Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Lost Girl and October Daye

What do these things have in common?  They're TV shows and a book series about monsters, the supernatural and fairies.  Or the Fae, as they call it in Lost Girl.  October Daye is a half-human, half-fairy private detective who works for both humans and fairies.

I started reading the October (Toby) Daye books because of this post by the author, Seanan McGuire, called Things I will not do to my characters. Ever. Basically, she swears that she will never subject her female characters to sexual assault. How revolutionary is that?

I've been buying her books and downloading them onto my e-reader, one right after the other, pretty much every 3 or 4 days.  Plenty of bad enough things (being turned into a fish, losing family, being beaten, being shot, losing their home and protector, dying, etc.) happen to Toby and other characters in the course of their investigations that sexual assault is not necessary to increase the drama and tension.

What prompted this post was me trying to think about Once Upon a Time. The set up is interesting, strong female characters abound, the central quests are dramatic.  Heck, Jane Espenson from the Whedon coterie (not sure if that's the right term) works on it! However, something prevents me from being as into it as I would like.

Then contrast OUAT with Grimm. Again, I like the set up (I like police procedures), the central quest is dramatic. However, there are very, very few female characters and many episodes will go by before 2 of the female characters will interact, let alone meet the Bechdel Test. And yet, I find myself enjoying Grimm more. Perhaps it's the police procedural thing. Or the Monster of the Week format.

It brings to mind Revenge vs. Scandal, 2 nighttime soaps I'm watching.  I like Scandal more because it's got the Client of the Week, plus it's got a political setting, which I like. Revenge used to have the Takedown of the Week, but since it's moved away from that, it's not as interesting for me anymore. Both have overarching conspiracies, but I'm enjoying Scandal's more.  Maybe, again, I enjoy politics more than business scheming, or whatever the Initiative on Revenge is doing.

The Oscars and the Bechdel Test

Feminist Frequency is awesome.

Guess which *1* movie passes the Bechdel test?  And whether any pass the Johnson test?

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/02/the-2012-oscars-and-the-bechdel-test/

Beginning of her blog post:

It’s been a few years since I’ve checked in with The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies so I thought it would be a good time to look in on Hollywood and see if there’s been any substantial improvement in women’s representations on the big screen.  In this updated video, I go through the 2011 films nominated for Best Picture at the 84th annual Academy Awards and see how they measure up to the Bechdel Test. Keep watching because I also propose a small addendum to help clarify the spirit of the test and provide a solution on how Hollywood can fix the glaring problem that the Bechdel Test exposes. I’ll also address the question, “What about the reverse test?” and I’ll show an alternative test that has been adapted by critics to identify the presence of people of colour in films.  Sprinkled throughout this video I offer a few movie recommendations.

New fave author: N. K. Jemisin

It started a few months ago. I saw a tweet by Felicia Day (a pop culture geek goddess, though I've only ever seen her Whedonverse work) recommending it, especially for the strong female characters. The first book of Jemisin's Inheritance Series trilogy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, happened to be on sale as an e-book for about $3 so I bought it. See a tweet, download an e-book from home. I felt like I was living in the future!

Jemisin's created a very interesting world where there are gods, godlings, humans, power struggles, love, hate, action, wisdom. I guess it would count as fantasy, as there is magic, coming from the gods. In terms of plot, there was a war among the three gods that resulted in one god becoming dominant, another killed, and the third enslaved to the human ruling family.

Yeine, the heroine of book one, has been summoned to the capitol because she's in the running to inherit the ruling crown (not that there's a literal crown). She's been raised in another part of the country/ another kingdom where the women are the warriors. Her claim to the crown comes from her mother who left the capitol and married a man from a different culture. So Yeine has lots of challenges due to a different cultural upbringing, being the upstart, being the reluctant participant in the intrigues among the humans and gods.

Up to the end, it's not clear who's going to get the crown and what's going to happen to Yeine.

Jemison does a great job describing the different cultures and ethnicities of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (we only really see one), by describing hair texture and color, describing freckles, skin color. And I love that Yeine is a strong female character (as is Oree, heroine of the second book The Broken Kingdoms), and they don't resort to physical violence. Yeine, the trained warrior, uses her head first to figure things out, and to think about the consequences of using violence. I know! When's the last time you saw that?

