Image taken from this article, which makes Noah happy because it means fossas can breed in captivity. Pound for pound, possibly the deadliest mammalian predator on earth (yes okay not counting humans), and SO ADORABLE.
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Ozy Frantz is a student at a well-respected Hippie College in the United States. Zie bases most of zir life decisions on Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and identifies more closely with Pinkie Pie than is probably necessary. Ozy can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter as @ozyfrantz. Writing is presently Ozy's primary means of support, so to tip the blogger, click here.
Or maybe it’s just Gibbs being the single father, and there is no present mother. Doubtful if Shepard hooked into the family dynamics in any significantly contributing way.
And hey! I think there might be an intentional theme of Gibbs, due to being stuck in his patriarchal (used more loosely this time) ways, both getting the girls and not being able to keep them!
Danny: “The problem is that establishing those male characters like that, namely Gibbs the lead character, is they have been that way for so long that an attempt to change them would probably result in the show losing its fan base. I can imagine that if Gibbs were to change or at least try to change people would go straight to the “he doesn’t act like a real man” complaint real quick.” I haven’t really bothered to follow NCIS after Shepard died, as it lost it’s “REALLY good!” quality to me then. (Self-analyzing I see a theme of “really hot… Read more »
I really, really, REALLY hate that stupid “end of men” trope.
Jo: The problem is that establishing those male characters like that, namely Gibbs the lead character, is they have been that way for so long that an attempt to change them would probably result in the show losing its fan base. I can imagine that if Gibbs were to change or at least try to change people would go straight to the “he doesn’t act like a real man” complaint real quick. I had hope for DiNozzo up until about the end of 5 when that big undercover op sub plot ended with him pretty much going back to his… Read more »
Danny:
On a more serious note. I think depicting Gibbs as somewhat stuck in a traditionally patriarchal role, and paying for it; DiNozzo obviously trying to fulfill one kind of stereotyped male role and failing at it; and McGee (as it seems to me) not even being aware that he should try to fulfill one, are things that contribute to my impression of it as gender healthy.
Danny:
“The same agent Gibbs that has made slapping his male agents on the back of the head into a running gag?”
Yes. I can’t for the life of me work up much resentment at those fictional headslappings when I am watching fictional murders for entertainment.
Apart from SG-1 another such show is/was NCIS, all the episodes that included agent Zhiva and Gibbs ex as his boss.
The same agent Gibbs that has made slapping his male agents on the back of the head into a running gag? It was nice to see Director Shepard stand her ground against Gibbs mind you.
RocketFrog:
Hereby putting reacquainting myself with the robot side of Asimov on my to-do list.
Jo: Calvin is the protagonist in many of Asimov’s robot-related short stories. She also gets mentioned as a historical figure in several of the robot novels – most of which are set long after her death. All her short stories are contained in Asimov’s robot anthology “The Complete Robot” (which also includes a number of stories in which she has cameo appearances). She is not a typical “early 20th century science fiction female”, whose role were typically just to serve as otherwise uninteresting eye candy or as someone the male heroes were supposed to rescue (and who, as is often… Read more »
RocketFrog: The Kim Stanley Robinson Mars books have been on my to-read list for many years, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe I will now. I thought I at least used to be an Asimov fan (I still re-read the foundation trilogy from time to time, and The Gods Themselves and Nightfall are still strong in my mind, decades after I read them), but I don’t even remember Susan Calvin, not the name anyway. I’ll check up on it. Heinlein had strong, intelligent, capable and non gender-conforming female main characters long before most others did. He didn’t… Read more »
@Monkey:
Matlack. Sorry, I can see that should have been more clear.
Jo: In literary science fiction, I think the writers that I have personally most enjoyed for “gender healthy” storytelling would be Ursula K. LeGuin, Kim Stanley Robinson and Isaac Asimov. Since you mentioned LeGuin yourself, I will not go into detail about why I like her stories from that particular perspective (although … Heinlein? Most of his stuff seemed to me to be more of a misogynistic bent, but perhaps I misunderstood him). Asimov’s character Susan Calvin is one of my all-time favourite science fiction characters – in no small part because she is the one character in SF who… Read more »
Druk:
You don’t get my thinking. I don’t get yours. Could be the age gap.
