September 2005 Archives

Foreign Policy (FP) and Prospect magazine have compiled a list of the world’s top 100 intellectuals, including only 10 women.

Germaine Greer, the feminist and one-time celebrity Big Brother contestant, and anti-globalisation journalist Naomi Klein were among those women to make Prospect magazine's annual list.

The eight other women are Florence Wambugu, a plant virologist from Kenya; Elaine Scarry, an American literary theorist; Martha Nussbaum, a US philosopher; Sunita Narain, an Indian developmental environmentalist; Camille Paglia, an American US critic and feminist; Shirin Ebadi, a human rights activist from Iran; Julia Kristeva, a philosopher and feminist from France, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a politician from Somalia and the Netherlands.

Commenting on the list, writer David Herman criticises its strong male content, querying the whereabouts of the new generation of female intellectuals.

..."This partly reflects the dominance of the male world of strategic studies and policy institutes."

Oh by the way, Paul Wolfowitz and Larry Summers made the list. Nuff said.

A judge in Texas recently ordered a 17 year-old girl charged with using drugs to abstain from sex as a condition of her probation. You know, cause drug use and sex go hand in hand. (I wonder how this judge plans to enforce the ruling...weekly vagina checks?)

Apparently Judge Lauri Blake is known for being quite the hater--she has also banned tattoos, body piercings, earrings and clothing "associated with the drug culture" for those on probation and won’t allow lawyers in her courtroom to wear sleeveless shirts or show cleavage.

Sounds like someone needs a gavel removed from their ass.

Nice job, asshole.

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders denounced conservative commentator William J. Bennett yesterday for suggesting on his syndicated radio show that aborting black children would reduce the U.S. crime rate.

The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said Wednesday that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett quickly added that such an idea would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do." But, he said, "your crime rate would go down."

Bennett doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation to begin with--after writing books about traditional values and such he admitted that he lost millions in casinos due to a gambling problem--but this shit is just insane.

Media Matters has the audio clip.

Yesterday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a measure to ensure that pharmacists can’t deny women emergency contraception.

He also vetoed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Sigh.

Hundreds of Pakistani women marched recently, protesting the president’s recent remarks about rape victims.

Protesters carried banners and placards and heard speeches denouncing Pervez Musharraf's comments, made in the US.

...In Islamabad, human rights activist Hina Jillani told the crowds that the president's remarks were an insult to women, and called for an "unqualified apology" from Mr Musharraf.

The rally, held close to the presidential palace and Pakistan's parliament, was organised by the Joint Action Committee, a grouping of womens' groups and human rights activists.

...Many Pakistani women routinely face abuse and rape in a male-dominated society.

Incidents of violent rape have caused outrage in recent years, with victims like Mukhtaran Mai and Dr Shazia Khalid highlighting the issue.

Ms Mai, an illiterate 33-year-old woman, was gang-raped in 2002, apparently on the orders of a village council.

I’m betting there will no apology. Shit, the guy won’t even admit he said it!

Fuckers.

Only 22 senators had the courage to stand up for women's rights when it mattered. NOW applauds those senators who voted to reject this dangerous nominee, and it is unfortunate that the courageous actions of a few are overshadowed by the fall-in-line politics of so many more.

I guess I am finding myself banging my head against a wall as well.

This does not suprise me at all. Not to be anti-marriage girl today or anything (even though I am pretty anti-marriage), I found this study to be interesting.

Married women are more likely to have sexual problems than married men or single women, research suggests.

Juggling caring for small children with maintaining a sexual relationship was highlighted as a problem by many.

Married or cohabiting women were more likely to have problems than single members of their gender, as were mothers with young children at home.

David Goldmeier and colleagues, of the Jane Wadsworth Sexual Function Clinic at St Mary's Hospital, London, writing in Sexually Transmitted Infections, said: "Despite its prevalence, sexual dysfunction is often endured in silence.

"Studies in both the US and UK suggest that as many as 54% of women and 35% of men have problems, but fewer than 11% of men and 21% of women seek help."

Again, not a study to be generalized outside its sample population, but very sad. What do we think?

Here our "modern brides" starve themselves to fit into their wedding dresses. In this particular instance, women are being forced to overeat to fit into a beauty image that demands a larger woman.

The traditions of the desert are very much alive in Mauritania, an Islamic republic on the western edge of the Sahara whose people were still almost entirely nomadic when the country gained independence from France in 1960.

“Our society has this vision that a woman has to be fat to be beautiful. It is a canon of beauty,” said Marienne Baba Sy, head of a government commission that deals with women’s issues.

Having a differing sense of beauty outside the thin and white matrix would be nice, but why the force feeding? Why are women world-wide still expected to look a certain way for the male gaze?

from single mothers and their views on marriage.

via Washington Post...

Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas's new book, "Promises I Can Keep," explains -- in their subjects' own words -- why so many poor women opt for single motherhood.

