August 2005 Archives

I just don't get it. This is the tenth article I’ve seen on sex differences in cell phone use this month, and in my irritation I felt the urge to point out its meaninglessness.

“The first national study of mobile phone users has found 34 per cent of Australian women bought ringtones in the past year compared to 27 per cent of men.

As for games, 15 per cent of men had bought them in the last 12 months, compared to only 10 per cent of females.”

Astounding! Not only are the differences pretty insignificant, but who gives a fuck anyway? Jeez.

In a campaign to expand the range of their products, Amazon.com has recently started selling sex toys. Awesome.

It’s actually a shitload (around 37,000) of sex products, ranging from condoms and lubricants to dildos and vibrators, located in the Health and Personal Care section. Condoms and lubes have been the top sellers of the products, reaching the top 100 best sellers on the site.

So kudos to Amazon for expanding the personal care of their customers! Click here to check out the products o’ pleasure. After all, who can resist when the vibrators are decorated with daisies.

Check out this Salon article, “Why Women Matter,” where the author examines Iraq’s draft constitution and explains why women’s equal rights are essential for the success of a stable democracy.

The author points out that many basic fundamental rights are given to women in the draft, such as the right to vote, to run as political candidates, the right to pass citizenship on to their kids, and 25 percent of parliamentary seats have been set aside for women. Yet there are other parts of the draft where murky language leaves opportunities for oppression:

“For instance, freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of association and peaceful protest are only guaranteed by the state if they do not ‘violate public order and morality.’ A parliament dominated by religious extremists could use this loophole to restrict actions, particularly those of women they deem immoral.

Another provision allows Iraqis to choose whether they will follow secular law or sharia law in family matters, such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. What is not clear, however, is whether men will have the right to make that decision even if their wives and daughters disagree. The power of clerics on the courts is also unclear, especially with regard to their ability to push the adoption of Islamic law and negate the constitution's protections of religious freedom and the rights of women.”

We’ve posted in the past on Iraqi women’s fear of ambiguous language and implementation of Shariah law into the draft, which could leave women’s rights in jeopardy. Looks like this new draft isn’t too far off.

Hmmm...I wonder why. Susan Wood, Director of the Office of Women’s Health and Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health, sent around the following email to her friends and colleagues:

I regret to tell you that I am leaving the FDA, and will no longer be serving as the Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health and Director of the FDA Office of Women's Health. The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women's access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women's health. I have spent the last 15 years working to ensure that science informs good health policy decisions. I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overuled. I therefore have submitted my resignation effective today.

I will greatly miss working with such an outstanding group of scientists, clinicians and support staff. FDA's staff is of the highest caliber and it has been a priviledge to work with you all. I hope to have future opportunities to work with you in a different capacity.

Sincerely,

Susan

Damn! Kudos to her for taking a stand, but this still just makes me sad.

ms. musings points to a report by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) that says network television still falls short in its depiction of homosexual characters.

Atrios highlights racist media coverage of Katrina. Apparently black people “loot” and white people “find.” Nice.

Meghan O'Rourke at Slate says that there’s nothing wrong with men who don’t want to watch their partners give birth. You know, cause vaginas are gross. Hugo and Amanda respond.

Pam’s House Blend tells us that the latest radical, feminist, homosexual threat is none other than the Girl Scouts. (Move over Sponge Bob!) Bitch PhD, however, insists that it’s coffee we have to worry about.

SistersTalk introduces lesbian superhero Faggot Girl (she promises an interview soon!).

This is so fucking depressing:

In a finding that is likely to intensify the debate over what to teach students about the origins of life, a poll released yesterday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.

The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views, agreeing that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."

Sigh. Who the hell are these respondents? I’m going to go cry into my ice coffee now.

Check out today’s NY Times editorial on the Kansas craziness I wrote about yesterday. Glad to know I’m not the only one freaked out by logic that says statutory rape is all good so long as you get married:

The fact that parents are willing to go along with these unions does not make them right. Chances are that in most of these cases, as apparently happened with Mr. Koso's family, when the parents found out that a baby was on the way, they were eager for the child to be born to married parents. But neither parental nor state approval makes it right to tie a girl as young as 12 to another person in what is supposed to be a lifetime commitment.

The Census Bureau reports that the nation’s poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year; there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003.

Legal Momentum reported last year that women are 40 percent more likely to be poor than men in 2003. (If they come out with another study for the 2004 Census findings, we’ll let you know.) Ninety percent of adult welfare recipients are women.

Yeah, I know. I’m a downer.

As a Women’s Studies baby, this is absolutely terrifying to me:

"Academic freedom" may not sound like an expression to strike fear in the hearts of women's studies departments.

But as more and more schools and states pass legislation based on a document called the Academic Bill of Rights--Pennsylvania most recently joined the list in July--and support builds for it in Congress, many women's studies departments can expect increased intrusion this September.

One national organization is truly alarmed. "If one student believes that only one side of a topic was presented," a grievance could be filed, followed by a lawsuit, warned Ruth Flower, director of the department of public policy and communications at the Washington-based American Association of University Professors. "Women's studies would have to try to litigate or close down," she added, noting that the legal battles could deplete the already meager funding for many women's studies programs and departments.

Women's eNews intern/writer Rachel Corbett goes on to point out that women’s studies isn’t the only discipline in danger:

In a handbook published by Students For Academic Freedom, a Washington group driving the legislative push to restrain what they see as liberal bias on campus, National Campus Director Sara Dogan singles out women's studies--along with cultural studies and English literature--as primary foes of intellectual diversity.

So I guess my BA in English and MA in Women’s Studies makes me like a minion of the intellectual devil...

According to Corbett, 16 states have already introduced “academic freedom” legislation in the past two years, and that the Academic Bill of Rights Resolution is gaining increasing support. She also makes the very good point that proponents of this type of legislation are co-opting progressive language (i.e. diversity, equality) to push a super right-wing agenda.

"There are already mechanisms in place that protect this principle, and they work well," reads a rejoinder from the American Association of University Professors. "Not only is the Academic Bill of Rights redundant, but, ironically, it also infringes on academic freedom in the very act of purporting to protect it."

Super.

What I find hysterical: The people who support this legislation because they think Women’s Studies is “dangerous” are the same folks who argue that it's obsolete. If feminism is dead then why do they need to kill it?

Last month Feministing wrote about a 22 year-old man being brought up on criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The kicker? After she got pregnant, the parents brought her to Kansas where she married the man being charged with her rape. Sigh.

The New York Times covers the same story today, and it only gets more complex (and depressing).

Matthew and Crystal started “dating” when he was 20 and she was 12 years old. Despite Crystal’s mother filing a restraining order (though it seems she didn’t do much else to stop the relationship), Crystal became pregnant. Nebraska doesn’t allow marriages for people under 17 years old, so Matthew and Crystal went to Kansas to get married where children as young as 12 can wed. Nebraska is now bringing charges against Matthew for statutory rape.

"We don't want grown men having sex with young girls," said Jon Bruning, the attorney general. "We make a lot of choices for our children: we don't allow them to vote; we don't allow them to drink; we don't allow them to drive cars; we don't allow them to serve in wars at age 13, whether they want to or not; and we don't allow them to have sex with grown men."

Here’s what kills me: people are pissed that Matthew is being prosecuted because he “did the right thing” by marrying Crystal. Now, I take issue with a lot of consent laws because I don’t think it’s right to imply that a teenage girl can’t make her own decisions about sex. So I’m not going to argue whether their sexual relationship (or any other) was wrong or not. What is fucked up and needs to be addressed is that the only reason folks are backing this guy up is because they got married. If they hadn’t, people would be calling for his head on a platter.

Vanessa's 25th birthday was actually yesterday (I'm such a bad sister), but I was holding out for some pics from her Friday night bash. Alas, we have none as of yet so I'll just have to deal with Vanessa's wrath over stealing this "bass master" picture from her Friendster profile. But really, what are big sisters for if not public embarrassment?

Hopefully we'll have some pictures from her party soon--Samhita was in from San Fran so it was especially fun.

Happy Birthday, Viso--we love you!

Yeah, you heard right. A new law in Texas could mean that docs who perform abortions without parental approval would face capital murder charges.

Find out more at BushvChoice.

New research reports that UK women earn about 27 percent less than their male counterparts.

The biggest gap was in London, where men earned an average of £39,022 and women 35% less at £28,833, salary comparison site PayFinder said.

A spokeswoman said: "Women need to be diligent and take the lead in checking that their pay is fair and equal."

PayFinder's figures were compiled from data given to the site by around 40,000 workers between August 2004 and 2005.

PayFinder spokeswoman CJ Brough said: "Despite the significance to our lives, salaries are a notoriously hush-hush subject.

She described as "nonsense" that gender should be used to determine salary levels.

"Before anyone cites female job choice as a possible cause, PayFinder also shows that regardless of industry and indeed role, men still earn more than women."

If you’re a glutton for punishment like I am, check out all the depressing coverage on the FDA’s bullshit EC delay:

The New York Times: Morning-After Pill: Politics and the F.D.A.

Los Angeles Times: FDA Delays Ruling on 'Morning After' Contraceptive

USA Today: FDA abandons its standards

Bloomberg: FDA Delays Decision on Barr's `Morning After' Pill

Reuters: Regulators delay decision on Barr's 'morning after' pill

Associated Press: FDA Delays Decision on Morning-After Pill

CNN: Morning after pill will have to wait

NPR: Age Issues Delay FDA Ruling on 'Plan B' Pill

This is just too much.

The mayor of one Budapest district wants female City Hall staff to wear miniskirts only if they have "completely perfect legs" and the skirts are no shorter than 2-3 centimeters (about 1 inch) above the knee.

...[Gabor] Mitynan also dislikes crop tops -- popular in Budapest -- saying "few women have well-trained bellies worth showing to people" and wants the city to legislate on stocking thickness, proposing 5-10 denier for summer, 15 for spring and autumn and 20 for winter.

By the way, I couldn’t find a pic of Mitynan, but I’m willing to guess that he isn’t miniskirt-worthy himself.

UPDATE: Thanks to Peter at BlogAds for finding this pic of Mitynan for us. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Some good news!

Nadia Zepeda, whose story the lovely Gwen Beetham brought to you earlier this month, was granted parole. Zepeda was sentenced to five years in prison after being illegally detained and arrested on a bogus drug charge. Zepeda was also beaten and raped while in custody.

Now the next step is to show that Zepeda is innocent. Go to Centro de Derechos Humanos (if you speak Spanish) for more info.

Statistics show that with each child they have, women lose ground on wages when compared to non-mothers.

It's been dubbed the "Mommy Wage Gap":

For the first child a woman has, the wage differential in comparison to nonmothers is from 2 to 10 percent less.

For the second child, the gap is from 4 to 16 percent less than for women with no children.

It's not surprising that the primary caretaker's wages suffer as the family grows. But I can't stand the fact that this conversation never revolves around mothers' and fathers' respective levels of involvement in parenting.

Indeed, polling shows "American workers are divided as to which parent has to work harder to achieve work/life balance."

Oh, come on. If that's really true, then why isn't there a Daddy Wage Gap?

Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher is considering giving pardons to ten women released from prison in 1995. All the women were in jail for violent crimes against the men that abused them.

Former governor Brereton Jones recommended that the women be freed after he saw a quilt they created depicting their abuse. The quilt was displayed at a state fair ten years ago.

Gov. Fletcher has just asked the Kentucky Commission on Women to review the cases.

As if Monday morning wasn’t bad enough...

The Washington Post reports today that repro rights are doing fairly shitty on a state-level.

This year's state legislative season draws to a close having produced a near-record number of laws imposing new restrictions on a woman's access to abortion or contraception.

An Australian politician resigned today after it came out that he grabbed a female journalist’s ass and called an opponent’s Asian wife a “mail order bride.” And all at one partry! Lovely.

New South Wales Opposition Liberal Party leader John Brogden told a hastily-called news conference that he regretted his “inappropriate” behaviour and would quit the post that could have seen him become state premier.

He denied being drunk at the party thrown for the media by the Australian Hotels Association three weeks ago but admitted drinking six beers to celebrate the recent resignation of the long- ding Premier, Bob Carr.

Um yeah...I think he’s better off saying he was drunk. Does this guy really want to admit that he’s that much of an asshole while sober?

You have got to be kidding me. Still? We still have to wait for a decision?

From the Associated Press:

The government on Friday put off its long-awaited final decision on whether to sell emergency contraception without a prescription, saying the pill was safe to sell over-the-counter to adults but grappling with how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers.

...The FDA will allow 60 days of public comment on how to take such a step and enforce an age limit.

Um, how about you don’t? Young women are the women who need EC the most. And as we’ve pointed out before, many American teens can get abortions without parental notification or consent--so why in the world would we want to give them a hard time about preventing a pregnancy? I’m too disgusted to write anymore.

As an update to Jessica’s post on the recent study claiming women are less intelligent than men, we’ve found that one of the researchers is not only sexist, but a eugenicist as well.

Lakshmi from The L-Files got the scoop from Atrios on this creepy mofo, Richard Lynn. He has apparently influenced the work of the authors of “The Bell Curve,” and has published works in a number of eugenicist journals. Here’s just a taste of his thoughts:

"What is called for here is not genocide, the killing off of the population of incompetent cultures. But we do need to think realistically in terms of the 'phasing out' of such peoples.... Evolutionary progress means the extinction of the less competent. To think otherwise is mere sentimentality."

