Your daily dose

Who doesnt need the beauty of Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan in their lives?

Things To Read: Changes

I'm not even going to lie. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fangirl. I am also embarrassingly nerdy when it comes to language. I have a huge hard on for books and paper and font type. I can, and will, talk to you forever about page layouts if you'd like.

So what happens when you get a short story by Neil Gaiman, about the way words change in society, printed in sexy font on real paper? Essentially an inanimate wet dream for Maeve.

The Important Bit

"Changes", by Neil Gaiman, is a very short story about a man who, by inventing a cure for cancer, inadvertently discovers a way to change ones sex over night. While this premise may sound too fantastical for your usual fare, read it anyways. What I took away from it was the way language morphs in society, to the point where what we consider a common, acceptable word ("change") acquires new and forbidden connotations.

When you're done agreeing with me, read this short review for an entirely different take on the story: the way the author handles the concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality from the perspective of a trans reader.

Then come talk to me about it if you like. I think this is a worthwhile (and non time-consuming) addition to any day.

Turkey: A look inside Istanbul's transsexual brothels

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/turkey/100829/istanbul-transgender-rights-brothels

"In Turkey, transgender and transsexuals are often discriminated against, and for them, stable work is hard to find.

The women who work in this series of brothels are the lucky ones. They stand in sharp contrast to the thousands of transgendered and transsexual sex workers who are forced to walk the streets of Istanbul. Outside brothels, all prostitutes are vulnerable to police harassment, sexually-transmitted infections and violence.

For prostitutes working in the brothels, the houses provide not only a level of protection, but also a place to reconnect."

Turkey is a place of so many contradictions, this short piece brings to light an interesting community as well as featuring some spectacular photographs. A place that American culture views as dirty and immoral can be a safe haven, not only in Turkey but around the world. The view of sex, and sex workers, as somehow unworthy and unsafe is one I feel transcends gender identity, religious beliefs, and geography. In the same way persecuting homosexuals does nothing eradicate the phenomenon (it only serves to place the individuals who identify as LGBTQ in dangerous societal margins), persecuting sexual aspect of humans does nothing but endanger a large portion of society. Please come talk to me about the sex trade, it's a discussion I'd love to have.

Where the party's at

You know what? You all get to go over to my Tumblr and follow me there, because as lovely and exciting as blogger is, Tumblr always has been and always will be my one true love. That, and it's prettier.
I'll still post here, big things like reviews and articles and assignments, but for the really cool quotes, pictures, kickass blogs, Tumblr is your answer.

Lets get this party started

What we take for granted

Go read this article:
Guest Post: Go Where? Sex, Gender, and Toilets

"The segregation of public washrooms is one of the most basic ways that the male-female binary is upheld and reinforced...washroom signs are very telling of the way societies construct gender. They identify the male as the universal and the female as the variation. They express expectations of gender performance. And they conflate gender with sex."

A pithy deconstruction of the way bathroom signs express both current societal norms and deeper historical interpretations of male and female. The author makes some interesting points about the assumptions and connections we draw overlook between gender identity and graphical representations of such.
The author explains, with examples, several key aspects of washroom signage:

1. Underlying assumptions of Male/Female
   
2. The diametric opposites of Sex
3. The expected actions of Gender
4. The assumptions of Sexuality
5. The way in which all four of these elements are confused, combined, and constructed

An interesting read for those interested in semantics and graphics design, or if this was just a topic you had never considered before (I find myself in all three categories)