Well, we’ve reached the end of 2012! I wrote my first post on June 4th, and 160+ posts later, I appear to have real readers. Thanks, everyone, for visiting my small corner of the Internet!
Time for the obligatory end-of-year lists.
My Most Popular Posts:
1. Chivalry, Class, and Race: This is one of my favorite posts, so I’m glad it’s at the top. I respond in the negative to calls for the reintroduction of chivalry, which I think is historically sexist, classist, and racist.
2. You Kids Think You Invented Sex Part I: The first in my series on the anti-contraception organization 1flesh. I think it’s one of the stronger posts in the series, so I’m glad it’s been the most popular. I’m pleasantly surprised at how many people stuck around to read the entire series. Thanks, readers!
3. Fox News Continues to Occupy the Alternate Reality It Constructed for Itself: I suppose this became popular because of its topical nature after the election, but it also became a lesson in blogging for me. I didn’t think it was one of my stronger posts, and when it became popular I raced back to make edits. It’s kind of punchy, though. I like it well enough.
4. I Think I’m Reaching My Outrage Limit: My post about symphysiotomies in Ireland. I found out about it shortly after Savita Halappanavar’s death, which is why I was approaching my outrage limit. I guess a lot of people agreed.
5. Share This Chain Letter or You’ll Go to Hell: About a chain email posted by a Facebook friend. I later unfriended her when she posted that stupid T-shirt about God letting children die because of separation of church and state.
6. Just a Couple of Appalling Things: I guess “outrage” and “appalling” get page views. It’s about appalling things in the news. They’re appalling.
7. Well, This Does It: Mop Buckets, Husky 12 Year Olds, and Sitting Ducks: My response to Charlotte Allen’s opinion that the Newtown shooting was so deadly because elementary schools are “feminized environments”. I still hope to write something more about the shooting, but the ideas need more time to gestate.
8. You Kids Think You Invented Sex Part VI: On hormonal contraception. It’s a little unfortunate that this post is so popular, because I consider it one of the weaker parts in the series.
9. Did Women Vote for Prohibition? In Which I Analyze Internet Comments: I think this may be popular because of high school students writing essays. I hope they’re using better sources than someone’s blog.
10. You Kids Think You Invented Sex Part III: On 1flesh’s anti-contraception philosophy.
In no particular order, some of my favorite, less popular posts:
1. Bad Books for Girls: My review of Tamara Rose Blodgett’s book The Pearl Savage. It’s a bad book for anyone, but especially tween/teen girls.
2. Athens After the Age of Pericles: I kind of love Thucydides, and I think The History of the Peloponnesian War is really relevant to the current political climate.
3. My posts on the UN Population Fund and contraception as a human right: By Choice, Not By Chance; UN Population Fund Report Part I and Part II; How Much Would Improved Contraceptive Access Cost?
4. The rest of the “You Kids Think You Invented Sex” series, particularly Part II and Part VIII.
5. This Mystifies Me: On unbifurcated garments and why conservative Christian men aren’t allowed to dress like Jesus.
6. My posts on harassment, particularly People Think They’ll Respond to Harassment Differently Than They Actually Do.
7. Let’s Talk About Objectification: On what actually constitutes objectification, which is a topic I would like to develop further.
8. Not Very Pleasant for People Who Do Not Enjoy Lies: My first post on Christine de Pizan. More to follow!
I’m going to continue chipping away at my quest to read a bunch of feminist/anti-feminist texts (Recommendations, anyone?). I would also like to review more young adult books (Tamora Pierce!) and eventually write about ballet from a feminist perspective (Anyone want to just ask me questions about ballet? I have no idea where to start.)
Happy New Year, and see you around in 2013!