April 2005 Archives

From the 13 year-old in Florida whose abortion was blocked by the state:

Girl: "Why can't I make my own decision?"

Judge Alvarez: "I don't know."

Girl: "You don't know? Aren't you the judge? I think if I want to make the decision, it's my business and I can do that."

Via DED Space.

Alabama State Representative Gerald Allen recently introduced a
bill into the state legislature that would keep "gay" books out of
public school libraries.

Banned books would include those written by gay authors - like
Tennesee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal - and books with gay
characters in them, such as Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."

Allen said he was afraid of the "homosexual agenda" and "I don't look
at it as censorship. I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls
and minds of our children." Allen must not have gotten the memo that
at every single point in history when politicians have banned books,
it has turned out to be a bad, bad idea.

Luckily, the bill died before it could be voted on, because not enough
state legislators showed up for the vote. But isn't it nice to know that asshole like Allen still exist?

Contributed by Jess Wakeman

Let's hope so. A UN spokesperson announced yesterday that there has been a number of U.N. peacekeepers that have sexually abused and exploited local women in Liberia, where they were stationed to protect them. Old news, my friend.

The official speaking on a condition of anonymity said that the number of total allegations could reach up to twenty. “The allegations range from the exchange of goods, money or services for sex to the sexual exploitation of minors. The peacekeeping department here in New York as well as the mission on the ground are taking appropriate follow-up action."

We'll see about that. These atrocities have been continuing for so long and near to nothing has been done about it. If you want to take some action, click here.

Here’s some other posts on the UN and violence against women in war:

What's (Not) Being Done in the Sudan

UN's Inadequate Response to Gender-Based Violence

Report Released on Women and War

Sexual Assault and the UN (AGAIN)

From gaming blog Kotaku:

Wired’s Sex Drive has a short review of porn star Jenna Jameson’s new game up. xStream3D Multimedia VirtuallyJenna sounds about as original as its name. Basically, you get to play around with a virtual dummy of Jenna Jameson that looks like some creepy plastic corpse in the screen shots. Regina Lynn writes that you can dress Jenna up and pose her and then plunge a variety of tools into her to try and get her to achieve climax. That’s the whole game. Lynn was able to get Jenna to moan a whole bunch and say she was almost there, but never landed the big O. xStream3D president says the thing is a game and that it empowers women.

And I’m sure that’s exactly what all of the pantless men playing the game one handed will be thinking. For me, this game has all of the appeal of making sweet love to a wax dummy.

I'm glad to know not everyone thinks this game is a great idea. Ew. But I love the company pres. trying to convince folks that the game actually empowers women. Cause what's more revolutionary and powerful than being a virtual dummy that gets penetrated?

Thanks to Roger for the link.

As the Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship, Senator John Kerry called out Bush and the Small Business Administration (SBA) concerning their lack of regard for women-owned businesses. Here's a snippet of Kerry's comments:

"Women business owners continue to be short-changed by the administration...The number of women-owned businesses is growing at more than twice the rate of all firms, but women entrepreneurs aren't getting their fair share of the capital, counseling or contracts. There's no place for the ol' boys club in our government. We need to ensure that, with a smart business plan and a lot of hard work, every American entrepreneur can achieve success."

Of the $300 billion in contracts awarded by the government, women-owned businesses (which are 30 percent of all businesses in the US) are expected to receive five percent. Yet they're only given three. Although it doesn’t seem like much, this means that they lose out on about $6 billion per year. Additionally, (and not surprisingly) the administration has refused to implement a women’s contracting program to help women-owned businesses obtain access to federal contracts.

As infuriating as this is, I’m glad to see that our old friend (sniff, sniff) is back and doing his thang for a good cause.

The book titles alone should be enough to get you interested (and laughing): You, The Warrior Leader; The Barbarian Way; Fight on Your Knees; God's Gift to Women.

Jeff Sharlet, a research professor at New York University's Center for Religion and Media, takes on the upsurge of Christian men's books in a recent Nerve article:

...What's sad about books like God's Gift to Women and Wild At Heart is that they attempt to contain the mystery of that question in metaphors that translate its inherent sexuality into codes of combat, and clichéd ones at that. The "enemy," of course, is Satan, but his names are legion: pornography, homosexuality, feminism, humanism, the monolithic foe Christian conservatives call, simply, "the culture."

And by the way, turns out us gals don't really like the sex so much:

In an interview with New Man, a Christian magazine, John Hagee, a popular pastor who is the author of What Every Man Wants in a Woman, explains what, in turn, every woman wants in a man (which is odd, since Hagee's wife, Diana, is the author of a book of that name, and would have presumably been the more logical explicator): "nonsexual affection."

Well, sure. That this is news to anyone is hard to believe. But more shocking is Hagee's announcement that nearly every woman he's counseled over the years has told him that "It's really no big deal if I never have sex again with my husband." This makes sense only if one accepts the division of identity increasingly popular in evangelicaldom: young men are knights and young women are virginal maidens, and even after marriage that formula, in a sense, continues: Men must get dirty in battle, women must stay pure at home. Sex is for the fellas.

Don’t know how much the boyfriend is going to like hearing that. Sorry honey; no more sex for me! Hand-holding will suffice from now on.

Make sure to read the whole piece...you'll thank me for it.

The ACLU of Ohio is representing NARAL in a lawsuit against the state of Ohio's sale of "Choose Life" license plates.

Effective May 18, Ohio residents will be able to spend an extra $30 for the specialty plates, $20 of which will go to anti-choice groups that "encourage women to consider adoption rather than abortion." The state will not be providing specialty license plates with an abortion-rights message.

The lawsuit hinges on viewpoint discrimination against pro-choicers, because the Ohio legislature rejected a license plate with a pro-choice message. Of the 10 states that have "Choose Life" plates, none offer plates that read "Choose Choice."

"This is a case about fundamental fairness," said Carrie Davis, ACLU of Ohio staff attorney. "The State of Ohio cannot open a public forum to one side of a debate without allowing the same access to all other sides."

