sigelphoenix

Hodgepodge of stuff. First of all, some food for thought:

-An editorial on homophobia written by the mother of a gay son. This was written a few years ago, during the civil union debates in Vermont, but the sentiment is obviously still valid. My favorite part: "If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you."

(I myself give great thought to my moral principles, and foremost among these is, without a doubt, heterosexuality. Don't kill people? Check. Love my neighbor? You betcha. Liking boy-parts? Certainly a given principle in moral discourse!)

-A comment from a post in feminist about street harassment. The question was whether guys leering/catcalling at women on the street could be considered harassment, and this answer sums up my feelings: it's not so much about what is said, or the genders of those involved, or even about unwelcome advances. It's about objectification and the overblown sense of entitlement that some people have.

-A quote from Whores and Other Feminists that (for me) trumps the argument that all prostitution is rape, and is disrespectful of rape survivors: "By the blood and bruises of sexual violations that I have sufered, I advocate protection for consensual sexual expressions of all kinds." (emphasis mine)

-Another quote, from Carol Queen, famed sex-positive feminist: "The stereotype about sex workers that says we are driven to this demeaning lifestyle by a damaged history must be exposed as the sex-negative and, yes, sexist crap it so often is. (How eerily this parallels what used to be said about lesbians!)" This reaffirms my impression that anti-pornography and anti-prostitution often acts as a mask for the 'other'ing of a minority sexual group that makes the mainstream feel more secure, rather than an actual, principled opposition to the practice itself.

Second of all, I watched several more episodes of Firefly this weekend. (I'm not going to be able to save it for when ratzeo comes home, am I? ~_~)

-Shindig: Much fun! But the best parts were Wash's ode to the "corpsified" Zoe, and Mal's ode to himself ("Mercy is the mark of a great man," etc.). Also love the way Mal said "sw-what?" when he found out about the duel.

-Safe: Simon has my heart. That is all.

-Our Mrs. Reynolds: I loved the hilarity (Mal is adorably dense!), but also for the sense of mundane conflict -- Zoe getting snappy at Wash, Inara getting snappy at Mal. This episode, even more than Shindig, makes me feel the Mal/Inara. Also love the way Mal said "you dubba wha?" when Saffron wanted to "cleave" to him.

-Jaynestown: I was afraid I wouldn't like Jayne as much as I'm coming to like the other characters. I was happily proven wrong.

Also, I'm developing a deeper and deeper affection for Simon. Not just for his actions in Safe (but it does help that he called River "Mei-mei," because that made me MELT), but for the fact that he's a really ordinary guy. He's smart, and he loves his sister, and he *is* brave -- but he's not a good fighter, not good at deceit, not even very good at being witty. I sympathize with him the most as the 'wants to be useful but is sometimes just an irredeemable gimp' character. <3