Every Season of "In Bed With Susie Bright," 52 Episodes in 1 Audiobook!
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It's been clear for a long time that the giant obscene "F" word in Internet censorship is feminism.
Ever since the Breast Cancer Support group on AOL got shut down by the parent company for using the word "breast," it's been clear that women's health, bodies, and sexual politics are "Not Safe for Work," and beyond the pale of decent conversation and discourse.
How far does the insanity extend? Well, here's the latest gem.
You know Google. They have "safe" filters on their search engine so you can avoid seeing obscenities if you choose the "safest" setting.
In many workplaces and schools, that safe setting is chosen for you, so you don't fall out of your crib over a four-letter word.
Well, get this:
If you set your Google SafeSearch filter on "strict filtering" and search for clitoris, you get zero returns.
But if you try a Google SafeSearch "strict filtering" search for penis, you get...
33,000,000 returns.
That's because "clitoris" is on Google's list of naughty words which are never, ever "safe."
(Comstock Films has more on what it's like to be dragged into Google's Sex Ghetto, kicking and screaming, and I thank them for this amazing find).
The self-imposed censorship of language and topic taboos on the Web is the most parochial, stifling, and bigoted aspect of Internet journalism. A daily city newspaper has a more grownup attitude toward sex, reproduction, health issues, and artistic license than any major Web search engine or news group.
As I wrote in an earlier post, "Not Safe for Prudes:"
It's as if the First Amendment exists on paper, but not out here in cyberspace where you can be a dog.... but not a female with primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
I recall the 1970s abortion rights poster that read "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." The sexism of the Internet infrastructure is the same joke. There is no way that men would consider "prostate cancer" an inappropriate search or conversation item. They would never for a moment consider that their "penis" was a word that couldn't be allowed in a respectable business or learning environment.
But women's bodies? Oh, you're familiar with the filthy and unspeakable territory those will lead you into. It's in the Bible, right?
Let's stop coddling Internet censorship as if it were an etiquette or a "children's" issue. The people suffering from being firewalled and banned aren't commercial porn-makers designed with hardcore prurient appeal — they're educators, healthcare professionals, midwives, nurses, doctors, researchers, artists, writers, filmmakers, political activists, critics and analysts— all of whom find their interest in women's lives to be shrouded in the great Internet burqa of "safeness."
I spent fifteen minutes on my podcast today about what I want to see as a BRAND NEW SEXUAL DAY in the Obama administration.
Is there anything you'd like me to add before I let Michelle and Bar off the phone?
Really, Tom Dascle ain't got nothin' on me.
Listen to an excerpt
Listen to the whole show: Link$2 a show, for a year; why not? LINK
Also on today’s show, Syrian lingerie. I want some for Xmas.
Don't forget, you can send your confidential questions— plus requests for free samples and blog banners!— to [email protected]
Photo: Alan Brown, Portland State University Vanguard. I was speaking on this same topic to a very thoughtful PSU/Bitch Magazine audience this past week.
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From The Nation today, Laura Flanders writes:
Thanks Laura— this made my day! I'm giving my "Sexual State of the Union Address" today in Portland, so it's the perfect day to devise my national agenda.
I realize that Laura's list is satiric, "as if" a Democratic administration would pick bold feminists, pacifists, or even Groucho Marxists to direct public policy.
But the reality check is this: we voted these suckers in. We didn't vote for Obama so that Joe Lieberman and John McCain would get a lollipop and more money to spend. There better be progressive changes in this next administration— or Mr. YouTube President is going to hear about it!
Oh goodie— I'm going to be in Portland, Oregon next week to speak at the State University, on "The Sexual State of the Union."
I'm not waiting for the inauguration to give Obama & Co. my detailed agenda!
I would love to see you there!
Please introduce yourself to me, if we're longtime blog or podcast pals and I've never met you in person.
Tuesday, November 18, 7:00 pm
doors open at 6:30
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Ballroom,
1825 SW Broadway, 3rd Floor
Tix: $8 in advance, $10 at door
Sponsored by BITCH, the Oregon Council on the Humanities, and PSU Women's Resource Center
Ballot Initiatives provide a wake-up call to the LGBT Community about Race
by Pam Spaulding from Pam's House Blend
A giant snowball of a blame game is about to roll over and crush me as we wait for the final count in California on Prop 8.
