Blog Against Sexism Day

Today is Blog against Sexism Day, in honor of International Women's Day, which initially commemorated the labor, hardships, and unionization efforts of female textile workers who earned subsistence livings under terrible conditions. You can also honor the day with an e-card to send socialist, feminist greetings to that special woman in your life. The official International Women's Day website now has a corporate sponsor, HSBC. You don't suppose they fund any sweatshops, do you?

In honor of the day's theme, I thought it was worth pointing out this picture of President George W. Bush "surrounded by fans" from the White House website and the fantasy of postcolonial masculinity that it represents. It's the kind of gendered imagery that the collective at BAGNews often deconstructs in a daily exercise that is sort of like an acrostic for the media literate.

As a digression, I also have to point out the poetry page of the President of India. If only all heads of state were willing to post their verse online! (For those who want some geographical mood music to remember our President's trip to the subcontinent by, check out this Indian Shankar Drum Ganesh Machine.)