It's not that they don't believe in marriage, or don't want it for themselves. They "delay" marriage until they think they have a reasonable shot at making it work. What Edin and Kefalas, both Philadelphia sociologists, found in their five-year study of 162 poor black, white and Puerto Rican single mothers is a near total disconnect between marriage and motherhood.

Break it down sisters. This is not to say that the experience of single motherhood is easy or glamorous, but it is complicated. It is also a clear rebellion to norms of hetersexual union/motherhood.

The article doesn't paint this picture so much as get at the notion that the hopes of these women are "magic" in that they are detached from the reality they live. You can't really make an essential statement about this, but most of my single mother friends are quite aware of the condition they are living in. What do you think?

Has anyone read the book?

Okay yeah, so when a woman gets drunk and she is sexually assaulted, it is the drunk woman's fault. Get the fuck out.

via BBC...

Are young women putting themselves in danger through binge drinking?

It also found that women are more likely to become more aggressive than men while drunk.

Who are these researchers? Do they think about societal factors affecting their subject pool and blatant gender assumptions in their analysis? This article is a little more comprehensive.

And what is so bad about an agro drunk woman? Not ladylike enough?

Make sure to check out Rebecca Traister’s take on Commander in Chief and The White House Project’s premiere party. I don't know how she remembers all those frigging details...

By the way, Commander in Chief attracted 16.2 million viewers, the largest audience for a drama series debut on Tuesday night in nearly five years. (And the top-rated show of the night.) Sweet.

Roberts has been confirmed. Keep an eye out for the locusts.

If you don�t know SuicideGirls (where have you been?) here's the deal--it's porn that features "alternative" women. Lots of tattoos and body piercings and the like. It's enjoyed a high-profile reputation as female-controlled and operated. Apparently, that's not necessarily the case.

A group of angry ex-models is bashing the SuicideGirls alt-porn empire, saying its embrace of the tattoo and nipple-ring set hides a world of exploitation and male domination.

...about 30 models have quit, claiming the site's male owner treated them poorly and didn't pay them well.

The women are spreading their allegations through the blogosphere, raising the hackles of the SuicideGirls company, which has until now enjoyed a reputation as porn even feminists can love. It offers burlesque tours, clothes and DVDs in addition to a sprawling online library of naked punk and goth women.

...the woman-friendly reputation of SuicideGirls is being battered. Since its creation in 2001, media outlets have lauded the company's focus on goth, indie and punk models who aren't necessarily big-busted and bikini-waxed. "It wasn't the first alt-porn site to come along, but it was certainly the most widely promoted and probably the most influential," said John d'Addario, editor of the porn blog Fleshbot.

The message of business-side female empowerment hasn't hurt either. "The perception that women had an important/equal role in the administration of the site probably made it more attractive to some people who might not have visited a porn site otherwise," d'Addario said.

The site claims that these are just a few women who are spreading lies. I don�t about you, but it seems to me that 30 women are more than just a couple of disgruntled employees. This is super disappointing.

Thanks to Ben for the link.

Remember Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, and the champion of the Let-Women-Into-Augusta campaign? Well it looks like she's got a new bee in her bonnet: a new ad for the NHL's comeback season.

According to espn.com:

"The spot opens with a quote from Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu: 'A clever warrior is one who not only wins, but excels at winning with ease.' A bare-chested player sits on a wooden bench in the glow of a candlelit room with a backbeat of drums and rattling sabers. He is approached by a woman in a bra and gauzy robe, who touches his shoulders, asks 'Ready?' and helps him put on his shoulder pads and jersey. She says 'It's time,' and he heads to the ice to the cheers of a man and young boy in the stands. The ad ends with "My NHL, coming 10.05."

Burk claims this ad is sexist and sent "letters of protest to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics" before the ad debuted this week. She was quoted as saying, "The woman is a sexual ornament, in my view...It's appealing to adult men while trying to masquerade as something for kids. That's deeply offensive to me. As a mother of two sons, they see enough sex and violence anyway. Why put it in warrior terms? That's offensive, let alone the sexism."

The NHL claims the ad is "very respectful of women [because] the woman is a spiritual and physical trainer for the warrior, and his mentor."

Who do you believe? Offended? Not so much?

Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes is not having the easiest time these last few days trying to convince women that the American way is super-duper.

Yesterday at a Saudi university Hughes got her ass handed to her by a room full of women:

...When Ms. Hughes expressed the hope here that Saudi women would be able to drive and "fully participate in society" much as they do in her country, many challenged her.

"The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn't happy," one audience member said. "Well, we're all pretty happy." The room, full of students, faculty members and some professionals, resounded with applause.

The administration's efforts to publicize American ideals in the Muslim world have often run into such resistance.

...Many in this region say they resent the American assumption that, given the chance, everyone would live like Americans.

Then today, a group of Turkish women confronted Hughes about the invasion of Iraq:

"This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero," said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation.

..."War makes the rights of women completely erased and poverty comes after war -- and women pay the price," said Fatma Nevin Vargun, a Kurdish women's rights activist.