People scare me.

Check out NARAL Pro-Choice America's new television ad on John Roberts' appalling record on privacy and choice. The ad highlights a memo he wrote in 1981 to the U.S. Attorney General stating that an established liberty is a "so-called 'right to privacy'," as well as a brief he wrote beseeching the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

NARAL President Nancy Keenan made this statement:

“At this point in our nation’s history, we need a Supreme Court nominee who respects our fundamental right to privacy, freedom, and personal responsibility. John Roberts dismisses our ‘so-called’ right to privacy – letting politicians into the most private decisions of every American and their families. NARAL Pro-Choice America will continue to be a vocal advocate for women’s fundamental freedoms. There is just too much is at stake to let John Roberts become a decisive vote on the Supreme Court.”

Word.

While the Indian Parliament has been pussyfooting around the Women’s Reservation Bill for quite some time, we find that women in India may not have their legislation anytime soon.

Women have been working their asses off in the fight to gain 33 percent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, yet the government has had problems coming to a consensus. The government made it clear that they intend to introduce the bill, yet they met on Tuesday and Wednesday concerning the matter and left with differing opinions and no bill signed. Sigh.

On a happier note, Lok Sabha unanimously passed a bill on Wednesday protecting women from all forms of domestic violence, harassment and exploitation from family members.

A Pentagon task force has made an official call to crack down on sexist and misogynistic behavior at U.S. military academies, due to an overload of misconduct and harassment that continues to be ignored.

The panel singled out two academies in particular -- the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD -- for their continuously crappy treatment of women, and urged for more intense, anti-sexist training.

While they admitted that the academies have improved in addressing some sexual harassment and assault issues, the basic training and education given for these problems was deemed “inadequate.” The academies also tend to avoid admitting women as cadets and midshipmen.

Delilah Rumberg, co-chairwoman of the task force and member of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, blamed much of these problems on the “sexually permissive civilian culture” effecting the students.

“Sexually permissive” sounds a bit off to me, but I must give props to the task force for making some moves on this.

Feministing wishes the 19th amendment a Happy 85th Birthday today!

In 1971, the U.S. Congress designated this date as “Women’s Equality Day” in recognition of women’s right to vote, which was achieved in 1920.

The National Women’s History Project gives us some ideas of how to celebrate this special day, like praising women in your workplace who have made significant contributions, making timelines and posters to put on display, or putting together a scrapbook about significant women in your community.

While I dig the scrapbook suggestion, these ideas make me feel like I’m in the 5th grade. Does anyone have more innovative and fun ways we could celebrate -- whether it be something small, like blowing a party horn in your sexist co-worker's face, or having a big ole Happy Hour O' Equality?

Ellen Goodman’s most recent column hands out sexism awards. Really great stuff.

Here are my faves:

...Speaking of Danica, it was Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone who sneered at her, saying: "Women should be dressed in white like all other domestic appliances." To Bernie we award our Superstar in Sexism Prize and a two-week vacation in our favorite appliance: a deep freezer.

Could Tom Cruise chill out too? He wins the Raging Hormonal Imbalance Award for trashing Brooke Shields because she took medication for postpartum depression. We send him our home-brewed antidote for testosterone poisoning.

What, then, should we give Rick Santorum, who worked so hard this year to grasp the much-coveted Backlash Award? First he blamed the problems of families on ''radical feminists," and then he opposed ''artificial birth control" as harmful to women and encouraging sex out of marriage. We send Rick to remedial sex ed class to learn that you don't have to be single or female to use birth control.

As for sexism education, how 'bout them bureaucrats? We give the Male-practice Award to those folks who approved Medicaid payments for Viagra, etc., to 800 sex offenders. Our gift to them: all the side effects on the Viagra label.

I just love that Goodman manages to get Tom Cruise in there. Make sure to check out the whole piece. (Keep an eye out for a similar brand of awards coming out soon from Feministing and Alternet’s L-Files.)

This is just awesome.

Curly Grrlz Board Sports is a skateboard company created with the sole purpose of providing girls with awesome skateboards and accessories.

Ever wonder why girls had to skate on guys skateboards or why nobody ever made cool skateboards for girls? So did we! That’s why we did. These aren’t spin-offs from a boy’s line, mind you, but are specifically designed for girls.

Sweet. The Curly Grrlz site also features accessories, a blog, a Curly Grrlz street team, pics of girls doing their thing, and an “emerging talent” section where the coolness of 9 year-olds will put you to shame.

I had a skateboard when I was 8 years old; it was pink and black and had flamingoes on it and I fucking loved it. Unfortunately, I was never a graceful child and busted my ass pretty much immediately. My subsequent skateboarding endeavors were limited to riding around my block sitting on the board. Yes, I am that lame.

Props to Gwen for letting me know about this. (Though I'm jealous, Curly Grrlz sent her a sticker that says "Girls NOT skateboarding is a crime." I want it.)

Women's eNews ran an interesting story today on the plight of the female DJ. Apparently, while hired less often and compensated less well, women are breaking into the DJing profession at a steady rate. The article states:

...[W]omen are heading to DJ school in record numbers. For example, when the pre-eminent Scratch DJ Academy opened in Manhattan in 2002, the male-female student ratio was 80-20. Now, says Mike Cannady, the academy's director, "Our courses are about a 50-50 split between men and women. We just opened up an academy in Los Angeles, which was about 50-50 from the start. I think this shows a major change in the DJ industry as a whole."

One explanation for the influx of women DJs is the creation of female collectives and support groups sprouting up in the community. Groups like Sister SF, Shejay, and Girlsdj.com help female DJs get gigs, vent their collective frustration at the sexism of the industry, and network with other like-minded women.

If you're interested in spinning records but not sure where to start, you're now a click away from finding hundreds of women to help.

This photo (from the Associated Press) made my day.

Bill Moyer, 73, wears a "Bullshit Protector" flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

You just know that this guy is a bad ass. He’s that grandpa who makes you pull his finger every time you see him, gets drunk as shit at all family occasions and has no problem telling your obnoxious uncle to go fuck himself. And you love him for it.

Via Wonkette.

From ABC News in Australia:

A Melbourne court has heard a man killed his former lover as revenge for the abortion of his child and the relationship breakdown.

In his opening address Crown prosecutor Douglas Trapnell told the jury Anita Pochopien, 32, was killed in cold blood in the driveway of her Chadstone home in April last year.

Pisey Praseour is charged with her murder.

This is just so sad.

Hey, why beat around the bush and just focus on math and science? Turns out men are just smarter, period.

A study to be published later this year in the British Journal of Psychology says that men are on average five points ahead on IQ tests.

Paul Irwing and Professor Richard Lynn claim the difference grows when the highest IQ levels are considered.

...Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Manchester University, told the Today programme on BBC Radio Four that up until the age of 14, the study showed there was no difference between the IQs of boys and girls.

"But beyond that age and into adulthood there is a difference of five points, which is small but it can have important implications," he said.

Excuse me if I don’t take this very seriously. When I used to teach SAT classes for The Princeton Review, the biggest lesson was to make sure kids knew that the only thing the SAT measured was how well you took the SAT. I’d say I feel the same way about IQ tests. You can’t define intelligence by a test. Especially when factors like sex, class and race discrimination aren’t taken into account.

But the study’s authors believe that their research shows why men outnumber women in “achieving distinctions of various kinds, such as chess grandmasters, Fields medallists for mathematics, Nobel prize-winners and the like.” Of course. Here I thought that systemic sexism and discrimination were to blame for the disparity. Turns out, women are just big dummies.

Just came back from my first eye exam in over a decade and my eyes are numb and creepy feeling. So I just can’t bring myself to stare at the computer screen for as long as it would take me to write a full post. Instead, I’ll leave you with this interesting blog-related question from Trish Wilson (via The Heretik):

What women of the past would have been a killer blogger in her day?

I say Mata Hari...though the whole blogging spy secrets thing probably wouldn’t have worked out too well.

Ohio has joined the shameful ranks of Indiana and Kansas in its attempt to seize women’s private medical records. You know, to look for crimes and stuff.

Read more at BushvChoice.

The AP reports that new research from scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has found that fetuses cannot feel pain until around the seventh month of pregnancy -- 28 weeks. And as a result of their findings, these scientists are recommending that doctors not be required to discuss fetal pain with women seeking first and second-term abortions.

Anti-choice Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan) introduced legislation earlier this year that would "require doctors to inform women seeking abortions after the 22nd week of gestation that their fetus feels pain and offer to anesthetize the fetus." Brownback says that in light of the new study he's gearing up for "a robust debate." (sigh). I bet he is...

Check out the full article for details on the study...

On August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment was ratified, making Friday the 85th anniversary of women's right to vote. To commemorate the big day, the Library of Congress has created a web-based slideshow of 448 photos documenting the suffrage movement.

The National Woman’s Party, representing the militant wing of the suffrage movement, utilized open public demonstrations to gain popular attention for the right of women to vote in the United States. Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party presents both images that depict this broad range of tactics as well as individual portraits of organization leaders and members. The photographs span from about 1875 to 1938 but largely date between 1913 and 1922. They document the National Woman’s Party’s push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. This online presentation is a selection of 448 photographs from the approximately 2,650 photographs in the Records of the National Woman’s Party collection, housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.

The site also has a timeline of movement and an essays section that includes a historical overview of the National Women’s Party, profiles of selected leaders and tactics of the suffrage campaign.

Enjoy the slideshow, rent Iron Jawed Angels, and toast your right to vote!

Christine at ms. musings points to Gloria Steinem’s stint as a contributor to NPR's This I Believe. So go listen to Steinem's essay, "A Balance Between Nature and Nurture," or read it here.

Here’s the first bit (to get you all excited and shit):

Is it nature or is it nurture, heredity or society? In that great debate of our time, conservatives lean toward the former and liberals toward the latter.

I believe both are asking the wrong question. I believe it's nature and nurture, and this is why.

Now go read the rest.

The National Review Online loves them some boobies. So much, in fact, that they actually have an entire article devoted to whining about feminists trying to take away their boobilicious fun.

Author Sally Satel (who recently wrote a book with Christina Hoff Sommers—that should tell you a lot) fancies herself quite the comedienne:

The Breastapo are at it again, trying to dictate what American women should and shouldn't do with their breasts. On August 9 they were at the National Press Club, speaking out against the recent FDA decision to approve marketing of silicone breast implants (under FDA negotiable conditions) for cosmetic augmentation. The National Council of Women's Organizations hosted the event and featured speakers from the National Organization of Women, the National Women's Health Network, and Public Citizen, among others.

We are "so concerned about this... because it is uniquely a women's issue," said Martha Burk, spokeswomen for all women "and it uniquely affects the health and lives of many, many women. No one wants another Dalkon Shield." "They're making women sick," Kim Gandy of NOW weighed in. "Women will risk a lifetime of grave complications from faulty breast implants because the Bush administration and their appointees value short-term profits over women's long-term health."

Satel’s argument is basically breast implants aren’t that dangerous, and that feminists are just ruining everyone’s fun. I mean who really minds a little silicone leakage, right? What’s more disturbing than her dismissive attitude towards the health risks involved with breast implants is that her concern over this issue seems more about her anti-feminism than anything else:

The objections of the Breastapo are driven by feminist body politics which say that women should love their bodies as they are, not change them to please men. Apparently, in the feminist mind, a woman only has the right to choose what she does to her body as long as she chooses the "right" thing.

This argument is sooo tired. I must have missed the part where Gandy and Burk argued that saline breast implants and plastic surgery in general should be outlawed. Please. Feminists trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies. But we also intend to hold the government accountable when they put dangerous products out there.

Related: FDA, Bush administration favors fake tits

This is just too great. The Independent Women’s Forum (the anti-feminists we love to hate) is holding an essay contest for women undergraduates:

Please discuss your experience on college campus as an independent woman. How has your college or university helped or hindered your intellectual and personal growth? Please describe what you think it means to be an independent woman in the year 2005.

Ampersand thinks that feminist undergrads should enter the contest and find out just how despicable you have to be to win some IWF cash. (He even gives some genius sample essay themes.)

This totally reminds me of this piece of shit I just saw in The Washington Times, Foibles of feminism. It’s written by Danielle Sturgis, University of Iowa student and recipient of the Phillips Foundation Clare Boothe Luce Journalism Award from the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. If you’re unfamiliar with the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute--whose mission is to “prepare young women for effective conservative leadership”-- just check out their terrifying Great American Conservative Women Calendar. (Oh yes, it’s back.)

After taking one women’s studies course, Sturgis decides that feminism is yucky. She explains as much to high school students at a “mentoring luncheon”:

“Harmless” is perhaps the perfect description of how feminist activity seems to those, like my high school lunch companions, who have yet to experience the hateful wrath of the actual movement.

...After the mentoring lunch, a ninth-grader wrote to me, "I learned that most feminists are very confused." I couldn't have put it better myself.

Sturgis’ analysis of her class (oh, I’m sorry--the hateful wrath of feminism) is the same old tired crap, it just upsets me that some high school girl may be forever warped because of it. All of a sudden I want to start a feminist mentoring group...

Oh how I love good news. The Washington Post reports that federal funds have been withdrawn from the Silver Ring Thing abstinence program because the org has been using tax money for religious activities. An abstinence program pushing religion? You don’t say...

