Thursday, August 20, 2009

Notes From The Geek Show: Stoicism, Sophistry and Sodomy

Notes From The Geek Show: Stoicism, Sophistry and Sodomy

More WIN from the erudite Hal Duncan, in the form of a continuation of his masterful satire previously linked here.

Go forth and read. Please.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

And in feminism news...

Two items, actually.

The urgent news item is this horrific law in Afghanistan. If you don't want to read the link, the summary is that Afghanistan has passed a law allowing Shia men to refuse food and sustenance to their wives if the wives refuse to have sex, automatically granting custody of children to fathers and grandfathers, requiring women to get permission from their husbands to work outside the home, and permitting rapists to pay "blood money" to their victims in lieu of facing prosecution. Liss at Shakesville has suggested that we email Secretary Clinton and protest. To that end, I submit this link to email the State Department and request that any readers of my blog please write in protest of this reprehensible dehumanization of Afghan women with its thin coat of religious justification.

And in further Shakesville linky goodness, Liss has written an essay debunking the accusation that feminism/womanism equals the hatred of men. Liss' words have such terrible beauty that words fail me to laud it sufficiently. As with Hal Duncan's open letter in the previous entry, go forth and read it.

Homophobia, or the Cognitive Dissonance, It Burns

Okay, so a science fiction writer I've never heard of, let alone read, posted a nasty homophobic rant on his LJ because a certain SF television channel has recently made a commitment to include more portrayals of LGBTQI characters. He has since taken down the rant, but a Google cache copy still exists (because the Internet is forever). If you want to read his outpouring of vitriol, go for it. If not, I don't blame you.

The point of this post is actually a lovely open letter in reply to said outpouring of vitriol. Hal Duncan (the writer of the open letter) has written his response with sufficient detail that you don't really have to read the original post to understand the open letter. Mr. Duncan has also written with sufficient eloquence and marked mastery of irony that the open letter is a joy to read even if the sentiment were not something I heartily applaud.

Hal Duncan points out, amongst many other excellent points, the incredible cognitive dissonance of the argument that homosexuality equals the sexual abuse of children, incest, or bestiality.

So go forth and read. Please.