July 2005 Archives

Feministing won’t be posting today because our very own amazing feminista Lauryn is getting married!

We all wish her and her partner Brendan a wonderful day and a lifetime of happiness.

We also thank her for the free booze.

Stay tuned for pics of the big day...

Check out The Village Voice's article on the annual sex toy convention, Adult Novelty Expo (ANE), where companies get to show off their new products.

The author was apparently on vacation with her man and ended up at the convention, where she found quite a bit of new and creative stuff to buy (and write about).

Check it out for an update on the newest toys in the industry, it's quite enlightening.

Iowa and Mississippi are the worst states for women in politics, the Associated Press reports. Neither state has ever had a female governor or elected a woman to Congress.

As an Iowan, I'm so ashamed! Not only is the state bad when it comes to national politics, but state offices aren't much friendlier to women. Since 1920, when women gained the right to vote, only 11 women have won statewide election in Iowa.

So why the dearth of women politicians in Iowa? A few possible generalizations/explanations offered in the article:
1. Iowa voters are old. Older voters don't like voting for women.
2. Iowa voters are farmers. Farmers don't like voting for women.
3. Iowans like re-electing the same politicians, over and over. Most of those politicians aren't women.

Iowa's farming history "is a deeply ingrained societal view of the culture and the view of women," said Bonnie Campbell, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 1994. When she tracked her polling as that election played out, Campbell found that Iowans just couldn't see her or another woman as their state's leader.

Something still doesn't add up. As Campbell (who, by the way, was the first director of the Dept. of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women) noted, Florida has an older population yet little hesitation sending women to Congress. Nebraska and Kansas are rural, too, but have had female governors.

"There have been women elected in far more conservative states than Iowa," Campbell said. "It is a bit of a perplexing question."

Now this is some serious contraception. A new product that’s been in the works for a while now could be a revolutionary way for women to protect themselves. Dibs!

It’s called microbicides, and it comes in the form of a cream or gel that’s inserted into the vagina before intercourse. It protects against pregnancy and STIs, including HIV. It actually mimics women’s natural lubricant as well, so would be preferable to a condom for many.

There’s 14 different versions of microbicides in the works, and 5 of those have been deemed safe enough to begin testing. One of these versions are expected to hit the market within the next three years.

If proven safe and effective, this could possibly mean millions of lives saved, especially (and obviously) considering the AIDS pandemic.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Today, the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that they will approve the breast silicone implant manufacturer, Mentor Corporation, to market their product as long as they met some specific conditions sent in a letter to the company.

This is all despite the fact that most experts say that the implants are extremely dangerous and the agency has no way to meet their conditions. Looks like the FDA and Bush-appointed commissioner, Lester Crawford, have their priorities in order.

It's also merely two years after two former Mentor employees swore that the company had made defective implants that were prone to rupture and hid the information from customers and federal regulators. Awesome.

So while Lester and his gang have dilly-dallied for way too long on their decision to approve over-the-counter emergency contraception (which now has a Sept. 1 deadline), they’re sending love letters of encouragement to approve these seriously dangerous implants. Fuck reproductive health, these ladies gots to have their defective boobs!

Condi is number one. That should say it all.

Not quite sure how this makes sense…

A women-only gym in the national capital has banned mothers from breastfeeding their newborn babies.

But the women were informed by management the no-children, members-only policy of the club stands and they could not bring their newborn babies to the gym.

Guess if you have kids, you just can’t work out.

Check out this article in the Charlotte Observer on the Philadelphia Eagles’ new “soft-porn” calendar of their cheerleaders with not much else on but their pompons. While the team has a long record of do-gooding, this new calendar has caught the team more attention than ever:

Coverage of the release of this calendar - cheerleaders cooing to radio talk-show hosts, lascivious TV segments, newspaper stories about the cover model - has outstripped (pardon the pun) coverage of all the positive things the Eagles do for the Philadelphia region.

The point is, this calendar stands in stark contrast to everything else the franchise seems to represent. The message it sends undermines the more important things the team accomplishes - both on the field and off.

Should we be surprised? Sigh.

The LA Times just published an interesting article by Crispin Sartwell, entitled "I Married a Feminist."

The author, a male political science professor at Dickinson College, looks at the different tenets of feminism, his own marriage to a pro-choice feminist, and relates it to the current buzz about Jane Sullivan Roberts' views on abortion. In the end he suggests that, regardless of Ms. Roberts' anti-choice leanings, she should still be considered a feminist. (After all, he argues, she's a lawyer that clearly believes in equality in the workplace.) Yet his wife disagrees with him. He quotes her as saying, "I don't think you can be a feminist and try to force women to have babies they don't want."

Is this true? We spend so much of our time promoting diversity in feminism and we know it's both beneficial and necessary to the movement. Does this mean we must accept a diversity that includes anti-choice women?

Read the article and let us know what you think.

Is the Roberts nomination more than just a shitty choice? Is it a betrayal?

Ruben Navarrette Jr. at the San Diego Union-Tribune says that women and minorities have the right to feel “sucker-punched” by Roberts’ nomination:

Not because President Bush, in selecting a replacement for the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, didn't nominate a woman or a minority, but because of the giddy response to the nomination by conservatives and some members of the media. People are acting as if, after years of trying to diversify once all-white and all-male institutions, the Holy Grail of meritocracy has been restored.

This whole line of thinking is offensive...

I tend to agree. The collective sigh of relief from far right organizations over the nomination did seem to be followed by a scary enthusiasm that had nothing to with Roberts’ record.

Navarrette goes on about the nomination being nothing less than a betrayal, noting that women and minorities “still have to put up with the fact that the next time they work their way into a plum assignment or achieve some great personal goal, it might just be chalked up to affirmative action or tokenism or identity politics.”

Any thoughts?

Pakistan's Election Commission says that anyone trying to stop women from participating in local government elections could face up to three years in jail.

Nice!

Women's eNews recently reported a new trend in Czech health care: the forced sterilization of Roma women.

The Roma population, an oft-persecuted minority group in the Czech Republic and elsewhere, has always endured intense discrimination. But this is nuts. Turns out, at least 70 Roma women in the Czech Republic have come forward claiming they were sterilized -- without their consent -- while receiving OB/GYN care at state-run hospitals. The objective of these procedures, they claim, was an attempt at ethnic cleansing.

According to Women's eNews, the Czech health ministry has now introduced legislation that would more tightly regulate all medical consent procedures as well as restricting sterilization. The bill is still in its early stages and not yet approved by the Cabinet.

To learn more about discrimination against Romas, click here.

As you may know, Space Shuttle Discovery is commanded by a woman--Eileen M. Collins. She is one of 40 women to have ever made the journey into space. NPR has a great timeline of women in space; so check out the women who reached for the stars. (Cliché enough for you? Yeah, I was holding that one in for a while.)

Pic: Valentina Tereshkova; the first woman in space.

Cathy Young at The Boston Globe talks about "Ending bias in domestic assault law.” And what bias is that? Oh, you know--the “radical feminist” agenda of stopping violence against women.

Apparently it’s the “women” part that irks Young:

But underneath its mainstream trappings, the 1994 bill was steeped in a radical feminism of the "men bad, women good" variety -- an ideology which regards domestic abuse and rape as part of a collective male war against women. Ironically, the law's political success was partly due to the fact this kind of feminism dovetails easily with a traditional, putting-women-on-a-pedestal paternalism.

Unfortunately, it also helped enshrine a dogmatic and one-sided approach to family violence. For one, while the legislation is ostensibly gender-neutral, its very title reflects the notion that partner abuse is a “women's issue”...

Oh...fucking...please. I love the idea that merely pointing out that partner violence overwhelmingly affects women is “radical.” Not to mention, VAWA is about partner violence and sexual assault, a fact that Young conveniently omits. Read the whole thing, Young really fancies herself an expert on feminism.

From Reuters:

Forget expensive presents or costly jewellery. Wining and dining is the best way for men to woo women, scientists said on Tuesday.

"Guys are less likely to offer expensive gifts to females they don't have a long-term interest in. And girls won't be impressed with cheap gifts. By offering expensive but worthless gifts, such as dinner and theatre trips, the male pays no cost if the invitation isn't accepted," said Dr Peter Sozou, of University College London (UCL).

Is ‘gold-diggers’ a scientific term? And something tells me that scientists who use a mathematical formula and “a sequential game” to find out how to impress women probably aren’t the best people for relationship advice.

How the hell do people get money for this shit?

Amanda points to Hugo’s great post on one’s “number” and the sexual double standard. Go read both posts immediately. I’m especially keen on Hugo’s discussion of homosociality (the idea that men are more concerned with other males’ approval than of women’s).

My first experience with the sexual double standard came after a “we’re on a break” hiatus with a high school boyfriend. Though both of us had seen other people during the break, I was the big slut. The explanation was predictable (though bizarre): men are meant to be polygamous, and women need to remain monogamous in order to curb STD rates. I know, weird stuff.

Since then, the sexual double standard has continued to be one of the most infuriating aspects of sexism for me. I’ve seen otherwise great male friends turn away from potential girlfriends because of their number of sexual partners; I’ve had feminist friends upon hearing my own number tell me I must must must keep it a secret from a current boyfriend. What’s strangest to me is that people will admit the flawed logic behind all this, yet still adhere to the rules of the game. Don’t tell your number, or if you do--shave a couple of partners off the list.

No matter where the double standard comes from, or whatever male (or female) sexual anxiety it feeds off of, I think it’s necessary to address it head on. If we keep dancing around the issue, making excuses for not telling our number, aren’t we implicitly saying that it’s a shameful thing?

Though I must say, Hugo makes a very good point in his argument for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy:

A true lover can say, "Before there was an 'us', there was a 'you' and a 'me', and I will never use what you did in the past against you. I honor your right to have lived the life you chose to live before we were together, and I ask that you honor my right to my past as well."

Personally, I will always tell my partner my ‘number’. Their reaction is a tremendous indicator of their character and how they really feel about women. But this is just me. Any thoughts?

A little too much jiggle in your jogging? Salon recommends the Last Resort Bra:

I ordered the bra while my class was at lunch, wincing at the $60 price tag. When it arrived the following week I grew nervous: it fastens up the front, with a hook-and-eye closure? It's made of what, satin? And, good God: There's no underwire!

The proof, however, was in the plodding. I went out for a slow test-jog along the lake. After two miles I was out of breath, had aching knees, and a stitch in my side, but I could have cried for joy: My breasts had stayed put, in perfect comfort, without sacrificing lung capacity. I went home and plunked down another $75 to register for the Chicago Marathon, my first. I've run four more since then, and dozens of shorter races.

A well-endowed friend of mine actually told me about this bra several months ago; she swears by it.

Though I must admit, the bra’s description sounds a bit terrifying:

If you've tried every bra out there and still bounce, try this one. Our first-ever 5-barbell rated bra ain't pretty, but our testers say it completely eliminates bounce. Literally, you won't move, and that's a beautiful thing.

Any sporty gals out there have other recommendations?

While the Bush Administration argues for ‘culture of life’ that protects fetuses, America’s children go uncared for.

The United States is one of two industrialized countries (the other being Australia) that doesn’t provide paid leave for new mothers:

In Santa Fe, Linda Strauss McIlroy, a first-time mother, is trying to get used to the thought of soon putting her two-month-old boy in day care so she can get back to work.

Across the ocean, in Sweden, Magnus Larsson is looking forward to splitting 16 months of parental leave at 80% pay with his girlfriend. They are expecting their first baby in a week.

Who has the real culture of life here?

And why does the U.S. have such a different take on child care? It’s feminists’ fault, of course!

Jane Waldfogel, also a professor at Columbia, says another part of the puzzle is that the European and American feminist movements had differing goals.

In Europe, feminists emphasized special treatment for mothers, including maternity leave and child care.

"The American feminist movement didn't want to hear anything about mothers," Waldfogel says. "They wanted equal rights for women and didn't emphasize special treatment."

Um, what? The second wave most certainly did fight for universal child care, so I don’t know where this Prof. is getting her info from.

If you want more information on maternity leave and child care, check out Legal Momentum’s Family Initiative and their new report, Early Childhood Education for All: A Wise Investment.

From the Associated Press:

A 22-year-old man faces criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with an underage 13-year-old girl, although he legally married her in Kansas after she became pregnant.

The man's lawyer said the couple, with their families' support, “made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem.”

Responsible decision? Yeah, these folks sound like family of the fucking year.

After the girl became pregnant, her mother gave permission for 22 year-old Matthew Koso to take her daughter to Kansas where minors can get married with parental consent. You still want EC unavailable to teens?

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says that the marriage “is repugnant to me...These people made the decision to send their...daughter to Kansas to marry a pedophile."

Hey Phill Kline--where’s your outrage now, asshole? I guess so long as pregnant teens in your state get married instead of having abortions, statutory rape is all good.

And where is the young woman in all this? We’ve heard from her family, lawyers, and attorney generals in two states--but one voice is conspicuously absent.

While there have been a home-testing device created to make pap smears cheap and easy abroad in the fight against cervical cancer, doctors in the U.S. have been organizing to make some serious domestic changes, reports the Washington Post.

The fact of the matter is that 4,000 women in the U.S. will die from cervical cancer this year, although every death is preventable.

In response, a $25 million federal program is going into effect to have communities recruit “patient navigators,” or volunteers (a trusted member of the community who speak their patient’s language) who will push for pap tests and aid the diagnosed.

Dr. Stephen McPhee of the University of California put his two cents in:

“Cervical cancer shouldn’t be a cause of death anymore...Yet here we are in 2005 dealing with a problem that should have been fixed 25 years ago. It’s a bad reflection on the U.S. health-delivery system.”

