Reviving Dead Paper

The tragedy in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman has always been a contentious one. On one level, the devastating psychological torment and breakdown of The Woman is gut wrenching. The betrayal she faces from a spouse who ought to protect her, the inescapable pathologization that seems to get her from all angles by all the male physicians in her life, the eerie infantilization of being kept in the nursery, and the list goes on. Gilman’s short story is harrowing to read and only made more difficult with added historical context and knowledge of the realities of the so-called rest cure. The Woman’s mental suffering after childbirth is exacerbated by isolation, stillness and boredom until she breaks – becoming terribly obsessed with the facelike pattern in the wallpaper that is her only company. Yet, on the other hand – she won in the end, did she not? 

Reviving Dead Paper

The intersection of sex, capitalism, and militarism

The intersection of sex, capitalism, and militarism

The intersection of sex, capitalism, and militarism highlights how these systems often intertwine, with capitalism’s focus on commodification leading to the exploitation of sex work, while militarism frequently creates environments where women and vulnerable populations are particularly susceptible to sexual violence and trafficking, often due to the presence of military forces in a region, further perpetuating power imbalances and economic disparities. [12345678910]

Read More »

Communism vs. Feminism

Porn, Feminism & the Meese Report

Feminist theory is not just flawed thinking; it is the product of a middle-class view of the world. In the prosperity of the 1960s, radical feminism was marked by its extreme utopian nature. Demands like “smash sexism” and “abolish the family” abounded—with absolutely no program that could win them. Since feminists rejected Marxism and with it the one class that actually has the power to revolutionize society, their utopian maximalist rhetoric dissolved inevitably into the most pragmatic minimalism. In fact, because the reformist strategies of the ’60s—above all the overwhelming support of feminists for the Democratic Party—failed to bear ample fruit, a fertile ground for cynicism was laid. The root of the current feminist support for the thoroughly capitulatory Dworkin is the cynicism born of defeat.

Read More »

Gender and Psychiatry: Pathologized Emotions

As Phyllis Chesler warned us in 1974, gender bias has accompanied psychiatric power throughout its history. Years later, in 2005, in the last annotated edition of Women and Madness , the author insisted on the persistence of this bias, which even today, 50 years later, seems to remain unchanged. Authors such as Ussher, Caplan, Margot Pujal and many others were situated in that same space. With their differences and nuances, they all converge on the same point: gender problems and discomforts produce deep suffering. This suffering leaves marks on our bodies and our behavior.

Gender and Psychiatry: Pathologized Emotions

Capitalism, Transphobia, and Racism to Blame for Controversy around Olympic Boxers + Notes

Capitalism, Transphobia, and Racism to Blame for Controversy around Olympic Boxers

No restrictions exist for people with other genetic advantages, such as a limit on basketball or volleyball players in the 99th percentile for height, or people like Michael Phelps who have double-jointed ankles and unusually long arms. For reference, intersex women (i.e. people assigned female at birth but with abnormal hormone levels or chromosomes other than xx) make up about 1.7 percent of all women, whereas women at least six feet tall make up only 0.5 percent of all women, yet this didn’t prevent the U.S. women’s basketball team from filling up 2/3rds of their roster with women who have this rare genetic advantage.

The Tokyo Olympics three years later saw the participation of two intersex Namibian runners, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi. While both had previously found success in the 400m and 800m races, they opted to compete in the 200m to avoid having to artificially reduce testosterone. Mboma won silver in the event, while Masilingi placed sixth. World Athletics responded by tightening its rules again, setting a testosterone threshold of 2.5 nmol/L for all events. Mboma and Masilingi complied with the regulations by taking testosterone blockers, which significantly reduced their running speed, and thus neither qualified for the Paris Games in 2024.

Related:

Testosterone:

Normal measurements for these tests:

  • Male: 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) or 10 to 35 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L)
  • Female: 15 to 70 ng/dL or 0.5 to 2.4 nmol/L

LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Now at 7.6%

Cis boys get gender-affirming surgeries more often than trans minors