Also, it's clear that Yeine is of a brown ethnicity and Oree definitely of African descent. Except that the Kingdoms aren't on earth, so there's no Africa.

NK Jemisin's website is really interesting also, with posts about gender and race in speculative fiction (new term for sci-fi/fantasy? I like it) and creating cultures for the books, and other stuff. It's right up my alley.

Stayed up late reading book 2, so happy book 3 is out later this year.

Now off to look up the manga and anime she references as her influences.

ETA: This morning I sent a tweet to @feliciaday, thanking her for the recommendation and tagged @nkjemisin in it as well. Then at lunch, I get a tweet back from FDay saying she's glad I liked the books, do I know when the next one is out? *squeeeeee!* So I looked it up on NKJ's site and wrote back to FDay. I may also have squeed a little. Fortunately in the tweet back saying thanks for the info, FDay overlooked the squeeage.

squeeee!

It's about power, not sex

So the chief of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been arrested for sexually assaulting a hotel maid.

Here's my take: he's a man of immense power, with the ability to mess around with entire economies. He's also got a reputation of being a "great seducer" with a history of messing around with women.

People say "but he's so smart and rich. Why would he be so dumb/not hire a prostitute?"

It's not about sex, it's about power. He's probably so used to him say jump and people, including other people with money and power, ask how high? Plus, being smart about one thing (economics) doesn't mean he's smart about other things. Especially if he's not thinking with his big head.

So I say good for you, hotel maid, for standing your ground and saying "I may be paid to serve you in some ways, but that doesn't mean in all ways."

Romancelandia

I've been on a romance novel reading kick. Over the last week I've read:

• Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan, of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Fun, fast, funny book. They do talk about why they read these novels, the criticism that it's mindless dreck for women, and the issue of rape in Old Skool romance novels and gender and power. They also provide a Choose Your Own Adventure romance novel in the contemporary (what I think of as chick-lit), Regency England, pirate, and paranormal/urban fantasy settings. Hilarious! And a Mad Libs style game for each style too. This book had me giggling out loud, especially at the euphemisms for male and female genitalia. The Smart Bitches take a critical look at the serious and fun sides of romance novels (and the covers. Oh, my eyes.) I highly recommend it.


• Bet Me and Faking It by Jennifer Crusie and Agnes and the Hitman by J Crusie and Bob Mayer. Each one took about 6 hours to read. I think I'm done with that author. I don't want to burn out on Crusie. I want to be able to come back and read her other books. I had previously read Wild Ride by Crusie and Mayer which made me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


• Rude Awakening of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. A young woman from the Regency era wakes up in the body of a 21st century woman in LA and has to figure things out. It's the sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict which I haven't read yet. Rude Awakenings came available at the library first.


• currently working on Tommy's Tale by Alan Cumming, yes, the actor. I think this qualifies as a romance because Tommy is involved with Charlie who has a son. This gets party boy Tommy thinking about love and starting a family. If this isn't Romancelandia, a term I got from the Smart Bitches, then I don't know what is.

In other notes, I'm going to NYC later this week and have borrowed from the library and loaded onto the Nook:

• Where's My Hero: a collection of short stories from romance authors that give a romance to a male character who was also very appealing but wasn't the hero. Will now have to read the books where these characters came from.


• Manhunt by Janet Evanovich, set in Alaska


• Vision in White, book one of the Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts. I have never read Nora Roberts before.

What got me going on this whole romance kick was discussions on NPR's Monkey See blog and podcasts about genres that don't get any respect in the larger culture. As should be abundantly clear by now, I am a big science fiction fan. Not a genre that gets a lot of respect. The same with romance novels.