Teenage graduates of the program sign a covenant "before God Almighty" to remain virgins and earn a silver ring inscribed with a Bible passage reminding them to "keep clear of sexual sin." Many of its events are held at churches.

In filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the organization describes its mission as "evangelistic ministry" with an emphasis on "evangelistic crusade planning."

Spokespeople from the Silver Ring Thing say that they are a faith-based group, but maintain that they didn’t use public funds for their religious activities:

"Any religious teaching that goes on is separate in time and place from what the government is funding," said Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Silver Ring Thing. "They offer a religious program and they offer a secular program; kids can choose which one they want to go to."

In an advertisement on its Web site for a set of educational materials on DVD, Silver Ring Thing promises: "A secular program is also in development."

Sure it is. While I’m certainly pleased that the group won’t be getting federal funding (at least for the time being), it annoys me that the only reason they’re getting cut off is because of the whole God-loves-virgins thing. What about the fact that abstinence programs give out false and potentially dangerous information? I guess we can let that one go...

A new study to be published in the journal Stress, Trauma, and Crisis, says that women professors are more stressed out than their male counterparts.

The study, conducted by education professors Jennifer L. Hart of the University of Missouri at Columbia and Christine M. Cress of Portland State University, also says that women’s stress levels are justified. (Often, the report says, women professors’ stress is attributed to women just being “worrywarts.” Lovely.)

Such data could, of course, be read as a comment on how women experience stress, not whether they are justified in feeling more of it. But the authors of the study then went to examine university records on teaching loads, and they found that women there, on average, are doing more teaching than are men.

The data found that female full professors taught more courses and independent study units than did their male counterparts. At the associate professor level, men taught more regular courses, but far fewer independent units. And at the assistant level, men and women were equal in teaching regular courses, but women taught more independent units.

In interviews, the researchers found that women cited a variety of reasons for their increased workloads and stress associated with students, and many women attributed much of the problem to sexist patterns or attitudes — from their colleagues or students.

The article report also lists recommendations to improve women professors’ stress levels.

If you haven’t already, go check out Amanda’s article in Alternet, Camp Casey, PTA, about her her trip to Crawford.

My fave part:

It seemed so ridiculous, all these people in such a rage, arranging over-the-top counter-protests and bringing out an army of motorcyclists all to bear down on a group of floppy-hatted, middle-aged women in matching pink shirts. But the more people who turned out to protect George Bush from having to answer Cindy Sheehan's questions, the more ridiculous he looked -- it's hard to maintain the manly man cowboy image when you cower in fear behind a group of bullies who stoop to attacking the character of a bereaved mother.

One thing is for certain -- I never thought I'd see the day that a bunch of Harley-riding men in leather jackets would come out to scare a bunch of hard-working soccer moms because they were angry that the soccer moms were counter-cultural threats to authority.

You know, when I first saw the new Burger King commercials pushing their chicken fries by featuring a fake band--Coq Roq--I just thought it was stupid. I mean, the band members were dressed like roosters for fuck’s sake.

But thanks to Nerve I now know that the gimmick is not only stupid, but also pretty gross and sexist. See pic above for confirmation of BK’s assholedom.

UPDATE: Lakshmi at Alternet tells us that Burger King has pulled the coq-loving caption. Apparently they're saying it was a Flash "malfunction" that caused the captions to go up in the first place. Of course it was...

From The New York Times:

The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that both members of a lesbian couple who plan for and raise a child born to either of them should be considered the child's mothers even after their relationship ends.

The court, stepping into largely uncharted legal territory concerning same-sex couples and parenting, issued decisions in three cases, ruling that women whose partners gave birth had parental rights or obligations in all three.

The cases involved a request for child support, a petition to establish parental rights and an attack on a lower court ruling issued before a child's birth that the child should have two women listed as parents on her birth certificate.

"We perceive no reason," the Supreme Court ruled, "why both parents of a child cannot be women."

A new study from the University of California-Davis shows that nearly half of the ovarian cancer patients they studied told a doctor about their symptoms up to three months before they were diagnosed. In many of these instances, the doctors didn’t go on to perform the best tests to detect the cancer.

One of the problems in detecting the disease is that while it may not be silent, “it is subtle,” said Dr. Barbara Goff, director of gynecologic oncology at the University of Washington, who also was not involved in the study. In a study published last year, Goff found that many women remembered having symptoms several months before their diagnoses. But patients and physicians alike have the tendency to disregard the signs, she said.

That's because constipation, gas, pelvic pain, abdominal swelling, incontinence and other discomforts associated with the disease are “not symptoms that scream out at you,” Goff said. “We have all probably experienced them from time to time.”

While ovarian cancer accounts for only about 3 percent of all cancers in women, the disease is often fatal--more than half of women diagnosed die within five years. Horrifying.

As you probably already know, the FDA is supposed to decide on the over-the-counter status of EC by September 1.

The FDA hasn't exactly had the best track record, so let the know how you feel. Send this petition from NARAL to FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford.

Though their models never do...

I don't know how I feel about Cosmo and its big b-day.

No doubt that Cosmopolitan marked a change in the way that women were perceived (and the way they thought of themselves):

In 1965, writer Helen Gurley Brown broke ground with her sassy new version of a magazine created as a general interest publication in 1886. By the mid-'60s, Cosmopolitan was dying. Brown, author of the 1962 bestseller Sex and the Single Girl, was hired to resuscitate the moribund mag.

She was at times unsure of herself as an editor, weeping on the shoulder of her husband, David Brown, a journalist and later a Hollywood producer (Jaws, Chocolat, Angela's Ashes). But Brown had a mission: to show women they didn't have to be married to have sex and didn't have to be married by 21 to feel fulfilled.

...That gospel was: sex, beauty, sex, fashion, sex, relationships, sex, fun, sex. Brown's first issue included an article on birth control at a time when contraception was helping put women on an equal sexual playground with men.

"Within 10 years, the mystique of the single girl had replaced the myth of the happy housewife," says [Georganne] Scheiner [associate professor of women and gender studies at Arizona State University], who teaches the cultural impact of Cosmo.

Despite the boundaries that Cosmo broke back in the day, it seems that the mag hasn’t come very far since then. Just compare the magazine’s first cover to its most recent one. Not insanely different. Or is that the fun of Cosmo--that you always know what to expect? I’m not a Cosmo reader, so maybe I’m totally off on this one. Any thoughts?

If you haven’t seen this already, go immediately. Dahlia Lithwick took on Roberts’ “contempt for all things female” in Slate last week, and damn is she right on.

Just a snippet:

...What's most startling about Roberts' writings isn't always the substance. Some of the policy ideas he rejected—like that of paying "comparable worth" for traditionally female jobs—may have deserved the scorn he evinced. What's truly is shocking is his dismissive tone, which seemed to surprise even ultraconservative Phyllis Schlafly, who described it yesterday as "smart alecky." Gender disparities are invariably "perceived" or "purported," in Roberts' eyes. Every effort to solve them is laughable. At a moment when serious inequities in women's wages, employment, and opportunities existed in this country, Roberts seemed to dismiss every attempt to remedy them as a knock-knock joke.

In a 1985 memo about whether a government lawyer could be nominated for an award program honoring women who changed professions after age 30, Roberts wrote and approved the nomination but added: "Some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good, but I suppose that is for the judges to decide."

Lithwick rightly points out the total-crap defense of Roberts’ misogyny as a “joke” is just plain tired:

Finally, there's the humorless-feminist tack. I vaguely remember this argument from the '80s: It's that women can't take a joke. So that is the new defense: This wasn't just a joke, it was a lawyer joke! That's evidently the White House position, too: "It's pretty clear from the more than 60,000 pages of documents that have been released that John Roberts has a great sense of humor," Steve Schmidt, a Bush spokesman told the Washington Post. "In this [housewives] memo, he offers a lawyer joke."

...Roberts honestly seemed to think that humor or disdain were the only appropriate ways to think about gender. It's not that feminists can't take a joke. It's that Roberts can't seem to take feminists seriously.

Or women in general, it seems.

Though Amanda has already done a stellar job (as usual) of tearing down this bullshit argument from Elizabeth Sandoval in USA Today, I couldn’t help but chime in.

Sandoval’s article, A neo-feminist's view of abstinence, is basically of the na-na-na-boo-boo, you’re-a-whore-and-I’m pure variety:

I don't want to have sex. Clarification: I do want to have sex, but only with my husband. And I don't have one of those yet.

...What I am is a neo-feminist. Definition: "One who respects her body so much that she won't allow it to be used as someone's playground."

Of course, cause everyone knows if you really respect your body you’ll be properly ashamed of it and its functions. What’s so sad about this is that Sandoval assumes that sex is about women’s bodies being used for men’s pleasure. She can’t imagine that any self-respecting women would actually (shudder) like sex.

Members of the "Sex is Natural and Fun and If It Makes You Happy, It Can't Be That Bad" club want sex so badly that they willingly and repeatedly live out the following scenario: Things go "great" for a month or two. Sex quickly becomes a part of your interactions. Maybe he even meets your parents. And then, well, things just change. He dumps you or you dump him.

All these years I thought my past relationships ended because we just weren’t suited for each other...what a dummy I am! I should have known it was the penetration that really did us in.

...Women are non-self-respecting because they willingly sacrifice such an important part of their being for just a few moments of pleasure. And they're oblivious because they don't contemplate the profoundness of sex.

Women give it up as if it's nothing. When in fact, it is everything.

Didn’t you know, ladies? Your virginity and sexuality is your being, it’s everything! You’re a shell without it, you whores!

I’m so sick of this shit. Sandoval is trying to argue that it’s sex that demeans women, when it’s actually her and her tsk-tsking that’s doing the damage.

Make sure to check out the NY Times’ piece on the Willie Mae Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls.

Not only is it a great piece, but it also gives me an excuse to feature the above pic. (Thanks to Kriston for pointing it out!)

Media Matters reports that asshole number one Rush Limbaugh says that feminism was established “to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.”

Referring to No. 24 on his list of “35 Undeniable Truths of Life,” nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh stated that “feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” Another example of Limbaugh's “undeniable truths” is No. 16: “Women should not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud.”

The fact that Rush is a sexist jerk isn’t exactly shocking, I know. I just love that he doesn’t even see how clinging on to hackneyed stereotypes (not to mention using the word ‘stud’) just makes him seem like a sad, played out, little man.

Women and science, something we discuss a lot here on feministing. This is a new study in Science magazine by a group of US reseachers looking at some of the barriers women continue to face in the sciences.

BBC News discusses...

Professor Handelsman and her colleagues believe there are a range of challenges that can derail women and prevent them from fulfilling their full academic potential.

"There is still a lot of covert and overt hostility on American campuses," she said. "Some of it is outright illegal behaviour, but most of it is subtle. It makes women feel undervalued and not respected."

Some challenges they discuss specifically include; fewer women being pushed to the Phd level, unconscious biases, hostile work climate and the problems of balancing family and work.

An ad campaign to stop the illegal consumption of turtle's eggs, has been halted by women's rights groups in Mexico because of their use of a scantiliy clad model, to emphasize that turtles eggs are not an aphrodisiac. Personally, NOTHING about eating turtles eggs turns me on, but whatevs...

SanDiego.com reports...

"My man does not need turtle eggs because he knows that they don't make him more potent," Argentine model Dorismar purrs from a poster, clad in a skimpy bathing suit. The message is aimed at Mexican men who for years have eaten the eggs believing they are aphrodisiacs.

Sea turtles, once hunted in Mexico for their meat and eggs, were declared a protected species in 1990, and killing them or taking their eggs is now a crime.

Apparently, this ad campaign was started by a Conservation corp in California called Wildcoast. And they plan on spreading posters all over Mexico starting in September. This reminds me of PETA's ad campaign awhile ago that showed a women in skimpy underwear with hair coming out of it and underneath is said, "Fur is Bad!" Because it is okay to objectify women for the support of animal endangerment projects. Please believe I am a HUGE proponent of animal rights, but isn't this contradictory logic?

You can check out some of PETA's ads here.

And I found this interesting letter on About-face.com that challenges PETA's ad images.

The AP reports today that Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts wasn't O'Connor's biggest fan -- in fact, he *scoffed* at the possibility of O'Connor being named chief justice and described it as a "crass political consideration."

In an Aug. 2, 1984, memo, Roberts responded to a former member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, John E. Sheehan, who had written President Reagan to suggest an election-year strategy that Roberts described as closing the "so-called gender gap."

Sheehan's plan called for then-Chief Justice Warren Burger, who was nearing retirement, to step down soon after the 1984 Republican convention and be appointed as an ambassador.

"The president would elevate Justice O'Connor two weeks later, and then name yet another woman to succeed O'Connor two weeks after that. Presto! The gender gap vanishes," Roberts wrote.

"Any appointments the president may make to the Supreme Court will not be based on such crass political considerations," Roberts advised in a memo to his boss, Fred Fielding.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

In response to these new discovories Senate Judiciary Committee member Edward Kennedy (D-MA) remarked that, "Many of the documents made it clear that as a junior official in the Reagan administration, he was part of an intense effort to impede progress on numerous key issues, such as progress on equal rights for women." Gee, ya think?

Let's just hope that Kennedy [and friends] are willing to tow this line in Roberts confirmation hearings beginning September 6th...

