What is funfeminism? And how dare you criticize my choices?!

A painting that doesn’t objectify women by Joan Mitchell. Source

Someone objected to my use of the word “funfem”.  This abbreviation of “funfeminist” is a “slur”, I was sternly told, and I am not to use it.

Great idea. A blog to keep track of all the MPs who support No More Page 3.

The dumbest thing I have ever read in a newspaper, EVAR

Art that doesn’t objectify women. By Jungshun Shin.   Source

I sneaked some art throughout this post, to make up for all the willful ignorance we’ll be wading through.  It is a very long slog indeed, but the art is good and it’s all by women artists.

So we’re still campaigning against Page 3, because boobs still aren’t news, and we’re up to 34,535 signatures and counting.  Lucy-Anne Holmes has been all over the media lately talking about it, and we’re gaining supporters every day.  All this is really, really great.

On October 29th through the 4th of November, we invite you to join us in boycotting stores who advertise in the Sun:

• Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Argos, Morrison and DFS.

The Huffington Post ran a feature where you vote on what you think about this issue, then you read two opinions about the piece, and afterwards you vote on whether your opinion was changed.

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• The piece in support of No More Page 3 was eloquently written by Caroline Criado-Perez, and you can read it on the link above.
• The opposing view was by Neil Wallis, a former editor of the Sun.

Wallis’s argument was so hilariously irrational I just had to post it here for your entertainment, with my comments.   Let’s play Spot the Misogyny!

Adventures with a Liberal Sexist Dude

By Irene Rice Periera. Source

So I keep getting comments on my blog from a dude.  I won’t approve those comments, because this dude doesn’t deserve the backlinks, but the pith of his dudely comments were too good not to share.

I’ll bet you didn’t know I am singlehandedly responsible for ruining feminism! OH THE HUMANITY.

Dear Alex: My letter to a Male “Feminist”

Journey On by Aleta Pippin. Source

Over at Everyday Sexism, I came across this:

Alex 2012-09-13 18:06

Finally came out as a feminist. Now every day I get shit from my friends about it. They constantly make jokes about sexism and women to me now (I mean, they did that before, but now it’s multiplied). Maybe a while ago this would have hurt me. Now, NO FUCKS ARE GIVEN. Take your sexist, asshole selves elsewhere. I really do hope everyone who comes on this site and makes posts doesn’t put up with the sexist bullshit they deal with. PLEASE stand up for yourselves. We have to show these pricks how strong we really are!

Dear Alex,

I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you.

Nakedness isn’t activism – here’s why

Before the Caves by Helen Frankenthaler.  Source

There is a article in the Independent today about how page 3 of the Sun, and images of naked women in newspapers, contributes to domestic violence.

“There is an army on the other side hurtling abuse. It’s not simply about equal pay. It’s about the constant drip, drip of women being sexualised in the public space [which] has a great bearing on attitudes and domestic violence.

– Lynne Featherstone, former equalities minister for the UK

So then Dude Nation began barfing OMGCENSORSHIP in the comments and acting like taking the boobs off of page 3 would mean THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.  So here’s my answer:

For a World Full of Less Sexist Crap!

Less exposure to sexist crap will diminish the amount of sexist crap that’s deemed acceptable.

And that can only be a good thing.  NO MORE flipping PAGE 3 YES I AM GOING ON AND ON ABOUT THIS FOREVER UNTIL PAGE 3 GOES DOWN.

On that note, here’s some spoken-word goodness on the subject of Page 3 by Sabrina Mahfouz:

Meanwhile, you can read a post from a dude who calls himself the Naked Mole Rat about why he doesn’t like Page 3, which is the source of the quote I quoted up there.

Say Something Nice to a Falsely Maligned Public Figure Day

I was pleased this morning to read a hopeful piece about the No More Page 3 campaign from none other than Clare Short, the former member of British parliament who spent years opposing Page 3.  She did this because of the many, many women who wrote to her about its negative effect on their lives, and she was roundly scourged for it.

The most annoying phrase on the internet

So I was halfway through the epic comments on a post at this blog* with my head throbbing more and more every time my jaundiced eye spotted some new commenter parroting the phrase “Jedi hugs!” that I finally gave up reading and began Googling for some Firefox addon that could block annoying phrases for me.  I found some that would block the entire site, but that’s not what I wanted.  I just wanted “Jedi hugs!” to disappear from my world, as it rightfully should.

So far, my search has been futile.  If anybody knows how I can block this one phrase from a webpage, I’d love to hear about it.

5000 signatures in one day for No More Page 3

So, my keyboard breaks from all the overtweeting I’ve been doing to support No More Page 3.

Today I had to go out to buy a new one.   I’m gone for about 6 hours, and when I come back, our petition has 16,000+ signatures!  That is 5000 in ONE DAY.  Even I am amazed.  Will we keep getting so many lovely supporters?  Stay tuned.

I’m too tired to include a cute graphic here.  Next post, I promise.