No Vacuum Here

Here is the link to Jack's post on street harassment over at Feministe I had mentioned earlier. It's a fantastic post so be sure to read the whole thing, then follow the links to the Brian Lehrer show and catch that as well.

Pay special attention to the exchange between host Lehrer and a caller named Shane who displays just stunning levels of sexist assholery and is the perfect foil for deconstructing the power trip inherent in harassment. That such men do not really think they will attract a woman, but rather it is about putting her in her place, as a sexualized object that is gazed upon and evaluated, whose default response to such objectification should be gratitude that someone with a penis finds her fuckable, as well as an awesome discussion of the agency of women themselves who may or may not want to "dress sexy" or attract attention for various reasons.

There is also an interesting discussion about the "heterosexual framing" of harassment and how being queer may or may not figure into it which throws the genderedness of the whole thing into even bolder relief. Just go read--you'll be glad you did.