My favorite romance novels, heck any kind of story, has a heroine who is good as what she does, has lots of skills beyond her job, is sassy/feisty/fiery, has a sense of humor, and rises to the challenge of whatever the plot of the story throws her into. She has a group of friends who also are competent, sassy, funny, etc and have their own plot lines, not just around to support the heroine. The hero is similar and they are both in a situation where they both have to deal with an unknown situation and both experience character growth. I really don't like stories where the heroine is bumbling at her job, needs the hero to save her and solve the case, is described as mildly unattractive (oh, noes, her hair isn't blown-dry!) and yet one or more men, including the hero finds her irresistable. Stephanie Plum, by Janet Evanovich, I'm looking at you.

Dear US Congress: Do not throw women under the bus

So last week there was brinksmanship (and yes, men, most of them are still men) in the US Congress over the federal budget. And over federal funding for Title X which supports women's health care services which includes Planned Parenthood. PP provides many health services for women, including abortion. Which is the key issue. Pro-lifers and conservatives want to take away the funding to PP, which is about 0.1% of the US federal budget, because of abortion. Federal funds already cannot be used to provide abortions. Not that that stops the rhetoric and political grand standing. Sen. John Kyl, in his argument to taking away funding for women's services, said that 90% of what PP does is provide abortions. That got people talking and fact-checking and it turns out that abortions is only 3% of PP's services. 90%, 3%, they're close, right? Kyl then released a statement saying that he didn't intent that to be a factual statement. WTF? Of course Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were all over it. Here's a link to an NPR article about it. I love how Colbert just loses it and has to stifle his laughter during his monologue. Funding for PP for now has been preserved. But last week I was so very afraid that in the political horsetrading on the federal budget, that funding for women's health care would be sacrificed for political expediency, to avoid a gov't shutdown. I wrote to my Congressmen -- and they are all men -- saying all the above. Saying that for years, when I was in college, PP was my only source of health care, of gyn services, and yes birth control so I wouldn't get pregnant and thus avoid the need for an abortion. Fortunately, my Rep is John Lewis, civil rights leader since his work with MLK, and has consistently been a supporter of women's rights. Unfortunately, my 2 Sens are both conservative and the auto reply I got from them say they are anti-choice and will fight to strip funding for abortion providers. It got me so pissed I wrote back again to say: Federal funding is already banned from providing abortions! Stop with the anti-woman political grandstanding! The fight continues.

The 150th Anniversary of the US Civil War

I see the Conspirator is coming out this weekend, just in time to mark the 150th anniversary of the US Civil War. I had the chance to see a screening of it in February, my review is here. My thoughts on the war: 1. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, which is dotted about with plaques describing battles, hospitals and other notable things about the war. I pass by a lot of them all the time. 2. It's indelibly linked (for better or worse) with Gone with the Wind. 3. There are still lots of people around who think of themselves as the sons and daughters of the Confederacy and display the Confederate flag. They don't think of themselves as upholding slavery, but more the right to live as they wanted. They don't think of the fact that it was based on the brutal exploitation of others, who were black, who were slaves. 4. It's the home of the US civil rights movement, birth place of Martin Luther King, Jr. Setting the slaves free with the 13th Amendment was only the beginning. There is still a long we all have to go to have equal rights among the races. And we haven't even touched sexism among whites and blacks. As an Asian American, not being black or white, it's interesting and important to be aware of this and to think about and recognize as I negotiate my life here.

City Quilts

So I went to Dragon*Con and was very intrigued by steam punk and alternate history. Specifically the session on race and gender in steampunk. The Victorian or Edwardian age was when women in the US got the vote so it was more progressive than we generally think of it. On of the speakers was Ay-Leen the Peacemaker, an Asian American steampunker who also lives here in Georgia. She talked about how there's a really long history of Asians in the US. Afterall, the Chinese worked on the railroads.

That made me think of the miniseries "Into the West" that explored the US expansion westward, focusing on a white family and a Native American family. I've seen bits and pieces of it and I know that one character, played by Christian Kane, works on the railroad and becomes friends with a Chinese worker. So I bought on Amazon and to tie it back to steampunk, I bought "Boneshaker" a book that was widely recommended as a good steampunk book.

While on Amazon, I cruised the quilting books and came across City Quilts by Cherri House. After looking inside (love that Amazon feature), I bought it too.

