Some Interesting Reading For the End of the Year

This Vanity Fair article looks back on the last eight years by using quotes from all sorts of powerful people. Ver-ry interesting though perhaps not reassuring reading.

And on the indirect effects of the economic troubles, an earlier newspaper article (found via feministpeacenetwork.org) notes that finances might make getting divorced harder. Not a terribly big problem for people who are planning to get divorced on civil terms but what if that is not the case? This could be a good time to send money to shelters for domestic abuse victims/survivors if you can afford it, so that not all options close for those who are most frightened.

In fun reading, check out the early science-fiction stories of James Tiptree Jr., one of the many women in the history of publishing who wrote under a male pen-name. She was never as popular after she came out of the gender closet, by the way, though it could of course be that she wrote her best fiction early in her career. Still, it's fascinating to think about the impact of even pretending to be a guy when you are not. Or the reverse.

Finally, read Digby's post on Female Genital Mutilation in Kurdistan. Remember that the kurds are the good people when it comes to women? What's weird about any posts on FGM is how quickly they revolve into a discussion of male circumcision. Perhaps it's because people here mostly agree that FGM is not a good idea but are not equally agreed on male circumcision. On the other hand, the reason for the topic of conversation changing could be something different.


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Future-written in the past.