11.20.06
Posted in good things, links, sexuality, squeeeee!, women at 8:53 am by Hanne Blank
Now it may be that you’ve seen one of these before. Perhaps you’ve seen both of them before.
But if you have, then you know that there is nothing at all wrong with seeing them again. And again and again, if you like.
Lo-Rider, “Skinny” (uncensored and very likely not safe for workplaces)
Anthony Hamilton, “Sista Big Bones” (more worksafe yet still ooohbaby)
I noted to my spouse this morning that had the “Skinny” video been made in 2000, I probably wouldn’t have had to write Big Big Love, I could’ve just told people to go watch.
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11.17.06
Posted in arrrrgh, outrage, patriotism, politics, women at 12:34 pm by Hanne Blank
… in the Bu$h administration, it seems, to hand-pick for administrative appointment the precise kind of people who will be the biggest prickliest possible burrs under the saddle of reasonable egalitarianism. The harder they are for anyone else to remove from their hand-picked posts, the better, too, so that the burrs will stay in place as long as possible, and for the remainder of the Shrubidency at the very least.
The latest in this long and infuriating list is a guy named Eric Keroac. You’ve probably never heard of him before. (That’s another Bush hallmark: if you pick people no one knows, it’s less likely that people will have reasons to complain about them. Except, er, not in this case, that’s for sure.) Here’s a little bit of what the WaPo has to say about Eric Keroack [Link]:
The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as “demeaning to women.”
Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman’s Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said yesterday.
Keroack, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will advise Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy. He will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are “designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons.”
The appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, was the latest provocative personnel move by the White House since Democrats won control of Congress in this month’s midterm elections. President Bush last week pushed the Senate to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and this week renominated six candidates for appellate court judgeships who have previously been blocked by lawmakers. Democrats said the moves belie Bush’s post-election promises of bipartisanship.
The Keroack appointment angered many family-planning advocates, who noted that A Woman’s Concern supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six centers in eastern Massachusetts.
“A Woman’s Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness,” the group’s Web site says.
You know what’s really demeaning to women? Assuming that not having any voluntary control whatsoever over their fertility ennobles them.
You know the address to write to about this, right? 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., 20500.
I always have the feeling I should be using really short words when I send nastygrams to Shrub, but have yet to actually give in to the temptation. You do as you will on that score. But do be a good patriot and write and tell Mr. Bush that he’s making a wrong choice, won’t you? The wellbeing of your fellow countrywomen is on the line.
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Posted in advertisement, geek, good things, links at 9:16 am by Hanne Blank
I have been having an idiotic amount of fun, lately, playing with the free “lite” version of Transparent Language’s Before You Know It language learning software. They offer the software as a free download, and then you can go nuts downloading content files in as many different languages as your little heart desires.
The language learning content files are limited for any given language, in the free download version. I think most of the packages I’ve downloaded so far have 17 files, which translates into 17 “units” of instruction, essentially. But if you go through the limited materials and want to buy the full version, you can upgrade to the full version (75+ files, lots of additional interactivity, etc.) for a really reasonable $40.
What’s weirdly wonderful about BYKI, as opposed to other language learning softwares I’ve encountered in the past, is that it manages — somehow — to make the interminable drilling of basic vocabulary acquisition enjoyable. Last night I spent about two hours drilling two sets of introductory vocabulary in the three languages I’m currently working with and was having a ball. It feels like a game.
I am currently working with Czech, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese. I’ve studied Italian in the past, and read it pretty well (speaking/writing are less good but passable), so working through the Italian is just review and reinforcement of remembering gendered pronouns correctly, which has always been a pitfall for me. I’ve never studied Czech before, but have sufficient background in variegated Slavic languages that a lot of it is familiar enough that I can trust the backbrain to grab cognates correctly.
Mandarin? Whole different kettle of fish! But like any language, it has its patterns and internal logic. Particularly when I work with the Mandarin files, I can see how BYKI is a successful teaching tool: the combination of rote drilling and repeated exposure to the written and spoken language (the Mandarin files use both written ideographic Chinese and a transliterated/Romanized version to help you deal with the gap between phonetics and written language) helps the pattern recognition kick in.
I think that I would like it if I had someone on hand to explain ideographs to me a bit, because having to figure them out as I go is kind of hard and I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. I know some of them are right — the one for “wine” is pretty distinctive, for instance — but then again, the “wine” ideograph is also part of the way you write the word for “beer,” so I suspect that the ideograph may in fact be more related to alcohol, or fermentation. This is something I will be able to deduce, of course, if I keep noticing the ideograph in places where that interpretation would make sense (say if it were part of the word for “vinegar” and other fermenty things, which it might be, but I don’t know that yet). But I would find it satisfying to be able to find out now. Because I am impatient like that.
