WEEKEND REWIND is LadyClever’s round-up of important events and stories happening around the country over the weekend. Catch up on what you might have missed while you were sleeping in. Because a clever lady always stays informed, even when she’s relaxing.
Anita Hero: Embattled Feminist Frequency host Anita Sarkeesian appeared on MSNBC with Melissa Harris-Perry on Sunday morning to discuss sexism in the gaming industry and the struggles she’s faced, including credible death threats. She’s also been nominated for a Golden Joystick Award as Gaming Personality of the Year for her diligence in making a postie impact on the culture. If you feel so inclines, vote for her here.
He Got Served: Over the weekend, Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpischev was fined $25,000 and suspended for one year by the Women’s Tennis Association Tour, thanks to his ridiculously offensive remarks about tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams‘ gender. Tarpischev maintains that he was joking when he referred to the sibling tennis stars as “the Williams brothers,” and said that it’s “frightening when you look at them.” Serena called his comments “extremely sexist as well as racist at the same time,” Jezebel reported. The NFL should take note, this is the WTA organization’s penalty when a person merely insults a woman: $25K and a year’s suspension.
Girls Who Are Boys: As our society evolves toward accommodating a more gender-fluid sexuality, what becomes of gender-specific learning institutions? Once necessary to enrich the lives of women who were otherwise kept from higher education, “a small but increasing number of students at those schools do not identify as women” anymore, according to The New York Times, “raising the question of what it means to be a “women’s college.” Trans students, from Wellesley to Mount Holyoke and many more, are working with the student body to replace all female references in student government constitutions, for example, with gender-neutral language. But what does this movement mean for the identity of a women’s college? Read up on this interesting dichotomy at the NY Times.
Back in Black and Blue: In you’ve-got-to-be-kidding news, the Baltimore Ravens football player who knocked his then fiancee out in an elevator, Ray Rice, could be reinstated within a month or so. His legal team will make the case that as a first-time offender under the NFL’s new domestic violence policy, Rice should only be suspended a maximum of six games, which has already passed, CBS Sports reported yesterday. They will also argue that the recording from the elevator (no, not that one) was available to the team and the league throughout the entire process of determining the disciplinary actions for his crime.
