feminist men...

Over at WHB, the topic of feminism and men has been raised again. Each time there's a different angle to it.

A part of me rebels at this, that we spend so much time talking about men. But then, that group is (unlike feminist or feminist_rage) pretty solidly feminist, and generally in agreement. So we end up talking about a relatively limited assortment of topics - side issues, action items, and examination of the movement itself. Yes, it's a sort of navel-gazing, but it's valuable to talk about these things nevertheless. Like... why AREN'T more men feminists? Or why don't we recognize them? A lot of the folks asked to name 5 feminist men struggled or gave up entirely.

I know quite a few feminist men. I sure saw a bunch of at least feminist-friendly guys at the March. I can't imagine bizarrojack or elektro_c, despite whatever snidegrrl and kitty_pitchfork might have said/wanted/whatever, would have shown up if they hadn't also had some strong feelings about women's rights. Are they feminists? I don't know. But they're certainly friends of feminism.

My own partner, his friends, my best friend's last boyfriend, the guys who volunteer to do clinic defense, my dad, the guy singer from Bis. They're all at least expressive of feminist views. If you think about the textbook definition of feminism as thinking men and women should be equal and doing something about it (and more in favor of equality than counter to it, which is something I've seen too many so-called "feminist men" forget), I know a lot of feminist guys.

Honestly, I don't know what the big deal is. I don't see any reason most men shouldn't be feminists (or at least friendly to feminism). Unless they're just asshats.

curves, volume 257

You remember the thing with the Curves founder giving money to anti-abortion causes?

Well, my pal and yours, Cinnamon, wrote an excellent guest post at Feministe on the subject. You should go and read it. I still have issues with the workout format and the marketing, but Cinnamon presents a well-reasoned argument for what you should do if you're a pro-choice woman who wants to workout at Curves.

i forgot the mongoose/mongooses/mongeese

Yeah, I saw mongoose in Hawai`i. That's pretty darn cool, and certainly the most unexpected animal sighting. They were all over outside our little cottage thing.

And now I know the plural of mongoose is acceptably: mongoose, mongeese, or mongooses.

But I think mongoose is the most reasonable, considering:

Etymology: Hindi & Marathi mãgus, from Prakrit mamgusa
: any of the viverrid mammals that comprise two subfamilies (Herpestinae and Galidiinae) often grouped in a separate family (Herpestidae), that include agile ferret-sized mammals sometimes with bands or stripes, and that feed on small animals and fruits