I loved Nicholas Kristof’s blog post on the New York Times today about Caroline Kennedy, who is vying for the New York Stat Senate seat soon-to-be-vacated by Hillary Clinton.

He’s right: it would be totally ridiculous for Gov. Paterson to appoint a member of the Kennedy dynasty to fill Clinton’s seat, as she is unqualified for the position. Such an appointment would be disrespectful to other, more seasoned NY state politicians, like Carolyn Maloney.

Kristof fingers sexism as part of the problem:

Isn’t it sexist to rush to support a woman because of her father, while ignoring other women who have earned their own substantial credentials in their own careers in Congress?

He very well may have a point. Call it the Sarah Palin problem: an unqualified woman with “star power” shoots to the front of the line, hurtling over women who worked twice as hard as the men did to get to the same place. That sends the message that glitz and glamour matters more than intellect, that something that would feel good emotionally trumps years pounding the pavement handing out fliers and wooing voters one by one.

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Check out this awesome YouTube video about the wage gap between men and women.  (The language in this may not be safe for work…unless you’re trying to send a point to your boss!)

I liked Jessica Valenti’s take at Feministing: “the wage gap is like a big F*!% you to women.”  We love how the woman in the video is called bitch, cunt and a slut  --  yet smiles like a good girl all the while.
takepart with the National Organization for Women and their NO EXCUSES campaign.

A few months ago I had the privilege of interviewing the cofounder and editorial director of Bitch: A Feminist Response to Pop Culture magazine, Andi Zeisler, about her latest book.

In November, Seal Studies (an imprint of Seal Press) published Andi’s “101-style” textbook called Feminism and Pop Culture. It’s a lovely complement to their other feminists texts such as Women and Violence, A History of U.S. Feminisms, and Transgender History.

I spoke with Andi (full disclosure: I’ve written for Bitch in the past) for the American Prospect’s web site and I urge you to read the full interview.  She discusses Bitch’s recenting fundraising plea, a nasty response from Jezebel blogger Tracie/Slut Machine to our belove mag’s financial troubles, and most interesting, the need for a broad, all-encompassing feminism that covers everything from wonk-tastic politics to Gossip Girl.

Here’s just a little taste of our conversation:

Jessica: Some might say the subject of Pop Culture and Politics, a feminist analysis of media like Sassy magazine or shows like Sex & The City, is frivolous for students.
Andi: When it comes to feminism, there are a lot of internal arguments about what the worthiest debates are. There’s this idea that feminism should only have a couple of different issues or focuses. And there’s also often a fear that, when you’re talking to people who aren’t interested in feminism, you have to kind of snare them, and you have to snare them with an issue that won’t be perceived as frivolous.

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Even stranger than South Korea’s criminal justice system, which fined a pair of parents’ when their teenaged son raped a child, is the BBC News’ description of the rape:

The 18-year-old, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, raped a local seven-year-old girl in 2006.

What does ADHD have to do with it?

It’s hard to tell if the article is implying he’s a rapist because he has ADHD or if they’re just adding it in as a detail.  But either way, it reads as though it’s an excuse for his sexual assaulting ways.

Even if the rapist had a more severe mental illness like schizophrenia, it’s an inappropriate descriptor within an article about raping a 7-year-old.  Mental illness, obviously, is no excuse for rape.  Nor is not being “raised right,” as the South Korean criminal justice system implies.

Ew. Software engineer Le Trung made an Asian-looking female robot named Aiko who calls him “Master.”  Oh, if she only looked like Rosie from The Jetsons!  But no, she looks like a barely legal Asian girl.

His $25,000 “fembot” is offensive on so many levels.  A robot who calls him “Master” would be one thing. But a feminine robot who looks (as a NY Daily News commenter put it) like one of those 10-year-old Chinese gymnasts who calls him “Masters” taps into all kinds of stereotypes about submissive Asian women. (Not that the fembot would be any less gross if she were a different ethnicity.) Even creepier?  Her name means “love child” in Japanese.

We’ve got a grade-A creep on our hands.

Aiko speaks 13,000 sentences in English, but something tells us men don’t create robots what look prepubescent to discuss the world’s big ideas with them.

Gross, gross, gross….

I never thought I’d see the day where I stand up for The View’s resident conservative, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, but I just can’t keep quiet when a woman is branded with sexist slurs.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, called Hasselbeck “dumb broad” and a “dizzy blonde” in a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ.  Although he did not refer to her by name, the Sun-Times reports that it was clear he was referring to the View co-host as he criticized the media.

Shame on you, Rev. Wright.  Maybe he thought it was OK to call a woman who has criticized him in the past any name he liked.  (Which we learned from the incident where Obama’s young speechwriter, Jon Favreau, was photographed next to a life-size cut-out of Sen. Clinton, fake-fondling her boob!)  So shameful progressive some men can’t understand this: sexism doesn’t suddenly become excusable when two people don’t see eye to eye.

