Misogyny and Sexism in the News

[femmeInterrupted]

Originally Posted by Kobi

femmeInterrupted this might explain the reasons behind what we have been talking about. The "survey" was done back in 2012 for netmums. Not sure how valid it is in scientific terms but it does explain some of the reluctance, apathy, shifts....I'm not sure what to call it.

Is it a ME focus as the name implies i.e. personal preferences? Does it feel like internalized sexism to some extent with a dash of identification with the aggressor or Stockholm Syndrome? Does it have some valid points?

Does it address some of the anger and women focus of the previous post?

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http://www.netmums.com/

First off....what the hell is 'Vajazzle'?!

There's just too much to deconstruct here....I keep sighing, which is interfering with my typing!

It is interesting that the scope of 'alright activities' are all about beauty/body modification/image. I'd say that's a tall glass of Stockholm flavoured Kool-Aid.

The parts about motherhood, affordable and quality daycare, maternity leave benefits should have always been important to everyone...not just the women with the babies. This all ties into the unpaid work/labour of women, the creation of 'pink collar' low paid wages (still in most of the helping/caring professions)

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by femmeInterrupted

First off....what the hell is 'Vajazzle'?!

There's just too much to deconstruct here....I keep sighing, which is interfering with my typing!

It is interesting that the scope of 'alright activities' are all about beauty/body modification/image. I'd say that's a tall glass of Stockholm flavoured Kool-Aid.

The parts about motherhood, affordable and quality daycare, maternity leave benefits should have always been important to everyone...not just the women with the babies. This all ties into the unpaid work/labour of women, the creation of 'pink collar' low paid wages (still in most of the helping/caring professions)

Vajazzling: The act of applying glitter and jewels to a woman's bikini area for aesthetic purposes.

Learn something new everyday.

[Allison W]

On the matter of that FeMEnist thing, I can understand the importance of personal preferences coming up--different people are different and so will have different needs and motivations and will make different choices. But the survey itself is kind of depressing. The answers kind of range from "sad" to "soul-killing." I mean, getting back into the kitchen being the highest priority on the list, vastly exceeding little things like equal pay and more women in positions of power? What is this I don't even.

But I really want to shake down the ones who answered that the big priority of women today should be to reject equality in favour of backwards gender-essentialism and "different rights," and ask them what the crispy fuck "different rights" they are thinking. Because seriously, anything good coming of going down that road isn't even conceivable on paper, let alone in practice. That is serious I-don't-even-want-to-live-on-this-planet-anymore shit.

EDIT: The #1 answer for priorities ("just being a mum") saddened me (primarily due to being at the tippy-top of the list; if it had traded places with one of the other answers, it wouldn't have made me nearly so uneasy), but the #2 priority actually makes sense and I suppose I should clarify that that one didn't make me want to weep tears of blood.

[Kobi]

A debate by Afghan MPs about beefing up a law to prevent violence against women has been halted amid angry scenes.

Parliament's speaker ended the debate after 15 minutes after traditionalists called for the law to be scrapped.

A law banning violence against women, child marriages and forced marriages was passed by presidential decree in 2009, but did not gain MPs' approval.

Hundreds of people have been jailed under the current law, introduced by President Hamid Karzai.

'Lack of assurance'

The decision to seek parliamentary approval for the law had split women activists.

Some had said opening it up for debate in parliament could pave the way for conservatives to amend it and weaken protection for women - or even throw it out altogether.

One of those against the move was prominent MP Farkhunda Zahra Naderi. She told the BBC after Saturday's events in parliament that her fears had been proved right.

During the debate, mullahs and other traditionalist MPs accused President Karzai of acting against Islamic Sharia law by signing the decree in the first place, the BBC's David Loyn reports from Kabul.

In particular, they demanded a change to the law so that men cannot be prosecuted for rape within marriage, our correspondent said.

One of those who had sought to enshrine the decree with parliamentary approval is leading MP Fawzia Koofi, who survived a Taliban ambush two years ago.

She had worried that if the law did not have parliamentary backing it could be weakened as Afghan leaders attempt to pacify the Islamist Taliban movement.

"There is a lack of assurance that any president of Afghanistan will have any commitment to women's issues and in particular towards this decree," Ms Koofi told the BBC before the debate.

