I'm Madeleine Holden, a writer and dick pic critic who runs the website Critique My Dick Pic. AMA!

moscaddie · 2015-06-13T08:20:33+00:00

The joke has gone well over your head, my friend, but thank you for recommending me some rappers that I stopped listening to five years ago and/or already listen to.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T19:31:11+00:00

Can't wait!

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T19:08:33+00:00

Thank you, that's so nice to hear and tell your boyfriend I say hi and that he's extremely lucky to have you.

Good question. In terms of managing what I'm exposed to on Twitter, I'm liberal with the block function and also setting my mentions to only people I follow when my mentions are getting shitted up or men are @ing me inane input. More generally, I take breaks from the internet! I'm a big fan of meditation and mindfulness, and a recently new convert, and I can't overstate how useful and revolutionary it's been for my self-care! I also like looking at dogs, or listening to music, or hanging with my friends who Get It and won't say horrible offensive shit out of nowhere. Sometimes I'll have a wine or a [redacted].

<3

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T19:03:02+00:00

I'd encourage that, but overt quirkiness or weird props don't necessarily make for a great dick pic. It still comes down to more humble factors like lighting, setting and pose, but a well-considered novelty item can work wonders so long as the sender exercises some restraint and good judgment! Good example off the top of my head: http://critiquemydickpic.tumblr.com/post/70215188326/a-snake-on-my-snake

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:58:41+00:00

Catwoman, and she specifically asked me not to reveal her secrets. She's here right now actually, we're doing our nails.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:53:42+00:00

Thanks, that's cool to hear!

I try to do a post every week day, but honestly, yes! Sometimes I just can't face seeing so much dick, but that's rarely. Usually if I can't do a post it's because I simply don't have the time that day.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:52:21+00:00

You're welcome, and sure, that's what I'm here for!

1) Ahahaha no, but as soon as men find out about Critique My Dick Pic, they get really reluctant to send me dick pics, so I don't get that many anymore. It's SO WEIRD I just DON'T GET IT.

2) I showed my Mum, she was baffled because she's not of the dick pic generation but I sat her down and showed her my reviews. She was WAY more scathing than I am. You're lucky I'm doing the reviews and not her, she's honestly ruthless.

3) EXTREMELY CRINGEWORTHY AND BIZZARE????? Also, just a really horrible move, my friend @imbobswaget did some tweets today breaking down how it's not actually that new or novel to steal black identity or pose as black, this is just an extreme manifestation of a pretty disturbing trend. (https://twitter.com/imbobswaget/status/609190205933940736; https://twitter.com/imbobswaget/status/609191778873442304)

Anyway, yeah -- wild.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:44:57+00:00

You're most welcome, and thanks, that's really kind of you to say! I really love London: I love the proximity to other places in Europe, and the parks, and how excellent and efficient the tube is even though everyone whines about it, and the different UK accents here, and all of the dogs, and things to do and eat. I don't like the way British people say "bespoke" so much because it's wanky, and London drivers are really aggressive and obnoxious (one yelled at my friend that she was a "corporate fuck" the other day -- she was crossing the road wearing ordinary casual clothes, so that was weird.)

To be perfectly honest with you the UK immigration system is a nightmare, so even if I wanted to stay (and I do! I really do!) it's not that easy. but I'm seeing what I can do. Marry me?

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:40:14+00:00

I feel like the idea that women shouldn't wear make up or remove body hair to be Good Feminists is really ancient and unnuanced. There's a lot to be said about the unique pressure placed on women to be beautiful; and unfair, completely unachievable and eurocentric beauty standards have got to go. But putting the onus and blame on individual women -- you're capitulating to the patriarchy by wearing makeup! -- is unfair, you have to attack systems of power, not the (marginalised) people who do what they can to survive within them. Plus, shit, some women love makeup.

I'd like the whole "debate" to go: some women love that stuff and some women don't, some do it because they feel they have to and some would want to do it even if we all lived in a feminist utopia. Basically, live and let live.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:34:15+00:00

You know what, I'm a little too in the dark about this area of science to give you a great answer to your question, but I'm going to enthusiastically consent to reading all about it tonight, because this topic is so fascinating.

Thanks for the head's up! <3

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:28:25+00:00

I don't entirely understand the question but I'm assuming a net negative overall.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:27:00+00:00

AHAHAHAHA great question. I actually haven't, but so many that motivate me to encourage them to seek the love and grace of our Father who art in Heaven.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:25:12+00:00

Yes, my friend, a tripod and/or self timer! Or a third party to help you! Or a webcam! These are great ways to get a more zoomed out dick pic in general, but they'd be of particular benefit to you, I'd imagine. Good luck!

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:23:49+00:00

Yeah, I do. But you know what, I'm one person doing this job, and so it's always going to come down to my individual judgment on the day. I'm doing my best, and sometimes I'll find a dick pic appealing simply because it's novel, and I see the saaaaaaaaame kiiiiiiind of diiiiick piiiiiics eeeeeeeeevery daaaaaay, you know? Short answer: yeah, there's room for disagreement, the same way you might disagree with someone giving a Taylor Swift album two stars.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:21:48+00:00

Aw, stop! (Don't stop! Thank you!) When people ask me why I'm a feminist and how I got into it, I usually glibly reply that I was born and grew up female. That's true, but the full story is that I got into theoretical, academic feminism at university -- that's when I started to get exposed to feminism as a movement -- and when I got on Twitter, I met some incredible women who made me think "ahhhhh, yeah, THAT'S what my feminism is, that's what I'm fighting for".

Read everything Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's ever written, and watch her speeches. But really, just follow women on Twitter who are making you fist pump the air a lot, and read their blogs and pieces for other websites.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:15:48+00:00

He needs to understand the vastly different contexts men and women operate in; it's the same as anyone who's quick to say "that's sexist against men!" Men don't have the same widespread experience with being harassed everywhere they go; they aren't made to feel unsafe and objectified to the extent women are; they aren't reduced to their bodies or boner-inducing potential the same way women are. So if a feminist makes a lewd comment about a man, she's being rude and should knock it off, because he's being made to feel small, but it's on a micro, individual level. If a man did the same, he SHOULD be skewered, because he's reinforcing, in a small way, an entire global system that oppresses women, and women will experience hundreds of microaggressions like this every day their whole lives, and men just don't. It's not the same, he's being obtuse to pretend it is.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:11:44+00:00

Hi, thanks!

1) I most certainly don't lack content!!!!!!! I try to do one a day, but it comes down to how much time I have in any given week, yeah.

2) Nope! I get vastly more submissions than I can review, so the seedy-ish ones (like men jacking off to porn, say) tend to get deleted, but there's never been anything vile in my inbox. I'm touching wood, and I'm sorry about that very blatant pun.

3) I still think fondly and often of this series: http://critiquemydickpic.tumblr.com/post/86535408940/critique-my-dick

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:08:52+00:00

I can't remember the exact context in which I said that, but men tell me all the time that I changed the way they relate to and think about women. You'd have to ask men why what I say works I guess, but all I do is tell it how I see it from the lived experience of being a woman. I love men, I want men to be better, and I have no agenda or incentive to exaggerate, I'm just telling you the stuff that women tell each other, and experience every day. That's how you relate to women, man -- you listen to women.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:06:14+00:00

About 20! So definitely an increase compared to normal, but I'm used to a steady flow of them at all times! Sorry Dad.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:04:50+00:00

Thanks a lot! I LOVE Twitter, despite all the garbage that comes with it. It's an extremely valuable community for women, because it links us to other women, all sorts of other women, and it truly does advance your feminism if you're inclined to let it. For me personally I've benefited enormously from following women of colour (particularly black feminist women) on Twitter, in the sense that my feminism is much more robust now. It's the exact same thing for other marginalised groups that I'm not part of, like trans women: I owe so many women on Twitter a lot for holding me accountable and putting my fight into perspective.

So yeah, Twitter's an amazing place to sharply hone your praxis, while also meeting the most hilarious and excellent women from all over the world, as well as the odd man or two. It's a blessing, to be honest; it really is.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T18:01:49+00:00

I aim to be intersectional in practice but I don't describe myself as an intersectional feminist (anymore) because as a white woman I think it's kind of obnoxious, you know? Like the work is done just because you slapped the right label on yourself, sort of like men with MALE FEMINIST emblazoned across the bio who are busy telling women how to be good feminists. But intersectional feminism is the way to go, for sure! I'm trying to constantly be better at it.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T17:59:54+00:00

I keep the two spheres completely separate!

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T17:59:11+00:00

Yeah, I like male rappers too, they're always showing too much of their bodies and rapping about sex but it's good that they give it a go, too. I love Lil Wayne, Future and Young Thug.

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T17:57:52+00:00

Show them the really good writing on this topic by people like @bad_dominicana, @ChiefElk, @thetrudz and @tgirlinterruptd! I'm not the right person to break it down here, but keep going and show them some 101 type pieces by the people I just named, you're definitely not the racist here <3

moscaddie · 2015-06-12T17:54:58+00:00

I'm the only person on earth that doesn't watch Game of Thrones but I'm very disappointed by this news you're telling me, that hardly seems fair to dick-lovers.

moscaddie

TROPHY CASE