Anyhow, I’m having a good time refreshing my Italian, getting a bit of Czech, and wrestling with Chinese. I’m pondering adding modern Hebrew and Spanish to the list, just for fun. If you like playing with languages, you should try it out. Also, if you think you’re crap at languages, you should try it out — my strong suspicion is that it would work well and be fun for people who don’t have a knack for them, too. It’s geek-friendly language learning, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
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11.16.06
Posted in Virgin book, advertisement, helping, making book, public speaking, publishing, sexuality, women at 4:09 pm by Hanne Blank
PUBLIC TALKS AND CLASSROOM LECTURES, 2007
The fascinating, misunderstood, controversial topic of virginity is the subject of Hanne Blank’s groundbreaking new book Virgin: The Untouched History. Aspects of this history—a history chronicled for the first time in this sweeping new survey—are also the subject of four vibrant, information-packed, surprising, and entertaining talks that Hanne is offering for 2007.
Reviews have raved that Blank’s work is “a huge helping of stereotype busting, old-fashioned feminist consciousness raising” that “does for sex what feminism does for women: gives us context.” Conference and event organizers say “fantastic speaker… and a huge part of why the conference went so well!” and describe her as “at once learned and accessible, informative and provocative.”
To bring Hanne Blank and Virgin: The Untouched History to your campus, conference, or other organization, contact her at hanne at hanneblank dot com or contact Jennifer Baumgardner or Amy Richards at Soapbox, Inc. at (646) 486-1414.
TOPICS AND THEMES
Gypsy Flowers and Piss-Prophets: A Historical Tour of Virginity Testing
Human beings have been inventing virginity tests for as long as we have recognized the status of virginity itself—since before written history began. Some of the earliest documents of Western culture discuss the problem of how to verify virginity. Across the centuries, women and girls have had their genitals inspected, endured having their breasts and buttocks groped, drunk bizarre concoctions, and literally had smoke blown up their vaginas, all in the name of determining whether they were virginal. No virginity test has ever done better than chance at determining anyone’s sexual status. Even modern medicine cannot offer us anything more conclusive than conjecture. But the methods that we have tried over the centuries, whether seemingly abstract (astrological forecasts), bizarre (sniffing lettuce), or seemingly scientific and modern (gynecologists’ exams), reveal volumes about what we have believed to be true about the body, about sexuality, and about the elusive quality of virginity itself.
(Includes audience participation. Approximately 50 minutes, plus Q&A.)
Hymen Wars: The Two Thousand Year Search For Anatomical Proof of Virginity
Ask most people how you can tell whether or not a woman is a virgin, and it is likely that they’ll mention the hymen. The condition of this storied membrane has, in recent history, been considered so definitive of virginity that reports of its condition have been admitted as evidence in courts of law, and we often assume that this is not only warranted but that the hymen has been known and understood this way throughout human history. Nothing could be further from the truth: the hymen’s physical reality wasn’t even confirmed by dissection until 1546, after twelve centuries of medical debate about whether it existed at all. Even then, some physicians dismissed it as nothing more than a minor birth defect. The startling history of the hymen, stretching from ancient Greece to the pages of modern medical journals, is a saga of controversy, projection, paranoia, and medical mystery that continues to infuriate and amaze.
(Visual component includes graphic clinical photographs. May not be suitable for all audiences. Approximately 50 minutes, plus Q&A.)
True Love Legislates: “Abstinence,” Education, and the Politics of Virginity in America
Since 1996, the United States has been the only nation in the developed world—and one of only a few worldwide—with national legislation regarding the virginity of its citizens. Why, and what does this mean in the larger context of American history and culture? With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and the staunch support of powerful political and religious conservatives, the legislation that created “abstinence”-only sexuality education was never subject to public referendum, yet it neatly encapsulates nearly a century’s paranoia about the sexuality of young women and men. Devoid of oversight requirements or even proof that “abstinence” programs work (and indeed with increasing evidence to the contrary), “abstinence” education policy is creating a chilling effect on freedom of information and expression not just in America’s public schools and youth programs but in the halls of public research institutions like the Centers for Disease Control. Public figures, including several former Surgeons General of the United States, have called for an end to this controversial Federal program, but economics, social history, and politics alike make repeal a difficult task. A hard-hitting and layered look at the big picture of “abstinence” in the context of American history and culture.