Husband loved the cover quilt, City Lights, and asked me to make it. He very rarely asks me to make anything for him so I bought the yarn on line right away, worsted wool from Webs. But I wanted to start right away. So I also bought some Galway yarn from a local store and got a bit done. I'm holding the yarn doubled and using a size 10 US 6mm needle.

So I have the crochet Babette blanket going, a knit shawl project going, and now Husband's knit City Lights blanket. I'm happy.

BSG vs. Firefly/Serenity

Yesterday, the Syfy channel was showing Serenity, which I own and I have kind of started rewatching Firefly.

I also have been Netflixing Battlestar Galactica. Yesterday I had an interesting moment of:
"Do I watch Serenity because it's on but I've seen it before many times. Or should I put in the BSG DVD that I just got and which I have not yet seen?"

I ended up watching BSG.

There are some parallels, such as both shows are about a rag-tag crew (one much, much bigger than the other) living on the edge, both running from something.

Where Firefly/Serenity wins is the humor. BSG is just grim and grey, always inside the ships, only sunlight is flashes where Gaius and Number Six are talking back at his house on the lake pre-apocalypse. F/S at least visits planets and gets to go out into the sun.

Plus F/S has Wash for levity. When I first watched Firefly, I marathoned it and then again for the commentary. I loved Wash and Zoe right away. And as I rewatch Firefly, my affection for Jayne has increased. Adam Baldwin does a great job as Jayne, being sly, blunt, crass, but with hidden depths. And funny too.

Where BSG wins is with the plot. What's going to happen? Will they find Earth? Who are the Cylons? When and how will we find out? What in the world is up with Number Six in Gaius's head? What does Six see in Gaius? It does ask much bigger questions than Firefly.

Plus there's just more of BSG with several seasons, movies like Razor and the Plan, and now the prequel Caprica. I'm sure in an alternate world, there are multiple seasons of Firefly, but alas in the one I'm in, there's only the one season.

I am looking forward in BSG to seeing how women are portrayed. Sure the President is a woman and the military is mixed gender. But the continuation of the human race does depend on baby-making and in BSG, it's still women who do that. Plus in the episode I just watched about the prison ship, Cally, who was part of the delegation to recruit prisoners for a work detail, was taken by a prisoner and it's implied that he was going to rape her. That's still a danger that women face that men do not.

Caprica

I've been watching Caprica and below are just some not so coherent thoughts about it. I seem to be having some difficulty with coherence lately. Anyway

1. I have not seen Battlestar Gallactica but know about it, about the Cylons and that it has something to do with divinity, humanity, creation, and evolution. I have decided not to watch BSG until Caprica is finished.

2. Everyone's a shade of grey and there is no clear cut good guys or bad guys. It seems that Daniel Graystone is the hero but he's using stolen technology to create the Cylons and he's presenting them to his board of directors as a robotic, never tiring, yet sentient slave race. How is enslavement of sentient beings good? It's not.

3. Loving that some of the biggest players are young women: Zoe, Tamara, and Lacy. Both Zoe or Tamara are forging new by being these sentient and independent avatars. Granted neither one of them wanted it and it happened purely by accident. Shades of Buffy. But still, they're are paving the way for some brave new future. Willie Adama grows up apparently to be bad ass Edward James Olmos, but so far he hasn't had much to do.

4. The issue of culture, race, and ethnicity is explored with the Adamas being Tauron and the 2 brothers, Joseph/Youseef and Sam, taking 2 different paths to dealing with being of a minority culture that's looked down on.

5. Multiple sexualities are accepted: people are gay, straight, monogamously married, multiplely married and it's all accepted. Jane Espenson, one of the producers, has spoken about this elsewhere.

6. The amount of collateral and support material is amazing. on the Syfy website there's behind the scenes videos andThe Caprican blog written as if it's a real on-line paper for Caprica City. That's a serious amount of work. It just fires up my imagination. And the producers are doing a podcast for each episode. You no long have to wait for the DVD to get all the commentary and extras.

7. The visual style and technology of Caprica is a mix of 1930s, 40s, and 50s as well as futuristic computers and it's easily accepted. When Firefly came out as a mix of western and sci fi, people had a hard time accepting it.

