Links - 16th May 2019 (1)

Barcelona primary school bans ‘sexist’ Little Red Riding Hood | World | The Times - "A Spanish primary school has banned children from reading Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood because they do not contain a balanced “gender perspective”.The classic fairytales are among 200 books that have been withdrawn from the library at the Tàber School in Barcelona because they show women as victims and men as strong protagonists.A gender commission, comprised of parents of the children aged under six at the state school, labelled 30 per cent of books available for that age group “toxic”. They said another 60 per cent of titles had less serious problems."
It's not just an Anglo malady
I'm sure those who protested the gay penguin books in Singapore being removed are cheering this

A Racist Exam Question—or Was It? - "Which of the following gangs generally do the least graffiti?
A. Black. B. Asian. C. Hispanic. D. White...
certainly there must be some statistical answer to Fischer’s exam question. To assume it is racist is to assume the professor is suggesting that the answer to “which gang does the least graffiti” must be white? An assumption that to me seems pretty racist itself. Shouldn’t someone in the media at least try to find that out? Did any reporter even bother to ask him the answer to this question? Nothing in these slight articles, whose details are being recycled by ABC and NBC and the Los Angeles Times, suggests as much... a quick two-second scan of the course description for the class H SC 411B Health Science for Secondary Teachers on the CSULB website reveals that his question may not be so out of context after all:
Contemporary teaching of health education in secondary schools; emphasizes coordinated school health, integrating health content and instruction into other subjects, drugs, sexuality, nutrition, child abuse, violence, community and human ecology. Based upon California Health Framework, meets state credential requirements... The query in question refers ‘to one of the leading causes of death (homicide due to gang violence) among teens,’ Fischer added, saying that the answer is Asian gangs: ‘Asian gangs are less likely to tag/write graffiti as they typically do not claim a geographical territory as some other gangs may.’"
Of course, if the topic is ignored then someone else will be claiming that it's racist that 'minorities' are affected more by gang violence

The Incredible Cloth Womb Of 18th Century Midwife Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray - "TO combat high infant mortality rates and teach young mothers about giving birth in the 18th Century, midwife Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray (1712-1790) created this fantastic full-size obstetric mannequin, consisting of the lower part of a female body, a newborn doll and anatomical parts. It’s made from leather, cotton and canvas."

Melissa Chen - It's Tax Day and I thought you guys should know:... - "It's Tax Day and I thought you guys should know:
1. H&R Block and the makers of TurboTax spent $6.6 million lobbying last year. They want to ban the IRS from offering its own free, simple tax filing service.
2. Congress is about to pass a law doing exactly that.
Coming from Singapore, I can't tell you how byzantine and backwards the US tax system is"

Untangling the Meereenese Knot, Part I: Who Poisoned the Locusts? - "The Shavepate being the true poisoner might seem like a cool little Easter Egg, but it actually has a great many implications to how we should view the Meereen plotline as a whole. It shows that GRRM wrote the Meereen plotline very subtly and carefully, with intricate schemes underneath. It shows that we should not necessarily trust our POV characters’ impressions about Meereenese politics.It also shows that GRRM can write a character arc that reads one way on the surface, but has a completely different hidden meaning. As I mentioned, most readers cheer Barristan’s actions in these chapters, as the bold and badass moves of a Kingsguard man who’s discovered a surprising aptitude for the game of thrones. He’s often compared favorably to Ned. In reality, the Shavepate appears to be playing him just like Littlefinger played Ned."

/tv/ - What did D&D mean by this? - Television & Film - 4chan - ">""""""""""rape victim""""""""""
>pumped and dumped by several foreign Chad's
>devotes her life to social justice but ends up making things worse and annoying everyone
>extremely entitled
>no kids, becomes a cat (dragon) lady
>career woman
>Finally meets a nice guy but scares him off with her career ambitions
>ends up going crazy and ruining society"

Fantasy and Sci-Fi Rock My World - Posts - "Dani: When my dragons are grown we will take back what was stolen from me. We will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground.
Y'all: yas
Dani: I will take what is mine through fire and blood.
Y'all: yas
Dani: *does that*
Y’all *ewww I hope Jon kills her*"

Game of Thrones season 8: Researchers create algorithm to predict who dies - "To make their predictions, the team at TUM used approaches familiar to medicine and life insurance. They mined statistical information about how long people lived, along with biographical data that might correlate to when they die. In real life, that might include information like whether someone is a smoker or how frequently they exercise. But in the world of Game of Thrones, the more relevant information is what house a particular character belongs to, whether they’re married, and who their allies are."