McPhee started his own program in California working against cervical cancer among Vietnamese immigrants, who have the highest incidence of the disease in the nation.

A new report from the National Cancer Institute triggered this recent action against the disease. The report digs into the reasons behind why so many women are unnecessarily being diagnosed too late, which includes poverty, age, and cultural factors.

To download the report, click here.

New British research shows that men who do "women's work" get more respect than their female counterparts. Male nurses, teachers and child care providers say they're taken more seriously, have better relationships with their supervisors and are given more kudos than women.

Ruth Simpson, who carried out in-depth interviews with 30 men about their jobs, said: "Women are definitely losing the gender war in the caring professions. While the caring performed by a woman is often devalued as a 'natural' part of femininity, the emotional labour performed by men is often seen as an asset."

Men in these professions did encounter pockets of resistance from female colleagues, but were generally made welcome. Dr Simpson commented: "Women are more accepting of men moving into non-traditional jobs than men. Women in male-dominated jobs have to encounter a huge amount of sexism and barriers."

The research was culled from a pretty tiny sample, but I think it rings true. Women who make their living caring for children and the sick are seen as doing their nurturing duty. Men who do the same are heroes.

As an update to our Sunday post on the San Jose State Roman Catholic women who have been planning on being ordained as priests, we find that the nine have (unofficially) been ordained as priests and deacons aboard a tour boat near Ottawa, Canada.

While seven women other women who were previously ordained in 2002 were later excommunicated, these women have no intention of changing their minds.

“I believe it’s valid even if it’s against the law of the Church, because it is an unjust law,” said Germany’s Regina Nicolosi, who was ordained as a deacon.

There has been no response from the Vatican as of yet.

Sorry we’re so chock full of repro rights news today, but they just keep rolling in...

Vaginal administration of emergency contraception could be a better alternative for women than oral administration.

A new study in Fertility and Sterility shows that giving EC to women vaginally is just as effective in the reduction of hormone levels as taking the drug orally.

Now I don’t know how much I want to take any frigging drug vaginally; just popping a couple of pills seems like a more reasonable alternative. However, the study showed that taking EC this way could lead to lower levels of nausea or vomiting.

I took EC when I was 17 (lucky for me there were no assholes telling me I couldn’t), and the nausea was horrible. So I’m really glad to see that there is another option for women, even if it does include the phrase ‘vaginal administration’.

Peter Sutovsky, a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia (my alma mater), is developing "the ultimate female contraceptive: a vaccine that would make sperm bounce off eggs like they were brick walls."

The vaccine would only require an annual booster shot, and would work by preventing sperm from "burrowing" into an egg. Though Sutovsky is researching immunization for women, other scientists have studied a similar vaccine for men.

Many are skeptical of the vaccination approach: Vaccines are tricky, said [Rajesh Naz, a West Virginia University reproductive immunologist]. Even well-established vaccines, like for measles or tetanus, have a failure rate. Individual immune systems can overreact or underreact. Another problem is getting enough antibodies, which usually patrol the bloodstream, in the mucous membranes where fertilization occurs.

The odds are long. But if Sutovsky is successful, the result will be another non-hormonal form of birth control. We could definitely use that.

Warren Hern, director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado, took out a full page ad in a local paper yesterday denouncing Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue). The anti-choice group had protested against Hern in his neighborhood during a week-long convention they held in Denver recently.

The ad displays an Operation Save America flyer followed by Hern’s comments: “The purpose of the flyer is to cause hate and fear. Its purpose is to get someone to kill me.” The ad also calls the group a “fascist” organization.

The content of the Operation Save America flyer is unavailable, but from what I can gather, it was specifically targeting Hern and his clinic:

“It's bad enough that they harassed women in my clinic...But this group can't leave anyone alone. The flyer they passed out is a very personal attack...This is a terrorist operation. This means that they would stop at nothing. Who will be next? When they get through with the abortion doctors, Operation Save America has a long list of people that they hate.”

Hern called out this violent anti-choice group for what it really is, and for that he is my crush of the week.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney vetoed a bill yesterday that would have expanded access to emergency contraception. Romney offered a predictably weak explanation for his veto, taking the opportunity to criticize Roe. He also said:

Because Massachusetts is decidedly prochoice, I have respected the state's democratically held view. I have not attempted to impose my own views on the prochoice majority.

What?! Thanks for the acknowledgment that prochoicers are the majority, but I'd say vetoing this bill was a pretty strong imposition of your views, Mitt. (More at BushvChoice.)

Meanwhile, the FDA recently announced it would decide by Sept. 1 as to whether EC can be sold over-the-counter. Consequently, the Senate approved Lester Crawford to head the FDA. Senators Clinton (NY) and Murray (WA) had placed a hold on Crawford's confirmation, in protest of the FDA's failure to decide the EC issue. When the Sept. 1 deadline was announced, the Senators allowed Crawford's approval as commissioner. Now we'll keep our fingers crossed for a yes vote. The experts are with us on this one.

PLUS, federal lawmakers are holding hearings on pharmacists' refusals to fill prescriptions for contraception. The hearings are in response to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's requirement that all pharmacies fill birth control prescriptions. Federal legislation that mirrors the Illinois bill is pending in both the House and Senate.

Ten women filed a lawsuit yesterday against Ortho Evra, the maker of the birth control patch. The suit claims that the patch causes strokes and blood clots--a claim recently supported by an Associated Press investigation.

From CNN:

The lawsuit -- filed in Hudson County, N.J., Superior Court -- alleges that the popular Ortho Evra birth control patch is "defectively designed" and "unreasonably dangerous."

Austin, Texas-based plaintiffs' attorney Amy Clark-Meachum said the clients listed in the suit include women ranging from 18 to 47 from Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio and Oklahoma. All have suffered debilitating long-term health problems, they claim, as a result of using the birth control patch.

Yikes. Does this make anyone nervous about hormonal birth control methods? I was a huge fan of my birth control pill, but recently went off for various reasons. I’ve been looking into natural methods (in addition to using condoms of course), but the word ‘natural’ makes me think of another word--pregnant. Though I do like the look of these cycle beads...

Any thoughts?

If you haven’t been perusing anti-feminist sites lately, you may not know that the ladies we love to hate at the Independent Women’s Forum have a blog. It’s been up for a quite a while...I think I chose to ignore it until Amanda’s always-smart posts on the “IWF Inkwell” made it impossible. Damn you, Amanda!

The content is laughable enough, but I just couldn’t let this post title go unnoticed:

Mailbag: Dissing the Roberts Children, and More

Dissing? Is it just me, or is there nothing worse than uncomfortable slang-use? It makes me have visions of IWF editorial meetings where Carrie Lukas and Charlotte Allen brainstorm on how to include the word “hot” in a post. A conservative Supreme Court appointment? That’s hot.

John Roberts admitted last week that his personal and religious views could affect his ability to serve on the Supreme Court. Oops!

More at the LA Times.

From BBC News:

A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say.

The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone.

Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.

Heh heh...they said “tool.” Yes, I like third grade bathroom humor.

But you have to admit, it's intriguing. It’s like the Flinstones version of Toys in Babelend. Amazing.

The Chicago Sun Times reports that many of the female-friendly shows slated for the fall are on CBS:

In "Threshold," the main character is a contingency analyst who is asked to stop space invaders from killing our species. A soldier-type guy tells her, "You just became the most important person on the planet."

On "Close to Home," the lead is a prosecutor who puts away creeps while storing her breast milk in a work fridge.

Even on two new sitcoms with ensemble casts, the women have dominant roles, at least in the pilots. On "Out of Practice," Stockard Channing rules whatever room she is in and emotionally towers over her ex-husband, played by Henry Winkler. On "How I Met Your Mother," Alyson Hannigan plays a sexual assertive, and Cobie Smulders is the one who tries to get her date drunk.

Guy roles for women? Hewitt’s annoying comment aside, I’m glad to see there will be some new strong female characters. Ah Buffy, how I miss you.

The University of Washington Women’s Studies department has a new chair: Professor David Allen.

The first male chair of the department, Allen has taught women's studies classes for 15 years at the university. Qualifications aside, some are not too pleased about his appointment. Allen is the first to admit that it’s a “risky venture.”

“It's not so much risky for me individually as it is politically. One way to interpret this is, 'Here's yet another white guy claiming to have expertise over women,'” he said. “Another position is that relatively few women hold administrative positions, so why on earth would the university make it worse by appointing a man to a women-studies program?”

I’m glad that Allen recognizes the problems that people will have with his new position, but his self-awareness isn’t enough to quell other professors’ fears.

...But Nancy Kenney, an associate professor in the department, said most people are stunned.

“I think I'm being sexist in my interpretation,” she said. “Why should I critique a person because of his sex when I fight sexism at all times?”

I’m torn on this one; I can see both points of view. I think the sentiment of associate professor Priti Ramamurthy is right on, however: “The idea that women's studies is only for and about women is no longer the case...It's moved to a focus on social construction, not just of women but also of masculinity, and the changing relationships between men and women, women and women, and men and men.”

Any thoughts?

Shocking, I know.

The New York Times magazine had a piece yesterday profiling Womyn's Agenda for Change (WAC) in Cambodia, an advocacy organization that helps organize and improve working conditions for sex workers:

By tacitly accepting sex workers' choice of livelihood, WAC stands on one side of a growing divide among aid groups. Since the U.S.'s policy shift, more and more of the other groups working with sex workers in Cambodia are what are often known as ''rescue'' organizations. The rescue groups, like Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire and the Christian evangelical International Justice Mission, contend that sex work is virtually always oppressive and that many or most prostitutes are trafficked into the business against their wills. Both organizations investigate brothels for evidence of trafficking and assist the Cambodian police in carrying out spectacular raids, springing prostitutes into safe houses where those who wish to leave sex work are given vocational training, often as seamstresses. The two groups receive substantial U.S.A.I.D. money.

…[Rosanna]Barbero, [head of WAC] supports freeing children and women held forcibly but finds most other rescue operations futile: "You're rescuing somebody and putting them back into the same situation" that drove them to sex work in the first place. The Cambodian Women's Crisis Center acknowledges that of 48 trafficking victims it helped return to their homes in 2004, some 40 percent have already gone back to sex work. As for vocational training, Barbero says, sex workers "are all pretty damn sick of 'We'll put you in front of sewing machines 14 hours a day and make you a better woman.'"

Check out the whole article; while the focus is on WAC and their work, the piece is careful to note how difficult it is to figure out what kind of “rescuing” sex workers need.

This is pretty badass.

On Monday, Victoria Rue of Watsonville will drape herself in a white robe and take a controversial step as part of her journey to become a better spiritual leader. She'll also be performing a grave sin in the eyes of her church.

To the women's knowledge, they are the only group performing public ordinations of women. There are about 70 members who are in the ordination-preparation program. By Monday, 25 women will have become illicit deacons, priests or bishops.

What is the fallout of this going to look like?

Reuters...

Female civic educators have been dispatched to provincial areas of Afghanistan to promote awareness of the forthcoming parliamentary elections among women, officials at the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA) announced on Thursday in the capital, Kabul.

"We have to use all possible means to deliver election information to women in rural areas where the majority of women are illiterate," Nafisa Kohistani a MoWA public information officer said. Cultural sensitivities and discrimination against women are likely to discourage female involvement in the historic poll slated for 18 September, observers say.

Oftentimes, lack of education does in fact keep potential voters out of the loop, as we have seen in the States as well. This project plans to reach 6.9 million people.

As the new constitution in Iraq is being drafted several NGO's working in the Middle East are urging the drafters to incorporate women's rights.

Reuters reports...

Some 20 NGOs, from Jordan, the occupied Palestinian territories and Iraq, raised their concerns at an international conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, this week.

MPDL is working with women in the Middle East to create a space for face-to-face dialogue on gender issues.

"Iraq is at a crucial point in its history and women are playing a key role as members of civil society organisations: holding dialogue with diverse groups and articulating the needs of women in the country," she said.

Thanks to the recent Grand Theft Auto controversy, a closer look is being taken at the gender dynamics that undercut the video game industry.

According the A.P., only 4% of software engineers in the video game industry are women. Tammy Yap, a game programmer for six years, told the AP that she had never worked with another female programmer.

Why so low? Anthony Borquez, director of University of Southern California's Integrated Media Systems Center, hypothesizes that: "A lot of women think that there isn't much video game content for them. The perception is that video games are just shoot-em-ups with half-naked women running around." Yapp also notes that: "Game magazines have women wearing bikinis on the cover. They are obviously targeting men. There's nothing wrong with that, but that approach isn't going to attract many women."

Hmmmm...but if this is the case then why are more than more women playing video games? The AP estimates that women now comprise more than 30% of the video game market.

So here is the $10 billion question -- what would women like to see in a video game? If it isn't Lara Croft's DD's, then what is it? Any requests?

A new report released by the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) this week found that domestic violence in LGBT relationships increased 16% in 2003 and 21% in 2004.

Clarence Patton, acting director of AVP, notes that, "In 2004 alone, there was a 35 percent increase in serious injuries and a 71 percent increase in deaths or murders that occurred as a result of the violence."

Why? Diane R. Dolan-Soto, AVP’s director of programs and co-author of the report, does not think that increased reporting is the only culprit. Dolan-Soto explains that: "We’re living in a society that is in the middle of a war, that condones violence against LGBT folks, and is even willing to codify in the constitution that gays don’t have legal rights. And for some gay people that equates to increased stress and pressure on LGBT people and couples and internalized homophobia. The partner that can’t control his or her anger is turning that on the other partner."

