Thursday Links

Posted on | November 19, 2009 | No Comments

Section: A Very Important Section

Tomorrow, 20 November, is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance.

From the description on the TDOR website:

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgender people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

On the website you’ll also find a list of events taking place in connection to the Day.

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Section: Disabilities

Disabled Sexuality and Disempowerment Through Fetishization, an article on FWD/Forward talks about disability fetishism and how, you know what, it’s kind of creepy.

Bitch Magazine has an article on the recent disability episode of the sing and dance show Glee: Glee-ful Appropriation.

On that note: Full Radius Dance reportedly offers notably better wheelchair dancing. I have not had the honour of seeing them in action myself, or even seeing an episode of Glee. I’m just linking away here!

Another FWD/Forward article: Ableist Word Profile: Intelligence by Kaninchenzero discusses the very real issues related with trying to scientifically quantify intelligence in the light of historical and current human rights abuses, as well as our relationship with socially identified ”intelligence”.

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Section: TOYS OMG

You know how Barbie’s token black friend always looks just like Barbie, but with darker skin and black hair? That bug you too?

The doll artist Loanne Hizo Ostlie customizes Barbie and Barbie-type dolls to, among other things, look like actual beautiful black people. They are gorgeous! Makes me forget all my objections to Barbie bodyshape, too – I would buy those in a heartbeat if they actually appeared in stores.

You can see them on Ms Ostlie’s website, Tabloach Productions. I found the link through this Transgriot post.

Since we’re on the subject of doll customisation, Aikarin and Teal are two talented artists among many who customize My Little Ponies. I love this stuff!

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Section: Information Technology and Stuff

Kirrily Robert has the same issue a lot of us, including myself, do with Facebook: sheep. She links to two guides on how to avoid them. The reason I link to her post rather than those two guides is because she found them, not I.

Apple Wouldn’t Risk Its Cool Over a Gimmick, Would It?
Apple purchases a nightmare application: One that will force a person viewing an ad to click on it. Not annoy until they do: force. Link to a New York Times article. Thanks go to Chris for pointing this one out!

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Section: Action

I’ve tried to keep neutral in this issue, because I didn’t read Feministing or Feministe in the first place, but the controversy has grown too large to not link to it: Reconciliate lists reasons to boycott Feministing.

Geek Feminism asks readers to discuss the “room of one’s own” issue as it relates to geeky pursuits.

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Section: Everything Else

The Library of Congress Flickr page has a huge collection of colour photos from the 1930s and 1940s. I spent hours clicking through them. Amazing and so compelling! Highly recommended if, like me, you are an aficianado of Old Stuff.

Terry Pratchett’s delightful novel Nation has not got enough attention, if you ask me. I guess it’s hard to sell a stand-alone novel when you’re best known for writing a long-running series.  But if you read it and loved it and make short films very fast, you have until November 27 enter a (very) short fan film based on Nation to a competition. The Guardian’s recap is here, the competition’s Youtube channel is here, and the rules are here. You win a theatre tickets, but the real pull is in having your short film re-filmed with a bigger budget and aired. Whoo!

Rating 3.00 out of 5
Category: Links Post

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