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SXSW Interactive: Feminist Drama, Female Tech Founders, and Branding Birth Control

by Kjerstin Johnson
March 24, 2011 at 11:32am

SXSW Interactive had an overwhelming amount of panels, conversations, and sessions that covered more tech talk you could shake a joystick at. Here’s a quick round-up of three panels I saw, including Internet drama from a feminist perspective, the brainstorming behind Bedsider.org, and how female entrepreneurs fare in the tech world.

Douchebag Decree: Martin Harty, Unabashed Ableist

by Deb Jannerson
March 24, 2011 at 11:18am

Remember when Andre Bauer equated poor kids with stray animals and condemned free lunches because he doesn’t want them to “breed”? Well, New Hampshire now-ex-lawmaker Martin Harty has joined him in a special level of doucheland with jaw-dropping comments about people with disabilities.

SXSW Music: Thursday

by Alyx Vesey
March 24, 2011 at 10:49am

A rundown of what I saw on the third night of the music portion of SXSW.

Tropes vs. Women: #1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl

by Anita Sarkeesian
March 24, 2011 at 9:56am

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a cute, bubbly, young (usually white) woman who has recently entered the life of our brooding hero to teach him how to loosen up and enjoy life. While that might sound all well and good for the man, this trope leaves women as simply there to support the star on his journey of self discovery with no real life of her own.

Adventures in Feministory: Women Sing the Blues

by Katie Presley
March 23, 2011 at 4:35pm

To look in the “Blues” section of most record stores, you’d think it was only men who had troubles worth singing about. This week it is my pleasure to prove this assumption SPECTACULARLY WRONG, with a glimpse at some of the women who have howled, growled, whimpered and moaned their way through the Blues.

BiblioBitch: Maxine Banks is Getting Married

by Deb Jannerson
March 23, 2011 at 3:09pm

Lori Aurelia Williams has been one of my favorite authors since high school, when I was lucky enough to stumble across When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune. Williams' debut novel was a poetic, mesmerizing story of a working-class family in Houston. It also was the rare story to deal with sexual abuse in a believable yet unexploitative manner, as the narrator slowly...

SXSW Film: <em>Small, Beautifully Moving Parts</em> is a Road Movie for Tech Geeks

by Erica Lies
March 23, 2011 at 12:54pm

Sarah Sparks loves technology. A freelance tech geek, she fixes everything from new computers to old radios and calls her home pregnancy test a “nifty gadget.” When its digital face displays the word “pregnant,” she comments to boyfriend, Leon, “It’s actually a pretty good quality font for a disposable,” before recognizing that her life is about to be altered by a much less...

The Games We Play: Access This

by Brandann Hill-Mann
March 23, 2011 at 12:28pm

People with disabilities have long had difficulty accessing video games for various reasons and with varying degrees of limited accommodations. Game play details ranging from color schemes in darker settings to story lines and fight scenes that can overwhelm cognitive understanding have left many games out of the question. Controllers have been too difficult or impossible to use, and the...

SXSW Music: Wednesday

by Alyx Vesey
March 23, 2011 at 12:12pm

My rundown of the second day of SXSW’s music festival.

No Kidding: Academic Style

by Brittany Shoot
March 23, 2011 at 11:52am

Last week, a good (lesbian, childfree, professor) friend sent me an article from an issue of the Palgrave MacMillian journal Feminist Review from 2003. I’ve tended to stay away from these sorts of pieces in this series because I don’t assume I’m writing for a specifically scholarly audience. That said, the article is a great overview of some dense, theoretical issues facing...

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