My Lady of Quality is, I’m afraid, being rather un-PC today, telling Sir Walter Scott stories.

Australia plans to take away even more human rights – the right to life of anyone who’s known a terrorist, however, innocently. (That’s not me saying that, but the Law Society of NSW, hardly a radical group). From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Mr McIntyre told ABC Radio that police would be able to obtain a preventative detention order “without a person being reasonably suspected of committing of an offence”.
The orders may only have been granted on the basis that the person is an associate of someone suspected of possible involvement in terrorist activities, he said.
“If the [police] are armed with one of these [orders] … and if this person attempts to flee the arrest, he can be shot and fatally shot,” Mr McIntyre said.
“The police might knock on the door and [the person] might leg it out the back door without even being told why the police are there, and under these provisions they can be called on to stop and if they don’t stop, they can be shot.”

But that’s enough depressing news for the day. Instead, you might prefer an interesting read, a psychologist’s conclusions about religion, or the wonderful story of the rat that, despite being fitted with a radio-tracker, managed to give “a whole team of expert rat-catchers” the run-around for 18 months.

They used to say that cockroaches would take over the world, but I think my money might be on order rodentia.

Miss Williams Wynn has some lovely tales of revolutionary narrow escapes and poignant tragedy in today’s diary entry. I particularly liked her image of the pathetic, poor aritocratic emigrée in London:

In 1814 I saw Madame de Sirent, a little hump-backed old woman, a stray lady of the bed chamber to the Duchesse d’Angouleme, at the reception or sad mock drawing-room, which she held in South Audley Street, in a small two-roomed house which the Comte d’Artois had hired. A few days after they departed for Paris.

(As you’d expect, Miss Williams Wynn is distinctly on the side of the aristos.)

But if you’d prefer a bit of action, check out today’s full post. It is long and has lots of French in it (but still easily comprehensible). If I get time later tonight I’ll attempt to add a translation in the comments and to find out a bit more about the Sirents.

Interesting new use for a blog: direct reports from a union picket line. (Found via an Alternet story.)

Still in media, Alastair Campbell, Blair’s ex-spin doctor, is to take over the news for a week. Talk about poacher turned game-keeper. Still, two interesting women, an athlete, Dame Kelly Holmes, and the singer Ms Dynamite, are also going to get a go. Newspapers are increasingly having to focus on celebrities – interesting television is going the same way.

Finally, in a small sign of the sort of complications that will arise as this increasingly becomes “one world”, gmail is going to have to become googlemail for new addresses in the UK, because someone already claims the name.

When you think about it, it is amazing this worldwide network doesn’t have more of these sorts of clashes. I’ve just bought a domain name for what will be my professional site, nataliebennett.co.uk (yes, not very imaginative, but easy to remember) and the whole process was remarkably simple. (At the moment I’ve still got it directed to my personal site.) And I couldn’t get .com as well, which I probably would have done, because it has already been taken by a three-year-old in America.

Welcome! to the first Carnival of Feminists. In this show there are no captive animals or “freak” displays, but plenty of passion, lots of fun, and more than the odd bit of juggling of life.

Since there’s no sexism here, I’m going to begin the carnival with a post by a man, Bora, aka Coturnix, on Science and Politics. He attended ConvergeSouth and here reports on a session on blog hierarchies, which got into that inevitable “where are the women bloggers” question. The temperature rose, fast.

And while I’m on gatherings of bloggers, I have to include a post setting out plans for next year’s BlogHerCon, on Surfette.

Gold-star polemic

But if that’s all a bit moderate and reasonable for you, I’m going to proceed quickly to the gold-star “get into ’em and tear ’em to pieces” section, where no punch is pulled. Those carrying twin copies of the “I’m easily offended” gene, you’ve been warned.

Feministe deconstructs the life plan of a “single Christian girl”, who’s realised “what a silly mistake her autonomy was”. Kameron on Brutal Women, meanwhile, gets into the real meaning of advice to women to think about babies today.

I Blame the Patriarchy is not letting some adversity get her down in “Die Barbie”, about a new wardrobe, for adults. (Really! I mean who would?!) In the “other commercial matters” category, Green Fairy reports on a new service, marketed to men, that sends flowers to your girlfriend, so you don’t have to remember her birthday.

Jessica on Feministing, meanwhile, notes how encouraging girls to study science and math(s), and to develop leadership skills, has got a company labelled “pro-abortion and pro-lesbian”.

Personal Political – in a post not suitable for rabbit-lovers – notes how one word in what is supposed to be a news story (not an opinion piece) is there to denigrate a feminist and her theory. Still on the media, Nella on Feminist Rage tackles a one-sided article about how women are leaving it ‘too late’ to have a family’.

Political politics

In the world of traditional politics,
Antonia of Antonia’s Blog had the misfortune to have to attend the (British) Conservative Party annual conference, where she tried to find a place for social policy between the DD T-shirt wearers. (That’s for David Davis, one of the contenders for the leadership, for those who missed the excitement but note the clever double entendre). It’s the first feminist wrap-up I’ve seen, and a very solid one it is too.

Also on British politics, Emma on Gender Geek explains what’s wrong with the law on women trafficked into prostitution.

I’ve deliberately restricted the number of US Supreme Court posts, for fear of them taking over, but I’ll let Bitch PhD set out the case for why its composition matters, particularly for women, and particularly for pregnant women. Then Pseudo-Adrienne on Alas, a Blog, sets out the feminist case against Harriet Miers, while Amanda on Pandagon suggests the Right can’t trust any woman it can’t ruin.