Even worse is the limited number of legal protections available to victims of these crimes. In New York State, for example, domestic violence victims cannot gain access to Family Court to obtain orders of protection unless they are married or have a child in common with their partners. Another problem is emergency shelter -- particularly for gay men fleeing violence.

Patton explains that: "When I started at AVP in 1996 there was one bed for a man, only available when a woman wasn’t there. Just the very way in which we talk about what domestic violence is in our community can fly in the face of the historic paradigm that the anti-domestic violence movement is built on. It comes out of women’s rights movement that women and victims and men are batterers. We say that is not always the case. When you’re trying to move brick and mortar operations like shelter space, which is already limited, you have to look at building a bigger pie." Wow -- we still have a long way to go.

If you or someone you know is a victim of intimate partner violence in an LGBT relationship, call AVP's 24-hour confidential hotline at 212.714.1141.

To read the full report, click here.

Check out the BBC's Tough Life for Tajik Women -- an exposé on the exploding rates of unemployment, domestic violence & HIV/AIDS in the region.

Not breaking news, but some depressing new stats for working ladies...

A new survey conducted by U. Penn's Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management found that half of women who voluntarily left the work force felt that their employers would not welcome them back to full-time work. And unfortunately most of them are right. The survey also found that on their return, 83% of women accepted a position at a comparable or lower level and 54% changed functional roles in their job.

Monica McGrath, an adjunct assistant professor at U Penn. and co-author of the study explained that, "Women can be completely derailed when they take time off from their career." (sigh). Great.

A Ugandan member of Parliament has recently pledged that he will be rewarding gifts to young women for their chastity.

MP Sulaiman Madada announced on Wednesday that he will pay their university fees if they are still a virgin by the time they leave school. How will they figure this out, do you ask? Every girl who believes she is eligible will be given a gyno exam to check their “sexual status.” Eek.

“The criterion is that a student must be a virgin and from Kayunga district,” he stated.

And don’t forget the third requirement: they also have to be women. The reward wasn't offered to men. After all, a man who hasn’t been laid deserves no esteem.

While we’ve posted on the significant amount of discrimination that female firefighters have to put up with, it’s nice to see some positive counteraction. Check out this firecamp for young women, Camp Blaze. So cool.

The camp was formed by the Women in the Fire Service, which is a national nonprofit organization specifically designed to maximize women’s involvement in the fire service. Their mission statement is as follows:

The mission of Camp Blaze is to develop, support, and implement an annual camp for young women in a fire service environment. Through visionary female collaboration and community involvement, we believe we can increase and ensure the presence of confident and strong women leaders in the years ahead.

These ladies are smokin’! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

Thanks to Astrid for the link.

It looks like John Roberts has singled out the Violence Against Women Act as an example of one issue the federal government need not be involved in. While shitting on federal laws in a 1999 NPR interview, he stated:

"We have gotten to the point these days where we think the only way we can show we're serious about a problem is if we pass a federal law, whether it is the Violence Against Women Act or anything else."

Fantastic.

Via AMERICAblog.

The National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) has a great round-up of major women's organizations' official statements on John Roberts' nomination.

There's also links to more expert information on the Supreme Court nomination, as well as info on how to take action.

Check it out, it's an excellent resource.

Check out this article (free subscription) by the Charlotte Observer. I couldn’t help chuckling when I read the title, “Men are the new women.”

The author discusses the growing rise of men’s skin care products, with a picture (that’s probably supposed to be humorous) of a pro football player Fred Barnett applying a honey and almond facial scrub. Apparently, the sales of men’s skin care products jumped 13 percent last year, and is continuing to rise.

"There is just more cultural pressure on men to look good," said Karen Grant, an expert at NPD Group, a marketing information company. She also predicts that this fad isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

On a more serious note, is this a mere “metrosexual” fad, or does this development of male beauty standards seem to be more of a permanent change?

As an update to Samhita’s recent post on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the growing investigation on whether Rockstar Games (the producers of the game) actually placed a modification of the game allowing users to download graphic sexual acts, we found that the game has recently been given an adults-only rating by the video game industry.

While Rockstar’s parent company, New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc., previously denied being a part of the modification, they have recently admitted that the sex scenes were built into the retail version.

"The editing and finalization of any game is a complicated task and it's not uncommon for unused and unfinished content to remain on the disc," said Take Two’s spokesperson. Riiight.

A variety of retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Circuit City has pulled the copies from their bookshelves.

Senator Hillary Clinton took the incentive to call the Entertainment Software Rating Board to action and start cracking down on sexually explicit content built into video games. She also stated she was surprised that the rest of the game's content was allowed on bookshelves in the first place.

I actually have to agree with that. We can let the characters steal, slit throats, and have sex with prostitutes, but once a boob is out, get that game out of our children’s hands!

A large media watchdog, the Parents Television Council, has called on Rockstar to recall the game and actually give refunds. Net sales could drop by more than $50 million this quarter, and its financial expectations has lowered for the year to set aside funds for returns.

Is this new “porn policing” of video games necessary, or is it even going to make much of a difference? Or do we need to attempt to alter the violent and sexist content of these games altogether?

Thanks to Erin for the link.

Salon has an interesting story today on how more and more employers are requiring employees to sign "love contracts," when co-workers are involved in a romantic relationship outside of the office. Touted by some lawyers as a harassment-prevention tool, "love contracts" have been around for several years. Most are used in addition to an existing sexual harassment policy.

Here's how they're supposed to work: Once you and a co-worker become an item, you declare your status to a supervisor, who sprints to human resources, which then calls legal. Then you and your "more than a friend" sign a document claiming that you are in a consensual relationship and are not being sexually harassed. The contract also states that if you do begin to feel uncomfortable, you agree to follow company reporting procedures.

I'm torn on this one. I think mandatory reporting of workplace "extracurricular" relationships (that don't interfere with either party's performance at work) could be a privacy violation. Plus, most contracts seem to recognize that harassment can still take place after the relationship has ended. But will a sexual harassment claim be dealt with seriously if you've signed something saying the behavior was, at one point in time, consensual?

On the other hand, it's a sign that employers are recognizing and really taking workplace sexual harassment seriously.

Thoughts?

If you're still unsure of where John Roberts stands on choice, look no further than Operation Rescue’s endorsement of him. I mean, shit--how much more evidence do you need?! A John Roberts-Randall Terry makeout session?

Continue reading at BushvChoice.

No shit sherlock!

Yakin Erturk, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, had spent ten days visiting Afghan cities. She said child marriages, many of them forced, continued to be a source of violence against women and girls.

"It seems that the international community has forgotten [Afghan] women and we can't allow that to happen," she told IRIN on her last day of her visit.

Funny how the international community is ALWAYS forgetting about women's rights!

The Washington Post has a piece today on bloggers’ responses to the Roberts nomination.

This is the first Supreme Court nomination of the Internet age, meaning that liberal and conservative opinion-mongers are already blanketing cyberspace with arguments, facts, taunts, polemics, gossip and electronic links to raw data, hoping to rally the faithful and influence the mainstream media coverage.

And apparently we have. So go check it out--especially since Feministing and Tennessee Guerilla Women are mentioned. We are so super cool.

As an update to past hostility anti-choicers have had towards RU-486, the New York Times wrote an article today “Two More Women Die After Abortion Pills”, and I am not surprised in the least.

While a total of five out of hundreds of thousands of women have died due to bacterial infections after taking medication abortion, the FDA is planning on changing the label to warn women and doctors to watch out for signs of infection that’s not always just accompanied by fever.

Dr. Steven Galson, the director of the FDA’s center for drugs, stated that the risks are still minimal, and has the same risk of infections and death as surgical abortion and childbirth.

Of course, our lovely Concerned Women of America had to put their two cents in. Wendy Wright, the senior policy director, said, “Sadly, people who support RU-486 apparently believe the risk of death is preferable to having a child.” Sadly, this lady is pretty much talking out of her ass. (Look at the bold above, Ms. Wright.)

So if these unfortunate incidents are not any more significant than the occasional complications childbirth can cause, why was it even a headline? I wonder.

I'm sorry, but I had to do it. Check out BUST magazine's newest issue, which just released an interview (and yummy cover pic) with the ever-so-hot Justin Theroux.

Apparently, the interview was done by Mary Louise-Parker. Is this a new feminist celeb out of the closet?

The issue is titled, "Men We Love," which includes Public Enemy's Chuck D. as well. Rock on, lovely lads!

I feel like I’m often posting on misogyny in hip-hop, and I know it’s the oldest story in the book. It’s clearly not news that rap lyrics and rap culture often degrade women. Yet somehow, possibly because I still love the art, I am consistently waiting for its redemption.

No such luck today.

Check out some lyrics from the new Ying Yang Twins hit, "Wait (the Whisper Song)."

Ay bitch - wait til you see my dick
I'm gonna beat dat pussy up

You're 'bouta get ya feelings hurt.
Cuz I'll beat dat cat with a dog.
And knock da walls off a broad til she scrawl...
Fuck dat, bend over.
I'ma give you a smack, bitch.

Charming, right? What's worse is that the remix version, all over national radio right now, features none other than feminist rapper Missy Elliot. Why Missy? WHY?

Possibly most alarming is this quote from the Ying Yang Twins themselves:

"We're just trying to put the love back in the music and let people know that there are still people who really make music from the soul."

YIKES.

If you’re like me and need to think about something else than goddamn John Roberts, check out gossip blog Gawker. Their take on Jude Law’s recent admission of sleeping with his nanny has surprising tinges of feminism:

Jude Law’s recent confession to having an affair with his nanny didn’t just destroy the confidence of his fianceé Sienna Miller; it also shattered the faith of nanny-employing mothers everywhere. What if the nanny is so hot, it’s simply inevitable that your husband will throw her against the foyer wall and do her like she’s never been done before?

How very true. Any nanny who’s even slightly attractive is clearly a husband-fucking varmint, only in your home to debauch your children and destroy your marriage. Besides, everyone knows that the best domestic servants are the ugly ones. It’s God’s way.

Thanks to Deanna for the link.

If you’re in NY, here’s some info on a rally happening today. If anyone knows of similar actions in other areas, post them in comments.

Rally to SAVE THE COURT!

*WHO: NARAL Pro-Choice NY, Planned Parenthood NYC, and other Progressive Organizations.

*WHERE: UNION SQUARE PARK (South End)

*WHEN: Wednesday, July 20 (TODAY) @ 5PM

The New York Times: Bush's Supreme Court Choice Is a Judge Anchored in Modern Law

The Washington Post: A Move To the Right, An Eye to Confirmation

Los Angeles Times: Recent opinions by Judge Roberts

The Christian Science Monitor: A conservative with few hard edges

Reuters: Bush urges Senate to back his Supreme Court pick

MSNBC: The brilliance of Bush’s court choice

The Nation: The Stakes in Roberts' Nomination

The New Republic: Unnatural Selection

Salon: "Sterling" judge or "extreme rightist"?

Alternet: The Pick Is In

With nomination-fever sweeping the blogosphere, it’s easy to forget that the Violence Against Women Act is up for reauthorization.

The Senate Judiciary hearings for VAWA’s five year extension started yesterday, as did the anti-VAWA backlash. This bill is too important to be put on your political back burner, so go to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and take action now.

...On the argument that John Roberts isn’t anti-choice cause he was “just a being a lawyer” when he said Roe should be overturned.

How about the fact that his wife is the former Executive Vice President of Feminists for Life?

And how comfortable are you with a nominee who has the support of Operation Rescue?

Roberts is anti-choice. Deal.

More on Roberts at BushvChoice.

Looks like nominations bring out the best in people.

Here’s a sampling of Feministing’s email from last night:

The gleeful hate mail
GIVE UP!!!! hahahahah W = WIN.
It feels so good to be a Republican! YES! YES!

The mind-boggling hate mail
You and your web site are what's wrong with our country. Before this man can even be given a chance to appear before the committee you idiots have already cast your one sided opinion. What happened to tolerance you dumb asses preach all the time?

Love it or leave it!!!!

The abortion hate mail
STOP KILLING MY GENERATION!!!

Two things all the hate mail we received had in common: All were written by men and all seemed to have an unexplainable penchant for exclamation points.

Well Bush certainly didn’t pull any punches. John Roberts’ nomination not only serves as a convenient distraction to the Rove madness, but is also a great big “fuck you” to all the folks that thought Bush was leaning towards a moderate nominee.

Alliance for Justice reports that Roberts “a record of hostility to the rights of women and minorities. He has also taken controversial positions in favor of weakening the separation of church and state and limiting the role of federal courts in protecting the environment.” Sounds lovely.

And NARAL Pro-Choice America tells us just how terrifying Roberts is on abortion:

As Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts argued in a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court (in a case that did not implicate Roe v. Wade) that “[w]e continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled…. [T]he Court’s conclusion in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion… finds no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution.”

The Court was so accustomed to the Solicitor General and the Deputy Solicitor General arguing for the overturn of Roe that during John Roberts’s oral argument before the Supreme Court in Bray, a Justice Asked, “Mr. Roberts, in this case are you asking that Roe v. Wade be overruled?” He responded, “No, your honor, the issue doesn’t even come up.” To this the justice said, “Well, that hasn’t prevented the Solicitor General from taking that position in prior cases.”

So pretty please take some fucking action and put a stop to this nightmare nominee.

John Roberts.

This gem has actually argued before the Supreme Court that Roe should be overruled. Great.

You're never too old for stuffed toys, especially if they're menstruation-related. I think that's the happiest tampon ever. (A little smirky, but happy.)

