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Author Archives: s.e. smith

The Madman In the Woods: Mental Illness As Boogeyman

I locked my house last night, for the first time since I moved in. I had to hunt for the key to the back door, because I tossed it in the back of my desk when my landlord handed it to me; ‘I’ll never need this,’ I said. ‘Who locks their doors?’ I checked the […]

KBR to Jamie Leigh Jones: Your Rape Lawsuit Was Frivolous, Give Us Money

The sordid saga of Jamie Leigh Jones, a Halliburton employee who famously highlighted the hostile working environment for women working with US military contractors overseas when she filed a high-profile suit demanding damages from her employer, KBR, after a gang rape, continues. This week, yet another chapter broke in her case, when KBR filed a claim […]

The TSA Expands Its Security Theatre Repertory With the Chat-Down

The Transportation Security Administration just keeps getting more creative when it comes to tormenting air travelers in the US. Problems with the approach to security by agencies like the TSA, which tend to focus on a reactive rather than proactive handling of security matters, have been extensively documented by experts like Bruce Schneier, who regularly […]

Team Tiger AWESOME

One thing about a group of people this fantastic is that our pure awesome cannot be contained to these pages alone. Thus, we like to keep you posted on what we’re up to elsewhere! Emily Manuel’s been all over the place! At In These Times, she writes about the London riots. On Global Comment she discussed […]

What Do You Mean When You Say You Want ‘Strong Female Characters’?

Oh, the strong female character. Holy grail of pop culture, embodiment of all that is empowerment, role model and inspiration for viewers of all genders, proof that women do not need to be shoehorned into stereotypical roles, but can instead spread their wings and fly free. She’s the characterisation many people say they do not see […]

The Google+ Nymwars: Where Identity and Capitalism Collide

Google recently tentatively dipped back into the social networking waters with Google+, a network based on the premise of circles; you decide who you want in which circle, who sees what, and who your ‘friends’ versus ‘people I’m adding back just to be polite’ are. It’s a concept I’m already familiar with from Dreamwidth, which […]

Organising, Activism, and Goals

Sady’s post this weekend got me thinking about a series of conversations I’ve been having in my email, and elsewhere, about the state of online organising not just in feminist communities, but social justice-oriented ones in general. The State of the Internet is a topic I see coming up again and again, with a myriad […]

Michele Bachmann Gets Migraines. So What?

Breaking political news on US shores today revolved around a Daily Caller expose on Michelle Bachmann’s migraines, complete with lurid suggestions about drug use and the implication that migraines make a person unfit to be President. (I’m glad we’re so worried about Bachmann’s fitness for the Presidency at this early stage, let me tell you.) […]

One Pie, Two Scoops of Analysis

UK-based activist Jonnie Marbles added a note of absurdity to the proceedings at the Murdoch hearing this morning by introducing what appeared to be a cream pie to the general vicinity of Murdoch’s person. Shortly before the pie incident, he Tweeted: It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever […]

Harry Potter and the…AHAHAHAHA none for you!

Among the myriad fabulous topics we cover here at Tiger Beatdown is pop culture, the many ways in which it manifests, and the fascinating things it says (or doesn’t) about groups of people such as ladies, and queer folks. A pretty critical pop culture event is unfolding across the US tonight and in the small […]