Who voted for Yes on 8 is clear now, as exit polls show that 70% of blacks— with black women at 74%— voted for the amendment. That's about 20 points higher than any other racial group.
But the blame needs to be put into perspective. Blacks represent only 6.2% of of California's population. There's a lot to discuss in the post-mortem regardless of the outcome.
For those of us who are black and gay, a group too often marginalized within a marginalized community, I see this as a clear signal to the LGBT advocacy community.
There hasn't been enough outreach to those groups who voted against us. We haven't reached them; there hasn't been enough effort expended.
I've been blogging for years about the need to discuss race in regards to LGBT issues. I hope that this is now the wake-up call for our "professional gays" out there who represent us to come out of their comfort zones and help bridge this concrete education gap.
The belief that "white equals gay" is a big part of the problem. As long as black LGBTs are invisible in their own communities and there is a dearth of color in the public face of LGBT leadership, the socially-conservative black community can remain in denial that I exist as a black lesbian.
But the losses are about more than these racial hurdles. I thank Darkrose for her diary "Blame the Brown People = Recipe for Failure." It puts the defeats in perspective:
It seems like the frame for the passage of Prop 8 is going to be "It's because Obama's candidacy caused increased black turnout, and the black community is homophobic."
Never mind that it was voters 65 and over who put Prop 8 over the top, or that one of the whitest institutions in America--the Mormon Church--funneled millions of dollars from Utah to California to make sure that 8 passed. The parts of the state that went solid for 8 were the inland areas, which are overwhelmingly white.
...It wasn't a black group that put Prop 8 on the ballot, and paid the signature-gatherers and bankrolled the ads. Nor is it fair to say that Obama's have-it-both-ways position meant that black voters were going to march sheeplike to the polls and vote as Obama dictated.
Writing off an entire race as hopelessly unenlightened isn't going to help.
(CA returns aren't completely in; you can follow the count here).
And, in good news, it's time to spread the word about Jason Bartlett's victory in Connecticut. He is an openly gay black man serving in the state's House, and was re-elected.
Incumbent Democrat Jason Bartlett won the hotly contested race for the 2nd District seat in the state House Tuesday over Republican challenger Melanie O'Brien.
Both Bartlett, a small business owner of a mortgage company, and O'Brien, an attorney, are Bethel residents. The 2nd District covers parts of Bethel, Redding and Danbury, and Bartlett won in all three municipalities.
Bartlett, 42, was elated with his victory Tuesday night.
"All three towns voted to send me back to Hartford to represent them, and I am so grateful and appreciative," he said. "In these tough economic times I pledge to look out for the taxpayers in the 2nd District and to continue all of the projects that I began in my first term."
This visibility must be spread far and wide.
This story reprinted from Pam's House Blend, one of my favorite bloggers and activists.
More on this later from me, but I recommend following Pam's blog for heroic coverage on sex, race, politics— and everything that intersects!
Turn Up the Volume!
Surf's Up, Mr. President...
I'm popping open the Dom. And yes, I still want to take your phone calls and post your thoughts. Feel free to call me, if you don't mind me being slightly smashed.
UPDATE: I went downtown to celebrate... pretty rowdy for lil' Santa Cruz! And I wanted to kiss strangers, but some guy tried to high five me and smashed my little finger so hard it is... sprained. Gigantic. I am sitting here in ice typing with one hand. I guess I'll call it a night... more tomorrow from my bandaged headquarters. It's been such a great day hearing from everybody... MWAH!
8:00 PM: The TV dudes just called it. As promised, I tore off my clothes and ran out on the front porch and screamed my head off.
Melvin in Pittsburgh says it's like the World Series, your birthday, and New Years all at once:
Goin' crazy in Portland ME:
Peter Throckmorton heartily approves of my nudity even though he can hardly see through his tears:
Kat Sunlove has her mind blown:
Downtown Donna reminds me what a long strange trip it's been:
CS Lewiston is fanning himself:
Jackson is still holding his breath for Prop 8:
Sandy Stone wants to hear how how I sound slightly smashed:
John D'Addario is tearing the roof off the mothersucker in NOLA:
Elvira, New York is ecstatic:
Camille and John don't realize I'm opening up THEIR bottle of Dom they left here:
Douglas has a ONE NIGHT ONLY special on Sarah Palin's brassieres:
What's the most interesting TV, blogs, and newspapers that you're seeing today?