It looks like the British Open organizers have decided to admit women into the competition beginning in 2006, reports BBC News. The Open is one of the four largest golfing events worldwide.

The word on the street is that fifteen-year old Michelle Wie is going to be the first woman to qualify. Check out some of her kick-ass achievements she’s made as one of the leading ladies of golf.

How many "Oh, your cell phone is on vibrate (wink, wink)" comments have you ever gotten? Well from now on those obnoxious comments will have some truth to them. Kind of.

Vibrafoon makes exclusive content for mobile phones. Our first product is the Vibrafonic. These Vibrafonics are small java applications that turn your mobile phone into a personal massaging device. Besides vibrating, they play a funny, flirty, or erotic animation or video clip. These vibrations, in combination with the visuals, give you a shaking sensation you'd never expect from a mobile phone.

Um, ok. But then I have to put it up to my ear? Don't think so. Not to mention the "erotic" visuals are anything but (see above).

But I do have to admit, their flash ad is pretty cute.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT-D) is asking that Americans give great Mother's Day gifts this year--not shopping at Wal-Mart:

DeLauro, D-Conn., wants consumers to join with her in supporting a federal lawsuit that accuses the nation's largest retailer of discriminating against women.

DeLauro also wants the company to turn over wage statistics for congressional review.

Love it. You can participate in the “Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart” campaign at Wake-Up Wal-Mart.

For more info on Wal-Mart's scary practices, you can also check out Wal-Mart Watch and the AFL-CIO.

In other choice/teen news: make sure to check out The New Republic's article on all the recent brouhaha surrounding emergency contraception, Morning-After Sickness. Outside of discussing legislative threats, author Jonathan Cohn also takes on the fear of teen sex that seems to be behind much of the opposition to EC:

The other serious argument against Plan B is that it will increase risky sexual activity by young people. But peer-reviewed studies published in mainstream medical publications (like one just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association) have repeatedly found no such link. Of course, conservatives argue that making emergency contraception available sends a broader cultural message about the acceptability of premarital sex...

...When conservatives talk about Plan B, they conjure up images of lust-crazed college girls engaging in one-night stands, then reaching over empty beer bottles to grab their supersized Plan B jars. But the one group to whom emergency contraception would make the greatest difference is rape victims. According to Trussell, who studied statistics from 1998, about 22,000 of the 25,000 women who became pregnant from rape could have prevented pregnancy with emergency contraception. Unfortunately, the new federal hospital guidelines for rape treatment released in January mysteriously omitted Plan B, even though a previous draft had included it. In Colorado, conservatives have fought efforts to impose a guideline that includes emergency contraceptives...

I'm glad that Cohn points out that women who are suffering most because of the lack of EC availability are rape victims and not crazy spring breakers, as the conservatives would have us believe. But don't crazy spring breakers deserve EC, too? By focusing on victims of sexual assault as the primary users of emergency contraception are we somehow bolstering the argument that "irresponsible" teen girls shouldn't have access to it? Just putting it out there...

From the Associated Press:

The state's social services agency was granted a court order to block an abortion for a pregnant 13-year-old girl living in a state shelter, prompting an emergency appeal Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state agency argued the 13 1/2-week pregnant girl -- described as L.G. in court documents -- is too young and immature to make an informed medical decision, according to the ACLU appeal.

Of course, too young to make a decision but plenty old to have a kid. And yes, I know I brought the whole minors/abortion issue up yesterday, but I think it warrants repeating.

Because the laws that affect teen girls and their bodies tell volumes about how all women are viewed. Anti-choice legislators (and activists) see women as children, unable to make decisions on their own—at 13 or 30 years-old. We need to be protected from ourselves and our bad decisions. That's why our pharmacists won't give out birth control or emergency contraception, or our states act as parents when we're a 13 year-old with no family who wants an abortion.

This recent article from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger about adolescent gynecology made me think about how this issue is largely left out of the discussion on teen sexuality.

The first visit is described as a "gynecological encounter," which doesn't include a full pelvic exam, but allows teenage girls to start a dialogue with their OB/GYN. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that healthy girls first visit a gynecologist between the ages of 13 and 15 and preferably before sexual activity. As a good friend of mine pointed out, the first visit is kind of like the "control" to which every exam after sex can be compared.

This also ties into the discussion on abstinence-only education. If teenage girls aren't getting accurate information about sex in school, then maybe they can get it from their OB/GYN. I'm wondering: Are parents who advocate abstinence-only education delaying the date of their daughters' first visit to the gynecologist?

Speaking from personal experience, my parents are conservative Catholics who believe strongly in abstinence-only until marriage. I made my first OB/GYN appointment by myself, and I was way older than 13. This article certainly makes the case that more girls would benefit from starting a relationship with their gyno at an earlier age, even if they aren't sexually active.

Thoughts? Do you think age 13-15 is too young to see the gynecologist, or should we be encouraging girls to be comfortable with their doctor at an earlier age?

My friend Gary recently sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal. (He knows just how to please me). The article is called "Girl Power as Boy Bashing: Evaluating the Latest Twist In the War of the Sexes," and before reading the piece, I groaned. I hate when people attribute things like cuts to men's college sports (or affirmative action) to girls "robbing" men of things they deserve. It's so tired to claim that women's progress is somehow meant to punish men.

Luckily, I was basically wrong. The article actually deals with the economics of the tween consumer market. (Shocking! An economic analysis from the Wall Street Journal!) The author shows that kids are now spending millions on products promoting the gender war. He points out the popularity of things like insult-laden clothing lines, confrontation-packed reality TV shows, and advertising that defines girl-power as boy-bashing.

Most of the girl power/boy-bashing argument focuses on the popularity of the David & Goliath "boys are stupid" clothing line, which is sold in 2,500 outlets and has an annual income of $100 million. As many of you know, the clothing line sells the infamous "Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them!", "Boys are smelly," and "Boys have cooties" t-shirts.