President Karzai has come under fire from women's groups for frequently changing his position on women's rights.

In 2012, he endorsed a "code of conduct" issued by an influential council of clerics which allows husbands to beat wives under certain circumstances.

Ms Koofi and fellow activists have argued that the law is similar to those in many other Islamic countries.

The existing law will now remain in force while further discussions on procedure are held, our correspondent says.

Despite the efforts taken to enhance rights for women and girls in Afghanistan, child marriages remain common and stories of abuse keep coming to light.

Most Afghans still live in rural areas, where poverty, conflict and conservative attitudes are more likely to keep girls and women at home.

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Analysis
BBC News, Kabul

Afghanistan's Law to Eliminate Violence Against Women, remains in force. It was signed by President Karzai in 2009 and did not need parliamentary approval.

But nothing is certain in this young democracy, and those who brought it to parliament, led by a potential presidential candidate, Fawzia Koofi, wanted it approved there so it was irreversible. But women activists who feared that debating it would give a platform to the most fundamentalist voices were proved right. Its withdrawal for now puts further progress on women's rights into legal limbo.

There have been hundreds of successful prosecutions under the law - some resulting in jail terms. But changing attitudes in the Afghan countryside will take more than a change in the law, and the failed debate will strengthen the hand of fundamentalists who see the law as opposed to Sharia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22579098

[DapperButch]

Just a good article. We have talked here before about masculine privilege and misogyny from butches. Thought others may appreciate the article.



http://www.autostraddle.com/butch-pl...sogyny-174442/

AND

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-b...ref=gay-voices

[femmeInterrupted]

http://jezebel.com/florida-girl-face...mate-508849336





Kaitlyn Hunt's parents knew their 18-year-old daughter was dating a 15-year-old girl whom she met through classes and varsity sports at the Florida high school the two attended. But when the younger girl's parents learned about the relationship, they had Kaitlyn arrested on two counts of felony lewd and lascivious battery on a child ages 12 to 16. Kaitlyn must now choose whether to go to trial — if found guilty, she'd have to register as a sex offender and could serve up to 15 years in prison — or accept a plea deal of two years' house arrest and one year of probation. The Hunts hope growing publicity will pressure the state to drop her case and focus on protecting and educating teenagers instead of prosecuting them for falling in consensual love.

Steven Hunt told Jezebel in a phone interview that his daughter Kaitlyn, whom friends and family call "Kate," grew close with her 15-year-old former girlfriend through classes and the varsity basketball team the two played on at Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Fla; the younger girl was a freshman student enrolled in International Baccalaureate courses with upperclassmen, so they were peers in the same social circle. Kate's mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, wrote on Facebook that the two girls hung out with the family at their home and before basketball games. Since Kelley had seen the girl's father at sporting events, she assumed her family knew about and accepted the relationship. Kate had always dated boys, but when she told her mother she was dating a girl, Kelley "didn’t want to make it a big deal," she wrote. "I talked to her about it, and figured it was just a social thing, times have changed and a lot of kids are experimenting, so I didn’t make much of it."

"We knew about her sexual preference for a long time," Steve said. "It wasn't an issue for us."

But it was an issue for her former girlfriend's parents. When the girls' basketball coach found out the two were dating, she kicked Kate off the team and told the younger girl's parents, who told police. That's when Kate was arrested. According to Kelley:

On Saturday February 16th our families world was shattered and our daughters nightmare begun. The police came to our home and arrested my daughter, put her in hand cuffs and we had no idea why. They refused to tell us anything at first because she had turned 18. Kate was ripped out of our arms, terrified, crying hysterically. My younger daughter was there at the time, my husband and myself, we were mortified. They finally told us she was being arrested on “probable cause”. I asked them probable cause of what, they said sexual battery on a person 12-16 years old. My heart dropped, I knew then that it had to have been her girlfriend's parents. These people never came to us as parents, never tried to speak to us, didn’t try to get the school involved to speak to us and tell us they had a problem with the girls dating, not one single word. Instead, they set out their vengeance and had my child arrested on FELONY charges.
Kate, who agreed to cut off contact with her former girlfriend and was subsequently expelled weeks before graduation to boot, has until Friday to decide whether to go to trial or take the plea deal. Her parents don't want her to choose either option.

