Wednesday Links
- Leading off with the fantastic news that bioethicist Alice Dreger has resigned from Northwestern under charges that the university refuses to grant her the academic freedom they supposedly support. Her resignation letter (PDF) details the complaint that dean Eric Neilsen demanded editorial control of her work on Atrium, and even formed a "censorship committee" to oversee future issues:
The
plain
and
simple
fact
is
that
Dean
Neilson
acted
impulsively
and
wrongly
in
this
situation.
We
all
make
mistakes,
but
this
was
a
profound
mistake
that
cut
to
the
very
heart
of
academic
freedom.
It
should
have
been
acknowledged
and
corrected
immediately.
That
is
most
definitely
not
what
happened.
Instead,
what
happened
was
denial,
avoidance,
blame
-‐
shifting,
and
evasion.
To
this
day,
the
university
has
not
admitted
its
mistake,
and
it
has
not
affirmed
its
commitment
to
academic
freedom
in
a
way
that
makes
clear
that
similar
incidents
will
not
occur
in
the
future.
This
failure
should
be
embarrassing
to
an
otherwise
great university.
Also, a high five for her exit tweet:
- LAist recently ran a story on driving for Uber or Lyft as a woman. Surprise! It's actually mostly pretty good:
[Ashley] Moon said, "I've only had one awkward situation with a man I picked
up in Culver City while driving for Lyft. He was making really sexual
and inappropriate comments about my body, his body, and his girlfriend's
body who we were on our way to pick up. But I didn't feel like I was in
danger, mostly because he was SO drunk that he was completely slumped
over in my front seat and heavily slurring his words. I thought he might
have alcohol poisoning."
One anonymous driver reported "Truthfully, I dealt with more inappropriate behavior when I was a bartender." Lyft in particular allows drivers to drop passengers before their destination if the driver feels endangered (something Uber doesn't), so they're a little better. But it's interesting to read these anecdotes, which include drivers giving relationship advice, picking up weird passengers, and more.
- Remember Laurie Penny? I guess she's still out flogging her rage-tome, Unspeakable Things, which, according to those not part of her hallelujah chorus, draws from her Guardian (UK) and other online columns so much it's indistinguishable from them. Well, good news, fellas: feminism needs to find room for men!
As Penny herself says, "women are only allowed to be experts on
gendered things and nothing else, whereas that's the one thing men aren't
supposed to talk about.
Of course, men aren't allowed to have any actual differing opinions about intersex relations, because
Men are our fifth column in all male spaces.
Particularly when so many boardrooms and political meetings are all-male
spaces, men can be very useful fighting in that arena.
So nice to know men's only purpose as far as Penny's concerned is to shut up and parrot the party line! Also, reeducating your fellow knuckle-dragging males! Thank you, I'm here all night.
- Lesbian tendencies appear to go hand-in-hand with masculinization, which apparently means changes to facial features can also predict sexual orientation, which sounds awfully like phrenology. This gives rise to the theory that female sexuality conforms to opportunity to some extent. (H/t @facerealitynow.)
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