8. Like Firefly and Dollhouse, Caprica's in the Friday night death slot. But at least with Hulu and other technology, I don't have to wait for the DVDs to watch it.

Future TV

Here's a post at io9.com called http://io9.com/5476760/15-upcoming-tv-shows-that-could-save-small+screen-scifi

The ones that I'm looking forward to are:

1. La Femme Nikita remake. I missed the Alias boat and would like to see a show headlined by a kick ass woman. And in this case, an Asian American woman! That would be reason alone for me to watch. The only other show I can think of where the main character is an Asian American, woman or man, is "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho.

2. Undercovers. Again another spy show, with a wife-and-husband team. Boris Kodjoe plays the husband and he's one of my co-worker's eye candy guys. Notably Kodjoe is black. Between this and La Femme Nikita, the diversity of sci fi TV certainly has improved since the 1990s. I'm thinking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Sliders which ran 1995 to 2000s. Even though the shows are set in California (LA and San Fran respectively) they barely showed any Asian Americans or Latino/as. How can you set a show in those places and not have a significant character be Asian American or Latina? At least the police procedurals have always known to have characters of color but sci fi is behind the curve. Where was I? Oh yes, Undercovers which is created by J.J. Abrams.

3. American remake of Torchwood. Loved the British original but if they don't keep Captain Jack omnisexual, then it's just not Torchwood, and then what's the point?

4. The Walking Dead. But mainly because it's set in Georgia and Atlanta where I live. I'm not really a fan of the zombie genre.

5. The Star Wars Live Action Show. Because I was born in 1970 and Star Wars is the defining movie of my childhood. It's what turned me onto sci fi which remains my fave genre.

6. Whatever Joss Whedon makes next.

Ah, brainy not just busty

seen on a car on the way home yesterday. added bonus, her legs are realistic size if not the waist

Looking for Book Recommendations

This is what I'm looking for - a book that's like the show Leverage or the movie Ocean's Eleven. Lighthearted, witty, heist/caper. Female characters that are more than just the protagonist's love interest. It would be great if the main character was a woman. of color. And passes the Bechdel test: 2 women have a conversation that's not about a man. Only I would want there to be 2 main characters who are women who have a significant conversation that's not about a man.

I like the Ocean's Eleven movie, as it's full of male eye-candy. However, it was full. of. males. the only female character was played by Julia Roberts and she was the love interest wanted by the male protagonist and the male antagonist.

Leverage, on the other hand, the protagonists are evenly divided between men and women, now that they've added Tara. Who I hope stays. I like that Jeri Ryan is clearly 40 years old and is not classically beautiful. You can see her wrinkles and still pulls off playing the hottie. The women and men are equal partners in pulling off the heist/caper.

So, I'm looking for a book like the show Leverage. Light in tone, not some dark thriller. And no cozy murder mysteries please.

Suggestions?

Super Bowl Ads: Misogyny on Display

Last night I "watched" the Superbowl. That is, Husband was watching it in an adjascent room while I carved on my pottery. I looked up for the commercials, since there's so much hype about them that they have become a pop phenomenon.

The hostility towards women and the insults aimed as women were really clear. Slate's Ad Report Card, written by a man, comments about them here.

The most egregious examples are:

In an ad for the Dodge Charger, men stare into the camera with expressions of either defeated resignation or seething resentment. "I will be civil to your mother, I will put the seat down," goes one section of the voiceover litany—much of which centers on how unbearable it is for men to listen to the opinions of, and on occasion respect the wishes of, women. The Charger is billed as "man's last stand." Not long after, an ad for Flo TV declares that when a man goes shopping with his girlfriend she has "removed his spine." He is urged to "change out of that skirt." Is it me, or was this year's dose of casual misogyny a little rawer and angrier than usual? Are men feeling especially threatened by the fragile economy and by the fact that the vast majority of job losses have afflicted traditionally male, working-class strongholds like manufacturing and construction (the kind of guys I picture wanting … a Dodge Charger)?

The comments in the Slate post also note the misogyny.

The Google ad, on the other hand, was really nice and sweet. And the NFL had Mark Sanchez do an ad spotlighting women's heart disease, which is often overlooked.