“The (assistant) state attorney, Brian Workman needs to use taxpayers money to prosecute REAL criminals, not a high school student who has never been in trouble a day in her young life, all because she had a mutual consenting relationship with someone who has bigoted parents,” wrote Hunt Smith. "...they feel like my daughter “made” their daughter gay. They are bigoted, religious zeolites that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter."

Kate's father said this case highlights glaring problems with age-of-consent laws and sex-education. The age of consent in Florida is 18, but should 18-year-old high schoolers really be responsible for setting boundaries with the 14 to 17-year-olds who take the same classes and participate in the same after-school activities as they do? "There's no education at her school that describes what to do and what not to do within a consensual relationship in terms of age," Steve said. "The fact that this was a same-sex relationship was clearly the motivation factor [behind the arrest]. But this law is ridiculous regardless of whether teenagers are gay or straight."

From the "Free Kate" Facebook page:

The law needs to change, not only to protect Kate, but to protect the millions of teenagers, boys and girls, straight and gay, whose lives are regularly ruined because parents disapprove of their children's sexual choices. We want justice for all 18-year-old high school seniors who have undergone criminal prosecution for exercising poor judgement in their dating life. Such students are not predators. They're just kids. Likewise, we believe the law should not be arbitrarily enforced based on a parent's anger. Parents should be empowered to protect their children, but not at the price of destroying another young person's life forever.
The Hunts have launched a Change.org petition, which has over 52K signatures, and a fundraising site to help with extensive legal fees. "Kate is strong but scared," Steve said. "We hope she gets her freedom soon."

[Kobi]

This Free Kate story is making me twitch a bit.

Its another of those where, to me, the issue isn't quite as clear cut as these parents might be trying to make it sound.

I'm trying to sort why I am feeling the way I am .

First off, I have a real problem when parents, trying to protect their kid, are wanting to challenge the protection of consent laws for children by turning it into an issue about homophobia and sexual experimentation.

They are also faulting the law for existing, the school for allowing mixed age mingling of students without some parameters of some sort, the school for telling the other parents, the other parents for reporting it to the police, and the district attorney who should spend taxpayers money prosecuting real criminals. Whoa.

We only have the alleged perpetrators parents side of the story. What's the other side?

Second, I don't always get the concept of "legal consent". Somehow on the morning of their 18th birthday, it seems we expect some wisdom and growth was wasn't there the night before.

Third, the parents are giving conflicting stories. The mother is saying her daughter always dated boys but had told her she was dating a girl now. The father says they had known about their daughters sexual preference for a long time. To me, this sets up a credibility issue.

Fourth, the mother indicates she made many assumptions about this. She assumed the other family knew. She assumed the other family accepted it. Why assume? Why not just ask your kid? Was she aware of the differences in their ages and the potential pitfalls?

Part of this is sounding like she wanted to be supportive of her child's developing sexuality but was reluctant or unsure of how to go about it.

Fifth, if these young women are both in the IB program, they are very bright kids, albeit still kids. Did anyone talk to these kids?

Sixth, if this was an 18 year old boy and a 15 year old girl, would I look at it differently?

Seventh, the Free Kate page is postulating the following:

"The law needs to change, not only to protect Kate, but to protect the millions of teenagers, boys and girls, straight and gay, whose lives are regularly ruined because parents disapprove of their children's sexual choices. We want justice for all 18-year-old high school seniors who have undergone criminal prosecution for exercising poor judgement in their dating life. Such students are not predators. They're just kids. Likewise, we believe the law should not be arbitrarily enforced based on a parent's anger. Parents should be empowered to protect their children, but not at the price of destroying another young person's life forever."

This is the same type of rationale I have seen used when male high school athletes have been accused of taking sexual advantage of intoxicated young classmates. Just poor judgment. Shouldn't destroy a young persons life or their potential future athletic career.

I don't know what to think.

[Gemme]

Ad for surf apparel and accessories resembles a Carl's Jr. ad

I don't even use this company and, from this ad and their FB response to the backlash, I won't ever.

[Gemme]

This hits a whole lot of -isms for me.