Game of Thrones fan theory corner: Varys is a merman (really)

Some Men Are Pissed That Arya Was The Hero, Because Of Course
The misandry is thick
I love how the mob is turning on Ezra Klein, showing that you either die a liberal or live to see yourself become a bigot - no amount of past virtue signalling will save you once the mob turns on you

Strategic military analysis of the Battle of King’s Landing in Game of Thrones. - "What happened after that battle—the sack and burning of King’s Landing—has been the subject of much morning-after debate. Many ascribe the actions of the leader of Team Dragon, Daenerys Targaryen, to a kind of madness. Yet as we teach at the United States Army War College, political considerations infuse military strategy: Viewing her actions through that lens suggests the destruction of King’s Landing may serve Targaryen purposes"

"Game of Thrones": Don't be shocked by Daenerys — her King's Landing turn was very much earned - "From the very first season, Dany has violently lashed out at those who don't idolize her enough"
I'm surprised Amanda Marcotte isn't using a feminist lens for this

I,Hypocrite - Posts - "i hope she burns kings landing to the ground"
"ten years developing a strong, loving, and kind hearted character just to ruin everything she stood for in one season, daenerys targaryen you truly deserved better"

Candice Aiston on Twitter- "I’m so fucking mad right now. Game of Thrones has been a waste of my life.
Gotta be white guys that ultimately save the day after years of women killing it. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.
Women ultimately can’t be trusted. Let me find out the writers are Trump supporters. Or Bernie supporters. Ok.
I’m literally crying right now because a decade of my life has been wasted on a show ultimately guided by the white male viewpoint."

Facebook bans users from saying if they’re a ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ - "The new content policy makes things like saying you’re a ‘top’ or a ‘bottom’ off-limits, in a move the social media behemoth says will combat content that “facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults” and bars “sexually explicit language that may lead to solicitation.”“Sex positions,” “sexual preference” and any number of other sexy umbrellas pertaining to “sexual hints” are all means for moderator intervention now.Another common phrase you see a lot — “send nudes” — is a no-no, whether its meant as a joke or an actual request. The new rules ban “offering or asking for nude images.”"

The consequences of the differing meanings of gender in policy and activism for politics - "one must not wonder that people not acquainted with social justice activism and gender policy, not to mention with theoretical debates within gender studies cannot make sense of “what gender really is”"

Kelly Wickham Hurst: Worship of Reading Is 'Tenet of White Supremacy' - "An education activist complained Tuesday about the criticism she received after claiming last month that “Worship of the written word is a tenet of white supremacy.”Kelly Wickham Hurst, feminist and executive director of a non-profit organization that advocates for black students, accused critics of misinterpreting a tweet in which she expressed her belief that people who were overly focused on reading and writing were upholding racist ideals."
Abolish English classes!

Southern cooking may be killing African-Americans, study finds - "To some degree, the Southern diet represents the American diet overall — loaded with white flour, sugar, salt and meat. But this study showed big differences between blacks and whites in terms of eating the least-healthy foods.“African-Americans eat not just more of this diet, but a lot more of this diet,” Howard said.And blacks were also less likely to eat healthy foods that lower the risk of heart disease, including vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Obesity plays a role as well, but only for women, the team found. “Black men and white men have the same BMI (body mass index),” Howard said. Black women were more likely to be obese than white women, however, the study found, and for women, obesity was linked with a higher likelihood both of having high blood pressure and of dying young."
Healthy eating is white supremacy

The Hazards of Herbal Cigarettes - "some are considerably more dangerous than normal cigarettes. As the director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Affairs once stated, "There's no such thing as a safe smoke.""Simply being free of additives -- or in the case of herbal cigarettes, free of nicotine -- doesn't make them safer," says Matthew Gold, a staff attorney for the FTC. "Any kind of cigarette you smoke has tar and carbon monoxide, which have very real health hazards associated with them." Gold won a case against Alternative Cigarettes, Inc. that forced the company to display health warnings on its products"