I’m not dead! Have some links! Also, I’m killing it on Twitter a lot recently, so follow me @tinyorc IF YOU DARE.
Why Are You So Angry? – Do you ever see those online folk who seem to hate Anita Sarkeesian more than you or I have ever hated anything in our entire lives, and I think “holy shit, why are these people so angry?” This video series from Innuendo Studios starts out on this question, but that’s certainly not where it ends. Watch the whole thing!
Sense8 and the Failure of Global Imagination – Why, even as we actively strive for diversity, does our vision of the world remain firmly centered on the United States and western Europe? As much as I loved Sense8, this article over at Nerds of Colour does a great job identifying where it falls down.
The Dickonomics of Tinder – “Dick is abundant and low value.” If it’s not already your online dating motto, it will be soon. Alana Massey brings dangerous levels of snark to the table in this hilarious article about the dystopian dating hellscape in which women – even women looking for casual sex (!) – have standards.
In the Name of Love – “There’s little doubt that “do what you love” (DWYL) is now the unofficial work mantra for our time. The problem is that it leads not to salvation, but to the devaluation of actual work, including the very work it pretends to elevate — and more importantly, the dehumanization of the vast majority of laborers. Superficially, DWYL is an uplifting piece of advice, urging us to ponder what it is we most enjoy doing and then turn that activity into a wage-generating enterprise. But why should our pleasure be for profit? Who is the audience for this dictum? Who is not?”
A Linguist Explains How We Write Sarcasm on the Internet – Exactly what it says on the tin and every bit as glorious as you would expect. Bonus reference to Birds Rights Activist!
Can We Just, Like, Get Over the Way Women Talk? – Recently, the internet has been very concerned about the way women speak. We apologize too much! We use too many qualifiers! We have vocal fry and upspeak and glottal syphilis (probably) and various other afflictions that force men not to take us seriously! Especially in the workplace! But as Ann Friedman points out – much like exhortations to “lean in” (further, lean further!) aren’t getting feminism anywhere fast – dropping “just” and “like” from our speech is not going to help us usher in a new era of equality any time soon.
Coda – A beautiful short film about death from Irish animation studio and maps and plans
All (hopefully) of the bad arguments about rape on Game of Thrones debunked – After a mass feminist internet freakout over that rape scene in Game of Thrones Season 5, Amanda Marcotte dissects why those negative reactions were not coming from a place of disciplined cultural critique. This article hits a chord with me because, as a feminist, I emphatically do not want to scrub all portrayals of rape and sexual violence from TV shows. On the contrary, I think they should be there, but I want them to be treated with gravity and nuance, and I want to see the effect they have on the women that suffer through them. In Season 5, I felt Game of Thrones eventually started to get that.
If Male Actors Were Described The Way Female Actors Are – What if magazines talked about male celebrities using the same tone and framing usually reserved for women? Buzzfeed investigates.
Reddit Is Not the Front Page of the Internet – Despite all attempts at marketing to the contrary, the data shows that Reddit is in fact only the front page of the internet for twenty-something year-old men.
Account Security 101: Passwords, Multifactor, Social Engineering, and You – Much of our personal information is tied up in our online identities, embedded across so many sites – social media, online shopping, productivity tools – that most of us would have trouble listing them all if pressed. Yet most of us protect all that information behind the same simple password we’ve been using for years. With our physical possessions, we’re all about adding extra layers of security. But when it comes to virtual spaces, we don’t seem to understand that a weak duplicated password is the online equivalent of leaving the front door on the latch. “But I’m no one, who would try to hack me? Why would anyone care about my personal information?” The reality is that you can be targeted for something as simple as having the wrong name in the wrong place. This comprehensive post from Crash Override gives you the tools and know-how to secure your online identity.
massive hassle 