The BBC reports on a new article in Science Magazine which found that women still have a long way to go before they are integrated in the science profession.

Lead author of the study, Professor Jo Handelsman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains that female scientists often receive a *chilly* reception on campus. "There is still a lot of covert and overt hostility on American campuses. Some of it is outright illegal behavior, but most of it is subtle. It makes women feel undervalued and not respected." (sigh).

Grrrr -- hello -- anyone remember the Summers debacle?

One of Handelsman recommendations is to make science labs more family-friendly -- "The responsibilities for family caretaking continue to fall disproportionately on women. Universities aren't set up to deal with family issues." Her suggestions include on-campus breast-feeding rooms and child care facilities. Well, at least it's a start...

While we’ve found a study in the past that indicated a possible disparity between genders of health care treatment after a heart attack in Scotland, a new U.S. study has revealed that there has been evidence of less intensive treatment given to female and black heart patients than white men.

The rate of treatments went progressively down in white women, black men and black women compared with white men, with black women found to have the lowest use of interventions. For example, black women with the appropriate indications for therapy had 10 percent lower rates of reperfusion therapy and 24 percent lower rates of angiography compared to white men. Black women also had the highest in-hospital mortality rates -- 11 percent higher than white men -- among the four sex and race groups.

An even sadder fact is that these disparities have not changed in almost a decade; the gap stays nice and wide.

Check out this article from the Guardian on female comedians. Writer and performer Oriane Messina shares her personal favorites.

While there doesn't seem to be too many recognized female comedians out there, this refreshing story gave some props to the funny women that have been around, particularly in Hollywood. Messina's list included Miss Piggy, Margaret Rutherford, Ann Miller, and Madeline Kahn.

While Madeline is definitely a classic favorite of mine ("A wed wose, how womantic." - Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles), I'm quite the fan of Margaret Cho and Ellen Degeneres.

Got any to add to the list?

While we’ve been posting for quite some time on the prevalence of women gamers and other gender issues that exist in the interactive entertainment industry, a new organization was unveiled yesterday for women gamers across the globe.

The organization is called Women In Games International, and is being run by a number of game industry leaders. Co-founder Kathy Schoback made a statement yesterday:

"We are committed to the promotion and sponsorship of events such as conferences, workshops and seminars that help women break into and thrive within the game development world. We are also identifying and promoting collaborations and connections between industry and the academy that can help us better understand the industry, our games, and women's vital role in both. We are also searching for new methods to increase and retain qualified and talented women in the industry."

Game on!

According to a new study from Harvard Medical School, eating french fries as a child increases the risk of contracting breast cancer as an adult.

While the risk of getting breast cancer by the age of 60 is approximately 1 in 25, the research shows that eating french fries just once a week before the age of five would increase that to 1 in 20, a 27 percent increase in risk.

While potatoes are obviously not causing the risk, the preparation of fries -- frying in fat that’s high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids -- are being considered as a factor. Ya think?

So on top of obesity and the unhealthy lifestyle that many low-income families endure due to environmental classism and racism, here’s another whopper to deal with: starve your kids or feed them cancer-causing food! Sigh.

Once again, the administration has applauded themselves for building on the faux diversity crew they have been working on for some time. This biggie has (of course) been all over the news, of the honor going to their new executive chef.

Shortly after the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs group sent a letter to Laura Bush, urging her to appoint their new head chef a woman, Laura complied and is the first first lady to name a woman -- 10-year White House employee Cristeta Comerford -- to the position.

While I give much props to Comerford for getting the position, (after all, female chefs hold less than 4 percent of the top jobs in the U.S.) I just love how much credit the Bushes are giving themselves for such a great contribution to history.

Check out this horrifying article about an ongoing case concerning the U.S. Armed Forces' refusal to cover the medical costs of a Navy sailor's wife’s abortion. This is after two doctors had diagnosed the fetus with a fatal birth defect. Fantastic.

While there is an exception where benefits will be given if a mother’s life is at risk and needs an abortion, this was considered not eligible for coverage. All three judges in a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the woman’s abortion shouldn’t be covered due to the fact that the standing law serves the governmental function of protecting "potential life."

The woman was diagnosed with the defect in 2002 and told that if she went full-term, the baby wouldn’t survive longer than two months. She had the abortion five months in, and then sued for coverage of the procedure. A judge initially ruled in her favor and the couple was compensated, which was soon after appealed by the government, attempting to get their $3,000 back. You have got to be fucking kidding me.

The government’s appeal argued that their denial of the coverage "furthers the government's interest in protecting human life in general and promoting respect for life."

The Northwest Women’s Lawyer Center represented the sailor’s wife, and is now considering their next move. Executive director Lisa Stone said:

"We believe it was worth it to pursue it because the basis for upholding the government's ban — the interest in potential human life — does not apply here...There is no potential for human life. There is no rational basis for the regulation as it applies to women with anencephaly."

According to BBC's Michael Buerk women rule the world (at least of broadcasting).

According to the BBCNews...

The former Nine O'Clock News presenter told the Radio Times: "Life is lived in accordance with women's rules" and men are now merely "sperm donors".

Buerk added that the "shift in the balance of power between the sexes" had gone too far.

"The result is men are becoming more like women," he said.

He cited Tim Henman and David Beckham as examples.

He goes on...

"Some people might argue that this is a case of the pendulum swinging over the woman's side for a change, and eventually it will find a happy medium."

He added he felt men were being given a lesser role in society.

"All they are is sperm donors, and most women aren't going to want an unemployable sperm donor loafing around and making the house look untidy."

Via Volsunga and I Blame the Patriarchy.

Taking a cue from Alabama, the North Carolina state legislature thinks domestic violence victims would be safer with a few extra guns in the house. The so-called "Domestic Violence Victims Empowerment Act" would encourage victims to seek temporary permits to carry concealed weapons.

The state's gun lobby loves this bill. Their original version had language requiring sheriffs to issue handgun permits to all victims who had taken out restraining orders.

Surprisingly, victim advocates are not so enamored of the bill. Studies have shown that the presence of a gun in the home greatly increases the risk of homicide. In 1998, for every one woman who used a handgun to kill her intimate partner in self defense, 83 women were murdered by a partner using a handgun.

And in North Carolina, of the 41 domestic violence victims killed since January, more than half were shot. Yeah, sounds like guns are the perfect solution to this problem.

We have discussed before on Feministing the threats facing women running in the upcoming Afghani election. This is but another attempt to bring attention to this issue and demand international and Afghani attention be put on the protection of these brave women.

According to the PakTribune...

Key measures to protect women candidates include improving complaint procedures and organizing direct coordination between security forces and the candidates, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released yesterday to coincide with official beginning of the election campaign.

"Women candidates in Afghanistan are courageously defying the Taliban, warlords and conservative social norms that exclude them from public life," said Nisha Varia, Asia researcher in the women's rights division of human rights watch. The Afghan government, election observers and peacekeeping forces can make a difference in women candidates' safety and confidence by responding quickly to complaints of intimidation."

New York’s Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls had their culminating show this past weekend, and from all accounts it was pretty bad-ass! I mean, just look at this girl--can you get any cooler?

Spin magazine online featured a story on the camp, and a NY Times story should be coming out this weekend.

In the meantime, check out a couple of pics after the jump (Spin has some more). My friend Kate was a counselor there, so the second picture made me a little teary. I, too, would like to be “realy cool.” Sigh.

Looks like Nike is joining Dove in the new “real beauty” ad trend. (If you can call two companies a trend...well, it’s a start.) Rebecca Traister at Salon takes a look at Nike’s new ad campaign, which features women telling “stories” about their body parts--butts, thighs, hips, you name it.

Check out the copy from the “butt” ad:

My butt is big
And round like the letter C
And ten thousand lunges
Have made it rounder
But not smaller
And that's just fine.
It's a space heater
For my side of the bed
It's my ambassador
To those who walk behind me
It's a border collie
That herds skinny women
Away from the best deals
At clothing sales.
My butt is big
And that's just fine
And those who might scorn it
Are invited to kiss it.
Just do it.

Well then!

No matter what your feelings about Nike as a company, you have to admit that ad is pretty cool. As are the others. Though Traister does point out that they’re far from perfect. The weird voice-over style and content of the ads come off a little cheesy and sometimes bizarre. Not to mention, the featured body parts all seem from fairly younger women. A positive though: the body parts featured aren’t models’, but from women picked out of gyms across the country.

And as Traister says:

But it's still arresting to open up InStyle and see a pair of bulging, fleshy legs, flatteringly photographed in black-and-white against a paint-splotchy background, next to the words, "I have thunder thighs."

What do you guys think?

The UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation that supports the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today. It sends a daily email with information on the most pressing and important issues and has millions of subscribers worldwide.

Guess who made the August 16th UN Wire? Our very own Vanessa! Her post about women and children in Afghanistan was featured as their Blog Roundup selection.

Right on, V!

Breaking political news? Definitely not. But still post-worthy.

Check out this slideshow from Yahoo featuring pics from the Hong Kong celebration yesterday.

I know we’ve mentioned this before, but it’s too important not to repeat. The Violence Against Women Act is set to expire in September. The last I heard it was being held up in the Senate--so contact your senators and let them know that VAWA reauthorization is a priority.

For more info on how to take action, check out the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Check out this bizarre-ass story on a study revealing straight women's preference of symmetrical men, particularly when they're most fertile.

The beginning of the article has the best line I've read this week:

"Steven Gangestad and colleagues at the University of New Mexico asked 54 heterosexual women about their dreams, desires and ovulatory cycles."

The study also says that symmetrical or the "best-looking" men tend to be less faithful, while women rarely stray because "The costs associated with potential loss of a relationship partner are often too high for women to act on their interests."

And what costs are these, compared to unfaithful men? Grrr.

As you may have noticed, Feministing is having some tech issues with our comments section. We're working on getting it fixed now; thanks for your patience!

Thanks to all for making me laugh on Monday with your entries for If these rings could talk. My personal fave (and winner of a super special Feministing shirt) came from Norbizness:

"Your significant other has (x) number of payments left on this bad boy."

Some good news:

Law Minister H R Bharadwaj on Wednesday termed the passage of a Bill in Rajya Sabha giving daughters and sons equal rights to ancestral property as "a revolutionary step to eliminate gender bias".

Some not-so-good-news:

But he was guarded when asked whether the Government intended to extend such reforms in the personal law pertaining to Muslims.

"The marriage and succession pertaining to Muslims will be governed by their personal law. We should not try to force any codification of these laws," the Law Minister said.

Does the bill not go far enough or is it just respecting cultural differences? Any thoughts?

The Women’s Funding Network recently launched US Women Without Borders, a website designed to help stop violence against women abroad by influencing US foreign policy and the media.

We are working to build a voice of US women equipped to influence our own foreign policy and media, particularly as it impacts violence against women and girls in other countries. We believe that when women and girls thrive, communities prosper. A key strategy for achieving community well-being is to address violence against women and girls.

The US Women Without Borders website provides a place to learn about issues affecting women and girls, exchange opinions, facts and stories and find practical ways to make a difference.

Writers on the website include Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, and Zainab Salbi, president and CEO of Women for Women International.

Co check it out.

On January 23rd, 2003 Nadia Ernestina Zepeda Molina was walking down the street with her boyfriend and another friend in Argicola Oriental, a neighborhood in Mexico City, when she was surrounded by police, separated from her friends, put into a police van and detained without an arrest warrant. In the hours to follow, Nadia was beaten and raped by the police, not allowed to talk to her friends or call her parents, and charged with selling cocaine. The cocaine had been planted by the police, who told her friends that they should declare themselves addicts (this absolves your guilt under Mexican law) and instead put full blame on Nadia. Because in Mexico you are guilty until proven innocent, Nadia has been in jail since that time.

Two kick-ass feminists I know in Mexico have been fighting Nadia’s case on behalf of the organization that they work for—the Centro de Derechos Humanos in Mexico City. The organization recently launched the Campaign for Justice for Nadia (for more info email nadia@sjsocial.org or visit their website).

If this story sounds a little too familiar, it’s because things aren’t so hot for women in the U.S. either. In fact, Feministing reported in November that women’s incarceration rate in the U.S. was the highest EVER, partially thanks to new drug laws. According to The Sentencing Project, women are more likely than men—at a rate of 32 versus 20 percent—to be in prison because of a drug offense. And as Katha Pollitt posted on the Feministing story, these women are in all-to-similar predicaments to Nadia’s: the men “tell” on the women to get themselves off the hook, and the women have no one to tell on because, well, they usually haven’t done anything. Women are arrested, and the judicial records show that they are “winning” the “war on drugs.”

And now for a little imperialist food for thought: (Not so) coincidentally, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hired by Mexico City’s Police Force in 2003 as a consultant to “clean up” the capital. Of his proposals, the “war on drugs” was top of the list, as was the culture of taking bribes, which some argue is a consequence of the low salaries made by police officers (about $570 per month). Giuliani was paid $4.3 million for his advice. And finally, in case you were wondering… the majority of the demand for Mexican drugs comes from the U.S.

Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

(Photo from Indymedia Mexico)

Morgan Stanley is paying up:

A $40.6 million fund established in a landmark sex bias case involving Morgan Stanley will be distributed to 67 discrimination victims, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said on Monday.

The fund was created as part of Morgan Stanley's July 2004 agreement to pay $54 million to settle charges that it denied women raises and promotions, paid them less than men, excluded them from company events, and subjected them to lewd behavior.

