Me, Martha and Sony HiFi on Flickr.
Pole dancing is grim and I don’t see anything empowering about learning it. Even if you say that it’s just dancing and good exercise, surely it would be more empowering to learn a dance that can be employed in contexts other than strip clubs? And if, as Francisco claims, it’s “not intended to be sexual”, why is it only for women? Shouldn’t men get the chance to be empowered too? I told you it was sexist!
People talk about sexism against men quite a lot. Everything from being officially excluded from MP selection shortlists to getting turned away from nightclubs is cited as if it demonstrated the utter hypocrisy of all feminist aims. The reactionary view is that it’s all gone so ridiculously far – political correctness has gone so distressingly, dangerously and self-harmingly insane – that occasionally, would you believe it, things are now unfair on men! This doesn’t seem to take into account that, if situations weren’t sometimes unfair on men too, it wouldn’t be fair.
David Mitchell is right on!
Terrific article by Jeff Sparrow:
Respectable Australia in the 21st century considers all manner of things sacred. But God, by and large, is not among them. If you want to cause thoroughgoing offence, you might, for instance, try speaking up against the Israeli apartheid state and its Australian partisans, on the basis that a modicum of justice for the Palestinians would do more to counter Islamism than the umpteenth plonking repetition of atheistic arguments already old a century ago. But that, of course, would be much less profitable than standing in the Opera House to tell the glitterati about how little you’re scared by the bogey man.
Hot Chip - ‘I Feel Better’ (via PeterSerafinowicz)
Not enough reasons to love Peter Serafinowicz? He directed this.
The Sandpit on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
So beautiful!
Seriously expensive scarf. I don’t actually want it. However, I have observed it. And now I submit it for your observation.