(Approximately 50 minutes, plus Q&A.)
Virgins, Veils, and Eunuchs For The Sake of Heaven: Virginity in the World of Early Christianity
In the fifth century BCE, the Greek poet Bacchylides wrote that “as a skillful painter gives a face beauty, just so chastity gives charm to a life of high aims.” But what Bacchylides meant by “chastity” was light-years away from what Saint Augustine, writing at an equal distance into the Common Era, meant by the same term. The development and spread of Christianity brought with it a startling new philosophy of sexuality and of virginity in particular: to a world in which the married household was the cornerstone of the social and political order, it introduced the notion that “…he who gives in marriage does well, he who does not does better.” (I Cor. 7:38) In order for this radical reprioritization of virginity to succeed, the virginity culture of the pre-Christian world had to be encompassed and transformed, and the results aggressively promoted in doctrine, ritual, organizational structure, and the rapid generation of a vast and fascinating literature. The result was nothing less than a paradigm shift in the Western culture of virginity, one which continues to shape our thoughts, emotions, and experiences of virginity a millennium and a half later.
(Approximately 50 minutes, plus Q&A.)
FOR ACADEMICS ONLY — HANNE BLANK IN THE CLASSROOM
While visiting your campus as a featured speaker, Hanne Blank may be available (pending scheduling) to enrich student experience by speaking in undergraduate and graduate classrooms on general subjects relating to her work as a feminist writer, activist, and historian. With abundant classroom experience and guest-teaching credits at institutions including Johns Hopkins University, Tufts University, Brandeis University, University of Delaware, Virginia Commonwealth University, and many others, she is happy to speak to many topics related to her past and current work.
For educators who would prefer more structured and topical guest-teaching on subjects relating specifically to virginity and the book Virgin: The Untouched History, Ms. Blank is also offering
topic-based classroom teaching on the following subjects:
Virginity as a Problem in Contemporary Medical Ethics
Suitable for women’s and gender studies, applied philosophy, and ethics classrooms, this topic requires students to read two articles from major medical journals (four for graduate classes) in preparation for a wide-ranging discussion about issues of institutional and cultural misogyny, issues regarding medical definition of anatomical “normality,” patient consent and confidentiality, legal and forensic issues regarding physician interpretation of anatomical evidence, and physician liability for patients’ social and cultural safety. (Bibliography for this class will be provided to the professor upon confirmation of booking. Study questions for students will be provided.)
Under Wraps: Gender, Appearance, and Power in Tertullian’s De virginibus velandis
Suitable for women’s history, history of Christianity, ancient literature, and Classical history classrooms, this class centers around close historical reading of Tertullian, De virginibus velandis (On the Veiling of Virgins), with the goal of better understanding the role that gender, sexuality, biological sex, appearance, and women’s agency played within the intersecting cultures of Tertullian’s world and within the developing theology of third-century Christianity. (The core text may, depending on the nature of the class, be read either in Latin or in English translation. Study questions for students will be provided.)
Virgin Sexy: Sex, Power, and the Eroticization of Virginity
Suitable for women’s and gender studies, cultural studies, human sexuality, and modern social history classrooms, this class considers the complicated issue of how virginity is eroticized in Western culture and what ramifications this has for the personal well-being, cultural and legal agency, and sexual self-image and experience of women. Discussion centers around 3 readings (graduate classes may have more) from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (Bibliography for this class will be provided to the professor upon confirmation of booking. Study questions for students will be provided.)
To bring Hanne Blank and Virgin: The Untouched History to your campus, conference, or organization, contact her at hanne at hanneblank dot com or contact Jennifer Baumgardner or Amy Richards at Soapbox, Inc. at (646) 486-1414.
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Posted in art, humor at 11:01 am by Hanne Blank
You ever have that experience where you’re working away, listening to music, and suddenly you sit up, brow furrowed, thinking “What the hell is this that I’m listening to? This CD is all over the map! This is the weirdest, most mindblowingly versatile band in the world!”
And then you go and you look at your music-playing utility on your computer to see what it is that you’ve been hearing and you are reminded that when you turned it on you stuck it on “shuffle” and it’s been randomly wandering through your entire collection?
Yeah. It’s that kind of morning. I’ve had half a pot of tea, and it’s still that kind of morning.
But I have to say that if there were a band that combined Moroccan joujouka musicians, Joe Henry, Ella Fitzgerald, Balkan dance music, B.B. King, Joe Strummer, The Shangri-Las, and Andrea Eccheveri (given that this was the stream that got me all weirded out), I would certainly buy all their albums and go to all their concerts.
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