The meta! It’s everywhere!

I think I just have this thing about meta. I love writing meta-activism and I love blogging about blogging.

First up, a reminder to read the comments policy before commenting. If you haven’t checked the policy, or if it’s been a while, please have a read.

There have been several small updates to the sidebar and the about page. I couldn’t find a decent translation widget after all, so I ended up making an icon linking to the US Google translation page. Not perfect, but that was the most accessible and viable option I could come up with given WordPress’ restrictions on embedding.

Here are new blogs for the blogroll:

• Feminists with Female Sexual Dysfunction – K’s blogging one topic and doing it well.
• Egotistical Whining – I’ve been meaning to add shannon for a while now. She runs two other blogs, too!
• Something More Than Sides – Pharaoh Katt is my fellow Aussie feminist!
• Mothers for Women’s Lib – Home of the fabulous Carnival of Feminist Parenting.
• And Scarleteen – is not a blog, but deserves to be linked everywhere. A truly excellent sex ed resource.

And you know how I love my carnivals.

• Anji of Shut Up Sit Down has the latest Carnival of Feminists up. Go show her some love.
• There are just a few more days to submit to the next Down Under Feminists Carnival. The rather charming Jo Tamar is hosting. For details and information on the theme, head over to Wallaby.
• FWD/Forward is hosting the November run of the Disability Carnival. The theme is disability and intersectionality and it is sure to be fantastic! Get your posts in.

Lastly, I must share the most hilarious spam comment I’ve ever had:

To engage masculinities through the prism of feminist theory or to write feminist theory using masculinities as an analytic… Sex Video [link redacted]

Bumper blogroll update

Transkitten is by Emily. She was recently forced offline after some workmates found her blog and I’m so glad she’s back.

Wheelchair Dancer has lots of reflections on disability, dance and activism.

UneFemmePlusCourageuse is just a fabulous wide-ranging feminist blog by Genevieve I recently started reading.

Raising My Boychick is Arwyn’s. She always has something fun or thoughtful to say about parenting or politics (or both!).

Adventures of a Young Feminist is Laura’s blog and has been running since June. It tackles lots of issues, particularly pop culture from a feminist perspective.

Deeply Problematic by RMJ is another relatively new and really good blog on a variety of feminist issues. It’s the home of the 50 Books for Problematic Times series.

Jem’s Lair is the only Danish feminist blog I read. It’s a solid, well-written blog on everything from the justice system to mental health. You should check it out.

Look left of the pleiades is the blog of British mother and feminist Ruth Moss. Get your fat acceptance, reflections on being a feminist typist and more here!

Catspaw is the blog of self-described transdyke feminist Lucy. She doesn’t blog often but she blogs well. Lucy and Ruth recently got engaged!

o filthy grandeur! features all sorts of social justice goodness, not to mention poetry. Most importantly, fuzz therapy.

More for the blogroll; also, diversity of same

I’m always looking for more blogs to add to the blogroll and to my reader. I recently bookmarked upwards of seventy blogs to check out! I am a big believer in seeking new and varied perspectives. It’s a fabulous way to connect with your fellow humans and expand your knowledge of the world.

Every so often, I do a demographics breakdown of my reading, because I am pedantic like that. Most of the blogs I read are by white Americans. This is because, well, let’s face it, this group kind of dominates the femblogosphere. Perhaps it’s also because we’re trained to hear these voices as authorities on cultural narratives (and not just their own, might I add). In any case, my reading habits tell an interesting story.

I also want to highlight age. I’ve found that this is an important aspect of our lives that doesn’t generally get listed as an identity marker. Maybe because it, um, changes, but variability doesn’t strike it off as an intersectional identity. Judging from when it is mentioned by bloggers, or when it’s guessable, most of the blogs I read are by people in their twenties and thirties, with a sprinkling of folks older than that, and even fewer younger ones. I should very much like to hear more perspectives from social justice (particularly gender justice) bloggers falling outside that limited age range. I’m putting together a list of younger bloggers to post about, although it looks like I’m going to have to wait a bit more before I can do justice to the older ones, simply because there are more of them.

If you’ve got any suggestions for blogs centring such voices, please do share them.

