From A Broad Abroad, an essay on how transformative works (like fanfic and other fan productions) are not, as commonly believed, void of creativity and harmful to the original source. Rather, it is a re-reading and a re-interpretation, on top of being “awesome.”

An article at Feminist Whoniverse discusses the homosexuality of Canton Everett Delaware III and how it compares to the ways in which Russell T. Davies normalized queerness:

Well, if we compare this to the reveals of queer characters from RTD’s era there is a very clear difference. Whilst RTD’s queer characters really normalised non-normative sexualities, Moffat sensationalises Canton’s identity. This is harmful because, although it’s not outwardly hostile, it serves to other queer folk. What this means is the marginalised group, in this case GSM [gay and sexual minorities], is seen as separate. This, in turn, reinforces the attitude that members of the GSM community are not normal and it is this kind of attitude which is frequently used to justify oppressive behavior.

Speaking of cute Dalek fan art, The Organization for Transformative Works posted this picture of a Dalek from a coffee shop.

Happy Hour, May 4-13. 1/2 price frapps!”"]

A chalkboard at a coffee shop depicts a drawing of an Army-green Dalek holding a frappuccino. He also has a green frappuccino on his head. Above him reads "Caffeinate!" Next to him reads, "3-5 pm, Frappucino [sic

Perhaps you’ve heard of the New York Times article claiming that men invented the internet? Xeni Jardin has a great response to it:

You guys, ladies suck at technology and the New York Times is ON IT.

Radia “Mother of the Internet” Perlman and the ghosts of RADM Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace and every woman who worked in technology for the past 150 years frown upon you, sir. Women may have been invisible, but the work we did laid the groundwork for more visible advancements now credited to more famous men.

“Men are credited with inventing the internet.” There. Fixed it for you.

At The Border House, Cuppycake calls out E3 for continuing to allow booth babes. The Escapist chimes in with “let’s just stop pretending E3 is a professional event,” since they refuse to stop this practice.

Via the Doctor Who Information Network, the first production picture of Matt Smith and the new companion:

The Doctor and his newest companion stand close together in front some trees and the stone corner of a building. The Doctor is wearing a darker brown jacket than normal, a dark checked bowtie, and a brown waistcoat. His companion is smiling with her hand close to her mouth, and is wearing a grey jacket over navy sweater and dress, with a red purse slung over her chest.

As some people on Tumblr have pointed out, this shot is nearly identical to a production shot of the first Doctor and his first companion, his granddaughter Susan Foreman.

Have you ever wished you could own a feminist science fiction/fantasy t-shirt? Now you can! (Via Infotropism.)

A dark muted green t-shirt with bold white text reading, "Russ & Butler & Tiptree & Le Guin."

Via The Mary Sue and Geek Feminism, Feminist Frequency has a Kickstarter project to analyze sexism in gaming and the gaming community. Said gaming community has started a harassment campaign against her, engaging in threats and vandalism of her Wikipedia page with racial slurs and pornography. Way to prove her project necessary, assholes!

From Alex Dally MacFarlane, “SF anthologies: The (almost) unrelenting sausagefest“:

And, you know, I wouldn’t be so fucking angry about this if it wasn’t that almost every damn time I open a Mammoth Book of SF Stuff or an anthology edited by these two or Mike Ashley or any other big editor over here, I find this kind of ratio. (The one that’s just a Mammoth version of the Dozois Year’s Best does better. If we’re counting Sean Wallace’s Mammoth Book of Steampunk as SF, then that’s got a great ToC. But this should not be fucking exceptional.) Mike Ashley even managed to get an anthology of SF Stuff that’s 0% women, because apparently no woman has ever written a mindblowing SF story or something.

Protest this state of affairs by supporting anthologies that are committed to publishing science fiction by women, people of color, and GSMs, like Dark Matter, Beyond Binary, and Fat Girl in a Strange Land.

On the same subject, Kate Elliott at A Dribble of Ink writes about how calls for more diversity in science fiction and fantasy assume a default of Whiteness, heteronormativity, and the West:

Attempts to add “diversity” into such a scenario then remain trapped in the same box, regardless of the axis of diversity: The “diversity” becomes an ornamental or utilitarian element being forced onto the “real” underpinnings of the world (which remain in such a case as the default male, white, Western, straight, whatever), rather than being an intrinsic part of the creation.

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