I think this is an interesting point. I don't think, as people quoted in the article suggest, that this trend is a product of Title IX, and shows girls trying to get a leg up by pushing boys down. That seems like a far-fetched and quite serious claim. I do think, however, that this trend is useless, obnoxious and, given that people can see it as a negative product of feminist advances, potentially damaging. I'm also tempted to wonder why this article essentially ignores the AMAZING amount of anti-woman products selling millions out there. But alas...

What do you think?

Dag this is crazy.
Doctors say Kenya's strict abortion laws have forced thousands of women and girls to the backstreets where charlatans use all manner of sharp instruments -- metal wires, knitting needles, forceps -- to penetrate the womb and kill the foetus.
The picture is amplified across sub-Saharan Africa where 30,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions, and millions more suffer life-long problems.

Kenya realized last year this was a problem when some young boys found 15 fetuses dumped in a river near Nairobi. Catholic bishops, who hold moral sway in the predominantly Christian country, held a requiem mass to condemn "the terrible holocaust of abortion".

This is a major problem leading back to the Kenyian governments refusal to change a colonial era law prohibiting abortion. Doctors however want the law changed. One of them said,

"We cannot impose our morality on other people," Kiarie said. "What we are basically saying is that let these women die, they deserve it."
According to the United Nations Population Fund, about 530,000 women a year die in pregnancy or childbirth, nearly half of them -- 247,000 -- in sub-Saharan Africa. Activists blame male leaders for inaction on a continent where women's rights are at best ignored, at worst, violated. "The fact that women die from unsafe abortions I don't think impinges on the consciousness of the African male leadership," Ghana's Sai argued. "There's the thinking that maternity requires deaths."

According to a study conducted by the US National Cancer Institute that included more than 5,000 patients, a new treatment drug for breast cancer has a chance of (along with standard chemotherapy) bettering the chances of recurrence after surgery by more than half.

The drug, called Herceptin, is made by the biotechnology company Genentech Inc., who said they are in process of discussing with federal regulators of prescribing the drug to more patients. Herceptin is considered to be a "targeted therapy", for it can distinguish and attack diseased cells while leaving the health ones alone.

Just as a reminder, over 40,000 women die of the disease and 211,000 are diagnosed each year. It is the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer in women.

Last Friday, Spain’s parliament accepted the right for same-sex couples to marry and adopt children, reports BBC News. Now the Senate just has to pass the bill, which is expected within weeks.

In addition to a previous post on the new socialist (and feminist) Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s efforts to create a domestic violence bill, he has since made strong efforts to remove the strong influence from the Church in Spain, and create a secular state.

Under the bill, Spanish Civil Law will include the statement: “Matrimony shall have the same requisites and effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex.” Woohoo!

While the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI has not been a happy fellow about this, Zapatero said:

“If the new Pope wants to say something about it, I'm prepared to respect whatever he says, he can count on my respect for him...One of the guarantees of democracy is the freedom of religion, freedom of opinion and freedom to carry out a political project with the citizens' vote.”

In the meantime, the Texas House of Representatives has just passed a bill that will ban same-sex couples from becoming foster parents. There is an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 children presently in the care of gay and lesbian foster parents in Texas. So what are they going to do, send in teams to rip these kids from their homes? I wouldn’t be surprised if they quarantined them as well. Sigh.

A cadre of anti-choice women are descending upon Washington today for "REAL Women's Voices," a lobby day against abortion rights.

Sponsored by the Family Research Council, the National Right to Life, Concerned Women for America and other conservative groups, the event's "real women" speakers include such political heavyweights as Rachel Campos-Duffy of Real World: San Francisco, and pro-life singer/songwriter Kara Klein, who "will speak at the press conference and sing her new song about Terri Schiavo, 'Beautiful Still.'"

I'll be writing my legislators today to let them know that I am a REAL woman who is PRO-CHOICE and opposed to the so-called Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.

(I'll also be waiting to hear about the number of "real women" who show up to this event. Who wants to bet it will fall short of the number of REAL women who attended the March for Women's Lives?)

Yes, I'm serious. Check this out from the Houston Chronicle:

Young women would need written permission from their parents to get an abortion, and the court process to bypass that consent would be much tougher under a bill passed by a House committee late Monday.While current state law mandates that minors notify their parents of their intent to have an abortion, the bill, filed by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, prohibits a doctor from performing the procedure unless a parent, managing conservator or court-appointed guardian approves.

You have got to be kidding me. This isn't like missing class; it's a life changing decision. I always love the logic that says teen girls are too immature to decide to have an abortion, but adult enough to have a kid. Lovely.

Romanian men who want to get married will have to complete a course on domestic violence first.

The Telegraph (U.K.) is reporting that the three-day course is designed to deter men from abusing their wives. If they won't attend the course, the government won't issue the marriage license.

There are also classes geared toward women, who will learn about their rights and that they do not have to tolerate beatings. (The article doesn't say whether women will be compelled to attend.)

Romania has only recently begun to recognize domestic violence as a problem. The new law sprang from a government survey published this year that found many men regarded a marriage licence as permission to beat their wives. About 1/4 of all violent incidents in Romania are domestic violence-related. And Bucharest, a city of 3 million people, has only three battered women's shelters.

Dr Gabriela Kubinski, who runs a shelter at a textiles factory, said the classes were unlikely to do more than scratch the surface of the problem.

"The new plan has only one thing to recommend it, which is that after all these years of the problem being ignored, something is at least being done," she said.

Check out this belt ordered by an unidentified actress to be worn at the Cannes film festival. The diamond is 22-carat, by the way. That's some serious pussy accessorizing right there.

Via Nerve.

Don’t know if anyone caught this (I'm still trying to catch up)...

K-mart pharmacist Dan Gransinger recently wrote a letter to the editor to the Arizona Republic, recommending that other pharmacists who have a problem dispensing emergency contraception simply lie to their female customers:

The pharmacist should just tell the patient that he is out of the medication and can order it, but it will take a week to get here. The patient will be forced to go to another pharmacy because she has to take these medicines within 72 hours for them to be effective. Problem solved.

Yes, he actually wrote this. You have to love how fucking nonchalant he is about lying. As if it’s no big deal...not to mention illegal.

NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona is calling for his removal from K-mart.

Apparently bathroom humor isn’t beyond the Associated Press. Was this lead sentence really necessary though?

It's being called potty parity. The nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District has pledged to add more women's bathroom stalls across its campuses as part of a $2.2 billion construction program. The move calls for four bathroom stalls for every 50 women and one for every 50 men. That compares with state ratios of three for every 50 women and one for every 100 men.

Can’t wait for the anti-feminists to grab onto this one. We're taking over the toilets! Next, the world...

Got back from my Costa Rican road trip last night. Went to Monteverde for a couple of days and then was off to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast.

Several things I learned on my trip:

Skirts make for easy road-side peeing.

There are still people who get their hair braided on vacation and think it’s super-cool. (We get it; you were on the beach. Now give it up already.)

Thanks to all the Feministing ladies for putting in more time while I was gone. And a tremendous thanks to Amanda for guest blogging; she did a fabulous job, as expected.

Now back to work...

More pics after the jump if you’re interested. (I'll be putting more up throughout the day. Just in case you want to really stalk me.)

Check out the brief but good article from the Village Voice, "Where The Welfare Queens Went", a simple reminder of the failure of our current welfare reform system. Jarret Murphy writes:

"The people who left AFDC could be different from the folks who've recently enrolled in SSI or Food Stamps. And even if they are the same people, getting Food Stamps or SSI might be an improvement over receiving AFDC. But it doesn't seem like the 'self-sufficiency' the White House boasts about. It seems like welfare reform has done no better than welfare at curing the underlying problem, which, once upon a time, was called 'poverty.'"

Did y’all hear about the NYU student who blew up Justice Antonin Scalia’s spot in the middle of a Q&A session at the NYU Annual Survey of American Law? NYU law school student Eric Berndt asked him, “Do you sodomize your wife?” Awesome.

Berndt first asked Scalia to explain his disagreement in Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court case that overturned Bowers v. Hardwick and eliminated the nation’s sodomy laws. When Scalia bullshitted around the question, Berndt popped the big question. His microphone was turned off immediately. Check out the letter that Berndt sent to his fellow students in NYU in explanation for his behavior, reprinted by the Nation. Here’s a little section:

Although my question was legally relevant, as I explain below, an independent motivation for my speech-act was to simply subject a homophobic government official to the same indignity to which he would subject millions of gay Americans. It was partially a naked act of resistance and a refusal to be silenced. I wanted to make him and everyone in the room aware of the dehumanizing effect of trivializing such an important relationship. Justice Scalia has no pity for the millions of gay Americans on whom sodomy laws and official homophobia have such an effect, so it is difficult to sympathize with his brief moment of "humiliation," as some have called it. The fact that I am a law student and Scalia is a Supreme Court Justice does not require me to circumscribe my justified opposition and outrage within the bounds of jurisprudential discourse.

Well said. The only thing that sucked about the Q&A session was that it was closed-to-the-press. I would have loved to see the look on Scalia’s face.

It is now official. On Tuesday, Canada approved the sale of emergency contraception Plan B without a prescription. This is the 34th country to make EC available over-the-counter.

For the next few weeks, provinces and regions are to decide whether Plan B will be sold in front of the counter, allowing “totally unrestricted” sales of the pills. In the meantime, we are dealing with our own pharmacy war -- not only to get EC over-the-counter status, but to stop this crazy movement o’ pharmacists from rejecting our ladies of their reproductive rights.

This bullshit has been going on for long enough. To take action, click here.

Afghan leader Karzai is urging Islamic fundamentalists in his country to stop forced marriages of young girls. Reuters reports, In some parts of the country, girls of 12 or younger are still given in marriage to settle tribal disputes, especially in southern areas bordering Pakistan which are home to ethnic Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest tribe.

Karzai's hope is that Afghan religious leaders will follow the path of Saudi Arabia where they declared forced marriage un-Islamic.

"In this fatwa they mentioned that forced marriages of girls is unjust in Islam. We have similar problems in Afghanistan. I hope that the noble Afghan Ulema issues a similar fatwa like the Saudi Ulema to end the oppression of Afghan women and girls."

Check this article on Salon about this creepy new television show called Revelations. It seems to be aimed at religious audiences, touching on many recent themes from the media such as the Terry Schiavo case.

Some snippets...

Welcome to the latest nugget in a hailstorm of fundamentalist invective, from "The Passion of the Christ," to Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' bestselling "Left Behind" series, in which skeptics and agnostics are left to fight for their lives against the forces of the Antichrist (centered in Baghdad, led by the head of U.N.), while true believers are whisked away to the comfort and safety of heaven like the lucky winners on "The Apprentice," whisked off to shop for $600 Jimmy Choo sandals at Bergdorf Goodman. All of the divine signs point to the same conclusion: The rest of us, it seems, are headed to the boardroom.

But what better way for NBC to round up a full month of hand-wringing and candlelight vigils for Terri Schiavo and the pope, than by ushering in a miniseries sure to capitalize on the fear whipped up by these two deaths, not to mention more terrorist arrests, the tsunami disaster, the war in Iraq, you name it? "All the signs and symbols set forth in the Bible are currently in place for the end of days," breathes Sister Josepha, and we believe her, because she looks like the Virgin Mary, except with cheekbones like Isabella Rossellini's. But is she talking about the latest tragedy in Baghdad, or the upcoming made-for-TV movie "Locusts"?

Has anyone seen the show?

This is an article published in Ms. a while ago, but I just came across it and wanted to get some feeback. It is written by Lisa Jervis, the co-founder of Bitch magazine and she talks about what she considers a dated term--"wave" when refering to feminist activism and thought. She believes that in our attempt to distinguish ourselves as "third wave" feminists, we have caught ourselves in the belief that there is a singular way to be feminist.

In her reluctance to answer questions about "third wave" ideology, she responds...

This reluctance isn’t just me being cranky and not wanting to answer any hard questions. Here is the reality: We’ve reached the end of the wave terminology’s usefulness. What was at first a handy-dandy way to refer to feminism’s history and its present and future potential with a single metaphor has become shorthand that invites intellectual laziness, an escape hatch from the hard work of distinguishing between core beliefs and a cultural moment.

