Included: Sen. Barbara Boxer’s grandson’s concise observation about the all-male panel on contraception, multiple anecdotes about shifting male-centric framing in girls’ lives, and several plain truths about male supremacy that you will basically never find on cable news shows or television generally.

Click the above image or here to watch the 18-minute clip.

Here’s my new post on Radfem HUB about a new study on pain reporting and why it’s bunk.

And for more amusing “man in pain” stock photos, see here. Such great modeling skills.

First, you need to know why we have a valid reason for being concerned about the behavior of self-identified feminist men within feminist spaces, and our answer is simple: We have identified the subtle mechanisms utilized by “pro-feminist” men to divide and conquer, to erase the commonality from all women within feminist spaces, and whose cumulative effect results in a gross marginalization of the radical feminist position. We are not the only women to notice a problem. Megan Milanese brilliantly describes most of the tactics in her blog post about fauxminism and men — yet that list does not go far enough to analyze the extent of the problem.

So why should an erasure of the commonality inherent to all women matter to anyone besides radical feminists? Lucky Nickel makes the relevant connection for us:

Self-naming and self-identified labels mean nothing. There must be substance to the label they identify with and substance to who they claim to be. Otherwise folks can insist on calling a mouse a giraffe or claim rape is really love.

What I do think important to note is that liberals, lesbian separatists and radical feminists are all flying the radfem flag these days. The problem being, they are 3 separate and distinct political groups and ideologies, 2 of whom are inappropriately waving the radfem flag. It can get a bit tricky tho with lesbian separatists as radical feminists can also be lesbian separatists. But not all lesbians are radfems and not all radfems are lesbian separatists, or even lesbian for that matter. But in Julian Real’s case, that would be irrelevant. The dude is not a lesbian or radical feminist.

What the dude is, is a liberal. And what he is attempting to do is appropriate the radical feminist label in order to inject liberal ideology. Equality politics are liberal politics, not radical feminist politics. Radical feminists seek liberation from men and their system, not equality. Liberals focus on differences between women. Radical feminists focus on the commonality of women. Needless to say, these 2 different ideologies conflict and clash. Which delights men like Julian Real to no end. Cuz if he keeps liberal women pitted against radical feminist women, it keeps women from unifying, which in turn keeps the heat off of pricks like him and men in general. Slick, no?

In talking to each other privately, we have decided to collectively communicate the following message regarding men such as Julian Real, Hugo Schwyzer, and other men like them, who claim to be feminist allies.

These men do not speak for women as well as we can speak for ourselves and we ask that women give radical feminist bloggers the respect of reading our words, joining the discussion in comments on our blogs, and contributing to our own community rather than giving energy to men who seek to divide us on points which all feminists have in common. Men exhibiting these behaviors have inserted themselves into discussions among women when their participation was insidiously harmful in nature and we ask that you not support that behavior nor make excuses for it.

Women working together, apart from the men who seek to divide us, can create something that only women can create.

In solidarity with other radical feminists, all women seeking a true feminist discussion among women, and ultimately, all women,

Lishra

[via UP; also posted by Cathy Brennan, Gallus Mag, NoAnodyne, Sargasso Sea, Smash, LuckyNkl, satisaudaci, gorilerof4b, saltnpepa10, iameatingblueberries, Allecto, Easilyriled, Dave Squirrel, zeph, Sex Matters]

Like The Onion, but radical.

The new post is a satire piece. Something fun and totally not based on anything that happened at a certain other blog this week. Nope.

Enjoy! And see you in 2012!

What follows has been altered slightly.

FAQ: How can I stay motivated and positive through treatment? I struggle with avoidance.

Fear, complacency, and avoidance

It is common for people to avoid issues that are difficult, painful, or have uncertain and potentially disheartening outcomes. This is especially true with not wanting to be punched in the face. The pervasive hopelessness that couples feel with not wanting their partner to punch them in the face is defeating and paralyzing. One of the biggest stumbling blocks in getting through your desire not to be smacked in the face is simply dealing with avoidance. Encouragement, love, patience, and communication can go a long way in helping to sustain relationships during trials, but there is simply no substitute for taking positive corrective action to make you feel comfortable with being punched in the face. Facing the problem directly, educating oneself and taking the positive necessary steps to overcome your fear experiencing pain when hit in the face are key to breaking the cycle of avoidance and defeat.

Here are some of the tips on staying motivated during treatment:

Remember the declarations. A woman needs to choose to not allow the pain or failures of the past to continue to impair the successes of the future. It takes time to retrain a person’s body to overcome the fear of being punched in the face. Be positive and embrace a different future potential.

Be determined. Significant life achievements require patient determination. Be determined to overcome your fears and all other stumbling blocks to resolve not wanting to be punched in the face and find freedom. You can do it!

FAQ: How does vaginismus affect husbands or partners of women with vaginismus?

It is important for male partners to understand that experiencing pain is not something the woman intentionally caused to avoid being punched in the face. The fear that causes her to back away from your fist is an unconscious reaction which is involuntary and happens without control or intention.

Even though a woman may very much want to be punched in the face, there is a ‘disconnect’ between her mind and body which triggers fear of being punched in the face.

“Samantha” shares her story:

“I feel like a failure. Why can’t I be punched in the face? The worst part is how it has affected my relationship with Dave, my husband of over four years. I have never been able to let him hit me and yet I so desire to be close in that way and to return that feeling of pain. The fear of being punched in the face as a child so many years ago keeps surfacing. Could this be the problem? I have unhealthy thoughts about myself and feel trapped.

One of the symptoms:

Avoidance of being punched in the face due to pain

When a woman states that she avoids being hit in the face by her husband because being punched does not feel good or has become very painful, a fear of being punched should be strongly considered.

*

Related reading:

I Blame the Patriarchy: “Thursday Vagina Blogging”

RadFem Hub: “Brad Pitt to Secure Permanent Access to Angelina Jolie’s Vagina?”

Although the male, being ashamed of what he is and almost of everything he does, insists on privacy and secrecy in all aspects of his life, he has no real regard for privacy. Being empty, not being a complete, separate being, having no self to groove on and needing to be constantly in female company, he sees nothing at all wrong in intruding himself on any woman’s thoughts, even a total stranger’s, anywhere at any time, but rather feels indignant and insulted when put down for doing so, as well as confused — he can’t, for the life of him, understand why anyone would prefer so much as one minute of solitude to the company of any creep around.

See also:
OccupyPatriarchy.org
“Feminist Call to Action: Occupy Dudeville”
“Our ‘Brethren in Struggle’, I Presume?”

Related:

Website for the conference, “Sex, Power, & Speaking Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later”