Now, I’ve got some more blogs to present to you and for the blogroll. (I’ve got many more collected for the future; I try to not overwhelm you with these entries. Each blog deserves attention.)

A shiny new coin is a blog I quite enjoy, written by a journalist in Western Australia. It was said shiny’s birthday the other day, so happy birthday, your shinyness!

The Radical Radish is rayedish’s blog, rayedish being an Aussie feminist parent. I know, I’m fond of the blog name, too.

The Second Awakening is pretty new, but it’s looking good to me. C. L. Minou blogs life as a trans feminist. And she’s furious.

Sweet Perdition is a gem. Written by Tera, it has disability and gaming goodness for all.

cripchick’s weblog wasn’t on my blogroll before?! There are lots of fabulous entries on experiencing the world as a queer disabled woman of colour.

Twice Immigrant is the blog of CaitieCat. Best known for her work as a Shakesville contributor, she is fabulous in every way.

That’s it for this time, readers.

It’s shiny, it’s super, it’s linkage!

I’ve just realised that there are some blogs I quite like I haven’t added to the blogroll! I must correct this.

Ham.Blog – by Annaham. She’s a friendly being. Also, she has recently started a disability 101 series.
Perspectives from a Blind Point of View – I started reading this one a short time ago. There’s a lot of variety and coverage of issues I’ve never thought about. Alena is a fellow knitter!
Random Babble – Ouyang Dan is an American blogging feminism and disability activism from South Korea. I like it more the more I read!
Wallaby – Jo Tamar is a fellow Aussie blogger. She’s presently working hard on being a better ally to PWD and Indigenous Australians. I am quite impressed with her efforts.
Bird of Paradox – is Helen G’s blog. She also blogs at Questioning Transphobia. There’s lots of good stuff in there and I would recommend checking out the sidebar linkage.

I’ve also edited some links to reflect moved addresses, blog closures and so on.

More blogs in the blogroll

I have a bunch of new blogs added to the blogroll!

Adventures of the TV Addict, the Wannabe Writer, and the Should-Be Famous is the blog of TR Xands. It’s pretty comprehensive and a good read (also, TR is a regular contributor of thoughtful comments here on ZatB, so go show some love)!
Crimitism Congrats, Richie, you’re the first male individual blogger to join my blogroll. Yay!
Fineness & Accuracy would be the second bloke, then. You may recognise Scott from his lovely comments at Shakesville.
But I’d Rather Have a Bowl of Foxtrot! niemaodpowiedzi’s blog is pretty new and pretty fabulous (the name. it makes me gigglesnort in my head.). I’m going to have a good sit down one day soon and read through her latest, very heartfelt, posts properly.
Trouble is a State of Mind Anna been growing in prominence in the blogosphere lately. She writes some really good posts on disability. So if you find you’re missing voices on disability in your reading, her blog should be a regular stop.
Unapologetically Female is Tracey’s blog. She’s doing an interesting series presently called My Antifeminist Childhood.
elle, phd is fabulous. That is all.
Wildly Parenthetical is an intriguing creature. She says smart things about pop culture that may make your head hurt.

Look, readers, I have the shiny for you

I’ve updated the blogroll! Here are the additions to the list:

Mim’s Muddle Mim is a mother of three and my fellow Sydneysider (yep, that’s the term for people from the lovely city of Sydney). She recently had her third blogiversary, so congratulations!
Spilt Milk is another Australian mother who has some interesting things to say about feminism and motherhood. (Like this.)
The Pursuit of Harpyness Only a month old, this blog is shaping up to be pretty eclectic and engaging.
Hexpletive Hexy is a pretty unique voice in the blogosphere, writing about Aboriginal and sex worker issues. You should have a look through her archives.
My Ecdysis is Lisa’s blog. She shares some very moving pieces of writing.
The Angry Black Woman is made of win.
Whyimbitter’s Weblog Another Aussie writing life and feminism. I didn’t realise I was reading so many Australians!

And also two webcomics: I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space!!! and YU+ME: dream, both by Megan Rose Gedris, both wonderful and both to be discussed in coming days (we hope).

I’m going to probably be doing more posts like this every so often, so watching out for those.