The EEOC had in 2001 sued the Wall Street investment bank on behalf of hundreds of women, accusing it of engaging in a pattern of sex discrimination since 1995.

"We are hopeful that this suit has changed the discriminatory practices common to Wall Street," said Elizabeth Grossman, acting EEOC regional attorney for the New York District, in a statement. "It should signal the industry that no matter how well regarded a financial institution may be, there is no safe harbor for employment discrimination."

Trish Wilson tells us that about the Law Failing Rape Victims In The U. K.

Pseudo-Adrienne on the delay of the Iraqi Constitution.

Blackfeminism.org gives an update on the Tamika Huston case.

Ferdette at Media Girl explains why Common Dreams’ "In Praise of Female Sexuality" is just the same old shit.

Jill at Feministe calls out the FDA for loving the implants, hating the contraception.

Hugo and Amanda duke it out (well, not really...I just like the saying) over conservative women pundits and physical appearance.

I know we’ve covered labiaplasty before, but the title of this recent article on the surgery warranted some extra attention: Designer vaginas.

So does that mean mine is a Wal-Mart vagina? A knock-off you pick up on Canal street? Gross.

If you want another terrifying thought from this article, check out how the “designer” doc tries out his new stuff:

He hones new techniques on animal parts — chicken thighs, turkey legs and pig's ears — until he is ready to work on women.

Nothing makes me want to rush out and let someone cut my genitalia more than knowing they’ve been practicing on barnyard animals.

Read about it at BushvChoice.

I’m all for having fun with sexuality, but this really creeped me out. Pornstar Bears features teddy bears and rag dolls in sexual positions; you can buy figures and posters of the toys doing their thing. If it was just the bears I don’t think I would have a problem with this, but the rag dolls look like little girls. (Click the pic above to see what I mean, but be warned that it’s disturbing.)

The Pornstar Bears website even features a “Porndoll Dressup” section where you can dress a rag doll up in different outfits, give her sexual toys to hold on to, and even give her varying styles of pubic hair. My memories of Raggedy Ann are forever ruined.

Via Nerve.

A new Cornell University study shows that men whose masculinity is challenged or questioned become more likely to support war, espouse homophobic views, and buy an SUV. Oh jeez.

Cornell University researcher Robb Willer used a survey to sample undergraduates. Participants were randomly assigned feedback that indicated their responses were either masculine of feminine.

The women had no discernable (sic) reaction to either type of feedback in a follow-up survey.

But the guys's (sic) reactions were "strongly affected," Willer said today.

"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Willer said. "There were no increases [in desire] for other types of cars."

Those who had their masculinity threatened also said they felt more ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile than those whose masculinity was confirmed, he said.

This reminds me of an excursus my former English professor (with Women’s Studies inclinations) used to do on the first day of class. She asked the class to call out some of the worst things you could call a man. The board would soon be filled with words like fag, pussy, bitch, girl. Then she asked for the worst things you could call a woman. Slut, whore, cunt, bitch. It soon became clear to the class that the worst thing you could call a man is a woman, and the worst thing you could call a woman is a woman. It’s the ultimate insult. How depressing is that?

Yeah, yeah...we all know that Roberts is anti-choice and anti-privacy rights. So the majority of today’s Washington Post piece detailing Roberts support for memorial services for aborted fetuses isn’t exactly a shocker.

But this is:

The memo about the Los Angeles service for aborted fetuses is part of a pattern in the documents issued yesterday by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: During his tenure from 1982 to 1986 in the Reagan White House, Roberts staked out conservative positions on a broader array of issues than has previously been known.

He called a federal court decision that sought to guarantee women equal pay to men "a radical redistributive concept." He wrote that a Supreme Court case prohibiting silent prayer in public school "seems indefensible."

The New York Times reports that Maxim magazine has an even bigger ego than we thought:

Brand-extension mania has seized Maxim, the men's magazine. Maxim already sells a line of bedding at Macy's stores, and Maxim Radio, the first around-the-clock radio station based on a magazine, started broadcasting in January on Sirius.

Now, in an attempt to imprint the Maxim name on the minds of party animals everywhere, the magazine is hooking up with Rande and Scott Gerber, they of hip club-and-bar fame, to develop Maxim-branded lounges in major cities across the country.

..."It's a very cool magazine," Mr. Gerber said. "I've been to a bunch of parties they've had. It's my clientele at those parties." The typical Maxim reader is a 27-year-old male whose favorite alcoholic beverage is tequila and whose preferred leisure activity is shooting pool.

Sounds like a real diamond in the rough. Can’t wait to see what a Maxim lounge looks like...a dumdum version of the old Playboy clubs, perhaps?

Check out the Village Voice’s great interview with Zainab Salbi, founder and president of Women for Women International. The organization was formed to provide “women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.” Most recently, Salbi has been working on bringing attention to Iraqi women and the country’s proposed constitution.

I’d suggest reading the whole article, but this quote in particular really struck me:

When you sacrifice women's rights, when you negotiate women's rights away, the entire society suffers. I am not coming at this from a strictly moral point of view; it is also very pragmatic. You need strong women—at the grass-roots level—to build a strong society. Women are the barometers.

Salbi’s conclusion seems obvious--women’s rights are important for everyone. But I think there are some folks here in the U.S. lately who could use a reminder.

I guess we're a little ring-obsessed today. The toy store that brought you the headless torso key chain is now letting you grow your own bling.

Check out the back of the "grow-a-ring" box. Not very funny, just kind of weird.

Feministe points to a Washington Times piece addressing the “sexual chaos” that is college life:

Apparently we should return to single-sex dorms and bathrooms (which colleges have mixed-sex bathrooms?), promote marriage, and have parent-led “inspector committees” to track student sexual behavior. Because it’s not like college students are legal adults or anything. And according to the Washington Times article, “date rape” is such a silly term that we should put it in quotations — unlike, say, STDs and alcohol abuse. (Emphasis added)

This is hysterical. No doubt that college can certainly be a debaucherous place, but it’s hardly the alcohol-fueled orgy that some folks envision. One theology professor quoted in the piece even calls calls college life a “sex carnival.” (Is it wrong that my brain immediately launched into a Nick Stahl fantasy?)

I hate to break this to potential members of these “inspector committees,” but the alcohol/sex relationship attributed so often to college life stays pretty much the same in your early and mid-twenties. Should we have committees for that age too? Maybe the government can hire “slut squads” to roam cities’ bar scenes, arresting people for flirting and fucking without the state’s permission. Sweet.

The engagement ring debate has been covered pretty extensively, but I had to add this into the mix. (Mostly because I really need to write about something lighthearted right now. I just spent three hours getting my car towed out of Manhattan and I’m ready to kill.)

An inventor has created a talking engagement ring. I shit you not.

Luke Jerram wanted to avoid a traditional proposal so spent three months developing a ring that would play: “I love you for ever. Marry me.”

Once it was ready, complete with a miniature record player, he took Shelina Nanji up in a hot air balloon and, while the pilot discreetly looked away, asked for her hand. She is now his fiancée.

Mr Jerram, 30, of Bristol, a Fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, hopes to find a business partner to market the ring. It was designed to mimic vinyl records because of his fascination with Thomas Edison, the American who in 1877 created the first record player.

Mr Jerram initially tried to etch his message into a wax mould but once cast in silver the words were too fuzzy. Instead he etched the message directly into the silver using a diamond stylus with 100lb of pressure — recording on vinyl takes 10lb of pressure.

For those of you who find engagement rings troubling, is there anything your ring could “say” to you that might change your mind?

Just to make it interesting (and to cheer my pathetic ass up)...the funniest engagement ring message gets a free Feministing shirt.

Via Gizmodo.

New York Times columnist John Tierney has fancied himself quite the gender expert lately. Whether it’s an article explaining What Women Want or a column using Scrabble to show how women lack The Urge to Win, Tierney seems to have all the answers when it comes to the ladies. But Tierney’s latest, Pro-Choice but Anti-Naral, takes the cake.

Apparently abortion isn’t about women at all, and if pro-choice groups were smart they would step in line real quick.

Tierney’s argument reeks of “men’s rights” paranoia and displays an unbelievable ignorance:

...Naral and other groups have worked so long to make abortion a civil rights issue, presenting it as women's fight for freedom against an oppressive patriarchy. The tactic makes for displays of solidarity like the March for Women's Lives, an occasion for denouncing male anti-abortion politicians and waving signs with that perennial slogan "If men got pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."

Are you fucking kidding me? First of all, I just love that Tierney has taken the March for Women’s Lives (which I’m willing to bet he didn’t attend) and made it about men. An occasion for denouncing male anti-abortion politicians? If I remember correctly, the “denouncements” weren’t penis-specific and the slogans were diverse. Characterizing the March for Women’s Lives as some sort of man-hating extravaganza is simply false. And stupid. Mocking feminism isn’t exactly the best way to get pro-choicers to listen to you, John.

It's true that pregnancy is a uniquely female burden and that most pro-life politicians are men - but then, so are most pro-choice politicians. There's no gender gap in opinion on the issue. Polls have long shown that men are no more hostile than women are to abortion rights. In a New York Times/CBS News Poll earlier this year, men were slightly less inclined than women to say that abortion should be outlawed.

Oh, but here’s my favorite--turns out, women will be better off without Roe.

Lauryn and Samhita are on vacation (lucky bitches!); we’ll be back after the weekend.

According to a new report from UNICEF:

About 20 percent of children in Afghanistan die before their fifth birthday, girls being particularly vulnerable.

Girls' enrollment in secondary schools are less than 10%.

Female illiteracy rates as high as 85%.

In some parts of Afghanistan, maternal death rates are as high as 6,000 per 100,000 women.

These statistics has led UNICEF to declare a state of “acute emergency” for women and children living in Afghanistan.

Feminist Ernesta Drinker Ballard died yesterday at the age of 85. She was a founding member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

She has contributed to the feminist movement in numbers of ways throughout her life, including lobbying for the equal rights amendment and fundraising for a number of female candidates. She was also a chairmember of NARAL from 1989 to 1991.

Ballard was a horticulturalist and worked for environmental causes as well.

Activists hit the streets across Asia on Wednesday calling out Japan for forcing women into sexual slavery run by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during World War II, and demanding an official apology and compensation.

The protests took place just a week before the 60th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the war. There were activists in Manila, Seoul and Taipei, as well as Osaka, Tokyo and other Japanese cities. Seoul in particular had one of the largest rallies, with a group of around 300, many of whom were former Korean sex slaves.

Historians have estimated that as many as 200,000 women, the majority of them being Korean, were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army.

While Japan has issued apologies to the women and has supposedly set up a “private fund” for compensation, the nation has just approved school textbooks that don’t mention sexual slavery during the war and have removed the term, “comfort women” altogether.

I suppose an apology justifies the lack of historical acknowledgment. (Do you sense a contradiction here?)

While Florida hasn't had the best rep with repro rights laws, it’s great to some resilience in the midst of the anti-choice madness. Only five short weeks after a Florida abortion clinic was set afire, the Presidential Women’s Center was reopened on Wednesday.

"There was never a doubt that we were not going to go forward and rebuild the center," said the center's director, Mona Reis. "Literally hours after we were able to come into the office, we had contractors and hired a cleanup company."

This is the second clinic in Florida that has been a victim of arson this year. Both cases are presently under investigation.

The Chicago Tribune had an article yesterday on how the killings of hundreds of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico has caught the eye of a number of Hollywood screenwriters.

Now there’s a number of movies currently being filmed starring actors such as Jennifer Lopez, Antonio Banderas and Minnie Driver. Coincidentally, all three are to play U.S. journalists who are sent to Mexico to investigate the slayings.

There has (understandably) been much cynicism from local activists concerning the context of the films. "Where were these journalists when the killings started?" said activist Victoria Caraveo. "If it hadn't been for the mothers, who keep demanding justice, the situation here would still be ignored."

Even the title of the flick with Driver is appalling enough, as “The Virgin of Juarez.” This title reminds me of initial presumption by Mexican authorities that the women murdered were sex workers (or just plain promiscuous), and deemed unworthy of attention. It wasn’t until they discovered that most of the women were working late shifts at maquiladoras (U.S., Japanese, and European-owned industrial labor factories) that they were deemed “off the hook” as untainted vestals and the killings were given recognition.

Additionally, the majority of these films-in-progress have not approached any of the victims’ families for research purposes. "Anyone thinks they can film a movie or make a song or a soap opera about our daughters," said Rosaura Montanez, whose 19-year-old daughter was raped and killed in 1995. "It seems our daughters died so these people would have material for their songs and movies. It's just not fair."

Don’t get me wrong, the injustice of these killings must be acknowledged and the more activism, the better. Yet considering what we know already about these upcoming flicks, I wouldn’t be surprised if these horrifying crimes were exploited as just another way of decivilizing another country to make the U.S. look all the more glorious and good.

Click here for more posts on the Juarez murders.

Women's eNews recently reported on a new trend in state legislatures: imposing a "Vanity Tax."

Vanity tax, like sales tax, is a surcharge imposed by the government on cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections, breast implants, nose jobs and tummy tucks. The idea behind the charge is to raise money for other, more "noble" political initiatives. For example, in Washington State, the cosmetic surgery tax was proposed to restore cuts in children's health services. The same initiative in Illinois aims at funding stem cell research.

