I'm pissed off about the Grokster decision. The Siva Vaidhyanathan of Salon.com has a great analysis of the significance of the Court's decision:

What about Google? Consider this: Google, like Grokster, is primarily a search engine. Its business model relies on advertisements. And the more we use Google, the more money it makes. Like Grokster, Google resolves communication queries. It generates a link from an information provider to an information seeker. And almost all of what it delivers is copyrighted.

The fact that no major copyright industry player has brought Google to court so far is merely a function of the fact that most copyright holders want Google to index and offer links to their materials. There is no explicit contract. You have to opt out of the Google world.

But there is one major difference between Grokster and Google. Grokster does no copying itself. It merely induces and enables.

If anyone infringes, it's Google: The company caches millions of Web pages without permission (again, giving copyright holders the option of protesting). And soon it will offer millions of copyrighted books in electronic form without payment or permission. How would Google fare in a post-Grokster world? The publishing industry no doubt wonders. And it just might sue to find out.

If you guys don't read Boing Boing (lj syn feed: boingboing_net) you should. Because they link to awesome stuff like this all the time.

And I'm pissed about ridiculous drama that's going on in the real life as well. Some of you are new to my journal, but a lot of you have probably seen me talk about the radical (as in politics) infoshop (read: non-profit, indie media bookstore/community center) that I've been a part of for building for the last 3-4 years. We've managed to open a space and keep it going, and we've done it as a consensus based collective in a surprisingly short time period. I don't think it's really possible to fully explain what it's like to be a part of this group. It's been challenging both personally and politically, and it's been frustrating (if you've ever been a part of a mixed ideology political project you might have some idea what it's been like to try to get shit done without getting burnt-out on the interpersonal bullshit) But over all, accomplishing this has been the most rewarding experience of my life. And it had better be since I'm pretty much married to the damn thing (president of the board, lots of paperwork in my name, thinking about getting the logo tattooed.)

About a month ago I proposed hosting an event in the space. I was interested in putting together an all girl art show and I asked if anyone was interested in helping. A couple other people said they were down, so we started putting it together. After the initial stage of organization two other girls said they wanted to help out, one was going to put together some music, another the flier. All of the artists we asked said yes. So the only thing left for us was to pick a title. And that's when shit got ugly. I wrote something that I'm planning on turning into a mini-zine for the show about it and I'm just going to cut and paste since it pretty much explains shit and because I think debates about feminism are sorely lacking these days:

We probably spent the better part of a couple hours trying to come up with a name for this art show. Most of it involved sitting around with blank looks on our faces. So when one of the artists suggested ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’ we went with it. Art show names are often a little cheesy, and when the only unifying theme for a show is the fact that all the artists identify as female, it’s kind of hard to pick a name that could possibly encompass the wide variety and individuality of all of the talented, inspirational people included in the show.

When a couple of the women involved on the organizing side of the show objected to the title, we spent the better worst part of a week trying to reach some sort of agreement. (How’s that for getting shit done?)

I don’t think anyone has ever questioned my dedication to feminist ideals before. As a girl who is into a lot of typically “boy” activities (bike riding, computers, hip hop, punk rock) I’ve spent a lot of time relishing the act of challenging stereotypes. As one of the only girls I know doing Community Health Outreach work (passing out condoms and doing HIV/STD education and prevention) I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people about sex and watching people’s reactions to being asked if they want free condoms. (I promise this is all getting back to the title of the art show, really.)

I enjoy sex. I enjoy helping other people have safe sex. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with promiscuity. But if that’s not your thing, I think that’s okay too. What I don’t enjoy is the shame so many women are taught to feel about sex. Women are rampantly sexualized by the media and advertising industries. Our bodies are used to sell everything from razor blades to new cars. We’re told to look a certain way, act a certain way, think a certain way, and for god’s sakes DON’T QUESTION ANYTHING. Full stop. At the same time we’re being taught that sex sells, we’re being told that a girl who enjoys sex is a slut or a whore. Wearing too much make-up, a short skirt, and high heels is an invitation for sex. Being opinionated makes you a bitch. Just shut up and suck my fucking dick, okay? (Just don’t enjoy it.)

Society has shamed us into thinking a lot of things about sex. I suspect that every girl who has sex has, at some point, felt guilty afterwards. And while I don’t think that feminism is only about sexual equality, I think it’s important that as feminists, we question society’s stance on women and sex. It’s fucked up that the word “girl” repeated 3 times automatically equals sex and strippers for so many people. It’s fucked up that women are degraded and dismissed so easily by so many people. But if women keep doing it to each other, and if we stop challenging stereotypes, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere.

For me, the point of a title like “Girls! Girls! Girls!” for an art show featuring women is about that. It’s about taking something that will make someone think one thing, and forcing them to look at it a different way. In the end there is no fucking way we’d ever have found a title that fully encompassed every artist’s life experience. And that’s the point. Art is about expression and communication. So let’s start listening to all of the awesome work around us. And then let’s organize the next thing.