I saw a Twitter post the other day asking why the recent Jon Stewart piece was doing everything with respect to women rather than men. It seemed like an odd question to me because while, yes, men are the privileged group and women the disadvantaged, the discussion always seems to be with respect to women.… Continue reading In Which One is Critical of Gender Critical Gender
Category: #HeForShe
A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender
We're doing things a little differently today. Normally with this blog I attempt to share opinion and experience (alongside any expertise that I can). That's why I focus on aspects of mental health (rather than the field broadly) and writing. Today, I want to venture into an area where I have zero qualification. Not only… Continue reading A Traditionally Masculine Question About Gender
On Little Women: Jo the Ladybird
This post might have gone any one of several different ways. Originally I felt compelled to write something about "Little Women" in general. After mentioning the story and characters several times in other recent posts, I realised that me complicated feelings towards Laurie and Amy would make for an interesting examination. As much as I… Continue reading On Little Women: Jo the Ladybird
Toxic Femininity Does Not Exist
"Toxic masculinity" is shorthand for "the pressures of social expectations of traditional masculinity resulting in violence". As I talk through the matter with intelligent people who disagree, who claim that toxic femininity must also be a thing, it is this fundamental definition that appears to be the sticking point. One could rightly assert that women… Continue reading Toxic Femininity Does Not Exist
I Might Be a Terrible Feminist, and I’m Too Afraid of What I Might Find Out
I have danced around this topic several times before, and perhaps this will be but another in a series of failures to fail. Over the course of the last ten to fifteen years, I have been in the OCPD-riddled process of attempting to write a novel. As I learn and develop a process, I scrap… Continue reading I Might Be a Terrible Feminist, and I’m Too Afraid of What I Might Find Out
Matt Lauer, Consent, and Power Dynamics
A lot of people have and will write about Matt Lauer's...defence?...after the Ronan Farrow book, all of them more renowned than I. Here's another take anyway, because it still feels important that men write about this so that men hear it from other men and women can take some comfort in knowing that men who… Continue reading Matt Lauer, Consent, and Power Dynamics
The Demisexual Feminist
I learned a new word recently! Hooray! Demisexual. Feel free to Google the term, the top results are safe for work. What one will find is various lists of criteria to the effect of, "You might be demisexual if". The short version is someone who does not experience sexual attraction without a strong emotional connection… Continue reading The Demisexual Feminist
Aesthetics and Human Attraction – a Personal Account
I want to discuss what I consider a riskier topic today - attraction. What better way for a socially anxious, aspiring ally to begin than to derail the entire discussion with qualifiers to assuage my guilt for wanting to discuss it, right? First, this is not common from an academic, psychological perspective, and what I… Continue reading Aesthetics and Human Attraction – a Personal Account
To Ms. Watson on Her Birthday
I had not yet read much of the books because I missed the bandwagon when they first appeared. By the time I got around to "The Sorcerer's Stone", the writing felt much too young for me. A friend urged me to see "Half-Blood Prince" entirely out of context on the strength of one character. "If… Continue reading To Ms. Watson on Her Birthday
Sex and Attraction: A Personal Account
This is purely a biographical piece, not a philosophical one. Feel free to engage as with any other, but bear in mind that I am not advocating an ideology or lifestyle - I am simply musing publicly about my relationship with the topic. A Tale as Old as 1991 My life changed in 1991. Sure,… Continue reading Sex and Attraction: A Personal Account
Celtic Riverside 