You Don't Own Me

The topic of the Crankshaft comic on Sunday was protest songs. Click here for a link to see the comic.

Here's the gist of the comic. The husband is e-mailing back and forth with a friend about the best protest songs. Suggestions include "We Shall Overcome" and "My Land is Your Land" The wife says her favorite protest song is "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore.

So I looked it up and here are the lyrics:

You don't own me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go out with other boys

And don't tell me what to do
Don't tell me what to say
And please when I go out with you
don't put me on display

Cuz ... you don't own me
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't try to cuz I'll never stay

I don't tell you what to say
I don't tell me what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you

I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please...

MLK day 2010

I'm glad that we have a day like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's a chance to celebrate the progress we've made in the US in terms of civil rights for people of color and for women.

It's also a day to reflect on the work that still remains to be done. Sexism and racism still exist. Class inequality is still here and worsening. Gay rights still need to be won.

Today, I am traveling home from Charleston, SC. Husband and I took his mother there as a winter treat since we didn't go to see her in Wisconsin this winter.

On the plane, I like to read magazines, generally Entertainment Tonight and a news magazine. This trip, it was the New Yorker, which we subscribe to, and I picked up Newsweek. The cover story was The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage.

Both magazines had big articles about Perry v. Schwartznegger, about the case to overturn Proposition 8 which banned gay marriage in California.

This issue is very important to me. I am in an interracial marriage and it took Loving v. Virginia in 1967 to overturn laws in the US that banned interracial marriage. Otherwise, Husband and I could not be married in the US.

I am very, very happy being married to Husband and it breaks my heart to think that other consenting adults aren't able to be married too because they are gay. Race can't be changed, and neither can sexual orientation.

This is a fundamental human rights issue: that the rights of an entire category of people are being denied because of an aspect of themselves that they cannot change.

This is not a religious issue, since marriage is a legal status, not really a religious status. People have to be married by a judge or other person recognized by the state. And then the benefits and rights of being married are conferred on me.

If Husband was ever hospitalized, I as his legally recognized wife, have the right to make decisions about his health care. Heck, even to see him. However a gay or lesbian couple wouldn't be able to do that, despite years of emotional and economic partnership.

How unfair is that?

Okay, I'd say I'll get off my soap box, but hey, if I'm not allowed to get on my soap box on MLK Day, when can I?

Travel to talk with people you already know

Just got back from a 2 night trip to Orlando, FL for a summit about the US Census. It was dissatisfying on many levels but after griping about it for 2 days, I am now resolved to let it go and move on.

What I did find really useful was the connections with other people there. And the last segment about the actual census data make the demographer in me stand up and go squee!

However, what I enjoyed most was getting to know better people I already knew from Atlanta. People who I see at collaborative meetings, people I kind of know through work. Here, as we had to find lunch and dinners on our own, were great opportunities to get to know them better. Find out how many, if any, kids they have. Where their parents live, who takes care of them, how do they navigate being bicultural people. Where are they from?

I got to know better people from Nigeria, Kenya, France, Cambodia, Bhutan, and Arkansas via Nebraska. It was nice.

I also had lunch with someone who went to Dragon*con and so we talked about scifi. He's really into Battlestar Gallactica but we both like Firefly and so we had a great discussion about Sci Fi and Bring Your Own Subtext. His is religion and mine is race and gender.

Another good thing about the summit: I got a lot of knitting done. Knitting my stockingnette/reverse stockingnette scarf got me through hours of talking heads.

Gendered Activities

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Or as I call it, everyday, and also known as Embarrass Your Husband In Public Day. Again, that would be everyday.

I am also reading "American Nerd: the Story of My People" by Benjamin Nugent. And this week's alternative weekly paper, Creative Loafing, did a cover article about home brewing beer where the reporter attended a meeting of home brewing enthusiasts.

These three -- knitting, nerdiness, beer brewing -- are very gendered topics. Knitting is done predominately by women and an activity that doesn't get much respect, partly because it is "women's work." Nugent talks about how nerd is a label put on men interested in computers and science fiction, in contrast to the term jock, in a continuum of masculinity.