...Hughes, looking increasingly pained, defended the decision to invade Iraq as a difficult and wrenching moment for President Bush, but necessary to protect America.

"You're concerned about war, and no one likes war," she said. But, she said, "to preserve the peace sometimes my country believes war is necessary." She also asserted that women are faring much better in Iraq than under the rule of deposed president Saddam Hussein.

"War is not necessary for peace," shot back Feray Salman, a human rights advocate. She said countries should not try to impose democracy through war, adding that "we can never, ever export democracy and freedom from one country to another."

Love it. There’s just this insane arrogance that goes along with the idea that American women know what’s best for women around the world. Whatever happened to letting women tell their own stories and speak for themselves?

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has a pretty fucking warped article up right now at MSNBC, Where the men aren't.

Reynolds says that the real problem with diversity on college campuses is the “dwindling” number of male students. Uh huh.

I looked at some possible answers to this question in a column over at TechCentralStation today, but I continue to wonder why nobody is paying much attention to this issue. Perhaps men lack the sort of identity-politics lobby groups that women and minorities do.

You certainly don't see much in the way of "Men's Studies" and "Men's Centers" to match the Women's Studies and Women's Centers that you see on most college campuses these days.

Will we see that change, as men become a minority on university campuses?

My guess is yes, and that's because -- at least according to a recent New York Times report that's gotten a lot of attention (including commentaries by Richard Posner and Gary Becker), college-educated women are increasingly abandoning their careers for full-time motherhood. Many people doubt whether this is happening to the degree suggested by the Times, and "trend" stories like this should always be taken with a grain of salt, but to the extent it's true it puts colleges in a bind: Where are their rich alumni to come from in the future, if men don't attend and women don't go on to become high-earners?

I see. So colleges should be trying to recruit more men because women are just going to be moms anyway and therefore financially useless?

How many ways can this logic go wrong?

Hot damn!

This story is just nuts.

The University of Iowa has a bit of a controversy on its hands over their pink visitors’ locker room.

Several professors and students joined the call Tuesday for the athletic department to do away with the pink showers, carpeting and lockers — a decades-long Hawkeye football tradition.

Critics say the use of pink demeans women, perpetuates offensive stereotypes about women and homosexuality, and puts the university in the uncomfortable position of tacitly supporting those messages.

"I want the locker room gone," law school professor Jill Gaulding told a university committee studying the athletic department's compliance with NCAA standards, including gender equity.

For decades, visiting football teams playing at Kinnick Stadium have dressed and showered in the pink locker room. The tradition was started by former Iowa coach Hayden Fry, a psychology major who said pink had a calming and passive effect on people.

Apparently the current pinkness of the locker room wasn’t quite enough:

But as part of the stadium's two-year, $88 million makeover, athletic officials took the former coach's interior decorating ideas to another level, splashing pink across the brick walls, shower floors and installing pink metal lockers, carpeting, sinks, showers and urinals.

Wow. Why don’t they just draw vaginas all over the walls?

Now, I’m sure folks will criticize those opposed to the pink locker room, saying that it’s not a such big deal. But get this: a professor who objected to the locker room on her website got death threats. Over a locker room. Now tell me it’s not a big deal.

Finally, some good reproductive health news.

A doctor has offered to perform free abortions on hurricane evacuees, saying it may be too dangerous for them to wait until they return home.

Despite protests from abortion opponents, Little Rock Family Planning clinic director Dr. Jerry Edwards said he has already performed six free abortions. The clinic usually charges between $525 and $600 for a first-trimester abortion.

"If we didn't provide it now, they would get it later--a late-term abortion that would give greater risk to the mother's health," Edwards told KTHV-TV in Little Rock.

Last night, The White House Project held a special screening of ABC’s new show, Commander in Chief at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York. I’ll admit it--the show was better than I expected.

Since I don’t want to ruin for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, all I’ll say is that I was more emotional over it than I wanted to be.

But the real highlight of the night was the party itself. Vanessa and I were having great laughs over the contrived girl-friendly music playing (Shania Twain’s I feel like a woman, some Pink, and Nancy Sinatra), but then they played En Vogue and I had to shut my mouth cause I love me some En Vogue.

What was a little disappointing--but predictable--was that pretty much everyone at the event was over 40. Vanessa and I huddled in a corner with the other young'uns we recognized--women from NCRW, Legal Momentum, and the always-fab Rebecca Traister. We consumed large amounts of wine and laughed at the “presidential” chocolate bars offered at each table (though we consumed large amounts of those as well).

Good times.

By the way, if you’re wondering about the picture, these guys were stationed outside the comedy club to promote their website, BillforFirstLady. The sentiment I understand, the delivery not so much. Why is it that for a woman to be president, a man needs to be feminized?

Pics of Marie Wilson and Gloria Steinem after the jump.

Bush administration lawyers approached the Supreme Court yesterday to reinstate the ban on late-term abortion, arguing that it’s never been “medically indicated” as a safer surgical procedure.

