Some of you may remember that way back, this used to be a different blog, with a different name, and a bunch of boy writers. It was always my blog, my idea, but I shared it with other people because I wasn’t entirely sure of my ability to write everyday.

And when I wrote about feminism, one of two things happened. Either it got so quiet in here you could hear the crickets. Or the trolls came out.

None of this was due to the boy writers, really. Deek at the very least is, was and always has been a super feminist ally. But when women speak, they are either ignored or chastised.

So about a year ago, I changed the name of the blog and made the focus way more feminist than before. Wonder is still here sometimes, and Chang’e is an awesome moderatrix. But we are all women.

And I got a bunch of awesome women readers. And once it became clear that this was a safe place for them to speak, the comments went up. And the number of readers went up. I know why. Like I was they are hungry for a place where they can speak without being shouted down for having a vagina. A place where what they think matters and where what matters to them gets discussed. I know cause I was just as hungry. I found Shakesville a few years ago, and Feministe right when Lauren left and Jill, Piny and Zuzu took over. And Pandagon, before it became the pink Obamabot ghetto.

And it’s awesome that we have these spaces to go to now. But I worry that we are creating an online version of a zenana. I worry that we are being pushed into women only spaces to shut us up. It’s not an accident that the top female bloggers (Arrianna Huffington anyone?) are sexists themselves. They have achieved “legitimacy” by selling out the rest of us. Way to break the glass ceiling, girls!

But how do we keep our safe place while also being part of the bigger discussion?

And I think this is a really important discussion to have right now. We are seeing the left side of the blogosphere split between those that think misogyny is a valid political tool and the tools people that support them, and those who think it is unacceptable. And for those of us who feel it is unacceptable, places that used to be safe for us now are not.

So do we wall ourselves off in a safe zenana, free of boys because so far the majority of them have not been terribly supportive (no, not all- note the some in there) or do we keep exposing ourselves to hate in the hope that minds will be changed before our wounds get too serious?

I go back and forth. At the moment, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who has read this blog just over the course of this weekend, I want to bring up the drawbridge and behead anything that looks remotely dangerous before it comes close.

But that doesn’t change the outside world.

Not that he’s ever tried to care, mind you. His supporters want to cattle car off the Latino vote as bad as they want to purge the white working class.

But at least the Blogger Boyz are being blunt in their brown people hate now. Stupid, but blunt.

Hey Dems! Way to write off the fastest growing section of the American populace. Much like McGovern, you know how to pick the winning side, doncha?

Wonder’s awesome My Flag Decal Turned Upside Down

In The Ghetto- or why poor people are war fodder

After we had the LONGEST discussion about Israel in the history of the world. No- seriously longer than any peace talks ever.

Another world is possible.

What does it take to get three members of the media to agree with each other, including right winger Blanquita Collum?

Just make sure they are all women. And they are all talking about the misogyny of this campaign.

Now in googling around to get more information on Collum, here’s an example of what I found:

I hope you don’t confuse me with Gloria Allred, that B – I – Etch or Nia Vardalos (throat choking sound) or Blanquita Collum (you know, the right-wing one with the car-wreck face you see on Geraldo).

From the always lovely Arrianna Huffington (sorry, I just threw up a little in my mouth typing that)

Then over at Democratic Underground, the comments on this very video included:

Blanquita Clollum, apparent graduate of the Katherine Harris School of Cosmotology

And then this one, bolds by me for future bingo squares

Hillary has played into this sexism fantasy! She has used it against any an all males to get what she wants. Is there male chauvinism pigs out there, you bet there is. She knew this when she ran. Barack Obama is dealing with racism. It’s the world we live in. She needs to go away. If she just stop lying, people will give her the benefit of the doubt. She also too DAM calculating! I’m sorry, people don’t like her, including women. That’s her fault, and not men. She need to stop blaming everyone for her own deficiencies. She has hurt woman causes for years to come. I have no problem having a women as President, just not this one.

But nooooooooooooo, sexism hasn’t hurt Hillary in this campaign. It hasn’t also hurt Every. Single. Other. Woman. In. The. Country. Whether they support Hillary or not. Whether they are feminists or not. Whether they are Dems or Reps. or something else.

Just not this woman really means just not any woman who might change the status quo. And any woman can change the status quo.

Video via Hillary 1000

Say you are an unexperienced politician with the audacity to run for president after a mere 3.5 years of national experience.

Say that as part of your campaign strategy you spend of 5 or 6 months straight ignoring all the successes of the only Democratic president to be elected in 28 years.

You also spend a lot of time calling him a racist.

And you spend the rest of your time spurring your misogynistic sycophants towards his wife and your fiercest competition.

How then could you ask the same former president to be your Unity Pony?

What do you think the former president would do, after spitting out his coffee through his nose while laughing at the request?

To both lighten the mood and to get myself de-earwormed after OuyangDan posted the Fine Young Cannibals at her place.

It’s time for They Might Be Giants! W00t.

When I was pregnant with the monkey, I promised that I would never play those crap kid’s music tapes, he could listen to They Might Be Giants instead (a few years later TMBG came out with an album for kids)

Birdhouse in Your Soul (I won tickets to see TMBG at a little club in Atlanta because I shamelessly sang this song on the radio)

Why Does the Sun Shine (The Kid’s fav TMBG song set to scenes from Invader Zim- I want a Grrrr)

And last but not least Don’t Start- just cause I like it)

So just about anyone who is listed in either my blog roll or my I am Hillary links has been visited by our resident stalker troll- Matthew. (I’ve got a ton of new peeps to add to the blogroll, now I am glad that in my laziness I haven’t yet)

He has been banned (many many times, he changes IP addys so it doesn’t stick, edited, and deleted more times than you can shake a stick at. I warned him that if he continued stalking me I would call the police. I am doing that. I am also filing a complaint with google over copyright infringement as he is using both my name and header image in a derogatory way, contrary to my creative commons license.

But you, my darling friends can do one more thing. Please flag the fake elizabitchez (elizabitch-ez.blogspot.com) blog for me. Then, if you’re really nice, you’ll delete his comments and ignore him.

And just to brush up- this kind of cyberstalking is a tool of male privilege. I would expect that even my Obama supporting male friends would not condone such behavior.

Thanks.

Periodically, when I’m feeling down, the claws come out because a bitter man has decided that I only deserve some control over my own body.

And in the new tradition of Corrente’s Obama Golf game: OMG- God and guns, I must of course be making a veiled assassination threat.

But wait- since Obama said it first, where’s the outrage that what he was doing was calling for someone to assassinate Hillary?

(BTW- has anyone else noticed that the dimwits who are claiming Hillary was making assassination threats also aren’t posting the readily available video of what she actually said? You might notice that whenever possible I include links to the actual quotes. I think Obama’s words speak for themselves. But then I have a leg to stand on, the Blogger Boyz and News Bunnies who cried “Assassination threat” do not )

So for the 4th- fourth fucking time- the Kid got mugged. But this time they pinned him, beat him and stole his phone.

Last time I was forgiving- this time I want fucking blood. I want a gun. I want to kill the assholes who would hurt a 13 year old boy. And I want the police to get off their collective asses and do something.

The entire left side of the Kid’s face is gonna swell up. He took their punches, got in one of his own. He got free and he got home. He shouldn’t have to keep dealing with this shit. He won’t let me take him to the emergency room, though I think I should. I’m gonna give him an hour to collect himself.

I used to love my neighborhood. At the moment I would firebomb the whole thing and start clean.