Links, Thursday 9th October

"This solidarity in workplace misery is by no means unique to PhD students, or indeed to the HE sector, and we might tend to look on such interactions with colleagues – not to mention the many and various uncritical representations of workplace misery in popular culture, the relentless drudgery of office work being a particular favourite – as harmless, even comforting and supportive. But these exchanges are just one example of the normalisation of anxiety and unhappiness in the workplace. Moreover, not only is this psychological distress normalised, it is valorised – rendered desirable because it becomes a benchmark against which to measure achievement." The Column

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Very good, nuanced piece.

"until we stop pretending that getting high is inherently bad – that drugs can never be brilliant, can never enhance human experience for the better – how can we properly deal with people whose lives have been made worse by drugs?" Guardian

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"When their lawsuit was filed, Hobby Lobby's 401(k) plan had more than $73 million invested in mutual funds with holdings in companies such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (makers of morning-after pills and IUDs), Pfizer and AstraZeneca (which both produce drugs used to induce abortions), and even Aetna and Humana (health insurance companies that cover various methods of abortion). For a company so offended by the thought of giving its employees access to contraceptives that aren't related to abortions, they sure are comfortable collecting a ton of money from actual abortions."Cracked

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"In France during the years before the revolution of 1789, a book “existed by virtue of the king’s pleasure; it was a product of the royal ‘grace’. . . . The book was a quality product; it had a royal sanction; and in dispensing that sanction, the censors vouched for its general excellence. Censorship was not simply a matter of purging heresies. It was positive — a royal endorsement of the book and an official invitation to read it.” Thus, the relationship between author and censor was as much collaborative as adversarial." Washington Post

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"No matter what law is passed on the niqab, it will not stop me from wearing it. I don’t want to be controlled and told what I can and can not wear: that is oppression." Guardian

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"In a startling and unexpected move, on Monday the Supreme Court refused to review seven gay marriage cases from five different states. That decision effectively legalized gay marriage in those five states—Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin—almost immediately. But within the next few weeks, the court’s move will likely bring gay marriage to six more states—meaning that, without actually ruling on the topic, the justices will have brought marriage equality to 11 states in one fell swoop." Slate

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Pretty legit advice. Robot Hugs

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LOL 

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Some insight into the nitty-gritty of corruption in US politics. Cracked

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"People often say that same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 60s. But in terms of public opinion, same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 90s, when it had already been legal nationwide for 30 years." XKCD

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"Having driven out agents of the Assad regime in 2011, and despite the hostility of almost all of its neighbours, Rojava has not only maintained its independence, but is a remarkable democratic experiment. Popular assemblies have been created as the ultimate decision-making bodies, councils selected with careful ethnic balance (in each municipality, for instance, the top three officers have to include one Kurd, one Arab and one Assyrian or Armenian Christian, and at least one of the three has to be a woman), there are women’s and youth councils, and, in a remarkable echo of the armed Mujeres Libres (Free Women) of Spain, a feminist army, the “YJA Star” militia (the “Union of Free Women”, the star here referring to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar), that has carried out a large proportion of the combat operations against the forces of Islamic State." Guardian

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"I do not expect or accept the treatment by some in the queer community that femmes need to be tamed and controlled.

I am disturbed by what I see as a virtual absence of femme-feminist awareness in discussions around masculine of center identities.

Is there a fetishization of some forms of masculinity within the queer community?

Is there a privileging of masculinity in queer spaces?

Why is it that femmes are seen to be less radical than butch or masculine of center women?" Feminist Wire