salty femme.

(How many problems can you find in this photo? source.)

If you think the Darfur issue is simple, if you think it’s a better focus than Iraq, if you think there are no other ethnic conflicts happening in the world, if you are calling for international intervention, if you feel an unexplainable desire to save helpless children in a faraway land, if you think this issue has nothing to do with politics, or if you know the Darfur rhetoric is problematic but can’t quite put your finger on why, please read this long piece (worth the read) by Mahmood Mamdani: The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency.

If you haven’t seen in yet, don’t miss February’s In the Life (PBS’s gay and lesbian news magazine), this time hosted by Ani DiFranco. The episode, the Principles of Youth, tells a few stories of queer youth from around the country. The highlight for me is the first segment about a brave and honest high schooler, Emily, who struggles with coming out in a small Christian town in Iowa. Via saltyfemme’s newest blogger.

The Boston Globe on the transmen at women’s colleges debate. Not a great article but I felt like I should link.

A surprisingly sensitive post at an urban parents blog on the complications of transmen giving birth.

Immigrants who want to bring children still abroad into the US undergo DNA tests ($450, which the government, shockingly enough, does not cover) to ensure biological relationships. Does anyone else find this insane?

Many states have begun refusing federal funds for abstinence-only sex education, perhaps because of the new study that came out that boldly declares that abstinence-only sex ed does not result in abstinence? (full study is here, it’s way long but the executive summary, pages 14-24, is worth reading).

Sheelzebub at Pandagon discusses choice (as in the “my body my choice” rhetoric) and race, as a response to this post at women of color blog.

Watch out for seething sapphic septets next time you catcall. Headline of the week: Attack of the Killer Lesbians! It brings warmth to my heart to know that the NYPost is the 5^th largest newspaper in the US. Via Feministing.

Should presidential candidates know the price of a gallon of milk? Discuss at jspot.

The Imus drama, as documented by the bloggers, is really hard to keep up with. Among the deluge of posts, here are some of the most thoughtful I’ve read:
Black Women: First Dissed, Now Disappeared (Women in Media & News)
Resisting the Soundbite Culture (Pandagon)
Gender Discrimination in Sports: Don Imus and the Shaming of the Fan (Bleacher Report, a sports site, especially impressive considering the other garbage written there re: Imus)

In the laughs department, check out Shalom Auslander’s glossary of Jewish terms. Snip:

Feygele: Derived from the Yiddish for “little bird,” a disparaging appellation for a male homosexual, considered an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. There is no disparaging appellation for a lesbian, since they are really hot. In the eyes of the Lord, I mean.

Via Jewschool.