Aram Zucker-Scharff

Columbia Student Will Carry a Mattress Everywhere Until Her Alleged Rapist Is Expelled:

Emma Sulkowicz staged the piece of performance art as a protest against Columbia’s handling of her sexual-assault case.

Naked photos of Jennifer Lawrence: to click or not to click?:

From private photos to violent videos, the internet is full of degrading material intended to tempt viewers. Can we learn not to gawp, asks Stuart Jeffries

Putting on my internet studies hat, I’m finding the conversations that have been popping up around this fascinating. This is another sort of specific-to-general piece that takes a look at what our clicks mean, and don’t. 

“while we write objecting to the violation of Hollywood stars’ image rights and the abuse of their privacy, the internet carries on regardless making life more miserable for women and more degrading for men.

There’s something Canutish about Badham’s injunction not to click. It does little to address the herd of elephants in the room – the objectification of women’s bodies, the spread of misogyny that the internet has facilitated, the poison of online porn beyond Hugh Hefner’s wettest dreams, the real-world consequences for human relationships of the endless parade of naked bodies beyond Roger Ebert’s anti-puritanical hopes across computer screens.”

dcwomenkickingass:

Everyone! Listen to This Speech by Gene Luen Yang on Diversity and Comics Right Now

On Saturday, writer Gene Luen Yang gave a speech at the National Book Festival where he discussed the issue of diversity in publishing and specifically in comics and it is amazing.

The award-winning Boxers and Saints author began his speech by discussing the importance of Dwayne McDuffie to his own entrance in to comics and to comics overall. McDuffie, of course, fought for diversity in comics ultimately creating his own comic company so he could see people like himself in comics.

Yang talks about the importance of that company, Milestone, because the character Xombi was also an Asian American male.

But he also addresses the issue of diversity in terms of the writer’s responsibility and overcoming the fear of “not getting it right” and suffering the wrath of the Internet.

I strongly recommend that every writer or potential writer in comics listen to this speech. I strongly recommend that every editor and publisher in comics listen to this speech. I strongly recommend every comic reader listen to this speech. And I strongly hope that every person who diminishes diversity in comics with snide remarks listens to this speech.

You can also read the transcript here.

mediamattersforamerica:

The internet’s most beloved geek, Wil Wheaton, calls out misogyny in gaming, and confronts the men who attack him for doing so. Incredible. 

Not a big fan of the post-Star Trek Wil Wheaton, but I am a fan of this.