Archive for July, 2006

100% Woman

July 29, 2006 | Sports

I recently got digital cable, and I’ve been spending a lot of time watching Logo, a 24/7 gay channel. I’m watching Real Momentum: 100% Woman right now; it’s a documentary about mountain biker Michelle Dumaresq. She’s transgender, so there is a lot of controversy about whether she should be allowed to compete against women. This is not an isolated case - there is actually a long history of debate about this issue.

Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about it. In all other arenas, I would expect transwomen to be equal with non-trans women. But in sports, where physical elements do contribute to winning and losing, is it really fair for someone who may have greater strength to compete against women? I honestly don’t know the answer to this. There’s a scientist in the documentary who says that hormone therapy eliminates any “unfair” advantage, but it’s hard to overcome popular perception, and Michelle Dumaresq will probably always have this controversy following her.

My favorite scene in the documentary isn’t related to gender. It was when Michelle had suffered a bad crash, and she was being worked on by medics. She had her head turned away and her eyes squinched shut, and she was saying “I love downhilling” over and over to herself. Ouch!

From the Network

July 26, 2006 | CyDy Network

I’ve got some news for you from the Cyber Dyke Network! First of all, if you didn’t know about the free gallery, you can catch updates there on Fridays. Also, check out Land of Ahhhs, a new blog from CyDy - now there are three of us! Land of Ahhhs is a bit of a review blog, but it differs from Girl Tools in that Tessa is mostly reviewing products that aren’t explicitly marketed as sex toys, as well as sex-related “accessories.” Also, check out bigger videos - you can now view Cyber Dyke videos at 640×480!

Updates from individual network sites include dyke shaving pictures at darkPlay (if you like these, tell us and ShaveDyke will make a comeback!), glittery Veronica at Sappho’s Girls, and a set from Jesse over at Posteriority.

Lesbian Moms in Japan

July 25, 2006 | News Reports

The Japan Times has an article called Lesbian mothers’ twin tasks. It gives brief profiles of three lesbian moms through the prism of Japanese culture. Only one of the couples is Japanese; there is also an Australian couple living in a Japan and an American couple planning to live in Japan for a year. (My snarky comment is that if they were going to change the names of the Australian couple, did they have to change them to Bette and Tina?!)

Design Updates

July 21, 2006 | CyDy Network

Big changes are happening right this minute at CyDy Blog! If you’re viewing the site directly you can already see the difference, but if you’re viewing it through the RSS feed come on over and check it out. I’ve switched to WordPress! This means a whole new design, new functionality, etc. It’s not very pretty right now, kind of austere, but I’ll get that fixed up. I hope you like the changes that are taking place!

Lesbian Fiction

July 7, 2006 | Pop Culture

AfterEllen has posted an interesting article by Jane Chen entitled A Survey of the Lesbian Fiction Publishing Industry. Check it out! I was surprised to read that only 20% of subscribers to InsightOut Books (queer books-by-mail club) are female…I’d subscribe if I could afford it.

New York: No Gay Marriage

July 6, 2006 | News Reports

I know I haven’t updated in forever, and I haven’t had a Cyber Dyke update in even longer than forever (that’s like infinity plus one, I guess), but I did want to mention that New York just said no to same-sex marriage. Georgia did too, but that’s not really a surprise. I was really hoping it would pass in New York, but apparently the rest of the state isn’t as enlightened as NYC and New Paltz.