Via Nerve. Yes, I sweat them today.

From the Associated Press:

Andrew Calderon, 23, was jailed for six days before a judge ordered his release after officers found a racy poster and calendar and copies of Maxim in his home earlier this year.

...Corrections officials said Calderon, who was on probation for the sexual battery of a mentally disabled relative, committed a violation by having "sexually stimulating" material.

Yikes. I’m tempted to say that any asshole who sexually assaults someone shouldn’t be seeing the light of day, let alone lad mags. But should someone be jailed--even a sex offender--for looking at a (porn or pseudo-porn) magazine? Not to mention, is it really exposure to “sexually stimulating” material that drives or aides sexual assault? Just putting it out there...

Bush is set to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court tonight, and the buzz is all about Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The Associated Press reports that the rumor about Clement “has eased fears among abortion-rights advocates.”

Not so much.

In magnet form.

The Match Your Snatch kit (don’t blame me, I didn’t come up with the name) allows you to make a cast of your nether-regions in wax and create an oh-so-lovely magnet.

Now, I’m all for loving your lady parts and hand-mirrors and all that good stuff. But I just don’t know that I want to see my labia every time I go grab a soda from the fridge.

Some of the company’s other suggestions for how to use the kit:

Match Your Snatch is a great way for couples to have fun together. You can bet you have never seen or held yourself or your partner like this before.

I have too many creepy “House of Wax” images in my head to find this romantic...

So what if you are solo? Make a copy of yourself and mail it to an old flame or anyone else who would appreciate it. Or just stick it on the fridge and see if anyone notices.

Last time I checked, this was called stalking and harassment...

I don’t know, maybe the idea of multicolored vaginas adorning the refrigerator is just a little much for me. What do you guys think?

Via Nerve.

Emergency Contraception's over-the-counter status in New York is dependent on Governor George Pataki. To those of us from New York, this is terrifying.

Even scarier is the "compromise" he is considering:

A simple veto could indicate that he was trying to win support among Republican voters nationwide who are opposed to abortion, they said, and simply signing it could show that Mr. Pataki was thinking of New York voters and of seeking a fourth term as governor.

One possibility for a compromise is that he might veto the bill - since it contains no age limits to keep the pill away from young teenagers - but at the same time call for a revised bill including such age restrictions.

Implementing age restrictions is not a compromise; it's limiting access to certain women, arguably the women who need it the most. Not to mention, this "compromise" isn't consistent with other state laws. There is no parental notification law in New York--teen girls can obtain abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent.

So when a young girl gets pregnant because she was denied access to emergency contraception, she goes and gets an abortion. Sounds like a real plan.

If folks were really concerned with lowering the number of abortions (rather than just controlling women's bodies), increased access to emergency contraception would be at the top on their list.

From the UN News Centre:

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) today called on the international community to go beyond mere awareness of the gender dimensions of war and peace and buttress women's participation in preventing and resolving national and local conflicts.

"But awareness is not enough. As we approach the five-year anniversary of 1325 in October, what's needed is stronger support for women's participation in all efforts to promote and maintain peace and security," she added, against the backdrop of the meeting at UN Headquarters of the 23-member Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) from 5 to 22 July.

For more information on SC Resolution 1325 and women’s roles in peace, check out UNIFEM’s “Women, War and Peace,” and this fact sheet from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). For more info on CEDAW, click here for the official meeting information and here for a manual on how to use CEDAW to create change in your area.

Eric Rudolph--the anti-choice extremist responsible for a 1998 bombing--was sentenced today to two life terms in prison:

U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith sentenced Rudolph, 38, who pleaded guilty on April 13 to the Birmingham bombing. On the same day, Rudolph admitted setting off three bombs in Georgia, including one at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta that killed a spectator. He also admitted setting off bombs at an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and a gay nightclub in Atlanta.

In exchange for Rudolph's guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to accept multiple life sentences without parole instead of the death penalty.

We can rest a little easier knowing he’s locked up, but the sentiment behind his actions is alive and well.

From Reuters:

Indian police forced around 200 people caught watching pornography to do sit-ups in public to shame them and keep them away from theatres that illegally screen smutty movies.

The police made the all-male group vow not to watch pornography again. To make matters worse for the embarrassed teenagers who were caught, police called their parents to watch them doing sit-ups.

This got me thinking. If I implemented this punishment for my boyfriend, I bet he’d have a six pack in a matter of days. Perhaps add in some weight training every time he leaves the toilet seat up...

In all seriousness, why would people think that public shaming works?

The birth control patch, touted to be as safe as the pill, is actually three times more likely to cause fatal blood clots.

An investigation by the Associated Press revealed a death rate much higher than expected, about a dozen young women (most were in their late teens and early 20s) died last year from blood clots believed to be caused by the patch Ortho Evra.

Blood clots are an accepted risk from hormonal birth control because estrogen promotes blood coagulation.

Clots usually form in the legs, and become serious problems if they travel to a woman's heart, lungs or brain.

The AP also found 23 deaths associated with the patch and 16,000 reports of adverse reactions since the patch’s release in 2002.

Why such a big difference between the patch and the pill, both of which have similar estrogen levels? It’s most likely related to the way the patch is administered. The hormones from the pill have to go through the intestinal tract before they hit the bloodstream, hormones from the patch go directly into the bloodstream.

Some doctors the AP spoke to found the number of deaths “suspicious,” “worrisome” and “shocking.” Others (two of which used to work for patch maker Ortho McNeil) say that the number of deaths aren’t unexpected and maintain that the patch is as safe as the pill.

One doctor also pointed out that when dealing with a new drug, rather than one that’s been around for a while, patients and doctors are more likely to contact the FDA when there’s a bad reaction. Other docs said that women shouldn’t get freaked out quite yet and stop using the patch.

Either way, this information certainly warrants further investigation.

Anyone on the patch want to weigh in?

Salon is running a four-part investigative series on “reparative therapy,” a controversial practice that tries to “cure” people of homosexuality. (Yes, I like quotation marks a lot.) The first article of the series gives a great (terrifying) background on the so-called therapy.

Author Mark Benjamin points out that not only are the groups that support and provide this “therapy” giving out false and dangerous information to individuals, they’re also spewing their hate through legislative action:

Last month, the Montgomery County Board of Education in suburban Maryland settled a lawsuit over sex education in the county's public schools, brought in part by PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays). The group is a branch of a national network of "ministries" that claim homosexuality is a chosen and dangerous lifestyle, and that through "reparative therapy" a gay person can be turned straight -- into an "ex-gay."

PFOX won a restraining order in May and successfully halted the county's new sex ed curriculum, intended, among other things, to promote tolerance toward gays by treating homosexuality as natural and benign. A judge concluded the school curriculum did exclude other views on homosexuality -- namely, those of PFOX. Under the settlement last month, the county agreed to pay $36,000 of PFOX's legal expenses. The group also gets a seat at the table in drafting a new sex ed curriculum for county schools.

Disgusting.

In the second article in the series--to be published tomorrow--Benjamin goes to a reparative therapy session.

Related: The NY Times reports on Zach, the much blogged about 16 year-old from Tennessee forced to enter one of these insane conversion programs.

The Daily Mail reports that birth control pills have “set women free.” Apparently everything else feminists have fought for have failed:

But while the Pill and abortion laws have had a huge impact on women's well-being, the same cannot be said for other key components of the feminists' manifesto.

It also found that changes in the divorce laws, putting women on the same footing as men, have made women worse off over all.

Feminists’ manifesto? Damn, I didn’t know we all got together and wrote a guidebook!

I guess I shouldn’t take this too seriously--any article that mentions bra-burning, a manifesto and Jennifer Aniston (!) to explain feminism isn’t all that threatening.

A Missouri state Senate bill last month proposed parental consent for girls under the age of eighteen wanting Brazilian bikini waxes.

Interestingly enough, it's the Missouri State Board of Cosmetology who proposed the bill. "Twelve- and thirteen-year-old little girls think they're eighteen and nineteen in this day and age," explains Darla Fox, the Board's executive director.

This bill is really about is policing the sexuality of minors. These people know that a big part of the reason women get Brazilian waxes is because it is considered sexy, younger, less hairy and gross, sensational, all of these things. I'm not sure why nipping Brazilian waxes in the bud is supposed to curb teen sex, but whatever.

Yet it still presents an interesting predicament: While I ardently believe in personal autonomy, at the same time, the idea of thirteen-year-olds waxing off their shrubbery when they've barely taken the damn thing out for a spin gives me the willies.

Contributed by Jess Wakeman

Pakistan, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), is launching a project to empower women in its provinces and the federally administered tribal areas (FATA).

The government has allocated Rs 1.7 billion for the five-year Basic Development Need (BDN) project, of which Rs 75 million would be spent in FATA, Dawn reported.

Definately needed.

A new study found that girls gravitate towards playing with dolls and such because of genetics, whereas for boys it tends to be more environmental. Ultimately the study was unconclusive in determining which actually DOES affect girls and boys more, genetics or environment. I am not a scientist, but I am a feminist and we have been known to see these science shmience studies differently.

Check it.

In the study, which appears in the July/August issue of Child Development, researchers analyzed the effects of genetic and environmental factors on the gender-role behaviors of a group of nearly 4,000 3- to 4-year-old twins and nontwin sibling pairs.

In contrast, genetics had a substantial impact on girls' gender role behavior, while the environment played a less significant role in girls' selection of typically feminine behaviors, such as playing with dolls.

My instinct is to say well bite me. What does this mean? And whether girls are genetically disposed to certain characteristics STILL doesn't justify rigid gendered behaviors!

What do you think? Genetics verses Socialization/Environment?

15 years ago a group of Kenyan women established a women-only community, where women in abusive situations could flee. Umojo, which means "unity" has become a very well known place, not only as being a safe haven for women victimized by violence and rape, but also for making tribal beaded necklaces that they sell for money.

In a word, BADASS!

Money started flowing into their newly-opened bank account from sales of the bead necklaces, which take three days to make.

Now Umoja has a campsite, is becoming a regular stop for backpackers and lorries, has a long-running craft stall and a new 50-pupil primary school.

Unfortunately, Umojo has been underattack by local men upset with the success of the entrepreneurial activity of the community.

Turning traditional African patriarchy on its head, 15 women established Umoja village in 1990, as a refuge after their husbands' behaviour forced them to flee their homes.

Gangs a dozen strong have mounted daytime raids through the thorn fence circling the village, chasing the women into the bush, beating them with clubs and threatening to torch their stick-and-dung homes.

Local authorities are turning a blind eye to these offenses.
These women are more then amazing.

Check out this editorial in the New York Times yesterday on the dehumanization of U.S. female soldiers, specifically at Guantanamo Bay, where military jailers developed degrading behavior that followed to Abu Ghraib prison.

The author discusses a Pentagon report that was released Wednesday that described the use of "female tactics" to get information from prisoners:

“There were several instances when female soldiers rubbed up against prisoners and touched them inappropriately. In April 2003, a soldier did that in a T-shirt after removing her uniform blouse. Following up on an F.B.I. officer's allegation that a female soldier had done a "lap dance" on a prisoner, the report described this scene from the interrogation of the so-called 20th hijacker from the 9/11 attacks: A female soldier straddled his lap, massaged his neck and shoulders, ‘began to enter the personal space of the subject,’ touched him and whispered in his ear.”

The author also puts her/his two cents in:

“These practices are as degrading to the women as they are to the prisoners. They violate American moral values - and they seem pointless.

If devout Muslims become terrorists because they believe Western civilization is depraved, does it make sense to try to unnerve them by having Western women behave like trollops?”

While I’m not a fan of some of the language going on in this editorial (not only does the author refers to the women as “trollops” but says that they’re “sex workers” for the military), there’s obviously some insane shit that was being enforced there (add it to the list). At the same time, when a female soldier touches a prisoner inappropriately, isn't it sexual assault? Can we really say that these assaults were "as degrading to the women as they are to the prisoners"? Gender aside, these soldiers are in power positions.

Thoughts?

As an update to our coverage of labiaplasty and other such forms of vaginal surgery, check out the Montreal Gazette’s article, “Tailor-made vaginas a risky business.”

The piece discusses how a myriad of health dangers are concerning many health experts. The issue was raised at the 17th World Congress of Sexology, which was held in Montreal. I'm sure that was an interesting event.

“The pathologizing of changes associated with age creates a surgical esthetic," in which sex surgery is used as "a valid form of psychotherapy," said psychologist and sex therapist Laurie Betito.

Risks of vaginal surgery include infection, hemorrhaging, loss of sensitivity, scarring, nerve damage (causing a shitload of pain) and disfigurement.

While woman obviously have the choice to have this procedure done or not, many were concerned that the surgery is being advertised to the fullest.

The question of women’s motives were raised as well. While there is vaginal rejuvenation or “tightening” that may possibly help women who have had theirs stretched during childbirth, there’s speculation of whether this actually increases or decreases pleasure during intercourse. And labiaplasty just trims the vaginal lips, making them even or “neat.”

An additional issue was raised concerning society’s obsession with penis size, and the occurrence of implants and “stretchers” that men seek.

Betito’s take on all plastic surgery is that it’s just an attempt to appease underlying issues and insecurities that eventually catch up with you. “Once you get used the new ‘you’, then what?”

Thoughts?

Victor Garcia Uribe was imprisoned for the rape and murder of eight women last year in Ciudad Juarez, a city that holding hundreds of unsolved murders of young Mexican women for the past decade. Yet Garcia Uribe was released yesterday due to “a lack of evidence.”