Email me your picks and I'll post them here for our delectation!
Greg pointed me to the essential Talking Points Memo, for a voting day story that sums it all up:
"My polling place is at the fairgrounds in Southern Maryland, about 40 minutes from Washington, D.C. This used to be tobacco country, but is slowly being developed, or other crops are grown. We waited until 10:00 to vote, to avoid the lines.
"When we got there a 97-year-old black man was being wheeled out of the polls in his wheelchair. It was the first time he had ever voted in his life. When he came outside he asked if anyone could give him an Obama button. There were none left at the Democrat's booth so I gave him mine.
"He was so proud and I started crying. He looked at me and said, 'Why are you crying? This is a day for glory.'"
Beautiful slide show of Americans voting today at the Chronicle.. a real treat for those of us who like the story in pictures..
From Side Lake: Shelly says she voted for Obama, but is extremely proud of her Palin shirt, nonetheless.
We noted that her ill-fitting bra demonstrates a lack of support for Palin.
Oh this is rich:
Senator Orrin Hatch says that if Obama wins: "We're going to lose a lot of stature throughout the world because we have somebody who, though eloquent and a very nice person, who I like, who doesn't know what he's talking about."
Danny has a video you need for your Canadian travel bags!
Steve writes:
Okay, Ben and Jerry's is giving away ice cream, and Starbucks is handing out coffee— but ONLY Babeland is offering free sex toys if you vote!
Lulu writes:
Favorite election site hands down: FiveThirtyEight.
Also a bunch of great progressive bloggers (like Glenn Greenwald and David Sirota) live posting on Salon here:
And I'm so watching the Daily Show/Colbert special at 10p EST tonight. At least, if I'm somewhere with a TV and Comedy Central—'Cause I don't think they livestream.
Susie says:
I am VERY impressed with the analysis and EXCELLENT map provided by the Times, which shows you exactly what counties, in what states, are the ones to watch for this election.
They take complex information and boil it down to the critical essentials. Plus they tell you what's going to go down, what will become clear, at 6 PM, 7 PM, and 8 PM tonight.
The Times has got their technology down tight, and oughta be a great place to watch the returns all day and night.
Although they don't say one word about "Race," it is impossible to review their map/audio data and not see that McCain's come-from-behind strategy is dependent on stoking "fears of a black planet" in areas of the country where the KKK still has bake sales. The Indiana example alone sent chills down my spine.
I was a labor organizer in Indiana, in the 1970s, with black and white steel workers in Gary and the same kind of diverse group of CWA phone workers in Indianapolis. I attended incredible feminist gatherings at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, where of course I also spent life-changing time at the Kinsey Institute.
But those areas, geographically, are the tiny, tiny blue corners of a state which boasts the national headquarters of the Klan. I remember my friends Bobbie and Fred, a black/white couple, packing a gun to go on drive to a picnic in Southern Indiana, without even thinking twice about it. The first time I heard the expression, "Free White & 21" was in Indiana, and I've never forgotten that. SO! When I look at the color coded maps, all the memories come flooding back.
I'd love to hear from you in any of the contested states today. Don't forget you can call me at 831 480 5110!
My Friend David's St. Louis Election Photo Album:
This is a city that has been so utterly abandoned by the nation in recent years, it just touches my heart to see the excitement of David's photos...
Do you need a small person to help you vote today?
Patrizia writes:
If you're a betting man and wanna lay your money where your vote is, the incredibly interesting gambling site, betfair.com, thinks Obama will win by a landslide, carring FL, OH, NC, and MO (by a smidge)— and losing Indiana.
Naturally I'm much too stupid to understand the bet ratios without the aid of big glossy colored graphix. None are provided for PA and VA, but if I'm reading the numbers correctly, it looks like they're predicting Obama will carry those states too.
Top Photo: Anna Schlabach and Cole Wengerd voted at Beck's Mill General Store in Millersburg, Ohio.
Taken by Kiichiro Sato/Associated Press