They’re appealing the St. Louis 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision back in July that struck down the ban as unconstitutional.

“In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the Bush administration lawyers said the lower courts should have deferred to the lawmakers in Washington, not the medical experts who testified in the case.

‘Congress' findings concerning the medical necessity of partial-birth abortion were entitled to substantial deference,’ U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement told the court in Gonzales vs. Carhart.

Five years ago, O'Connor cast the decisive vote to strike down the Nebraska law, saying the government may not regulate abortion in a way that endangers the health of women.”

It will be several months before the justices decide whether to hear the case, which is right around the time that Bush’s replacement for O’Conner will probably be on the court. Lovely.

Jeb Bush is offering $2 million for anti-abortion groups in Florida to establish a statewide hotline for "crisis pregnancy counseling."

The money will only be given to groups that "adhere to a strict policy of not promoting, referring or counseling for abortion." I'm sure they'll also throw in some inaccurate information about abortion, just for good measure.

The deadline passed with no bids filed. So now Jeb is considering awarding a no-bid contract.

Because, you know, that $2 million couldn't be used to provide better prenatal care or subsidized child care or anything. Nah, Florida's better off using that money to limit women's choices.

I wasn't too shocked to find that Hooters restaurant has a statement in their handbook that employees are required to sign stating that -- while harassment isn’t tolerated -- they acknowledge that the concept of Hooters is based on female sex appeal, and that the environment is one where “joking and innuendo based on female sex appeal is commonplace.”

So they don’t dig harassment, but you can’t complain if you’re harassed.

Via The Smoking Gun.

So Rumsfeld is busy worrying about the military performing civilian duties, meanwhile the state of Michigan is ceding the power of deadly force and civil immunity to folks like you & me.

The state House of Representatives is considering the creation of a new law allowing people to use deadly force to defend themselves in their homes and cars. The language has a bit of a Wild West flair: "... a law-abiding person who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be, has no duty to retreat, and can 'stand his or her ground' and meet force with force, including deadly force if necessary..."

Gun-hating liberal that I am, I see this as a blanket license to kill. It’s also unnecessary. The courts already, for good reason, give broad latitude to people defending themselves in their homes or vehicles.

But for domestic violence victims, who are not threatened by an "intruder," the courts are less lenient. And as I read it, this legislation could prevent some domestic violence victims from going to prison for killing their abusers in self defense, if they have a protective order.

I'm definitely not suggesting that DV victims would be better off with guns in their homes. But now that the Supreme Court has more or less allowed police to ignore protective orders, the law could provide an incentive for victims to seek court orders against their abusers. A silver lining, if Michigan decides to pass what is ultimately bad legislation.

While we’re all happy to see Lester Crawford resign from his post as FDA Commissioner, we can’t be too surprised to see that Bush has intentions to replace him with his twin. Sigh.

Bush’s appointee to “temporarily” head the agency is Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, who - like Crawford - has a reputation for pushing right-wing and anti-choice ideology, says Think Progress.

Von Eschenbach is the director of the National Cancer Institute who altered a fact sheet stating the absence of a link between abortion and breast cancer in 2002. The language was changed to say that the tests disproving the link were “inconclusive.” After a ridiculous amount of uproar and a statement sent by 100 institute scientists, Dr. Evil backed down.

Additionally, not one mainstream news story has acknowledged this guy’s obvious agenda.

The British Medical Journal recently published a study revealing that left-handed people may have an increased chance of developing premenopausal breast cancer. And how much is this chance increased, do you ask? More than twice as likely. Whaa?

Researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht came to these findings after studying 12,000 women who were born between 1932 and 1941.

So how does left-handedness come into the picture? Apparently, previous studies have suggested that high levels of sex hormones before birth may cause left-handedness. It’s also thought that hormones can trigger changes in the breast tissue that make tumor growth more likely. Put those two random studies together, throw in this new one and whala.

The lefties always get shafted in one way or another.

Last night marked Christine’s final post on Ms. Musings. Sniff, sniff.

She wrote for Ms. for nearly three years and is off to new adventures that we wish her well with. While she will be missed as a voice of Ms., she’ll now be on Poppolitics.com, so make sure to check her out there.

Good luck, Christine!

I was happy to see that eight families have filed suit in response to the ridiculous intention of the school board from Dover, PA to introduce “intelligent design” to ninth-grade biology class. At the same time, I’m not happy about how intense this load-o’-crap dispute is getting.

The trial is being considered by some as one of the most significant evolution-linked legal battles in two decades.

The families' (and backed by the ACLU) argument is that its teaching in school violates the First Amendment clause specifying the separation of Church and State. Sounds pretty solid to me. On the other hand, the attorney defending the school board argues that “the case is about free inquiry, not about a religious agenda.”

By the way, the school board's attorney is Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center, which lists one of its core missions as “defending the religious freedom of Christians."