Interesting stuff. I also found this quote rather interesting...

Here’s what we all need to recognize so that we can move on: Those in their 20s and 30s who don’t see their concerns reflected in the feminism of their elders are ignorant of history; those in their 50s and beyond who think that young women aren’t politically active — or active enough, or active around the right issues — don’t know where to look.

These are some pretty intense statements. Have we reached a phase where we can stop differentiating between the different moments of feminism? My entire experience with 3rd wave agenda is that it put me, women of color, at the center of it's (non-linear) discourse. Not in the age-old, or previous "native informant" type of way, but in a way that recognized my differing relationship to the movement, to patriarchy and to society. The second wave failed to effectively do this. That is why I consider myself not only a 3rd wave feminist, but also a 3rd world feminist. I don't think we have reached a place to completely make amends with our foresisters (at least not with my experience with 2nd wavers in academia!). But that's just me.

What I do agree with...

We may not all agree on exactly what it looks like or how to get it. We should never expect to agree. Feminism has always thrived on and grown from internal discussions and disagreements. Our many different and often opposing perspectives are what push us forward, honing our theories, refining our tactics, driving us toward a more thorough dismantling of the white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy (to borrow another phrase from hooks).

What do you think?

Yesterday, the FDA approved the Today Sponge contraceptive, which had been pulled from the market in 1995 by its former manufacturer due to difficulties in meeting more stringent FDA guidelines. After being revamped by its new manufacturer, FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan yesterday confirmed that, "The product was found to be safe and effective."

The Today Sponge prevents pregnancy by covering the cervix and releasing spermicide. While heralded as one of the most popular forms of birth control, remember that the sponge does not protect against STIs and is not as effective at preventing pregnancy as other contraceptives.

The A.P. reports that the contraceptive will be available in the U.S. in two months through the Allendale Pharmaceutical website, and will available in retail drug stores within four months.

Allendale Pharmaceuticals CEO Gene Detroyer, told the A.P., "I am pleased both from a business point of view ... and from the point of view that we can add another contraceptive for women." Hmmm--well at least he's honest.

Check out Donna Brazile's reflections on Why Choice Matters for Ms. Magazine.

"With more vocal conservatives now in firm control of Congress, brave Democrats will begin to work with the anti-choice majority to seek some middle ground. Before this occurs, we must proactively stake our claim to the principle of freedom, and hold firm to our values. We must define the issues this time, instead of remaining on the defensive. We must control the dialogue and message.
The language used in defending our support of abortion rights makes some pro-choice supporters uncomfortable in discussing the issue. I know why many of these lawmakers have become weary.

As a black woman and abortion-rights activist (and former board member of Voters for Choice), I have found myself standing alone in church looking for ways to bridge the informational and cultural divide. Leaders of the reproductive- rights movement must work with civil rights leaders to help educate all Americans before it’s too late. Now that the right-wing extremists have entered our houses of worship, at the invitation of several black clergy, we must speak up."

Just like Carrie, I do my hair and make-up before I even think of sitting down to write.

Thanks, y'all, for having me guest blog for this week! The timing couldn't have been better, since my usual site, Pandagon is down to be moved and retooled. I have a huge backlog of stories to write about, but most of them are hugely depressing, and hey, it's Saturday. Instead, I'll turn your attention to this goofy story on blogs and dating that I got from Steve Gilliard.

As people put more details of their lives online, they're also finding love - or at least a little lovin'.
"Blog hookups" are becoming more common as more people read Web logs on everything from media gossip to online diaries, bloggers say.

"Find any attractive female blogger and I'm sure she's been asked out," said Jessica Coen, 25, editor of Gawker.com. "People say anything behind the keyboard."

Aw--goo.

Of course, the implication is if no one has asked you out online, then you aren't attractive. Of course, it helps you give your blog a title that says, "I need a man."

Minnesota high school students Carrie Rethlefsen and Emily Nixon loved "The Vagina Monologues" (who doesn't?) and, inspired by the play, decided to spread a little love for the multi-talented organ at their high school. Naturally, this display of female pride upset the powers that be.

Despite the threats of serious punishment, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button to raise awareness about women's issues. As a show of support, more than 100 students have ordered T-shirts bearing "I (heart) My Vagina" for girls and "I Support Your Vagina" for boys.

Good for them--I'm happy to see this sort of outpouring of support for these girls and their cause. With all the paranoia over teenage sexuality, it's refreshing to see kids stand up and refuse to be ashamed of the fact that they have bodies.

I'm not surprised, of course, that the school officials are reacting negatively--far too many educators all too readily embrace the role of stiflers of young minds. But sometimes you just want to smack someone upside the head. This sort of openness and respect for women's bodies is exactly what it's going to take to combat rape, unplanned pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases, but no, we can't think about that because we are scared of the word "vagina".

Of course, it probably doesn't make the administrators feel any warmer to realize they've been exposed as a bunch of whining babies by a couple of teenage kids.

Check out this article from The Scotsman on a strip club owner in the UK who had to discontinue performances by his male strippers because of the “screaming banshees” that have been apparently making too much of a scene. He blames this “inappropriate” behavior on emancipation. Awesome.

Allan Santori, owner of the Rocket Club in Birmingham, actually had to hire extra security for his Saturday night show when men usually dance for women.

“These young women do not know how to behave and they are very vocal. They are completely disrespectful. I think the guys are intimidated.”

I actually begin to feel sort of bad for this guy and his strippers. He even claims that his male guests are always respectful to the female strippers. But then he says:

“I remember when girls were girls and lads were lads. It’s been all down hill since women got the vote.”

Oh, yeah. I forgot us lasses aren’t supposed to be “vocal.” Soft-spoken and “behaved” went out the door when the damn vote came in!

And is it just me, or would “The Screaming Banshees” be a dope band name?

Can I get that in the full-sized model?

