August Round Up! What I wrote, read and listened to this month

Accurate representation of my “Drafts” folder

It’s been a productive time for me on these internets lately. Here’s a list of things I wrote, read and listened to during the past month:

Things I wrote:

• Clean eating and dirty women. An unclean analysis of 1950s femininity, the gendered marketing of food and anal sex.
• My feminism will be capitalist, appropriative and bullshit merchandise. Pretty much what it says on the package: all my feelings on appropriation in the name of women’s empowerment.
• Being self referential, as is my style: a response to all the responses regarding my piece about feminism and appropriation
• Political Strategy and Buzzfeed’s analysis of “the Twitter Problem”. A quote that pretty much sums up my argument: “The current paradigm of [capitalist] exploitation requires a wide spectrum of vulnerability of human life. In this context, harassment is the strategy. It’s not merely the tool to create and promote a state of helplessness and vulnerability but it is at the very root of a widespread system of violence on which the foundations of exploitation can be laid down.”
• Don’t throw sand over my eyes. On the burkini ban and European cruelty. Four French policemen force a Muslim woman out of the beach, demanding that she strips off her modest clothes. State violence in the name of “emancipation”.
• Be afraid: Geert Wilders released his program for next year’s election. I translated his “platform” (which he calls a “manifesto”) into English. TL;DR: if he becomes Prime Minister, he will ban Islam, the Koran and close all Mosques and Muslim schools. Also, deportations. As a “this is why we cannot have nice things” aside, Emile Roemer, Chairman of the Dutch Socialist Party, in a desperate attempt to lock down the racist vote, has just stated that “integration [of immigrant groups] has failed in The Netherlands”.

Bonus not written by me but written about me:

• At Vox, Aja Romano writes “This feminist’s most famous quote has been sold all over the internet. She hasn’t seen a cent.” She dug into the archives and wrote a very in depth review of “my life as a feminist writer”.

Things I read:

• Sara Ahmed was on the front page of The Guardian talking about sexual harassment in academia. She also wrote a must read piece, “Resignation is a feminist issue”. Her work on institutional and institutionalized sexual violence is a lesson in feminist ethics. Sara is an example and fundamental voice in European feminism. On Sunday she announced that she will be taking a break from blogging to focus on writing and proof reading her next book(s).
• Assam Maad wrote a must read piece on the burkini ban “Veiled Mothers In Nice Aren’t At The Beach With Their Children Because Of The Burkini Ban” The original in French, can be read here.
• Pete Harrison: “What I Think Every Time I See an Airbnb Renter in My Neighborhood” This: “The more units there are devoted to Airbnb, the fewer there are for people who would be there to advocate for our neighborhood.” (Incidentally, I have so many feels about the tourist industry and specifically, how Amsterdam is practically an unlivable city thanks, in no small part, to “AirBnB culture”).
• On a lighter note, this

Click the link for the hilarious review of what is possibly the worst movie trailer.

• “Turns Out The Best Stories About African Immigrants Are Written By African Immigrants” by Bim Adewunmi. “All immigrants live a variation of the biblical act made famous by Lot’s wife: They always look back.” Stunning writing from a fantastic cultural critic.
• This month’s book reading: Gloria Wekker’s breathtaking “White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race”. Gloria Wekker is one of the most powerful, essential voices of European (and Dutch) intellectual production. I’ll let the book description speak for itself: “In White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch culture: the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia. Accessing a cultural archive built over 400 years of Dutch colonial rule, Wekker fundamentally challenges Dutch racial exceptionalism by undermining the dominant narrative of the Netherlands as a “gentle” and “ethical” nation. Wekker analyzes the Dutch media’s portrayal of black women and men, the failure to grasp race in the Dutch academy, contemporary conservative politics (including gay politicians espousing anti-immigrant rhetoric), and the controversy surrounding the folkloric character Black Pete, showing how the denial of racism and the expression of innocence safeguards white privilege. Wekker uncovers the postcolonial legacy of race and its role in shaping the white Dutch self, presenting the contested, persistent legacy of racism in the country.”

Things I listened to:

• “Radio Menea is the Woke Latinx Music Podcast You Should Be Listening To”. What the package says. All the best tunes and feminist, queer, Latinx commentary.
• Meet Las Sucias, Oakland Brujas Who Found the Missing Link Between Reggaeton and Noise. I’m in love with their music and what these women are doing. From their profile at Remezcla: “Their live performance is highly improvisational, but most importantly ritualistic and spiritual, tapping into the otherworldly. In yet another expression of complex Latina womanhood, Las Sucias engage with their inner brujas”. Here’s hoping they tour my side of the world sooner rather than later.

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In the meantime, have a chill end of the month and summer!