Rape Victim Sentenced to Jail in Dubai

[femmeInterrupted]

http://www.themilitantbaker.com/2013...bie-fitch.html


“P.P.S. You should know your Large t-shirt comfortably fits a size 22. You might want to work on that.”

[Kobi]

Back to the Free Kate thing again for a moment. There was an Associated Press story yesterday that contradicted some of the earlier stories.

This story said:


"An 18-year-old Florida cheerleader is facing felony charges that she had sexual contact with her underage, 14-year-old girlfriend."

"The two had a consenting relationship that began soon AFTER Kaitlyn Hunt turned 18, and Hunt Smith, Kates mother said she assumed the younger girl's parents knew that."


In addition, it says this:


State Attorney Bruce Colton said the victim's family is not pushing for prison but wants Kaitlyn Hunt to be held responsible in some way.

"One of the reasons this case has gotten people's attention is because it's being publicized as a person being persecuted because she's gay, and that has nothing to do with the case, nothing to do with the law, nothing to do with the sheriff's office filing the charges," Colton said. He said the law is designed to protect younger children from older children who might be more aggressive in starting a relationship.

"The law doesn't make any differentiation. It doesn't matter if it's two girls or two boys, or an older boy and a younger girl or an older girl and a younger boy. Whatever the combination, it doesn't matter."

"It's very difficult under these circumstances when the defendant and the victim do not see what they're doing as a crime, but understandably the law is very clear that when someone is more than four years older than the victim and the victim is under the age of 16, then they cannot give legal consent," said New Jersey defense attorney Gregory Gianforcaro, who has represented victims and defendants on both sides of this issue.


I am still not sure what to think. There is more than one side to any story. Something still feels fishy about this one.


Full story

[Kobi]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers have approved legislation to stem the growing epidemic of sexual assaults in the military.

The bill approved by a House panel Wednesday authorizes changes to military law that would strip commanding officers of their authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions in major cases, such as rape and assault.

Republicans and Democrats backing the revisions believe they will lead to a cultural shift in the armed forces that encourages more victims to step forward.

The bill also would impose harsher penalties on service members found guilty of sexual offenses by requiring that they be dismissed or dishonorably discharged.

http://news.yahoo.com/house-panel-mo...173033382.html

[Kobi]

Is a cigar sometimes just a cigar? That debate will remain unresolved, but The Daily Caller can say with confidence that a banana is definitely not always just a banana at North Marion High School near Ocala, Fla.

School district officials suspended North Marion High teacher Jonathan Hampton for three days without pay after he allegedly used a banana to touch a female student on the head during class, reports Ocala.com.

Hampton was teaching an advanced, college-level course at the time. The theme of the discussion that day was the Freudian ramifications of Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

According to a May 13, 2013 discipline letter obtained by local CBS-affiliate WKMG, Hampton “rubbed a student’s head and neck area with a banana” while the topic was “cylinder objects, phalluses and/or sex symbols.”

The unidentified student’s parents reported the incident on May 6, some three months after it happened. According to the school district, they complained because their daughter felt uncomfortable. It’s not clear what factors caused them to wait three months to lodge their grievance.

A district representative said that Hampton was suspended because, given the totality of the circumstances, school officials had determined that he made inappropriate use of the banana.

The discipline letter written by deputy superintendent Rick Lankford suggested that other students had complained that Hampton’s college-level coursework has gone beyond community norms with “excessive frequency, causing discomfort to many of your students.”

Some parents and community members side firmly with the school district.

“That is disgusting, very disgusting,” said Dale Johnson, identified by WKMG as a grandmother. “I don’t think he should be allowed to teach kids. You don’t do stuff like that and get away with it.”

Hampton did not speak with local media but his attorney Mark Fiedelholtz did, telling a much different story.

“He doesn’t recall ever touching the student with a banana, but if he did it would be to get their attention,” Fiedelholtz told WKMG.

“There was nothing else to it,” he also said, according to Ocala.com.

The attorney added that no other students had made a complaint at the time or during the three subsequent months about the alleged banana incident.

Hampton has taught at North Marion High since 2007. According to personnel records obtained by WKMG, his work as a teacher has been generally “outstanding.” He was the 2011-12 teacher of the year. In 2009, though, Hampton landed in hot water for negative online commentary about students and fellow teachers.

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-high-s...W4tVVM-;_ylv=3