#MorallyAmbigiousYA calls out sexism and genre dismissal Tuesday afternoon found the YA book world in disbelief over the announcement of a six-figure deal and movie for a YA novel by former ad executive Scott Bergstrom. It wasn’t the money at stake that stunned authors and readers alike, however, but the description of the book (“a…
Domestic and Sexual Violence, Final Girls, and Strong Women in Home Invasion Films
Home invasion films are among the scariest in the horror genre because the idea of having one’s home and safety intruded upon is a real, everyday threat. Some of the most famous horror movies have a home invasion component, but these same films also tend to reinforce negative stereotypes about women. In addition to the…
Girls Against: The Teenage Girls Fighting Harassment at Concerts
In case you missed it, here’s some news: women and girls can go out in public now. I wish I could say “women and girls can go out in public without fear of harassment now,” but we’re still waiting on that utopia.
The Problem with a Hollywood Steve Trevor
I conceded that the Wonder Woman movie was doomed the moment I heard that they cast Chris Pine as Steve Trevor.
Understanding the Da Vinci Code: Why Quest Thrillers Work
The first six or so pages of my paperback copy of The Da Vinci Code are taken up with a collection of praise and excerpts from favourable reviews, from publications of all types. People loved this book. And you know what? They were right. The Da Vinci Code is what they call an airport novel….
Decoupling Gender: Why You Should Care About Toys
On August 7th, Target announced that they were eliminating gender-based signage from their toy department. Proponents of the changes celebrated, and opponents released a flurry of negative media coverage. When I discovered the backlash exploding all over Facebook and Twitter I was pretty surprised, because this isn’t a very big change. The move to separate…
Books that Shaped Me: The Bell Jar: Circumventing the Jar, Circling the Bell
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath Harper Perennial Modern Classic 1971 I couldn’t tell you the year I read The Bell Jar, I couldn’t tell you how old I was, nor the season. But I could tell you what I was wearing the first time I opened the pages and fell deeply in love with Sylvia…
Mighty Marvel Monday: Labor Day Edition
It’s Monday, which means it’s Mighty Marvel Monday, the weekly news round up of Marvel-related news, or as I like to say, my version of Last Week Tonight except I’m not a British man, and this is not HBO, so not really much like Last Week Tonight at all except for the once-a-week news format thing….
Game of Thrones: Cersei’s Walk of Shame
Cersei Lannister deserved it. That was the crux of my friend’s argument. After all, this was the woman responsible for Ned Stark’s death; for the death of King Robert Baratheon. She has tortured and mistreated any number of characters. She is the one who appointed the High Sparrow to the position of High Septon and reinstated…
Stay Quiet: The Staged Body of Phantom Pain’s Sniper
Spoilers, alright? Quiet is the single woman combatant in the list of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s primary characters. Men outnumber women nine to one in this list, at time of writing, if personality-imprinted AIs count as people (nine to three if not). Other than Paz, the tiny blonde latina beauty who was…
Lara Croft, Ledge Hanger: However Much She Weighs, She Can Lift It
I like Lara Croft. I have always liked Lara Croft. The Lara Croft that I understand—which is not always the Lara Croft described by her production companies, or her fans, or commentators. I look at Lara Croft and see: a woman in her thirties of independent means who does what she most wants to: running…
A Review of Vampirella & Jennifer Blood #4, or How Not To Write a Feminist Comic Book
Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella & Jennifer Blood #4 Nancy Collins (Writer), David Acosta (Artist), Valentina Pinto (Colorist), Erica Schultz (Letterer) Dynamite August 19, 2015 Birdi and Kate take issue with Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella & Jennifer Blood #4, which is really no surprise, considering they’ve had problems with the entire run. As a final review, they’ve organized their critique in…