After having to put up with crowds of people who somehow know best than I do what Ukrainian feminism is all about (without ever being in Ukraine, of course), I now see American bloggers and journalists finally begin to ask timidly, “Femen Storms Putin, but is “Femenism” really “Feminism”?”

No, it’s not. And the next time can we please try to listen to what people with actual knowledge of Ukraine and the history of Ukrainian feminism (like, maybe, me) are saying before we rant on the subject?

People idolize wealth to an insane degree:

Some students have nicer boats, as in the greater parental involvement and private tutors that wealthier kids are more likely to have.

Yes, of course, it is wealth that makes parents more involved with children. That makes so much sense. Not.

Crowds of parents who are not even remotely wealthy spend a lot of time with their children. Wealth in no way causes parents to have a greater interest in their children. I once had a conversation with a group of rich (and I mean, really rich) classmates, and we discovered that my father, a man of very modest means from a 3rd world country, always spent a lot more quality time with his children than my friends’ ultra-rich fathers. Even though my father had a lot less actual leisure.

And in all of the universities where I taught, the most prepared, most intelligent, most promising students never come from the rich families.

Yes, you can pay for a tutor. But loving parents are not for sale.

Yesterday, people discovered something that shook them to their core: Justin Bieber is a self-involved idiot.

The reactions range from “I loved him so much and how could he turn out to be a jerk!” to “He is just a little child who, at 19, cannot be expected to have an ounce of grey matter.”

Want to know why there are so many immature people around? Because immaturity is expected and celebrated:

A 19-year-old kid who’s had little opportunity to do anything with his time but be a pop sensation for the last five years doesn’t have a chance.

Oh, poor little baby! He didn’t have enough chances and opportunities! And now he tripped and has a bobo! Let’s all feel massively sorry for the child.

I remember how shocked I was when a 6-feet-something burly student said to me something like, “I talked to the other kids and they told me. . .” I had to ask who the “kids” were because I honestly didn’t understand he was referring to his classmates.

At 19, I was a married woman, making a living in a very harsh economy of the post-Soviet bandit wars. I would have never thought of myself as “a kid.”

Did you see yourself as a kid at 19?

A bizarre sex scandal at the University of Georgia.

I’m making mushroom risotto today, so this paean to risotto was very timely.

How teaching gender studies has changed in 20 years.

Why is it that some people are so happy to ridicule rape victims if the rapists and the rape don’t conform to some sick fantasy they have in their mind of what “a real rape should be like”?

Let’s head over to Leah Jane’s blog and support this brave and talented person in her struggle with personal tragedy.

If you don’t take care of your psychological health, the major hormonal transformation that will start at about 40-45 in men and 45-52 in women will feel like a tsunami. When we are teenagers, we have no idea how to prepare for the hormonal upheaval. But if we don’t prepare by the age of 45, it’s just pure laziness.

I’m not going to read this report on the future of online feminism but I leave the link here for those who are interested.

Americans are lousy conversationalists: “They believe that we use words to get others to do things, to exchange important information, and so on.  Also, there is the unfortunate habit of some American men to believe that their sitting there saying nothing is a treat for others. Or they set up a joke that you have to hear to the end and then must laugh at, whether or not you think it’s funny.  All too often, women pitch their voices in funny registers and fail to make eye contact, or can’t quite decide on what mode they are in: flirtatious, serious, down to earth, etc. etc.” This problem definitely exists, although not on my blog, obviously.

Please, Paul Ryan, just keep doing exactly what you are doing. It’s working phenomenally well for us: “He challenged the view that Republicans should soften their approach in order to attract centrist or female voters, who favored President Obama by more than 10 points in November. “Our critics say we should abandon our pro-life beliefs. But that would only demoralize our voters,” Ryan said. “It’s an odd strategy, I think: the cynical ploy followed by the thumping defeat.” Ryan opposes abortion rights, except when the woman’s life is in danger.”

Read about the hysteria that unleashes against victims of rape and ask yourself what kind of culture produces it.

And here is a horrifying post from a mother of a 2-year-old who is already having fantasies of him raping somebody at a party 20 years from now. This happens a lot more often that you might want to imagine. I have read and heard so many of these outbursts from mothers who believe that there is a vicious animal hiding inside their sons. If this is the reflection of yourself that you see in your own mother’s eyes, how easy do you think it is to disappoint Mommy and not rape anybody? It is just horrifying that such parents then inflict their deeply traumatized off-spring onto the rest of us.

Really interesting facts about marriage equality.

Oh God, oh God, oh God! The little turtles are back! An ocean of cuteness is again with us.

A window into the academic world.