April 15 was tax day, and believe it or not, there are many ways that sex and sexuality relate to taxes. Here are two that made the headlines:
Maryland gives tax breaks to gay couples who own a house together. While the law is well intentioned, it only helps gay couples who are wealthy enough to buy a home; leaving the single gay person or gay couples with the least economic resources with the greatest tax burden.
Staging a Boston Tea Party style protest against tax increases = clever. Calling the protest 'teabagging' without the slightest clue to the sexual implications of that word = desperate need of sexual literacy.
Notice the awesome double entendre in this MSNBC video piece.
Paying taxes wasn’t the only painful thing that happened this week. The entire sexuality world is mourning the lost of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick to breast cancer. But Richard Kim’s obituary for her in The Nation reminds us that we can celebrate her indelible contribution to queer theory and that her intellectual contributions will live on her books, most notably Epistemology of the Closet and Between Men.
Also, April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. While I'd hoped to write a blog post about sexual assault awareness, I haven’t gotten around to it. Nonetheless I think it’s important highlight thoughtful pieces that raise awareness about sexual assault this month.
Cara Kulwicki at Curvature wrote an amazing post on male victims of sexual assault which was reposted on Racialicious this week. Cara does an excellent job talking about the gendered and racial stereotypes that make sexual assault against men, in particular sexual assault against black men, invisible.
Of course, in speaking about violence this week we must remember Angie Zapata. Racewire and Pam’s Houseblend are doing an excellent job covering the trial of her assailant and more importantly remembering Angie. I worry about potential explotation of Angie's life and tragedic death during the trial, but I hope that campaigns of awareness will end the ignorance and hate that fuels violence against transgender people.
On a lighter note…sexuality headlines were not devoid of star power this week!
Jane Fonda, a native of the great state of Georgia, urges the end of abstinence only sex education in GA and across the nation and pledges her support for the REAL act on RH Reality Check.
Feministe introduces us to a rising star in Meghna Damani, whose documentary about the plight of women on dependent spouses visas is yet another remindered that immigration reform is a cornernstone of gender and sexual social justice.
And Racialicious featured excerpts of SFSU faculty member and featured Summer Institute star lecturer Andreana Clay’s book on Queer Women of Color and Hip Hop Masculinity.
It's hard work being a promiscious reader. Know of a story I missed? Please link to them in a comment on the blog!
