Women Who Rock! (Nobel Peace Prize Edition)

Not only have a record FIVE women won the Nobel Peace prize this year, a woman took the prize in Economics for the first time ever! Considering the fact that only 40 women ever have won a Nobel Prize, this is not only a huge individual achievement, but also a huge step forward for equality of the sexes.

Contrats to Elinor Ostrom (co-winner of the prize in economics), Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, Ada Yonath, and Herta Meuller, for their awesome achievement!!!

ABDC

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I have this little, not-so-very secret obsession...

DANCE SHOWS!!!

And while I loooooove pretty much any show where people get their groove on, the one I love most of all is America's Best Dance Crew, for a multitude of reasons... and this season has been particularly great.

Not only has the show featured two amazing all-female crews, as well as my personal fav, an awesome vogueing crew (Vogue Evolution, comprised of four gay men and a transgendered woman), the top two crews competing this Sunday night in the finale show are We Are Heroes, an all-women pop and lock group, and Afroborike, a salsa troupe with three guys and three strong and sexy women. Also, in a surprising turn of events, these different factors have been treated rather tactfully (with the minor exception of Lil' Mama's weird comment about transgendered Leiomy) and in a non-exploitative manner(hey, it's MTV... you never know with them).

Hip-hop is generally a male-dominated dance form (particularly on ABDC... the two pervious winners of the show have been all-male break dancing crews), so I think it is fantastic to see two different groups of women DOING WORK!!! Tune in Sunday night to see not only some awesome dancing, but also women taking this title for the first time, regardless of which group wins.

Caster Semenya: Friday's Woman! Who Rocks

For those of you who haven't heard of her, Caster Semenya is the South African track phenomenon who shattered the world record for the 800-meter race in the World Championships back in July. Because of this, her competitors got all huffy and puffy, and threw her under the bus, accusing her of actually being... wait for it...A MAN!

According to her detractors, Caster "looks like a man", and apparently if you "look" male, you ARE male. So, the International Association of Athletics Federations allowed themselves to be bullied into ordering genetic tests for Caster to "determine" her biological sex and by association, the validity of her win. All this despite the fact that Caster, her family, and her entire village continue to contest that she is indeed a woman. 

Well, the test results were leaked today, and according to them, Caster has both male and female organs. This would technically make Caster ambiguously-gendered.

Here's what I have to say about that:

BFD, you guys. It is very simple: She identifies as a woman, therefore, she IS a woman. So, let her continue to race, and absolutely let her keep her medal, because, hello, she earned it. The people that called for these tests are embarrassing themselves with their bigotry and extremely petty, not to mention totally rude, behavior.

In what world would it be fair to prevent her (and she IS a her) from participating in the thing that she not only KICKS BUTT in, but also loves? If Caster identifies as a woman, she should absolutely be allowed to race as a woman. End of story.  

Caster Semenya: YOU ROCK!!