Supporters of “intelligent design” claim that there is a serious controversy in the scientific community concerning the theory versus evolution. Yet the National Academy of Sciences denies this fervently, admitting that while mainstream scientific arguments do occur concerning evolution's specifics, they still support its existence.

Meanwhile, the pro-evolution National Center for Science Education characterized the intelligent design book, “Of Pandas and People” as the beginning of the modern intelligent design movement.

I just don’t understand how a place of science, particularly pro-evolution, could legitimize this theory in any way. Let’s hope this trial ends on a more rational note.

I love this shit. The title says it all: Career women abandon sex for IVF.

Yes, us crazy “career women” think the sex is just icky.

Busy career women are abandoning sex and seeking inappropriate IVF treatment to have instant babies, doctors have claimed.

It is estimated that one in seven UK couples have difficulty conceiving. However, many women take up IVF treatment, before they discover this because they are simply too busy or tired to have sex.

Emma Cannon runs the fertility programme at Westover House clinic in London, which has seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of women seeking 'inappropriate' IVF.

She said: "People want everything now. If they can't have a baby now, they want IVF. They think it's no different from putting your name down for a handbag."

You mean I won’t get my kid delivered with my Birkin? Well screw that!

This is the best pic yet of the pro-military folks who held their itty bitty rally this weekend. Classic.

Brought to you by Deanna Zandt at Alternet.

Women's E-News has an important story today about tracking the number of rapes that occurred in Hurricane Katrina's wake.

The Houston Police Department was originally not dealing with reports of rapes that happened in Louisiana, instead instructing officers to hold reports "for safekeeping until other police jurisdictions are prepared to deal with them." Yeah. Surely the New Orleans Police Department will be making rape reports a priority.

One Superdome volunteer says: "There were so many rape victims, and we had to turn (most) of them away because they had life-damaging, but not life-threatening, wounds."

Rape is already underreported. Add to the mix a chaotic evacuation for a second hurricane and a police department that won't do anything when women do come forward. Now you tell me if we're ever going to have any idea how many women were raped in the chaos following Katrina.

Says evacuee Charmaine Neville (whose story has been floating around the internet): "I found some police officers. I told them that a lot of us women had been raped down there by guys, not from the neighborhood where we were, they were helping us to save people." Crooks and Liars has the video clip.

Commander In Chief, ABC’s new show about a woman becoming president, premieres tomorrow night. And the feminists are loving it.

The White House Project is having a big premiere party in New York City, while also urging women to have their own house parties celebrating the first episode.

I’ve been apprehensive about this show (or really just the media response to it) from the beginning; it looks like I’m not the only one. Joel Stein at the LA Times started out thinking that the new drama was a little too predictable with the sexism factor:

ABC has started a fake blog about the female president, posing questions no one would ask about a man, such as "Can she balance the duties of the presidency with those of a wife and mother?"

The network has also taken out newspaper ads with political cartoons suggesting that the notion of a female president is ridiculous. In one, Davis wears a military helmet, high heels and a sash across her chest that reads "Commander in Chief." In another, a bunch of fat cats try to bribe Madame President with flowers, jewelry and a fur coat. I was surprised they didn't have one with Davis at the G-8 summit, squealing: "Can you believe it? Shoes from eight different countries!"

In any case, I’m looking forward to seeing for myself if the show lives up to the hype.

I was really disappointed that I couldn’t be at the peace march this weekend in DC; I hear from friends that it was fantastic. Not to mention it beat the “pro-military” rally senseless in terms of turnout.

Anyone who was there want to weigh in?

Also, Page One News Media has some great pics of the march.

While it’s pretty clear that we’re fucked on this one, you can still make yourself feel better by letting your senators know what you think of the fiasco.

Also, make sure to check out this excellent statement (assuming you haven’t seen it in a million places already) that a collection of women bloggers have put together in opposition to John Roberts. Kudos, ladies.

Like being a woman in sports isn’t hard enough without having to worry about a burka.

Women in Iran, even those participating in sporting events, have to cover body contours and hair with long gowns and scarves so that they are properly covered in front of "strange men" in public.

The restrictions make it impossible for Iranian sportswomen, including those in judo, karate, taekwondo and horse jumping, to attend international competitions.

In order to tackle this problem, women's activist and head of Women's Sports Federation Faezeh Hashemi arranges games for Muslim women in which they can compete internationally without being watched by a male audience and TV cameras.

Talk about jumping through hoops. Jeez.

This is horrifying.

A WOMAN is raped every 10 minutes in South Africa, one is beaten up every six minutes - and seven women are murdered, on average, every day.

The police figures show that rape increased nationally by 4% between April 2004 and March 2005. Countrywide, 55 114 cases were reported. Sixty percent of the victims were adult women, and 40% children.

W00t!

via Detroit Free Press...

Sen. Debbie Stabenow said Friday she will oppose the nomination of John Roberts to become the next chief justice of the United States because she is alarmed by his writings and views on fundamental rights enjoyed by Americans.

