a trend and its weaknessness is still valid. I leave it to my readers to decide for themselves.

*image credit: painting of sleeping nude by afewfigsstudio @ Flickr.com

Just links this week folks . . . ran out of oomph to provide commentary.

Can You Get Sexuality Info at the Library? | Charlie Glickman @ the Good Vibrations Blog.

Sexually Confused | Zoe Margolis @ The Guardian.

But Women Don’t Rape (about female-on-male sexual assault) | Rachel Hills @ Feministe.

When Rapists Graduate and Victims Drop Out | Amanda Hess @ The Sexist.

“A Culture of Indifference”: Report on Campus Sexual Assault Reveals Inaction Taken by Schools, Education Department | Vanessa @ Feministing.

Our Addiction to Tiger Woods’ “Sex Addiction” | Marty Klein @ Sexual Intelligence.

How *not* to write about sex addiction | Amanda Marcotte @ Pandagon.

Surrogacy: The Next Frontier for Reproductive Justice | Miriam Perez @ RhRealityCheck.

Worried About Women of Color? Thanks, But No Thanks, Anti-Choicers. We’ve Got It Covered | Miriam Perez @ RhRealityCheck (’cause why not link the Radical Doula twice when you can?)

How childbirth caused my PTSD | Taffy Brodesser-Akner @ Salon

“What does a feminist mother look like?”: 2 of 2 | Molly @ first the egg.

Our Labia Look Just Fine, Thanks: Part III | BeckySharper @ The Pursuit of Harpyness.

Is Saying “I’m Gay” Offensive? | Toni Infanti @ Feminist Law Professors.

Gay Relationships & the US Census | Charlie Glickman @ the Good Vibrations Blog.

Gay Mafiosi and Group Marriage Monotheists: Sex, “Caprica,” and a Changing World | Greta Christina @ The Blowfish Blog.

Lady Gaga sports a strap-on | Jessica @ Feministing.

Cyndi Lauper & Lady Gaga Go Off Script, Discuss Safe Sex On GMA | Margaret Hartmann @ Jezebel.

which leads for obvious reasons to…

Homophobia and the Olympics & Johnny Weir, you’re awesome | Amanda @ Feminist Musings by a Christian Woman.

*image credit: Figure Skating Johnny Weir 2009 NHK Trophy made available by ando.miki @ Flickr.com

The award for best critical book review this week goes to Ashley Sayeau @ The Guardian writing on Laurie Gottleib’s Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr Good Enough. She gets points for historical analysis (“The book’s jacket claims this is all new – the author, it states, has said “the unthinkable” – but of course nothing could be farther from the truth”) as well as attempts at finding a kernel of worth in an otherwise painfully anti-feminist screed (“This is frustrating for many reasons, but especially because Gottlieb’s subject – the question of compromise in modern relationships – actually deserves attention, just not of the sort she gives it”).

Bianca M. Velez @ RhRealityCheck wonders about the wisdom of consent laws which dictate to young women whom they can and cannot consent to sexual relationships with in Consenting to Sex: Yes, No, Maybe?

PhDork @ The Pursuit of Harpyness blogs about how olympic “human interest” reporting has subjected female athletes to shaming comments about their body weight and health in Female Olympians are Fat!(TW).

Ann Bartow @ Feminist Law Professors highlights the official opening of the Feminist Theory Papers at Brown University’s Pembroke Center. I seriously considered applying for a year-long processing position with the FTP a couple of years ago, and they are definitely on my watchlist as an Archive I would love to work with/at someday.

My “new blog” discovery of the week (well, one of them: the list of feeds on Google Reader is getting scary long!) was Sex and the Ivy, authored by Lena Chen. On said blog, I found this delicious analysis of a talk given last November by faux feminist Christina Hoff Sommers on why modern feminism has supposedly failed. I have a sick fascination with people who look at the world and see the things I believe are amazingly awesome as a sign of deep pathology.

Kinda like this guy (and his audience), posted by Melissa McEwan @ Shakesville who seem to believe that courses in feminist theory that incorporate issues of race and class are . . . antidiversity?

(Speaking of Melissa McEwan @ Shakesville, this week she also posted a thoughtful critique of the assumption that it takes having kids to become a family.)

Thanks to Sex and the Ivy I also discovered a couple of older (2005) blog posts on the subject of sex-positivity and pornography which I enjoyed reading. One is by Susie Bright @ Susie Bright’s Journal in which she responds to a Slate.com book club discussion of Pornified and Female Chauvinist Pigs which took place in 2005 involving Wendy Shalit (another faux feminist whom I find it easy to fixate upon), Meghan O’Rourke, and Laura Kipnis. The other is one of Laura Kipnis’ contributions to said bookclub discussion in which she points out that “people may like making their own preferences into norms, but that’s a bit monstrous in itself.” Well said, Ms. Kipnis. Read the whole thing over at Slate.

MandyG @ Feministing Community cross-posted an op-ed by Nancy Willard, Sexting: A Rational Approach, which discusses the adult hysteria over adolescents engaged in the exchange of self-created sexual images online.

A Georgia bill revives tired stereotypes about connections between family planning and eugenics. Planned Parenthood’s Kelley Robinson @ RhRealityCheck points out that, far from “targeting” minority women for abortions, clinics like Planned Parenthood are often the only sites where minority women are offered affordable reproductive healthcare.

Cara Kulwiki (of The Curvature) comments @ The Guardian on the results of a recent study showing that women are more likely then men to blame victims of rape for their assault. “When we say that women are less “forgiving” of rape victims, we ignore that being raped is not something for which one needs to be forgiven. And while being blamed for your own rape is an incredibly traumatising experience, we forget in this discussion that there would be no victim to blame if there wasn’t a rapist committing assault first.”

And just so we’re not ending on that important yet not exactly uplifting note, I will end this thread by introducing you to the mind-bending concept of cupcakes for men. You didn’t know cupcakes were a girly thing? Click through and gwen @ Sociological Images will enlighten you.

*image credit: Life Drawing by henrybloomfield @ Flickr.com. Thanks to Hanna this week for selecting the featured picture.