• ELIXHER
• On July 26, 2013

Six Badass Sci-Fi Women of Color You Should Know

Here at Autostraddle, we’ve covered fictional kickass heroines, hot sci fi women, fictional female crime fighters and action movie heroines that tickle our queer ladyboners. I’m here today to highlight the kickass women of color in sci-fi – women who sometimes get the short end of the stick in terms of screen time and storylines, but who nevertheless kick some major booty (often without displaying their own).

Check it out at Autostraddle.

Does “Blurred Lines” Remake Subvert the Misogyny?

[J]ezebel introduced the feminist blogosphere to this maybe brilliant “Blurred Lines” re-do from Mod Carousel. I say “maybe brilliant” because I really want to be into the video, which is fun and sexy and cheeky, and because disagreeing with everyone I follow on Twitter is scary. I can almost convince myself based on the “everything is better queer” rationale, but I’m hung up on two things. Firstly, why are the guys so feminized, while the extent of the women’s masculinization stops at a pantsuit?

Continue reading on Feministing.

Dwayne Jones, ‘Cross-Dressing’ Jamaican Teen, Allegedly ‘Chopped And Stabbed’ To Death By Mob

A “cross-dressing” teen was allegedly “chopped and stabbed” to death by a mob in Jamaica earlier this week, according to local media reports. Dwayne Jones, a gender-nonconforming 17-year-old, was attending a river party in St. James on the night of July 21 when a mob allegedly set upon him, according to radio station Irie FM. He was dressed as a woman and was dancing with a male when another female attendee told a group of partiers that Jones was actually a man, the report notes. One of the men went up to Jones and groped him, discovering he was a male. Jones was chased and later “chopped and stabbed” to death.

More on the Huffington Post.

Skin Bleaching Models Were Banned From Dakar Fashion Week 2013

Adama Ndiaye started Dakar Fashion Week in 2002, and this year she put her foot down when it comes to certain beauty practices of the models. Many women and professional models in Senegal have turned to skin bleaching creams to make their body lighter. Ndiaye is against skin bleaching and has banned anyone participating in what she refers to as “depigmentation”. “I’m trying to teach them to like themselves,” said Ndiaye of the natural-toned models selected for this year’s show.

Details over at Clutch.

So You Went Ahead and Got Knocked Up…

And I have to confess that this blog has taken me this long to write because I have been afraid of the imagined responses — the “you shouldn’t have had a kid by yourself” comments, or the unspoken criticism/interpretations that my daughter, Zuri, may one day read as some sort of rejection of the ways in which her arrival has changed my life. It’s important that she knows how much I welcome the ways in which her arrival has forced me to grow.

More on Huffington Post.