Being conservative ruining your dating life? Do women walk out in the middle of dinner dates when you tell them you voted for Bush? How many times have those pants been pulled up in a hurry after you huskily whispered, "No woman is gonna abort a baby of mine"? Do you find yourself telling people that you're a virgin due to "moral values" rather than admit the shameful truth--that no woman will touch you after you waxed poetic about how her smaller paycheck was more womanly? Fret no more, my sexist friends! Help is on the way!

Germany - A German inventor claims to have created the world's most sophisticated robot sex doll.

He said: "They are almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing, but I am still developing improvements and I will only be happy when what I have is better than the real thing."

Well, at least in the minds of the target audience, whose knowledge of "the real thing" is bound to be a little bit limited, due to the fact that if you do have "the real thing" in the house, she's unlikely to allow an animatronic masturbation device have its own bed and spot at the dinner table.

Though I do have to wonder what "better than the real thing" means--is he working on a sex doll that can get pregnant, cooks and cleans, but knows better than to demand its rights?

You will absolutely flip when you read the most recent load o’ crap in Men’s News Daily on feminism. Even the title -- “Feminism, the WKKK, and the Gender-Lynching of Michael Jackson” -- exhibits just how ridiculous this shit is.

In the article, David Usher claims that “Feminism as we know it is the direct ideological and political descendant of the Women’s Ku Klux Klan (WKKK).” When I read this, I didn’t know whether I should burst out in laughter or throw my laptop across the room. He continues with a long list of “connections” between the WKKK and the feminist movement, and claims that feminists left the KKK, simply omitted the word “black” from its ideology and replaced it with “men.”

Usher also manages to insist that, “The greatest problem faced by blacks is not racism itself. Sexism and discrimination against the black male, both in family and society, is the greatest single factor keeping blacks a desperate underclass.” Wow.

To back this up, he then throws Michael Jackson’s trial into the mix, and how the feminist “lynch mob” is actually responsible for the charges against him:

“So the new WKKK set out to perform a lawyerly lynching of Michael Jackson. Every mob motive is present. He is a male. He is very rich, eccentric, and black too. It was an irresistible invitation to misuse false allegations of sexual improprieties, for profit and political gain.”

Wha?? Usher is constantly reiterating that while the feminist movement exists, no one questions our “agenda.” He seems to think he’s cracked the case. What do feminists really want? The King of Pop’s blood, of course!

I normally wouldn’t waste my time writing about such anti-feminist and racist bullshit, but this particular case is so fucking ludicrous (and a bit hysterical), I just had to share.

An article on the GNN tells us...One female detainee, who identified herself as “Noor”, said that U.S. soldiers at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib raped women and, in many occasions, forced them to strip naked in public. She also said that many female detainees got pregnant.

“Sexualized violence and abuse committed by U.S. troops goes far beyond a few isolated cases,” she said.

Remember the US military represents freedom. Not patriarchy, power and oppression. Fuck it, let's go sing America.

The South Carolina House Judiciary Committee decided yesterday to protect gamecocks, but not domestic violence victims.

The Republican-controlled committee voted to make cockfighting a felony, but tabled a bill that would have done the same for domestic violence.

Let's look to State Rep. John Graham Altman, of Charleston, to illuminate this issue.
On protecting cocks: "I was all for that. Cockfighting reminds me of the Roman circus, coliseum."
On protecting women: "I think this bill is probably drafted out of an abundance of ignorance... The woman ought not to be around the man. I mean you women want it one way and not another."
Altman's offensive comments don't stop there.

Prior to the committee's vote, both cockfighting and domestic violence were misdemeanors. If the cockfighting bill passes, harming gamecocks will be punishable by up to five years in jail. Beating your wife will result in no more than 30 days in jail.

Luckily, leaders have promised to revive the domestic violence bill. In the meantime, South Carolina feministas can tell their representatives that they value women above cocks.

Thanks to the Feminist Initiative at Furman University (in Greenville, SC) for the link.

We have more fun when the boys aren't around.

The new Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Ratzinger, is known for having quite a few very conservative opinions, not the least of which are his backwards opinions on women's roles. The new pope supports the belief that a woman's place in in the home, a stance that has always puzzled me. What do a bunch of celibate cardinals care if women have jobs? Do they stand against women's rights out of some sort of misguided male solidarity? A small detail in this story about the new pope cleared up some of these questions for me:

After the traditional burning of ballots and the pope's triumphant balcony appearance Tuesday, Benedict XVI invited the cardinals back to a hasty celebratory dinner. Caught off-guard, 20 nuns at the cardinals' Vatican residence improvised a repast of soup, beans, cold cuts, ice cream and Champagne.

Damn, I'd give up sex too if I had a cadre of nuns on hand to make lavish dinners, complete with Champagne, at a moment's notice, too.

From Echidne of the Snakes.

According to an article in the Daily Telegraph, women in Iran have been wearing less and less clothing in the summer months. But this summer the Iranian police have decided to crack down.

Iran's Islamic dress code obliges women to cover all but their face and hands and to disguise the shape of their bodies. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment.
But many women, especially in the capital Tehran, shun the traditional head-to-toe black chador to don calf-length Capri pants, tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly-coloured scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.

The President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami has been the attempting to bring forth reforms that encourage authorities to ease up slightly on social restrictions. But many are saying they may not go too far because of a fear of public backlash.

I was just talking to my friend who is Iranian (and thusly informed on ALL things Iranian, juss playin') about this extensively and ultimately I am torn on this issue. Although I recognize that the cultural/political climate of Iran is different then that of the states (duh!), I just can't relate to being harassed by cops because of what I am wearing. But again, there are many instances in this country where I DO get harassed, simply because of what I am wearing. (Don't really see how these things are related totally, but you get the point!)

Any thoughts?

The U.S. Senate will have an up-or-down vote on the Federal Refusal Clause as soon as this Thursday, April 21. Why does this matter, you ask?

