Guest post at The Standard – US primaries!

In a stunningly non-polarising move, I’ve tried to nut out exactly what the hell the whole “primary” system even is over at The Standard.

 

Residential brothels: the hint is in the name

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer thinks Something Must Be Done about small owner-operated brothels in residential areas.

It’s the same old, same old.  Because apparently residential brothels only exist because the operators are disgusting jezebels seeking to taint Innocent Family Suburbs with their degeneracy.  It’s not because, um, men and even women from said Innocent Family Suburbs might, you know, occasionally employ the services of sex workers.  No no no, it’s all gross people from [insert probably lower-class surburb of your choice here] who like to cross town to get their ends away, again because they want to ruin Cameron Brewer’s quiet, paradisaical cul-de-sac.

And it is of course appalling that brothels might be operated close to schools, because it’s not like sex workers are human beings who might have school-age kids and find it convenient to work in their own neighbourhoods with flexible hours to allow them to pick the kids up at 3 (wait, that would mean that the disgusting jezebels live in Good Family Suburbs, and we all know they live in [insert probably lower-class suburb of your choice here] in gang pads/state housing/meth labs).

And it’s not like sex workers go to community centres, or church – and hang on, it’s not like churches are a 100%-a-okay institution, because let me tell you given a choice between a small owner-operated business running itself quietly behind a quaint villa door or a branch of Destiny’s Church?  I will take the hookers any fucking day.

Anyway, Cameron Brewer is concerned about serious problems, yo.  Like, um, traffic (betcha some residents of Sandringham would take the “traffic” of one, two, say five small brothels over the drunken mobs of Eden fucking Park) and, um, lighting (which is just fine if you’re in a super-wealthy subdivision running obnoxious Christmas installations) and OH WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN.

Because obviously the only people who would ever use the services of sex workers must be child molesters, too.  I mean, that’s why there’s not really that many brothels around, because they only cater to freaks, WAIT NO, um, there’s too many brothels because, um, disgusting jezebels are happy to run at a loss if it Damages The Foundations Of Society.  And freaks have lots of money.  Which means they’re kinda successful, but only, um, because they’re running brothels too!  And probably selling drugs.  Drug-dealing pimps are propping up the sex industry.  Yeah.  That makes sense.

If there’s one thing I cannot fucking stand in the discussions around sex work in this country (any country, really) it’s that fucking paradox:  No Real Man Would Go To A Brothel, yet somehow They Are Everywhere And Destroying Our Families.  With their low levels of patronage.  Which you see every day.

Councillor Brewer, maybe you’re the one Good Decent Man who villifies sex work and can actually say he’s never paid for sex.  That would be refreshing.  You’d still have your head up your ass.  There’s a reason it’s nicknamed the world’s oldest profession.

 

Oh, that explains it

Immediately post-election, Danyl at Dim Post commented, while predicting David Cunliffe would become leader but not necessarily to the betterment of Labour,

What does it say that Carmel Sepuloni .. wasn’t rated highly enough to get back in on the list because it was more important to get Darien Fenton and Rajen Prasad back into Parliament?

Well, obviously it says that they totally knew what they were doing, as Darien’s awesome, forthright, hard-hitting defence of the workers Labour represents and loves shows.

Yesterday Labour industrial relations spokeswoman Darien Fenton, who has been spotted on the picket line at the port, said her party was not taking sides in the dispute.

“We’ve been hoping that the parties will settle this, that they’ll find a way through this.”

…

“Our strong view at this point is it’s not helpful for politicians to get involved.”

Oops.  Well, at least she gets to be Junior Whip.  And post at Red Alert.

 

That man deserves a DB

… but probably doesn’t need me to buy one for him:

DB Breweries’ managing director, Brian Blake has lambasted the organisers of a Lake Hayes home brew competition after it banned local woman Rachel Beer from entering purely because of her gender.

Mr Blake says he cannot believe the archaic attitude of the event’s organizers, and wonders if they realise it’s 2012 and not the Stone Age.