"I believe that his philosophy undermines our most cherished and fundamental rights, liberties and freedoms as Americans, and for that reason, I will be voting no on his nomination next week," Stabenow said.

Great.

Women's rights activists in Iraq say rising extremism is restricting their freedom, even as the country prepares to vote on a constitution that is touted as one of the Arab world's most progressive regarding women.

"Women cannot walk freely out in the street," said activist Ban Jamil, who directs the Rasafa Branch of Assyrian Women Union, a local non-governmental organisation in Baghdad.

Although not enforced by the newly established laws, which were written under US patronage, a conservative dress code is widely observed in much of the war-torn country.

You can keep reading here.
They also talk about the role of the US government in protecting women's rights. This is such a complicated situation. What do we think about this? I know I have argued before that military intervention/western attempts at hegemonic and market rule brings out fundamentalist tendencies. But now it seems some groups have become dependent on the troops to protect their rights. So what now?

Hmm.

A group of Dalit women belonging to the barber community have allegedly been paraded naked by upper-caste people in a coastal village on Monday last.

The women’s fault: their husbands refused to wash the feet of bridegroom and members of barati during an upper-caste marriage a couple of months ago.

During marriage ceremonies in Orissa, the bride’s family hires barbers to wash the feet of the bridegroom and the members of the barati on their arrival at the bride’s place.

The men have begun protesting the ceremony and as a result the upper crust responded by harassing the women. I think washing feet is a realy offensive thing for men to have to do to other men, which is why they are protesting. There is also a caste/class implication here, but it is interesting how to get back at the men, they attack the women, aka "their women". Weird.

Halleluiah! Barely a month after the FDA announced they were (once again) delaying the already incredibly long-awaited decision to allow emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter, Commissioner Lester Crawford has announced his resignation.

Click here for details.

AI strikes again! In a 150-plus page report, Amnesty International released information concerning the police abuse of LGBT people across the nation. They also call out the U.S. for failing to acknowledge these occurrences, which are underreported and have unclear and/or nonexistent policies.

The report, titled, “Stonewalled: police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States” focuses on Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Antonio, and surveys the largest 50 police departments in the country, including Washington D.C. regarding LGBT policies and practices. There are also hundreds of recorded testimonies from victims of abuse. Here’s a tidbit of their findings from the survey:

72 percent of police departments said they had no specific policy regarding interaction with transgender people.

31 percent instruct their officers on how to strip search a transgender individual.

Two thirds (66%) of police departments reported providing training on hate crimes against LGBT individuals.

While most departments provide training regarding sexual assault (86%), about half (52%) do not include LGBT-specific issues.

Click here to check out the full report.

I’m a bit obsessed with this book I recently got for my birthday, and thought I would share. It’s not insightful in any way, but ‘tis a humorous little booklet to prop on your night stand or coffee table for a good laugh.

“You Say I’m a Bitch Like It’s a Bad Thing” is by Ed Polish and Darren Wotz, who basically took a bunch of 50s and 60s advertising images (another obsession of mine) and added random sayings. My personal favorite is a pic of a little girl saying, “Mommy, when I grow up I want to help smash the white racist, homophobic, patriarchal, bullshit paradigm too!”

You can order it online or go to your local Urban Outfitters, if you have one in your city. I highly recommend it.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore was quoted in 1997 as saying he opposes abortion, but "supports exceptions for rape and incest if the woman reports the crime to police within a week." Cause really ladies, seven days is plenty of time to deal with your dad raping you.

In a news conference organized by Kilgore's opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, three sexual abuse counselors discussed the Republican's assessment that victims of rape and incest should be allowed abortions only if they report the crime within seven days.

"It's not only hateful and cruel, it's also impractical," said Jim McKinley-Oakes, a social worker who has counseled victims of sexual assault for more than three decades. "It's an invasion of their privacy not unlike the act of rape itself."

Joyce Allan, who said she was raped by a family member as a child, said Kilgore's insistence that victims report to authorities within a week is a "glaring sign of ignorance and arrogance."

The New York Times had a story yesterday on the popular doll that has replaced Barbies across the Middle East, and her name is Fulla.

She is the doll with “Muslim values,” as described by her creator, NewBoy Design Studio. While Fulla shares the same unrealistic body proportions as Barbie, she doesn’t share her wardrobe; while she has many fashionable clothes, she’s usually modestly dressed, covered with a black abaya and head scarf. She even has her own pink prayer rug!

Fulla won’t have a boyfriend like Barbie’s Ken, but the company is planning on making a Teacher Fulla and Doctor Fulla for young girls to look up to. While there have been many other dolls in the past that have worn the hijab, none have ever been as popular as Fulla. She was introduced in November of 2003 and has been the rave since.

Some Syrian women’s rights advocates criticize Fulla being a part of the “cultural shift” towards Islamic conservatism that’s extending across the Middle East. And apparently, this particular “cultural shift” doesn’t come cheap. In Damascus, a Fulla doll costs $16, while the average per capita income is about $100 per month. Yet it still sells.