According to NARAL Pro Choice America, the Federal Refusal Clause provision slipped into the federal budget at the end of the 2004 and "allows any health-care company (including hospitals, health-insurance corporations, and HMOs) to refuse to comply with any federal, state, or local law that assures women have access to abortion services. It lets a health-care company gag its doctors, and bar them from providing abortion services - or even information - to their patients. Doctors could even be blocked from referring women clients to another doctor under this proposal even when a woman's health is at risk. Under the Federal Refusal Clause, many women may lose access to vital reproductive health services, and in some cases may not even be told what options are available to them."

Take action against this insanity and write your senator today.

Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque gave me an idea--challenge supporters of "conscience clauses" that allow pharmacists to veto a woman's legal right to use birth control at the counter to also support soliders who refuse to fight in Iraq for reasons of conscience.

Here's a thought: If a pharmacist feels he or she cannot in good conscience fully practice their profession (i.e., dispense all legal drugs), then shouldn't they, er, choose another profession? A conscientious objector refuses military service because he feels he might be called upon to violate his moral code by taking up arms; vegans don't open butcher shops. We can all agree that no one should be forced to act against their conscience (although try telling that to the IRS if you object to your tax money feeding Bush's war of conquest); but no one has drafted these pharmacists and forced them to dispense their nostrums.

Ouch--I wonder if the largely Republican politicians who whine and cry about the poor pharmacists having to hand pills over to women even though they know that Jesus cries when women fuck would be happy to support bills allowing those who desert for reasons of conscience to be let off without prosecution. I somehow doubt it....

A great article in the latest issue of Clamor magazine points out that abortion is the one controversial issue that television won't tackle.

Rachel Fudge (also an editor at Bitch magazine) writes:

"...there’s one thing you’re almost guaranteed not to see on TV, despite the reality of it being one of the most common medical procedures in the US: abortion. As many commentators have pointed out, as all of the old you-can’t-do-that-on-television taboos — sexual content, violence, cursing, nudity, homosexuality — have fallen away, abortion is the one hot-button issue that simply remains too hot for TV."

I think she makes an excellent point. But I have to ask, will dealing with abortion on TV do much to further our reproductive rights? Has "Will & Grace" actually created more acceptance of people who are openly LGBTQ? Has "Law and Order: SVU" changed the way our society views sexual assault/abuse victims?

One last point: Fudge notes that TV characters who are faced with unwanted pregnancies usually find the issue "resolved" with a convenient miscarriage or the realization it was a "false alarm."

I guess we always knew that TV was a fantasy world...

Thanks to Gwen for the link.

You gotta love American Eagle Outfitters.

Thoughts?

Check out Adam Cohen's NY Times editorial, Psst ... Justice Scalia ... You Know, You're an Activist Judge, Too.

First, Cohen calls out Scalia -- "Justice Scalia likes to boast that he follows his strict-constructionist philosophy wherever it leads, even if it leads to results he disagrees with. But it is uncanny how often it leads him just where he already wanted to go. In his view, the 14th Amendment prohibits Michigan from using affirmative action in college admissions, but lets Texas make gay sex a crime. (The Supreme Court has held just the opposite.) He is dismissive when inmates invoke the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment to challenge prison conditions. But he is supportive when wealthy people try to expand the 'takings clause' to block the government from regulating their property."

Then he gives a big picture -- "When it comes to judicial activism, conservative judges are no better than liberal ones - and, it must be said, no worse. If conservatives are going to continue their war on the judiciary, though, they should be honest. They do not want to get rid of judicial activists, a standard that would bring down even Justice Scalia. They want to rid the courts of judges who disagree with them."

A dangerous tool of the left

The conservative assault on the judiciary for daring, amongst other things, to treat women and gays as equals in the eyes of the law to straight men, just catapulted into looney-land with this recent interview with Tom DeLay where he accuses Justice Kennedy of all sorts of things that make decent people blush.

"Absolutely. We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."

Research? On the Internet? You know that DeLay just spit that sentence out and I'm dying to know if he spat out the word "research" or "Internet" harder. It's a good thing that the wingnuts have targeted Reagan-appointee Kennedy instead of Reagan-appointee O'Connor, or we would likely be treated to rants about how not only is research inappropriate, but the very presence of women in the courtroom is questionable.

The attacks on the judiciary are hopefully being seen for what they are by the majority of Americans--an assault on our protection from the power-hungry who see the rest of us as plebians with rebellious impulses and notions that we have "rights" that need to be collared and controlled. I'm optimistic, though, that long after the bugman is sent back to Sugarland with his tail between his legs that Justice Kennedy will still have his spot on the bench.

As most of you have heard by now, the new pope has been named -- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, or Pope Benedict XVI -- and is being considered the most conservative person that could have been chosen for the job. Lovely.

The successor has frequently been the voice of controversy in newly discussed issues of reform in the Catholic Church, such as priests being allowed to marry and women being ordained. You may remember the hoo-ha that resulted from his comments on how John Kerry shouldn't have been allowed to receive communion because he was pro-choice. No wonder Bush welcomed him happily to the papacy as “a man of great wisdom and knowledge.”

Ratzinger actually claims that abortion and euthanasia are “grave sins”, believes that rock is the “vehicle of anti-religion”, and once said homosexuality was a tendency towards “intrinsic moral evil.” He also dismissed the talk over pedophilia committed by Catholic priests as being a “planned campaign” against the Church. As far as feminists go, he once wrote a letter to bishops worldwide labeling us as "adversaries" to men. Great wisdom and knowledge, indeed.

He considers liberalism, atheism, agnosticism, relativism and Marxism all threats to the faith. He even criticized cardinals who have fought poverty through social action in the past because he believed it supported Marxist ideology.

Whew. Good luck, Roman Catholics of the world!

Check out The Nation's article, "The Vatican's Enforcer", for more of a descriptive history on Ratzinger. Thanks to Big Slutty for the link.

The blogger tiny purple elephant decided to write a letter of complaint to Wal-Mart complaining about their unwillingness to sell emergency contraception. She got a snotty form letter in return, which she has decided to translate for us.

