Friday Links

• Philippa Willitts at The F-Word: Shocked headline as fat disabled woman has fun
• Yet Another Kiri Bloggish Thing Waitwaitwait
• [trigger warning] Melissa McEwan at Shakesville: Today in Rape Culture and Not Crazy
• s.e. smith: Universal Design Does Not Mean Ugly Design
• DavidG at Where's the Benefit?: The Magical Thinking at DWP Gets Worse
• Irregular Webcomic: Sharing Art
• Sarah Brown's Blog: Hunting Trans People For Sport, Profit, Charity and Teh Lulz

Why is a pancake unlike a marriage?

Yesterday, in the UK and other countries, was Pancake Day, a secular celebration of the tastiness of pancakes.

It was also, of course, Shrove Tuesday, the last date in the Christian Calendar before the start of Lent. Traditionally, pancakes would be eaten to use up stocks of rich foods before the start of Lent fasting and repentance.

The secular co-option of the fun bits of the tradition in a way that almost entirely inverts the point of the tradition is not unique to this particular event, of course, but I wasn't able to find anyone anywhere complaining that the celebration of Pancake Day was taking away from the meaning and seriousness of Shrove Tuesday and Lent.

Meanwhile, the usual forces of Christianity-excused heterosexism were campaigning strongly that their particular current definition of marriage should be the only legally-supported and state-recognised one, on the grounds that allowing other definitions - even trivial amendments which entirely retain the stated¹ point of the tradition - would weaken their own.

It's an interesting contrast.

Footnote

¹ There are arguably certain points - more common historically - regarding the control of women which same-sex marriage would subvert, of course. But they will deny if asked that this is the particular point that would be weakened.

Friday Links

• Writings of a Trans Activist: British media in a tizzy over pregnant man
• DavidG at Where's the Benefit?: Magical Thinking and Miracle Cures
• A Bee of a Certain Age: Defending the kyriarchy
• Jender at Feminist Philosophers: “If you see something, do something”
• TransGriot: WTF? Whitney Ain't Even In Her Grave Yet...
• s.e. smith: Job ‘Support’ Programmes and Enforced Poverty
• Zero at the Bone: Two kinds of whiteness: reimagining white people in fantasy and science fiction
• Annalytica at Lashings of Ginger Beer: CBT and me

Friday Links

• The Intersex Roadshow: On Sex/Gender Checkboxes
• Anjum Klair at TouchStone: So there is no shortage of jobs?
• tigtog at Hoyden About Town: Thought of the day: when does bigotry occur?
• [trigger warning] Blue Milk: The cult of masculinity and sexual violence in war
• Garland Grey at Tiger Beatdown: Personal Decisions, Global Catastrophes: Capitalism is Not Inherently Friendly to Human Life
• Complicity: Leveson Inquiry submission by Trans Media Watch
• Paul Krugman: Different Slopes for Different Folks

Friday Links

• Spark in Darkness: Ok, enough, I have to rant about this messed up economic bullshit
• [trigger warning] HarpyMarx: Children are unbeatable
• Libertarian Lou's Blog: Three faces of feminism: Louise Mensch, Laurie Penny, and Jodie Marsh
• Zero at the Bone: Emotional performance
• Tulip Siddiq and Peter Allen at Left Foot Forward: Too many councillors leaving leaves councils too homogeneous
• Patrick Wintour at the Guardian: Coalition overturns Lords amendments on welfare and bans further dissent
• UK Polling Report: The problem with “Do you agree or disagree with this statement” questions

...and after the last few months, something to make a change: Famous Paintings Improved by Cats

Keep poor people out

The BBC reports that:

The government has pledged to cut net migration from 242,000 - the figure for the year ending September 2010 - to the "tens of thousands" last seen in the 1990s.

It plans to do this by making the UK such an unpleasant place to live that large numbers of current residents leave.

Well, no. That's just a happy side effect of its other policies. It plans to directly do this by setting a really high minimum salary - over £31,000, or more than 75% of existing workers earn.

Because the Conservatives are a pro-family party, people wishing to live with their non-EU partner in this country will be subject to a somewhat less strict standard. Their partner need only earn around £20,000, or around median wage, to be allowed in.

(Their pro-business and pro-British credentials are going to take a bit of a hit from this "minimum wage increased for foreigners only" policy, too)