As the leader of a ministry, Wright can and should lead his church better than that.  What kind of lesson is that to teach his congregants?

With a vocabulary like “dumb broad” and “dizzy blonde,” maybe he should take some time off from Jesus-ing and write 1940’s era mad-cap comedies.

Here’s a shocker: the store beloved by deep-pocketed hipsters stopped selling an “I Support Same Sex Marriage” tee shirt and is actually run by a conservative Republican, says New York magazine’s blog, The Cut.

So they’ll sell pro-Obama tee shirts and pro-vegetarian tee shirts, but not pro-civil rights tee shirts? WTF!

Apparently Urban Outfitters pulled the printed tee from shelves in California, where the controversy over Prop 8 is raging. The company blamed “too much bad press.” Heh.  Too much bad press from who?  Bigots, you mean?

Take part and consider buying your “I Support Gay Marriage” tee straight from Support Shirts at supportshirts.net.

Urban Outfitters delivered quite the slap in the face to the small company, which states on its Web site:

Support Shirts is a small company that believes strongly in a sense of community.  They are all about pushing and breaking boundaries, non-compete attitudes, and most importantly, support… of our communities, the arts, friends, families, and each other.

Wow, sounds like they’re the shit — and Urban Outfitters could learn a thing or two from them.

Christie Hefner, Chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, which publishes the porn magazine, Playboy, will step down from the company in January.

I think lots of aspects of the adult entertainment industry are pretty disgusting.  But I’m admiring of the activism done by Christie Hefner, much of it on behalf of gay rights and choice.  I once heard Christie speak at a screening of a documentary film about breast cancer, In the Family, and was blown away by the long, impressive resume introducing her.  Just a sampling of all the work done by this porn empire CEO, according to a Good magazine profile:

Hefner…leverages her multimillion dollar business—built on naked ladies and bunny-emblazoned products—to take high-visibility positions on controversial issues, a tradition begun by her father decades ago. The company filed an amicus brief in Roe v. Wade, was the only corporate sponsor of Masters and Johnson’s groundbreaking sexuality research, and has come out strongly in favor of gay marriage. Both the company and the Playboy Foundation provide large-scale support for civil liberties, sexual health, reproductive freedom, gay rights, and women’s rights.

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Australia has ruled that a cartoon depicting characters from the show, The Simpsons, having sex is child porn.  The cartoon depicted Bart, Lisa and Maggie engaging in sex acts and shows their genitalia.

The judge ruled that a cartoon could depict a real person — in this case, children — and therefore a man with possession of such a video on his computer is guilty of child porn.  He was fined the equivalent of $2,000 American dollar.

Writes the BBC:

Justice Michael Adams said the purpose of anti-child pornography legislation was to stop sexual exploitation and child abuse where images of “real” children were depicted.

But in a landmark ruling he decided that the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people.

He ruled that the animated cartoon could “fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children,” and therefore upheld the conviction for child pornography.

I feel conflicted about whether or not I agree with the decision, mostly because I don’t know what exactly is in the video. It could have been a spoof video or a fan fiction video, for all I know.  I don’t have enough information about what exactly happens in the film, and who is sleeping with who, to know enough about the intent. But mostly, I think I’m with the judge on this one.

I do think that someone who is likely to possess animation depicting children having sex is also likely to sexually abuse a child and/or be interested in real-time child porn.  However, being likely to do something is not upholding the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” in the American legal system. Therefore, it seems the best way to weed these potential sex offenders out is to criminalize their behavior  — which is not actually, physically harming a child, but comes as close as possible to it.

It’s certainly a controversial decision, though: tell us in the comments sectin below what you think.

I know I’m the demographic that this video is mocking, but I think it’s f**king hilarious.  Check out this video from comedy duo Thunderant — SNL’s Fred Armisen, Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein — called “ThunderAnt Returns to the Feminist Bookstore.” The two bookstore owners are trying to pick which CDs to sell in the store….and, well, none of them quite meet their specifications.

This may be a good opportunity to do a shout-out to two of our favorite real-life feminist bookstores:

Bluestockings - A radical/feminist bookstore and coffee shop, which is the pit-stop for all progressive writers and performance artists. Located at 172 Allen Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Bloodroot - A seasonal vegetarian restaurant with a small feminist bookstore, which also teaches knitting and looming classes. Located at 85 Ferriss Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Black Rock neighborhood. Whether or not you’re a vegetarian, you should definitely consider purchasing their cookbooks!

Here’s a state-by-state list of feminist bookstores (which may not be up-to-date, so call first).  If you’ve got any great suggestions, let us know in the comments sectino below!