I’ve come to the conclusion that all dolls are evil, one way or another. The Chucky movies were trying to tell us something, dammit!

Thoughts?

While we’ve posted quite a bit on the ongoing corruption and murder of young women in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, Amnesty International has addressed a problem in Guatemala that hasn’t been recognized by many, although the devastation is far greater.

“The precise number of women who have been murdered is unknown and disputed but the Guatemalan authorities have confirmed that between 2001 and August 2004 they had registered the deaths of 1,188 women. Most of the killings have occurred in urban areas which have also witnessed a dramatic rise in violent crime in recent years often linked to organized crime, or to the activities of street youth gangs known as maras. Students, housewives and professional women are among those who have been killed in the wave of murders. Many were from poor sectors of society or particularly marginalized groups including members or former members of street gangs.

The extent of the violence perpetrated against women in Guatemala is extremely difficult to determine because of the lack of reliable official information. Official records of killings conceal the gender-based nature of the crimes so that rape and other sexually violent crimes are often almost invisible.

Many of the murders are categorized by the police as ‘crimes of passion’ or ‘due to personal problems’ and so are not investigated or are de-prioritized. Relatives of victims have complained to AI that they have to prove that their relative was ‘respectable’ before the authorities will investigate a murder seriously.”

Because if they were big sluts, they would have deserved it. Is it just me, or have the Juarez murders gotten a shitload more acknowledgment than the crimes in Guatemala? Is it because the Mexican government may have a part in the murders and there’s more of “a story” for the press, or because the activism is just stronger in Juarez? I don't get it.

With Pope Benedict’s horrendous reputation, I couldn’t be too surprised about this. The Vatican released the news yesterday that homosexuals will soon be barred from becoming Roman Catholic priests.

The new document has not yet been signed by Pope Benedict, but is expected to be within the next six weeks. It will apply to Roman Catholic churches worldwide. In the meantime, Vatican investigators are even being sent to 229 seminaries in the U.S. Whaa? First of all, who the fuck are Vatican investigators? The Pope is sending his “gaydar” specialists out to the field? Secondly, I’m really curious to know exactly what kind of “investigating” will be going on, and how many laws will be broken in the process.

The article also had to note how last spring, the new Pope talked of a need to “purify” the church after the past "sex scandals." Sexual abusers, homosexuals, they’re all the same, right?? Ugh.

Give us a break. Check out this blip on Alternet about how Rachel Neumann feels about the state of the feminist movement.

It could just be one of those days. But there's something rotten with the state of feminsim [sic], or whatever it is we're calling that thing that acknowledges women's experiences in the world.

On the same day, I got hit by this article in the New York Times, with inspid [sic] analysis of why "Ivy League" women are saying they'll put aside their careers when the children come, AND this article in Salon, in which a smart single woman wonders what happens to all the smart, decisive single straight men (yes, I didn't know they they'd ever been around in mass numbers, either, or that this ever stopped anyone), AND it turns out a bunch of young men that I know who are smart (but not by any stretch smarter than the young women I know) are being lauded as the next crew of "public intellectuals." Oh, AND I get hit by a car. By a woman talking on her cell phone while driving.

Even if that last item is a coincidental but true outlyer [sic], that still leaves enough points on my list to make me feel that, despite all this talk of waves of brilliant feminism, we're at low tide.

Lord knows, many smart, energized young women have tried to create a meaningful "third wave" feminist movement. Jennifer Baumgartner [sic], Amy Richards, Rebecca Walker, Eisa Davis, Bamboo Girl, Bust, HipMomma -- and hundreds of others of every color, class, and culture -- wrote and published books and articles about young women wrestling with questions of gender, sexuality, parenthood, race, and class.

But I'm not feeling a groundswell and I'm wondering why John Roberts is going to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court despite saying that women are just "giggling distractions" for the men who are trying to study and I'm wondering why we still don't have state-subsidized daycare, or a male contraceptive for that matter, and why we still have rampant domestic violence. Seems like there's still a lot of work to be done. Are we all too tired to do it?

The state of the world is scary with regard to the rights/emancipation/enlightenment of women, what she talks about is real, and that is what is keeping us active. I don't see this all being a problem with the feminist movement, however the problems of a global society becoming increasingly conservative to the rights of women. Feminists have been writing/talking/spreading knowledge/fighting the upcoming nomination of John Roberts. I have found feminists to be the ones ALL OVER the state of affairs in the world, while being activists in our own communities.

I also feel like activism looks different today. It is about the spreading of information, awareness, ethical choices and not staying silent in whatever capacity that may be.

Hello. Doesn't the feminist blogosphere count for anything? We are right here and are saying it loud and clear....feel me!

Speaking of our logo...

Evan from Alternet’s Peek sent me this (he found it via Stories in America). I wonder how many other freaky mudflap girls there are out there? There’s a HUGE one on the wall of a bar I know in Manhattan. None flipping the bird though. That’s all us.

