March 2012
Site notice: break time
Hey everyone, I have a week off of work so I’m going on a train to Amsterdam with my friend tonight, and then I’m flying to London. Probably not going to be online much or at all for the next week. See you all in a bit :P
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Anonymous asked: I just wanted to say that Disney's Peter Pan was my first exposure to racism. I think I was about six. Anyway, I remember dancing around and whooping like the Lost Boys and Tigerlily did, and my mother said, "---, don't do that, that's racist" and a few days later bought me a book about the histories and cultures of indigenous American peoples so I could learn actual facts...
carakalikimaka asked: I've been taking modern Chinese culture and lit. courses for the past two years now, and one thing I've been noticing since then is the stereotypical way Americans portray Chinese or Asians. Even supposedly educated people at my college fall into this trap of thinking everyone in China is so oppressed. Either the Chinese are scary people waiting to take us over or poor, oppressed people...
Anonymous asked: no, it's fine. i didn't know the context it just really looked like derailing into cis crap even though that wasn't what the topic was. it's common in feminism.
Anonymous asked: no, but the gender dynamics you described are cis dynamics
Anonymous asked: did you really just derail that into talking about cis gender dynamics
Anonymous asked: I shudder everytime someone uses "biological" to describe cisgender-ness. Really, there are millions of sites out there that take your hand and explain exactly why that phrasing is hella offensive.
Anonymous asked: On the beauty pageant thing, I'd say that prior to her surgery, she was biologically a man, but since she has now had the surgery, she's biologically a woman. But besides that, I've seen her bikini pictures and nothing would tell me she was anything but a 'natural' woman. So even if she had been born with a vagina, it's awful of the judges to question that. Imagine if...
josephurgolookingatthings asked: RE: The Miss Universe thing. Her name is Jenna Talackova. She entered the Miss Universe Canada competition as female, as she identifies as female (and therefore is female). She is a trans* woman and has undergone gender reassignment surgery. On request of one of the judges, she was questioned about her gender. She admitted to being trans* and having undergone surgery and disqualified on the...
Anonymous asked: Would you say that American films makers (including Disney's) have a habit of "othering" white non-Americans, e.g. Russians often being spies/antagonists, English people being posh and proper, etc? I'm not putting this on a par with racism/sexism in films, as it's obviously not much of an issue, however it seems to give some Americans a naive view of the world. Thoughts?
Anonymous asked: what do you think about the miss universe contestant being disqualified for being a "transgender" woman? and is it accurate to call her transgender when she underwent gender reassignment surgery? also, even though people say she's biologically a man, do people have the right to decide what sex, as well as gender, they are? i'm new to issues over gender identity and sexuality so...
penguinsledding asked: Hi! I was hoping you could talk a little bit about your opinion on Cinderella's personality. A lot of people say that she didn't have any, and the only thing required to push the plot forward was that she was pretty. There are others who say that her optimism, determination, and how she dealt with adversity were a large part of her movie. (They often quote the "They CAN'T order...
makiruz asked: I had read somewhere (it wasn't a very reliable source, so don't quote me on this) that Naveen was design as racially ambiguous to avoid both claims that "Disney hates interracial relationships" (if they had a black prince) and that "Disney doesn't think a black man is worthy of being a prince" or something to that effect (which happened anyway). Again I...
waltdisneyconfessions asked: I just wanted to say that I hope everyone enjoyed the interview, and I hope people came away with a better, or at least more clear, opinion of us mods! /Jen
Anonymous asked: Um, I'm pretty sure you can because I've done it myself. Just go in to edit your post, click wherever in the text you want the cut, and click the little button in the row of text formatting (bold, italic, etc.) that looks like two pieces of paper with dashed lines between. To the person who replied to the post with my ask: I'm well-aware of the j&k shortcuts and use them heavily...
Anonymous asked: It would be really super great if you could put long posts behind a read more cut. It takes a painfully long time to scroll the dashboard on mobile otherwise, and I don't always have the time to read through the whole post then and there.
autumn-and-eve:
thewordisnerd:
I want to know why you think feminism applies only to white women, or women of a certain class. Feminism means different things for different people, and sneering at feminism and gender equality is as narrow-minded as sneering at the movement for trans* equality.
There you go comparing feminism to other shit again Have you read anything about racism in feminism...
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I spent a long time getting together and formatting that interview with the walt disney confessions mods post, so you better like it or else!
OR ELSE NO REVIEWS EVER
Jk but really
read it up! You’ll like it.
It has a lot of feminism+disney things… ;)
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An Interview with the Walt Disney Confessions...
As a Disney Feminism blog, I’ve reblogged many posts from the Walt Disney Confessions tumblr site, which is set up as a submitted collection of anonymous Disney related confessions. People often get into very heated and involved debates over the different topics this site covers, and a lot of the posts have served as a good starting point for discussing how societal issues play out in...
guesswhoranoffwiththemilkman asked: Well, I ask because the Disney Princesses, in regards to their movies, pose a particular challenge and have a set of restrictions that other movies don't. These aren't embedded restrictions, but they have been repeated over and over again in these "fantasy" movies and I don't think they're likely to go away anytime. For example, the heroine is usually 16-20 years old,...
Anonymous asked: Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but according to a Baby Names database, the origin of "Naveen" is Indian (Sanskrit).
guesswhoranoffwiththemilkman asked: Do you think-- as a feminist-- that Disney should stop doing princess movies, then? Because, with the exception of Enchanted, you seem to view them as problematic. Which, for the most part, they are.
Anonymous asked: What race/ethnicity is Naveen supposed to be, or is it supposed to be ambiguously "exotic"?
