Happy Holidays from SCS
Because Santa hat. I hope you are having a lovely holiday season. And if not, I’ll be back here with fresh outrage any minute now.
The black Santa controversy fills me with rage-ahol*
*Rage-ahol: Rage that is so potent, it is like alcohol in your veins. I was not going to write about the black Santa thing. It’s stupid. It’s a trumped-up controversy that is the TV version of click-bait. I mean, do we really care what Megyn Kelly thinks about “historical figures” like Santa and Jesus? Well…
Thank you SCS readers for your generosity, your charity, and that you shop local
Even as Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, I keep looking at the calendar and wondering where 2013 has gone. It’s been a banner year for The Sin City Siren and I hope it’s been one for you as well. Indeed, it is because of you that The Siren has any success at all, and so…
Five Halloween costumes to avoid
I’ve spent a lot of time writing about ways we can keep Halloween fun and interesting without relying on the tired old sexist, and sometimes racist, tropes. But it’s worth noting that there are a lot of pitfalls out there, especially if you’re in the market for a pre-packaged costume. Here’s my nominees for the…
The SCS Halloween costume list
Clichéd and sexist Halloween costumes have always bothered me. They’re bad for women in a misogynistic culture that seeks to only objectify femininity and never allow it subjective, autonomous space. But they are also bad for a holiday that should be all about creativity, humor, fun, and even a little magic. Whether it was because…
A Q&A with Take Back Halloween
It’s that time of year again. People are putting out pumpkins, the air is peppered with the smell of crisp autumn leaves (or so I remember from my pre-desert days), and the same dull, sexist, racist pre-packaged Halloween costumes are lining the shelves. I don’t remember ever getting a costume that came in a plastic…
May your yuletide be merry and bright
In the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, there’s a conversation about the Buddhist concept of shakubuku, a philosophical argument designed to get you to challenge everything you have ever “known” to be true. A swift spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever. I think I’m a bit like John Cusack’s character here, “That…
The SCS Gift Guide for Bad-ass Girls (and Boys, too)
Perhaps it is the natural out-growth of keeping an eagle-eye out for Tired Marketing Fails or it is just the nature of being a feminist parent, but I find shopping for my toddler to be the hardest of my entire holiday gift list. We do our best to keep give our daughter an environment that…
Feminist Files: The new normal
Free to be you and me: Starting Dec. 1 the DSM-5 — the official guide-book in the psychiatry community — has stopped listing transgender as a mental illness! This, coupled with the UN Secretary General’s speech imploring the global community to stand with the LGBT community, will be marked in history as no less significant…
The gift of thanks
Today is Thanksgiving and I hope it is a lovely one for you, filled with laughter and love as well as something yummy in your tummy. Eat some turkey and pie for me — the reluctant, accidental vegan with so many food allergies I can hardly keep track. But at least I have me some…
The Sin City Siren 