Here's the deal: most people getting plastic surgery are women. Consequently, some worry that this law is discriminatory and sexist.

How do you feel about this? Rumor is that it's been a hard issue for feminists. Obviously, we reject any law that is unfairly burdensome to women. But do we really want to go to bat for the plastic surgery lobby, when its role is to reinforce some unattainable ideal? Kim Gandy, President of NOW, said it well:

"I'm not for any tax that disproportionately affects women..but it's a sad commentary on our society that such a large percentage of women feel the pressure to look a certain way and that 86 percent of people getting cosmetic surgery are women. It's not the taxes that bother me as much as the procedures themselves."

What do y'all think?

Media Girl on the glorious metaphor of padlocked testicles.

Feministe calls out Tucker Carlson for supporting terrorism.

Brutal Woman explores “Girl Crushes,” (or “I swear-I’m-not-gay” crushes.)

Stone Court looks into Sexism and Sports Broadcasting.

And Rox Populi inspires a girl crush with her honest question:

If 65% of Americans support Roe v Wade, who's doing more damage to the Democratic Party:

* Groups that support choice?
* Bloggers who continue to marginalize choice?

Teen, women's magazines now featuring females of all shapes and sizes

Lots of talk, minimal action.

This just makes me so sick.

A group called Project Prevention is doing it’s damage in Philly and the local paper is giving them somewhat-friendly press.

I heard about this “organization” about five years ago when I was interning at Ms. magazine. Except back then they were called C.R.A.C.K. (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) and everyone knew what a bunch of racist assholes they were. I guess folks need a reminder.

Project Prevention (a much friendlier name) pays women drug addicts to get long-term birth control and surgical sterilization. Outside of how disgusting that is on its face--let’s just sterilize women, not get them treatment--the group’s blatant racist and classist tactics make them beyond reprehensible.

Fuck, they used to put up billboards in poor black neighborhoods that said things like, “Addicted to Drugs? Want $200?” One of their other strategies is to approach women in soup kitchens. I wonder how many billboards went up in rich white areas where women are snorting coke at their kid's birthday party or popping Xanax like Tic Tacs.

Barbara Harris, the organization’s founder, is the Queen Bee of bigotry. Check out this quote where she compares her clients to animals:

"We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children."

Wyndi Anderson at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women says (via email) that “CRACK relies on the same economic arguments to support their program as were used to justify eugenics sterilization in the United States and Nazi Germany.” She points out that there are real solutions to help women:

"There are things we can do to help women and families. Make sure that when a woman asks for help she can get it. Too often women and other people seeking help for addictions are put on waiting lists, told to come back later, given a referral to a program that will not in fact take them, or told that they are ineligible because they do not have the right kind of insurance. Make sure that women with drug problems are treated the same as other patients."

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Box 41705
Philadelphia, PA
19101
FAX: 215-854-4483
Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com

Further to Lauryn's post, check out today's NY Daily News op-ed page. The president of the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq wrote a piece reminding us how crucial the next few days will be for the women of Iraq.

As Lauryn explained, the danger is the implementation of an Iraqi Constitution that references Islam as THE source of legislation, not A source of legislation. The imposition of religious-based laws, under some Islamic sectors, could be horribe for Iraqi women, who make up about 60% of the country's population. According to today's op-ed, here are some of the scenarios possible if Islamic law alone rules Iraq:

*Once a wife is divorced she has to leave her house with possibly no place to go.
*Certain Islamic sectors allow for the marriage of girls as young as 9.
*Some interpretations allow for a guardian to force marriage on a girl against her will.
*Some sectors mandate that a mother loses custody of a male child when he reaches the age of 2 and a female child when she turns 7. The children then remain in the father's custody or with his immediate family.

Finally, to clarify, Iraqi women are not opposing the idea of Islam as one source of influence in the constitution. They simply feel that Islam should be one among many sources to prevent the dangerous application of law by "unaccountable clerics." (Right on -- we all know how it feels to be at the mercy of a national Court).

We'll keep you posted as the Constitution takes shape.

I have so much to say on the NARAL/Kos debacle yesterday, but I still need to get my thoughts together (and my cursing habit down) before I respond fully. I would like to point one thing out however.

Kos’ post revealed a lot more than his feelings on NARAL; it made clear how he feels about women’s rights in general.

Asshole alert out of Cincinnati.

Republican mayoral candidate Charlie Winburn began the work of energizing his "base" 16 years ago.

As the new pastor of a small church then known as Ridge Acres Christian Center, Winburn wrote a religious tract titled "Ruling and Reigning in the '90s." In a 250-word passage on the political system, he said it was the job of Christians to "elect only born-again Christians to public office."

...Women's groups said other statements in Winburn's book - that a wife "must be taught what her boundaries are" - make the College Hill preacher unfit to be mayor.

Love it.

An expression of disbelief was clearly visible on the face of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang when about 15 women decided to keep abreast of things and celebrate Women's Day in Pretoria topless.

The women, who work for a cleaning and laundry business in Rosslyn that does work for, among others, state hospitals, sent their tops flying in protest against sexual harassment at their place of work and their conditions of service.

This was shortly before Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa was to deliver his address in front of about 10,000 people, most of them women, at the Union Buildings.

Leader of the group, Violet Mmut of Masakhane Laundry and Cookfreeze Services, took off her top where she was standing right in front of the stage. About 14 other women followed her example.

One day into the news cycle on Jeanine Pirro's challenge to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, and already some predictably sexist language:

"Hard-charging prosecutor Jeanine Pirro announced plans yesterday to run against U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and wasted no time baring her claws - accusing the former First Lady of using New York to pave her return to the White House." --New York Daily News

"Woman Prosecutor to Challenge Clinton for NY Senate" --Reuters (emphasis mine)

"In People, Pirro said her mother had taught her the importance of looking good in politics. "A woman needs to be put together more than a man," she said. "If she isn't, she looks like she's not up for the job. There's a different standard. Those are the rules, and I have to live by them." --Reuters

(Maybe instead of an election we could just have a slap-fest. Hot 97 could officiate.)

The New York Times has the right response in an editorial today:

And another caveat: it would be nice if everyone could agree right now not to characterize the race as a "catfight." This is not the first time two strong women have competed for a top political job or even a United States Senate seat. Washington State and Louisiana come to mind as states that broke that ice long ago. In a place as theoretically advanced as New York, having two female candidates should be very stale news.

I have to say that, even though it should be commonplace by now, it's still great to see a race in which both candidates are pro-choice women. NARAL gave each a 100 percent rating on choice in her previous campaign. But after Clinton's "common ground" and Pirro's recent flip-flop, pro-choicers are going to have to hold their feet to the fire.

From Reuters:

Three Irish women are taking Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights for preventing them having abortions in the country.

The case is part of a campaign by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) to make abortion safe and legal in Ireland. Abortion is outlawed in the mainly Catholic country except in cases where the mother's life could be in danger without it.

However, women are permitted to travel outside Ireland for abortions. IFPA says 6,000 women travel to Britain every year to terminate their pregnancies.

I have a new favorite online store, Like Minded People. They’re a independently run shirt company who aims “to provide folks out in the world with conscious messages and imagery as an alternative to much of the emptiness being produced today.”

Their shirt selection (for women, men, and kiddies) is awesome. I’m particularly a fan of their [not] Other shirt.

The producers of Mona Lisa Smile (which dealt with young women/stereotypes in the 1950s) have been accused of discriminating against 19 female musicians who were paid less than their male counterparts. Lovely.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday that the producers--Revolution Studios and Smile Productions LLC--agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing them of paying their female musicians less than men for the same work.

The settlement, in which the producers did not admit wrongdoing, called for a payout of $3,500 to each of the female musicians, for a total of $66,500.

...Stella N. Yamada, an EEOC trial attorney, said the case drew the agency's attention to the entertainment industry, where workers such as musicians might work just three days, as did the women who worked on the score for "Mona Lisa Smile."

"It is so ironic," Yamada said of the allegations involving a movie that focused on the ability of women to stand up for their rights.

DailyKos has taken issue with this post on BushvChoice, which called on pro-choicers to make their presence known in the comments threads of the major liberal blogs.

As Kos seemed to read it, the post was declaring war on lefty bloggers and, by proxy, the Democratic party. Not so. It was simply calling on pro-choicers to speak up.

Why is it so hard for the heavyweights of the liberal blogosphere to undersand that, for many of us, choice is not something that "gets in the way" of more important Democratic party platform issues. It is the number one issue.

Sure, the Democrats are better than the Republicans on choice. But when Howard Dean is snuggled up with Democrats for Life and the party backs an anti-choice minority leader, forgive me if I'm not swooning in adoration.

I definitely don't think NARAL should be endorsing pro-choice Republicans who are running against pro-choice Democrats. Their strategy should also be focused on holding pro-choice Republicans (and Democrats) to their word. If Lincoln Chafee votes the wrong way, NARAL needs to pull their support. And be vocal about it.

But the underlying problem here is not NARAL endorsing pro-choice Republicans. The problem is the Democratic party's creep toward the center on reproductive rights. If Democrats want the support of the pro-choice movement, they have to earn it.

Pfizer--maker of the infamous Viagra--has just patented a drug for premature climax. For women.

The Pfizer patent says that “whilst anorgasmia and difficulties with orgasm are well-represented in the female sexual dysfunction literature, rapid orgasm - a female problem sharing components with premature ejaculation in men - is notable by its absence.”

Seems to me that Pfizer is pathologizing something that many women would desire. Am I wrong on this one? Is this a sexual problem that women are just not talking about?

Congratulations to Elissa Steamer who took the gold in the Skateboard Street Women’s final at the X Games 11 on Friday.

The 30-year old Florida native was the oldest competitor in the eight-person field, and is said to have profoundly redefined the role of women in the male-dominated sport.

You should also check out the magazine that released this news, SG. It’s covers all of the newest updates and trends in the world of women’s surfing, skating, and snowboarding. (In other words, all the cool girl sports.)

Skate on, Elissa!

How classy. A New York radio station that sponsored “smackfest” contests in which young women took turns slapping each other has agreed to pay $240,000 in fines.

WQHT (Hot 97 to NY locals), owned by Emmis Communications Corp., also agreed to donate $60,000 to a nonprofit working on domestic violence and to run anti-violence programming.

So what’s worse--these smackfests or the Pimp My Ride radio contest in Texas where men submitted their girlfriends to win some “bodywork.”

Check out BushvChoice for the latest:

Bush administration says NH parental notification law constitutional

Over-the-counter access for EC on the way?

Everyone’s favorite podcast on gender issues is back in the game. After a brief hiatus, Sex Talk has returned with a kick-ass new show.

Sex Talk creator Rebel Dad talks about the future of the show, the Roberts nomination, and some of the news you may have missed because of Roberts-fever.

Ahem, there is also an interview with me on VAWA and emergency contraception woes in New York and Massachusetts.

Make sure to check it out and show your support.

You may have noticed that we just made a small addition to our sidebar. Now you can search for jobs dealing with women’s issues by state through Idealist. We’re planning to add another field for international searches in the next few days.

So get moving and get a damn job!

Don’t ask, just read.

For years, Howard White has advertised his strip club near Los Angeles International Airport with a not too subtle marquee reading "Live Nude Nude Nudes." But some tourists and nearby businesses say White has gone too far with his latest pitch for the Century Lounge: a freshly posted sign proclaiming "Vaginas R' Us."

"We don't appreciate the signage and we're working with the city to make sure this establishment is adhering to all codes," said Laurie Hughes, executive director of Gateway to L.A., an association that promotes businesses along Century Boulevard just east of the airport.

White, who posted the new sign Tuesday, says he's simply advertising his business.

"In a sort of a naive way, I felt that there was nothing terrible about it since the 'Vagina Monologues' was on Broadway forever," White said. "I didn't feel there was anything terrible about it."

Los Angeles city officials say White's sign doesn't break the law.

"The word 'vagina' is not an obscene word and we're not in a position to question the First Amendment," said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes the airport area.

Well it’s nice to know that that the word ‘vagina’ isn’t considered obscene, too bad actual vaginas so often are.

Despite their we-swear-vaginas-are-great attitude, the business association is taking another route to get the sign taken down: they’ve contacted Toys R Us, “which aggressively defends its trademark name.”

This is pretty cool:

Ford Racing has joined forces with Clorox and ST Motorsports to create the Clorox/Ford Racing Female Driver Development Program, the first time a corporate sponsor and manufacturer have worked together to develop young, diverse talent.

This multi-year commitment, announced here today at Lyn St. James' "Women in the Winner's Circle" luncheon, is designed to develop a driver in USAC and graduate her to a NASCAR Busch Series team campaigned by ST Motorsports.

"Ford's customer base is diverse, and its driver roster should be diverse, too," said Dan Davis, director, Ford Racing Technology...

Alison MacLeod of Ontario, Canada, who two weeks ago scored her first career USAC Ford Focus Midget Series victory, and Destiney Hays of California are the first two drivers selected to participate in the program...

Now if we could just do something about the whiteness factor...

NARAL Pro-Choice America launched a national television ad campaign today that draws attention to John Roberts' association with some less than desirable folks. You know, the kind that bomb clinics.

Make sure to check it out and pass it on.

Now here’s a product I can get behind.