He was sentenced to 50 years on prison for the crimes, which I must add is an absolutely ridiculous sentence. As a conviction, a bit more than ten years for each woman raped and murdered is just sickening.

His conviction was just one of 12 investigations into the murders, which many of us know have reeked of corruption. Local women’s rights groups have deemed Garcia Uribe a scapegoat, and agreed that there were no grounds to convict him.

It’s obvious that these are organized and conspired crimes committed by a group of people. And every once in a while, another scapegoat comes along to appease the enraged families and friends.

It doesn’t look like it’s working.

Let’s hear it for Tiffany Williamson, the last woman standing in this year’s main event of the World Series of Poker. She was recently knocked out in 15th place, going home with $400,000. Not a bad lose!

Williamson is the first woman to ever collect over one million chips in the World Series of Poker event, and has been the last lady o’ Hold’em there for the past two years. Despite this significance, Williamson wasn’t featured at the ESPN television table all day Thursday. While she had camera time on Wednesday, it was only because she was sitting next to last year's champion, Greg Raymer. As Rachel Rawlings says in her blog, All in Deshou:

“So viewers can look forward this October to seeing Mike "the Mouth" Matusow being barred from the table for ten minutes at a time after the censors have to bleep his language, but won't get to see the female all-time Main Event money-winner and the third-best-placed woman ever in the Main Event (behind Annie Duke and Nani Dollison).”

Sigh. Well, she had a fantastic run, and kicked some hold'em ass. Let's hope that next year she'll get the coverage she deserves. Also check out the New York Times article from Wednesday on female poker players.

Katha Pollitt’s most recent column takes a comprehensive look at what would happen if pro-choicers let Roe go. (A hot topic as of late.)

And of course the inevitable, horrible, negatives (many states outright banning abortion, poor women being affected most acutely, women dying from illegal abortions) far outweigh the potential positive (energizing the movement).

If Roe goes, whoever has political power will determine the most basic, intimate, life-changing and life-threatening decision women--and only women--confront. We will have a country in which the same legislature that can't prevent some clod from burning a flag will be able to force a woman to bear a child under whatever circumstances it sees fit. It is hard to imagine how that woman would be a free or equal citizen of our constitutional republic.

Like many women, I’m tired of seeing the issues that affect us being considered expendable. The right to control our bodies and lives is not a fringe issue.

All that being said, I have to say there was one part of Pollitt’s column that concerned me. Katha, you know I love you--but what’s this all about?

Overturning Roe would definitely energize prochoicers and wake up the young featherheads who think their rights are safe because they have always had them.

Young featherheads? I understand the frustration people feel when a woman doesn’t understand the importance or recognize the urgency of reproductive rights. However, singling out younger women as the apathetic majority not only does a disservice to those of us who are working our asses off for choice, but also limits the movement. How many young women want to get involved in a cause that has already labeled them as naive and uncaring?

Going for a gynecological exam isn’t particularly joyful when it’s voluntary, so imagine how lovely a forced exam must be. Ugh.

New York City has finally agreed to let women inmates know that they can refuse exams without fear of being placed in isolation, a result of a class-action lawsuit filed by former inmates.

Before the lawsuit, every woman who went to Rikers Island jail was told that she had to get a pelvic exam, a Pap smear and a breast exam or “be placed in medical isolation.” You know, cause our lady parts are contagious.

The city will also be paying millions of dollars to about 40,000 inmates who were strip-searched in jails after being arrested for minor charges or traffic violations.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist said yesterday night that he would stay on the Supreme Court so long as he was healthy:

I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement. I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits.

For the next week, Nerve.com will feature their bisexuality issue. The special is being featured in response to the New York Times article we recently posted on, "Straight, Gay or Lying?" Nerve adds:

"We have no interest in bisexuality becoming trendy again, or seeing a Very Special Episode of Will & Grace on the topic. But we would like to better understand why bisexuality is dismissed and feared, why people have trouble entertaining the possibility that there's something between A and B."

Make sure to check it out.

Looks like this 30-year old attempted rapist got what was coming to him.

Mjanafuthi John Nkosi tried and failed to rape a 37-year old woman in Sunnyridge, Newcastle last week. After the women was forced to undress, she defended herself, biting Nkosi’s penis. Hell yeah.

He’s currently being treated for a seven-centimeter laceration. While I know this may be painful to read for you fellas, y’all know the fucker deserved it.

Nkosi is due in the magistrate to be tried by the end of the month.

Thanks to Colleen for the link.

Check out the Washington Post article released today, “Views Mixed On Nominee to High Court Being Female.”

As for Bush’s decision on a replacement of recently retired Sandra Day O’Conner, the debate has begun concerning the issue of gender. Apparently, conservative groups aren’t gender specific, while liberals are urging for another woman.Shocker.

At the same time, Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, added that “It would not serve women if a woman came to the court bound to set aside many of the legal rights women have been able to secure over the past 20 or 30 years.”

Um, yeah! What do y’all think?

According to a recent article by Women's eNews, the newest iteration of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was recently re-introduced in the Senate and House, will allot $15 million annually for new initiatives targeting teen dating abuse.

As the article states:

The legislation follows the release of a study in June finding that 57% of 13-to-18 year-olds surveyed reported having friends in abusive relationships. The survey of 683 teens, sponsored by Liz Claiborne's Love Is Not Abuse program, echoes other studies that show 1-in-3 teen relationships are physically or sexually abusive. A 2001 Department of Justice report that found women and girls aged 16 to 24 experienced the highest rate of intimate partner violence.

Right on, Congress. The next step is to pass it.

Over 100 tribal women from California, Oregon, Minnesota and Arizona are meeting this weekend to discuss the role of women in tribal life. Very cool...

In what organizers say is a historic event, American Indian women from across the country are gathering in Prior Lake today for a first-ever meeting aimed at advancing the role of women in tribal life and beyond.

She said the fledgling group's goals include developing role models so younger Indian women "can aspire to be like us" and learning how to work with other groups to better leverage power. She said the group will reach out to the Black Women's Caucus, Women Impacting Public Policy, and Latino and Asian women's groups.

But I don’t care.

Lynn Harris at Salon, who gets horrible cramps (don’t you love knowing this kind of stuff about journalists!), waxes poetic about ThermaCare Menstrual Heat Patches:

Supposedly -- like those little pouches you put in your ski gloves -- they contain iron and charcoal that heat up when they're exposed to oxygen in the air, but I'm pretty sure they're magic. At the risk of sounding like a PSA ("Hey, kids! Try getting high on life!"), they are so much better than drugs. Not only do they not dissolve your stomach lining, like the handfuls of Advil I used to take for relief, but they also actually work. They heat up almost instantly, and soothe the pain almost as fast. I go to bed with one on, I sleep through the night, I wake up, it's still warm. I walk around with one hidden under my clothes, thinking, "Too bad all you poor slobs don't have a secret toasty little friend like mine!"

All I can add is hells yeah. I got these bad boys for free in a tampon pack last year and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Especially since I’ve went off the pill (don’t you love knowing this kind of stuff about me?!) and my cramps are back like a motherfucker. Love it.

Durex has just launched a line of vibrators (oh excuse me, “personal massagers”) in Canadian pharmacy London Drugs. The line was introduced in British pharmacies late last year. (Americans tap fingers impatiently...)

I never thought I would look to a condom company for vibrators, but I have to say, these are pretty cute. Though I don’t know how I feel about buying my sex toys at the same place I get my toothpaste. Not very sexy...I’ll probably stick with Toys in Babeland.

The Associated Press reports that anti-choice activists (crazies) were ordered to pay $108.5 million in damages for creating "Wanted" posters that listed the names and addresses of over a dozen doctors.

The anti-choice folks claimed that the posters were a form of protest and protected by the First Amendment. Paul DeParrie, former editor-in-chief of Life Advocate magazine and one of the posters' creators: "If you read them, there is no threat--either implicit or explicit."

The doctors who sued felt a little differently:

Four physicians, claiming they feared for their lives, sued under racketeering laws and a 1994 federal law that makes it illegal to incite violence against abortion doctors.

They pointed to Dr. Bayard Britton, who was shot and killed, along with his bodyguard, by an abortion protester outside a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic in July 1994 after his name appeared on a similar poster.

And these people have the fucking nerve to say the posters aren't intended to cause harm!?

Here's yet another piece on fading support for abortion rights among women of our generation. Glamour magazine's August issue offers up the same explanation we've heard over and over: that it's because young women didn't live through the era of back-alley abortions.

One of the most fascinating things about this article is that is manages to burn through four full pages before it makes the connection that weakened support for unrestricted abortion access doesn't mean support for reproductive choice is down. Almost all of the young women interviewed were staunchly supportive of access to contraception.

It's an important point, and Gloria Feldt's response is spot-on: "Choice is not just about abortion-- it's just the tip of a big ideological iceberg that has to do with a woman's place in the world."

So while I agree that flagging support for abortion rights is cause for alarm, I think another problem here is the movement's failure to make "pro-choice" synonymous with more than abortion rights. It's also "pro-contraception" and "pro-comprehensive sex ed."

I contend that young women ARE largely pro-choice, in a broader sense. This is an issue of how polls-- and analysis-- are worded.

Check out this project from UK design firm 3eyes:

The Lapjuicer is intended to be used by a lap-dancer in a club. The performer uses their body with the object, in order to extract fruit juices that can be drunk by one or more spectators.

Imagine someone making your favourite cocktail with a Lapjuicer… it’s for girls and boys - who do you want to see using it?

Okay, I get that it’s an artistic concept and that it’s for both men and women. It’s still creepy.

I don’t think I will ever again sit without looking down first.

A Canadian organization has reported that almost one-half of Canadian women who gave birth in 2003 were 30 or older:

In fact, says Statistics Canada, mothers age 30 and older were already in the majority in Ontario and British Columbia.

Two decades ago, three-quarters of moms in Canada were under 30.

I’m not sure what the stats are in the U.S. but I’m assuming they’re similar (despite the teen pregnancy rates). I always thought I’d wait until I was past 30 years old to have children, but more and more I wonder whether it would be better to have kids sooner.

What do you guys think?

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, "Women and Health Care: A National Profile," says that more than a quarter of American women are postponing or going without medical care because of costs.

The study also reports that one in seven women are skipping doses of medicine or taking smaller doses to make them last longer. Great.

The Dallas Morning News highlighted some of the report’s findings yesterday:

Women are more likely than men to have a chronic condition requiring ongoing medical attention. Thirty-eight percent of women have such conditions, compared with 30 percent of men.

Pap testing rates reported by women ages 18 to 64 dropped from 81 percent to 76 percent.

This is more than a little scary. But I have to say, I understand it. As a recent convert to the world of freelancing (who needs insurance?) I’ve been skimping on health care big time lately. Bye bye pap smears, birth control pills, and pain medication (for a chronic back problem). It sucks, but I just can’t afford it.

Sorry to keep posting NY-based events, but this one was too good not to feature.

Robin Morgan’s son, Blake Morgan, is debuting his new album tonight in the East Village. A portion of the $10 cover will go to the United Women Firefighters of NYC. (Plus you’ll get a free copy of his album.)

There will also be a special appearance by Lesley Gore (of It’s My Party fame) who will join Morgan onstage. Craziness!

Here’s the info:

Sin-e
8pm
148-150 Attorney Street (Between Houston Street and Stanton Street)

St. John’s Reformed UCC in western Virginia was set on fire on Friday, just days after the United Church of Christ publicly expressed support towards same-sex marriage. Coincidence? I think not.

Homophobic graffiti covered the church (the fire was put out before serious damage), while two others were being set afire in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

“It saddens me that, for a few, disagreement has moved to acts of violence,” said UCC President Rev. John Thomas.

When religious leaders like Pope Benedict XVI say that homosexuality is a tendency towards “intrinsic moral evil,” should we really be surprised that violence ensues?

On a happier note, Spain’s first married gay couple commemorated their union o' love yesterday. At least one country has something to celebrate about.

While I pull out my hair trying to work around this Movable Type insanity, go check out these folks:

Amanda at Pandagon explores the glorious marriage of Miss America and Country Music Television.

Alas, a Blog (Amp) discusses covert affirmative action for men.

If abortion was illegal, what would happen to the women? Goddess Musings points to a video of anti-choicers answering this question (not very well).

Media Girl argues the politics of replacing O’Connor with another woman.

I Blame the Patriarch (quickly becoming my new fave blog) takes on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Djibouti.

Wow. I don’t even know if you could call Tetka a game, since it doesn’t seem to have a point. What you can call it however, is terrifying.

The user can manipulate a limp, seemingly-dead, half-naked woman through a maze of bouncy bubble-type objects.

Glad to know someone thought this was amusing.

Via Nerve.

I always am amazed at the sites that link to u, but this one has to be my new favorite: MenAreBetterThanWomen.com. Oh yes, there’s no shame in his game. The site aims to “expose the clumsy feminist dogma of equality,” and put “a boot in the ass of feminism.” Are you scared yet?

With post titles like Women Are So Anti-Gay It’s Not Even Funny; Cinderblock is to Comfortable as Women are to Clever; and Women Are As Cold As An Ice Cold Beer, there’s a pretty slim chance of attracting female readers. But no worries, Dick Masterson (yes, I’m serious) doesn’t want you there anyway: Ladies as always, this site is totally off limits.

Well, at least he’s upfront about his misogyny.

Craziness.

A new study found that more than half of women between 25 and 45 intend to have plastic surgery.

Of those considering the move, 64 per cent thought that it would give them more confidence, 42 per cent wanted to look younger and 13 per cent admitted that they wanted to look more attractive to men.

