Hello POMEs! The days are growing shorter and the frost of winter is slowly creeping upon us. We hope this finds you warm and sheltered from the elements, as well as any other things that winter brings. Let us sustain ourselves on warm food, good friends, and these interesting things we saw this week!
This article about Japan’s baddass 70s schoolgirl gangs is so great – that fashion! That sisterhood! That eagerness to respond to patriarchal expectations with straight-up middle fingers! We are very into it. It’s demoralizing that such a unique, vibrant subculture was subverted by male fantasies in later decades, but we’ll always remember you, you delinquent girls.
As a small, baby magazine, this piece about the responsibility of editors and publishers to promote marginalized voices and inclusivity is especially close to our heart. And dear reader, if you are looking for a small, baby magazine to put your work in, I’d like to gently push you in the direction of our submissions guidelines, because we would really love to hear from you.
It’s no secret that we are major fans of Mallory Ortberg, so we really couldn’t be more excited that she will be performing her duties as the new Dear Prudie over on the Slate! We are looking forward to reading even more of Mallory’s excellent writing in even more places.
Master of None is a truly great show, and Aziz Ansari continues to prove himself as a thoughtful, smart, funny human being. In this piece he wrote for The New York Times, Aziz talks about what diversity in media has meant to him over the years, the responsibility he feels to it now, and calls on every casting director out there to do more.
The frontperson of the DC-based punk band Priests, Katie Alice Greer, talks femme practice in punk and beyond. Femme as identity, femme as expression, femme as a backhanded compliment but also the destruction of an outdated and oppressive world.
We found this handy guide, written by author Julia Serano, which you may pass on to anybody and everybody you know who is attempting to write a “Political Correctness Run Amok” article. In this guide, they will learn:
- To decry the evils of “censorship” and cheer the values of “free speech” (but never admit that protests and critical analysis deemed as “political correctness run amok” is also a form of free speech)
- To distinguish yourself from those right-wing “hypocrites” by emphasizing how totally liberal and left-leaning you normally are, but for this one thing
- To manipulate the presentation of facts in order to prevent the user from making an informed opinion, because you have already done this for them
- To delegitimize the historic struggles of marginalized communities and their modes of resistance, protest, and social change
- To shout loudly, so as to avoid meaningful conversations about important and challenging subjects
That’s all for us today, dear POMEs! As we bury ourselves in hot tea and blankets (the weather really doesn’t call for it but we are in a mood) we wish you a good week and happy reading!