The Trident triple action personal attack alarm is pretty bad-ass. This tiny alarm sends out a 138 decibel alarm blast, combined with cloud of very nasty smelling something or other and an invisible tracer cloud. The tracer cloud sticks to the attacker’s skin and can seen under ultra violet light for up to seven days. Wow.

I think this kind of alarm is better than your average pepper spray that could potentially used against you. Any thoughts on personal safety devices? Recommendations?

Via Travelizmo.

Note: While the alarm seems to be out of stock from the place Travelizmo found it, a Google search reveals plenty of other places to purchase.

Yet another riveting study.

A new study from Tulane University says that women who “emphasize” their sexuality at work get fewer raises and promotions. Can’t wait to see where this one is going...

From USA Today:

In the first study to make plain the negative consequences of such behavior, 49% of 164 female MBA graduates said in a survey that they have tried to advance in their careers by sometimes engaging in at least one of 10 sexual behaviors, including crossing their legs provocatively or leaning over a table to let men look down their shirts.

The other half said they never engaged in such activity, and those women have earned an average of three promotions, vs. two for the group that had employed sexuality. Those who said they never used sexuality were, on average, in the $75,000-$100,000 income range; the others fell, on average, in the next-lowest range, $50,000 to $75,000.

The women in the study ranged in age from their mid-20s to 60. The average woman was 43 and had received an MBA 12 years ago.

But when you look at the 10 statements women responded to in the study, some of the actions described don’t seem like women emphasizing their sexuality as much as seems like women acting like weird harassers.

The people have spoken. And out of all the weird, gross, misogynist and just plan terrifying products we showed you, the headless woman toilet had a special place in your hearts. I guess there’s something about a dismembered woman’s body being shit on that just doesn’t sit well with you guys. Can’t imagine why.

The transparent pregnant torso key chain came in a close second. Christine at ms. musings did a little digging and found out some are touting the key chain as a potential learning device:

We hope you are not offended by the, uh, undressed nature of this key chain. If anything, we consider it EDUCATIONAL! It's a great way to teach your kids about the "birds and the bees" without taking off your own clothes.
(Um, what kind of fucked up parents did this copy writer have?)

Thanks to all for participating! And if you come across any contest-worthy products, send them our way so we can gear up for Most Disturbing Product Poll, Round 2. I promise by then I’ll have come up with a better name.

It looks like a new study conducted by the University of Sheffield has determined that it’s biologically more difficult for men to listen and process information from women’s voices than men’s.

Titles of the articles that covered the story ranged from “Men’s brains not ‘wired’ to listen to women talk’ to “Can’t hear you dear...blame my brain.”

The study showed that men decipher female voices using the auditory section of the brain that processes music, partly because women’s voices have more of a natural “melody.” That’s right, us lasses are all just regular Julie Andrews’!

In comparison, when a male hears another male’s voice, he processes it from the section of the brain called the “mind’s eye”. You know, the important part.

One article blatantly says that the study will be “of use to neglectful males in trouble with their partners.” Because they can’t help it ladies, they’re not supposed to listen to you! It’s a part of their manhood!

NARAL Pro-Choice America is calling pro-choice Americans to action on August 27th to have “Choose Justice House Parties” to mobilize people against John Roberts’ serious danger to reproductive rights as a Supreme Court Justice nominee.

All you have to do is invite 15-30 friends over for some cocktails, a barbecue or potluck (or all three!) for a shindig, set some time aside to talk about the nominee and take some action. You can even drunk dial your senators! NARAL’s part will be to help you:

-Sway the Senate by generating petitions and letters about John Roberts' anti-choice record 

-Fund the fight by asking guests who can to make a gift of $15 (optional, of course)

-Spread the word through letters to the editor, speaking out through local media, and of course keeping a dialogue going with friends and family

-Dial in to a national conference call on August 27th at 8pm EST with NARAL Pro-Choice America's President Nancy Keenan 

Good times for a good cause! Click here to sign up.

Check out the L.A. Times article about the latest controversy surrounding Proposition 73 -- a California November ballot initiative that would require parental notification for minors to access an abortion.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Sacramento County Superior Court, claims that information submitted for the official voter ballot pamphlet was "false or misleading" and requested judicial intervention. One hotly contested issue is proponents' assertion that "parental notification laws in other states have cut pregnancy and abortion rates among teens and that they have done so without causing them danger and harm." Ummmm -- yeah, right.

Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, the *much* bigger standoff will clearly come in November. Right now, many believe that the initiative will succeed. A Field Poll in June found that 48% of California voters favored Proposition 73 and 42% opposed it. (sigh).

Visit NARAL Pro-Choice California to learn more about Proposition 73 and what you can do to oppose it.

To the Editor:

Katha Pollitt

Tomorrow, leaders of major political parties in the Iraqi Transitional National Assembly and the members of the Constitution Drafting Committee will begin debating Iraq's draft constitution.

One major issue on the table -- how to integrate women's rights into the Iraqi Constitution. Many women's rights groups have taken issue with a Constitutional reference to Islam as *the source* of legislation not *a source* of legislation. Manal Omar, regional representative in Iraq of Women for Women International, explains that, "Many women are not against Islamic law in the Constitution, but feel that safeguards need to be put in place with regard to interpretations and applications of an overarching Islamic Shariah." Some women fear that that Shariah law could have a negative impact on a woman's inheritance, ability to divorce, etc.

Hopefully over the next ten days the Iraqi assembly will recognize that 93% of Iraqi women want their legal rights secured in the new constitution, but I'm not holding my breath. Click here to learn more on the constitutional campaign.

There was a really interesting article in the Los Angeles Times a couple of days ago on the skin-whitening craze that’s been occurring within much of Asian-American culture as of late.

Women are the target, and they are going to great lengths to be as pale as possible, whether it’s by using whitening creams or actual medical procedures.

While skin-whitening products have been popular in Asia for decades, the U.S. has recently picked up on its potential within the past four years, and is now a multimillion-dollar industry.

The belief is that a porcelain-white face is the feminine ideal, as well as represents wealth.

One native of China, Qi, compared it to Western women’s obsession with tanning. "When you see darker, you think they are very rich. They have a boat. They have enough time to go to the beach."

While some may say it's that simple, there seems to be much deeper sexist and racist implications going on here. What do ya'll think?

A silly new German handbook has recently been released in order to “bridge the gap” between the sexes’ communication barriers.

The book explains to the female readers that what men say is not necessarily what they mean, and lists a number of “translations” for men’s apparent “real” language:

When out shopping, ‘that doesn't suit you’ means ‘it is too expensive’, and ‘buy that one’ means ‘I want to go home.’

The authors also list the top ten questions women should never ask men, like “Would you still love me if I was fatter and uglier?”, “Why do you love me?”, and “What are you thinking?”

Because of course, men can’t understand the "logic behind" those questions.

It looks like Queen Latifah has got her work cut out for her as of late. Not only is she touring in concert for the first time in eight years, but has launched her own feminist campaign, Project Confidence, mobilizing women across the country.

She’s been touring across the nation with the Sugar Water Festival all summer, which is an all-female showcase of hip-hop, rap, R&B and jazz artists, including Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Floetry. Her new album, The Dana Owens Album, is close to platinum.

Project Confidence is a campaign intended to recognize inspirational women across the nation who have invoked confidence in other women’s lives. The Project Confidence Awards is sponsored by Curvation, a clothing line for full-figured women. Latifah will be on the panel of judges, who will award a number of nominees with prizes and acknowledgment for their work.

Glad to see she’s still pushing for U-N-I-T-Y. She ends every concert this summer with the Grammy-winning song. "I think UNITY is one of the strongest records I've ever written and performed that embodies my views on things.”

This is one regal lady I would roll out a red carpet for.

While we have been expecting this for some time, 'tis still a sad day for New Yorkers. Despite the multiple rallies across the state yesterday in protest, Governor George Pataki has succeeded in vetoing legislation that would have allowed emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter to women of all ages.

While Pataki has always been a supporter of reproductive and LGBT rights, many feel -- like Kelli Conlin of NARAL Pro-Choice New York -- that this particular decision was "driven by politics," specifically in regards to the 2008 presidential elections. Ya think?

"We can do better," said Pataki, and is claiming he will will find an alternative bill that can be signed.

In the meantime, the young women without access will be much better off having an abortion without their parents� consent or better yet, becoming teen mothers.

Nice job, George!

You think your boss is an asshole? Guaranteed not as much as April Thompson does.

Because of various health issues, April Thompson said she had reason to believe she might never have a child.

When she got pregnant, the joy she wanted to share with her employer quickly turned sour when, she said, her boss demanded that she get an abortion or risk losing her job.

Thompson's attorney, Ed Buckley, said the woman eventually was fired by Piedmont Management Associates, a homeowners association management firm, for refusing to get the abortion.

Thompson recently filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court against the company and its president, Celia Ebert, on grounds of discrimination and emotional duress. "We believe that the conduct of forcing a women to get an abortion falls into intentional infliction of emotional distress," Buckley said.

According to the lawsuit, Thompson had endometriosis and was considering a hysterectomy. After seeking a second opinion from a fertility doctor she decided on laparoscopy surgery instead. Apparently once Thompson’s boss found out she was seeing a fertility doc, she freaked and told her she was “worried that she was trying to get pregnant.”

Ebert allegedly went on to say, “If you get pregnant, you will have to move because I am not putting up with any babies around here and you also won't have a job,...The guys and I do not even hire single mothers because of the problems. I know you have some great delusion that you will be a great mother, but you won't — you can't even take care of your dog.” Nice, huh?

In a later medical appointment, Thompson found out she was pregnant and that’s when Ebert allegedly demanded she get an abortion. Sounds like a real nice place to work.

You gots to love Women’s Entertainment. According to a recent poll conducted by the network, most women consider Paris Hilton to encompass all of the traits that an “American Princess” should have.

Hilton received 48 percent of the votes in the poll taken by 1,000 U.S. women, with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg as runner up. WE also (not embarrassingly) reported that when Hilton was told about her honorary title, she replied “That’s hot!” Could this be any sadder?

The answer is yes, for this royalty rage doesn’t end there. WE's new reality series, “American Princess,” has twenty young women compete to see who can become the most "regal" within a certain amount of time. With our apparent views on royalty, I wonder what that will include, perhaps Pornography and Prada 101?

Shopping sprees actually are included in the show, as well as a handfull of experts who will teach the girls how to behave like “proper ladies.” (Who knows what that will entail.) The reigning young lass will be given a British title, $50,000, and will get to wear a disgustingly expensive tiara for about ten minutes.

This reminds me of our previous post on young girls’ obsession with everything “princess.” What a fantastic new idol to dote on. Fuck Sleeping Beauty, Princess Paris is here! Sigh.

We’ve featured some creepy-ass products on Feministing in the past (like the "girlfriend lap pillow" above), but now you get to revel in all of their disturbing glory in just one post.

The nominees are listed after the jump, so vote away. We’ll announce the winner in a couple of days.

P.S. My vote goes to the Vaginal Cleansing Film

From the UK’s Telegraph:

Women are not the only ones who prefer sex in the dark

Even better is the lead sentence...

A study of badgers' mating habits has found that, like many women, they prefer to have sex in the dark.

Huh. How scientific.

A complaint was recently filed against Ohio State University for their treatment of a victim of rape on campus. In Jane Doe vs. The Ohio State University, the victim claims that Jeremy Goldstein, a male student enrolled at the school, sexually assaulted, molested and raped her. Nineteen days earlier, the complaint alleges, Goldstein had allegedly raped another female student. Despite rules and regulations that required OSU to remove Mr. Goldstein from campus property pending further investigation, Jeremy Goldstein was neither suspended nor removed from university grounds and, thus, was in position to commit the brutal rape upon Jane Doe.

Women from all the Big Ten schools are trying to do something about this. And luckily, this story is garnering some national attention. There's a Dateline piece featuring the case and discussing the way colleges handle sexual assault -- it's running in the fall and we'll let you know when/how you can see it. There will also be an article in Good Housekeeping in September. Keep an eye out.

In the meantime, if you've ever successfully lobbied your college for better treatment of sexual assault victims, we could use your advice. Post a comment here, or contact WARR - Women and Allies Rising in Resistance -- at OSU.

To update on all the pro-women election activism (and anti-activism) surrounding the September 18th election in Afghanistan, Afghani women will continue to run for election, despite consistent attempts to thwart their efforts.

Feminist Majority Foundation comments...

In Logar province, one female candidates door was set on fire, while in Helmand province, letters offering a US $4,000 reward for killing female candidates were given out...

Some 237 women are running for seats on provincial councils, which will then appoint one-third of the seats in the upper house of parliament. Only 12 percent of candidates for the lower house of parliament are women, though 27 percent of seats in that body are reserved for women.

Yikes.

The Federal Government has condemned the practice of sending girls overseas for arranged marriages.

The Foreign Affairs Department has confirmed that 12 girls, younger than 18, have approached the Australian embassy in Beirut asking for help after being sent to Lebanon.

The girls had no idea that when going to Lebanon, where the legal marrying age is 16, that they would be forced into marriage. These girls have made appeals in the last two years to be rescued from their already arranged marriages.

My parents used to threaten some shit like this (kinda as a [bad] joke)...but I can't even imagine if I had been forced to do it.

Check out this commentary on Pacific News Service discussing the complicated, yet clear, role of Condoleezza in the eyes of African American and African women world-wide.