...As many as 78 per cent said that their biggest worry was "the operation going wrong", 40 per cent feared "being in pain" and 38 per cent even voicing fears about "dying under anaesthetic".

How in the world can you be afraid pain and death and still go ahead with cosmetic surgery?

Now I know how I feel about plastic surgery, and it ain’t good. Anyone out there who’s had cosmetic surgery (or plans to) want to weigh in?

According to a survey released today by Salary.com and AOL, American workers “waste” over two hours a day through Internet use, socializing, making phone calls, and running errands, among other (fun and sometimes necessary) activities.

Not really surprising, of course, but I loved this tidbit:

But when it comes to gender, there was no difference. Men and women reported wasting an equal amount of time. That contradicts what many human resource managers assume. In a separate survey of HR managers conducted by Salary.com, most said they assumed women wasted more time.

Nice to know that in addition to getting the shaft on salary, women also have to deal with higher-ups thinking they’re worse workers. Perhaps one has to do with the other?

Thanks to Caitlin for the link.

I guess our American Apparel question has been answered.

I’m all for “personal freedom,” but when sexual harassment is played off as nothing more than a boss trying to foster a hip work environment, there’s a serious fucking problem.

UPDATE: Check out Pinko Feminist Hellcat's excellent take on the issue.

If you know someone who still doesn’t understand what’s at stake now that there's a Supreme Court vacancy, send them over to the newly-launched website, VoicesOfChoice.

More than a dozen doctors who helped provide illegal abortions before Roe came together through Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health to document their experiences (and others’) on the site.

Here’s a snippet of the docs’ statement:

“We’re speaking out because we know what’s at stake...We can never forget what we saw when abortion was illegal – and we don’t want anyone else to forget either. We’ve lived in an America where women suffered tragically and needlessly, and we don’t want anyone to live through that again.”

When you're done checking out VoicesOfChoice, go to NARAL Pro-Choice America and make good use of their Supreme Court Action Kit.

I went to Albany this weekend to visit my lovely sis Vanessa in her last weeks of grad school.

We found this gem--which my boyfriend unconvincingly models above--at the local mall.

Not only are women underrepresented as media sources, but according to an article from the Columbia Journalism Review, they’re also missing as writers in major political and intellectual magazines.

Jennifer Weiss found that articles written by men outnumber those written by women by as much as 13 to 1, and at several publications “women writers were occasionally shut out of entire issues.”

Wow.

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, especially with pubs like the National Review, but shit like this never fails to amaze me.

Slate brings you the history of the vibrator.

If history (wink, wink) is your thing, also make sure to check out Rachel Maines' The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction.

A recently-announced crackdown on “social vice” in Tehran will be focusing on young women:

A senior security official told one of Iran’s state-run news agencies, ISNA, that “mal-veiled or unveiled individuals inside and outside of cars” would be the target of arrests by Iran’s State Security Forces, the paramilitary police force.

The top official said the police would embark on a systematic clampdown on “shops and public places where public chastity and Islamic values are ignored”. Loud music will no longer be tolerated, he said.

Runaway girls and homeless young women would also be the target of arrests, and Tehran’s police force would also identify and crack down on places where “corrupt people gather”, the report added.

Yikes.

Imagine that.

Go to BushvChoice for more.

As part of the 1000 women that have been nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes world wide, 3 women from Kashmir join them mostly because of their courageous activism and their ability to work against injustice, in a place far from just.

Check it.Social activist Nighat Shafi Pandit, educator Dilfarose Qazi and rights activist Parveena Ahangar, by their selfless service, have shown the world that women can emerge stronger and powerful in societies where violence has become a way of life.

The most exciting thing about this is that not only have these women worked for the betterment of Kashmiri society, but have been specific in working for the rights of girls and women.

Just wanted to give a shout out!

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas a very popular and controversial game on Sony Playstation can apparently be modified by a download from the internet to simulate the women (already pretty objectified in the game) engaging in graphic sexual acts. This has raised a few eyebrows, and there is an investigation to figure out if Rockstar Games, the folks that released the game, put the mod out there.

The game's plot was already objectionable to many: its main character seeks bloody vengeance on gang-filled streets, firing automatic weapons and picking up women along the way.

Within the game's official storyline, the main character earns the chance to have "coffee" with "girlfriends." Wildenborg says his "hot coffee" patch merely toggles a single value in the game's main script — a "censor flag," he calls it, that appears to have locked up several hot and heavy scenes.

Walsh said the "hot coffee" scenes are pornography by anyone's definition, and called on Rockstar to "come clean" on whether they programmed the scenes into the game.

Does this really make THAT much of a difference? The issue is that it is 12, 13 and 14 year old boys are the target consumers of this game. Understanding the implication of this, the game already has a very clear and comfortable message of robbin, stealin, aggressive behavior and picking up prostitutes to relieve stress (literally).

So someone tell me why is it okay to objectify women and "allude" to sex while engaging in excessively violent behavior in a very very realistic video game, but we draw a line when we can actually SEE the sexual acts? Why the arbitrary line? The hidden pedagogy within this game is clear and is ALREADY affecting the minds of young (and older) boys. Not to mention the effect on young girls that play the game (because some girls DO play video games!)

A bit of a rant, but what do you think? And the above quotes are from this article.

At a conference dealing with women's sexuality several "experts" found that in order for older women to shed misconceptions about their own sexuality in society and amongst themselves, they must begin to talk about sex. It is a matter of health!

This is what they concluded at the conference...

Older women need to talk about their sexuality with each other if they want to shatter existing stereotypes and overcome the lack of information about seniors and sex.

"Older women need to reclaim their own sexuality," she said.

They also concluded that social constructions of beauty affect feelings of sexiness for women in the later half of there lives. Another factor is the increased pressure on sex (and being sexual, sexy, etc) due to the proliferation of viagra.

So it say it LOUD. I AM SEXY! It is not a surprise that in a culture that puts more emphasis on the sexual prowess of men while constructing a narrative of the "ideal" sexy woman, that getting older becomes a no-sexy zone. The cultural belief of sexiness is totally linked to youth. Bullshit. I will take experience and wisdom over a tight ass any day.

On Thursday the Kaiser Family Foundation released the results of its latest survey on women and healthcare, and the results aren't pretty.

Kaiser found that among those women who do not have health insurance, two-thirds could not afford *any* medical care last year.

And even those *with* insurance aren't fairing that well. One-fourth of young & middle-aged women in the US decided to forego medical treatment or prescriptions because it was too expensive. In the past year, one in five women report that they did not fill a prescription because of the cost.

Alina Salganicoff, vice president and director of women's health policy at Kaiser Family Foundation explained that: "The growth in health care costs has become a central women's health issue. A sizable share of women are falling through the cracks, either because they don't have insurance or even with insurance can't afford to pay for medical care or prescription drugs." (sigh).

It was bad enough when there was *one* felony domestic violence charge being overturned courtesy of Ohio's gay marriage amendment -- well, now there has been another one.

This week Judge David Tobin dismissed an indictment for domestic violence against Gerald Rexroad claiming that the gay marriage ban has made Ohio's domestic violence laws unconstitutional in regard to unmarried couples. (Rexroad was arrested after choking and hitting his girlfriend. He was facing felony charges because this was his fourth DV offense.)

So what is Judge Tobin's claim for unconstitutionality? Well, the gay marriage ban prohibits legal recognition of any relationship of "unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage." Since the Ohio domestic violence law provides for unmarried couples living as spouses, some Ohio judges have found the domestic violence law to be unconstitutional. (sigh).

While there is an alternative legal reading (the prosecutor argued that "whether a couple is living together for the purpose of applying the domestic violence law is a factual inquiry and not a legal distinction"), Ohio voters need to lobby their local legislators for a referendum to get a fix on the books for unmarried victims of domestic violence *OR* REPEAL THE GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT.

All I know is that telling victims of intimate partner violence that they need to marry their abusers in order to gain legal protection is total bullshit.

Hey men -- we need your help to pass the Violence Against Women Act. Click here to sign onto the Men for VAWA Declaration of Support.

As men throughout the United States who are committed to ending violence in our families and our communities, we support the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). We believe that men must join together with women to be part of the solution to the problem of domestic and sexual violence.

On behalf of the vast majority of men who know that domestic violence has caused personal damage to ourselves, pain to our loved ones, and tremendous costs to our society, we ask you to join us in this effort.

Being from New York, we know all too well the fear and horror of our city being attacked as London was yesterday, and hearts go out to all the injured and families of those lost.

With that being said, Amanda at Pandagon relays our sentiments exactly (using Jessica’s favorite Shakespeare soliloquy, coincidentally enough):

the ghosts linger long after the bodies are gone

Guess it's time to give up this whole "feminism" thing, because we can now pee standing up.

The P-Mate is "a revolutionary way for women to pee discreetly without having to pull down their pants and squat." As far as I can tell, it’s no joke.

How can it be, you ask? The P-Mate is basically like a cardboard shoe with the toe cut off. You place the entrance of the 'shoe' directly under your urethra, between your legs, pee into the shoe and then make sure that the hole at the toe end is funnelling the urine out somewhere other than on your feet.

If you can get past the icky peeing-into-a-cardboard-tube thing, this is true potty parity.

Thanks to Patrick for the link.

Nearly a year after the Nebraska Justice Department decided to appeal a ruling deeming the Partial-Birth Abortion Act unconstitutional, we’re happy to find that a federal appeals court upheld the ruling today.

St. Louis’ 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals said that the ban is unconstitutional because it doesn’t make an exception for the health of the woman. What the fuck is that about?

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln made the earlier decision, supporting the ruling already made in New York and San Francisco. The Circuit of Appeals’ Judge Kermit Bye wrote a statement on the decision:

“When ‘substantial medical authority’ supports the medical necessity of a procedure in some instances, a health exception is constitutionally required...In effect, we believe when a lack of consensus exists in the medical community, the Constitution requires legislatures to err on the side of protecting women’s health by including a health exception.”

This law is not about the actual procedure, but about the language of the ban, and its deliberate ambiguity that could potentially outlaw all abortions. The decisions made in New York and San Francisco have been appealed as well, and are expected by some to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

While cervical cancer kills 200,000 women worldwide per year, strains of the STI called the human pappilomavirus (HPV) frequently cause the disease to develop. Yet it looks like there are two new vaccines that may prevent HPV from occurring altogether.

The vaccines have been tested and were 90 to 100 percent effective at preventing the infection. “These vaccines could eliminate the great majority of cervical cancers in our lifetime,” says Dr. Thoming, from Westover Heights Clinic in Portland.

The vaccines could be available to the public within the next two years. That is, if the Christian right isn't successful in blocking it. You know, cause it will make you slutty.

Today’s Los Angeles Times tackles the ways that both pro-choice and anti-choice activists are attempting to recruit next generation.

Not only do the abortion rights and antiabortion sides need young people to replenish their aging ranks, they view this generation as something of a test case — it has come of age after Roe vs. Wade.

I’m going out on a limb here to say many young activists don’t want to further the movement for the sake of furthering the movement. If we’re active on reproductive rights issues, it’s largely because we realize we have the most to lose. The younger you are, the more child-bearing years are in your future. As the not-yet-menopausal generation, we have an immediate need for reproductive choice.

"Young people see the issue differently than older people," said David Seldin, communications director for NARAL Pro Choice America. "There's not the motivational spirit of a generation that remembers what life was like when abortion was illegal, but the outrage toward people who are taking something away that they've always had."

Maybe the "motivational spirit" isn’t there among people of my generation who grew up in predominantly liberal parts of the country. But for those of us who grew up in areas where the closest clinic was a "crisis pregnancy center," a world without abortion access is a reality we’ve lived through. Sure, abortion has been legal throughout my lifetime, but access to reproductive health services has never been guaranteed.

The article notes that "the ready availability of the morning-after pill in many parts of the country could mean that young people may be less concerned about access to abortion." But it misses the point that many younger activists see the rights to contraception and abortion as intertwined-- not competing.

And finally, I just want to slam my head against a wall when I read quotes like this: "It's like a foreign idea, that [abortion rights] could be taken away," said Molly Heinsler, 22. "It's something I can't even imagine."

Well, start imagining it. With a second Supreme Court vacancy likely in the very near future, the younger generation just might get the chance to experience a world without Roe. I, for one, am not looking forward to it. But maybe it will have one positive effect: finally killing this argument that young women aren’t active enough because they've never lived in a world where abortion is illegal.

Check out some of the new products that abstinence-only peeps have created for teens to have for their reading pleasure, as well as their wall space. Of the two “teen posters” featured, they read:

"Sex is serious. Just because some kids do it doesn't make it child's play. Wake up: 1 in 5 Americans 12 and older has genital herpes. Sex is not a game. Abstinence: Think about it. Seriously.

What's your hurry? Afraid you're going to die before you have sex? Relax, it'll be there. Wise up: 15 million Americans get an STD infection each year. Sex is not a game."

Not too scary. Seriously.

Via Nerve.

The Spanish Senate is due to pass a reform law this week which will drastically change relationships in future marriages. The reform to Spain’s divorce laws will require men to do an equal amount of housework as women, reports the Charlotte Observer.

A survey by the Labour Ministry Institute of Women in Spain reported that men spend approximately 44 minutes daily on housework and 51 minutes on childcare, while women spend close to six hours on domestic work per day.

Apparently, the author wasn’t so happy with the reform, and expressed her thoughts:

“If one were truly concerned with gender equality in marriage, one might suggest that men's duty to clean house is matched by women's duty to meet his various appetites. Or perhaps, fairly speaking, women should vow to work outside the home as many hours as their husbands, or take out garbage, or do whatever men do that women typically don't.