More Dorothea Lasky
thepianofarm:
Erica Fabri was posting poetry resources on her twitter today and I came across this poem the other week here and been wanting to share it. Guess it’s just a Dorothea Lasky kinda day. SUch a wondrous and heartbreaking poem.
JAKOB by Dorothea Lasky
I am sick of feeling I never eat or sleep I just sit here and let the words burn into me I know you love her And don’t love me ...
Anonymous asked: To be fair, there are only 10 official disney princesses, and out of those 4 are minorities, it does pretty well represent the racial make up of the united states, with the exception of a latino princess.
mizzling-in-disney:
waltdisneyconfessions:
“Kids today are missing out on “Song of the South”! It is one of the most wonderful movies Disney has ever created. It teaches about family loyalty, about friendship, about how violence is never the answer, and about how brains are much better than brawn. There’s nothing racist about the movie, it’s a period piece!”.
*headdesks*
Okay, listen....
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so this interview with walt disney confessions mod is pretty long to read though but also, I think, pretty interesting and references a lot of the topics I cover in this blog in general, so I’m excited to post it soon! Just waiting to hear back about some minor detail stuff as far as which names/links are okay to post.
I contacted a few mods but only got definitive interview replies...
notafuckisgiven asked: Hey there, I'm doing a speech for one of my classes on the effect that disney has had on children and i was wondering if you could direct me to any websites about it. Thank you in advance if you can. :)
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posing: not always neutral
I won’t have a lot of time today probably, but here is a link to a piece on Sociological Images (which is an awesome blog that I recommend to you all. It is just great). “Gender Ideology in Size Charts“ (also check out the earlier blog on the same subject it links to, which the below image will be from)
Excerpt:
“When we see this kind of gendered posing in drawings...
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one of the questions in my homework says to (in german, obviously) look up the number of a local doctor and dentist near me and give them a call, and then ask them what hours they’re open and if I have to make an appointment etc. Noot doing that question! “Oh no I don’t actually want to make an appointment, I’m just using up your time so that I can fill out a section on...
Anonymous asked: Can you make posts on your blog however the fuck you want to, please?
“America’s measurement of me has lain like a barrier across the realization of my...”
– Audre Lorde in “Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger (via daniellemertina)
Anonymous asked: On average, how often do you answer questions privately versus publicly? Discounting anons, of course.
Anonymous asked: Can you keep your personal posts on a different/personal blog, please?
ladylemonade4ever asked: Thank you so much for creating this blog, I've only just recently been investigating feminism and how it relates not just to me personally but other facets of society, I swear I learn something new every day! Thanks to people like you who spread awareness about all sorts of issues (and not just about feminism specifically) I think I have evolved more as a well-rounded person who can hold her...
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powerbottomcas asked: Um, would you say that when it comes to things like trans* issues, it would probably be best to ask someone how they prefer to be identified before referencing anything? Just because of the whole 'some people are cool with this term and some aren't' thing? Or would that be kind of odd? ;A;
Anonymous asked: I can tell that you're trying to get away from this discussion at this point, but let me just add that my partner is trans*, and she has always said that the constant shifts in terminology just alienates more people who would be supportive of the cause - at this point she doesn't keep up with the new terms or the community. Of course, she shouldn't represent every trans* individual,...
theoceanandthesky asked: i am cis, so please excuse me if i am speaking over anyone, but my understanding is that CAFAB AND CAMAB is appropriative of intersex vocabulary and the proper terms are DFAB AND DMAB (designated female/designated male)
brogigayo said: feministing has pulled a lot of racist and transphobic stuff in the past. i don’t know how they are now but i wouldn’t recommend them
In the past, before I got to it for the most part, I’ve heard about that. I don’t disagree that it happened, but I think they’ve made a real effort to listen to the criticism and change, which is not true of all of the...
feministpixar asked: Oh, I'm just a tad late for the party, but I'm definitely always willing to discuss trans*-related issues and terminology! I'm just one guy, and can't absolutely speak for everyone (thankfully, haha) but I do make a point to look at a lot of trans* blogs and do a lot of reading. It's a topic I'm pretty familiar with both socially and personally, and I'm always up...
wholelottadicks asked: um, i dont know where that person got their information, but the part that was appropriated from the intersex community was the word "assigned", because originally it referred to literal surgical assignment. an easy replacement to refer to social "assignment" that did not involve surgery is "designated", as in DFAB, DMAB, etc.
brogigay0 asked: wow okay this entire discussion is making me incredibly uncomfortable. no, you absolutely do not need an ask a trans* person button. i know that was a joke but it was weird and tokenizing
Anonymous asked: As a transman myself, I have to say that navigating the terminology that goes along with all this business can be a bit nebulous and confusing. There's no real primer for WHAT IT IS TO BE TRANS* and all the folks I know (myself included) had to learn about the words to use and such from all these scattered websites and forums, and because of that everyone reached different conclusions about...
148km asked: Since we're on the subject, thought I'd chime in... I don't want to speak for intersex people since I'm not intersex but there are those who feel that using CAMAB/CAFAB to refer to non-intersex trans* people is appropriative of an intersex experience, where oftentimes the intersex individual undergoes palpable coercion (surgery, intimidation as reinforcement, etc.) from birth...
Anonymous asked: I don't want to bog down your blog with a bunch of asks about trans* issues, but would it be possible to recommend some blogs/articles/etc. that discuss trans* issues? I've become very aware of how uneducated I am about this, but don't know where to start and I'm sure others would be interested as well.
Anonymous asked: About that recent trans post, I thought MtF were acceptable in certain scenarios? Like you wouldn't just constantly call her 'a MtF', but if they were explainging their sex, not gender, they would/could use that term? I am kind of asking because I have a writing character and he is trans and I don' want to use an offending term, such as when, in his story, he finally tells...