Then, proving that feminists can be critical even of their icons, What Do I Know? describes her disillusionment with Judith Miller. And Moorish Girl explains why a female advocate of a Moroccan republic shouldn’t be held up as an human rights advocate. (The sort of republic she wants is an Islamic one.)

On the positive side, Luighsearch on Feminist Forum sets out the good news from Norway. Also, Miss Mabrouk of Egypt reports on a scheme helping poor women in Cairo and Black Looks reports on a campaign for women’s rights across Africa.

Personal politics

Heading into the “personal is political” category, Ms B. on Volsunga asks: If we were truly equal to men, considered by men to be worthy partners, would it matter if we had hairy legs?

Carla on Pre-emptive Karma is tackling the difficult issue of how to prepare children for relatives with restrictive belief systems. Growup_blowaway on Feminist Rage, meanwhile, tells the tale of a boy who at age five has all “girly” things torn away from him. On the same site, Conuly asks why all the toddler girls she sees are dressed in pink?

Deepa on Teashop on the Moon wonders if the limitations applied to girls in the books of Enid Blyton should disqualify them for modern readers?

Still in the wardrobe department, Vanessa on Feministing asks if breasts can really replace CD racks? The Countess, meanwhile, wonders about men who can only deal with relationships with plastic dolls, and Emmy on Gender Geek confronts the popular stereotypes about male sexuality.

Getting more serious, Noli Irritare Leones looks at the issues around possible childhood vaccination against the virus that causes cervical cancer. I can only hope common sense here, after hearing a debate, on Radio 4!, in which a woman was arguing that this shouldn’t happen, because it would encourage girls to have sex!

Earmarks in Early Modern Culture looks at an advertisement by a Dutch insurance company designed, so it said, to promote men’s involvement in childcare. The Dad got to go abseiling, the mother to wear an apron. How does that work again? she asks.

Office politics

On 11D, a plea to allow tears in the workplace. (I sympathise – I cry when I’m angry, not when I’m sad. I’ve often been angry at work.)

Scribblingwoman reports on the case of a female editor sacked from an “alternative” magazine for putting a breast on the cover. It seems the fact that a baby was attached, and the associated article was trying to reduce hang-ups about breast-feeding, was no explanation.

Then in the computer world, Jill/txt wonders why the component, and the game centre, are called “mother”?

Political philosophy

On Mind the Gap, Winter Woods asks the vital question how do we counter anti-feminist rhetoric? Still on a philosophical bent, on Wee Hours, TW sets out why feminism matters, but individualism does too.

Biting Beaver, in her Den, has a close encounter with the spirit of Andrea Dworkin. Didn’t Hillary do something similar, and doesn’t this mean Biting Beaver is now in line for the US presidency?

Hugo Schwyzer – yep, another bloke – offers “a Caffeinated Musing on Christianity and Feminism”. Morgaine, on The Goddess, meanwhile, sets out in historical terms the damage Christianity has inflicted on women.

On A View From A Broad, an explanation of why arming women wouldn’t deal with the problem of rape. In a related post, Sour Duck claims the right for feminists to be angry, even on their blogs.

Remembering politics

Regular readers of my blog will know that one of my favourite questions is: why do women seem to keep disappearing from history? But many bloggers are doing their part to recover forgotten women and ensure those in the public eye stay there.

On Clews: The True Crime Blog, Laura writes about an essay by Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894), “in her lifetime one of the most famous women poets”. Yet a famous factual essay she wrote has come to be labelled “fiction”, and is mined by other writers.

Pinko Feminist Hellcat, meanwhile, looks back to the Iceland women’s strike of 1974. And it could be about to happen again!

Then, using the host’s right of one link, I’ll point to my post on Hille Feyken, a 15-year-old who came up with her own plan to save the embattled Anabaptist stronghold of Munster in 1534 and carried it out with considerable elan. She was betrayed, however, and met her death with the same fervent courage.

And since Sharon on Early Modern Notes was my first blogging mentor, I’m going to bend the rules for her to go back to the delightful tale of the upper-class female highwaywoman.

Finally, and a fine note to finish on, Uma on Indian Writing records awards honouring social activists, including a seven-year-old girl campaigning against child marriage.

So that’s it, the carnival is over, until next time – which will be on Personal Political in two weeks’ time – that’s November 2 – email susoz.au (at) gmail (dot) com. (And any time you want to know what is happening with the carnival, check the home page. I’m particularly looking for an American blogger to host the edition of November 16 – any volunteers? After that maybe India or Africa or the Middle East?)

Thanks very much to all who sent nominations and to those who spread the word.

I’ve done my best to get writers’ names, blog names and posts’ intentions correct. If I’ve failed, please email and I’ll fix it as soon as possible.

And if you don’t think you should be here at all, perhaps you’re one of those people who say: “I’m not a feminist but …” The news is, YOU ARE!

(The Carnival is listed on the Truth Laid Bear ubercarnival. You can find other carnivals at The Blog Carnival.)

I need your nomination (of your own or others’ posts) for the inaugural Carnival of Feminists, which will go up here in the early hours of Wednesday morning (British time). That means the deadline is tonight!

There’s more about the carnival here.

I’m defining “feminist” broadly – posts need not be explicitly political, but there should be some sense in a post addressing women’s place in the world. Posts should also be more than a collection of links, and include substantial original content.

Drop a note in the comments here, or email me at natalieben (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks!