Misogyny and Sexism in the News

[Greyson]

This is an article I just read in the Washington Post. I am going to post it now and come back later to comment.
_____________________________________________

The Washington Post

For women in America, equality is still an illusion

By Jessica Valenti
Sunday, February 21, 2010; B02



Every day, we hear about the horrors women endure in other countries: rape in Darfur, genital mutilation in Egypt, sex trafficking in Eastern Europe. We shake our heads, forward e-mails and send money.

We have no problem condemning atrocities done to women abroad, yet too many of us in the United States ignore the oppression on our doorstep. We're suffering under the mass delusion that women in America have achieved equality.

And why not -- it's a feel-good illusion. We cry with Oprah and laugh with Tina Fey; we work and take care of our children; we watch Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice proudly and sigh with relief, believing we've come so far. But we're basking in a "girl power" moment that doesn't exist -- it's a mirage of equality that we've been duped into believing is the real thing.

Because despite the indisputable gains over the years, women are still being raped, trafficked, violated and discriminated against -- not just in the rest of the world, but here in the United States. And though feminists continue to fight gender injustices, most people seem to think that outside of a few lingering battles, the work of the women's movement is done.

It's time to stop fooling ourselves. For all our "empowered" rhetoric, women in this country aren't doing nearly as well as we'd like to think.

After all, women are being shot dead in the streets here, too. It was only last year that George Sodini opened fire in a gym outside Pittsburgh, killing three women and injuring nine others. Investigators learned from Sodini's blog that he specifically targeted women. In 2006, a gunman went into an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania; he sent the boys outside and opened fire on almost a dozen girls, killing five. That same year in Colorado, a man sexually assaulted six female students he had taken hostage at a high school before killing one of them.

And it's not just strangers who are killing women; more than 1,000 women were killed by their partners in 2005, and of all the women murdered in the United States, about a third are killed by a husband or boyfriend. A leading cause of death for pregnant women? Murder by a partner.

In Iraq, women serving in the military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.

Even the government underestimates the crisis American women are in. Last year the Justice Department reported that there were 182,000 sexual assaults committed against women in 2008, which would mean that the rate had decreased by 70 percent since 1993. But a study by the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center showed that the Justice Department's methodology was flawed. Instead of behaviorally based questions, such as "Has anyone ever forced you to have sex?", women were asked if they had been subject to "rape, attempted or other type of sexual attack." Victims often don't label their experience as "rape," especially when someone they know attacked them. The center says the actual number of U.S. women raped in 2008 was more than 1 million.

The distressing statistics don't stop with violence: Women hold 17 percent of the seats in Congress; abortion is legal, but more than 85 percent of counties in the United States have no provider; women work outside the home, but they make about 76 cents to a man's dollar and make up the majority of Americans living in poverty.

This is a far cry from progress; it's an epidemic of sexism. So where's the outrage? When my co-bloggers and I write at Feministing.com about the hurdles American women face, a common criticism is that if we cared about women's rights, we'd focus on countries where women are actually oppressed -- that women here have it too good to complain. When I speak on college campuses, I'm sometimes asked the same question (generally by a male student): What are you complaining about? Women are doing terrific!

In her upcoming book, author Susan Douglas calls this "enlightened sexism." She writes that the appearance of equality -- from "girl power" to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- is a dangerous distraction from the pervasiveness of sexism.

So why the blinders? Most women know that sexism exists. But between the glittery illusion Douglas refers to and the ongoing feminist backlash, it's not surprising that so many women don't realize how dire their situation is. Organizations such as the Independent Women's Forum, for example, exist to tell women that equality is actually bad for them. In a 2007 opinion article in The Washington Post headlined "A Bargain At 77 Cents to a Dollar," the forum's Carrie Lukas wrote that the wage gap is simply "a trade-off" for holding jobs with "personal fulfillment." The organization's campus program argues against Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions. Between pop culture and politics, women are being taught that everything is fine and dandy -- and a lot of us are buying it.

Part of this unwillingness to see misogyny in America could be self-protection -- perhaps the truth is too scary to face. Or maybe American women are simply loath to view themselves as oppressed, and it's easier to look at women in other countries as the real victims. This isn't to say that international misogyny isn't a problem; of course it is. And many women in America do have it easier than women in other parts of the world. But this isn't a zero-sum game, and we can fight for our rights while fighting for women internationally as well.

In fact, our successes could help women abroad. The recent increase in the number of female ambassadors globally has been dubbed the "Hillary effect" -- the idea that our secretary of state's visibility has opened doors for women in other countries. And perhaps if the pay gap here were closed, women would have more money to spend on causes overseas. It's time to do away with the either-or mentality that surrounds domestic and international women's rights.

Fortunately, a vibrant feminist movement is still at large in the United States, taking on issues from reproductive justice and racism to pay equity and motherhood. But feminists cannot pick up the sexist slack on their own, and recent mainstream conversations -- such as when singer Rihanna was assaulted by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown, or when Clinton and Sarah Palin were the targets of sexism during the 2008 campaign -- have been far too civilized for the mess that we're in.

We act as if the hatred directed at women is something that can be dealt with by a stern talking to, as if the misogyny embedded in our culture is an unruly child rather than systematic oppression. Yes, women today fare better than our foremothers. But the benchmarks so often cited -- the right to vote, working outside the home, laws that make domestic violence illegal -- don't change the reality of women's lives. They don't prevent 1 million women from being raped, female troops from being assaulted or the continued legal discrimination against gay and transgender people. And seriously, are American women really supposed to be satisfied with the most basic rights of representation? Thrilled that our country has deigned to consider us fully human?

There is so much more work to be done. The truth is, most women don't have the privilege of being able to look at gender justice from a distance; they have no choice but to live it every day. Those of us who are lucky enough not to have to think about sexism, racism, poverty and homophobia on a daily basis -- those of us who have the privilege of sending money to an international cause via e-mail while ignoring the plight of women here at home -- have a responsibility to open our eyes to the misogyny right in front of us. And then to stop it.

Jessica Valenti is the author of "The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women" and the founder of Feministing.com.

[BullDog]

Greyson thanks for posting this. I am not sure what to think of the basic premises and am pressed for time right now, but will say I personally have never ignored the oppression of women in this country, nor been under the mass delusion that women in the US have achieved equality. I wonder if this is a widespread assumption? Also I was struck by the phrase feminists can't pick up the sexist slack on their own. Anyone can be a feminist so this puzzles me.

I shall return later when I have more time. Thanks again.

[Apocalipstic]

Very interesting article Greyson!

I don't know that I agree that Clinton and Palin were targeted just for being women, but otherwise I agree with much of what is said.

Will be back to discuss!

[Greyson]

Okay, back. Blav and HSIN, thanks for bringing it to my attention that this was posted in another thread earlier. Sorry, I did not see it. Also, Admin, please can you correct the spelling in the title of this thread? I was in a rush and missed one of the y's in misogyny.

I found this article worthy of posting and timely. We have been discussing racism quite a bit. Sexism is also one of those embedded "isms". I do not think I am exempt from internalized sexism and flat out influenced by some masculine privilege.

I am not posting any of this to be provocative and just to stir it up. I am posting this and dedicating a thread specifically to Misogyny and Sexism because I believe this community is capable of looking at uneasy, difficult things and capable of self reflection and change.

It is true many woman around the world are suffering atrocities daily. I don't want to get into measuring the victim status. Subtle, blatant, physical, emotional abuse it's all not acceptable. Where do we begin to address this in our B-F/Trans/Gender Variant Community?

[AtLast]

Okay, back. Blav and HSIN, thanks for bringing it to my attention that this was posted in another thread earlier. Sorry, I did not see it. Also, Admin, please can you correct the spelling in the title of this thread? I was in a rush and missed one of the y's in misogyny.

I found this article worthy of posting and timely. We have been discussing racism quite a bit. Sexism is also one of those embedded "isms". I do not think I am exempt from internalized sexism and flat out influenced by some masculine privilege.

I am not posting any of this to be provocative and just to stir it up. I am posting this and dedicating a thread specifically to Misogyny and Sexism because I believe this community is capable of looking at uneasy, difficult things and capable of self reflection and change.

It is true many woman around the world are suffering atrocities daily. I don't want to get into measuring the victim status. Subtle, blatant, physical, emotional abuse it's all not acceptable. Where do we begin to address this in our B-F/Trans/Gender Variant Community?

Doesn't matter if this was posted elsewhere at all. That might be a good thing (re.: circulation). I did read it somewhere else and thought it to be a clear analysis that just lays out some facts but doesn't inflame, which all too often causes division and halts our ability to even attempt change.

I think having a thread dedicated as such could be a very good thing just as the new thread on white priviledge might prove to be in promoting self reflection and change. Thanks, good idea!

[Greyson]

This morning as I was partaking of my 90 minute commute to work, I was listening to the Local Talk Radio AM Station and then to NPR. Here are some stories that I heard that are directly impacted by misogyny and sexism.


The Navy is going to allow women to now serve on submarines.


Crime On College Campuses. The rape and assault of women.

Regarding the story about women serving on submarines, the radio host a heterosexual male spoke of how our laws, policy and practices are set up to serve the fears, concerns, behavior of heterosexual men. For example, DADT.

The second story, a young woman was raped while intoxicated by two male friends on a college campus in Wisconsin. She did not report the rape, initially. In fact it took her I believe over a year to report it.

Basically nothing came of the report and following investigation. One student had already graduated and the other denied it. He said it was consensual and he was allowed to remain on campus and finish his degree.

I am meandering a bit here because I am thinking out loud. Many of you know that I have been in the process of "transitioning" for a few years now. This transition, for me has begun my questioning my beliefs, values, and motives.

I do know that I want to consciously be a part of redefining masculinity. Masculinity does not exclude, nor elude women and/or femininity. I think this process of redefining masculinity must include looking at my life, my world, my actions, my beliefs through the lens of my entire life experience. In other words, my experience and history as a cisgendered woman, perpetrator and victim of patriarchy.

[Greyson]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/fashion/07campus.html?




February 5, 2010
The New Math on Campus
By ALEX WILLIAMS
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

ANOTHER ladies’ night, not by choice.

After midnight on a rainy night last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., a large group of sorority women at the University of North Carolina squeezed into the corner booth of a gritty basement bar. Bathed in a neon glow, they splashed beer from pitchers, traded jokes and belted out lyrics to a Taylor Swift heartache anthem thundering overhead. As a night out, it had everything — except guys.

“This is so typical, like all nights, 10 out of 10,” said Kate Andrew, a senior from Albemarle, N.C. The experience has grown tiresome: they slip on tight-fitting tops, hair sculpted, makeup just so, all for the benefit of one another, Ms. Andrew said, “because there are no guys.”

North Carolina, with a student body that is nearly 60 percent female, is just one of many large universities that at times feel eerily like women’s colleges. Women have represented about 57 percent of enrollments at American colleges since at least 2000, according to a recent report by the American Council on Education. Researchers there cite several reasons: women tend to have higher grades; men tend to drop out in disproportionate numbers; and female enrollment skews higher among older students, low-income students, and black and Hispanic students.

In terms of academic advancement, this is hardly the worst news for women — hoist a mug for female achievement. And certainly, women are primarily in college not because they are looking for men, but because they want to earn a degree.

But surrounded by so many other successful women, they often find it harder than expected to find a date on a Friday night.

“My parents think there is something wrong with me because I don’t have a boyfriend, and I don’t hang out with a lot of guys,” said Ms. Andrew, who had a large circle of male friends in high school.

Jayne Dallas, a senior studying advertising who was seated across the table, grumbled that the population of male undergraduates was even smaller when you looked at it as a dating pool. “Out of that 40 percent, there are maybe 20 percent that we would consider, and out of those 20, 10 have girlfriends, so all the girls are fighting over that other 10 percent,” she said.

Needless to say, this puts guys in a position to play the field, and tends to mean that even the ones willing to make a commitment come with storied romantic histories. Rachel Sasser, a senior history major at the table, said that before she and her boyfriend started dating, he had “hooked up with a least five of my friends in my sorority — that I know of.”

These sorts of romantic complications are hardly confined to North Carolina, an academically rigorous school where most students spend more time studying than socializing. The gender imbalance is also pronounced at some private colleges, such as New York University and Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore., and large public universities in states like California, Florida and Georgia. The College of Charleston, a public liberal arts college in South Carolina, is 66 percent female. Some women at the University of Vermont, with an undergraduate body that is 55 percent female, sardonically refer to their college town, Burlington, as “Girlington.”

The gender gap is not universal. The Ivy League schools are largely equal in gender, and some still tilt male. But at some schools, efforts to balance the numbers have been met with complaints that less-qualified men are being admitted over more-qualified women. In December, the United States Commission on Civil Rights moved to subpoena admissions data from 19 public and private colleges to look at whether they were discriminating against qualified female applicants.

Leaving aside complaints about “affirmative action for boys,” less attention has been focused on the social ramifications.

Thanks to simple laws of supply and demand, it is often the women who must assert themselves romantically or be left alone on Valentine’s Day, staring down a George Clooney movie over a half-empty pizza box.

“I was talking to a friend at a bar, and this girl just came up out of nowhere, grabbed him by the wrist, spun him around and took him out to the dance floor and started grinding,” said Kelly Lynch, a junior at North Carolina, recalling a recent experience.

Students interviewed here said they believed their mating rituals reflected those of college students anywhere. But many of them — men and women alike — said that the lopsided population tends to skew behavior.

“A lot of my friends will meet someone and go home for the night and just hope for the best the next morning,” Ms. Lynch said. “They’ll text them and say: ‘I had a great time. Want to hang out next week?’ And they don’t respond.”

Even worse, “Girls feel pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with, to lock it down,” Ms. Lynch said.

As for a man's cheating, "that's a thing that girls let slide, because you have to," said Emily Kennard, a junior at North Carolina. "If you don't let it slide, you don't have a boyfriend." (Ms. Kennard, however, said that she does not personally tolerate cheating).

Faculty members and administrators are well aware of the situation. Stephen M. Farmer, North Carolina’s director of admissions, said that the university has a high female presence in part because it does not have an engineering school, which at most schools tend to be heavily male. Also, he said, more young men than women in the state opt to enter the military or the work force directly out of high school.

And the university feels obligated to admit the most qualified applicants, regardless of gender, Mr. Farmer said. “I wouldn’t want any young woman here to think that there’s somebody we’d rather have here than her,” he said.

The phenomenon has also been an area of academic inquiry, formally and informally. “On college campuses where there are far more women than men, men have all the power to control the intensity of sexual and romantic relationships,” Kathleen A. Bogle, a sociologist at La Salle University in Philadelphia, wrote in an e-mail message. Her book, “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus,” was published in 2008.

“Women do not want to get left out in the cold, so they are competing for men on men’s terms,” she wrote. “This results in more casual hook-up encounters that do not end up leading to more serious romantic relationships. Since college women say they generally want ‘something more’ than just a casual hook-up, women end up losing out.”

W. Keith Campbell, a psychology professor at the University of Georgia, which is 57 percent female, put it this way: “When men have the social power, they create a man’s ideal of relationships,” he said. Translation: more partners, more sex. Commitment? A good first step would be his returning a woman’s Facebook message.

Women on gender-imbalanced campuses are paying a social price for success and, to a degree, are being victimized by men precisely because they have outperformed them, Professor Campbell said. In this way, some colleges mirror retirement communities, where women often find that the reward for outliving their husbands is competing with other widows for the attentions of the few surviving bachelors.

“If a guy is not getting what he wants, he can quickly and abruptly go to the next one, because there are so many of us,” said Katie Deray, a senior at the University of Georgia, who said that it is common to see six provocatively clad women hovering around one or two guys at a party or a bar.

Since that is not her style, Ms. Deray said, she has still not had a long-term relationship in college. As a fashion merchandising major, she said, she can only hope the odds improve when she graduates and moves to New York.

At colleges in big cities, women do have more options. “By my sophomore year, I just had the feeling that there is nobody in this school that I could date,” said Ashley Crisostomo, a senior at Fordham University in New York, which is 55 percent female. She has tended to date older professionals in the city.

But in a classic college town, the social life is usually limited to fraternity parties, local bars or coffeehouses. And college men — not usually known for their debonair ways — can be particularly unmannerly when the numbers are in their favor.

“A lot of guys know that they can go out and put minimal effort into their appearance and not treat girls to drinks or flatter them, and girls will still flirt with them,” said Felicite Fallon, a senior at Florida State University, which is 56 percent female.

Several male students acknowledged that the math skewed pleasantly in their favor. “You don’t have to work that hard,” said Matt Garofalo, a senior at North Carolina. “You meet a girl at a late-night restaurant, she’s texting you the next day.”

But it’s not as if the imbalance leads to ceaseless bed-hopping, said Austin Ivey, who graduated from North Carolina last year but was hanging out in a bar near campus last week. “Guys tend to overshoot themselves and find a really beautiful girlfriend they couldn’t date otherwise, but can, thanks to the ratio,” he said.

Mr. Ivey himself said that his own college relationship lasted three years. “She didn’t think she would meet another guy, I didn’t think I would meet another girl as attractive as her,” he said.

Several male students from female-heavy schools took pains to note that they were not thrilled with the status quo.

“It’s awesome being a guy,” admitted Garret Jones, another North Carolina senior, but he also lamented a culture that fostered hook-ups over relationships. This year, he said, he finally found a serious girlfriend.

Indeed, there are a fair number of Mr. Lonelyhearts on campus. “Even though there’s this huge imbalance between the sexes, it still doesn’t change the fact of guys sitting around, bemoaning their single status,” said Patrick Hooper, a Georgia senior. “It’s the same as high school, but the women are even more enchanting and beautiful.”

And perhaps still elusive. Many women eagerly hit the library on Saturday night. And most would prefer to go out with friends, rather than date a campus brute.

But still. “It causes girls to overanalyze everything — text messages, sideways glances, conversations,” said Margaret Cheatham Williams, a junior at North Carolina. “Girls will sit there with their friends for 15 minutes trying to figure out what punctuation to use in a text message.”

The loneliness can be made all the more bitter by the knowledge that it wasn’t always this way.

“My roommate’s parents met here,” said Janitra Venkatesan, a student at North Carolina. “She has this nice little picture of them in their Carolina sweatshirts. Must be nice.”

An earlier version of this article may have left the impression that Emily Kennard might personally condone a boyfriend's cheating. As the article now states, it was her characterization of some other people's attitudes.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 14, 2010


An article last Sunday about dating on campuses where women outnumber men misattributed a quotation. It was Janitra Venkatesan, a student at the University of North Carolina — not Mitali Dayal, another student there — who said: “My roommate’s parents met here. She has this nice little picture of them in their Carolina sweatshirts. Must be nice.”

Apparently now universities in the USA are beginning to tilt toward a majority of female students. Is this the best that the gold standard for daily journalism in the States can do? The big story is it is hard to get a date?

Women go to university to snag a partner? How many stories do we read about men, boys, transmen, cisgendered men, white heterosexual men, queer men, POC men going to college and the big worry is dating?

[SuperFemme]

Anyone want to talk about the way the media markets feminine hygiene products to us? Like it is something we ought to be fearful of, irritated with and made to go away? Rather than what it really is?

I wonder how many little girls are freaked out when their first periods do not come out in the form of blue gel, like on the commercials?

[Soon]

Memo to all women: No half for you in Hollywood (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/02/where-are-the-women-.html)

OK, we’re not just imagining it.

Women may make up 51% of the population, but actresses nabbed only 29.9% of the 4,379 speaking parts in the 100 top-grossing films of 2007, or so says a new study released by University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, which was conducted by professor Stacy. L Smith.

According to Smith’s study, 83% of all directors, writers, and producers on those films were male. Not surprisingly, the number of female characters grew dramatically when a woman directed a film -- up to 44.6% from 29.3% if a man was behind the camera.

That number would probably be even lower if Smith and her team had to factor in "The Hurt Locker," from filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, who many believe will be the first woman to win an Academy Award for directing come March 7. The number of parts for females in her movie? According to IMDB, only three of the 34 actors were women, which means they accounted around 9% of the characters on screen.

A few more numbers to consider: Smith said these statistics about women directors and female actors should be interpreted with caution -- only three of the top 100 films of 2007 had a female director.

-- Rachel Abramowitz

[UofMfan]

I have yet to get my head around this...

Utah's New Abortion Law Threatens to Punish Innocent Women for Miscarriages
by Ruth Fertig womensrights.change.org

Utah lawmakers have just passed a bill that would charge a woman with criminal homicide for obtaining an illegal abortion or inducing a miscarriage, whether intentionally or through "reckless" behavior.

There are a few narrowly defined exceptions, including failure to comply with medical advice, refusal to submit to a physician's recommended treatment, and negligence (which in legal terms is apparently a less serious crime than recklessness). Otherwise, the law holds women accountable for criminal homicide if they intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly "cause the death of another human being, including an unborn child at any stage of its development," outside the parameters of legal abortion.

The bill was ostensibly a response to a recent Utah case in which a 17-year-old, 7 months pregnant girl was protected from prosecution after she paid a man $150 to beat her in a failed attempt to induce miscarriage. At that time, Utah -- like most other states -- did not hold women criminally liable for seeking illegal abortion, but instead punished those who performed them. It seems Utah lawmakers found it unjust that this desperate girl was not sent to prison. Yet in their efforts to close the supposed loophole, they have now opened up a gaping hole, into which many women who had no desire for an abortion are liable to fall.

As various advocacy groups have pointed out, the terms of the bill are so subjective that a woman could theoretically be charged for criminal homicide if she: fails to wear a seat-belt, gets in a car accident and suffers a miscarriage; uses legal or illegal drugs and the baby is stillborn; carries multiples as a result of fertility treatment, and one or more of the babies die; or remains with a partner whom she knows to be abusive, and she suffers a miscarriage after he beats her particularly violently.

As Utah's ACLU wrote in a letter to Utah's governor in protest of the law, "If this bill is signed into law, women in this state will essentially be in the uncomfortable and unfortunate position of having to prove that the abortions they obtain (or miscarriages they suffer) are not unlawful." In effect, women suffering the trauma of losing a baby they desired could end up facing the double trauma of being charged with causing the baby's death.

Don't think it's possible that women could be held accountable for obviously unintentional harm to the fetuses they're carrying? As fellow blogger Roxy MtJoy made clear last week, you might want to think again.

Says the National Advocates for Pregnant Women: "Once the state has the power to decide what a women's "intent" is, it does not really matter what her intent actually is." Giving police and prosecutors such enormous discretion to decide who will and will not be arrested and charged under this law is an invitation for innocent women (and their families) to suffer.

As both the ACLU and National Advocates for Pregnant Women point out, most states give women immunity from prosecution for a reason -- it's in the interest of both maternal and fetal health. If women are fearful of prosecution for harmful behavior, they won't get the prenatal care they need (which is harmful behavior in itself). Likewise, if they know they will be charged for getting an illegal abortion, they won't seek medical help if the procedure goes wrong. And then there's the fact that prosecuting women for homicide for something that half the country believes should be perfectly legal is just not good policy.

So, yeah, this is a terrible law all around. Please ask the governor of Utah not to sign it into law.

According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage.

The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion.

While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison.

[UofMfan]

Posted by Tara Lohan at 12:41 pm
March 3, 2010
Alternet

Lesbians in South Africa Being Raped to “Cure” Them of Sexual Orientation

The group ActionAid released a report about the shocking rise in homophobic attacks and murders in South Africa, especially Johannesburg and Cape Town where lesbian women are being raped as a “corrective” punishment for being gay.

They report:

Rape is fast becoming the most widespread hate crime targeted against gay women in townships across South Africa. One lesbian and gay support group says it is dealing with 10 new cases of lesbian women being targeted for ‘corrective’ rape every week in Cape Town alone.

Laura Turquet, ActionAid’s women’s rights coordinator, said: “So-called ‘corrective’ rape is yet another grotesque manifestation of violence against women, the most widespread human rights violation in the world today. These crimes continue unabated and with impunity, while governments simply turn a blind eye.”

Since 1998 31 women have been reported murdered in homophobic attacks, they say, but the actual number is likely much higher. Of those 31, only 2 of their attackers have ever been to court and there has only been one conviction.

ActionAid reports that although South Africa has a progressive constitution that guarantees equal rights to gay and lesbian people, the legal system still lags far behind. “Hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are not recognised by South African law and the courts refuse to recognise that it plays any part in these cases,” says ActionAid. “The police are reluctant to investigate hate crimes against lesbian women and there is inadequate support for the survivors.”

The attacks against lesbians are also part of a larger culture of violence of against women — there is an estimated 500,000 rapes a year and only 1 in 25 men are ever convicted.

[Soon]

I have yet to get my head around this...

Utah's New Abortion Law Threatens to Punish Innocent Women for Miscarriages


[/I]



Utah Governor Signs Law Charging Women and Girls With Murder for Miscarriages (http://www.truthout.org/utah-governor-signs-law-charging-women-and-girls-with-murder-miscarriages57526)

[Soft*Silver]

deep hard sigh....

so much has not changed since I was a lesbian feminist activist in the 80's...

I look around and I DO see huge changes and real measures of progress that has been made...and then I read things like this thread bears.

it just means, I suppose, the work is not yet done...

[Corkey]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/women-airforce-service-pilots-wwii-receive-congressional-gold/story?id=10057074


On a better note....

[Corkey]

then there was this... makes me think men have lost their minds, oh wait they have.abcnews.go.com/Nightline/anti-homosexuality-bill-uganda-global-uproar/story?id=10045436&page=1

[Greyson]

I was unsure as to where to post this. I decided to put it here because I initiated the thread and yes there is misogyny and sexism in the history and experience of the Pachuca. There is also racism, homophobia, Transphobia, cultural politics, on and on.

Many times here on the site we find ourselves discussing the harder topics such as gender, race, sexism, class. Most of you know I am Mexican American and raised in Los Angeles. I think it would be an eye opener for many here to read this book, "The Woman In The Zoot Suit." It is written by Catherine S. Ramirez.

The Pachuca, Chola, Low Rider, she is a piece of recent history and yes, is still with us in some cultures. The Pachuca is female masculinity. The Pachuca is queer, the Pachuca is straight. She made and makes her own rules. Much like many of us in here.

Most of the time when discussing gender, masculinity we do it framed in a "white" framework. I am not saying that is necessarily a horrible thing. It's true there are white people but the fallacy is in believing that it is the superior or the only context in which to see our history, our gender, our sexuality, our world.

http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/zoot_suits_make_man_and_woman

http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/05/woman-in-zoot-suit-gender-nationalism.html

http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4303-5

[BullDog]

Thanks Greyson, that book looks very interesting. I will try to get a copy to read it.

[AtLast]

I was unsure as to where to post this. I decided to put it here because I initiated the thread and yes there is misogyny and sexism in the history and experience of the Pachuca. There is also racism, homophobia, Transphobia, cultural politics, on and on.

Many times here on the site we find ourselves discussing the harder topics such as gender, race, sexism, class. Most of you know I am Mexican American and raised in Los Angeles. I think it would be an eye opener for many here to read this book, "The Woman In The Zoot Suit." It is written by Catherine S. Ramirez.

The Pachuca, Chola, Low Rider, she is a piece of recent history and yes, is still with us in some cultures. The Pachuca is female masculinity. The Pachuca is queer, the Pachuca is straight. She made and makes her own rules. Much like many of us in here.

Most of the time when discussing gender, masculinity we do it framed in a "white" framework. I am not saying that is necessarily a horrible thing. It's true there are white people but the fallacy is in believing that it is the superior or the only context in which to see our history, our gender, our sexuality, our world.

http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/zoot_suits_make_man_and_woman

http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/05/woman-in-zoot-suit-gender-nationalism.html

http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4303-5

So glad to see info that speaks to this! The addition of our looking at cultural (including religious) and ethnic variables along with race in these matters is important. There is so much more to it all! Makes me think about two-spirit gender and the native American cultures, too.

[AtLast]

I watched the Susan Stanton interview on Larry King tonight (glad King was not the interviewer) and found her comments about now working as a woman (MtF) as a city manager (same position fired for a few years ago due to transition) was fascinating. She honed in on what experiencing male privilege from the other side is like. Her awareness of sexism from this perspective is obviously quite unique (although it was obvious that she has had this awareness all along, but is now on the other side and very aware of this fact).

She also talked about the fact that she most likely had an easier time with the costs of transitioning due to class (can throw race/white privilege in there, too) and that this is just not the case for most trans individuals. She talked a little about the fact that she did have the financial means to carry out her transition.

The CNN special - Her Name Was Steven airs Saturday night. Tonight’s interview was an hour long and quite detailed about her transition journey. And very open concerning surgical hair removal procedures. Something else that struck me was her very deep regard and sensitivity for what her teenage son and ex-wife were subjected to in this process. And that she really does not come from a political space about her lifelong struggle with knowing she is a woman and in a male body. This is true for a FtM that I have known for many years and long before ever being a member of the B-F community.

I have followed her case somewhat since her firing in Florida and consequent decision to not seek legal remedy against the city she was a city manager for (which she received a lot of criticism about from trans political & legal organizations for). I had a much better understanding of the fact that she made a very conscious choice not to as a means to not add more stress for her family. And, for her, it was about moving toward her personal human completion and living her life as a woman. Although difficult for her ex-wife, snippets from the documentary of her talking demonstrated that they both were very loving with each other through this, really and wanted to make it as easy as possible for their son.

But, her discussion of sexism in the workforce as a woman as compared to doing the exact same job as a man was quite interesting (hope there is more about this in the documentary). She seems to be doing well and strikes me as a very warm and caring woman, which she was as a man. She and her ex-wife remain close friends and her son is quite an awesome kid! I do want to catch the special.

[Soon]

Then + Now: The Disembodied Woman (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/03/16/then-now-lots-o-leg/)

[Soon]

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk34/feministing/men_of_quality.jpg

Major Victory Against Rape Apologist Hate Speech in South Africa (http://www.feministing.com/archives/020374.html)

[Soon]

At 76, Steinem laments elusive equality for women (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62G4H220100317)

[Soon]

Men with sexist views 'earn more' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7625173.stm)

[Soon]

You're not guilty of rape: Those skinny jeans were too tight to remove by yourself, jury rules (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1270113/Youre-guilty-rape-Those-skinny-jeans-tight-remove-jury-rules.html)

[Soon]

Why the media gets rape so wrong (http://www.femocracy.net/2010/05/why-media-gets-rape-so-wrong_06.html)

[Soon]

YouTube- Eudy Simelane -- A Story of Corrective Rape

[Soon]

Bret Easton Ellis on American Psycho, Christian Bale, and His Problem with Women Directors (http://www.movieline.com/2010/05/bret-easton-ellis-on-american-psycho-christian-bale-and-his-problem-with-women-directors.php?page=all)


What are your thoughts on women directors? After you saw Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, you tweeted that you might have to reevaluate your preconceived notions about them.
I did. And after I saw [Floria Sigismondi’s] The Runaways, too.

Really?
I loved it.

I wish I’d loved it.
Well, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I avoided it, and then I was with some people and they said, “It starts soon at the Arclight. Let’s go.” So yeah, I do have to reevaluate that, but for the most part I’m not totally convinced, [except for] Andrea Arnold, Kathryn Bigelow, Sofia Coppola…

Not Mary Harron?
Mary Harron to a degree. There’s something about the medium of film itself that I think requires the male gaze.

What would that be?
We’re watching, and we’re aroused by looking, whereas I don’t think women respond that way to films, just because of how they’re built.

"Regardless of the business aspect of things, is there a reason that there isn’t a female Hitchcock or a female Scorsese or a female Spielberg?"

You don’t think they have an overt level of arousal?

[They have one] that’s not so stimulated by the visual. I think, to a degree, all the women I named aren’t particularly visual directors. You could argue that Lost in Translation is beautiful, but is that [cinematographer Lance Acord]? I don’t know. Regardless of the business aspect of things, is there a reason that there isn’t a female Hitchcock or a female Scorsese or a female Spielberg? I don’t know. I think it’s a medium that really is built for the male gaze and for a male sensibility. I mean, the best art is made under not an indifference to, but a neutrality [toward] the kind of emotionalism that I think can be a trap for women directors. But I have to get over it, you’re right, because so far this year, two of my favorite movies were made by women, Fish Tank and The Runaways. I’ve got to start rethinking that, although I have to say that a lot of the big studio movies I saw last year that were directed by women were far worse than the sh***y big-budget studio movies that were directed by men.

Which are we talking about?
"I mean, do I want to say this on the record? Did you see The Proposal? Anyway, whatever."

[Soon]

Elena Kagan, cross your legs!
Robin Givhan goes after the Supreme Court nominee's "unusual" posture (and perhaps her sexuality) (http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/05/24/kagan_clothing_givhan)


This weekend, the Washington Post raised a new concern about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and her posture. No, not her political stance, but how she carries her body. Naturally, this commentary comes from the Post's fashion writer Robin Givhan, who is disturbed by how "she sat hunched over" and "with her legs ajar" while courting senators on Capitol Hill.

Givhan writes, "In the photographs ... she doesn't appear to ever cross her legs." (Oddly enough, the first image I came across of these meetings shows Kagan crossing her legs -- but, hyperbole aside, let's move on.) Givhan continues:

People tend to mimic each other's body language during a conversation, especially if they're trying to connect with one another. But even when Kagan sits across from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who has her legs crossed at the knees, Kagan keeps both feet planted firmly on the ground. Her body language will not be bullied into conformity.

She does not cross her legs at the ankles either, the way so many older women do. Instead, Kagan sits, in her sensible skirts, with her legs slightly apart, hands draped in her lap.

Certainly this sort of critique can't be taken too seriously, given the context. Givhan is on the fashion beat, after all, and she indiscriminately targets political figures, male and female alike. But what silliness, subjecting a 50-year-old woman to that classic grandmotherly scolding of "cross your legs, young lady!" The truth is, Kagan still sits rather demurely, despite her legs being uncrossed.

Beyond that basic ridiculousness, I find Givhan's emphasis on Kagan's otherness, her refusal to conform and be normal, somewhat discomfiting. It feels like Kagan is, however indirectly, being indicted over her sexuality -- once again. An accompanying photo caption reads: "UNUSUAL: Most women, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, cross their legs when sitting, but not Kagan." Maybe because she's an "unusual" lesbian.

Givhan also lays into Kagan for her "frumpiness," noting that "Kagan's version of middle-age seems stuck in a time warp, back when 50-something did not mean Kim Cattrall or Sharon Stone, 'Cougar Town' or 'Sex and the City.'" I'm going to give Givhan -- and my own sanity -- the benefit of the doubt and assume she doesn't actually mean that the gold standard of sartorial appropriateness for a 50-year-old Supreme Court nominee is "Cougar Town."

[Enigma]

Tight Pants Ban Takes Effect In Indonesia

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/170179/thumbs/s-INDONESIA-TIGHT-PANTS-large.jpg

MEULABOH, Indonesia — Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia's Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday.

The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh district.

Islamic police will determine whether a woman's clothing violates the dress code, he said.

During raids Thursday, Islamic police caught 18 women traveling on motorbikes who were wearing traditional headscarves but were also dressed in jeans. Each woman was given a long skirt and her pants were confiscated. They were released from police custody after giving their identities and receiving advice from Islamic preachers.

"I am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist only because of my jeans," said Imma, a 40-year-old housewife who uses only one name. She argued that wearing jeans is more comfortable when she travels by motorbike.

more...here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/tight-pants-ban-takes-eff_n_593796.html

[Martina]

That is so interesting and so lame. i loved it. Thank you!!!

How does he explain other women visual artists -- photographers, graphic artists, etc?

And Spielberg and Hitchcock???? Of course there are not women Spielberg's and Hitchcock's. None of us has been an adolescent male. Plus when Hitchcock was directing, how many women could dream of getting to make major motion pictures.

The reason why there are fewer major women directors is simple. It's a very expensive medium. You have to be able to work within and get the support of corporations to do your work. i do not know the nature of the business. But there do not seem to be a lot of women producers either. And that is business acumen. No one has ever said women lack that. So there must be some old boy stuff going on.

And he's also not looking at foreign films. i am not a huge fan, but what about Lina Wertmuller?

And he's totally conflated eighties film theory about the gaze -- which is about how films use point of view to reinforce gender hierarchies -- and psychological theories about men being more visual.

LOL. Oh well, he wrote American Psycho. Nuff said.


Bret Easton Ellis on American Psycho, Christian Bale, and His Problem with Women Directors (http://www.movieline.com/2010/05/bret-easton-ellis-on-american-psycho-christian-bale-and-his-problem-with-women-directors.php?page=all)


What are your thoughts on women directors? After you saw Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, you tweeted that you might have to reevaluate your preconceived notions about them.
I did. And after I saw [Floria Sigismondi’s] The Runaways, too.

Really?
I loved it.

I wish I’d loved it.
Well, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I avoided it, and then I was with some people and they said, “It starts soon at the Arclight. Let’s go.” So yeah, I do have to reevaluate that, but for the most part I’m not totally convinced, [except for] Andrea Arnold, Kathryn Bigelow, Sofia Coppola…

Not Mary Harron?
Mary Harron to a degree. There’s something about the medium of film itself that I think requires the male gaze.

What would that be?
We’re watching, and we’re aroused by looking, whereas I don’t think women respond that way to films, just because of how they’re built.

"Regardless of the business aspect of things, is there a reason that there isn’t a female Hitchcock or a female Scorsese or a female Spielberg?"

You don’t think they have an overt level of arousal?

[They have one] that’s not so stimulated by the visual. I think, to a degree, all the women I named aren’t particularly visual directors. You could argue that Lost in Translation is beautiful, but is that [cinematographer Lance Acord]? I don’t know. Regardless of the business aspect of things, is there a reason that there isn’t a female Hitchcock or a female Scorsese or a female Spielberg? I don’t know. I think it’s a medium that really is built for the male gaze and for a male sensibility. I mean, the best art is made under not an indifference to, but a neutrality [toward] the kind of emotionalism that I think can be a trap for women directors. But I have to get over it, you’re right, because so far this year, two of my favorite movies were made by women, Fish Tank and The Runaways. I’ve got to start rethinking that, although I have to say that a lot of the big studio movies I saw last year that were directed by women were far worse than the sh***y big-budget studio movies that were directed by men.

Which are we talking about?
"I mean, do I want to say this on the record? Did you see The Proposal? Anyway, whatever."

[Heart]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/asia/31flogging.html

[Nat]

Jesus this thread is upsetting.

[AtLast]

Feminism's Fourth Wave
Women are doing nearly everything men do, but...
November 4, 2003
by Katie Allison Granju


Last year, during the U.S. assault on the Taliban in Afghanistan, my seven-year old daughter, Jane seemed truly puzzled by the photos of Afghani women that dominated the news. Why, she wanted to know, did those women want to wear clothing that covered them from head to toe? Weren't they hot? How could they run or even smile at other people? Why weren't there ever interviews on television with any Afghani women? What was meant when it was said that now, women and girls in that country could read and write again?

I explained to Jane about the cultural and religious restrictions faced by these particular mothers and daughters, and she listened, mouth hanging open in vivid disbelief. She peppered me with questions about every aspect of the lives of Afghanistan's female population, and seemed utterly astounded when I told her that there are actually many places and cultures around the world in which girls cannot go to school; choose what they will wear or whom they will marry; own property; or vote.

As sad as it made me to explain the state of so many of the world's women to the most important girl in my life, I realized that the fact that Jane found this information so incomprehensible represented something very positive. The environment in which my daughter is growing into adulthood is one in which she sees few, if any restrictions on what is possible for her. Her American girlhood is very different from the one in which I came of age only a few decades ago.

When I was Jane's age, my working, feminist mother was an anomaly among the women I knew, and my parents had to make a conscious effort to be sure I understood that, although most doctors, police officers, and engineers were men, this didn't mean that "only" men could hold these jobs. My parents had to be ever-vigilant to protect both their daughters from being held back by unfair and sexist limitations, and they worked to be sure that we were exposed to art, music, and great ideas by women. They ensured that we had "Free to Be You and Me" books and records around the house, and a lifetime subscription to Ms. Magazine in our mailbox.

Today, however, the world has changed enough that parents don't have to make these kinds of special efforts to promote a sense of equality and possibility in our young daughters. Basic feminist consciousness has become an organic part of our culture, and we are all the better for it.

My third grade girl gets her news and information from terrific female journalists, and she is personally acquainted with women lawyers, priests, doctors, firefighters, farmers, athletes, social workers, and artists. Jane is an aggressive and successful competitor in her own chosen sport, and she enjoys listening to music by everyone from 'tween queen Hilary Duff to riot-grrls Sleater-Kinney.

Unlike my own parents, I do not feel compelled to pontificate on the wrong-headedness of rigid gender roles every time I see Jane playing with her dolls. I'm confident that she understands clearly that motherhood is not incompatible with professional achievement or civic engagement.

Also different from my own childhood as the daughter of '70s "women's libbers," Jane and her friends don't seem to feel any conflict between their femininity and their power. When I was a little girl, equality often meant trying to act or look like the little boys. Jane, however, is growing up in a pop culture infused with grrl-power -- from the Powerpuff Girls to Jessica Lynch. I observe her and her little friends playing superheroes, but their superheroes proudly wear sparkly pink capes as they save the world.

While all of this progress is terrific, I also recognize that my daughter is growing up in a society where women still earn less money than men for performing the same work; where women continue to live in realistic, ever-present fear of sexual assault; and where girls are still too often discouraged from studying math or science. There is still work ahead for her generation of rising young feministas. But as I watch her playing things like "President Barbie solves the Mideast peace crisis" with her friends, I feel hopeful.


Katie Allison Granju lives in Knoxville and is the mother of three children. She is the author of Attachment Parenting (Simon and Schuster, 1999) and her website is www.locoparentis.blogspot.com. This article first appeared in Metro Pulse Online.
From Feminist.net
http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2003/1104granju.html

[Soon]

Banker Deemed Too Sexy For Her Job (http://jezebel.com/5553376/banker-deemed-too-sexy-for-her-job?skyline=true&s=i)

[Soon]

Worth a Read: (I think the title is inflammatory and am still reading it as I post, but would love to hear what others think):


The End of Men

(http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/)

[Soon]

Brazilian judge refuses abortion for fetus without brain (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1290191&lang=eng_news&cate_img=316.jpg&cate_rss=news_Health)

[Nat]

Brazilian judge refuses abortion for fetus without brain (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1290191&lang=eng_news&cate_img=316.jpg&cate_rss=news_Health)

That is fucked up.

[AtLast]

Worth a Read: (I think the title is inflammatory and am still reading it as I post, but would love to hear what others think):


The End of Men

(http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/)


The title is over the top! Very inflammatory, but does what the media wants it to do, get us to read the article. And it is typical of the anti-feminist rhetoric that has gone on for yeras. We just want men to be erased, yanno! And the article is about women's work, educational and social standing as it has progressed.

What bothers me is that everything that is about women, in and of ourselves, continues to be used as anti-feminist fodder - when it just isn't about men at all..... men are not the center of the universe as some of them want to continue to be.....

I am so glad my 42 year old son looks at this and laughs! A big, deep, belly laugh! As do the fine and secure men I know do.

[Nat]

School district blames disabled student for own molestation (http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0625/school-district-blames-disabled-student-molestation/)

When a teacher's aide at Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, CA was arrested for molesting one of the special-ed students under his care, the school district's first impulse was to cover the incident up and hope no one would find out.

Now the student's parents have sued the Santa Ana Unified School District for negligently keeping on an employee that other parents had been complaining about for years. The district's lawyers have responded by not only blaming the mentally disabled girl for her own abuse but asking that the judge dismiss the charges and make the victim's family pay the district's legal fees.

The seventeen-year-old victim, who has cerebral palsy, has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old and is confined to a wheelchair. Because she is unable to speak, no one knows exactly what was happening when another school employee found her alone in a room with Alonso Manuel Gonzalez, with her shirt pulled up and her breasts exposed, but the incident resulted in the aide's arrest for a "lewd act with dependent adult."

The school's immediate reaction was to attempt to keep the incident under wraps. Saddleback teachers told the OC Weekly they had been told not to discuss the incident with anyone. Parents were not notified and a school representative refused to discuss the matter with a reporter. Over the next few months, the school district made no public acknowledgment of the arrest, either when Gonzalez was arraigned or several months later when he pleaded guilty to child abuse and endangerment.

The parents of other disabled students, however, quickly came forward with their own complaints about Gonzalez, going back to at least 2005. They told the OC Weekly that a group of parents had met with Saddleback's principle and the head of the district's special-ed program to complain that Gonzalez made the students uncomfortable and seemed to want to spend time alone with female students, but that the district ignored their concerns.

Now, a year after the aide's guilty plea, the parents of the student have brought a civil suit against Gonzales for causing mental and physical trauma to their daughter and also against the school district for negligence. As a result, the district's lawyers are fighting back -- hard.

In a filing with the Orange County Superior Court, the attorneys claim that the wheelchair-bound girl "chose to encounter the known risk" of being alone with Gonzalez, that she "consented to" him lifting up her shirt, and that her injuries were the result of her having "failed to use due and reasonable care for her own safety and protection."

They also charge her parents with having "negligently, carelessly and recklessly supervised, monitored, controlled and instructed the minor plaintiff so as to legally cause and contribute to her injuries and damages, if any."

"As a grand, caring finale, the district asked presiding Judge Luis A. Rodriguez to not only dismiss all charges against them but to make the victim's family pay all legal fees," the OC Weekly concludes, adding, "Since when did the Santa Ana Unified School District take its directions toward sex abuse from the Diocese of Orange?"

[Soon]

No, Sexual Violence Is Not 'Cultural'
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/opinion/26iht-edshannon.html)
By LISA SHANNON

A month into my first trip to eastern Congo, site of the deadliest conflict since World War II, I had heard plenty of horror stories — from forced cannibalism to the burning alive of the inhabitants of entire villages. I was no longer easily shocked. But one exchange with an aid worker stopped me cold.

I arrived in Baraka, a town on Lake Tanganyika that was overrun with Congolese soldiers and international aid workers, in February 2007. I asked a disheveled European woman working with the United Nations about security. She enthusiastically described her pet video project, to convince refugees in neighboring Tanzania that it was safe to return home.

“Foreign militias are gone,” she said. “Just rapes and looting for the moment. No attacks.”

Stunned, I asked, “You don’t consider rape a security threat?”

“Rape here is so common,” she said. “It’s cultural.”

That was the first of many times I would hear mass rape in Congo dismissed as “cultural.”

The sexual violence in Congo is among the worst on the planet. The U.N. estimates that hundreds of thousands of women have been gang-raped, tortured and held as sexual slaves since the conflict began in 1998.

That’s when armed groups began behaving like mafias, battling for control of the minerals in eastern Congo. To control territory, militias use rape as their weapon of choice.

In May, the U.S. Senate included a provision in its financial regulation bill requiring publicly traded companies to ensure that “conflict minerals” are not purchased from militia-controlled mines in Congo. Such efforts are welcome, if grossly overdue.

Still, we in the West too often find it easier to perceive rape as an accepted part of an unfamiliar culture rather than as a tool of war that we could help banish. Too often, the enemy becomes all Congolese men rather than men with guns terrorizing the Congolese people. By casting the chaos and violence as “men vs. women” or dismissing the crisis as “cultural,” we do a profound injustice to Congolese men. Rather than help, we send an implicit insult: It’s a pity, but, well…it’s just who you people are.

This perception is widespread. I work full-time for Congolese women, and I find myself devoting an inordinate amount of energy to defending Congolese men, whether arguing with a gazillionaire at a backyard barbeque over “Africa’s tribal rape rituals” or sitting on a panel with a human rights activist who waxes on about “the cultural roots of the sexual violence in Congo.”

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. secretary general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, recently described such thinking as the “lingering assumption that sexual violence is a tradition, rather than a tactic of choice.”

Any Congolese will tell you rape is not “traditional.” It did occur in Congo before the war, as it does everywhere. But the proliferation of sexual violence came with the war. Militias and Congolese soldiers alike now use sexual violence as a weapon. Left unchecked, sexual violence has festered in Congo’s war-ravaged east. This does not make rape cultural. It makes it easy to commit. There is a difference.

Analysts often use the phrase “culture of impunity” to describe Congo. John Prendergast, who has worked in African conflict zones for 25 years, explains: “The rule of law breaks down and perpetrators commit crimes without fear of conviction or punishment. Over time, this leads to further breakdown of societal codes and the very social fabric of a community.”

The media, aid workers and activists alike have consistently failed to tell the stories of Congolese men who were killed by fighters because they refused to commit rape. In interviews with hundreds of women, I heard countless stories of men who chose to take a bullet in the head, literally, rather than violate their child, sister or mother. In Baraka, one survivor recalled: “They tried to make my older brother rape me. He refused and was killed. So they raped me.”

Describing the violence in Congo as “cultural” is more than offensive. It is dangerous.

The European aid worker who dismissed the violence as “cultural” implied that Congolese women should expect to be raped. In so doing, she dismissed her responsibility to so much as warn returning refuges about the extreme security threat.

Later that day in 2007, I met 20 Congolese women who had returned from refugee camps in the last six months. In that time, half had been raped.

“Cultural relativism legitimizes the violence and discredits the victims, because when you accept rape as cultural, you make rape inevitable,” Ms. Wallstrom explained in a recent opinion essay co-authored with the Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Store. “This shields the perpetrators and allows world leaders to shrug off sexual violence as an immutable — if regrettable — truth.”

When we blame all Congolese men for sexual violence, not only do we imply that rape is inherent to the African landscape, we avoid critical questions, particularly regarding the role that we in the West play.

Who has been silent during 12 years of mass rape and off-the-charts atrocities? We have.

Who funds the bloodshed with our hunger for the latest computer processor and smart phone produced with minerals from Congo? We do. Perhaps unwittingly, but we do.

Who helped the fighters get their guns? We did.

This prevents us from taking the basic steps required to end the crisis: a coordinated international effort to choke off the militia leadership, some of whom reside in Europe and the United States; requirements that technology companies spend the extra penny per product that would guarantee conflict-free gadgets; and an aggressive plan to end the culture of impunity through justice and accountability measures.

When we label rape in Congo “cultural,” we let ourselves off the hook. And that is a cultural issue. Ours.

Lisa Shannon is founder of Run for Congo Women and author of “A Thousand Sisters: My Journey Into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman.”

[Linus]

:| http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/is-obama-a-woman-or-a-hum_n_630800.html :blink:

[Medusa]

:| http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/is-obama-a-woman-or-a-hum_n_630800.html :blink:

:|:|:|:|:|


"Parker argues that his style is female in nature because like women, Obama tends to act more passively and form circles to talk out problems instead of taking immediate action"

Im glad that these journalists can recognize that President Obama isnt a fucking hotheaded ogre but the whole "like women" thing? REALLY?
Written by 2 female journalists?!!!

[AtLast]

:|:|:|:|:|


"Parker argues that his style is female in nature because like women, Obama tends to act more passively and form circles to talk out problems instead of taking immediate action"

Im glad that these journalists can recognize that President Obama isnt a fucking hotheaded ogre but the whole "like women" thing? REALLY?
Written by 2 female journalists?!!!

An interesting take. What strikes me is obviously the white middle-class, heteronormative thinking here. UGH!!

He is well versed in community organization building and has these skills.... that is my take on his decision-making style. He actually processes within a democratic framework. As well as the fact that he is just a critical thinker. JeepsSakes.... I know a multitude of women and men like this!

[Soon]

Equal Rights for Women? Survey Says: Yes, But ...
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/01iht-poll.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print)
People around the world say they firmly support equal rights for men and women, but many still believe men should get preference when it comes to good jobs, higher education or even in some cases the simple right to work outside the home, according to a new survey of 22 nations.

The poll, conducted in April and May by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project in association with the International Herald Tribune, shows that in both developing countries and wealthy ones, there is a pronounced gap between a belief in the equality of the sexes and how that translates into reality.

In nations where equal rights are already mandated, women seem stymied by a lack of real progress, the poll found.

“Women in the United States and Europe are shouldering major responsibilities at home and at work simultaneously, and this makes for stress and a low quality of life,” said Prof. Herminia Ibarra, co-author of the 2010 Corporate Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum.

The opinions of the French, in particular, are emblematic of the uneven drive for equality of the sexes.

One hundred percent of French women and 99 percent of French men backed the idea of equal rights. Yet 75 percent also said that men there had a better life, by far the highest percentage in any of the countries in which polling took place.

Why do people in France, which provides generous state care for new mothers and toddlers, feel so far from having achieved gender equality?

“Because they are, at least in terms of economic participation,” said Professor Ibarra, who teaches organizational behavior at Insead, the international business school based in Fontainebleau, France. “There are still very few women running large organizations, and business culture remains resolutely a boys’ club.”

Indeed, the United States and Germany reported an especially strong gap between the sexes on whether enough has been done to give women equality. Of those who believe in equal rights, many more American and German men believe their nations have made the right amount of changes for women, while many more women than men in those countries think more action is required.

“When you’re left out of the club, you know it,” said Prof. Jacqui True, an expert in gender relations and senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. “When you’re in the club, you don’t see what the problem is.”

The rising giants of China and India, together with Indonesia and Jordan, were the four other countries where a majority of equal-rights supporters think most of the adjustments necessary to establish equality have already been made.

In telephone and face-to-face interviews, the Pew Center found that equality of the sexes was by vast majorities a goal for men and women alike.

In 13 of the countries, more than 90 percent of the respondents said they supported equal rights; in every other country except Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Indonesia and Nigeria, more than 75 percent backed gender equality. Nigeria, in fact, was the only surveyed country where more than half (54 percent) said women should not have equal rights; 45 percent of respondents favored equal rights.

In addition, only in Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan did fewer than 80 percent of the respondents say that women should be able to work outside the home. Even in those three countries, a majority said they supported women’s right to work.

Showing how widely accepted the notion of equality has become, even more men than women in Britain and Japan supported equal rights. (Scandinavian countries, which often score highest on gender equality, were not part of the survey.)

Yet few countries consider that equality achieved. Only in three countries did a majority of those surveyed say that women and men have achieved a comparable quality of life: Mexico (56 percent), Indonesia (55 percent) and Russia (52 percent). In six other countries, a sizable ratio — 40 to 50 percent — said they believed that men’s and women’s lives were equally good.

In Poland, by contrast, a majority (55 percent) said men had the upper hand. And in another five countries as diverse as India, Spain and Nigeria, 40 to 49 percent said men retained the higher quality of life. But France’s 75 percent led the list.

Only in South Korea (49 percent) and Japan (47 percent) did more people say women are better off than say men are, or that they are the same. It may be that men there “resent being married to their company, and also that there are fewer expectations of women,” Professor True said. “But that’s not equality.”

The variable assessment of gender equality suggests, according to the Pew Research Center report, that “while egalitarian sentiments are pervasive, they are less than robust.”

Most of the countries where people said men and women had equally good lives, Professor True said, “are only beginning to question and challenge gender discrimination and injustice, which have been taken for granted and seen as legitimate.”

“There is a lower consciousness of the gender differences there because men have always dominated,” she added. “Women have not had the opportunity to band together to challenge the power of men.”

Professor True, who is the author of five books on international relations and gender politics, is also head of the feminist theory and gender studies section of the International Studies Association, an organization of scholars and publisher of academic journals.

The surveys were conducted nationwide in all countries except China, India and Pakistan, where samples were disproportionately urban. Margins of sampling error are plus or minus three to five percentage points.

Although government mandates for equal education and job opportunities are frequently the means to gender equality, some nations that uphold the principle of equality also have sizable constituencies who would not give women the same rights to schooling and jobs.

Half or more of those asked in India, Pakistan and Egypt say a university education is more important for a boy; in China, Japan, Jordan, Poland and Nigeria, that number was at least one-third.

In some places where a boy’s education is favored, women had opinions far different from those of men. In Egypt, for instance, a solid 60 percent of men said boys were more entitled to that education, while an equally solid 60 percent of women disagreed. The gender gap was similar in Jordan and Pakistan.

“A lot of families are too poor to send all of their kids to school,” Professor Ibarra said. In India, for example, social groups are trying to organize day care for families so that daughters do not have to stay home and care for younger siblings while the sons go off to school.

Likewise, a strong core in several countries said men had more right to a job than women. More than 50 percent in 10 of the 22 countries said that when jobs are scarce, they should go to men. “If we think that it’s a growable pie, equality is fine,” Professor Ibarra commented. “If we think it’s a limited pie, it’s not.”

In India, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia and China, this belief was most widespread, while respondents in the United States, Britain, Spain, Germany and France most strongly disagreed that men should be preferred for jobs when they are hard to find.

Yet the belief that men should not have the edge does not translate into economic reality in many of the same countries. In France, Germany, Poland and India, at least 80 percent of those surveyed said men still got more opportunities than women for jobs that pay well, even when woman were as qualified.

What may be more surprising is that the respondents were not unanimous about men getting the good jobs. The inequity in well-paying jobs, Professor Ibarra said, “is absolutely true.”

“That’s not even an opinion,” the professor said. “You could find hard facts to support that anywhere you look.”

Professor True said it often took two generations before reality caught up with changes in attitudes.

“We’re entering the next phase in many of these countries,” she said. “We’re going to see much more frustration with gender inequality among both women and men before we get institutional change in developing countries.”

[Nat]

“When you’re left out of the club, you know it,” said Prof. Jacqui True, an expert in gender relations and senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. “When you’re in the club, you don’t see what the problem is.”


well said.

[AtLast]

well said.

Absolutely!!

[waxnrope]

:|:|:|:|:|


"Parker argues that his style is female in nature because like women, Obama tends to act more passively and form circles to talk out problems instead of taking immediate action"

Im glad that these journalists can recognize that President Obama isnt a fucking hotheaded ogre but the whole "like women" thing? REALLY?
Written by 2 female journalists?!!!

Great, now some dummy/ies will see the post, abstracted, and like the furor over his being a Muslim, there will be loud cries of Obama is a tranny? :|

[AtLast]

Great, now some dummy/ies will see the post, abstracted, and like the furor over his being a Muslim, there will be loud cries of Obama is a tranny? :|

Probably!

Rachael Maddow did a piece on this yesterday and came to the same conclusion! People are so damn goofy!!

[Soon]

Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/08/sharron-angles-advice-for_n_639294.html)

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has moderated a host of policy positions in her transition from a primary candidate to general election contender battling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. One thing she has not backed away from has been her insistence that abortion should be outlawed universally, even in cases of rape and incest.



In a radio interview Angle did in late June, the Tea Party favorite re-affirmed her pro-life sensibilities (rigid, as they are, even within Republican circles), when she insisted that a young girl raped by her father should know that "two wrongs don't make a right." Much good can come from a horrific situation like that, Angle added. Lemons can be made into lemonade.

[Soon]

Heather Reisman spearheads 11th-hour bid to save Iranian woman from stoning (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/heather-reisman-spearheads-11th-hour-bid-to-save-iranian-woman-from-stoning/article1633348/)

[Soon]

www.freesakineh.org

[Stearns]

www.freesakineh.org

I signed the petition. Took 2 seconds.

[Damara]

www.freesakineh.org

Signed.........

[Corkey]

Signed.....

[Damara]

www.freesakineh.org

The public outrage seems to be having some effect but her plight is still uncertain. I hope all that read this will take a minute to sign the petition.

Yesterday late in the afternoon Iran’s government denied reports that Ashtiani will be executed by stoning, though her death sentence may still be carried out by some other method, likely hanging.

Stoning commuted for Iranian woman, or was it? (http://blogs.abcnews.com/jim_sciutto_frontlines/2010/07/stoning-commuted-for-iranian-woman-or-was-it-.html)

Tonight, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, sits in an Iranian prison uncertain of her fate.

Early today, the Iranian embassy in London seemed to spare her, saying in a statement, “According to the judicial authorities…she will not be executed by stoning”.

But tonight her lawyer in Tehran told us he’s far from convinced

“The statement is not from the judiciary and is ambiguous,” Mohammad Mostafaei said by telephone, “I’m worried she could still be stoned at any minute.”
He added that even if her sentence was commuted, he’s not sure what happens next.
“As it stands, I’m not sure what’s going to happen to her. Will she be released? Executed by another means?” Mostafaei said.
Sakineh’s alleged crime is adultery, a charge she and her family vehemently deny.

[Enigma]

www.freesakineh.org

Signed... Thank you so much for posting this!

[AtLast]

Heather Reisman spearheads 11th-hour bid to save Iranian woman from stoning (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/heather-reisman-spearheads-11th-hour-bid-to-save-iranian-woman-from-stoning/article1633348/)

Done.. only takes a few seconds. This is so insane! looking at violence against women globally is so important.

[AtLast]

Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/08/sharron-angles-advice-for_n_639294.html)

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has moderated a host of policy positions in her transition from a primary candidate to general election contender battling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. One thing she has not backed away from has been her insistence that abortion should be outlawed universally, even in cases of rape and incest.



In a radio interview Angle did in late June, the Tea Party favorite re-affirmed her pro-life sensibilities (rigid, as they are, even within Republican circles), when she insisted that a young girl raped by her father should know that "two wrongs don't make a right." Much good can come from a horrific situation like that, Angle added. Lemons can be made into lemonade.

This makes me crazy!! This idiot may very well win this senate seat!!! ARGH!!!

[Heart]

Resurgence of honor killings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/world/asia/10honor.html

[AtLast]

Resurgence of honor killings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/world/asia/10honor.html

ARGH!!!

:byebye:

[Soon]

Vatican: Ordination Of Women A 'Grave Crime' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/vatican-ordination-of-wom_n_647296.html)


/snip

One new element included lists the attempted ordination of women as a "grave crime" subject to the same set of procedures and punishments meted out for sex abuse.

That drew immediate criticism from women's ordination groups, who said making a moral equivalent between women priests and child rapists was offensive.

[Soon]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.popeater.com/media/2010/07/image-1-1279300561.jpg

Canada Bans Pam's PETA Ad

Officials claim it's sexist


(NEWSER) – Pamela Anderson managed to get her PETA ad banned in Canada without even going naked. She was in Montreal to unveil the pro-vegetarian ad, in which she wears a bikini while marked up like a piece of meat, but officials denied the event a permit because, they say, the ad is sexist. One official attempts to explain: “It is not so much controversial, as it goes against all principles public organizations are fighting for in the everlasting battle of equality between men and women.”

Read more: http://www.newser.com/story/95729/canada-bans-pams-peta-ad.html#ixzz0u3BcM2m4

[Stearns]

Vatican: Ordination Of Women A 'Grave Crime' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/vatican-ordination-of-wom_n_647296.html)


/snip

One new element included lists the attempted ordination of women as a "grave crime" subject to the same set of procedures and punishments meted out for sex abuse.

That drew immediate criticism from women's ordination groups, who said making a moral equivalent between women priests and child rapists was offensive.

I suppose they'll just get transferred, then, as that's how they "punish" priests who sexually abuse kids. Transfer 'em.

[DapperButch]

Heather Reisman spearheads 11th-hour bid to save Iranian woman from stoning (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/heather-reisman-spearheads-11th-hour-bid-to-save-iranian-woman-from-stoning/article1633348/)

www.freesakineh.org

Done.. only takes a few seconds. This is so insane! looking at violence against women globally is so important.

Thanks for posting this, SOON.

It was commuted, but now she needs to worry about hanging.

Below is a petition to stop all stonings. Everyone please consider signing this one, as well.

There are 15 people awaiting execution by stoning. 13 of them are for convictions of adultery. 12 females and 1 male.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?rc=fb

[AtLast]

Vatican: Ordination Of Women A 'Grave Crime' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/vatican-ordination-of-wom_n_647296.html)


/snip

One new element included lists the attempted ordination of women as a "grave crime" subject to the same set of procedures and punishments meted out for sex abuse.

That drew immediate criticism from women's ordination groups, who said making a moral equivalent between women priests and child rapists was offensive.

Yeppers, offensive! Straight from centuries of patriarchy in the Catholic Church. Sometimes, it is really hard for me as an ex-Catholic to see this stuff. There were some good things in my life as such, but, this is so ugly!! There are times that I will go to a Mass, usually something like an outdoor service at the grotto in Portland or Yosemite, maybe at a Newman Center parish. There are still rituals that can give me some peace (if I leave the garbage behind). But, then I see things like this and all of the child sexual abuse cases and priests just being transferred along with women not being able to be ordained priests, and I go bonkers. Just bonkers!! It is hard to be someone that seeks spiritual grace in a world like this!! No matter what one does to find some kind of sane spiritual path!!

[The_Lady_Snow]

Policing Female Masculinity: Much Ado About Rachel Maddow’s Yearbook Photo!



http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/

[Soon]

Policing Female Masculinity: Much Ado About Rachel Maddow’s Yearbook Photo!



http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/



That was a great article that covered so much of how EVEN TODAY (or moreso today?) women's gender/presentation is policed.

thank you for sharing it :) (even though i'm steamed!)

[BullDog]

Policing Female Masculinity: Much Ado About Rachel Maddow’s Yearbook Photo!



http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/



Yes, this is a great article. Young, blonde and thin and you are "tappable." Masculine female- no. Hah, that's one of my favorite butch advantages- that I don't get a lot of unwelcome attention from males. Other lesbian/queer females do not always have that same luxury.

We see here the same type of catty comments as with Cynthia Nixon's partner.

The article does a great job discussing how female appearance and sexuality is policed via heteronormative standards and the deep anxiety over female masculinity in our culture.

In the words of Rachel Maddow:

“I’m not Anchorbabe, and I’m never going to be. My goal is to do the physical appearance stuff in such a way that it is not comment-worthy.”

Sorry world, we are not your babes.

[AtLast]

Yes, this is a great article. Young, blonde and thin and you are "tappable." Masculine female- no. Hah, that's one of my favorite butch advantages- that I don't get a lot of unwelcome attention from males. Other lesbian/queer females do not always have that same luxury.

We see here the same type of catty comments as with Cynthia Nixon's partner.

The article does a great job discussing how female appearance and sexuality is policed via heteronormative standards and the deep anxiety over female masculinity in our culture.

In the words of Rachel Maddow:

“I’m not Anchorbabe, and I’m never going to be. My goal is to do the physical appearance stuff in such a way that it is not comment-worthy.”

Sorry world, we are not your babes.

Thanks, Bully! Rachael RAWKS!

Did you catch her in a veil in Afghanistan for her special? Quite a nice swagger goin' on below that darn veil in her chinos! Loved it. Also was glad she respected customs- that had to be hard for her to dawn!!! I cracked up because it reminded me so of myself back when in prom gowns, etc. I always looked like I was in drag!

I really appreciate Maddow's presentation of female masculinity. It has to be hard at times with her show and bosses, etc. even with enlightenment- it is national TV media. Another time while watching her show, she got up and walked over to some prop. I also cracked-up then as below the usual kind of gender neutral tops, (probably discussed length prior to her show being aired), she wears, she had on her jeans and boots! Almost seemed like she had an extra twinkle in her eyes as she walked over.. and yup, the swagger!

[betenoire]

Canada Bans Pam's PETA Ad

Officials claim it's sexist


Ugh, that picture really bothered me.

Policing Female Masculinity: Much Ado About Rachel Maddow’s Yearbook Photo!



http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/



More of the same societal illness that loves Ellen (cuz she seems friendly and not confrontational and is appropriately emotional (uses tears!) at the appropriate moments and is pretty) and hates Rosie (cuz she's loud and opinionated and fat).

[Heart]

Thanks for posting this betenoire:
http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/

It's not just butches/masculine women/ or queers though -- it's all women who claim power. Think of the reactions to Hillary Clinton. There is always an effort to reduce powerful women to patriarchal standards of desirability.

[Heart]

Dr. Nancy Snyderman begins her comments about Mel Gibson's threats and violence by calling the target of his rage "passive-aggressive," and accusing her of 'baiting" him. Where do they find these so-called experts?

You can read what the Men's Anti-violence Council has to say about this and also click on the link included to see the clip.

I sent a scathing e-mail to the Today Show.

http://mensantiviolencecouncil.com/2010/07/14/victim-blaming-on-the-today-show/

[Medusa]

Dr. Nancy Snyderman begins her comments about Mel Gibson's threats and violence by calling the target of his rage "passive-aggressive," and accusing her of 'baiting" him. Where do they find these so-called experts?

You can read what the Men's Anti-violence Council has to say about this and also click on the link included to see the clip.

I sent a scathing e-mail to the Today Show.

http://mensantiviolencecouncil.com/2010/07/14/victim-blaming-on-the-today-show/

OMGEE. Was this the interview with 2 Doctors? I was listening to the TV the other morning going to work and heard the news anchor say something about interviewing a psychologist and a Doctor and both of them were women but I just couldnt fucking believe that both of them were going on and on about how Oksana was "passive-aggressive" and "really knew how to push his buttons".
:|

[Heart]

OMGEE. Was this the interview with 2 Doctors? I was listening to the TV the other morning going to work and heard the news anchor say something about interviewing a psychologist and a Doctor and both of them were women but I just couldnt fucking believe that both of them were going on and on about how Oksana was "passive-aggressive" and "really knew how to push his buttons".
:|

This was was with the doctor and with a Westchester ex district attorney, Janine Pirro, known for prosecuting batterers, (but better known for her husband's shady real estate deals, of course). Pirro tried to counter what Snyderman was saying. You can see the clip if you click on the article I linked.

[Stearns]

Dr. Nancy Snyderman begins her comments about Mel Gibson's threats and violence by calling the target of his rage "passive-aggressive," and accusing her of 'baiting" him. Where do they find these so-called experts?

You can read what the Men's Anti-violence Council has to say about this and also click on the link included to see the clip.

I sent a scathing e-mail to the Today Show.

http://mensantiviolencecouncil.com/2010/07/14/victim-blaming-on-the-today-show/

I also sent a scathing e-mail to the Today Show/NBC for their irresponsibility and for potentially placing battered women in even more jeopardy. I also e-mailed the editor of Good Housekeeping, suggesting that the magazine find another female doctor to contribute health columns, as Nancy Snyderman is obviously no friend to women. I also included the link to the Men's Anti-Violence Council blog.

[AtLast]

Thanks for posting this betenoire:
http://www.autostraddle.com/policing-rachel-maddows-gender-52441/

It's not just butches/masculine women/ or queers though -- it's all women who claim power. Think of the reactions to Hillary Clinton. There is always an effort to reduce powerful women to patriarchal standards of desirability.

So very true!

[Greyson]

Here is some good news. I had no idea Geena Davis founded this non-profit institute addressing Gender In The Media. She was recently appointed to the State of California's Womens Commission.

After you read the article, go check out her "Gender In The Media" site.

http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org/

______________________________________________



http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/07/schwarzenegger-appoints-geena.html

July 20, 2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed actress Geena Davis to the
Commission on the Status of Women.

The Academy Award-winning actress is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which seeks to increase female characters and reduce gender stereotypes in children's programming.

Davis, a Democrat, is known for her roles in dozens of films and television shows, including "Tootsie," "Beetlejuice" and "A League of Their Own."

The position, which pays a $100 per diem, requires Senate confirmation.

[Soon]

Women in Mexico convicted of homicide for abortions (http://feministing.com/page/2/)

By VANESSA | Published: JULY 23, 2010

The Latin American Herald Tribune brings attention to the reality that exists when abortion is criminalized. Six women are currently serving 25-30 year sentences in Guanajuato, Mexico for having abortions. Their conviction? Homicide.

Reproductive justice organization Centro Las Libres has been working to bring attention to Mexico’s criminalization and incarceration of women in attempts to change laws and free the women who are currently in prison; they’ve been able to release one so far. Via LAHT:

Since the beginning of the decade, more than 40 women have been put on trial for abortion, which is punishable by up to three years in prison under the Guanajuato penal code.

“The government always has denied that it imprisoned people for the crime of abortion. We had to go from prison to prison to verify it,” said the Centro Las Libres director.

The legislation regarding abortion varies in Mexico’s 32 separate jurisdictions. While in Mexico City it is legal, some states continue to treat abortion as a criminal offense.

Even so, federal law includes some circumstances under which any woman, regardless of where she may live, can have an abortion, namely in the case of rape or risk to her life because of the pregnancy.

On top of that, what’s worth mentioning is that the conservative-led state of Guanajuato — while having the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Mexico — still refuses to allow sex education in its schools.

h/t to MAC.

[Corkey]

Dear Corkey

We are thrilled to report that earlier this week Congress passed the Tribal Law and Order Act as an amendment to H.R. 725, a groundbreaking and long-overdue piece of legislation that tackles violent crime against Native American and Alaska Native women.

A huge thank you to the thousands of Amnesty supporters like you who took action to make this human rights victory possible.

Because of you, Native American and Alaska Native women will no longer be trapped in a mindboggling, jurisdictional maze that allows perpetrators to rape with impunity.

Every Native American and Alaska Native woman will be given the chance to:

get a police response,
have access to a rape kit,
have the opportunity to see her case prosecuted, and
see justice served for crimes committed against her.
Spurred by our hard-hitting 2007 report, Maze of Injustice, Amnesty's millions-strong, global human rights movement has worked tirelessly to ensure this legislation became a reality.

People like you have set the stage for reversing the devastating rate of sexual violence that Native American and Alaska Native women have endured for much too long.

This is what we can accomplish when we work together.

I want to thank you again for all you do. This is a truly amazing victory for women’s human rights and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Thank you,
Rachel and the rest of the Stop Violence Against Women team

[AtLast]

Dear Corkey

We are thrilled to report that earlier this week Congress passed the Tribal Law and Order Act as an amendment to H.R. 725, a groundbreaking and long-overdue piece of legislation that tackles violent crime against Native American and Alaska Native women.

A huge thank you to the thousands of Amnesty supporters like you who took action to make this human rights victory possible.

Because of you, Native American and Alaska Native women will no longer be trapped in a mindboggling, jurisdictional maze that allows perpetrators to rape with impunity.

Every Native American and Alaska Native woman will be given the chance to:

get a police response,
have access to a rape kit,
have the opportunity to see her case prosecuted, and
see justice served for crimes committed against her.
Spurred by our hard-hitting 2007 report, Maze of Injustice, Amnesty's millions-strong, global human rights movement has worked tirelessly to ensure this legislation became a reality.

People like you have set the stage for reversing the devastating rate of sexual violence that Native American and Alaska Native women have endured for much too long.

This is what we can accomplish when we work together.

I want to thank you again for all you do. This is a truly amazing victory for women’s human rights and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Thank you,
Rachel and the rest of the Stop Violence Against Women team

Thrilled to see this. Yet, have continued anger about how little awareness and just plain recognition of crimes against Native women in the US! The reservation system is yet, one more white, form of racism that sexisism persists in. It also has served to marginalize Natives in every economic institution we have plus education- a civil rights nightmare. Why is it that the last POC to be discussed in the US race conversations are the first inhabitants? Never fails to amaze me. This system is nothing short of the plantation system (or the more modern day project system) that African Americans endured and continue to deal with across US racial lines. Just keep track of where they are and keep them there and control shall never be lost. What is wrong with us?

[Nat]

This isn't in the news...

HR19XBym6v4

but I had to watch it before I was allowed to watch a youtube video.

Nice, Allstate. Why is this acceptable? Why isn't it on the news?

[Nat]

This came out over a month ago, but I don't think it's been posted.

The Daily Show's Woman Problem (http://jezebel.com/5570545/comedy-of-errors-behind-the-scenes-of-the--daily-shows-lady-problem)

The Daily Show is many things: progressive darling, alleged news source for America's youth, righteous media critique. And it's also a boys' club where women's contributions are often ignored and dismissed.

[SuperFemme]

Linda Hogan to Marry Boytoy Lover

Linda Hogan: The Hulkster's Ex to Marry 21-Year-Old

Linda Hogan: The Ultimate Cougar?

Linda Hogan is a cougar

Linda Hogan's Fiance is How Old?!? - ABC News

eta: these are headlines from today that I snipped.

[SuperFemme]

it has been pointed out to me that yes, dating and then marrying your childs classmate may be gross.

my point was that the big deal is never made about age difference when the gender is flipped.

[Mister Bent]

This isn't in the news...

HR19XBym6v4

but I had to watch it before I was allowed to watch a youtube video.

Nice, Allstate. Why is this acceptable? Why isn't it on the news?

What.

While the point is effectively made with regard to new/teen drivers, it would have had the same impact had it simply said, "I'm a typical teenager."

[Nat]

Ariz. Illegal Immigration Law Judge Threatened (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/29/politics/main6726588.shtml)

Authorities say a federal judge in Phoenix has been getting some threats since her ruling on Arizona's controversial immigration law.

David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona, says U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails since her preliminary injunction Wednesday that put key provisions of the state's immigration law on hold.

Gonzales says some of the messages sent to Bolton are positive, but others are "from people venting and who have expressed their displeasure in a perverted way."

Gonzales says his agents are taking some of the threats to Bolton seriously. He refused to discuss any extra security measures, which U.S. marshals routinely provide federal judges.

[Soon]

The Plight of Afghan Women: A Disturbing Picture (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007269,00.html)


eta: you can make a donation to victims like Aisha and others through this site:

http://www.grossmanburnfoundation.org/aisha.htm

[AtLast]

Ariz. Illegal Immigration Law Judge Threatened (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/29/politics/main6726588.shtml)

Authorities say a federal judge in Phoenix has been getting some threats since her ruling on Arizona's controversial immigration law.

David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona, says U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails since her preliminary injunction Wednesday that put key provisions of the state's immigration law on hold.

Gonzales says some of the messages sent to Bolton are positive, but others are "from people venting and who have expressed their displeasure in a perverted way."


Gonzales says his agents are taking some of the threats to Bolton seriously. He refused to discuss any extra security measures, which U.S. marshals routinely provide federal judges.

This makes me sick! She followed points of law as she should have. This law was destined to be considered by the federal Supreme Court at its inception.

[Soon]

Cutting off your vagina to spite your Face(book)

By David J. Ley , Ph.D.
Created Jul 31 2010 - 10:13am (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/women-who-stray/201007/cutting-your-vagina-spite-your-facebook)


Many cultures have celebrated the vagina. Many more have feared it.

In the past week, Facebook deleted a number of pages from their website, ostensibly due to their concerns about the sexual nature of the material. Interestingly, the organization appears to have primarily targeted the pages of several women and female sexuality organizations with Facebook pages. It may be that there were male-run pages deleted that I haven't heard about, but at this point, I'm only aware of sites that were focused on the lovely vagina, and that celebrated female sexual empowerment.

My dear friends at Self Serve, a women-owned and run sexuality resources center (toys, books, videos, educational materials and gear, all in a wonderful positive, safe and welcoming environment) had their Facebook page taken down because of a video they posted about the "fad" of labiaplasty. Labiaplasty is a cosmetic surgery, where women have their genitals surgically altered to be "more attractive," and fit the ideal image of a vagina (whatever that is). Matie, Molly and Alee walk the viewer through the physical risks and dangers of this surgery, and educate them about the diversity of the female genitalia. The video contains images of the female vulva, from Betty Dodson's work, when she began educating women years ago, about how to love themselves and their bodies. The video has a heartfelt message, urging women to love their bodies as they are, and not to give in to mutilation to fit an unrealistic, and uncommon ideal based upon porn. Check out their video and website, and support them in their defense of female sexuality.

Violet Blue is a sexuality activist, writer, and educator, whose Facebook page dedicated to women who celebrate and enjoy sexuality and pornography, was also deleted. Blue had over three thousand Facebook members supporting her page, and had worked hard to comply with Facebook's rules. She was given no advance notice and no explanation of why her page was deleted. Blue wrote a letter to Facebook, as yet unanswered.

So what's going on here? In the past few months, Facebook has attacked and deleted pages with breasts, breastfeeding, naked female dolls, and now Ms. Blue's page and the Self Serve video that tries to educate women to love themselves and their vulvas. Does Facebook have a problem with female sexuality?

In the past, men feared the “vagina dentate,” an almost universal myth that suggested that women's vaginas were not only dangerous, but actually contained teeth that could bite off the penis of any man so foolish as to insert it in the woman's body. A very rare congenital abnormality can in fact create tumorous cysts near the opening of a female’s vagina, which could resemble teeth, but the global prevalence of this mythical symbol is believed to have much more to do with a general fear of female sexuality.

In the folklore, men combated these toothed vaginas, much as knights fought monsters. In a Jicarilla legend from New Mexico, the boy hero fed sour berries to the women's hungry vaginas, which ended up destroying their teeth (remember good dental hygiene!), while in a legend from India, the boy hero used an iron tube like an indestructible dildo, to knock out the teeth that lurked in the vagina of a demon female. In her marvelous book, The Story of V, Catherine Blackledge recounts similar stories in a history of the vagina. She describes that all of these tales carry similar meaning: “pulling vaginal teeth is a metaphor for how some men would like to make women meek and biddable, remolded in a shape defined by them. In these stories, instead of shaming her into submission, physical means are used to tame her sexuality.”

Is Facebook hurting itself with these actions and hurting women? Will women start leaving this site, and heading to social networking sites that are more accepting of female sexuality? I've heard from many Insatiable Wives, who have left Facebook, for sites where they can freely celebrate their sexuality. Who's next? And where does it stop? If Facebook was a client, sitting on my couch, I think I'd be asking "How was your relationship with your mother?" and "Do you think you stopped breastfeeding too early?"

[Soon]

...there IS still an active FB group entitled:

It isn't r.a.p.e...It's SURPRISE sex.

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/It-isnt-rape-Its-SURPRISE-SEX-/106823992684587?ref=ts)

[betenoire]

...there IS still an active FB group entitled:

It isn't r.a.p.e...It's SURPRISE sex.

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/It-isnt-rape-Its-SURPRISE-SEX-/106823992684587?ref=ts)

Reported the group, not that it will help.

[Soon]

Rape, Violence, Abortion? Radical Right Says its All Your Fault

By Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check

I was pleased to watch “The Rachel Maddow Show” Thursday night, as Rachel dedicated not just one, but two segments on the surprising number of severely anti-choice candidates running for major offices this election cycle.

As reported on the show, the story is getting very little mainstream attention, but it’s certainly a new thing to have three major Senate candidates---Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Ken Buck---come out not just for restricting abortions for choice, but also for criminalizing abortion in the case of threats to a woman’s health, and in the cases of rape or incest.

Since all three candidates reluctantly allow that they might allow an abortion should they be convinced that a pregnant woman’s life is in danger (though often said restrictions are so high they are functionally death sentences for the “crime” of being pregnant, for the doctors fear that a 5 to 10 percent chance of survival might be enough to prosecute), they adamantly stand for forcing rape victims to carry the rapist’s baby to term. Yes, even if the rapist is the father or brother of the victim. Melissa Harris-Lacewell came on the show to offer the perspective that hard times often make the populace more open to sadistic intrusions on a woman’s right to control her own fertility. She made some excellent points about how the increasing acceptance of forced childbirth, even for rape victims, coincides with other enthusiasms for control over reproduction, such as the new talk of repealing the 14th Amendment strictly to punish immigrant women who give birth.

I have some points I’d like to add to Melissa’s excellent commentary. This unwillingness to extend abortion rights even to rape victims may indicate more than simply a hard line attitude about abortion, but also a negative attitude about a woman’s right to live free from violence. As Rachel reported, the Paul campaign’s response to the issue of abortion rights for rape victims was to scold victims for not being more careful about “family planning.” Reasonable people might be as bewildered as Rachel about this point, but sadly, I feel these kind of responses indicate an acceptance of the widespread right wing myth that rape and other forms of violence against women are something that feminists made up in their supposed mission to get men. There’s widespread myths that rape victims are either lying about being raped or somehow brought it on themselves, and therefore if they get pregnant, they deserve to be punished for being liars or temptresses or both.

Add these stereotypes to the anti-choice fears that any exceptions to a ban would be exploited by slatterns eager to get away with being loose women, and you have a toxic brew. If you think the myth that exceptions are mainly used by liars isn’t widespread, may I remind you that 2008 presidential candidate John McCain expressed a belief that most late term abortions performed for health reasons were nothing but the patients and doctors lying to cover up abortions by choice, even though there’s not a lick of evidence to support that claim. The misogyny that prompts anti-choice beliefs tends to bring along a host of other anti-woman beliefs about how women are stupid, fickle, and deceitful by nature.

A lack of sympathy for pregnant rape victims brings up a lot more questions than just ones about a candidate’s view on reproductive rights. For instance, I’d worry that someone who has this attitude towards pregnant rape victims might generally not take the problem of violence against women seriously. Currently, it’s political poison to avoid nominal support for legislative efforts fighting violence against women, but that doesn’t mean that office-holders are necessarily dedicated to the cause of really taking steps to improve services and law enforcement in ways that would actually fight this problem. Already this election cycle, we’ve seen an anti-choice Senator get exposed for problems in this area. Even though Senator David Vitter knew one of his aides was convicted of domestic violence, he kept him on staff and, alarmingly, as an advisor on women’s issues, including the issue of domestic violence.

Fighting violence against women and supporting reproductive rights are so intertwined that it’s really hard to separate the two. Paul’s comments about “family planning” were illogical in really obvious ways, but they also showed a lack of understanding of how gendered violence undermines women’s ability to prevent pregnancy in the first place, often making the need for abortion rights all that more important. As Lynn Harris reported in The Nation, a new (albeit limited) study of 71 women who had suffered domestic violence reported being the victim of birth control sabotage by partners who used forced pregnancy as a way to dominate and control their victims. If the state takes a stance of supported forced pregnancy, that only makes it that much easier for domestic abusers to hurt and control their victims. And that, in turn, makes it that much harder for law enforcement and social services to fight the problem of domestic violence.

In a way, I appreciate it when anti-choicers take the “no exceptions for rape” stance. Not for the reason some give, which is that it’s at least more consistent with the belief that a fetus is a person. (I still don’t think they consistently believe that an embryo is the same as a 5-year-old.) But it is more consistent with the overall view that women are chattel, that their rights are unimportant, and that their bodies are objects to be controlled by men and the state. In a strict patriarchy, rape is considered a crime against the man who controls the woman, and after the rape has happened, her status plummets in the eyes of the community. Anti-choicers who make no exceptions for rape are being consistent with this view---since the rape victim is already ruined, there’s no reason to offer any sympathy or relief to her. “No exceptions for rape” is indeed a consistent worldview, but it’s mainly consistent with a pro-patriarchal one.

[Soon]

Saudi women raise their voices over male guardianship (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/07/saudi.arabia.women/)

[Nat]

Reporter Sainz talks about Jets incident, draws criticism (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Sainz-incident-draws-cultural-moral-lines?urn=nfl-269542)

[Nat]

ve_zocAUfK8

[Laerkin]

This terrifies me on such a gut-wrenching level I now feel ill.

These women scare me and I really worry about the future of this country with these very Conservative and restrictive politics gaining attention. They are using women to sabotage women.

Ugh! Sick to my stomach...

ve_zocAUfK8

[Nat]

This terrifies me on such a gut-wrenching level I now feel ill.

These women scare me and I really worry about the future of this country with these very Conservative and restrictive politics gaining attention. They are using women to sabotage women.

Ugh! Sick to my stomach...

me too. i remember some lady in Brazil? was forced to bear a brainless fetus to term recently. Is that next?

[Laerkin]

For several years I was a clinic protector here in D.C. helping women get into clinics safely when they were surrounded by violent, aggressive protesters. I saw and heard things that would make most people's blood run cold.

One husband and wife came in because the fetus died inside her and she needed it removed (for her health, obviously) and when the protesters started assaulting them and calling out these nasty things, the husband came running at them screaming. And even after the protesters realized the situation and calmed down, they never apologized and continued saying these horrific things about God's will - saying she lost the baby because it was God's will because of murders like us and to blame the clinic and the volunteers (me). Horrifying, horrifying stuff.

I fear we are about to lose Roe.

And truth be told, there is a group of us here who have pledged to get trained in abortion care services to start an underground service...it's scary that it might actually come to that in my lifetime, but I feel like it may.

me too. i remember some lady in Brazil? was forced to bear a brainless fetus to term recently. Is that next?

[Nat]

For several years I was a clinic protector here in D.C. helping women get into clinics safely when they were surrounded by violent, aggressive protesters. I saw and heard things that would make most people's blood run cold.

One husband and wife came in because the fetus died inside her and she needed it removed (for her health, obviously) and when the protesters started assaulting them and calling out these nasty things, the husband came running at them screaming. And even after the protesters realized the situation and calmed down, they never apologized and continued saying these horrific things about God's will - saying she lost the baby because it was God's will because of murders like us and to blame the clinic and the volunteers (me). Horrifying, horrifying stuff.

I fear we are about to lose Roe.

And truth be told, there is a group of us here who have pledged to get trained in abortion care services to start an underground service...it's scary that it might actually come to that in my lifetime, but I feel like it may.

I sure hope it doesn't come to that. How awesome of you to volunteer in that capacity. Thank you so much for doing that.

[Soon]

Report shows almost 50% of girls under 18 feel unsafe in UK cities (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/19/girls-feel-unsafe-uk-cities-report)

[Soon]

Bangladeshi sex workers take steroids to 'plump up' for clients (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/video/2010/apr/05/bangladesh-sex-workers-steroids)

[Jess]

New book looks like a great view of misogyny involved in politics.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129938556

[Heart]

Girls in Afghanistan, "passing" as boys, gain temporary freedom and status for their families.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html

[Laerkin]

I would highly, HIGHLY recommend reading "Woman: An Intimate Geography" by Natalie Angier. She's a biologist and examines the female body from genetics and hormones to cellular function in hysterical and engaging ways. I haven't laughed this hard during a book in a long while. But it's fascinatingly educational, too.

Did you know the X chromosome is large and healthy (carrying like 2,000 genes) while the Y chromosome is small, puny, fragile and only carries like 90 genes? The X chromosome, scientists are finding, is capable of tremendous things, far outside the scope of anything the Y chromosome is able to do.

Also, the egg is the only cell in the entire human experience that is capable of taking the DNA from any cell in the body and turning it into a multiplying zygote? Meaning, you can take a liver cell, isolate a few things, put it into an egg and voila - the egg turns on all of these light switches within the liver cell turning it into a full blown zygote and it begins to reproduce and form a new being (that's how cloning works - not advocating cloning here, just demonstrating the ultimate power of the egg!).

I think XYs have a lot to be worried about. Women are magical, powerful, genetically fantastic creatures capable of amazing things that they aren't even fully aware of.

But, I agree with you, June, that women suffer the consequences and are pushed into inferiority by some cultures for no reason other than fear. It's heartbreaking and infuriating all at once. :(


Here is a good explanation I found via google-fu: (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_parent_determines_the_sex_of_a_child)
The father provides an X or Y chromosome; the mother always provides an X chromosome. Therefore, the sex of the child is determined by the chromosome of the individual sperm that fertilizes the egg.

Male offspring carry XY chromosomes; female offspring carry XX chromosomes.


Information from another contributor

the father deposits the semen containing sperms in the vagina of mother. ideally the X and the Y sperms are in same number (this is rarely the case).


the germ cell in father's testicle initially divides into 2 cells. one of which is Y sperm responsible for male child. second one is X sperm responsible for female child. These cells then each divide in 2 these 2 cells further divide in 2 each producing 4 of one kind. this process goes on and on to produce 50 millions to 150 millions sperms in the semen. Half of them are Y sperms and Other half are X sperms.


If the X sperm unite with female egg then a female child is born.


If Y sperm unite with female egg then a male child is produced.


As same number of Y and X sperms are deposited in the vagina; which type of sperm ultimately will unite with female egg depends on the conditions of female reproductive system. Whether the condition is favorable for the rapid and safe movement of X sperms or the Y sperms.


The Y sperms are very delicate and are easily get destroyed by acidic and toxic environment of vagina. Thus if the vagina is very acidic most of the Y sperms are destroyed the rest may get immobile and not fit to swim in the cervical canal.


The X sperms are stronger and can withstand the acidity and toxicity better.


Thus if the medium of the reproductive organ mainly vagina, cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes is not favorable then the Y sperms get destroyed or immobile and the surviving X sperms swim in to unite with X egg of the woman to produce female child. This is why failure of family planning method like condom, spermicides, jelly, or withdrawal mostly results in female child. Similarly women having vaginitis, cervicitis, leucorhea, candida infection, cervical erosion almost always produce female children.

[AtLast]

I would highly, HIGHLY recommend reading "Woman: An Intimate Geography" by Natalie Angier. She's a biologist and examines the female body from genetics and hormones to cellular function in hysterical and engaging ways. I haven't laughed this hard during a book in a long while. But it's fascinatingly educational, too.

Did you know the X chromosome is large and healthy (carrying like 2,000 genes) while the Y chromosome is small, puny, fragile and only carries like 90 genes? The X chromosome, scientists are finding, is capable of tremendous things, far outside the scope of anything the Y chromosome is able to do.

Also, the egg is the only cell in the entire human experience that is capable of taking the DNA from any cell in the body and turning it into a multiplying zygote? Meaning, you can take a liver cell, isolate a few things, put it into an egg and voila - the egg turns on all of these light switches within the liver cell turning it into a full blown zygote and it begins to reproduce and form a new being (that's how cloning works - not advocating cloning here, just demonstrating the ultimate power of the egg!).

I think XYs have a lot to be worried about. Women are magical, powerful, genetically fantastic creatures capable of amazing things that they aren't even fully aware of.

But, I agree with you, June, that women suffer the consequences and are pushed into inferiority by some cultures for no reason other than fear. It's heartbreaking and infuriating all at once. :(

OK, ordering this book, pronto!

EGG POWER!!!

Ever thought of males in our society only being those that began as female (although, personally, I believe that many that transition were male anyway)? Reproduction via egg plus egg, only?

My main question would be- would this alter the patriarchal power structure at all in terms of societal norms and male/masculine being in control?

I sometimes think about this simply in terms of how women being the ones that carry our young and traditionally the main caretaker. But, this could take oin a very different role in an egg-only reproductice schema.

One of the reasons that I could never accept the more radical and separatist feminist ideologies has to do with how women that choose (did we really choose based upon social dictates?) to work within the home and be the main child rearing partner being viwed as less than men. Child rearing outside of being a "bread winner" has always been the "less than" factor. Even in the face of statistical facts demonstrating the high numbers of women working outside the home as sole bread winners and as equal bread winners!!

What I find terribly sad is how little respect we in the US have for child rearing. Gee, you think this has something to do with what has happened to our educational system?

Until work of the home and children is viewed and valued in the same ways that work outside the home is... women will continue to be second class citizens.

Would and Egg Power structure change this?

[Corkey]

http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/in_north_carolina_no_changing_your_mind_about_havi ng_sex?me=nl

[Glenn]

KFC pays college girls $500.00 to wear the words "Double Down" on their rear ends. www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/22

[AtLast]

KFC pays college girls $500.00 to wear the words "Double Down" on their rear ends. www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/22

YUCK!

:|

[Corkey]

Just in case anyone had any thoughts of voting for these guys, here's something to mull over.

http://dccc.org/blog/entry/republican_young_guns_show_alarming_pattern_of_con tempt_towards_women/

[Nat]

Lithuanian Firm Wants to Create an "Island of Blondes" (http://www.bust.com/blog/2010/10/13/lithuanian-firm-wants-to-create-an-qisland-of-blondesq.html)

Olialia is creating an "Island of Blondes", where the staff will be exclusively made up of blonde women. Oh, and among offerings such as spa treatments and "entertainments", they also plan to have an education center called "Pretty Women", which will "teach female guests to always be perfect and look great." There's the possibility of an airline and yacht service being launched as well, which will also employ only blondes, just in case there are guests who want to start their Barbie overdose vacation ahead of time. Names for this resort are still being debated, with "Olialia Paradise" being tossed around, but I don't know why they don't just go for the obvious, "Vacation Spot for Endorsing the Objectification of Women".

[Jess]

Oct 14, 2010
source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Citigroup-sued-for-gender-discrimination/articleshow/6746931.cms



BOSTON: Financial services conglomerate Citigroup was yesterday sued for gender discrimination by six of its current and former female employees who alleged the company paid women less than their male counterparts.

According to the lawsuit filed in US District Court in Manhattan, Citigroup is more likely to lay off well-qualified women and retain less qualified men.

"The outdated 'boys club' is alive and well at Citigroup where women are denied equal terms and conditions of employment that are provided to similarly-situated male employees," the complainants said in the lawsuit.

Five of the six women who moved the court against the 'discrimination' by the bank yesterday had worked in its public finance department and were among those laid off in November 2008.

The women alleged that Citigroup did not compensate female employees the way it did the male counterparts and overlooked them for promotions.

"As a result of this 'boys club,' men dominate the senior ranks of Citigroup's management and executive positions", they said in the lawsuit.

The sixth woman, who currently works in the asset finance group of the banking behemoth, alleged that she was demoted after returning from the maternity leave and has faced offensive comments at workplace.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, class-action status and a court order to end discrimination.

The complainants assert that Citigroup's 44-member senior leadership committee includes only five women, and that its 19-member executive committee comprises entirely of men.

It further said there was significant disparity in the number of women and men laid off in the November 2008 cuts "that was unlikely to have occurred by chance and instead was the result of intentional gender discrimination."

"While Citigroup has worked so hard to right the ship and repay (Troubled Asset Relief Programme) funds borrowed from the federal government, it has failed to address the pervasive discrimination and retaliation that its female employees have been subjected to throughout the course of their employment," the lawsuit said.

"As a result of this company wide discrimination, there is a glass ceiling adversely affecting female employees, especially those female employees who become pregnant, take a maternity leave, or have childcare obligations at Citigroup in all facets of their employment," it added.

[Soon]

Yale fraternity pledges chant about rape
(http://www.salon.com/life/violence_against_women/index.html?story=/mwt/broadsheet/2010/10/15/yale_fraternity_pledges_chant_about_rape)
A viral video shows young men marching through campus while barking, "No means yes!"

Sometimes, the post just writes itself: On Wednesday night, Delta Kappa Epsilon pledges marched through Yale's Old Campus -- where most first-year female students are housed -- chanting, "No means yes, yes means anal!" The fraternity pledges were marched blindfolded while barking like soldiers ... with marching orders of anal rape. They also threw in, "My name is Jack, I'm a necrophiliac, I fuck dead women." A video of the initiation was immediately posted on YouTube and, what do you know, it's gone viral.

Now, DKE President Jordan Forney has been forced to apologize for this blatant sexual intimidation by calling it "a serious lapse in judgment by the fraternity and in very poor taste." But this sort of hateful crap isn't a "lapse in judgment." It doesn't innocently happen that you're guiding male pledges by young women's dorms in the dark of night chanting about anal rape. It isn't a forehead-slapping slip-up, it's a sign that you need major reprogramming as a human being. Student feminist magazine Broad Recognition has it right: It's calling for Yale to take disciplinary action against DKE -- where George W. Bush got his presidential training -- "on behalf of its female students."


CLh0RMpit1k&feature=player_embedded

[Greyson]

latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-1016-gender-politics-20101016,0,1971721.story
latimes.com

It's a strange year for gender in politics
Polite sensitivities are being shelved during this election cycle, a trend led by the conservative female candidates who call themselves 'mama grizzlies.'By Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau

October 16, 2010


In one of the stranger moments in the Nevada Senate debate Thursday, Sharron Angle, the ever-grinning, grandmotherly GOP Senate candidate, fired off the retort of the night.

"Man up, Harry Reid," the 61-year-old said, dropping the smile as she pushed the Senate majority leader to discuss Social Security's solvency.

Angle's zinger stood out for its unexpected near-hipness. But in the current political climate, the fact that it was loaded with sexual stereotypes seemed hardly to register as controversial.

The 2010 election cycle may be remembered for a jarring shift in the political dialogue between the sexes, a moment when polite sensitivities were shelved and bold gender-based power plays became the norm.

The trend is clearest among a new class of conservative women — the "mama grizzlies" who pride themselves on a strong and irreverent post-feminist posture and frank rhetoric. Their leader, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, set the tone when she told Fox News Channel in August that President Obama didn't have the "cojones" to get tough on illegal immigration.

About a month later, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell told a radio interviewer that her primary opponent should "put his man pants on." Angle's "man up" seemed another link in that chain.

"The references to manliness have gotten more explicit," said Deborah Tannen, an author and linguist who has studied communication between the sexes at Georgetown University. At the same time, Palin "has built a sort of brand on" such brash statements, while the culture at large is welcoming less formal conversation.

"The lines between public and private keep blurring, so ways of talking you used to do only in private you more and more do in public," Tannen said.

The trend isn't exclusive to conservative women. Missouri Democrat Robin Carnahan also told Republican Rep. Roy Blunt to "man up" in their Senate debate Thursday.

Male candidates also have used the phrase with increasing frequency — usually in an attempt to insinuate an opponent's lack of political courage.

"At least man up and say I'm fat," the rotund Republican Chris Christie said last year in answer to ads from then- New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine accusing him of "throwing his weight around."

But experts in political discourse see another subtext, particularly when coming from a female candidate.

"Male candidates have traditionally been assumed by would-be voters to be tough and competent. Women have traditionally been assumed to be caring and have to establish their competence," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. " 'Man up' frames the attacker as tougher than the person attacked and suggests the male candidate is not taking responsibility or being accountable for his failures."

Others see the origins as more closely tied to the identities of the two parties and the way they connect with voters.George Lakoff, a professor of cognitive science and linguistics at UC Berkeley, describes the Republican Party as emphasizing masculinity and strength in its world view and rhetoric, while Democrats underscore the more feminine quality of empathy. Conservative women, in order to trigger cues in some voters, must project strength, he said."If you're a woman candidate who's a conservative, then you have to say you're more masculine than the other guy," Lakoff said.

The boldly direct approach seems to suggest a double standard. It is hard to imagine a male candidate telling a female opponent to be more ladylike without facing repercussions. In fact, the candidates who have recently been accused of sexism were men.

In Colorado, Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck was widely criticized for telling voters to support him because, unlike primary opponent Jane Norton, "I do not wear high heels." In California, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown apologized to Republican Meg Whitman after an aide was recorded calling Whitman a "whore."

But in the Colorado Senate race, Buck was not the first to strike on gender terms. In a July ad, Norton assailed attack ads against her. "They're paid for by a shady interest group doing the bidding of Ken Buck. You'd think Ken would be man enough to do it himself," she said.

None of this is to suggest female candidates do not face sexism, said Jamieson. Women continue to be criticized based on gender stereotypes, she said — often for being too weak, incompetent or, in some cases, not feminine enough."The attack is made, but not in explicitly gendered terms," she said.

Implicit remarks are no less effective. It was Margaret Thatcher, a hero of Palin's, who, when sensing that President George H.W. Bush was wavering on the Gulf War, reportedly warned, "Don't go wobbly on us, George."

kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

[The_Lady_Snow]

(http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/21/130718749/morning-shots-philip-seymour-hoffman-inevitably-arrives-as-willy-loman)[/URL]
[URL="http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/21/130719727/gq-s-gross-glee-photos-the-objections-are-right-for-the-wrong-reasons"]GQ's Gross 'Glee' Photos: The Objections Are Right For The Wrong Reasons (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/21/130722464/conan-o-brien-s-first-week-of-guests-includes-tom-hanks-and-jon-hamm)



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130719727&sc=fb&cc=fp

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010/10/21/gleecover_custom.jpg?t=1287674077&s=12

[Soon]

Vote No on Sexist Politics (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/11/08/vote-no-on-sexist-politics/)

[Soon]

http://msmagazine.com/blog/files/2010/11/WelcomeBamaFans1-500x375.jpg


No Comment: A Big Fat Sexist Welcome from LSU!

How about some school pride at the expense of women?
Here’s a banner that is currently on display at an apartment complex near Louisiana State University (LSU), presenting two supposed LSU fans and one University of Alabama fan in anticipation of a recent football game between the two rival teams.

As my LSU friend (who originally spotted the banner) notes, “it is obviously sexist, fat-phobic and caters to a male gaze and sports rivalry through objectification of women.” Individuals from two feminist organizations at LSU, WOW and WGSGO, repeatedly called the apartment complex to ask that the banner be taken down.

It’s a perfect example of how fat bodies are both themselves stigmatized and used to stigmatize others. In this case, not only is this individual woman being mocked, but marking her as an Alabama fan serves to mock and denigrate all other fans by association. Because, as we all know, the campus with the hottest (according to conventional standards of attractiveness) chicks wins!

This post was originally published at Sociological Images

[Soon]

Study: Over 1 in 3 South African Men Admit to Rape
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/26/world/main7092661.shtml)
In the Study, More Than 37% of Men Say They Had Raped a Woman; 7% Say They Had Participated in Gang Rape

[Nat]

Study: Over 1 in 3 South African Men Admit to Rape
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/26/world/main7092661.shtml)
In the Study, More Than 37% of Men Say They Had Raped a Woman; 7% Say They Had Participated in Gang Rape

um. wow. hmm. :(

[JustJo]

Okay, so this isn't in the news, but it still pissed me off today...

I went to get my Florida driver's license...trying to be responsible and not drive illegally on my NY license.

I trotted up to the counter with my pile of paperwork....2 proofs of identity, 2 proofs of address, etc. I had my original birth certificate, social security card, proof of car insurance, voter registration card, car registration and my cable bill....more than enough.

The woman behind the counter looks at it all and says "okay, but we need to prove the name trail from *birth name* to *current last name* and they have to be certified copies from the court house, not the church." I looked at her :blink: ....and said, "my birth name was 3 marriages and divorces ago, and one of those happened in Australia....how am I supposed to accomplish that when you give me 10 days before I'm driving illegally?"

She shrugged.

Okay....this pisses me off. Our culture strongly encourages women to take their husband's name when they marry. I've been married 3 times. A man who was married 3 times would have *surprise* still the same name he was born with....and not this insane documentation burden that women are being subjected to.

It just feels like unfair bullshit to me.

[katsarecool]

Okay, so this isn't in the news, but it still pissed me off today...

I went to get my Florida driver's license...trying to be responsible and not drive illegally on my NY license.

I trotted up to the counter with my pile of paperwork....2 proofs of identity, 2 proofs of address, etc. I had my original birth certificate, social security card, proof of car insurance, voter registration card, car registration and my cable bill....more than enough.

The woman behind the counter looks at it all and says "okay, but we need to prove the name trail from *birth name* to *current last name* and they have to be certified copies from the court house, not the church." I looked at her :blink: ....and said, "my birth name was 3 marriages and divorces ago, and one of those happened in Australia....how am I supposed to accomplish that when you give me 10 days before I'm driving illegally?"

She shrugged.

Okay....this pisses me off. Our culture strongly encourages women to take their husband's name when they marry. I've been married 3 times. A man who was married 3 times would have *surprise* still the same name he was born with....and not this insane documentation burden that women are being subjected to.

It just feels like unfair bullshit to me.I totally agree. It also feels like Red State paranoia as well. Oh heaven forbid if one single undocumented person mistakenly gets a license. The same rules apply here in Ga! It would encourage women to keep their own names all their lives. I wish I had!!!

[JustJo]

I totally agree. It also feels like Red State paranoia as well. Oh heaven forbid if one single undocumented person mistakenly gets a license. The same rules apply here in Ga! It would encourage women to keep their own names all their lives. I wish I had!!!

Amen to that! Of course, my father was the biggest jerk of all of the men in my life....so keeping his name feels a bit yucky too. I seriously should just make up my own! :)

[DapperButch]

Okay, so this isn't in the news, but it still pissed me off today...

I went to get my Florida driver's license...trying to be responsible and not drive illegally on my NY license.

I trotted up to the counter with my pile of paperwork....2 proofs of identity, 2 proofs of address, etc. I had my original birth certificate, social security card, proof of car insurance, voter registration card, car registration and my cable bill....more than enough.

The woman behind the counter looks at it all and says "okay, but we need to prove the name trail from *birth name* to *current last name* and they have to be certified copies from the court house, not the church." I looked at her :blink: ....and said, "my birth name was 3 marriages and divorces ago, and one of those happened in Australia....how am I supposed to accomplish that when you give me 10 days before I'm driving illegally?"

She shrugged.

Okay....this pisses me off. Our culture strongly encourages women to take their husband's name when they marry. I've been married 3 times. A man who was married 3 times would have *surprise* still the same name he was born with....and not this insane documentation burden that women are being subjected to.

It just feels like unfair bullshit to me.

Jo - did they end up not letting you have a license, or were you just not allowed to get one of those "secure" ones. Here my friend was able to still get one without that info., but it expired one year early and wasn't "secure" or some such crap.

[JustJo]

Jo - did they end up not letting you have a license, or were you just not allowed to get one of those "secure" ones. Here my friend was able to still get one without that info., but it expired one year early and wasn't "secure" or some such crap.

Hi Dapper,

They sent me home for more documentation...wouldn't do anything without full documents.

Luckily I found my most recent marriage license and (miracle of miracles) it had my maiden name on it as well as my previous married name....sooooo back to the office I went, and am now the holder of an actual FL driver's license. Woot!

If that one document hadn't included the maiden name I'd have been literally writing to Australia and praying I could get something that would make them happy. I was married in a podunk town in middle-of-nowhere Queensland in the 1980s by a marriage celebrant (who left our wedding and went home to shoot his wife in the leg....whole other story)....and just don't have the official sealed, stamped, notarized stuff they wanted here. Our marriage license was handwritten by the celebrant....which was good enough for Australia at that time.

What a pain in the neck!

[DapperButch]

Hi Dapper,

They sent me home for more documentation...wouldn't do anything without full documents.

Luckily I found my most recent marriage license and (miracle of miracles) it had my maiden name on it as well as my previous married name....sooooo back to the office I went, and am now the holder of an actual FL driver's license. Woot!

If that one document hadn't included the maiden name I'd have been literally writing to Australia and praying I could get something that would make them happy. I was married in a podunk town in middle-of-nowhere Queensland in the 1980s by a marriage celebrant (who left our wedding and went home to shoot his wife in the leg....whole other story)....and just don't have the official sealed, stamped, notarized stuff they wanted here. Our marriage license was handwritten by the celebrant....which was good enough for Australia at that time.

What a pain in the neck!

Geez. Thank God that document had what was needed. Would have sucked worse! Glad it worked out.

[Soon]

I don't understand why people change their names in the first place.

Good luck with the red tape!

[DapperButch]

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/sugar-plum-fairy-ballerina-jenifer-ringer-shrugs-off-weighty-criticism/19758195?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C189819

I missed the above mentioned review last month. Sorry if the topic has already been discussed elsewhere. This crap just ticks me off.

It is good to hear that she was able to take it in stride, especially when she has a history of an eating disorder, and also good to hear that she got a lot of support around the negative comment.

[betenoire]

This made me really unhappy:

Apparently now letting your daughters aged 12 and under get stuff waxed is "the new normal" (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26182276)

Just fan fucking tastic. I am especially upset by the mention of getting girls waxed before they even develop pubic hair because apparently that will keep them from -ever- getting it. It's abusive and exploitative.

What the hell is so wrong with body hair, anyway?

[atomiczombie]

This made me really unhappy:

Apparently now letting your daughters aged 12 and under get stuff waxed is "the new normal" (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26182276)

Just fan fucking tastic. I am especially upset by the mention of getting girls waxed before they even develop pubic hair because apparently that will keep them from -ever- getting it. It's abusive and exploitative.

What the hell is so wrong with body hair, anyway?

That is really disgusting to sexualize a minor in that way. What mom in her right mind would do such a thing?

[Soon]

Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/scalia-women-discrimination-constitution_n_803813.html)

WASHINGTON -- The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

In a newly published interview in the legal magazine California Lawyer, Scalia said that while the Constitution does not disallow the passage of legislation outlawing such discrimination, it doesn't itself outlaw that behavior:

In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?

Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. ... But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

For the record, the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause states: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." That would seem to include protection against exactly the kind of discrimination to which Scalia referred.

Marcia Greenberger, founder and co-president of the National Women's Law Center, called the justice's comments "shocking" and said he was essentially saying that if the government sanctions discrimination against women, the judiciary offers no recourse.

"In these comments, Justice Scalia says if Congress wants to protect laws that prohibit sex discrimination, that's up to them," she said. "But what if they want to pass laws that discriminate? Then he says that there's nothing the court will do to protect women from government-sanctioned discrimination against them. And that's a pretty shocking position to take in 2011. It's especially shocking in light of the decades of precedents and the numbers of justices who have agreed that there is protection in the 14th Amendment against sex discrimination, and struck down many, many laws in many, many areas on the basis of that protection."

Greenberger added that under Scalia's doctrine, women could be legally barred from juries, paid less by the government, receive fewer benefits in the armed forces, and be excluded from state-run schools -- all things that have happened in the past, before their rights to equal protection were enforced.

"In 1971, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that they were protected, in an opinion by the conservative then Chief Justice Warren Burger," Adam Cohen wrote in Time in September. "It is no small thing to talk about writing women out of equal protection -- or Jews, or Latinos or other groups who would lose their protection by the same logic. It is nice to think that legislatures would protect these minorities from oppression by the majority, but we have a very different country when the Constitution guarantees that it is so."

In 1996, Scalia cast the sole vote in favor of allowing the Virginia Military Institute to continue denying women admission.

[DapperButch]

This made me really unhappy:

Apparently now letting your daughters aged 12 and under get stuff waxed is "the new normal" (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26182276)

Just fan fucking tastic. I am especially upset by the mention of getting girls waxed before they even develop pubic hair because apparently that will keep them from -ever- getting it. It's abusive and exploitative.

What the hell is so wrong with body hair, anyway?

This is really, really disturbing to me. Bikini waxes on children? There should be a freaking law about that. To me, that is sexualizing a child.

[Soon]

Bed 18
by J. Malcolm Garcia, January 2011 (http://www.guernicamag.com/features/2232/garcia_1_1_11/)

[Nat]

Who knew?
http://cdn.webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lesbian-lizards.jpg

Leaping Lesbian Lizards!

Officially named Cnemidophorus uniparens, these American desert lizards reproduce despite the fact that they’re all female. Interestingly, some of them simulate sexual acts (above, left) with each other just like male and female lizards, and it’s been discovered that when they do they reproduce more successfully than their abstemious sisters.

I posted this a while ago in a different thread, and I recently shared it with my partner. She found the below article, which irked me enough to come post it here:

It's from Time (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921830,00.html#ixzz1BJnX11Tj)

Lesbian reptiles act like males

Readers of science journals know a good deal about bisexual aphids, "homosexual" gulls, and "transvestite" fish, species in which the male adopts the coloration and movements of the female to trick other males. Some researchers argue that every expression of human sexuality has some sort of analogue in the animal world. But even jaded followers of animal sex studies will have to admit that a Harvard team has now discovered something really new: "lesbian" lizards that copulate like males.

So far biologists have identified 27 kinds of parthenogenetic lizards—all-female species that lay eggs to produce exact genetic copies of the mother. On field trips in Arizona and Colorado, a team of researchers headed by Psychobiologist David Crews found that four of these species engage in mock male-female sex.

An active female mounts a passive one, curves the tail under the other's body, strokes the partner's back and neck, joins genital regions, and rides on top for one to five minutes. The active female lizard always has small undeveloped eggs, while the passive female has large pre-ovulatory eggs. But there are cyclic variations in behavior and egg size in these reptiles, and roles reverse; the passive female of one encounter can be the active partner of the next. Says Crews: "We are now trying to determine whether this malelike behavior facilitates reproductive function." Translation: the psychobiologist does not yet know why the females mock the male-female behavior of related two-sex species. The eggs hatch with or without the lesbian courtship.

Crews thinks the discovery has important implications. "What we have found here," he says, "is the first evidence of animals where sex and sexuality are independent of each other." Still, it is too early to announce that sex for its own sake was first discovered by lizards. The mounting behavior may serve to synchronize the egg laying, or increase the number of eggs. Or it may be, according to Crews, that the malelike behavior among the female lizards is a kind of "compensation" for life without males. Or it might be an evolutionary hangover from the good old male-female days. Since stories about animal sexuality are inevitably drawn into human sexual politics these days, Crews may be called to task by radical lesbians for his hetero chauvinism. If so, he will have to plead guilty: his team is currently treating eggs with hormones in hopes of producing the species' first males.

[Nat]

_Ad97G0Ume8

Okay so this isn't news but I saw this commercial earlier and found it to be a really beautiful illustration of the differences that are so common between the way women and men are portrayed in the media. In this case, that's achieved by posing men the way women are often posed.

I assume they are just trying to be funny, but I thought it was well done in that it showed the ridiculousness of how women and women's beauty are marketed.

[Soon]

The House GOP's Plan to Redefine Rape (http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion)



Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad. Republicans are pushing to limit rape and incest cases eligible for government abortion funding.

[Toughy]

I knew nothing about this.....not anything at all....the date of the op ed is August 26, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/opinion/27volpato.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=italian%20women%20rise&st=cse

[DapperButch]

Tell 1-800-Flowers to offer Fair Trade flowers this Valentine's Day




Dear _________,

Valentine's Day, which accounts for 40% of fresh flower sales annually, is fast approaching.

If you're planning to order a bouquet from 1-800-Flowers -- the world's largest florist -- you should know where most of those flowers really come from.

At flower farms in Ecuador and Colombia -- the countries that export the most to the U.S. -- two-thirds of the workers are women. These women are routinely subjected to harassment and even rape from their male supervisors. They suffer eye infections and miscarriages from consistent contact with dangerous pesticides.

In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, they're routinely forced to work 80-hour weeks with no overtime pay. Attempts to form a union are met with opposition by police and armed forces.

Many retailers -- such as Whole Foods and Stop & Shop -- have taken the important first step of offering Fair Trade flowers to consumers who want no part of these abuses. Fair Trade certified farms must adhere to strict standards for workers' rights, which prevents the abuses described above.

1-800-Flowers is the largest florist in the world. Yet they offer no Fair Trade flowers at all.

Tell 1-800-Flowers to join other major retailers in offering Fair Trade flowers.

1-800-Flowers uses a certifying agency called Florverde, which ensures that its flower farms measure up to certain environmental standards -- this is a good thing. But Florverde has almost no labor standards: A farm can be certified even if it uses forced labor.Indeed, Florverde is owned by the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, so it has a financial incentive to keep wages low and suppress workers' rights.

This is the week before Valentine's Day -- more people will purchase flowers during the next seven days than any other week this year. This is our best opportunity to demand a promise from 1-800-Flowers to join its competitors in offering Fair Trade flowers. So after you sign the petition, please share this email widely and post on Facebook -- do everything you can to pressure 1-800-Flowers to show a little respect for the women who toil in unbearable circumstances. The women without whom they'd have no flowers to sell.

Click the link below to tell 1-800-Flowers to make a promise this Valentine's Day to sell Fair Trade flowers:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-1-800-flowers-to-offer-fair-trade-flowers-that-arent-picked-by-exploited-workers?alert_id=IiStMzHsCg_hrXVYwIfwh&me=aa

Since this campaign began, the company has emailed to tell us that it will post more information on its website about the farms that supply their flowers. But this is a far cry from selling fair trade products -- and we have much more to do to make sure workers are protected. This is the week to do it.

Thanks for taking action,

Patrick and the Change.org team



ETA: I received this in email and have no supporting information to validate the above information, but thought I would pass it along.

[betenoire]

Alabama Lesbian Attacked by a Dozen, But She Alone Was Arrested (http://unfinishedlivesblog.com/2011/02/08/alabama-lesbian-attacked-by-a-dozen-but-she-alone-was-arrested/)

The victim says she had never been to the bar before, but had concerns that, as a lesbian, she would not be welcome there. Her fears were confirmed as the two women left the premises. According to Gilbert and Sidall, a woman approached them and started a fight. The altercation grew to include a gang of ten women and two men. One of the men shouted at Gilbert, “If you want to look like a man, you can get hit like a man!” Rather than being punched to the ground, Gilbert fought back to defend herself. Siddall immediately called 911, but the Lee County Sheriff’s Deputies who responded to the emergency call after the fight was over singled Gilbert out, arresting her for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. No one else has been charged or arrested.

[betenoire]

The House GOP's Plan to Redefine Rape (http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion)



Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad. Republicans are pushing to limit rape and incest cases eligible for government abortion funding.

There was a good satire of this on the Daily Show regarding this. It was funny because it outlined exactly how fucked up this is - but unfunny because the concept really IS too painful to laugh at. :whoop:

Rape-ish V Rape-Rape (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-2-2011/rape-victim-abortion-funding)

[Soon]

Republican Lawmakers Face Grassroots Pressure Over 'War On Contraception' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/republican-war-on-contraception_n_822843.html)


WASHINGTON -- Women's-rights activists are taking the fight to preserve family-planning funding outside the Beltway, calling on grassroots activists to pressure their representatives into maintaining the Title X program.

Enacted in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act, the family-planning program was designed to focus on low-income Americans. The preventive-health services it provides include information and access to contraception, earning the ire of social conservatives.

Though there is no mention of Title X in President Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal year 2012, Republicans have placed a high priority on cutting the $317 million the program received in FY 2011 appropriations, which would effectively eliminate it. The stopgap budget proposal the GOP released last week includes no money for the program, and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) has introduced separate legislation to "deny Title X funds to Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider."

The abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America launched a campaign on Monday to mobilize activists in six districts where abortion-rights advocates lost to "anti- or mixed-choice representatives" in November's midterm elections. The campaign targets Republican Reps. Charlie Bass (N.H.), Robert Dold (Ill.), Chris Gibson (N.Y.), Richard Hanna (N.Y), Nan Hayworth (N.Y) and Steve Stivers (Ohio).

NARAL is also stepping up pressure on longer-serving members, including Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski (Ill.) and Republican Reps. Judy Biggert (Ill.), Charlie Dent (Penn.), Mary Bono Mack (Calif.), Rodney Frelinghuysen (N.J), Leonard Lance (N.J), and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.).

"And where is your alleged 'moderate' representative on this?" reads the email going out to activists in Stivers' district. "We don't know. Rep. Stivers has said nothing of this proposed cut, and it's very possible that he could choose to vote for an anti-choice budget that decimates family planning."

"Politicians who campaigned on the promise of focusing on jobs and the economy need to be held accountable if, at the first possible opportunity, they join with John Boehner to launch a full-fledged war on contraception," NARAL President Nancy Keenan said. "It is the height of hypocrisy for anti-choice politicians to seek to abolish a program that helps prevent unintended pregnancy and thus reduce the need for abortion. How many jobs will be generated by eliminating women's access to birth control?"

Democratic lawmakers are working to increase public attention to Pence's bill and two other measures that would restrict abortion access.

"We have to make this issue too hot to handle," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a Thursday conference call with reporters. "I would like to make the fight in the House and see where some of these Republicans are -- maybe we could win it on Title X. I can't believe that everybody who is anti a woman's right to choose is anti-birth control and contraception and family planning. But we don't know that, and we don't have any idea -- or I don't, anyway -- where the Tea Party people come down in all of this."

In an interview with The Huffington Post at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) disagreed with the argument that this focus on social issues is a distraction from the economy.

"It is an economic and a moral issue, so anytime you can kill two birds with one stone, we ought to do that," King said. "And if we can kill the whole flock with one rock, we ought to do that."

[Toughy]

I knew nothing about this.....not anything at all....the date of the op ed is August 26, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/opinion/27volpato.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=italian%20women%20rise&st=cse

and as a follow-up to this story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-13/italian-women-tell-silvio-berlusconi-they-are-fed-up/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR5

Against the backdrop of a huge inflatable penis, flaccid and caught in a pair of giant scissors, more than 100,000 protesters crammed into Rome's Piazza del Popolo to protest Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's treatment of women and call for his resignation. Similar protests were held in 230 cities across Italy, from Naples to Turin, with smaller demonstrations in Paris, London, and cities throughout Europe.

[Soon]

and as a follow-up to this story:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-13/italian-women-tell-silvio-berlusconi-they-are-fed-up/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR5

Against the backdrop of a huge inflatable penis, flaccid and caught in a pair of giant scissors, more than 100,000 protesters crammed into Rome's Piazza del Popolo to protest Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's treatment of women and call for his resignation. Similar protests were held in 230 cities across Italy, from Naples to Turin, with smaller demonstrations in Paris, London, and cities throughout Europe.

I had no idea...from the link:

The World Economic Forum ranks Italy 74th in its treatment of women, behind Colombia, Peru, and Vietnam. In areas of pay equity and equal opportunity, it ranks 121st; in equal opportunity, it ranks 97th.
"Italy is one of the most backward countries in Europe in almost every indicator of gender equality," said parliamentarian Emma Bonino.

Just 45 percent of Italian women work outside the home, compared with 80 percent of women in Norway and 72 percent in the United Kingdom. When they do work, they earn on average 20 percent less than men in the same positions, and only seven percent of the top corporate managers in Italy are women. A recent survey showed that 90 percent of Italian men have never run a washing machine and 70 percent have never used a stove. Private day care is virtually nonexistent, and state-subsidized nursery schools only begin at the age of 3. Grandparents are considered the primary caregivers, meaning women with adult children can't work because they need to babysit the grandchildren.

[DapperButch]

Tell 1-800-Flowers to offer Fair Trade flowers this Valentine's Day




Dear _________,

Valentine's Day, which accounts for 40% of fresh flower sales annually, is fast approaching.

If you're planning to order a bouquet from 1-800-Flowers -- the world's largest florist -- you should know where most of those flowers really come from.

At flower farms in Ecuador and Colombia -- the countries that export the most to the U.S. -- two-thirds of the workers are women. These women are routinely subjected to harassment and even rape from their male supervisors. They suffer eye infections and miscarriages from consistent contact with dangerous pesticides.

In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, they're routinely forced to work 80-hour weeks with no overtime pay. Attempts to form a union are met with opposition by police and armed forces.

Many retailers -- such as Whole Foods and Stop & Shop -- have taken the important first step of offering Fair Trade flowers to consumers who want no part of these abuses. Fair Trade certified farms must adhere to strict standards for workers' rights, which prevents the abuses described above.

1-800-Flowers is the largest florist in the world. Yet they offer no Fair Trade flowers at all.

Tell 1-800-Flowers to join other major retailers in offering Fair Trade flowers.

1-800-Flowers uses a certifying agency called Florverde, which ensures that its flower farms measure up to certain environmental standards -- this is a good thing. But Florverde has almost no labor standards: A farm can be certified even if it uses forced labor.Indeed, Florverde is owned by the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, so it has a financial incentive to keep wages low and suppress workers' rights.

This is the week before Valentine's Day -- more people will purchase flowers during the next seven days than any other week this year. This is our best opportunity to demand a promise from 1-800-Flowers to join its competitors in offering Fair Trade flowers. So after you sign the petition, please share this email widely and post on Facebook -- do everything you can to pressure 1-800-Flowers to show a little respect for the women who toil in unbearable circumstances. The women without whom they'd have no flowers to sell.

Click the link below to tell 1-800-Flowers to make a promise this Valentine's Day to sell Fair Trade flowers:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-1-800-flowers-to-offer-fair-trade-flowers-that-arent-picked-by-exploited-workers?alert_id=IiStMzHsCg_hrXVYwIfwh&me=aa

Since this campaign began, the company has emailed to tell us that it will post more information on its website about the farms that supply their flowers. But this is a far cry from selling fair trade products -- and we have much more to do to make sure workers are protected. This is the week to do it.

Thanks for taking action,

Patrick and the Change.org team



ETA: I received this in email and have no supporting information to validate the above information, but thought I would pass it along.

In email from Change.org:


Late last week, the largest florist in the world, 1-800-Flowers, responded to 54,000 Change.org members and agreed to begin selling Fair Trade flowers and insist on a strong code of conduct for all their suppliers to counteract the deplorable working conditions that thousands of female flower workers face in South America. They’ve promised to offer Fair Trade flowers in time for Mother's Day, making 1-800-Flowers a leader in the industry. (Click here to write a thank you message on 1-800-Flowers' Facebook wall.)

[Soon]

Rape Myths Persist: Reactions to the Assault on Lara Logan


http://www.alternet.org/story/149952/

By now, most of us have heard about the brutal sexual assault of CBS news correspondent Lara Logan. And by now, most of us have read the inevitable blogs and comment threads reacting to the assault. As a clinical psychologist who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder, I’ve been horrified by some of the comments I’ve read -- declarations about Lara Logan’s looks, her previous sexual history, her choice of profession. The irrelevant information seems to have no bounds.

More than 30 years ago, Psychologist Martha Burt coined the term “rape myths” to describe “prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists.” Rape myths are widely believed and can help justify aggression and sexual violence. On a psychological level rape myths also help us distance ourselves from the victim. For example, This could never happen to me because: 1) I would never have worn a short skirt, 2) I never walk alone at night, 3) I would not have been a journalist in Egypt! Clearly the list of justifications goes on and on.

So let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of this situation. While the circumstances surrounding the attack on Lara Logan are unique, the rape myths lurking all over the internet are familiar to anyone who has worked on sexual assault issues. It’s time to acknowledge and challenge these false beliefs so that we can begin to better support victims of sexual violence.

Correcting Misinformation

Anyone can be sexually assaulted. Sadly, there is data that men, women, old people, children, virgins and sex workers can all be raped. Studies of the general population suggest that approximately 22 percent of women and 4 percent of men are sexually assaulted as adults. As many as As many as 25 percent of girls (PDF) and 8 percent of boys are victims of childhood sexual abuse. Most people, regardless of their gender or ethnicity react to sexual assault in a similar way -- with depression, anxiety and shock. What does seem to make a difference is whether victims have help -- people around to love and support them.

· Sexual assault is about violence and power. There is absolutely no data indicating that good looking or attractive women are assaulted at higher rates.

· Sexual assault is a violent crime. We need to start treating sexual assault like any other violent crime -- a mugging, a stabbing, a homicide. Victims are not more responsible just because forcible sex is involved.

· Most sexual assault involves people we know, and not strangers. So as much as we try to protect ourselves in public, we need to be aware of the very high rates of dating and domestic violence -- which provide the context for the majority of sexual assault in the United States.

Providing Support Immediately After an Assault

· If someone you know is sexually assaulted, make sure you listen. It can be the hardest thing to do -- but we know that support plays a key role in helping people heal.

· Don’t jump in with your own trauma story. It’s human nature to want to let a survivor know you understand them -- and to perhaps give details of a traumatic event you’ve experienced or heard about. Resist this urge because a survivor doesn’t need to deal with another traumatic event while their own memories are still fresh.

· Let the survivor set the pace of disclosure. It can be tempting to want to find out all the information you can about the assault, but remember that you are probably not in law-enforcement. This is not the time. The survivor may not be ready.

· Second guess your questions. Again, what we say and do can help people heal -- but they can also make a survivor’s mental health worse! Because of the stigma of sexual assault, many survivors are already ashamed, guilty, and confused. So ask yourself, “Can I wait to ask that question about the assault?” For example, right after an assault is definitely not the time to ask about what your friend was wearing, or why he or she was in a certain place or with the perpetrator.

· Finally, be yourself. If you don’t know what to say, just admit that. Give the survivor a chance to tell you what they need.

If we work together, we can help Lara Logan and countless others heal from the wounds of assault. We’ve known about “rape myths” for decades. It’s high time we change in the way we treat victims of sexual crimes.


© 2011 Women's Media Center All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/149952/

[Soon]

Right-Wing Republicans Are on the Verge of Voting to Defund Planned Parenthood (http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/149945/right-wing_republicans_are_on_the_verge_of_voting_to_def und_planned_parenthood/)

/snip

CECILE RICHARDS: The House leadership in Congress has basically just declared war on women, really from day one. And I know you had that clip there from Speaker Boehner, but it goes much further than that. They not only are now trying to—federal funding hasn’t been available for abortion for more than 30 years, but what they’re really doing is trying to overturn the legal right to abortion in any context. As well, though, it’s way beyond abortion. Now they’re basically trying to end family planning and access to birth control in America. The Republican budget that came out basically gets rid of the nation’s Family Planning Program. And as well, we expect in the next day or two, with the support of the Speaker, there will be an amendment to basically end all federal funds going to Planned Parenthood, including funds that are used for basic birth control, cancer screenings and preventive care for more than three million people every year.

[waxnrope]

Right-Wing Republicans Are on the Verge of Voting to Defund Planned Parenthood (http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/149945/right-wing_republicans_are_on_the_verge_of_voting_to_def und_planned_parenthood/)

/snip

CECILE RICHARDS: The House leadership in Congress has basically just declared war on women, really from day one. And I know you had that clip there from Speaker Boehner, but it goes much further than that. They not only are now trying to—federal funding hasn’t been available for abortion for more than 30 years, but what they’re really doing is trying to overturn the legal right to abortion in any context. As well, though, it’s way beyond abortion. Now they’re basically trying to end family planning and access to birth control in America. The Republican budget that came out basically gets rid of the nation’s Family Planning Program. And as well, we expect in the next day or two, with the support of the Speaker, there will be an amendment to basically end all federal funds going to Planned Parenthood, including funds that are used for basic birth control, cancer screenings and preventive care for more than three million people every year.

I. AM. SICK. OF. THIS. Just fukkin sick of it. It is past time to get outta here. Sheer lunacy. Ugh.

[DapperButch]

I. AM. SICK. OF. THIS. Just fukkin sick of it. It is past time to get outta here. Sheer lunacy. Ugh.

I hear you on that!

[Nat]

Here's a doozy from huffpo

"why you're not married"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-mcmillan/why-youre-not-married_b_822088.html

[Soon]

Even though Planned Parenthood has been long banned from using any of its federal money for abortions, today the GOP led a lopsided vote to completely defund the agency. The vote was 240-185 with ten Democrats siding with the GOP.

The measure would eliminate about $330 million through the end of September for preventative-health services, including federal funding for contraception and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country. The amendment takes away the money they use to provide for family planning, birth control, medical and preventive services.

Yesterday Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) went off about the bill and shocked the chamber with an angry recounting of her own abortion. Watch this.

ky2gylhdXRA&feature=player_embedded#at=104

[Soon]

GA Legislator Wants to Create The Uterus Police to Investigate Miscarriages (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946257/--GALegislator-Wants-to-Create-The-Uterus-Police-to-Investigate-Miscarriages)




They do this every session in the state legislature here in Georgia. Someone introduces a bill that would make abortion a criminal act. And, yes, this year is no exception. This year's legislation was introduced by House Republican Bobby Franklin ( [ the same guy ]who wants rape victims to be called "accusers"). Franklin is one of the more, ahem, colorful members of the legislature, bless his heart. According to him, SCOTUS had no right to rule on abortion and thus GA can do whatever it damned well pleases. Oh, and you'd better be able to prove your miscarriage was natural or face felony charges/.

[Greyson]

I am posting the story of these three young woman in this thread because all of them had the experience of being treated and valued as an equal during their time spent in Tehrir Square in Cairo. Also, it appears that this being treated with equality shifted after Mubarak resigned. It is alledged that in Egypt women are subjected to acts of blatant physical sexism and other shades of sexism. Sexist acts that a North American woman may find absolutely unacceptable seems to be accepted as the "norm" in Egypt.

I am very heartened to read, hear the voices of some of the women involved in this historic revolution. It is no surprise that women are key to many profound events through out history. The pleasant surprise it that womens involvement is being recognized and documented in a timely fashion.






Women of the revolution

Egyptian women describe the spirit of Tahrir and their hope that the equality they found there will live on.
Fatma Naib Last Modified: 19 Feb 2011 12:11 GMT


When 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz wrote on Facebook that she was going to Cairo's Tahrir Square and urged all those who wanted to save the country to join her, the founding member of the April 6 Youth Movement was hoping to seize the moment as Tunisians showed that it was possible for a popular uprising to defeat a dictator.

Mahfouz later explained on Egyptian television that she and three others from the movement went to the square and began shouting: "Egyptians, four people set themselves on fire out of humiliation and poverty. Egyptians, four people set fire to themselves because they were afraid of the security agencies, not of the fire. Four people set fire to themselves in order to tell you to awaken. We are setting ourselves on fire so that you will take action. Four people set themselves on fire in order to say to the regime: Wake up. We are fed up."

In a video she subsequently posted online , which quickly went viral, she declared: "As long as you say there is no hope, then there will be no hope, but if you go down and take a stance, then there will be hope."

Egyptian women, just like men, took up the call to 'hope'. Here they describe the spirit of Tahrir - the camaraderie and equality they experienced - and their hope that the model of democracy established there will be carried forward as Egyptians shape a new political and social landscape.

Mona Seif, 24, researcher

I have never felt as at peace and as safe as I did during those days in Tahrir
The daughter of a political activist who was imprisoned at the time of her birth and the sister of a blogger who was jailed by the Mubarak regime, Mona Seif says nothing could have prepared her for the scale and intensity of the protests.

"I didn't think it was going to be a revolution. I thought if we could [mobilise] a couple of thousand people then that would be great.

I was angry about the corruption in the country, [about the death of] Khaled Said and the torture of those suspected but never convicted [of being behind] the Alexandria Coptic church [bombing].

I realised this was going to be bigger than we had anticipated when 20,000 people marched towards Tahrir Square on January 25. That is when we saw a shift; it was not about the minimum wage or emergency law anymore. It became much bigger than this, it turned into a protest against the regime, demanding that Mubarak step down and that parliament be dissolved.

On the night later dubbed 'the battle of the camels' when pro-Mubarak thugs attacked us, I was terrified. I thought they were going to shoot us all and get it over with. The turning point for me was when I saw the number of people ready to face death for their beliefs.

"The turning point for me was when I saw the number of people ready to die for their beliefs"

Mona Seif

I was amazed by the peoples’ determination to keep this peaceful even when we were under deadly attacks. When we caught the pro-Mubarak thugs, the guys would protect them from being beaten and say: 'Peaceful, peaceful, we are not going to beat anyone up’. That was when I started thinking: 'No matter what happens we are not going to quit until Mubarak leaves'. The spirit of the people in Tahrir kept us going.

My friend and I had the role of ensuring that all of the videos and pictures from Tahrir were uploaded and as the internet connection was bad in Tahrir, we would use a friend’s nearby flat to make sure the images made it out so everyone could see what was happening in the square.

I have never felt as at peace and as safe as I did during those days in Tahrir. There was a sense of coexistence that overcame all of the problems that usually happen - whether religious or gender based.

Pre-January 25 whenever we would attend protests I would always be told by the men to go to the back to avoid getting injured and that used to anger me. But since January 25 people have begun to treat me as an equal. There was this unspoken admiration for one another in the square.

We went through many ups and downs together. It felt like it had become a different society - there was one Egypt inside Tahrir and another Egypt outside.

The moment Tahrir opened up, we saw a lot of people that were not there before and there were reports of females being harassed.

"There was one Egypt inside Tahrir and another Egypt outside"

Mona Seif

I know that Egypt has changed and we will transfer the spirit of the square to the rest of the country. Before Tahrir if I was [harassed] I would refrain from asking people for help, because there are a lot of people that would disappoint you by blaming you. But I think the spirit of the revolution has empowered us to spread the feeling we established wider and wider. From now on, if anything happens to me, I am going to scream, I am going to ask people to help me and I know that I will find people that will help me.

I was in front of the TV building when the news broke about Mubarak stepping down. I found myself swept away with people screaming and cheering. It was an emotional moment that I celebrated with strangers. People were hugging me, shaking my hands, distributing sweets. At that moment we were all one.

I no longer feel alienated from society. I now walk the streets of Cairo and smile at strangers all the time. I have gained a sense of belonging with everyone on the streets of Cairo - at least for now. Before January 25 I was tempted to leave the country. This feeling has changed now, I want to stay here. This is an extension of our role in the revolution, we have to stay here and contribute to changing our society."

Gigi Ibrahim, 24, political activist

In my experience women play a pivotal role in all protests and strikes
Political activist Gigi Ibrahim played an instrumental role in spreading the word about the protests.

"I started [my political activism] by just talking to people [who were] involved [in the labour movement]. Then I became more active and the whole thing became addictive. I went to meetings and took part in protests. I learned very quickly that most of the strikes in the labour movement were started by women.

In my experience women play a pivotal role in all protests and strikes. Whenever violence erupts, the women would step up and fight the police, and they would be beaten just as much as the men.

I have seen it during the Khaled Said protests in June 2010 when many women were beaten and arrested. Muslim, Christian - all types of women protested.

My family always had problems with me taking part in protests. They prevented me from going for my safety because I am a girl. They were worried about the risks. I would have to lie about attending protests.

When the police violently cleared the square on January 25, I was shot in the back by a rubber bullet while trying to run away from the police as they tear gassed us. I returned to the square, as did many others, the following day and stayed there on and off for the next 18 days.

As things escalated my dad got increasingly worried. On January 28, my sister wanted to lock me in the house. They tried to stop me from leaving, but I was determined and I went out. I moved to my aunt's place that is closer to Tahrir Square and I would go there every now and again to wash and rest before returning to the square.

At first my family was very worried, but as things escalated they started to understand and to be more supportive. My family is not politically active at all.

The day-to-day conditions were not easy. Most of us would use the bathroom inside the nearby mosque. Others would go to nearby flats where people kindly opened their homes for people to use.


"[When the pro-Mubarak thugs attacked us] we were unarmed, we had nothing. That night I felt fear but it changed into determination"

Gigi Ibrahim

I was in Tahrir Square on February 2, when pro-Mubarak thugs attacked us with petrol bombs and rocks. That was the most horrific night. I was trapped in the middle of the square. The outskirts of the square were like a war zone. The more things escalated the more determined we became not to stop. Many people were injured and many died and that pushed us to go on and not give up.

I thought if those armed pro-Mubarak thugs came inside the square it would be the end of us. We were unarmed, we had nothing. That night I felt fear but it changed into determination.

The women played an important role that night. Because we were outnumbered, we had to secure all the exits in the square. The exits between each end of the square would take up to 10 minutes to reach, so the women would go and alert others about where the danger was coming from and make sure that the people who were battling swapped positions with others so that they could rest before going out into the battle again.

The women were also taking care of the wounded in makeshift clinics in the square. Some women were on the front line throwing rocks with the men. I was on the front line documenting the battle with my camera. It was like nothing that I have ever seen or experienced before.

During the 18 days neither I nor any of my friends were harassed. I slept in Tahrir with five men around me that I didn't know and I was safe.

But that changed on the day Mubarak stepped down. The type of people who came then were not interested in the revolution. They were there to take pictures. They came for the carnival atmosphere and that was when things started to change.

When the announcement came we all erupted in joy. I was screaming and crying. I hugged everyone around me. I went from being happy and crying to complete shock. It took a while for it to sink in.

The revolution is not over. All of our demands have not yet been met. We have to continue. This is where the real hard work begins, but it will take a different shape than staging sit-ins in the square. Rebuilding Egypt is going to be tough and we all have to take part in this. There are organised strikes demanding workers’ rights for better pay and conditions and those are the battles to be won now."

Salma El Tarzi, 33, filmmaker

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either freedom or go to jail
Having never been politically active, Salma El Tarzi was sceptical about the protesters’ chances of getting their demands met until the day when she stood on her balcony and saw the crowds. She decided to join the protesters and has not looked back since.

"I was protesting on my own on the 26th and 27th, but bumped into my younger brother in the crowd by chance on the 28th. We just carried on from then onward.

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either stay and fight for freedom or go to jail.

My dad has been very supportive. He was getting to the point where he was telling me and my brother: "Don't run away from gun fire, run towards it."

While in Tahrir we were all receiving threatening calls telling us that if we didn’t vacate the square we would be hunted and killed. But we didn't care at that point. We were at the point of no return.

Tahrir Square became our mini model of how democracy should be. Living there was not easy. We would use a nearby mosque and I would go to a friend’s house every now and then to wash. But I must admit that conditions were not ideal. It was very cold, we slept on the floor. Some of us had tents and some made their own tents. Let’s put it this way, due to the difficult conditions we called it the 'smell of a revolution'.

"Something changed in the dynamic between men and women in Tahrir. When the men saw that women were fighting on the front line that changed their perception of us and we were all united. We were all Egyptians now"

Salma El Tarzi

I was one of many women, young and old, there. We were as active as the men. Some acted as nurses and looked after the wounded during the battles; others were simply helping with distributing water. But there were a great number of women that were on the front line hurling stones at the police and pro-Mubarak thugs.

The duties in the square were divided. We were very organised. Something changed in the dynamic between men and women in Tahrir. When the men saw that women were fighting in the front line that changed their perception of us and we were all united. We were all Egyptians now.

The general view of women changed for many. Not a single case of sexual harassment happened during the protests up until the last day when Mubarak stepped down. That is a big change for Egypt.

The fear barrier was broken for all of us. When we took part in the protests it was just a protest for our basic human rights, but they [the regime] escalated it to a revolution. Their brutality and violence turned it into a revolution. What started as a day of rage turned into a revolution that later toppled the regime that had been in power for 30 years. They [the regime] empowered us through their violence; they made us hold on to the dream of freedom even more. We were all walking around with wounds, but we still kept going. We were even treating injured horses that they had used in their brutal attacks against us.

Before January 25 I didn't have faith that my voice could be heard. I didn't feel like I was in control of my future. The metaphor used by Mubarak that he was our father and we were his children made us feel as though we lacked any motivation.

The revolution woke us up - a collective consciousness has been awoken."

You can follow @FatmaNaib on Twitter


Source: Al Jazeera


http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/2011217134411934738.html#

[Soon]

Behind The Assault On Planned Parenthood (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/24/planned-parenthood-funding_n_827886.html)

[Soon]

Indiana Bill Would Force Doctors To Tell Women That Having An Abortion May Lead To Breast Cancer (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/indiana-women-abortions-breast-cancer_n_833388.html)


WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of protesters rallied at the Indiana statehouse on Tuesday in opposition to restrictive abortion measures that would, among other things, require doctors to tell pregnant women about a controversial theory that says having an abortion could lead to an increased risk of breast cancer.

House Bill 1210, introduced by Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner (R), would make abortions illegal after 20 weeks. The Senate has already passed a similar bill, but it is awaiting action in the House.

The bill would also require physicians to inform a pregnant woman seeking an abortion that the fetus could feel pain and require patients to view an ultrasound. A patient could get out of doing so only if she stated her refusal in writing.

Turner was not available for comment on Wednesday, but he recently said, "The vast majority of both the Senate and House are pro-life legislators, and I think we truly represent Hoosier constituents."

But one of the most controversial portions of the bill is the part that would require doctors to inform women about the risks of abortion, including "the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer."

Indiana wouldn't be the first state to promote this theory. According to the Guttmacher Institute, five states -- Alaska, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia -- currently include mentions of a link between abortion and breast cancer in written counseling materials.

In 1999, Nevada Republican Sharron Angle -- who was then in the state Assembly and recently lost the U.S. Senate race against Harry Reid -- proposed a similar measure requiring doctors to make the abortion-breast cancer link.

[AtLast]

Indiana Bill Would Force Doctors To Tell Women That Having An Abortion May Lead To Breast Cancer (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/indiana-women-abortions-breast-cancer_n_833388.html)


WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of protesters rallied at the Indiana statehouse on Tuesday in opposition to restrictive abortion measures that would, among other things, require doctors to tell pregnant women about a controversial theory that says having an abortion could lead to an increased risk of breast cancer.

House Bill 1210, introduced by Indiana state Rep. Eric Turner (R), would make abortions illegal after 20 weeks. The Senate has already passed a similar bill, but it is awaiting action in the House.

The bill would also require physicians to inform a pregnant woman seeking an abortion that the fetus could feel pain and require patients to view an ultrasound. A patient could get out of doing so only if she stated her refusal in writing.

Turner was not available for comment on Wednesday, but he recently said, "The vast majority of both the Senate and House are pro-life legislators, and I think we truly represent Hoosier constituents."

But one of the most controversial portions of the bill is the part that would require doctors to inform women about the risks of abortion, including "the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer."

Indiana wouldn't be the first state to promote this theory. According to the Guttmacher Institute, five states -- Alaska, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia -- currently include mentions of a link between abortion and breast cancer in written counseling materials.

In 1999, Nevada Republican Sharron Angle -- who was then in the state Assembly and recently lost the U.S. Senate race against Harry Reid -- proposed a similar measure requiring doctors to make the abortion-breast cancer link.

Guess they won't be requiring the studies that point to breast cancer and pregnancy as well, huh? Estrogen related breast cancers fall in this category- although, the research is varied. And pregnacy after age 35 is twice as high as for women at age 20.




http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/pregnancy

[Soon]

Did The New York Times Blame the 11-Year-Old Victim of a Texas Gang Rape? (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/09/did-the-new-york-times-blame-the-11-year-old-victim-of-a-texas-gang-rape/)

[betenoire]

We ask the wrong questions when a female journalist is assaulted (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/news-and-views/judith-timson/we-ask-the-wrong-questions-when-a-female-journalist-is-assaulted/article1911812/)

Why we need any more perspective on sexual assault at all – what it is, what it isn’t – is beyond me. But we clearly do.

[gaea]

Did The New York Times Blame the 11-Year-Old Victim of a Texas Gang Rape? (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/09/did-the-new-york-times-blame-the-11-year-old-victim-of-a-texas-gang-rape/)

this article angered me that girl was victimized by the gang rape then the towns people then the media...

horrific to say the least

[The_Lady_Snow]

Did The New York Times Blame the 11-Year-Old Victim of a Texas Gang Rape? (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/09/did-the-new-york-times-blame-the-11-year-old-victim-of-a-texas-gang-rape/)

I'm disgusted with how people including women blame it on what this child wore.. For Christ sakes she is an eleven year ops CHILD...

[AtLast]

I'm disgusted with how people including women blame it on what this child wore.. For Christ sakes she is an eleven year ops CHILD...

I know- what the hell is wrong with people!

[Soon]

Front-Group Mailer Attacks Female Candidate For Being ‘Unmarried’
Less than two weeks ahead of Election Day in Tampa, FL, a nasty mail advertisement surfaced yesterday attacking candidate Rose Ferlita. Funded by Less Government Now, a 527 group, the mailer urges voters to vote against Ferlita because she is “Unmarried. Unsure. Unelectable.” http://saintpetersblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ferlita-mailer2.png

The mailer suggests that because Ferlita is not married, she is incapable of valuing family or holding public office. “Rose Ferlita has put her political ambition first and foremost, while her opponent is a dedicated family man with two children — Ferlita is an unmarried woman with a suspect commitment to family values,” it reads. Moreover, as Florida blog Saint Petersblog notes, “unmarried” is a “codeword” — “if you read between the lines is a subtle way of casting doubt on Ferlita’s sexual orientation.” Other mailers sent by Less Government Now going after men have focused on the candidates’ record or policy positions, not their personal lives, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Less Government Now appears to be tied to Scott Maddox, a Democratic operative who unsuccessfully ran for Agricultural Commissioner last year, and has been used to bolster tea party candidates in an attempt to split the GOP vote. Tampa has non-partisan mayoral elections, but Ferlita, a current county commissioner, is a Republican.

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/11/mailer-unmarried-women/

[Soon]

Bill Could Force IRS To Investigate Abortions (http://jezebel.com/#!5783397/bill-could-force-irs-to-investigate-abortions)

P.S. Sorry about double pic in my last post!

[Soon]

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/democrat-chastized-saying-uterus-house-floor

Democrat chastised for saying 'uterus' on House floor
:seeingstars:

[Greyson]

The missing subject in Arab uprisings

Published Tuesday, Apr. 05, 2011


There is much about the Middle East that needs changing. It was always a matter of time, for example, before the people would rise up and demand freedom. But we have yet to see the leaders of the uprisings make a forceful case to address one of the most serious problems in the region: the routine abuse, harassment and even the brutalization of women.

The subject gained attention when CBS correspondent Lara Logan was hospitalized following a "sustained sexual assault and beating" while covering celebrations of the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Back then, some blame-the-victim observers said perhaps women should not cover such events, or maybe Logan was not dressed appropriately.

The incident brought to mind a mind-boggling conversation I had years ago while working in Cairo. My Egyptian colleague, normally a forward-looking man, insisted that a woman who doesn't dress modestly has only herself to blame if men rape her. I had not heard that outrageous argument in decades, and my Egyptian friend had never heard the view that nothing excuses rape. He ultimately agreed, leading me to conclude that a determined education campaign might change attitudes, at least among part of the population.

For now, reformers have not made the cause of women's rights prominent in their demands because the attitudes that cause the problem are endemic in the population, not just in the regimes they seek to change. But if progressive leaders want to improve life for everyone, women's rights should figure at the top of their agenda. Many throughout the region fervently hope conditions for women will improve.

How women dress, incidentally, has absolutely nothing to do with the problem. Studies in Egypt have shown that the overwhelming majority of Egyptian women have been harassed, and most of them were wearing Islamic headscarves at the time of the abuse. But sexual harassment is the least of it.

Even in the New Egypt, we hear reports of women being arrested, tortured and subjected to "virginity exams" in view of soldiers. The region is rife with honor killings of the victims of sexual crimes. Genital mutilation continues and, to different degrees, discrimination against women is the order of the day in every single Arab country.

Women are in for "special" treatment in every situation. When a team of New York Times journalists was detained in Libya, the woman photographer among them was repeatedly groped by her captors. And we still don't know the fate of Eman al-Obeidy, the Libyan woman who managed to tell foreign reporters she had been raped by 15 men while in custody, even as she struggled with security forces who pulled a black hood over her head and drove her away.

In Saudi Arabia, women have been told yet again that they will not be allowed to vote in upcoming municipal elections. It's no wonder. They are still banned from driving, working, or traveling without a man's permission. The mere suggestion of such rules would cause women to riot in other countries.

In the desert kingdom, courageous women inspired by actions in neighboring nations, have joined to form the Saudi Women's Revolution. They demand equality and are asking the rest of the world to support them.
The Arab Middle East - and Egypt in particular - act as a beacon that guides customs and beliefs in other Muslim countries, where mistreatment can reach horrifying, infuriating depths.

A few days ago, in Bangladesh, a 14-year-old girl named Hena was beaten and raped. As a result, she was accused and found guilty of adultery by the village Imam, who issued a fatwa, a religious ruling sentencing her to 100 lashes for her transgression, whatever that was.

Hena managed to withstand 70 lashes before collapsing and requiring hospitalization. She died of her injuries. An autopsy, incredibly, ruled her death a suicide.

Attitudes toward women have become infected by the social and political stagnation that the region now wants to shed. A spotlight on women's rights, at this moment, could have a powerful impact throughout the Muslim world.

Women are part of the movement that overthrew regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and many of their male comrades-in-revolution share the urgency of their plight. Demands for democracy and efforts to institute liberal reforms should include a special focus on women. Democracy advocates, enlisting the support of moderate Muslims, could improve hundreds of millions of lives and move their countries forward by insisting, not a moment too soon, on full rights for women.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Frida Ghitis writes about global affairs for The Miami Herald. Readers may send her e-mail at fjghitis@gmail.com.


http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/05/3528753/the-missing-subject-in-arab-uprisings.html#

[Soon]

Hillary Clinton Photoshopped Out of Situation Room Photo (http://jezebel.com/5799724/hillary-clinton-photoshopped-out-of-situation-room-photo)


Ultra Orthodox Hasidic newspaper Der Tzitung is telling its readers like it isn't- by editing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the now-iconic Bin Laden raid Situation Room photo. Oy vey.

The religious paper never publishes pictures of women, as they could be considered "sexually suggestive." Apparently the presence of a woman, any woman, being all womanly and sexy all over the United States' counterterrorism efforts was too much for the editors of Der Tzitung to handle.

While saving precious vulnerable men from being driven mad with desire over the image of a woman may be in line with Der Tzitung's editors' ideas of piety, Jewish Week's Rabbi Jason Miller points out that the altered image violates a central tenet of the faith,

Der Tzitung edited Hillary Clinton out of the photo, thereby changing history. To my mind, this act of censorship is actually a violation of the Jewish legal principle of g'neivat da'at (deceit).

Der Tzitung plans on printing the following retraction in its next edition: <--(not really sure what this means...couldn't find what/where retraction)


http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/39/2011/05/sexist-newspaper-photo-600x394.jpg

[Soon]

This official photograph was released from the White House and includes the following disclaimer after the caption: "This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House."

http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/jewish_techs/hasidic_newspaper_photoshops_hillary_clinton_iconi c_photo

[AtLast]

The missing subject in Arab uprisings

Published Tuesday, Apr. 05, 2011


There is much about the Middle East that needs changing. It was always a matter of time, for example, before the people would rise up and demand freedom. But we have yet to see the leaders of the uprisings make a forceful case to address one of the most serious problems in the region: the routine abuse, harassment and even the brutalization of women.

The subject gained attention when CBS correspondent Lara Logan was hospitalized following a "sustained sexual assault and beating" while covering celebrations of the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Back then, some blame-the-victim observers said perhaps women should not cover such events, or maybe Logan was not dressed appropriately.

The incident brought to mind a mind-boggling conversation I had years ago while working in Cairo. My Egyptian colleague, normally a forward-looking man, insisted that a woman who doesn't dress modestly has only herself to blame if men rape her. I had not heard that outrageous argument in decades, and my Egyptian friend had never heard the view that nothing excuses rape. He ultimately agreed, leading me to conclude that a determined education campaign might change attitudes, at least among part of the population.

For now, reformers have not made the cause of women's rights prominent in their demands because the attitudes that cause the problem are endemic in the population, not just in the regimes they seek to change. But if progressive leaders want to improve life for everyone, women's rights should figure at the top of their agenda. Many throughout the region fervently hope conditions for women will improve.

How women dress, incidentally, has absolutely nothing to do with the problem. Studies in Egypt have shown that the overwhelming majority of Egyptian women have been harassed, and most of them were wearing Islamic headscarves at the time of the abuse. But sexual harassment is the least of it.

Even in the New Egypt, we hear reports of women being arrested, tortured and subjected to "virginity exams" in view of soldiers. The region is rife with honor killings of the victims of sexual crimes. Genital mutilation continues and, to different degrees, discrimination against women is the order of the day in every single Arab country.

Women are in for "special" treatment in every situation. When a team of New York Times journalists was detained in Libya, the woman photographer among them was repeatedly groped by her captors. And we still don't know the fate of Eman al-Obeidy, the Libyan woman who managed to tell foreign reporters she had been raped by 15 men while in custody, even as she struggled with security forces who pulled a black hood over her head and drove her away.

In Saudi Arabia, women have been told yet again that they will not be allowed to vote in upcoming municipal elections. It's no wonder. They are still banned from driving, working, or traveling without a man's permission. The mere suggestion of such rules would cause women to riot in other countries.

In the desert kingdom, courageous women inspired by actions in neighboring nations, have joined to form the Saudi Women's Revolution. They demand equality and are asking the rest of the world to support them.
The Arab Middle East - and Egypt in particular - act as a beacon that guides customs and beliefs in other Muslim countries, where mistreatment can reach horrifying, infuriating depths.

A few days ago, in Bangladesh, a 14-year-old girl named Hena was beaten and raped. As a result, she was accused and found guilty of adultery by the village Imam, who issued a fatwa, a religious ruling sentencing her to 100 lashes for her transgression, whatever that was.

Hena managed to withstand 70 lashes before collapsing and requiring hospitalization. She died of her injuries. An autopsy, incredibly, ruled her death a suicide.

Attitudes toward women have become infected by the social and political stagnation that the region now wants to shed. A spotlight on women's rights, at this moment, could have a powerful impact throughout the Muslim world.

Women are part of the movement that overthrew regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and many of their male comrades-in-revolution share the urgency of their plight. Demands for democracy and efforts to institute liberal reforms should include a special focus on women. Democracy advocates, enlisting the support of moderate Muslims, could improve hundreds of millions of lives and move their countries forward by insisting, not a moment too soon, on full rights for women.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Frida Ghitis writes about global affairs for The Miami Herald. Readers may send her e-mail at fjghitis@gmail.com.


http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/05/3528753/the-missing-subject-in-arab-uprisings.html#

I have deep respect for women in this region of the world that speak out about this. They are subject to such brutality, including death.

My grandmother was a suffrigist- crossing both US, UK and western European borders with her fight. She was not an educated woman, actually she could not read or write. I have no idea how she got into the middle-class group of women that led the "First Wave." Yet, I know she did not have the kind of brutal, sadistic, sociopathological kinds of oppression thrown at her like these women. She knew of this- and once said to me- "Maybe someday they will fight back." This was when she was much older and I was the first in our family to attend college and had taken up with those "Bra-Burners." OK, Grandma- they are!! I hope you cane see this.

[Toughy]

Besides Hilary, there was a woman staffer who was removed from the picture.....she was standing in the back

I really wish fundamentalists could understand how damamging this kind of thing is to boys and men. It tells boys/men they have no control over their own sexuality....the mere picture of a fully clothed woman (with no cleavage or arms showing) makes their dicks hard and they have go out and find a woman right now..........that is an ugly messages for boys and men.....

[Kätzchen]

The missing subject in Arab uprisings

Published Tuesday, Apr. 05, 2011


There is much about the Middle East that needs changing. It was always a matter of time, for example, before the people would rise up and demand freedom. But we have yet to see the leaders of the uprisings make a forceful case to address one of the most serious problems in the region: the routine abuse, harassment and even the brutalization of women.



Hi Greyson!

Thanks for posting this article last month! I just came across this forum thread today and it reminded me of the hot forum topic from last summer on Misogyny/Sexism in Butch/Femme & LGBTQ communities

(LINK) (http://www.butchfemmeplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=147897#post147897)

I want to author a book on this subject alone... If you (and others here) don't mind, I will excerpt a portion of my forum post on what the above article (authored by Frida Ghitis, from the Miami Herald). I think it is important to keep issues that target female beings in social settings front and center; because dismantling ideological frames that perpetuate these types of institutionalized practices can only lead to a healing of social practices and ideas pertaining to women - locally, nationally & globally.

Excerpting my former statement from last summer:

My experience with misogyny is rooted in being bombarded by a culture that allows, condones and develops and facilitates distribution of power to those who least deserve to have that type of power or use it wisely.

The theoretical argument I wish to make is that misogyny (hatred of the female species) is based in what I call Misocracy – (def. - a form of governance that condones and facilitates the hatred of females) – a political regime that finds its roots in misogyny.

I conceptualized the term Misocracy because it seems to operate much like Ethnocracy (def.- the systematic discrimination of ethnic groups by the state and minority groups face repressions, violations of human rights at the hand of governance that facilitates such acts). Which to me, Ethnocracy is the antithesis of democracy. A Misocratic society is one that tolerates, facilitates and perpetuates hatred of the female species and over time, the female species, who are submerged (dare I say, water-boarded?) in a female hating culture, it would seem that as a female, we are conditioned to hate ourselves because females are held to standards of hate that no one should have to bear or even be initiated into. It’s only been the last seven years that I work actively on not hating me and not allowing the culture of misogyny or Misocracy to chip away at my female based identity. It’s been difficult though because I have reared two sons and while my own tenets (values and beliefs) have anchored my own existence, I have not always been able to convey with ease to my sons why society at large pressures them to act socially in one way (as males) and why socially dominant ideals and values are not always tolerable.

It’s been a never ending hardship, a drain-circling ‘perfect’ storm, policing my boundaries and making sure that Misocractic norms are not exacted upon me as they always have been, seemingly all my life.

So what antidote is there? What kind of “medicine” will it take to heal Misocracism?

The antidote is complicated and the “medicine” available carries significant commitment to eradicating misogyny in a Misocratic society (a Misocracy). One way to dismantle a Misocracy is to unpack misogyny as we see, hear and experience it and to not tolerate a culture that endorses and utilizes Misocractic agenda. We (the general “we”) do that individually or collectively as member of groups in society or in our social settings – much like this forum thread here, where we work on naming aspects of our lives that are connected to the culture of hating the female species.

So, for now, this is what I have been wanting to say about how I perceive misogyny and the place that is has had in my life and how I work on eradicating this egregious stain from my life.

I am Female and I am Femme: Here me purrrrrrrrrr (not roar).

[atomiczombie]

Hillary Clinton Photoshopped Out of Situation Room Photo (http://jezebel.com/5799724/hillary-clinton-photoshopped-out-of-situation-room-photo)


Ultra Orthodox Hasidic newspaper Der Tzitung is telling its readers like it isn't- by editing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the now-iconic Bin Laden raid Situation Room photo. Oy vey.

The religious paper never publishes pictures of women, as they could be considered "sexually suggestive." Apparently the presence of a woman, any woman, being all womanly and sexy all over the United States' counterterrorism efforts was too much for the editors of Der Tzitung to handle.

While saving precious vulnerable men from being driven mad with desire over the image of a woman may be in line with Der Tzitung's editors' ideas of piety, Jewish Week's Rabbi Jason Miller points out that the altered image violates a central tenet of the faith,

Der Tzitung edited Hillary Clinton out of the photo, thereby changing history. To my mind, this act of censorship is actually a violation of the Jewish legal principle of g'neivat da'at (deceit).

Der Tzitung plans on printing the following retraction in its next edition: <--(not really sure what this means...couldn't find what/where retraction)


http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/39/2011/05/sexist-newspaper-photo-600x394.jpg

That's disgusting.

[BullDog]

Besides Hilary, there was a woman staffer who was removed from the picture.....she was standing in the back

I really wish fundamentalists could understand how damamging this kind of thing is to boys and men. It tells boys/men they have no control over their own sexuality....the mere picture of a fully clothed woman (with no cleavage or arms showing) makes their dicks hard and they have go out and find a woman right now..........that is an ugly messages for boys and men.....

I agree. It also erases women from history- in this case the erasure of the Secretary of State and other woman staffer who indeed were there and part of the mission.

[Martina]

they must not post many pictures of world events. i am thinking i'd find it more acceptable if they said in the caption that Hillary was there, but they photoshopped her out for religious reasons. What annoys me is not the religious prohibition against images of women, but erasing women from history -- and letting hasidic women believe that only men rule the world outside theirs. i am sure they know better. They live in cities, but . . .

[Soon]

they must not post many pictures of world events. i am thinking i'd find it more acceptable if they said in the caption that Hillary was there, but they photoshopped her out for religious reasons. What annoys me is not the religious prohibition against images of women, but erasing women from history -- and letting hasidic women believe that only men rule the world outside theirs. i am sure they know better. They live in cities, but . . .

hmm...it really DOES annoy me that they photoshopped her (and, apparently, another woman...nods to Toughy) out b/c of religious prohibitions against images of women AND, thereby, erasing women from history.

I am not a cultural relativist, though. (not saying you are)

[Soon]

INVISIBLE

Hasidic Newspaper Explains Why It Airbrushed Out Hillary Clinton (http://jezebel.com/5800144/hasidic-newspaper-explains-why-it-airbrushed-out-hillary-clinton)

Irin Carmon — Di Tzeitung, the Hasidic newspaper that Photoshopically removed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from the famous situation room photo, has explained its actions as follows:

Our photo editor realized the significance of this historic moment, and published the picture, but in his haste he did not read the "fine print" that accompanied the picture, forbidding any changes. We should not have published the altered picture, and we have conveyed our regrets and apologies to the White House and to the State Department.

The allegations that religious Jews denigrate women or do not respect women in public office, is a malicious slander and libel. The current Secretary of State, the Honorable Hillary R. Clinton, was a Senator representing New York State with great distinction 8 years. She won overwhelming majorities in the Orthodox Jewish communities in her initial campaign in '00, and when she was re-elected in '06, because the religious community appreciated her unique capabilities and compassion to all communities. The Jewish religion does not allow for discrimination based on gender, race, etc. We respect all government officials. We even have special prayers for the welfare of our Government and the government leaders, and there is no mention of gender in such prayers.

In accord with our religious beliefs, we do not publish photos of women, which in no way relegates them to a lower status. Publishing a newspaper is a big responsibility, and our policies are guided by a Rabbinical Board. Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention. We apologize if this was seen as offensive.

It's not only this paper that is consistent on this front; in Israel, ultra-Orthodox papers don't publish photos of Kadima party leader Tzipi Livi, nor use her first name. In one newspaper photo, the two out of 30 cabinet ministers that happened to be female were replaced with a black hole.

[Martina]

God, a black hole. If that's not symbolic. . .

But i think that's better than photoshopping. i mean, say the Secy of State was there, say that whatever her name was there, and you have just removed their images. That's at least better than what seems like a lie, like pretending they weren't there.

[Quintease]

The allegations that religious Jews denigrate women or do not respect women in public office, is a malicious slander and libel.

Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women


WTF??

They respect women SO MUCH, they can't actually discuss their achievements in the local media! *Head spin*

[Martina]

WTF??

They respect women SO MUCH, they can't actually discuss their achievements in the local media! *Head spin*

i am not sure they can't. In fact i bet they do discuss Hillary's work and did particularly when she was the U.S. Senator for New York. Didn't something we read say they had done this once before to Hillary when she was meeting with some Hasidic rabbis?

The point is the article probably talked about the Senator meeting with Rabbi So and So, etc. They just didn't show her picture.

[BullDog]

The pic without Hilary Clinton in it has a big, gaping hole. I guess that laptop is just sitting there for a ghost.

WTF does modesty have to do with reporting news. If you can't report news accurately then don't report it at all.

[Martina]

The pic without Hilary Clinton in it has a big, gaping hole. I guess that laptop is just sitting there for a ghost.

WTF does modesty have to do with reporting news. If you can't report news accurately then don't report it at all.

Small newspapers are ways that communities maintain themselves. They do not report all the same news or from the same perspective. i do think that photoshopping women out without making sure that their presence is noted is rewriting history without women, which is misrepresenting it. i don't defend their right to do that.

But i think that if they don't want images of women because of their religious beliefs, then they don't have to put them in. Perhaps they should just not include pictures that origninally had women. But they have to struggle with that and the criticism they receive.

i do think it's a freedom of religion issue. It's one of the things i am proudest of about the U.S. If we didn't protect freedom of religion, we would suffer because fundamentalist Christianity would overwhelm parts of our public culture, especially in some regions.

In any case, it's an important basic freedom. Way more important than the fact that you or i might be offended by what they do.

[Soon]

“Corrective Rape” in South Africa: Not Getting Better (http://www.autostraddle.com/corrective-rape-still-a-thing-and-still-not-a-hate-crime-85097/)

I am sorry that I said this a little while ago, when South African LGBTQ activists met with government leaders to talk about corrective rape, a widespread practice in that region:

There’s no word yet on the outcome of the meeting; it may be too much to hope that all activists’ demands were met. But it’s not too much to hope that with the government finally meeting with LGBT activists, the road may be paved for further efforts to stop corrective rape and diminish its commonality.

I am sorry because things in South Africa have not improved since then. In fact,a recent update shows that the corrective rape problem there is growing, in both numbers and ferocity. This is all occurring in a nation where laws about gay people are a fantasy compared to ours – so it’s part of a heavy societal, and not legislative, backlash against the gay community – and the lesbian community in particular. And it’s an incredibly violent manifestation. The homophobia that’s being experienced is complex: other regions in Africa have had more widespread movements against the gay community, and they appear to be a big influence on this one.

South Africa has a complicated history with respect to homophobia, and colonial rule brought about institutionalized homophobia in the form of laws and gay sex bans. This might be ancient history for the progressive laws of South Africa now, but it sets a tone for anti-gay violence and it is where it originated for the region.

The stories are truly chilling. The contempt, and rage, felt toward the lesbian community in South Africa is pretty devastating:

In South Africa, more than 30 lesbians have been killed in “corrective rape” cases since 1998, yet only one case has resulted in a conviction. By some estimates, at least 10 lesbians are raped or assaulted every week in the Cape Town area alone. In one of the most notorious cases, a gang of men raped and murdered 31-year-old Eudy Simelane, a lesbian who played on South Africa’s national women’s soccer team. She was stabbed 25 times in the face, legs and chest.

According to survivors, the attackers often shout that they are “teaching a lesson” to their lesbian victims, or showing them “how to be a real woman.” Many victims never report the attacks to the police, fearing that they will be mocked or abused.

Even in schools, many young boys believe that lesbians need to be raped to “correct” their sexual orientation, according to the South African Human Rights Commission. “A culture of rape is being passed down to younger generations of South African men,” said a report by ActionAid, an international rights group. “Women are forced to conform to gender stereotypes or suffer the consequences.” [...]

The South African courts and police have been slow to respond to the attacks on lesbians. One court case, involving the murder of 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana by a gang of about 20 men who wanted to “correct” her sexuality, has been postponed 33 times and has dragged on for five years without a resolution.

One case has finally sparked global attention. Millicent Gaika, a 30-year-old lesbian in a township near Cape Town, was raped and beaten for five hours by a man who tried to strangle her with barbed wire. “I know you are a lesbian,” the man told her. “You are not a man. You think you are, but I am going to show you. You are a woman.”

These stories are a reminder, and are proof, that identifying corrective rape as a hate crime would be no understatement. And that’s exactly what the

LGBTQ activists in South Africa are trying to do.
Ndumie Funda is leading the challenge against corrective rape, inspired to do so by the practice’s impact on her fiancee. She herself is in extreme danger, and has faced a brunt of verbal threats. When she formed a human rights organization, she was forced into hiding. But she has not stopped:

While the threat of violence and prison is forcing many African gays to go underground, the war is not over. In a few South African black townships, lesbian volunteers are going door-to-door to raise awareness of their issues. A growing coalition of rights groups is fighting against “corrective rape.” And after the global petition produced so many thousands of e-mails that the government pleaded for it to stop, Ms. Funda and other activists were granted a two-hour meeting with senior Justice Ministry officials on March 14.

The officials promised Ms. Funda that they would take action on the corrective-rape issue, including setting up a meeting with top police commanders. “The meeting was exciting,” she said. “It was great.”

I may have been too hopeful about that meeting, but I stand my ground that these activists are some of the most amazing women in the world. Corrective rape cannot continue, in any region of the world, and these activists have the fire to keep fighting. (All of my heart is with them.)

[Toughy]

http://www.alternet.org/news/150878/10_worst_states_to_be_a_woman

NEWS & POLITICS AlterNet / By Amanda Marcotte

10 Worst States To Be a Woman

State Republicans have introduced nearly 1,000 laws restricting women's reproductive health access. Here are 10 of the worst states to be a woman between puberty and menopause.
1. Mississippi
2. Texas
3. South Dakota
4. Indiana
5. Oklahoma
6. Kansas
7. Minnesota
8. Georgia
9. Arizona
10. Louisiana

Read about each of the states in the article. It will make your blood boil. Minnesota is the one state that surprised me.

[EnderD_503]

Small newspapers are ways that communities maintain themselves. They do not report all the same news or from the same perspective. i do think that photoshopping women out without making sure that their presence is noted is rewriting history without women, which is misrepresenting it. i don't defend their right to do that.

But i think that if they don't want images of women because of their religious beliefs, then they don't have to put them in. Perhaps they should just not include pictures that origninally had women. But they have to struggle with that and the criticism they receive.

i do think it's a freedom of religion issue. It's one of the things i am proudest of about the U.S. If we didn't protect freedom of religion, we would suffer because fundamentalist Christianity would overwhelm parts of our public culture, especially in some regions.

In any case, it's an important basic freedom. Way more important than the fact that you or i might be offended by what they do.

And this is part of why I will never relent butting heads with religion.

Religious freedom is all fine and dandy, but I do not think religious beliefs should ever take precedence over the rights of individual human beings to be acknowledged for the achievements, their right to go about their lives just like everyone else etc.

Religion, whether or not the religious like to admit it, is a choice as well as a cultural issue (being raised a certain religion, f.ex.) Women, men, those in between, various races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, disabilities and so on...these are things people have no choice in. They are born as they are born and does not determine their own opinions and perspectives. A religious choice should not take precedence over a woman's right to be acknowledged for her own achievements. Misogynist religious beliefs should not be permitted to simply write women out of the public sphere or politics out of convenience or in the name of "religious freedom" without legal repercussions. Personally, I think every nation should have media laws put in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening. The press should not be permitted to knowingly mislead the public.

[AtLast]

http://www.alternet.org/news/150878/10_worst_states_to_be_a_woman

NEWS & POLITICS AlterNet / By Amanda Marcotte

10 Worst States To Be a Woman

State Republicans have introduced nearly 1,000 laws restricting women's reproductive health access. Here are 10 of the worst states to be a woman between puberty and menopause.
1. Mississippi
2. Texas
3. South Dakota
4. Indiana
5. Oklahoma
6. Kansas
7. Minnesota
8. Georgia
9. Arizona
10. Louisiana

Read about each of the states in the article. It will make your blood boil. Minnesota is the one state that surprised me.

It does make my blood boil!!

The mid-term elections in the US and the RebubliCon/Tea Party zealots used the debt and economy as a huge ruse to simply widen their fight to over turn Roe v Wade. The tactics were centered in gaining as many legislative seats and govenorships in the STATES to build on this goal.

So, how many bills have been introduced to create JOBS?

I find Maddow's analysis lately about how the "big" vs. "small" government and getting government out of our personal lives on point about these "states rights" issues.

The backlash gaining momentum about the Ryan assault on MediCare might prove to be a very lucky, indeed. It could push independents as well as some senior GOP voters more to the middle and vote Democrat.

[Medusa]

I thought this was particularly gross:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/texas-10-hottest-female-sex-offenders_n_861331.html

[Semantics]

Shut up about my body, Glenn Beck. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-12/meghan-mccain-to-glenn-beck-dont-call-me-fat/?cid=topic%3Afeatured1)
by Meghan McCain


After Meghan McCain wore a revealing dress in a skin cancer PSA, Glenn Beck launched a vicious tirade about her body—suggesting she wear a burqa and saying the idea of her naked made him want to vomit.

[AtLast]

Shut up about my body, Glenn Beck. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-12/meghan-mccain-to-glenn-beck-dont-call-me-fat/?cid=topic%3Afeatured1)
by Meghan McCain

Wonder why Faux has finally decided to get rid of him....

[EnderD_503]

I thought this was particularly gross:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/texas-10-hottest-female-sex-offenders_n_861331.html

Wtf...:blink:

[Mister Bent]

Shut up about my body, Glenn Beck. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-12/meghan-mccain-to-glenn-beck-dont-call-me-fat/?cid=topic%3Afeatured1)
by Meghan McCain

I thought this was especially well stated:

You’re a full-grown man with teenage daughters who are probably dealing with the sexist, body-obsessed media environment that is difficult for all women. Is this really the legacy you want to be leaving for yourself?

[Soon]

I agree. It also erases women from history- in this case the erasure of the Secretary of State and other woman staffer who indeed were there and part of the mission.

CITING MODESTY CONCERNS, HIPSTER WEBSITE REMOVES “SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE” MALE IMAGES FROM SIT ROOM PHOTO (http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/citing-modesty-concerns-hipster-website-removes-sexually-suggestive-male-images-from-sit-room-photo/)

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2011/05/12/hillary2.jpg

[BullDog]

CITING MODESTY CONCERNS, HIPSTER WEBSITE REMOVES “SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE” MALE IMAGES FROM SIT ROOM PHOTO (http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/citing-modesty-concerns-hipster-website-removes-sexually-suggestive-male-images-from-sit-room-photo/)

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2011/05/12/hillary2.jpg

Yes, exactly! We don't want the women (or men ;)) to get overheated while reading the news!

It really is amazing the different takes you get from the edited pics.

[Mister Bent]

Humiliation, sexism and eugenics all rolled into one disturbing new law (http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/20/texas.abortion.sonogram/index.html?hpt=T2).

Women seeking an abortion in Texas will have to view a picture of the embryo or fetus and hear a description of its development before having the procedure, under a law that takes effect September 1.

The bill stirred some controversy in Texas, but it easily passed through the state House and Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans. It was signed into law Thursday by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

The law says that at least 24 hours before an abortion is performed, women must undergo a sonogram, a procedure that uses ultrasound to create an image.

The doctor, then, is required to give, "in a manner understandable to a layperson, a verbal explanation of the results of the sonogram images, including a medical description of the dimensions of the embryo or fetus, the presence of cardiac activity, and the presence of external members and internal organs," the law states.

There are some exceptions, including pregnancies that resulted from sexual assault, incest or other violations of law.

Women seeking abortions also are exempt if the fetus has been found to have an irreversible medical condition that will cause a disability.
. . .

"What no one is focusing on is that this is a mandate to humiliate women who want an abortion," said Yvonne Gutierrez, vice president for public affairs at the Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas.

[UofMfan]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/21/dsk-arrest-misogyny_n_865146.html

[Soon]

House Refuses To Vote On Abortion Coverage For Military Rape Victims (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/military-rape-victims-abortion-coverage_n_867010.html)


The House Committee on Rules blocked an amendment from going to vote on Wednesday that would have allowed military rape victims to access abortion care through their government-provided health plans.

Earlier this week, Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and five other House Democrats submitted an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would reverse the current policy of denying abortion coverage to military women who are raped and become pregnant during their service. As the bill currently stands, servicewomen have to pay out of pocket for an expensive abortion procedure unless they can prove that their lives are in danger.

By contrast, other federal bans on abortion coverage, including those for Medicaid recipients, federal employees, and women in federal prisons, all include exceptions for victims of rape and incest. The ban on abortion coverage for military rape victims is actually more extreme than the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited federally-funded abortions for the past 30 years except in the cases of rape, incest and life endangerment.

"I think it's outrageous that we have young women who are serving our country and sacrificing their lives, and if they are raped and a pregnancy happens then they cannot utilize federal resources in order to have an abortion," Rep. Davis told HuffPost. "How can we tell a servicewoman that we would provide funding for her if she were sitting in a safe office in Washington, DC, but because she's fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan we tell her no? It's just not acceptable."

Instances of rape in the armed services are alarmingly common: The Pentagon reported more than 3,000 cases in FY 2009, and the Department of Defense estimates that reported incidents only account for a small fraction of the sexual assaults that actually occur.

Davis said it is unclear exactly why the House Committee on Rules, led by Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), decided that the amendment did not deserve to be debated or get a vote.

"I think they just don't want this to come up," she told HuffPost, "so they used a rule to block it."

ADVERTISEMENT
Dreier's office did not return calls for comment.

NARAL Pro-Choice America said it was outraged by the House leadership's ongoing campaign to limit women's access to abortion care.

"Apparently Speaker John Boehner and his allies believe that women who put their lives on the line for their country should face more obstacles than women stateside when it comes to making personal, private decisions," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL. "It is unconscionable."

[Soon]

Turkish Women Advised To "Stay Home" If They Don’t Want To Be Sexually Harassed (http://jezebel.com/5806506/turkish-women-advised-to-stay-home-if-they-dont-want-to-be-sexually-harassed)

“Do not walk around, sit in your homes,” 71-year-old Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Mayor Necmittin Dede recently told Muş representatives of the Women’s Center, or KAMER, when they told authorities that high employment in the city had resulted in men spilling out of the overcrowded teahouses in the area to verbally harass female passersby.

[Soon]

Badminton’s New Dress Code Is Being Criticized as Sexist (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/sports/badminton-dress-code-for-women-criticized-as-sexist.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)

In an attempt to revive flagging interest in women’s badminton as the 2012 London Olympics approach, officials governing the sport have decided that its female athletes need to appear more, how to put it, womanly.

To create a more “attractive presentation,” the Badminton World Federation has decreed that women must wear skirts or dresses to play at the elite level, beginning Wednesday. Many now compete in shorts or tracksuit pants. The dress code would make female players appear more feminine and appealing to fans and corporate sponsors, officials said.

The rule has been roundly criticized as sexist, a hindrance to performance and offensive to Muslim women who play the sport in large numbers in Asian countries. Implementation has already been delayed by a month. Athletes’ representatives said they would seek to have the dress code scrapped, possibly as early as Saturday at a meeting of the world’s badminton-playing nations in Qingdao, China.

“This is a blatant attempt to sexualize women,” said Janice Forsyth, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario. “It is amazing. You’d think at some point, somebody would have said: ‘Wait a minute. What are we doing?’ ”

Women will still be allowed to wear shorts or long pants for cultural and religious reasons. But these garments must be worn beneath a dress or skirt, which could be cumbersome.

“You sweat a lot doing badminton at a really high level,” Forsyth said. “Sometimes clothing sticks to you. Adding another layer does not enhance performance. It detracts. It counters the basic argument that they’re trying to generate more interest in women.”

Women wear more revealing outfits than men in a number of Olympic sports like gymnastics, track and field, volleyball and beach volleyball. Even the bikinis in beach volleyball can be somewhat justified on grounds of functionality (it is easier to clear sand from a two-piece outfit than a one-piece).

Yet the badminton rule seems to have been devised strictly for reasons of appearance. It was formulated in consultation with Octagon, an international marketing firm, which did not respond to requests for comment.

“When you dictate apparel for reasons of sexuality, it should be offensive,” said Donna Lopiano, a former chief executive of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Badminton’s world governing body now finds itself on the defensive, accused of trying to sell a sport by showing more leg and skin. Male players are required only to dress in “proper attire,” officials said.

“We’re not trying to use sex to promote the sport,” said Paisan Rangsikitpho, an American who is deputy president of the Badminton World Federation, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular.”

Interest is declining, Rangsikitpho said, adding that some women compete in oversize shorts and long pants and appear “baggy, almost like men.”

“Hardly anybody is watching,” he said. “TV ratings are down. We want to build them up to where they should be. They play quite well. We want them to look nicer on the court and have more marketing value for themselves. I’m surprised we got a lot of criticism.”

Some women have embraced the dress rule. Nora Perry, a former world doubles champion from England who is on the council of the world governing body, said in a statement, “We need to be able to differentiate the women’s game to create the attention the game deserves.”

Cee Ketpura, 17, a rising American star, said she always wore skirts in competition because “I think they look more professional.”

Yet many others have said that while they supported attempts to popularize women’s badminton, like offering equal prize money, they considered it an affront to be told to wear a dress or a skirt.

Mesinee Mangkalakiri, 28, who competed for the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is known as May, said that she preferred shorts. Skirts made her feel self-conscious earlier in her career, she said.

“It doesn’t matter what Kobe Bryant wears,” Mangkalakiri said, referring to the N.B.A. star. “People like his skills on the court. You’d hope they come to watch you because you are their favorite player and you have ability and style, not because you’re wearing someone’s favorite skirt.”

Kaveh Mehrabi, an Iranian who is president of the Badminton Players Federation, which gives voice to the concerns of athletes, said his group would seek to have the rule abolished.

“I believe the intention is good to raise the profile of the sport, but it takes freedom of choice away from female athletes,” Mehrabi said. “I think we should work on promoting personalities. When people watch tennis, they like the stories around the rivalries and personal lives. Whether you wear a dress or not doesn’t make much difference.”

Pakistan’s badminton federation said in April that its female players would not adhere to the new rule because “our religious beliefs and norms do not allow our lady players to wear skirts.” Presumably, Pakistani women would be permitted to wear skirts over long pants.

Some players have said the size of the skirts obstructed movement, while others have said that badminton fashion lags behind tennis apparel. Others find it unfair to have different rules for women and men.

“It is sexist to demand the women wear skirts while the men can wear short shorts, baggy shorts, whatever they want,” said Imogen Bankier, 23, a Scottish doubles player.

Writing in The Hindu, an English-language newspaper in India, the columnist Kalpana Sharma noted that while badminton took its cue from the glamour of tennis, female tennis players have greater input in the way their sport is operated.

“Thus what women wear is decided by women players and not imposed by a male club,” Sharma wrote. “If women tennis players choose to be seen as fashion statements, it is their choice.”

Others are struck by how outdated the dress rule seems. Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, told The Evening Standard of London, “This is not a very 21st-century approach.”

Yet the badminton federation, like many international sports governing bodies, continues to be run largely by men. Of the 25 members of the federation’s council and executive board, only two are women.

Female athletes have long faced obstacles to competition. They were barred from some sports for decades; restricted from certain events because they supposedly lacked stamina or would become masculinized; subjected to gender testing; and had their athleticism suppressed in attempts to feminize them.

As recently as 2004, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, suggested that women wear tighter shorts to promote “a more female aesthetic.” Only last month, women’s ski jumping was added to the Winter Olympics after concerns that female athletes lacked the strength to compete safely.

“As soon as women got involved in the Olympic Games, the focus for many decades was on beauty and femininity, and then athleticism,” Forsyth said. “What you are seeing in badminton is a modern, hyped-up version of that.”


Dan Frosch and Sarah Lyall contributed reporting.

[Soon]

d4ML2jmXeCo&feature=player_embedded#at=133

[Soon]

Planned Parenthood Defunded In New Hampshire

Until July 1, a low-income New Hampshire woman paid an average of $5 to fill a birth control pill prescription at any of the state's six Planned Parenthood clinics. She might have even gotten the birth control for free, depending on her poverty level.

But since the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to cancel the state's contract with Planned Parenthood, a woman now has to pay anywhere from $40 to over $100 for birth control pills at a regular pharmacy.

The Council, a constitutionally empowered group of elected officials, rejected up to $1.8 million in state funding for the family planning-provider -- about 20 percent of its total annual funding -- and stripped its authority to dispense low-cost birth control and antibiotics to uninsured patients.

"We can't even provide patients with antibiotics for urinary tract infections or STDs anymore," said Jennifer Frizzell, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. She said Planned Parenthood has had to turn away 20 to 30 patients a day who are showing up to refill their prescriptions.

"We have to send them away with a prescription knowing that without insurance, they have to pay the full cost of that at a local pharmacy, and many patients have told us they're not gonna have the money in their budget to afford to fill those prescriptions."

New Hampshire lawmakers rejected multiple attempts to defund Planned Parenthood during the 2011 legislative session, voting repeatedly in favor of continuing to fund PPNNE using the state's federal family planning money. But the Executive Council, which oversees state contracting and generally stays out of hot-button political issues, overturned the decisions of both the state legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services with its 3-2 vote against Planned Parenthood.

[*Anya*]

Oh the insanity! Every time I think I have read it all and heard it all, I am again speechless.

[Jess]

Badminton’s New Dress Code Is Being Criticized as Sexist (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/sports/badminton-dress-code-for-women-criticized-as-sexist.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)

In an attempt to revive flagging interest in women’s badminton as the 2012 London Olympics approach, officials governing the sport have decided that its female athletes need to appear more, how to put it, womanly.

To create a more “attractive presentation,” the Badminton World Federation has decreed that women must wear skirts or dresses to play at the elite level, beginning Wednesday. Many now compete in shorts or tracksuit pants. The dress code would make female players appear more feminine and appealing to fans and corporate sponsors, officials said.

The rule has been roundly criticized as sexist, a hindrance to performance and offensive to Muslim women who play the sport in large numbers in Asian countries. Implementation has already been delayed by a month. Athletes’ representatives said they would seek to have the dress code scrapped, possibly as early as Saturday at a meeting of the world’s badminton-playing nations in Qingdao, China.

“This is a blatant attempt to sexualize women,” said Janice Forsyth, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario. “It is amazing. You’d think at some point, somebody would have said: ‘Wait a minute. What are we doing?’ ”

Women will still be allowed to wear shorts or long pants for cultural and religious reasons. But these garments must be worn beneath a dress or skirt, which could be cumbersome.

“You sweat a lot doing badminton at a really high level,” Forsyth said. “Sometimes clothing sticks to you. Adding another layer does not enhance performance. It detracts. It counters the basic argument that they’re trying to generate more interest in women.”

Women wear more revealing outfits than men in a number of Olympic sports like gymnastics, track and field, volleyball and beach volleyball. Even the bikinis in beach volleyball can be somewhat justified on grounds of functionality (it is easier to clear sand from a two-piece outfit than a one-piece).

Yet the badminton rule seems to have been devised strictly for reasons of appearance. It was formulated in consultation with Octagon, an international marketing firm, which did not respond to requests for comment.

“When you dictate apparel for reasons of sexuality, it should be offensive,” said Donna Lopiano, a former chief executive of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Badminton’s world governing body now finds itself on the defensive, accused of trying to sell a sport by showing more leg and skin. Male players are required only to dress in “proper attire,” officials said.

“We’re not trying to use sex to promote the sport,” said Paisan Rangsikitpho, an American who is deputy president of the Badminton World Federation, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular.”

Interest is declining, Rangsikitpho said, adding that some women compete in oversize shorts and long pants and appear “baggy, almost like men.”

“Hardly anybody is watching,” he said. “TV ratings are down. We want to build them up to where they should be. They play quite well. We want them to look nicer on the court and have more marketing value for themselves. I’m surprised we got a lot of criticism.”

Some women have embraced the dress rule. Nora Perry, a former world doubles champion from England who is on the council of the world governing body, said in a statement, “We need to be able to differentiate the women’s game to create the attention the game deserves.”

Cee Ketpura, 17, a rising American star, said she always wore skirts in competition because “I think they look more professional.”

Yet many others have said that while they supported attempts to popularize women’s badminton, like offering equal prize money, they considered it an affront to be told to wear a dress or a skirt.

Mesinee Mangkalakiri, 28, who competed for the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is known as May, said that she preferred shorts. Skirts made her feel self-conscious earlier in her career, she said.

“It doesn’t matter what Kobe Bryant wears,” Mangkalakiri said, referring to the N.B.A. star. “People like his skills on the court. You’d hope they come to watch you because you are their favorite player and you have ability and style, not because you’re wearing someone’s favorite skirt.”

Kaveh Mehrabi, an Iranian who is president of the Badminton Players Federation, which gives voice to the concerns of athletes, said his group would seek to have the rule abolished.

“I believe the intention is good to raise the profile of the sport, but it takes freedom of choice away from female athletes,” Mehrabi said. “I think we should work on promoting personalities. When people watch tennis, they like the stories around the rivalries and personal lives. Whether you wear a dress or not doesn’t make much difference.”

Pakistan’s badminton federation said in April that its female players would not adhere to the new rule because “our religious beliefs and norms do not allow our lady players to wear skirts.” Presumably, Pakistani women would be permitted to wear skirts over long pants.

Some players have said the size of the skirts obstructed movement, while others have said that badminton fashion lags behind tennis apparel. Others find it unfair to have different rules for women and men.

“It is sexist to demand the women wear skirts while the men can wear short shorts, baggy shorts, whatever they want,” said Imogen Bankier, 23, a Scottish doubles player.

Writing in The Hindu, an English-language newspaper in India, the columnist Kalpana Sharma noted that while badminton took its cue from the glamour of tennis, female tennis players have greater input in the way their sport is operated.

“Thus what women wear is decided by women players and not imposed by a male club,” Sharma wrote. “If women tennis players choose to be seen as fashion statements, it is their choice.”

Others are struck by how outdated the dress rule seems. Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, told The Evening Standard of London, “This is not a very 21st-century approach.”

Yet the badminton federation, like many international sports governing bodies, continues to be run largely by men. Of the 25 members of the federation’s council and executive board, only two are women.

Female athletes have long faced obstacles to competition. They were barred from some sports for decades; restricted from certain events because they supposedly lacked stamina or would become masculinized; subjected to gender testing; and had their athleticism suppressed in attempts to feminize them.

As recently as 2004, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, suggested that women wear tighter shorts to promote “a more female aesthetic.” Only last month, women’s ski jumping was added to the Winter Olympics after concerns that female athletes lacked the strength to compete safely.

“As soon as women got involved in the Olympic Games, the focus for many decades was on beauty and femininity, and then athleticism,” Forsyth said. “What you are seeing in badminton is a modern, hyped-up version of that.”


Dan Frosch and Sarah Lyall contributed reporting.

this article made my eyeballs leak.... argh :rant::watereyes::seconddoh:

[DapperButch]

this article made my eyeballs leak.... argh :rant::watereyes::seconddoh:

I know! It has been what, 20 years since women (Martina) started wearing shorts in women's tennis? Now you see some in shorts and some in skirts. The two can coincide! Talk about going backwards!

[Gentle Tiger]

I have been reading this thread. And wow, to say my eyeballs are bleeding is an understatement. It's good to celebrate progress but it is dangerous to forget there is a lot of work left to be done!

[*Anya*]

Quote: "To create a more “attractive presentation,” the Badminton World Federation has decreed that women must wear skirts or dresses to play at the elite level, beginning Wednesday. Many now compete in shorts or tracksuit pants. The dress code would make female players appear more feminine and appealing to fans and corporate sponsors, officials said."
*****************
Again, the insanity! When I went to JR High & HS back east, girls still had to wear dresses to school! This is unbelievable! The more women have freedoms that we fought so hard to achieve & yes, I was an early member of NOW & marched in demonstrations for Womens Liberation: the more the conservatives are trying to turn back the hands of time!

What's next? I shudder to think, truly. To think we are still more than 50% of the population...

[Jess]

http://www.india-server.com/news-images/saina-nehwal-knocked-out-chinese-lin-7918.jpg

fuck.a.skirt.

[Soon]

Protest against compulsory medical exams of Polish women workers (http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2011/05/protest-against-compulsory-medical-exams-of-polish-women-workers/)

*as many have pointed out in comments, where are the mandatory prostate exams for men?


http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/view/2600/59/ <--petition and other info

[Soon]

Anti-Abortion Laws: States Pass Record Wave Of Abortion Restrictions (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/anti-abortion-laws-states_n_907377.html)

[AtLast]

Anti-Abortion Laws: States Pass Record Wave Of Abortion Restrictions (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/anti-abortion-laws-states_n_907377.html)

This is all the GOP/Tea Party wing has done since winning the House in 2010. They were not really about jobs and the economy- they only want to push their anti-woman, religious fanaticism agendas.

[Soon]

India: Girls Fight Gender Discrimination, Shed 'Unwanted' Name (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/22/india-girls-gender-discrimination_n_1026417.html?ir=Canada)

[Toughy]

This is all the GOP/Tea Party wing has done since winning the House in 2010. They were not really about jobs and the economy- they only want to push their anti-woman, religious fanaticism agendas.

Since the House is controlled by Republicans this is what you get. However since the Senate cannot get a 60% majority, nothing is going to happen. Federal law is relatively safe right now. The 50 states are another story.

Act locally (city, county, state), think globally (everyone). City, County, State elections are critical and always have been.

[Soon]

Student paper publishes article advocating rape (http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2011/11/student-paper-publishes-article-advocating-rape/)

Two male students have been forced into hiding after writing an article in a British university newspaper about the violent rape of women.

The ‘Agony Uncles’ at the Beaver, the student newspaper of the London School of Economics (LSE), responded to the concerns of an imaginary reader about his girlfriend’s fidelity by suggesting he subject her to various violent sexual acts.

They also recommended punching women in the back of the head during sex and listed a series of illegal sex acts, concluding: ‘It’s not rape if you shout “surprise’.

The university’s Women’s Society and The Feminist Society have both petitioned for the resignation of the paper’s executive editor Nicola Alexander.

The strength of anger is so extreme the paper has refused to reveal the writers’ names over ‘concerns about their safety’. And the university has been criticised for refusing to discipline the students.

The offending column appeared on November 1, with a header that boasted:

‘This week, our Agony Uncles answer your questions on fornicating with faculty, keeping your girl in check and dealing with less attractive females.’
The ‘advice’ alluded to performing a violent sexual act on a woman to ‘keep your hands full’. Much of the content was too offensive for the Daily Mail to print.

WVoN comment: Sadly there seems to be a culture of male students trying to outdo each other with more and more offensive jokes. I recently read an article in a student paper suggesting that a female comedian should be beaten with her microphone for not being funny enough; and that men should only get back with an ex-girlfriend if she agreed to a boob job.

[Queerasfck]

From the Huff Post Gay Voices.....

Stephen Ira, Warren Beatty's Transgender Son, Slams Chaz Bono As 'Misogynous' In Blog Posting
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/stephen-ira-warren-beatty-transgender-son-chaz-bono_n_1101636.html)

[EnderD_503]

From the Huff Post Gay Voices.....

Stephen Ira, Warren Beatty's Transgender Son, Slams Chaz Bono As 'Misogynous' In Blog Posting
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/stephen-ira-warren-beatty-transgender-son-chaz-bono_n_1101636.html)



Glad they are covering this. It's not a totally uncommon opinion in the trans community. Personally, that's one of the issues I've always had with Chaz and with his documentary, Becoming Chaz. The fact that he displays quite a few misogynist and cissexist ideas. I don't think he's a good representative for the trans community, either.

[Queerasfck]

Glad they are covering this. It's not a totally uncommon opinion in the trans community. Personally, that's one of the issues I've always had with Chaz and with his documentary, Becoming Chaz. The fact that he displays quite a few misogynist and cissexist ideas. I don't think he's a good representative for the trans community, either.


I absolutely agree with you. Chaz is not a good representative for the trans community yet he has stepped into the role. I read the blogs Stephen Ira wrote and do agree with him, not only that Stephen Ira is obviously more educated and his blogs are very well written. I also heard Chaz on Howard Stern this week. I don't know what it is, the dude just expresses things so poorly, doesn't seem to get it. I don't agree with anything much he says at all.

[EnderD_503]

I absolutely agree with you. Chaz is not a good representative for the trans community yet he has stepped into the role. I read the blogs Stephen Ira wrote and do agree with him, not only that Stephen Ira is obviously more educated and his blogs are very well written. I also heard Chaz on Howard Stern this week. I don't know what it is, the dude just expresses things so poorly, doesn't seem to get it. I don't agree with anything much he says at all.

I really don't think he does "get it." I think that for him being a trans activist solely consists of getting the world to "accept" trans people as the same as cis people but born defectively, in much the same way that society once thought that there was only one sex and that women were just defective men rather than an entirely different sex. It seems like trans activism as embracing diversity and new ways of thinking about sex/gender aren't even on the radar for him. He essentially wants the world to pity trans people instead of hate trans people.

Not to mention his treatment of women. It seems his version of "missing out on all the things little boys got to do" consists of treating women like crap. I'm not sure he sees his own hypocrisy as a self-proclaimed LGBT activist. He seems caught in between wanting to be socially conscious and wanting to be a stereotypical guy so that American males will accept him as "normal guy." Through some of his interviews it seems he's made perfectly clear that he doesn't want to be associated with women, anyway.

[AtLast]

From the Huff Post Gay Voices.....

Stephen Ira, Warren Beatty's Transgender Son, Slams Chaz Bono As 'Misogynous' In Blog Posting
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/stephen-ira-warren-beatty-transgender-son-chaz-bono_n_1101636.html)



Thanks for posting this. I hope more transpeople point out that he is not a great trans rep at all. And he keeps getting a lot of press as such. It is also difficult to talk about this as a non-trans person because what usually happens is that this is viewed as transphobic.

There are so many other trans men and women that have so much more substance that make far better trans activists.

[Corkey]

I remember saying somewhere that no one should be looking at Chaz as any kind of role model. He's got enough personal problems to sink a boat. That said yes his comments are misogynistic and I cringed when he was yelling at his partner. Made my skin crawl frankly. He's no hero, but he is in the media's lime light. I wish he'd talk to some of our Brothers here, he may improve his image if he did.

[EnderD_503]

Thanks for posting this. I hope more transpeople point out that he is not a great trans rep at all. And he keeps getting a lot of press as such. It is also difficult to talk about this as a non-trans person because what usually happens is that this is viewed as transphobic.

There are so many other trans men and women that have so much more substance that make far better trans activists.

I think a lot of trans people do speak out against him as a rep, especially trans people who are involved in activism. I know that quite a few of us here have mentioned it a few times. It was one of the reasons for my rather disgruntled replies in the Dancing With the Stars thread, Becoming Chaz thread and pretty much anything involving Chaz. I know some others like Corkey and Dapper I think have mentioned it as well. So hopefully this isn't coming as a surprise to people that some in the trans community aren't ok with what Chaz says/Chaz as the celebrity face of trans people.

Irl, the problem is that the media really doesn't pay much attention to trans activists who aren't the children of celebrities. I guess they have no reason to. Trying to find a media source that will accept entries from people who don't think having Chaz as a trans rep. in the mainstream isn't some wonderful advancement in trans rights is difficult. Not that that means people shouldn't try. I think it is important to, but there's still that barrier of there being little demand to hear about trans rights issues in the mainstream.

[DapperButch]

I absolutely agree with you. Chaz is not a good representative for the trans community yet he has stepped into the role. I read the blogs Stephen Ira wrote and do agree with him, not only that Stephen Ira is obviously more educated and his blogs are very well written. I also heard Chaz on Howard Stern this week. I don't know what it is, the dude just expresses things so poorly, doesn't seem to get it. I don't agree with anything much he says at all.

I really don't think he does "get it." I think that for him being a trans activist solely consists of getting the world to "accept" trans people as the same as cis people but born defectively, in much the same way that society once thought that there was only one sex and that women were just defective men rather than an entirely different sex. It seems like trans activism as embracing diversity and new ways of thinking about sex/gender aren't even on the radar for him. He essentially wants the world to pity trans people instead of hate trans people.

Not to mention his treatment of women. It seems his version of "missing out on all the things little boys got to do" consists of treating women like crap. I'm not sure he sees his own hypocrisy as a self-proclaimed LGBT activist. He seems caught in between wanting to be socially conscious and wanting to be a stereotypical guy so that American males will accept him as "normal guy." Through some of his interviews it seems he's made perfectly clear that he doesn't want to be associated with women, anyway.

I agree with you guys. As I said in another thread, I saw him speak at a trans conference soon after "Becoming Chaz" came out. Several transguys confronted him pretty harshly about presenting as a representative of the trans community and his misogynistic statements.

Chaz truly seemed to not really "get" how his statements came across and genuinely seemed to not want the media to think that he was speaking for anyone but himself when talking about being trans. No disrespect to Chaz, but in watching the dialogue with the audience I deduced that maybe the guy just doesn't have the critical thinking skills necessary to really get it. Again, truly no disrespect to him, that is just my assessment.

P.S. I have not read/seen Chaz in any venue since the above, so I do not know what he may have said since that time (May 2011?).

[AtLast]

I think a lot of trans people do speak out against him as a rep, especially trans people who are involved in activism. I know that quite a few of us here have mentioned it a few times. It was one of the reasons for my rather disgruntled replies in the Dancing With the Stars thread, Becoming Chaz thread and pretty much anything involving Chaz. I know some others like Corkey and Dapper I think have mentioned it as well. So hopefully this isn't coming as a surprise to people that some in the trans community aren't ok with what Chaz says/Chaz as the celebrity face of trans people.

Irl, the problem is that the media really doesn't pay much attention to trans activists who aren't the children of celebrities. I guess they have no reason to. Trying to find a media source that will accept entries from people who don't think having Chaz as a trans rep. in the mainstream isn't some wonderful advancement in trans rights is difficult. Not that that means people shouldn't try. I think it is important to, but there's still that barrier of there being little demand to hear about trans rights issues in the mainstream.

Oh yes, I did see your and dapper's and Corkey's comments in other threads and was glad to you speak up. There were other posts I recall about the documentary and his treatment of his partner. I also thought a lot about transguys that I know in real-time that thought he was a very bad rep for ever speaking about the challenges of taking T. There have been many tranguys on this site as well the old one that speak frankly about some of the "excuses" around this as well as just plain sexist behavior. No discussion of the work one does on these issues as they transition- or even before making the decision to.

I think you have a really good point about how the mainstream is fixated on celeb transpeople and the fact that they would get a much more realistic idea of not only transgenderism, but gender in being exposed to organizations that represent "just people" that are trans.

I want Chaz to have a good and fulfilling life, but have to honest, even prior to transitioning as a LGBT "activist," I have never viewed him as all that enlightened just as a human being. He has never been an inspirational speaker and I don't see him as all that well read. There are quite a few trans people right here that have much more knowledge and evolvement than he does. And organizations that I feel fortunate to have in close proximity such as Colage (but there are others), could do so much positive work if they could get the kind of financial support that would enable chapters in many more states and cities. Also, there is a great need for educational curriculum development in education around gender identity.

Yes, I think many of our trans members speak out and up and certainly don't just follow the "crowd" concerning spokespeople!! Thank you all!

Have to add something-

As a non-trans person I am not unaffected by the very real need for as much research and development of gender identities and issues in order to understand myself as well. Taking into account what is now available in this field as compared to what was when I was a kid brings me a lot of satisfaction just a butch. We are finally able to see the binary and how restrictive it is for everyone. No way do I, or have I ever fit neatly into it. I see so many new horizons for future generations unlocking with what is now finally being studied and understood about gender. My hope is that kids will be able to grow up without so much of the self-loathing and shame that past generations have. I am really joyful that my 77 year old inter-gendered cousin lived long enough to be able to experience the world much differently- that is a true gift of the universe!