You see how ridiculous it becomes. Most couples -- even in patriarchal Spain, I'd bet -- figure out a way to get the job done. Meanwhile, inviting government to participate in defining what a private relationship should be opens the door to scrutiny and, in time, punitive measures.”

From what the survey says, it’s the women getting the job done, not the couples. But I will admit that laws concerning marriage generally freak me out. If we say we don’t want women on welfare to be forced into marriages because it invades the privacy of marriage, shouldn't this law be seen as a breach of privacy as well? Or are marriages so ridiculously unequal that action must be taken?

Several female candidates that are attempting to stand in the upcoming Parlimentary election report that due to lack of support and conservative traditions there success is being hampered.

AlertNet reports...

Women wanting to stand in the election, particularly in rural areas, said they had been warned to withdraw their candidacy, either verbally or by letter.

Another female candidate was wounded when she was shot by an unidentified gunman in Qalat, the provincial capital of the southern province of Zabul, on June 10.

In some places women can't be seen in public which impedes their ability to attend town council meetings. New Democracy does not equal women's increased participation in government. Shocking.

Make sure to check out the amazing riffRAG, a new queer feminist magazine that aims “to highlight the extraordinary work that people are creating which often slips under the radar of the art world.”

Created by a New York-based collective, riffRAG plans to use art as a catalyst for social change. Love it.

The first issue is chock-full of great shit, including the work of the fabulous Sara Bacon, whose work takes on “gender, consumerism and stereotyping linked to signals, subliminal and overt, that are sent to children.” (The pic above is hers, titled Excessive.)

If you’re in NY, riffRAG is having their release party tonight, so go show some love.

If you liked the DreamStripper 3D video game, you’ll love Stripper Kittens, that “turn your car antenna into a stripping pole.” Sigh.

It’s not so much the existence of the dolls that I find so distressing--as is clear from our mudflap girl logo, using women as automotive accessories isn’t exactly new--it’s the dumb-ass doll descriptions that piss me off.

There are three different Stripper Kittens; there is a blonde, a brunette and a redhead (all white of course), and they all have riveting backgrounds that aren’t at all stereotypical or derogatory:

RAVEN - is a 21 single brunette from Seattle Washington. She is expecting her first child, although she is unsure of the identity of the father. She quit school in the 9th grade, confident of her rocker boyfriend's pending record deal.

Likes: "I Live Everything!."

I guess mocking plastic dolls makes rejection from real women that much easier, right guys?

Excerpts from conservative Senator Rick Santorum's new book, "It Takes a Family," have leaked out. Some gems (courtesy of CapitolBuzz) include:

Abortion rights are worse than slavery! "But unlike abortion today, in most states even the slaveholder did not have the unlimited right to kill his slave." (page 241)

Women don't need no education! "The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong." (page 138)

Feminists tricked women into working outside the home! "Many women have told me, and surveys have shown, that they find it easier, more "professionally" gratifying, and certainly more socially affirming, to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children. Think about that for a moment... Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism, one of the core philosophies of the village elders." (page 95)

Count on Wal-Mart to uphold "moral values"! "Another corporate good citizen cooperating with parents to keep kids from inappropriate content has been Wal-Mart." (page 332)

The title is an obvious jab at Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village." Says Santorum's publisher:
"Throughout his book, Santorum emphasizes the central role of the family— in contradistinction to the metaphorical 'village' of the federal government, as promoted by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton— in achieving the common good."

Which prompts me to ask: If you think the family is all it takes, then why are you a United States Senator?

As eight men gather behind closed doors in Scotland to discuss world poverty and thousands of protesters gather outside, many people in the global North were made aware of the G8 summit over the weekend during Live8, eight concerts held worldwide featuring stars like Madonna, the Dave Matthews Band, Pink Floyd, and yes, even Destiny’s Child.

While I’m of the opinion that if a star-studded lineup is what it takes to bring attention to what is going on in the world, than so be it…I also definitely hear Guardian journalist Madeleine Bunting when she says that event ended up smacking of imperialism:

An entire continent has been reduced to a "scar on the conscience of the world", stripped of its dignity…The images we saw of Africans at Live 8 on Saturday were the dying, the starving and the desperately impoverished. Postcolonialism in a globalising economy is proving even more humiliating for Africa than colonialism: its huge wealth in natural resources sequestered in secret bank accounts; its commodities commanding ever-smaller prices; its vicious wars with the exported arms of the industrial world; its government policies dictated from Washington and Geneva…To the partying Hyde Park crowd, Kofi Annan said "thank you". But for what?

For what is right. As organizations like MADRE point out, women in particular having been getting seriously fucked by Washington and Geneva dictated policies for decades now, and since women make up about 70 percent of the world’s poor, all this is obviously a “women’s issue.” As is the debt cancellation for Africa that is being considered at the G8 (which was also one of the main calls of the Live8).

Says Ritu Sharma of the Women’s Edge Coalition: "Women pay the heaviest price for national debts. When governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have to spend $12 billion a year servicing debt, they can't afford education, healthcare, AIDS prevention and clean water, and this hits women and girls the hardest.” Unfortunately, in addition to the imperialist nature of the Live 8 spectacle, there also was little talk of poverty and its specific affects on women, unless you consider Madonna’s photo-op with a young woman from Ethiopia not a reinforcement of Bunting’s point, but a call for women’s rights…

True, it does seem a tad overwhelming to think seriously about ending global poverty, but luckily for us there are tons of organizations—from both the global South and North—that have been working to do just that, and who focus specifically on women. So, while the big boys are hanging out in Scotland, check out: WEDO, AWID, and DAWN (to name just a few) and see what’s up.

Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

Ed. note: This post was written before the bombings in London this morning, which some are attributing to the start of the G8 Summit. For up-to-date info, see BBC News.

The Wall Street Journal's Jim Taranto reported yesterday on a phenomenon he's deemed "The Roe Effect." In essence, the theory goes like this:

1) Women who support legal abortion are more likely to have an abortion than those who are anti-choice.

2) Children usually adhere pretty closely to their parents' political bent and teachings.

3) As a result, support for Roe will decline over time because pro-choice parents will have fewer children than anti-choice parents.

4) Finally, since people frequently associate their political views with that of a political party, parties that oppose Roe (the current Republican administration) could gain power over time.

The article cites a lot of statistics - based on race, age, and other determinative factors. Check this:

More than 40 million legal abortions have occurred in the United States since 1973, and these are not randomly distributed across the population. Black women, for example, have a higher abortion ratio (percentage of pregnancies aborted) than Hispanic women, whose abortion ratio in turn is higher than that of non-Hispanic whites. Since blacks vote Democratic in far greater proportions than Hispanics, and whites are more Republican than Hispanics or blacks, ethnic disparities in abortion ratios would be sufficient to give the GOP a significant boost--surely enough to account for George W. Bush's razor-thin Florida victory in 2000.

Interesting insight or total bullshit?

A new study shows that a majority of doctors think that emergency contraception should be available over-the-counter and that pharmacists should be required to fill prescriptions for EC despite any religious objections.

Eat that, Bush.

Apparently columnist Dan Savage got some letters after responding to a to-fuck-or-not-to-fuck query from a pro-choice girl with an anti-choice boyfriend.

Make sure to read for your laughing pleasure...but what's with people thinking this guy's behavior was totally fine? That's some odd shit.

If you’re in New York, go check out The New Filmmakers Series at Anthology Film Archives.

Here’s the info:

7pm - $5
Anthology Film Archives, 2nd street @ 2nd Avenue

There are 4 short films, a little break and then a feature is presented.

The program features Kelly Sebastian A GIRL AND A GOLDFISH (2005, 9 Minutes, Video); Dave Mulkoff and Danny Schrade GOLF CART DRIVING SCHOOL (2005, 19 Minutes, Video); Slink Moss & Simon Lund FACTORY (2004, 9 Minutes, 35MM); Jay Critchley PROVIDENCE DIRT NEWSREEL (2002, 18 Minutes, Video); and Roy Szuper GONZO MUSIC DIARIES (2004, 101 minutes, 16MM)

Just in case your local mall selling playboy bunny shirts to tweens wasn’t enough of a reminder of just how “cool” Playboy is these days:

The Playboy Bunny is getting a makeover from haute fashion designer Roberto Cavalli. Playboy has tapped the Italian couturier to redesign the iconic outfit, which was the first service uniform granted a trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trade mark Office. The skimpy threads, which feature bunny ears and a tail that accentuates the female backside, debuted at Chicago's Playboy Club in 1960 and quickly became the symbol of the lad rag.

The fashion industry joins forces with the porn industry, huh? Shocking.

Seems someone wasn�t too pleased with my comments in Rebecca Traister's Salon piece yesterday, specifically my advice to women who are afraid of calling themselves feminists because people may call them fat, ugly dykes (suck it up).

Talk about missing the point:

Hey Jessica, I'm a college-educated, self-supporting, homeowning single woman who's been making my own goddam way in the world since I was 17 years old. I believe in complete and total equality for women, right down to my opening a door for a man every bit as easily as he opens doors for me. But I do not refer to myself as a feminist at this time. When will I?

In other words, I will call myself a feminist when those mannabees are as proud of and joyful in their womanhood as I am in mine.

Until then, fuck off and take your hairy legs with you. I have a career to advance, a PhD to earn, tile to grout and eyebrows to wax. I need neither man's nor feminist's help to do any of it.

Okay, I get it. You're the femmiest femme around. You're made of sugar spice and estrogen drips out of your ears. Jeez.

You know, I could post pictures of myself in a bikini pleasuring my boyfriend and people will still call me and ugly lesbian because of my opinions on equality. But I really don't give a shit. Which is what this womanly woman doesn;t quite get.

Traister's article talks about abandoning "feminism" for a word that appeals to more women. But maybe the word feminism is so great because it doesn't appeal to everyone. Do we really want to work alongside women like the one above? Women who are homophobic, racist or classist? Not all women are feminists by virtue of having ovaries, and that's just fine by me.

Feminism's power isn't in how many women identify with the cause. I'll take quality over quantity any day.

From The NY Times opinion page:

Africa in the Balance
Eight men are about to decide the future of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yeah fucking right.

Find out more at BushvChoice.

Ew ew ew.

Ensign Games has just released a new game, DreamStripper 3D, where you “totally control the dancer.” Just check out this lovely language from Ensign’s press release:

You decide how she dances, what she wears, even the music she dances to! Have her writhe or spin just when and how you want or create an erotic and exotic dance program. You are in control.

...Total Control mode allows you to customize all the outfits without playing the stripper game. You can change all the outfits and put together any combination you want. Either nude or in your favorite type of nurse, student, g-string, leather or other outfit, you can have her do any dance move you want. The Game Mode is a stripping game where you make money by having the dancer dance.

Total Control mode? This press release sounds like a love letter to stalkers and abusers, not video game players. Can’t make your girlfriend do whatever you want? Don’t worry, you can take out your freakish controlling behavior on a virtual woman! You can even take her hard-earned money!

So disturbing.

Thanks to Colleen for the link.

After spending the weekend at the NOW national conference in Nashville, I was shocked to read NOW President Kim Gandy quoted as saying: "We have enormous appeal as a movement to young women and it's absolutely critical to grow that emphasis."

Did we attend the same conference?

If NOW was really focused on including and recruiting more young women, their national conference would have had affordable housing available at Vanderbilt University dorms, structured opportunities for intergenerational dialogue, and nighttime entertainment alternatives to aging folk singers. (Sleater-Kinney happened to be in town that weekend, but I certainly didn't hear about it from NOW.) Young women would have been represented proportionally among the speakers— not primarily shunted into panels labeled as "for young women." A concerted effort would have been made to ensure young women were not just NOW members, but were credentialed to vote. At the very least, there would have been more opportunities to speak with our supposed liaisons to the NOW leadership, the Board-appointed Young Feminst Task Force.

I did have a great time meeting many active, intelligent and politically savvy women. And I realize my criticism of NOW in an open forum is giving the Right some ammunition. But this weekend was overall a negative experience for me and for many others in the under-30 age bracket. Older attendees (or at least the ones who shared my shuttle to the airport), on the other hand, seemed to have an overwhelmingly positive weekend. Clearly, there's a disconnect.

Next time, Kim, please put your conference where your mouth is. In 2006, the theme is "young feminists," and hopefully things will be different.

First the pill, then the patch, now it looks like the latest contraceptive comes in a can:

A contraceptive spray that works like the Pill could be a revolutionary new form of birth control for women.

A hand-held device is programmed to deliver the same amount of the drug every time on to the forearm. Tests show the spray dries in seconds, forming a waterproof film.

I don’t know why folks are all excited about this since we already have a spray-on birth control method--Axe body spray. Put that on and I can pretty much guarantee that no one will touch you.

But seriously, obviously the more birth control methods available to women the better, but a spray-on version would just be too tempting. I can see myself running around the streets randomly spraying people I don’t think should reproduce. Watch your back, IWF!

Cause what better way to bring attention to a disease worsened by the devastating effects of poverty than to flash some bling?

Four Inches goes a long way when it comes to charity. The book features photographs of famous women, Kate Moss, Anne Heche, Sarah Ferguson, and Paris and Nicky Hilton, among them, who posed in nothing but Jimmy Choo shoes and Cartier diamonds.

Some of the models took a modest approach - Geri Halliwell covered herself up with a bubble bath, revealing only her black stiletto sandals and a diamond ankle bracelet and Elle MacPherson reads a strategically placed Financial Times newspaper - but others are true nude portraits. There's another one of MacPherson sitting on a toilet and covering herself with toilet paper.