For many African Americans and African women, who take pride in Rice's international stature, her trip to Senegal and Sudan was too little and too long in coming, reflecting perhaps a lack of concern. Others bask in the glory of one of their own being in such a powerful position.

In Ekine's view, U.S. support of multinationals in Africa is eroding the livelihoods of many black women. And that, she says, means that the cons of Rice's foreign policy agenda outweigh the pros of her attaining one of the highest roosts in international politics.

Interesting. On the other hand...

Aissato Bey has a very different view.

"Airing our dirty laundry is not our way. The media is already saturated with negative images of us so why should we give them more reason to distort our image."

We discussed this a while ago, but in light of the new attention being put to the "situation" in Africa, what do we think?

Talk about a horrible story:

Prosecutors have dropped rape charges filed against two women, including a former Smith College student, who were accused of handcuffing and raping another student and slashing her with knives.

Rachel Ann Klobertanz, 23, and Augusta Claire Kendall, 22, both pleaded innocent in January to aggravated rape and assault charges.

Kendall was a student at the elite women's college at the time of her arrest.

The woman who made the accusation lives out of state and would not voluntarily testify, so the judge dismissed the charges on Monday, according to the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors had said the three women met at a downtown Northampton bar on Jan. 14. They went back to Klobertanz and Kendall's apartment, where they drank champagne and engaged in sex that allegedly began as consensual but ended as rape.

When I volunteered as a counselor for rape and domestic violence survivors, the lack of resources for gay and lesbian victims was pretty shocking. Here are some stats.

Does anyone know of any national resources for victims of same-sex violence? I could only find local numbers and centers.

The Chicago Tribune has a half-assed assessment of the "breadth" of modern feminism. They use three examples to represent the spectrum of feminist organizations: Concerned Women for America ("bringing Biblical principles to public policy"), Feminists for Life ("Refuse to Choose"), and the Feminist Majority ("working for women's equality").

The Tribune took up the topic presumably because Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' wife is counsel to Feminists for Life. (Ellen Goodman turned in a good column on this subject.)

So I'll take the article's bait: Is there such thing as an anti-choice feminist? Not by my definition of feminism. I think you can be personally against abortion and still support other women's right to choose, and therefore still be a feminist. I'll also say it's not in feminists' best interest to alienate people who are not pro-choice but can be allies on other causes (like the Violence Against Women Act, which Feminists for Life supports).

But to me (someone who was not a gender studies major) reproductive choice is central to women's full participation in society. Feminism is also about recognizing the intersection of many issues that affect women. So while I don't object to anti-choicers like Feminists for Life calling themselves feminists, I also find it hard to stomach that they refuse to take a position on key issues beyond Roe v. Wade, such as Title IX, access to contraception and same-sex marriage. They fail to notice that supposed "pro-life" political leaders are not rushing to enact policies to support mothers by ensuring affordable child care, paid family leave, access to health care.

So what's with Feminists for Life's tagline, "Refuse to Choose"? Feminism is all about freedom to choose, and not just when it comes to abortion.

Turns out Roberts isn't such a fan of privacy rights.

Find out more at BushvChoice.

Eww.

A German company is looking to cash in on an expected boom in the sex trade during next year's soccer World Cup with a 60-room brothel a walk away from Berlin's Olympic Stadium, German media reported on Friday.

Named after the virgin huntress of Greek mythology, the "Artemis" complex is due to open for business in September with whirlpool, sauna,cinema, buffet restaurant and a staff of 100 prostitutes, mass circulation daily Bild reported.

...Prostitution is legal in Germany in designated areas. Dortmund, one of 11 other cities to host World Cup matches, has said it will install drive-in wooden "sex garages" in time for the tournament in a bid to keep the trade off the streets.

BBC News has a series on young people in the Middle East; check out their newest section on younger women in Dubai:

Despite the high levels of education achieved by women in the UAE, the ratio of female to male participation in the workforce remains low.

15% of UAE workforce is female

They even feature several women and the work they’re doing...interesting stuff.

From The Mercury News:

The California Supreme Court on Monday added considerable legal clout to the state's new domestic partner protections, concluding that private country clubs must treat same-sex partners the same as married couples.

The decision came in one of a series of gay rights cases that are serving as a prelude to the historic legal showdown over whether California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a matter that could be heard by the Supreme Court by the end of this year. The justices ruled that a San Diego country club violated California civil rights laws by refusing a spousal discount to a lesbian couple that it extends to married members.

While the ruling did not tip the court's hand in how it will view the gay marriage issue, the justices made it clear that the domestic partner law was intended to offer the same legal protections that married couples enjoy. The decision could now give registered domestic partners stronger protections with a host of businesses, from mortgage lenders to health clubs.

Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades is a new quarterly online and print bilingual zine dedicated to bringing to light women’s (and men’s) abortion experiences.

I’m looking forward to getting my print copy of the zine, but I have to say the online version is pretty cool.

The magazine seeks to reduce the stigma surrounding abortion in order to improve the physical, emotional and spiritual health and wellbeing of all people and strengthen their capacity to reach their highest potential.

While we welcome all voices we strive to focus on the experiences of young people and people of color, since we know that in many cases they are the most marginalized from the mainstream pro-choice movement and that they often have fewer opportunities to see their abortion experiences reflected in public spaces.

This is great. An Israeli playwright has just created a one-man show--The Holy Penis--in response to the success of The Vagina Monologues. I always thought guys talked about their penises quite enough, but I guess one more play about genitalia can’t hurt.

Rafael Milo-Amar said on Tuesday that his one-man show, "The Holy Phallus", was inspired by a disparaging remark one of the Israeli actresses in the local production of Eve Ensler's celebrated play had made about the male member.

"She said there was nothing to say about the penis. I told myself, 'I have something to tell her about the penis'," Milo-Amar told the Jerusalem Post.

I'd actually be really interested to see this, it is described as an "extended monologue touching on rape, passion, handicaps, homosexuality and loneliness."

Another gem from Pennsylvania whack-job Rick Santorum: Birth control is harmful to women and society.

So, why is contraception so bad?
"It goes down the line of being able to do what you want to do without having the responsibility that comes with that."

In other words, using contraception = not taking responsibility. Riiight.

Plus, it's not like married or monogamous couples use birth control. It's only wild feminist harlots:
"It's harmful ... to have a society that says sex outside of marriage should be encouraged or tolerated. Birth control encourages that."

I guess if "It Take a Family," rejecting birth control is a pretty good way to get one.

Via Echidne.

Not so unbelievable, but goddamn is this annoying:

President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and "intelligent design" yesterday, saying schools should teach both on the origins and complexity of life.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters, Bush essentially endorsed efforts by Christian conservatives to give intelligent design equal standing with evolution in the nation's schools.

Proponents of intelligent design suggest that the complexity of life forms cannot be explained by evolutionary theory alone but rather points to intentional creation, presumably divine.

...Bush, who is to leave today for a monthlong stay at his Texas ranch, compared the current debate to earlier disputes over "creationism," a related view that adheres more closely to biblical explanations. As governor of Texas, Bush said students should be exposed to both creationism and evolution.

..."I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said.

Well, I guess I won’t be moving to Kansas anytime soon.

Looks like someone has a little crush on us. You know boys, you could have just sent flowers.

A new study published yesterday in Obstetrics & Gynecology says that most women who get a hysterectomy should keep their ovaries. Sounds like common sense to me, but apparently this conclusion is pretty provocative in the gyno world:

Some 615,000 hysterectomies -- the surgical removal of all or part of the uterus -- are performed every year. Ninety percent of them are for noncancerous reasons. More than half of those women also get their ovaries removed not because the ovaries are diseased but as a protective measure against developing ovarian cancer in the future.

Ovary removal, or oophorectomy, has been deemed protective for women at high risk of ovarian cancer because they harbor cancer-causing genes or have a family history of the disease.

There is no evidence about whether ovary removal benefits other women, who make up a majority of these surgeries, said Dr. William H. Parker of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yet most gynecologists consider a protective oophorectomy standard for any women having her uterus removed after age 45, he said.

The thinking is that with childbearing over, menopause imminent, and ovarian cancer particularly deadly because there is no way to screen for it, it is best to catch it early. If the ovaries are removed, so is that concern.

The problem is, researchers say, is that even after women go through menopause their ovaries continue to produce small amounts of hormones. The sudden loss of those hormones could be more detrimental than most women’s relatively low risk for ovarian cancer. The study showed that removal of women’s ovaries didn’t show a benefit at any age, and for women whose ovaries were removed before they were 65, an oophorectomy could increase the risk of dying from heart disease.

I love the knife happy if-you-don’t-use-it-lose-it mentality that so many doctors seem to have when it comes to women’s bodies. Who cares if there’s nothing wrong with your ovaries? If you’re not making any more babies, let’s just snip those pesky things off. I wonder how many sterile men would go for something similar?

Related: Natalie Angier in her book Woman: An Intimate Geography has some great insight into this disturbing medical trend.

Yeah, yeah...I know I mentioned BushvChoice already. I don’t care. The guest-blogging extravaganza has come to an end over there, and the posts are a really great collection of repro rights writing. So go check it out and comment away--it seems the introduction of TypeKey is scaring off the regulars.

BushvChoice’s lovely guest bloggers included...

Dr. B, More on the Culture of Li(f)e(s)

Amanda at Pandagon, Thank god we don't have to pretend we're in this to save babies anymore

Alas a Blog’s Ampersand, How They Could Destroy Roe Without Overturning It

Echidne of the Snakes, Pataki and Romney play games with women's lives

Bill Scher of LiberalOasis, Roberts Threatens “The Life And Health Of The Mother”

Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has finally reversed the decline of tenured job offers to women. The lowering number of offers to women since Lawrence Summers took over the helm at Harvard became a point of controversy after the university president’s remarks on women in math and science fields.

Of the 33 offers of tenured jobs made during the academic year just concluded, nine were to women, or 27 percent. During the previous year, only four of 32 tenured offers, or 13 percent, went to women.

...Harvard is now in the process of establishing new mechanisms to aid the recruitment of women. For example, a new senior vice provost for diversity will advise the president and provost in the tenure process, and the university plans to create a training program to teach professors involved in faculty searches about research indicating that even well-meaning people can harbor hidden biases against women and minorities.

I’m certainly pleased that Harvard is taking steps to improve the situation for women, but knowing that the sentiment behind it is more about PR than anything else makes it difficult to get super excited.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' first-ever report on sexual assault and rape in U.S. prisons, in 2004 there were nearly 2,100 confirmed incidents of sexual violence in adult state and federal prisons, and local jails.

It’s important to note that all of these statistics refer to substantiated claims only. More than 8,200 allegations of sex violence were reported, but only one-third were confirmed by corrections officials; 15 percent are still being investigated.

Now for the numbers:

Women, who are less than 10 percent of the prison population, made up almost half of ALL victims of abusive sexual contact in state prisons. (Outside prison walls, women are 94 percent of victims of reported sexual violence.)

Men, who make up 93.1 percent of the total prison population, comprised 90 percent of the victims and the perpetrators of inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sex acts.

In state prisons, 69 percent of the victims of staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct were male, while 67 percent of the perpetrators were female. In staff-on-inmate incidents in local jails, 70 percent of the victims were female and 65 percent of the perpetrators were male.

Most of the reporting on the new statistics has failed to emphasize that there are way more incarcerated men than women, which causes the numbers look the way they do. Sexual assault, no matter what the genders of the parties involved, should be taken seriously. But I can see some groups twisting these data to say that men are at a greater risk for sexual assault behind bars, or that women shouldn't be working as prison guards. Neither of which is true.

Finally, the report contained no mention of inmate-on-staff incidents, do account for a percentage of incidents of sexual violence behind bars. The average number of inmate-on-staff assaults has risen 50 percent since 1991.

For more info, see Stop Prisoner Rape and Human Rights Watch.

Jerk off.

Gov. George Pataki’s spokesperson Kevin Quinn said yesterday: “This bill, which hasn't even been sent to the governor yet, is a flawed, politically expedient measure that fails to include any common-sense protections for minors and ignores the fact that the FDA will rule on this issue in just a few weeks.” Yeah, since they’ve done such a great job with it so far.

Quinn went on to say that “the governor plans to veto the legislation primarily because it provides no protection whatsoever for minors.” Protection? You’ve got to be kidding me. As I’ve pointed out before, New York doesn’t have consent or notification laws, so teen girls can get abortions without parental involvement. But I guess Pataki is so excited about “protecting” girls from preventing pregnancy that he can’t be bothered with the little things….you know, like logic.

Check out Echidne at BushvChoice for more.

Make sure to check out NARAL Pro-Choice America's brand spanking new blog design today. The site has a bevy of guest bloggers to celebrate the re-launch, including Bill Scher of LiberalOasis, Amanda at Pandagon, Ampersand from Alas, a Blog Dr. B, and Echidne of the Snakes.

So go check it out...

Former President Jimmy Carter spoke at a Bible study at the Baptist World Congress in England yesterday, where he said that the Southern Baptist Convention is led by men who want "to keep women in their place."

Carter also said that Southern Baptists and other churches misuse Scripture to deny women the chance to serve as ministers.

Interesting stuff…though I’d argue that discrimination against women isn’t unique to Southern Baptists.

Just wanted to say another congrats to Lauryn and Brendan, who had perhaps the most fun wedding ever.

And we have the pics to prove it...