Jezebel 
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New York, 1:39 PM
Sat Nov 7
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/13/09
Nerd secret: the people calling you a nerd/wonk in a bad way are probably dumber than you.
10/13/09
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10/13/09
YES, CALCULATORS CAN BE SEXAY.
10/13/09
You know how there's that whole thing where women are "sluts" but men are "studs," or men are "assertive CEOs" and women are "bitches"? It's like, even if you called a woman an "assertive CEO" it would still kind of come across as "bitch" to most readers. So people try to constantly undercut compliments by also bringing up her "femininity," which is necessarily subordinated, submissive, or conciliatory. I think when women want to say that Clinton's doing a good job, they have trouble articulating it in a way that they feel does not come across as implying "bitch" or "castrating man-hater." Their solution to that is to counter each compliment with what is essentially an insult, as this post so clearly lays out.
It isn't impossible--Jezebel writers do it every day. But Jezebel's staff also isn't afraid to openly be feminist or even confrontational (also, are good writers). It's sad that average journalists aren't good enough at writing to manage to get around our culture's prohibition on complimenting women's success and intelligence, and it's sad that they also feel like they have to temper any attempt at compliments. They are not only playing into the social trope of women's subordinate position, they're enforcing the structure of our language that codes things like "powerful," "assertive," "intelligent," and "competent" as masculine, and therefore vaguely insulting to women. Because calling a woman a masculine-coded adjective, even if it's complimentary, can be taken as insulting by some people, because it has masculinity embedded in its meaning.
10/13/09
And I completely disagree that intelligent or competent are gendered words. My mother has been running her own newsroom for twenty years, and people never shy away from calling her intelligent or competent. Powerful, assertive, yes; intelligent, no.
09/29/09
The next morning he makes everyone blueberry pancakes and you eat them in the breakfast nook while listening to NPR.
The next time he sees you at a party he pretends to not know you; he actually has forgotten you but thinks you're that guy from his publisher's office who calls him "Mr President" and winks at him in the elevator.
09/29/09
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09/29/09
Now assfucking is a horse of another color.
09/29/09
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09/28/09
09/27/09
You're all grownups. You all know the game. You wanted to be there. Now own it. And shut up.
09/27/09
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09/28/09
Really? You've been watching the wrong documentaries.
09/27/09
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