[EnderD_503]

Oh yes, I did see your and dapper's and Corkey's comments in other threads and was glad to you speak up. There were other posts I recall about the documentary and his treatment of his partner. I also thought a lot about transguys that I know in real-time that thought he was a very bad rep for ever speaking about the challenges of taking T. There have been many tranguys on this site as well the old one that speak frankly about some of the "excuses" around this as well as just plain sexist behavior. No discussion of the work one does on these issues as they transition- or even before making the decision to.

I think you have a really good point about how the mainstream is fixated on celeb transpeople and the fact that they would get a much more realistic idea of not only transgenderism, but gender in being exposed to organizations that represent "just people" that are trans.

I want Chaz to have a good and fulfilling life, but have to honest, even prior to transitioning as a LGBT "activist," I have never viewed him as all that enlightened just as a human being. He has never been an inspirational speaker and I don't see him as all that well read. There are quite a few trans people right here that have much more knowledge and evolvement than he does. And organizations that I feel fortunate to have in close proximity such as Colage (but there are others), could do so much positive work if they could get the kind of financial support that would enable chapters in many more states and cities. Also, there is a great need for educational curriculum development in education around gender identity.

Yes, I think many of our trans members speak out and up and certainly don't just follow the "crowd" concerning spokespeople!! Thank you all!

Have to add something-

As a non-trans person I am not unaffected by the very real need for as much research and development of gender identities and issues in order to understand myself as well. Taking into account what is now available in this field as compared to what was when I was a kid brings me a lot of satisfaction just a butch. We are finally able to see the binary and how restrictive it is for everyone. No way do I, or have I ever fit neatly into it. I see so many new horizons for future generations unlocking with what is now finally being studied and understood about gender. My hope is that kids will be able to grow up without so much of the self-loathing and shame that past generations have. I am really joyful that my 77 year old inter-gendered cousin lived long enough to be able to experience the world much differently- that is a true gift of the universe!

You're completely right, AtLast. Trans rights, development of new understandings of gender identity (and here I would add sex identities and sexual identities as well) benefits everyone in the long run. Just as women's rights, lgb/queer rights and ethnic/racial equality benefit everyone in the long run. I know I can get bogged down on how shitty things still are, that I don't always talk about the positives. But there are certainly many positives to talk about, and rights issues has certainly come along way and especially within the lgbtqi community.

I guess part of my worry is that our progress only echoes slightly in mainstream society compared with how loudly it resonates within the lgbtq community. So many people even defending Chaz against what Stephen has said, don't even seem to "get" trans rights or what being trans is. I wish that Pride and mainstream media representations of our diverse communities would display more of our diversity. Would display how we view gender and sex and sexuality. I guess it's just frustrating and it's partially my own fault in being frustrated. I just wish there was a way of entering even the research that has been conducted in the sciences into the mainstream perspective. So that people like Chaz would stop talking about being trans as though it were a "birth defect," or people like Chaz will stop talking about how he has little tolerance for women and what they have to say. So that that won't be what the mainstream preaches as gospel, cause "hey, he's a transguy/lgbtq activist and his bigoted views support our bigoted views, so let's use his ignorance to preach our own discriminatory practices!" It feels like the age old practice of using one marginalized person's limited understanding of their community's marginalization against the community as a whole. Like if one black/African American person spoke out against the civil rights movement, then that would have somehow "justified" the racist practices of the day for white Americans who opposed it. Or when one queer person speaks out against the queer rights movement, then that somehow "justifies" homophobic practices in society. Like, "oh hey one of them agrees with us, so therefore we must be right! Forget the majority who don't!"

I guess on the one hand I want to give Chaz a break because he's a transguy. On the other hand, he's an extremely privileged transguy who's words have really negative reprecussions for the trans community that doesn't have his social privilege. Would I be giving him a break if he were a cissexed male? No, I wouldn't. So while on the one hand I feel badly for him because he doesn't seem to "get it," but is also a transguy who has to deal with transphobia, on the other hand being trans doesn't exempt him from being transphobic or misogynist. And it's just as serious coming from his as from a cissexed person.

And I'm aware that I'm probably preaching to the choir here...but well...I guess I'm a bit of a natural ranter or something, lol.

[Corkey]

I just don't deal well with people who want to push any agenda they might have on the rest of the world. We're all different and have different ways of seeing things. Should be simple, obviously it's hard for some. But I'm still going to be me, take me or leave me I am who I am. One thing I will not be is someone who gives others a hard time on who they are. Humans are such a diverse group, and some of them have huge egos that need feeding. Not interested in being food.

[Nat]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/958416-the-25-sexiest-athletes-to-watch-for-in-2012

[Toughy]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/958416-the-25-sexiest-athletes-to-watch-for-in-2012

Certainly the commentary for each of the photos has a sexist, sexual nature to it, however many of those photos are deliberately sexual in nature. They were intentional.

The question in my mind has to do with what actually makes them inherently sexist? Is it wrong for a beautiful (or not beautiful) woman to intentionally have that type of photo made and published?

Maybe some of them have an exhibitionist streak in them.......and there is nothing wrong with that. Every one of us has looked at sexy photos of women (and men) and liked the photos and imagined all kinds of things while doing so. Does looking at pictures of almost to totally naked women, while thinking about all kinds of things, make me a sexist?

Certainly the radical feminists think so and they also are most certainly sex negative.

[Soon]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-372RwpR3m-w/T5mnFehXW2I/AAAAAAABWK0/h3wjdhMx488/s400/Crowley.jpg

[Corkey]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-372RwpR3m-w/T5mnFehXW2I/AAAAAAABWK0/h3wjdhMx488/s400/Crowley.jpg

Ms, Fluke is calling it homophobic hate speech, now there is someone who gets it.

[Toughy]

huh???? I'm lost.........no link to click on.......

[Corkey]

huh???? I'm lost.........no link to click on.......

Sorry Ed show MSNBC last night.

[AtLast]

These days, Misogyny and Sexism in the News is the focal point of the GOP- via candidates for president and all other offices, as well as in Congress. Since the big "red" take over in 2010 by the extreme right wing of the Republican party, mysogyny & sexism has been rampant.

[Toughy]

I'm gonna say this belongs in this thread

Scandal highlights lack of women in Secret Service
By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
The Associated Press

Saturday, April 28, 2012 5:04 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secret Service agents are often portrayed in popular culture as disciplined, unflappable, loyal — and male. A spiraling prostitution scandal that has highlighted the dearth of women in the agency that protects the president and dignitaries has many wondering: Would more females in the ranks prevent future dishonor?

http://start.toshiba.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9UE1L8O4%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018

[wolfsgirl]

This story is disturbing on so many levels. I hope this DJ loses his job.

He actually said that this father should get a friend to screw his daughter straight.


http://www.examiner.com/article/ohio-radio-host-advocates-corrective-rape-for-lesbian

[*Anya*]

Every one of us has looked at sexy photos of women (and men) and liked the photos and imagined all kinds of things while doing so. Does looking at pictures of almost to totally naked women, while thinking about all kinds of things, make me a sexist?

Certainly the radical feminists think so and they also are most certainly sex negative.

I just want to point out the broad generalization in this statement.

Not all radical feminists think so and not all are "sex negative".

I, personally, identify as a "radical feminist" and certainly am not sex negative.

Just sayin'.

It always bothers me when I read broad, sweeping statements that lump everyone, no matter how we identify, in the same bucket.

[Kobi]

During the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, more than 100 countries expressed their commitment “to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere in the interest of humanity.” Since then, the United Nations has been tracking the plight of women, at times demanding international attention. To make the problems clearer, it helps to express them as a chart — as the Guardian did last June — or as a list of the worst places in the world for women, as the Independent did in March, as part of an investigation in tandem with the 101st International Women’s Day.

But one of the most complete pictures of the plight of women worldwide emerged earlier this week. Valerie M. Hudson, a Texas A&M University professor, analyzed information from the WomenStats Project and mapped the data in cooperation with Foreign Policy. Exploring nine factors, including physical security, maternal mortality, government participation and educational disparity, the data visualization corroborates aforementioned findings from the Independent and the Guardian: that Afghanistan is among the worst countries in the world for women, where 87% are illiterate, more than 70% face forced marriages and expectant mothers have a 1 in 11 chance of dying during childbirth. There are other areas of concern as well: For example, central and southern Africa appear to have more than a 20% difference in male and female secondary education level. Maternal mortality levels are also shockingly high in the region, with approximately 75% of the continent reporting more than 300 maternal deaths per 100,000 births.

According to additional statistics from the United Nation’s latest World’s Women publication, women are also legally disadvantaged in accessing land ownership, inheritance and other forms of property in 45 out of the 48 African countries reviewed and in 25 out of the 42 reviewed in Asia. Though the continent is home to the most dismal numbers overall, one problem that did not surface in Africa, is that of sex ratio and son preference in children. According to the research, Africa had normal sex ratios, while India, China and Vietnam had “extremely abnormal sex ratios favoring males.”

One of the most striking findings, was that of sex trafficking. According to Foreign Policy‘s map, it appears that nearly 75% of the world has lax trafficking laws. Almost all of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia fall into one of three categories: “Trafficking is illegal but still practiced,” “Trafficking is limitedly illegal but is still practiced,” or “Trafficking is not illegal and is commonly practiced.”

Circumstances seem dire when looking at Foreign Policy‘s map, and they should. According to the United Nation’s review of 33 countries with available statistics, the proportion of women who will be exposed to physical violence in their lifetime ranges from 12% in Hong Kong to 59% in Zambia. In a related survey, the U.N. found that nearly one-third of women worldwide agreed that being hit by a husband in an argument is justifiable, and in Mali, 74% of women say they believe it’s acceptable to by punished for refusing sex.

On the upside, the U.N. has reported some bright spots in the last 20 years: Female genital mutilation is decreasing slightly among younger generations, literacy among adult women and men around the world has improved, albeit slowly, and enrollment of girls in schools in increasing across the world.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/28/what-the-rest-of-the-world-is-like-for-women/

[Truly Scrumptious]

While female genital mutilation may be decreasing slightly, it is now increasingly being performed in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, due to immigration. FORWARD (The Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development) estimates that as many as 6,500 girls are at risk of FGM within the UK every year.

From the guardian:

"As many as 100,000 women in Britain have undergone female genital mutilations (FGM) with medics in the UK offering to carry out the illegal procedure on girls as young as 10, it has been reported.

Investigators from the Sunday Times said they had secretly filmed a doctor, dentist and alternative medicine practitioner who were allegedly willing to perform FGM or arrange for the operation to be carried out. The doctor and dentist deny any wrongdoing.

The practice, which involves the surgical removal of external genitalia and in some cases the stitching of the vaginal opening, is illegal in Britain and carries up to a 14-year prison sentence. It is also against the law to arrange FGM.

The procedure is widespread across parts of Africa. Victims are rarely given anaesthetic and frequently suffer long-term damage and pain.

Research suggests that every year more than 22,000 girls in the UK and up to 6,000 in London are at risk of the potentially fatal procedure.

The Metropolitan police said that since 2008 it had received 166 reports of people who feared they were at risk of FGM. Across all 43 forces in England and Wales, no one has ever been convicted of the offence, according to the Sunday Times."

more here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/22/female-genital-mutilation-uk-medics?CMP=twt_gu

and if you can stomach it, here is more from FORWARD:
http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/key-issues/fgm

[Toughy]

I just want to point out the broad generalization in this statement.

Not all radical feminists think so and not all are "sex negative".

I, personally, identify as a "radical feminist" and certainly am not sex negative.

Just sayin'.

It always bothers me when I read broad, sweeping statements that lump everyone, no matter how we identify, in the same bucket.

Certainly the commentary for each of the photos has a sexist, sexual nature to it, however many of those photos are deliberately sexual in nature. They were intentional.

The question in my mind has to do with what actually makes them inherently sexist? Is it wrong for a beautiful (or not beautiful) woman to intentionally have that type of photo made and published?

Maybe some of them have an exhibitionist streak in them.......and there is nothing wrong with that. Every one of us has looked at sexy photos of women (and men) and liked the photos and imagined all kinds of things while doing so. Does looking at pictures of almost to totally naked women, while thinking about all kinds of things, make me a sexist?

Certainly the radical feminists think so and they also are most certainly sex negative.

I quoted the whole post for clarity. I should have said 'certainly many/most radical feminists think so'. What I think of when I say 'radical feminist' is the anti-porn, no penetrative sex, no adornment (make-up etc), no males over 5 yrs old, separatist lesbian kind of femininst.

So what do you think about the questions I asked? Is porn inherently sexist?

[Cin]

I just want to point out the broad generalization in this statement.

Not all radical feminists think so and not all are "sex negative".

I, personally, identify as a "radical feminist" and certainly am not sex negative.

Just sayin'.

It always bothers me when I read broad, sweeping statements that lump everyone, no matter how we identify, in the same bucket.

I also Identify as a radical feminist and I don't think I'm sex negative. I'm positively positive about sex and naked people in general. And looking at pictures of almost totally naked women (and men too) while thinking about all kinds of things doesn't make someone sexist in my radical feminist opinion. However the way that women and their bodies are sometimes used is at the very least sexist.

I guess what is sexist can occasionally be a difficult call to make. When misogyny is rearing its ugly head may be open to interpretation. Yet when is a decision not influenced by society's sexist and misogynistic opinions and expectations of women is perhaps an arguable never. It's impossible to live in our society and not have cut your teeth on sexism and misogyny.

[Toughy]

While female genital mutilation may be decreasing slightly, it is now increasingly being performed in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, due to immigration. FORWARD (The Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development) estimates that as many as 6,500 girls are at risk of FGM within the UK every year.

From the guardian:

"As many as 100,000 women in Britain have undergone female genital mutilations (FGM) with medics in the UK offering to carry out the illegal procedure on girls as young as 10, it has been reported.

Investigators from the Sunday Times said they had secretly filmed a doctor, dentist and alternative medicine practitioner who were allegedly willing to perform FGM or arrange for the operation to be carried out. The doctor and dentist deny any wrongdoing.

The practice, which involves the surgical removal of external genitalia and in some cases the stitching of the vaginal opening, is illegal in Britain and carries up to a 14-year prison sentence. It is also against the law to arrange FGM.

The procedure is widespread across parts of Africa. Victims are rarely given anaesthetic and frequently suffer long-term damage and pain.

Research suggests that every year more than 22,000 girls in the UK and up to 6,000 in London are at risk of the potentially fatal procedure.

The Metropolitan police said that since 2008 it had received 166 reports of people who feared they were at risk of FGM. Across all 43 forces in England and Wales, no one has ever been convicted of the offence, according to the Sunday Times."

more here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/22/female-genital-mutilation-uk-medics?CMP=twt_gu

and if you can stomach it, here is more from FORWARD:
http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/key-issues/fgm

a link to US laws:

http://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/pub_bp_fgmlawsusa.pdf

What is interesting to me is that it is legal (under federal law) for a woman over 18 to have this done. This practice is cultural and not religious.

And then there is the other big can of worms about male genital circumcision/mutilation. This originated as a religious practice and became the norm (a non-religious practice) in the US. It is automatically done to all baby boys before they go home.....parents are not asked unless something has changed in hospitals. It is now being justified as necessary for health reasons.

[Cin]

When my ex partner and I were deciding whether or not to circumcise our son we believed that having it done would have benefits for him, health and other. One friend that had not been circumcised always believed sex would be more pleasurable if he had been. Although looking back I don’t know how he could possibly know that since he never was. But being the radical feminist lesbian that I am, I wanted to make sure my son had the opportunity for as much sensation and sexual pleasure as possible. I know I never wanted to genitally mutilate my son, my choice was with his best interest as my only catalyst.

I don’t think that is generally the case with female genital mutilation. And while I don’t want to minimize the pain and suffering that circumcision may have caused any male I also don’t think it is comparable to the dangers that genital mutilation causes young females. Not only is the best interest of the girl not of much concern, in many cases the mutilation is done to the girl child to increase pleasure for males.

[weatherboi]

i think these powerful pictures of women can be a very positive reflection as long as it was/is women friendly/controlled from start to finish. i do think that some women oppress their own. It is no longer a silent standard that women have to out perform, out work, out think, and behave more financially fiscal in order to create close to but never equal standards men have in this world when it comes to living and working.

i think that porn is inherently sexist only because my imagination concludes that the percentage would be so small it doesn't make a dent in the sexist damage that may come with the industry. Human trafficking is/has been an epidemic and provides many workers for the porn/sex worker industry globally.

i am not sure sexism is subjective and in my Household it is not gender specific due to its femme led nature.

[Truly Scrumptious]

Honestly I have no idea what the risks or consequences of male circumcision are, but I do know they are routinely (though I just read a report from 2009 that said only about 60% of male babies are circumcised, a decline from the 1970s when the number was around 90%) performed in hospitals by doctors.

Female genital mutilation however is "traditionally carried out by an older woman with no medical training. Anaesthetics and antiseptic treatment are not generally used and the practice is usually carried out using basic tools such as knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass and razor blades. Often iodine or a mixture of herbs is placed on the wound to tighten the vagina and stop the bleeding."

Consequences:
severe pain and shock
infection
urine retention
injury to adjacent tissues
immediate fatal haemorrhaging

Long-term implications can entail:

extensive damage of the external reproductive system
uterus, vaginal and pelvic infections
cysts and neuromas
increased risk of Vesico Vaginal Fistula
complications in pregnancy and child birth
psychological damage
sexual dysfunction
difficulties in menstruation

Justifications of FGM

The justifications given for the practise are multiple and reflect the ideological and historical situation of the societies in which it has developed. Reasons cited generally relate to tradition, power inequalities and the ensuing compliance of women to the dictates of their communities

Reasons include:

custom and tradition
religion; in the mistaken belief that it is a religious requirement
preservation of virginity/chastity
social acceptance, especially for marriage
hygiene and cleanliness
increasing sexual pleasure for the male
family honour
a sense of belonging to the group and conversely the fear of social exclusion
enhancing fertility

http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/key-issues/fgm

[Toughy]

I'm glad I never had a son..........I have no idea what decision I would make. I think everyone makes the best decision they can for their own son.

I am clear about FGM. No way No how for girls. I think maybe perhaps it might should be illegal for adult women. However that eliminates choice for women and could drive the practice further underground (which is true for girls also). I dunno.....I hate crap like this.....

[Kobi]

a link to US laws:

http://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/pub_bp_fgmlawsusa.pdf

What is interesting to me is that it is legal (under federal law) for a woman over 18 to have this done. This practice is cultural and not religious.

And then there is the other big can of worms about male genital circumcision/mutilation. This originated as a religious practice and became the norm (a non-religious practice) in the US. It is automatically done to all baby boys before they go home.....parents are not asked unless something has changed in hospitals. It is now being justified as necessary for health reasons.


I worked maternal-child health for many years. Never did I see a circumcision performed without written consent from a parent. To do so would have been a risk management nightmare and a breach of medical ethics.




I quoted the whole post for clarity. I should have said 'certainly many/most radical feminists think so'. What I think of when I say 'radical feminist' is the anti-porn, no penetrative sex, no adornment (make-up etc), no males over 5 yrs old, separatist lesbian kind of femininst.

So what do you think about the questions I asked? Is porn inherently sexist?


The original quote of "radical feminist" was disturbing. Trying to tone it down by adding "many/most" didnt make it easier to swallow.

As others have addressed, both forms are generalizations which negatively sterotype a group with misperceptions of what a radical feminist stands for.

I, too, consider myself to be a radical feminist. I am not against porn per se. I am against the sexual exploitation of women within a patriarchal society. In such a society, with the unequal power between the sexes, females are socialized to be objectified for the pleasure of the members of the partiarchy in many different ways. Doesnt seem to matter if that objectification is in the form of the sexual abuse of children, the sexualization of breastfeeding, sexual harrassment in the workplace, cat calls walking down the street, or even in porn.

It is difficult to sort out if behavior is really consensual or if it is adhering to expectations. That is a troublesome dilemma.

[Toughy]

The original quote of "radical feminist" was disturbing. Trying to tone it down by adding "many/most" didnt make it easier to swallow.

As others have addressed, both forms are generalizations which negatively sterotype a group with misperceptions of what a radical feminist stands for.

okie dokie here ya go...........

'certainly many/most of the radical feminists I have encountered think so'. What I mean when I say 'radical feminist' is the anti-porn, no penetrative sex, no adornment (make-up etc), no males over 5 yrs old, separatist lesbian kind of feminist.

I stand by the above. I don't think (as it is now written) it over-generalizes or stereotypes radical feminism as I have defined it.

I don't think clarifying what I said is 'toning it down'. I do get what you mean about the original statement, but if you still think that after clarification..............shrug.......we will just have to disagree

--------------------

Til now I had never run across anyone who claimed 'radical feminist' who did not fit the above description. Certainly, one can say it is a radical idea that the patriarchy is the root of oppression of women and 'radical feminism' as a big picture concept is fitting. I was thinking that within self identified feminists the ones that are radical are those who are separatist, anti-porn, sex negative, no penetration sexually, no males over 5 yrs old, etc.....we all know who I am talking about....

I did a bit of research and came across this basic definition of 'radical feminism' (I took Wiki's cuz they all say about the same thing):

Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that male supremacy[1] oppresses women. Radical feminism aims to challenge and overthrow patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women and calls for a radical reordering of society.[1]

Wiki defines feminism as:

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.[1][2] In addition, feminism seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist is a "person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism."[3]



I personally don't think it's a radical idea that the patriarchy is the root of oppression and the 'isms' in the world. Nor do I believe it's radical to think gender roles are harmful and we need to re-order society. I thought that was just part of plain old garden variety feminist thought.

Seems to me the reason we need feminism is the patriarchy so I have trouble understanding why that is defined as radical.

just nit-picking over semantics in some ways, I guess....

Your mileage may vary.......

[Toughy]

Protest against compulsory medical exams of Polish women workers (http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2011/05/protest-against-compulsory-medical-exams-of-polish-women-workers/)

*as many have pointed out in comments, where are the mandatory prostate exams for men?


http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/view/2600/59/ <--petition and other info

gee..............

How is this different from those nasty forced penetrative vaginal ultrasound for abortion?

How is this really different than women in AZ having to prove to their employers they are taking 'birth-control' pills for medical reasons other than birth control?

I thought this country was the 'free-est, bestest, greatest, most wonderful, only democracy in the whole wide world.................

[Kobi]

okie dokie here ya go...........

'certainly many/most of the radical feminists I have encountered think so'. What I mean when I say 'radical feminist' is the anti-porn, no penetrative sex, no adornment (make-up etc), no males over 5 yrs old, separatist lesbian kind of feminist.

I stand by the above. I don't think (as it is now written) it over-generalizes or stereotypes radical feminism as I have defined it.

I don't think clarifying what I said is 'toning it down'. I do get what you mean about the original statement, but if you still think that after clarification..............shrug.......we will just have to disagree

--------------------

Til now I had never run across anyone who claimed 'radical feminist' who did not fit the above description. Certainly, one can say it is a radical idea that the patriarchy is the root of oppression of women and 'radical feminism' as a big picture concept is fitting. I was thinking that within self identified feminists the ones that are radical are those who are separatist, anti-porn, sex negative, no penetration sexually, no males over 5 yrs old, etc.....we all know who I am talking about....

I did a bit of research and came across this basic definition of 'radical feminism' (I took Wiki's cuz they all say about the same thing):

Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that male supremacy[1] oppresses women. Radical feminism aims to challenge and overthrow patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women and calls for a radical reordering of society.[1]

Wiki defines feminism as:

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.[1][2] In addition, feminism seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist is a "person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism."[3]



I personally don't think it's a radical idea that the patriarchy is the root of oppression and the 'isms' in the world. Nor do I believe it's radical to think gender roles are harmful and we need to re-order society. I thought that was just part of plain old garden variety feminist thought.

Seems to me the reason we need feminism is the patriarchy so I have trouble understanding why that is defined as radical.

just nit-picking over semantics in some ways, I guess....

Your mileage may vary.......


Toughy, I am following you now.

Helps to keep the historical context in sight. We are both of the same generation and it was an entirely different world for women back then. Stuff that is taken for granted now, is stuff we had to fight for then.

Back then, many of the theories and thinking of feminists were considered radical for the times. By todays standards, the theories and thinking are less unusual, more mainstream, less radical in nature. Evolution is a wonderful thing.

And the extent of ones radicalism may have been expressed in any number of ways in an effort to empower oneself and women as a whole by rejecting various patriarchal ways as various factions saw fit.

My memory banks are fuzzy these days. But, it does seem plausible that there were anti-porn sentiments because porn was seen as exploitive of women.

Anti-penetration is ringing a distant bell. Then again, back then, even some unradical lesbians were singing an anti-pentration theme cuz it was unlesbian.

I dont remember an anti-sex thing but I do remember an anti sex with men thing i.e. dont sleep with your oppressor because it clouded your judgement about your oppression kind of thing.

I have no clue why there was a male cut off after age 5. Im not a kid person. Do boys change radically at 6 or something?

In our own individual evolutions, I suspect we could track the changes in our own thinking, perspectives, preferences, definitions. Wish I could remember that far back.

[aishah]

http://preventconnect.org/2012/01/rape-more-common-than-smoking-in-the-us/
Sexual violence is a pervasive public health problem in the United States. In December 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. Throughout the country, headlines of local and national papers described that rape is more common than previously thought.

Today an article published in on Significance Magazine’s web site, a publication of the American Statistical Association and Royal Statistical Society, compared these rates to those of smoking – 18.3% of women over 18 reported being sexual assaulted in their lifetime while 17.4% of women reported smoking. Let consider this as we set health priorities.

Just as in smoking prevention, preventing sexual violence before it happens in the first place is crucial. NISVS demonstrated that sexual violence often first happen when peopel are young, thus early prevention efforts are vital.

For more information on NISVS go to CDC’s NISVS page. You can also find materials on PreventConnect, VawNet’s NISVS Resource Page and the NSVRC’s NISVS Page.

[Soon]

Violence Against Women Act Funding Request Rejected By GOP (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/violence-against-women-act_n_1507580.html)

[aishah]

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/are_workign_women_held_back_by.html?awid=530091897 5926288451-3271#.T7aVWcG_hik.facebook

great article about women in the corporate workplace.

[Soon]

Jay Townsend, GOP Spokesman: 'Let's Hurl Some Acid At Those Female Democratic Senators' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/jay-townsend-nan-hayworth-acid-war-on-women_n_1560693.html)

[DapperButch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/asus-rear-tweet_n_1567696.html?1338824355&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D166825

[CherylNYC]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/asus-rear-tweet_n_1567696.html?1338824355&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D166825

As usual, don't read the comments unless you want to lose some sleep. I'll take my own advice next time.

[Kobi]

CAIRO (AP) — A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

From the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement.

The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues — mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the ruling military.

Earlier in the week, an Associated Press reporter witnessed around 200 men assault a woman who eventually fainted before men trying to help could reach her.

Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined to hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."

After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.

The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.

Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.

"After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organizers of the event on Twitter.

The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.

Mariam Abdel-Shahid, a 25 year-old cinema student who took part in the march, said "sexual harassment will only take us backward."

"This is pressure on the woman to return home," she said.

Ahmed Mansour, a 22 year-old male medical student who took part in the march, said there are "people here trying to abuse the large number of women protesters who feel safe and secure. Some people think it is targeted to make women hate coming here."

"I am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society," he said.

Assaults on women Tahrir have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt's protest movement.

During the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly experienced a "new Egypt," with none of the harassment that is common in Cairo's streets taking place in Tahrir. Women participated in the anti-Mubarak uprising as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs. They have continued the role during the frequent protests over the past 15 months against the military, which took power after Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, 2011.

But women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military and security forces in crackdowns, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security against protesters. Lara Logan, a U.S. correspondent for CBS television, was sexually assaulted by a frenzied mob in Tahrir on the day Mubarak stepped down, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came to the square to celebrate.

In a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops dispersing a December protest in Tahrir were captured on video stripping a woman's top off down to her blue bra and stomping with their boots on her chest, as other troops pulled her by the arms across the ground.

That incident prompted an unprecedented march by some 10,000 women through central Cairo in December demanding Egypt's ruling military step down in a show of outrage

In contrast, the small size of Friday's march could reflect the vulnerability and insecurity many feel in the square, which was packed with thousands of mostly young men by nightfall Friday. Twenty rights groups signed on to support the stand and hundreds more vowed to take part, according to the Facebook page where organizers publicized the event, but only around 50 women participated.

Sexual harassment of women, including against those who wear the Islamic headscarf or even cover their face, is common in the streets of Cairo. A 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights says two-thirds of women in Egypt experienced sexual harassment on a daily basis. A string of mass assaults on women in 2006 during the Muslim feast following the holy month of Ramadan prompted police to increase the number of patrols to combat it but legislation providing punishment was never passed.

After Friday's attack, many were already calling for another, much larger stand in the square against such assaults.

Another participant in Friday's march, Ahmed Hawary, said a close female friend of his was attacked by a mob of men in Tahrir Square in January. She was rushed off in an ambulance, which was the only way to get her out, he said. After suffering from a nervous breakdown, she left Cairo altogether to work elsewhere in Egypt.

"Women activists are at the core of the revolution," Hawary said. "They are the courage of this movement. If you break them, you break the spirit of the revolution."

http://news.yahoo.com/mob-attacks-women-egypt-anti-sex-assault-rally-212911011.html

[Kobi]

ALBANY, N.Y.—A family who loses a loved one in New York to domestic violence will no longer face the additional anger and heartache of seeing a spouse who is suspected of murder controlling the victim's burial.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders said Monday they have agreed on legislation that would end the power of abusive spouses to dictate what happens to the bodies of the wives or husbands they're accused of killing.

The package is expected to easily pass the Senate and Assembly by June 21, the end of the Legislature's regular session

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/06/11/ny_leaders_agree_to_deny_spouse_killers_burial_say/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

[Soon]

Violence Against Women Disguised as ‘Fashion’ (http://jezebel.com/5916650/fashions-ongoing-violence-against-women/gallery/1)

link to the photos in article