That Iggy Pop in a Dress Feminist Meme Isn’t Entirely Accurate, But It Was Born in Miami
Spend some time on the social justice/feminist web — or really, just on Facebook — and you’ll likely come across this image featuring Iggy Pop in a halter dress, toting a Lady Dior snakeskin bag. It’s inspiring, to be sure, and certainly sounds like something Iggy would say; if there ‘s an American rock and [...]
Babes and Brutality: Gendered Band Merch, a Girl’s Best Frenemy
I remember the first band shirt I ever bought (or rather, got my mom to buy me, because at 13, disposable income was very much an unfamiliar concept). It was printed with thick, metallic ink on a sturdy Gildan men’s small that enveloped my gangly torso in a black tent of fabric and made me [...]
Benny Toraty Makes an Eastern
Last Thursday, the Michael Ann Russell Jewish Community Center screened Benny Toraty’s new film, The Ballad of the Weeping Spring, as part of its bi-monthly Israeli cinema night. Toraty’s film is a swan song and utopian what-if, a Blues Brothers/Magnificent Seven hybrid in which the “get the band back together” storyline is filtered through the [...]
Q&A With Anu Muhammad About the Garment-Factory Fire in Bangladesh
Anu Muhammad, an anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist activist and Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University (Dhaka, Bangladesh), is the author of more than 20 books. He is the editor of the website Meghbarta.info. The fire occurred in the Tazreen Fashions factory on November 24, 2012 in Savar, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than a hundred workers. The factory produced clothing for [...]
Dear Internet, Hating on Christianity Has Gotten Old
Dear Internet, Hating on Christianity has gotten old. I know that many of you believe that hating on Christianity at any chance you get is justified. And to be fair, we are given no shortage of chances. “But Jesus Camp!” you think. “The Westboro Baptist Church! Women’s rights! It’s all their fault!” Maybe you heard [...]
Capitalist Food Production: A Leading Cause of Hunger, Illness, Ecocide, Exploitation, and Imperialist Domination
Capitalism is a dysfunctional economic system that benefits a few while exploiting and neglecting the majority. But it’s not only that. It’s also a social relationship of domination, where a small class of capitalists exerts power over the whole society through the private ownership of the means of production. Under capitalism, the purpose of all commodity production (including food) is [...]
Exploitation in Fashion
Grab a shirt from your closet. Look at the tag inside the collar, and you’ll see where it was produced, listed right next to the size and material composition. Chances are that it was sewn in some other country that you’ve never been to, by someone who lives on the edge of desperation. The current configuration of the garment [...]
California Judge Pulls an Akin, Says Rape Victim “Didn’t Put Up a Fight”
In case you weren’t maxed out on rape apologism this week, yesterday the California Commission on Judicial Performance voted unanimously to publicly admonish Orange County Superior Court jackass Derek Johnson after he made “insensitive” statements during a 2008 sentencing hearing ”about sexual assault victims who do not ‘put up a fight.’ ” (His rebuke comes four years [...]
Danation: As Long As We’re Going to Keep Talking About This Fiscal Cliff Business, Can We at Least Have Some Details?
Weeks have passed now, and the negotiations over whether to cut spending, raise taxes, do both, by how much, who for, and — what were we talking about anyway? — have continued at a pace that makes glaciers look like Usain Bolt. The president’s initial plan, which called for $1.6 trillion in tax hikes, was [...]