Dear Fornicating Harlot,

Walmart believes that the “Emergency” in emergency contraceptives is ridiculous hyperbole. How could the possible pregnancies of adulterers, fornicators, monogamous heterosexual married couples, and rape victims be anything but a joyous occasion and source of future cheap Walmart labor? If you want to go against God’s will, you can always go to one of the many nearby pharmacies that we haven’t yet driven out of business.

Go read the whole thing. And when you're done with that, get educated on how to use emergency contraception at Trish Wilson's blog.

A UN report found that out of 115 million children worldwide not getting an education, the majority of them are girls. Specifically, Afghanistan and Pakistan have the widest gender gap in education. The report stated that part of the reason for the gap is poverty, HIV/AIDS and conflict. I guess that doesn't specifically get at why more girls then boys are denied education. What about things like cultural beliefs about where a women should be in society, or the lack of priority put on a women's right to education?

Either way Ms. tell us...
Meanwhile, the Global Campaign for Education is blaming 22 of the richest countries in the world for failing to provide the necessary funds to educate the world’s poor. According to BBC News, the Global Campaign for Education produced a report card for the 22 countries based on their spending on development aid in total and funding of education programs. Only two countries received an “A” grade – Norway and the Netherlands. The United States and Austria both received “F”s.

Did I mention I am a public school teacher in California?

Today, the working women of the US have reached the earnings mark that men achieved when, do you ask? December 31st of last year. Time for celebration!

Or not. This is just a day to remind us that despite the Equal Pay Act that was passed 40 years ago, the 60 million working women in the US still make 76 cents to every dollar a man makes. The case is even worse for women of color, where the gap is as large as 55 cents to men's dollar.

Via Avedon Carol, the biggest stretch yet in the excuse-making arena--Bush would've caught bin Laden, but for the stupid broads.

For those on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and at the White House who think that women in land combat is a ho-hum non-issue, there is strong evidence the U.S. lost the opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden because of politically correct Pentagon policies to have more female warriors.

I know. It seems ridiculous. But you see, it's widely believed that the terrorist-seeking radar the good Lord built into the human body is located in the penis, so as you can imagine, women are simply no good for looking for terrorists. In fact, even though a woman like me has seen bin Laden's face a million times on TV, I would not recognize him on the street without my penile terrorist sensors.

And that's a fact, not some silly theory like evolution.

There's only one thing to do, which is to pack up the female "warriors" and send them home, making sure to put enough into target range to be shot by American troops to give the Freepers plenty of fantasies about dead American women to crow about. Sure, there's the downside that stop-loss and other backdoor draft efforts will have to intensify, but if the men stationed in Iraq didn't want to be there, they were free to get a computer and join the 101st Fighting Keyboardists, weren't they?

The recent contraversy over Pakistani actress Meera kissing a Hindu actor in the movie Nazar, has provoked many. Bollywood films are very sexually provocative films, however you will never see characters kiss. They may dance in the rain in a see-through sari, or have gratuitious dance "encounters" with the male kind but that is about it.

The president of Pakistan's response to a Muslim actress kissing a Hindu film star in "public" has evoked a not too desirable response. He says, "people in his country would not like to see their women "dancing or displaying themselves" as it is done in India.

He continues, in an article in Central Times,
While "there was no problem (with Pakistani actresses) working in (Indian) films", Musharraf said."The sentiments of India and Pakistan are different, especially on women...Pakistani society is not as liberal as India and this is reflected in its attitude towards films", he said.

Understanding the different cultural context in which Bollywood films are produced, I see a conflict. Here in the Western world, we fight to change, deconstruct, critique existing images of over-sexualized women in the public sphere, specifically in popular media. Musharraf's comments are clearly coming from the belief that women should not be sexualized, or rather, a more traditional belief that they should not be sexual. To come out and say, we are not as liberal in our view of women, implies a belief that women's agency should be restricted.

But on the other hand, is female agency dependent on women in Pakistan playing roles in films that sexualize them? Naturally, they should have the freedom to choose, but is Bollywood sexual freedom? Or is it similar to Western popular culture which is dependent on over-sexualized images that consolidate norm-based beliefs (often times inaccurate and oppressive) of female sexuality?

And I think it is funny that the above pic is a scene from the flick and the most contraversial thing about it is a kiss!

The fabulous Liz from Blondesense brought my attention to this story about a Virgin Mary sighting in Chicago. As solid a message to the cardinals as ever there was that God wants some more cunt-respect from the next Pope, don't you think?

Like Liz, I will let the audience draw their own conclusions about how the shape of Mary and the more straightforward ancient pagan representations of the goddess resemble each other.

While cardinals deliberate over a new pope, it looks like a group of nuns and other Catholic women in Chicago have launched a protest about the role of women within the Catholic Church.

The women stood outside of the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago this morning to urge those electing a new pope to include women in the decision-making process.

“We have to tell the cardinals this: We no longer want a secret, sexist selection process,” said Sister Donna Quinn of the Coalition of American Nuns. Many of the protesters there said that this message is also directed towards the new pope-to-be.

After the morning mass at Holy Name, the women set off some small smoke bombs (pink smoke, I must add) as a symbol of their movement.

Protesting? Smoke bombs?? It looks like we’ve got some feminist nuns on our hands. Fucking awesome.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of a Massachusetts statute that regulates speech and activities within a buffer zone around abortion clinics.

The law prohibits *anyone* from approaching clinic visitors, passing out flyers, or "engaging in oral protest, education or counseling" within an 18-foot radius of an abortion clinic entrance. The Massachusetts legislature passed the law after a 1994 abortion clinic shooting in which two individuals were killed and five others wounded.

The suit was brought by the anti-choice group Massachusetts Citizens for Life, who claims that the law "denies protection to women and their unborn children" because they are unable to "educate" clinic visitors.

Ummmm, yeah. And by "educate" I assume they mean *harass*? (sigh).

Bitch Magazine's theme this month is Masculinity, and there's a really fantastic article by Juliana Tringali about how rock music came to be dominated by men, and female musicians who subvert that. Anyone who read Mouse Words regularly knows that this is a subject of much fascination for me.

Tringali tracks the early da