And the article on the home brewing specifically points out that there are very few women who are brewing beer, as opposed to girlfriends and wives who help their men brew beer. Beer drinking is very much a masculine thing. I don't know why, since I drink beer, enjoy beer, and have many female friends who enjoy beer too.

Brewing is cooking and cooking is "women's work." Unless somehow brewing is like barbeque and then that's acceptable male cooking? I don't know. Maybe because there's science involved with talk about hydrometers and acidity and conversion of sugar and yeast to alcohol. And if it's scientific, then that's manly, like nerds and their computers?

I don't know where I'm going with this post, but knitting, science fiction, and beer are things I enjoy and are very gendered activities.

You know what? forget it. I'm going to go knit on a cardigan that will emphasize my curves and maybe watch the episode of "Dollhouse" where Alan Tudyk puts on the tight, tight t-shirt. Or rewatch "Death at a Funeral" where he wears nothing at all.

eta: I ended up reading "My Own Kind of Freedom" by Steve Brust. Talk about nerdiness. It's a novel-length fan fiction for the space western "Firefly".

Obama or Clinton? Who says those are the only choices?

CNN posted a story about how black women have to chose between gender and race and apparently got inundated by e-mails.

My favorite quotes are:
"Since Edwards no longer officially exists, as a white male I face the same choice - either I vote my race (Clinton) or my gender (Obama). Or I could just pick the candidate based on who I think would be best,"

"The article itself shows black women have brains and actually choose candidates based on issues and not just gender or race, but CNN doesn't seem to give them that credit."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(CNN) -- Within minutes of posting a story on CNN's homepage called "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in South Carolina," readers reacted quickly and angrily.

Readers want media to focus more on the candidates and how they feel about the issues not their gender or race.

Many took umbrage at the story's suggestion that black women voters face "a unique, and most unexpected dilemma" about voting their race or their gender.

CNN received dozens of e-mails shortly after posting the story, which focuses largely on conversations about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that a CNN reporter observed at a hair salon in South Carolina whose customers are predominantly African-American.

The story states: "For these women, a unique, and most unexpected dilemma, presents itself: Should they vote their race, or should they vote their gender?" Read the story

An e-mailer named Tiffany responded sarcastically: "Duh, I'm a black woman and here I am at the voting booth. Duh, since I'm illiterate I'll pull down the lever for someone. Hm... Well, he black so I may vote for him... oh wait she a woman I may vote for her... What Ise gon' do? Oh lordy!"

Tiffany urged CNN to "pull this racist crap off" the Web site and to stop calling Hillary the "top female candidate." "Stop calling Barack the "Black" candidate," she wrote.

Many readers were upset that the story did not delve beyond a cursory mention of the issues.

The article stated: "While race and gender play a role, most women here say they plan to vote based on the issues. They rank health care, education and the economy in order of importance."

The salon owner, Angela Jackson, a Clinton supporter, is quoted as saying: "They don't pay my bills. And they're not attached to my belly. Nobody is attached to my belly but me. They don't feed me, clothe me. I don't care what they think. ... She's a woman, I'm a woman."

A reader named Joan e-mailed: "Really CNN, is this how you view black women[?] Are you suggesting that white women are going to have it easier [?] How about issues? Should a black woman consider the candidates position on issues, or should we just stick to race and gender. Disgusting!"

Matt e-mailed, "The article itself shows black women have brains and actually choose candidates based on issues and not just gender or race, but CNN doesn't seem to give them that credit."

Others responding to the story wrote that they want CNN and other media to focus on the substance of the candidates' accomplishments and stances on issues, rather than their appearance.

"Since Edwards no longer officially exists, as a white male I face the same choice - either I vote my race (Clinton) or my gender (Obama). Or I could just pick the candidate based on who I think would be best," wrote Michael.

Another e-mailer, D.T., who describes herself as a young, white woman, said voters should choose the candidate best qualified to lead. "I'm sure there are plenty of black women who are Republican and could care less who the Dem leader will be," she said. "Close your eyes and look at who can fulfill the best to their promises."