Holy shit. How can these people not see how fucking sick this is?

A new study lends credence to the (bullshit) theory that bisexuality doesn’t exist:

The study, by a team of psychologists in Chicago and Toronto, lends support to those who have long been skeptical that bisexuality is a distinct and stable sexual orientation.

In the new study, a team of psychologists directly measured genital arousal patterns in response to images of men and women. The psychologists found that men who identified themselves as bisexual were in fact exclusively aroused by either one sex or the other, usually by other men.

Interestingly (and annoyingly), this NY Times article pretty much just focuses on the men’s results. Apparently men are just gay or straight, but women can be bisexual.

About 1.5 percent of American women identify themselves bisexual. And bisexuality appears easier to demonstrate in the female sex. A study published last November by the same team of Canadian and American researchers, for example, found that most women who said they were bisexual showed arousal to men and to women.

We’ve touched on this is-it-more-acceptable-to-be-a-bi-woman issue before, but I wonder if this study lends any new fuel to the fire...

One more question--is studying arousal levels the best way to gauge sexual identity? Isn’t there a little more to it?

Make sure to check out Rebecca Traister’s excellent piece today in Salon, The F Word. (And I’m not just saying that cause I’m quoted in it, I swear.)

Traister’s piece takes on the word ‘feminism’ and asks if it’s time we retire—or reclaim—it:

It's no great news that "feminism" -- the word and, by extension, the movement -- has an image problem. Women of all ages and colors have, at turns, bristled at the term, embraced it, lauded it and disdained it, practically since it was coined. However, after years of soldiering on under the burden of a heavily loaded word, a new crop of progressive and politically active women are finally addressing the problem. Some are looking to reinvigorate "feminist" by laying claim to the word -- a new magazine and a recent book are both cheekily titled "The F Word" -- while others are contemplating new words and phrases to employ in the fight for women's equality. After years of quiet debate, women are tackling their own labels with the energy of a movement anxious to make itself fresh again.

Clearly an interesting topic all by itself (well, at least to me), this ‘feminism’ argument gets a lot juicier when you see the craziness that ensued as Traister put this article together:

…But the hyper-sensitivity surrounding the "feminism" discussion makes it an ideological fire-starter. Weeks after my interview with Gandy, I called Feminist Majority leader Eleanor Smeal about this story. When I asked her to respond to some of the comments Gandy had made, I was apparently unclear, somehow leaving Smeal with the impression that I was reporting that Gandy wanted NOW to abandon the word "feminism." This was certainly not what I was reporting. But Smeal alerted Gandy to the possibility that my story might suggest that Gandy was rejecting the word just days before her reelection as NOW president. A very agitated Gandy called me to clarify that her comments were not reflective of any formal discussions within her organization. I assured her that I only planned to report what she had told me: that she had had discussions about the word with colleagues at NOW. She responded: "I hear people talk about it. But they don't talk about it that often. To say that 'there have been discussions within NOW' would convey a really inaccurate thing." Gandy emphasized that she can't imagine ever backing away from "feminism."
(You really have to read the whole piece to get the context, but you get the point…)

Why oh why are folks so scared of just being candid? I realize that the backlash is always intense when it comes to feminism, but shit—can’t we even talk amongst ourselves?

Is ‘feminism’ really so bad? It seems the sentiment from older feminists is that younger women don’t relate to the word. Clearly I disagree, but I can understand wanting to make feminism more accessible and appealing to younger women. That’s part of the reason I started this blog. But I can’t imagine what other word we could use. (I’m pretty clear in the article how I feel about ‘humanist’.)

And like Amy Richards says in article, "Whatever we'd change 'feminism' to would become a bad word too." No joke.

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: Amanda at Pandagon has perhaps the most eloquent response to the article ever: You could call it "suckacockism" and people would still hate it as long as you were calling for women's social, economic and political equality. Nice.

Librarians are so cool! The American Library Association voted at their most recent conference for a resolution regarding gender identity, sexual orientation and library materials.

These rock stars decided: "fair and equal representation of all the diverse expressions of life of the citizens of these United States is protected by the First Amendment and by state constitutions, and attempts to proscribe such representation in publicly funded libraries violates freedom of speech.... RESOLVED, that the American Library Association affirm the inclusion in library collections of materials that reflect the diversity of our society, including those related to sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation."

I know I posted awhile back about how an Alabama State Representative proposed banning books written by or written about homosexuals, which never went anywhere. Many, many books make up what seems to me pretty arbitrary banned book lists. According to the American Library Association, books are usually banned due to violence, religious viewpoints and sexual content, which I'm guessing means masturbation, homosexuality and most likely pre-marital sex. All different types of people challenge or ban books, from library boards, PTAs, and, of course, individual citizens.

First it was Pharmacists for Life - what's next? Library Boards Against Masturbation? That's just what we need.

Contributed by Jess Wakeman.

on July 5th. Until then we will be stuffing our faces with hot dogs and other such festive food. Except for Lauryn, cause she's all vegetarian and stuff.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Check out the Guardian's book review of A Woman in Berlin. Written by Anonymous (then a 32-year-old journalist), the book begins in April 1945 as the Red Army is invading Berlin. The book documents Anonymous's sexual assaults and gang rape at the hands of the Russian soldiers, and focuses on the experience of war (and rape) on the home front (rather than the traditional battlefield).

Linda Grant, the reviewer, weaves her own experiences tracking sexual assaults in the Yugoslav war with the narrative of Anonymous to create a striking reminder of the prevalence and invisibility of rape in war time.

Federal officials arrested 27 suspects in San Francisco and 18 suspects in Los Angeles yesterday, who are believed to have involved in a major California sex trafficking ring. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the defendants were charged with conspiracy to harbor aliens, sex trafficking, conspiracy to launder money, and transporting women across interstate lines to engage in prostitution.

The ring's operators are thought to have illegally smuggled hundreds of women into the US from Korea, and then forced them to work at brothels in the Bay Area, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles. The operation was run through a travel agency who fraudalently attracted women to the US with prospects of domestic work.

Chuck DeMore, an investigator with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), noted: "I went to five of these establishments and saw 60 to 70 of these women. What I saw really tugs at your heart." And U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan claimed the bust was an important crackdown on "the horrific, demeaning and oftentimes brutal" illegal sex trade.

While I'm all for cracking down on sex traffickers, I just hope that ICE gives the victims of this operation the respect and *legal services* that they deserve.

It is going to be a long, hot summer on the Hill as Congress gears up for a confirmation battle. And, let's not kid ourselves -- this isn't going to be pretty.

BUT, at least the Dems seem prepared to fight. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) explained that, "If the president abuses his power, and nominates someone who threatens to rollback the rights and freedoms of the American people, then the American people will insist that we oppose that nominee, and we intend to do so." Let's hope so.

American University's Supreme Court expert, Professor Stephen Wermiel, says that that the confirmation debate will last the next few months, regardless of who the president nominates. Wermiel explains that: "I do not think there is anybody on any list, who will not lead to some kind of fight. The stakes are too high. There are too many constituent groups, with too much interest in where the court is headed on all different sides of the political spectrum. And, so, I do not see any way to avoid having a real battle."

Not that this should come as a suprise given these possible Supreme Court Candidates.

With Congress tied up and the Violence Against Women Act expiring in September, this summer showdown could have serious implications on the lives of women. I think it just might be a state of emergency.

NY Times -- After a Brief Shock, Advocates on All Sides Mobilize Quickly

NY Times -- O'Connor Held Balance of Power

Washington Post -- Practical Voice for Partisan Times

Washington Post -- Nomination Could Be Defining Moment for Bush

Boston Globe -- Stage Set for Clash Over Social Issues

Chicago Tribune -- Volatile Issues to Shape List: Sex, Ethnicity Figure Into Political Mix

San Francisco Chronicle -- The Supreme Battle

More to come...

Go to BushvChoice for links to the most recent media coverage on O'Connor's retirement.

Considering what a shitty day it’s been for choice, do something positive this weekend. Go see Speak Out: I Had an Abortion.

If you’re in NY, the film is playing tonight and tomorrow in the East Village:

The Pioneer Theater
55 East 3rd Street (between Avenues A and B)
7 PM on Friday July 1 and Saturday July 2
(the July 2nd show is a benefit for Altar Magazine)

For tickets, go here and here.

CNN and Fox News' initial coverage of O'Connor's retirement included commentary from Republican and conservative voices, but none from progressives or Democrats. Lovely.

When the news was announced this morning, Fox News' guests included Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Robert Bork, former District of Columbia Circuit Court judge William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard C. Boyden Gray, former White House counsel for President George H.W. Bush and Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY). At the same time, CNN's guests included Senator John McCain and Edwin Meese, the former attorney general for President Ronald Reagan.

Over a month after Jeb Bush signed a bill that requires doctors to phone or meet with parents of girls 17 or under who wish to have an abortion, we’re sad to say that the law goes into effect today.

While the measure has been challenged in a federal court, it has not been blocked or delayed yet, so is now a law that young Floridian women must abide by. Sigh.

Actually, not all young women 17 and under are required to inform their parents of their decision. It doesn’t apply to girls who are married or already have a child. (Single sluts, get thee to lamaze and purify yourself!) A waiver may also be granted based on a patient’s best interests, if she’s been a victim of abuse by her parents, or her level of maturity. Whaa? So what decides if a girl is mature enough to have an abortion? And if a judge decides she’s not, every young woman should be mature enough to have a child, right?

Ugh.

Armando at DailyKos on why O'Connor’s retirement is more significant for choice than a Rehnquist retirement.

ThinkProgress on what’s at stake, as well as O’Connor’s letter.

ms. musings has an overview on how O’Connor voted, and links to Ms. magazine’s report on what a Supreme Court retirement means for women and article on the implications for women’s right to choose.

LiberalOasis points to an older post on how to fight a Supreme Court nomination.

For a much bigger roundup of blogs covering O'Connor’s retirement, check out the Daou Report.

As an update to our post on Spain’s parliament approving marriages and adoptions for same-sex couples, we’re happy to say that the bill has officially been passed by the Congress of Deputies. Yay!

The Senate was expected to pass the bill soon after it was approved by the parliament, but unfortunately they rejected the law last week. Luckily, Spain’s lower house of parliament overruled the Senate’s decision and Spain is now the third country to legalize gay marriages.

On Tuesday, Canada’s House of Commons approved a bill that will legalize same-sex marriages, but is now waiting on the Senate to be passed as well. Let’s hope the Canadian Senate doesn’t pull the same shit that Spain did (or hope that they have a back-up committee as well).

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, has announced her retirement. This could have a LARGE affect on Roe v. Wade and a lot of other political issues affecting women.

Stay tuned for more information...

UPDATE: Go to BushvChoice for actions you can take right now.

A girl recently wrote to sex advice columnist Dan Savage asking if it was morally correct for her to have sex with her anti-choice boyfriend. Guess this was too racy for The Ethicist:

Q. My boyfriend and I are 18, and we're in love. We've been together for almost four years. He recently decided that he is against abortion, to the point where he won't have sex with me unless I agree to have the kid if I get pregnant. I told him there's no way I can agree to that. It's my choice what I want to do with my body, but he says it's his choice if he wants to stop having sex with me because he disagrees with my views on the matter. (Which is something he read in your column, BTW.) Where do I go from here? I can't be celibate until I'm ready to have a kid. But I don't want to break up with someone I love because of a sincere moral disagreement. What now? —ONE BOY'S GIRL YEARNS NERVOUSLY

A. As a general rule, OBGYN, fertile pro-choice girls shouldn't have premarital sex with controlling anti-choice boys. But you love him, and sometimes love makes exceptions. So if you do stay with him, and you agree and/or pretend to agree to his conditions, and you get pregnant, and you do decide to have an abortion, what the hell is he going to do about it? Lock you in the trunk of his car for nine months? Whatever you tell him now, it will still be your body and your choice then. Use condoms, take the pill, get a diaphragm, cross your fingers, and fuck his brains out.

I say sex with anti-choice folks is out of the question. No exceptions.

Thoughts? Anyone ever venture to the dark side?

While we’ve found that the percentage of female video game players in the U.S. has increased to an all-time high, an article by BBC News discusses how the impact of girl gamers is showing across the globe.

The 2005 Women in Games Conference is due to be held next month in Dundee, Scotland, where the aim is to examine why games generally appeal to a male audience (Um, it’s not obvious?). They’re also scheduled to discuss the recent growth in women players, and analyze women’s participation in computer games.

The U.S. Entertainment Software Association reported that there are presently more female players in the U.S. than there are teenage gamers. Additionally, a study by the UK’s Entertainment and Leisure Publishers Association (ELSPA) found that women make up a quarter of the gaming population. In Korea, women make up 69% of the practice.

While the conference begins its preparation, Gamestation (a popular game store) has invited the PMS Clan, the 40 best female gamers, to visit the stores across the UK for the summer. You must check out their site, these girls kick ass. Here’s their clan profile:

“PMS was born from the camaraderie of finding other girl gamers in a male dominated online gaming community. Because of the sparseness of our gender in the online gaming community and the amount of harassment female gamers are submitted to, PMS XBOX banded together to form a competitive clan at the launch of XBOX LIVE. In November of 2004 PMS PS2, was formed for the same reasons, calling out to the female gamer community for a safe and competitive environment. PMS XBOX and PMS PS2 merged in January 2005 to create the first and largest multi-platform female gaming clan.”

Fuck yeah. Keep up the good games, ladies!