Guess we’re done, on those phrases at least.
I’m saying that it doesn’t matter either way. If I were considering insulting you, and chose not to, that is because I am restricting my speech.
Druk:
“That doesn’t change the fact that the statements were contradictory. Purposely changing your speech to not offend someone is pretty much the definition of restricting your speech.”
We read this very differently. In the first phrase, as I read it, she is criticizing active intent to offend. “Hey, let’s shut her out. Is there a subject we can be sure she knows nothing about, and won’t be able to follow?” In the first phrase she is NOT criticizing spontaneous behavior that also happens to offend.
That doesn’t change the fact that the statements were contradictory. Purposely changing your speech to not offend someone is pretty much the definition of restricting your speech.
Druk: ” “I think we should talk about how young people deliberately exclude old people by talking about youth culture and other stuff we never heard of. I have never believed that restricting speech is a good idea.” The implication of your first statement (that young people should not talk about youth culture as much) contradicts the second statement.” The code phrase is “deliberately exclude”. There is a world of difference between that and “unthinkingly exclude” or even “continuing on chosen subject that fits the group” and such. In deliberately excluding you, as I read it, choose a subject with… Read more »
RocketFrog: Re feminism in space: That was mostly a joke. But episode four, season one was nothing but. And also, there are some TV shows, books etc. that to me feels especially “gender healthy”, meaning there is very little wrong with them in that respect, compared to my thoughts and feelings on the subject. To me that is relatively rare, so I enjoy it much when I come across it. Apart from SG-1 another such show is/was NCIS, all the episodes that included agent Zhiva and Gibbs ex as his boss. Some authors that usually give me the “gender healthy”… Read more »
@Fnord: were you talking about me or Matlack?
It sounds like they cleaned it up in the new version, because in the original version and the novel she genuinely rapes him. Which I don’t think is something to be cheered.
Druk, really? I thought I was just bitching and being sarcastic, like other people do here.
Oh right, different standards for different people, I forgot.
Carry on! Grandma will go back to LAW AND ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT and leave the thread to the kids.
Druk, happy now?
The implication of your first statement (that young people should not talk about youth culture as much) contradicts the second statement.
Hugh: Apart from anything else, your assumption that second-wave feminists are older than third-wave feminists is just as problematic as my assumption that youth culture = contemporary culture.
Now, see, I’ve gotten in trouble for saying the opposite. Young women on blogs can even get UPSET if you imply they have anything in common with the Second Wave. I can only think of one example of a young self-identified Second Waver in almost 5 years of blogging… and she simply wanted to cut me down as a bad Second Waver, LOL.
Druk: Whether or not it would be a good thing, I don’t believe that there is a reasonable way to expect youth on this blog to restrict their speech that would be inclusive of older people as much as you would be happy with
Restrict? I have never believed that restricting speech is a good idea.
Funny… I thought I said MORE speech (like, from older people), not LESS, was the answer?
“Nobel prize winners for literature: 2011, Tomas Tranströmer (born in 1931).” Mr. Tranströmer hasn’t published original work in more in than 5 years. He has been nominated for the prize every year since 1993. There’s nothing wrong with this, and it doesn’t mean he isn’t a great writer. But honors like that are by their nature retrospective (this is hardly unique to literature; 2011 laureate in Chemistry Dan Shechtman did his most important work more than 20 years ago). “Oh, I’m sorry, but I don’t like this… https://goodmenproject.com/newsroom/why-i-loved-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/ Rape should never be punishment. For anyone.” I think that author is… Read more »
Jo: I followed SG-1 for a long time, but started losing interest after Season 8. I am not sure why you consider it “feminism in space” though; I do not think the show had any major feminist message or regularly explored feminist issues. The show did have several strong, competent, nuanced and well-written female characters (both as heroes and villains) – and even managed to avoid planting these on top of stupid pedestals, keeping them flawed as all the other human characters of the show were – but did not generally deal very much with gender issues. The presence of… Read more »