Last week on the Sexist:

1. Rubber Barons: Why Doesn’t Your Boyfriend Know Jack About Contraception?, in which poppin’ birth control pills like candy won’t stop the babymakin’.

2. Deconstructing Rape Myths: On Short Skirts (On Lesbians), in which women who are into women are harassed by men to switch sexual orientations.

3. Rape Analogy: The Walking In A Bad Neighborhood Theory, in which I write even more about rape, much to the chagrin of those who read this blog in order to complain about how much I write about rape.

4. Internal Affairs: How Ayn Rand’s Followers Rationalize “Welcomed” Rape, in which we delve into the deepest, darkest Objectivist fantasies of your tweens.

5. Sexist E-mails: Women Don’t Give Nice Guys the Sex They Want, in which I get e-mails. Send me one!

Photo via State Library of Queensland, Australia

Today, the Washington Post published a story about Quansa Thompson, a local exotic dancer who has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against her former place of employment, Georgia Ave. strip club The House. Thompson is suing over a widespread problem in adult nightclubs—that owners illegally treat their nightly dancers like independent contractors instead of real employees, a practice which denies the dancers health benefits, an hourly wage, and—

—wait a second, are we talking strippers? Shake it! Sh-sh-sh-shake it! To hear WaPo’s Paul Schwartzman tell Thompson’s tale, the real news here is that exotic dancers exist, and it is super easy to make jokes about them. Let’s start with the lede:

Read More “The Washington Post Parade of Stripper Jokes” »

In nearly a year of chronicling songs about rape here on the Sexist, I’ve yet to profile one of the most well-known songs about rape. Or is it about rape? Either way, this track name-checks the word “rape”  about a bajillion times:

Date Rape Anthem: Nirvana’s “Rape Me”

Read More “Date Rape Anthem: Nirvana’s “Rape Me”” »

The modern vagina.

Vajazzling, the latest trend in Swarovski crystal vaginal bejewelment, debuted on the national vaginal stage this January. And somehow, it has not yet retreated to the dark recesses of minor celebrity Jennifer Love Hewitt’s panties, from which it came. Vajazzling has reinvigorated Hewitt’s celebrity (”It shined like a disco ball”). Vajazzle specialists are popping up everywhere (”Aww, c’mon, this is gonna be great by the time you’re all done Vajazzling!â€�). Vajazzling has even caused one man, who we will call Jason, to look directly at a vagina (”It’s mesmerizing . . . This is probably the longest I’ve ever stared at a vagina”).

In this edition of Sexist Beatdown, Sady Doyle of Tiger Beatdown and I discuss the latest trends in Vajazzling (vajazzle your vagina in the shape of a vagina!), why some men who like putting their penises inside vaginas are adamantly opposed to any other aspect of vaginas, and vajazzling’s inevitable male counterpart: Dickerating.

Read More “Sexist Beatdown: Vajazzling, and its Inevitable Male Counterpart, Dickerating” »

I’m home sick today, so excuse me if I have chosen to displace my blogging duties on to adorable little boy Calen (above), who has just learned that his two uncles are “husband and husband” who are married—not to wives!—but to each other. Watch the video to remind yourself that explaining same-sex marriage to the youth doesn’t have to be a process marked by legal complaints filed over the child’s loss of innocence. A lot of times it just involves some really cute mental gymnastics, followed by a blanket invitation to ping-pong. [via Broadsheet].

Thanks to the Economist for crunching the numbers on just how significant the legalization of same-sex marriage was for Washington, D.C. Of jurisdictions that currently allow gay marriage (or recognize out-of-state gay marriages, or grant equal rights to gay partnerships), the District of Columbia has the highest percentage of same-sex households by far. In other words, D.C. is likely in for a whole lot of weddings [via Queerty].

Today’s Dear Abby is a keeper. The letter, from “CONCERNED IN HOUSTON”:

DEAR ABBY: My 12-year-old daughter, “Jenna,” is in the closet—literally. About a week ago, she moved into her closet. She put her dresser in there, threw some blankets on the floor and that’s where she hangs out now. When asked why she doesn’t hang out in her room, she says, “I just like it in the closet.”Some of her girlfriends claim to be bisexual or gay. Is she telling me that she’s “in the closet” or is she messing with my mind? Some of her friends are into cutting, and Jenna seems to be curious about it. I don’t know what to make of any of this. Any advice?

I, too, am concerned.

Read More “In Which a 12-Year-Old Constructs A Fort In Her Closet, And Her Mom Assumes She Is A Lesbian” »

Thanks to commenter Keara for suggesting another positive addition to the annals of date rape anthems. Up next:

Date Rape Anthem: “Mother’s Day” by Nada Surf, a 2002 track about boys who rape girls on their Star Wars sheets, and why that’s unacceptable.

Read More “Date Rape Anthem: Nada Surf’s “Mother’s Day”” »

Holla Back DC—a blog chronicling street harassment in the District–-turns a year old this month. (Make a wish!). One of the reasons that Holla Back has been such a valuable resource over the past year is that it reveals how big of a reporting problem we have in D.C.

Since last March, Holla Back has recorded hundreds of instances of sexual harassment and assaults that were never reported to police. Imagine how many more incidents are never reported to Holla Back D.C., either.

Read More “Holla Back DC and the District’s Sexual Harassment Reporting Problem” »

The recession has been good to Ayn Rand. And why shouldn’t it be? Rand created objectivism, a philosophy that champions laissez-faire capitalism, individualism, and utter selfishness—a powerful opposition ideology at a time when government is growing and welfare for everyone is on the agenda. Almost 30 years after Rand’s death, her casket marked by a gigantic floral arrangement in the shape of a U.S. dollar sign, her economic ideas are gaining plenty of traction.

But what about her ideas on sex?

Read More “Internal Affairs: How Ayn Rand Followers Rationalize “Welcomed” Rape” »