It doesn’t quite take the edge off that whole Radler debacle, but Brian: you’re a dude.  And not just because you used “lambasts” in a press release.

Background.

 

The power of a missing word, Texas forced pregnancy edition

[Trigger warning:  medical sexual abuse, rape culture]

Texas’ forced-ultrasound law has been upheld.

Wait, no.

Texas’ forced-vaginal-ultrasound law has been upheld.

Funny how at no point in the Stuff/Thomson Reuters article on the subject is it made clear that this is not just “and now I put some cold gel on your belly” procedure that your average reader will be familiar with from every TV show’s treatment of pregnancy ever.

Nope, this is a “and now I shove a probe up your vagina and lecture you about how you’re killing a baby and you have to lie there and take it in order to get a legal medical procedure” procedure.

I’m sure we can all think of another word that might apply.

 

The more things change, etc.

Family Fist have ushered in 2012 with a poll of teenagers on sex ed.  It’s fairly predictable, so my response is in bullet point format:

• LOL, Curia “Market Research”.
• Apparently we should teach values, which currently aren’t being taught, but shouldn’t teach things like “it’s okay to play with a person’s privates if they consent”, which isn’t a value.
• Majority of teens felt parents “should be told”.  This obviously means “doctors must violate patient confidentiality” and not, say, that the majority of teens who get pregnant would tell their parents – I mean, that’s only what we filthy prochoicers have always said usually happens anyway.
• Teenagers’ views largely reflect their parents’.  TRULY THIS IS SHOCKING.  I mean, it’s not like parents are in any position to influence their children’s views or anything.

But I’m sure some intern at Stuff will get paid to write this all up like it’s relevant, accurate, reliable, or news.

 

And this goes for you geeks, too

blue milk and tigtog have beaten me to it – so if a third recommendation is required, consider this mine for this post at Skepchick and this addendum by Kate Harding.

… it’s the consequence of a sexist culture, in which any time a woman shows her face or opens her mouth in public, whatever point she wanted to make stands to be delayed by a referendum on her fuckability.

And if I never again hear the lament, “Where are all the women in [X]?” it will be too soon.

 

Recommended reading: ColeyTangerina on John Banks

Linky!

The idea that there are people in this country that have been elected to positions of power over me that genuinely think I should go to hell (literally and figuratively) for who I am makes me feel sick. What makes me feel not just sick but terrified, is that given the chance these people would enshrine their beliefs in legislation which would actively reshape my life without my consent. And what better chance do you get than to be a Member of Parliament?

People (and there are many) who choose to dismiss and laugh at John Banks being re-elected are well within their rights to do so, I wish I could myself.

 

Women react predictably to mainstream social cues: must mean we evolved to be bitches

Yeeeeeeeeah.

The results were depressingly predictable.

“Participants displayed a strong negative reaction to the attractive female when she was dressed provocatively,” said study author Dr Aanchal Sharma.

…

This research provides support for the innate roots of female conflict.

How?  Same as all evolutionary psychology bullshit: take a bunch of people from the same environment and look at their behaviour then wave your hands like an Underpants Gnome and declare this proves said behaviour is innate, ingrained, evolutionary, so shut up and suck on your inequality because we’ve just provided the perfect excuse not to address it.

I mean, it couldn’t have anything to do with socialisation or dominant memes about That Bitch Who Steals Your Girlfriend or Men Can’t Control Themselves So Blame Other Women For Their Cheating (yes, in dominant-social-paradigm land we’re all hetero, too).  And if “mate-guarding” exists it has to go back to our monkey phase and can’t at all be linked to messages about how being single is the worst thing ever, much less financial dependence necessitating finding a male partner or the concept of compulsory heterosexuality or anything.

Wait, wait, there I go again, just ascribing natural phenomena to insidious magical messages created by some vast conspiracy against women.  I’m going to go relax with some nice popular music …

 

DUFC!

The 43rd Down Under Femininsts’ Carnival is now up at A Bee of a Certain Age.  Go forth!