Ugh. From The New York Times:

The Senate Judiciary Committee strongly endorsed Judge John G. Roberts Jr. today to be the next chief justice of the United States, sending the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation next week.

The 13-to-5 vote, with 3 Democrats joining the 10 Republicans on the committee, put Judge Roberts in line to succeed the man for whom he was once a clerk, the late William H. Rehnquist. Judge Roberts is only 50, so he could be chief justice for many years.

Super.

A slew of new abortion restrictions go into effect in Ohio today.

One law requires women to meet with a doctor at least 24 hours before having the abortion to hear a description of the process, risks and alternatives. In largely rural states like Ohio, that means women must make multiple trips to a clinic that could be hours away from home. Another law requires parental consent (not just notification) for minors seeking abortions. Minors can no longer bypass the consent requirement, even if they prove in court that their parents are abusive.

These laws are bad for patients, but as an added bonus to anti-choicers, they're bad for providers, too. The new restrictions have already forced the closure of one clinic in Cincinnati. Previously, Ohio allowed women seeking an abortion to listen to a recorded message or speak with clinic staff in advance, and then meet with their physician on the day of the procedure. Now doctors will be wasting their time, doing work that could be done by other clinic staff. Cincinnati Women's Services, which will close at 5 p.m. today, simply couldn't afford to hire an extra doctor to come in additional days. They also would have had to raise the cost of an abortion from about $450 to $550.

Pro-choice groups (including the Cincinnati clinic) have asked the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to indefinitely postpone implementation of the restrictions.

Ohio is also considering a total abortion ban. Click here to check out the state's various reproductive rights violations.

According to the Associated Press, a Texas woman, Deleese Williams, is suing the reality show Extreme Makeover for alleged breach of contract, willful infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

In the lawsuit, Williams claims that her sister was interviewed by ABC producers and goaded by them into making extremely hurtful disparaging comments about Williams' looks. When Williams was subsequently dropped from the show, without getting any corrective surgery, the sister felt so bad about making the comments that she then killed herself. She (literally) couldn't live with the idea that she'd called Williams ugly.

Now, I will try to keep my nerdy law student-ness to a minimum and avoid discussing the problematic causation problems here. I do think, however, that this story (and this lawsuit) have some serious feminist implications.

It goes without saying that shows like Extreme Makeover are questionable. Any show which promulgates the notion that you need to "extremely" transform yourself to be a happy person is not a feminist's dream. But I think this story shows how deep this belief goes. If this lawsuit went through, we'd be living in a society that gives legal remedies for distress over being ugly. We'd be saying, "Yes - the harm of calling someone ugly, and them having to live with that knowledge, is grave enough that we will punish the actors who made that happen."

Has being ugly, especially as a woman, become so impermissible? Has our society begun to acknowledge that it's a fate worth dying over? And what effect does this have on women, who are usually the ones involved and for whom beauty standards have skyrocketed?

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said she is voting against Judge Roberts.

Make sure to send her your thanks.

via Khaleej Times...

Dozens of Indonesian women were detained Wednesday for either failing to don head scarves or wearing clothes considered too tight - another indication that authorities in Aceh province are serious about implementing Islamic law.

The laws - which among other things ban alcohol and require women to cover their heads - have been increasingly enforced since the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed 131,000 people in the province and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Hmm. Awesome, major catastrophe+male political figures become assholes=loss of women's rights. Whoever said feminism isn't mathematical?

via Seattle Post-Intelligencer...

A little-noticed aspect of this past weekend's elections in Afghanistan was the high rate of voter turnout among women. It was a heroic effort deserving of international acclaim.

But given the dangers involved for Afghans in general and women in particular, their unprecedented turnout rate was nothing short of spectacular. When compared with our own somewhat dilatory use of the hard-won right to vote, turnout by Afghan women should serve as an international hallmark and inspiration.

Considerable road-blocks persist in women's access to true involvement in the government, society, or the fate of their own lives, but these conditions make this female voter turn-out that much more admirable.

This sounds really cool.

A new magazine edited and brought out entirely by women - the first of its kind in India - seeks to infuse fresh perspective in a male-dominated world besides contributing to the cause of orphans.

"Seven of us women got together for this venture," Neena Jha, one of the founder proprietors of the magazine, told IANS.

They put the magazine together with their own money and plan to write mostly about politics, social issues, women's issues and educational issues among others. The women themselves are mostly activist, mothers, educators and journalists.

Sweet, if I can find anything else on this I will let you know. If the link to the article doesn't work use bugmenot.com.

A new GAO report shows that (surprise!) the government is failing to meet the needs of low-income women who are domestic violence victims.

It turns out most caseworkers don't know about the Family Violence Option, which allows welfare recipients who are victims of violence to meet fewer eligibility requirements to receive assistance.

The report also found that the marriage and fatherhood programs (beloved by right-wingers) haven't done much for DV victims, either. Untrained caseworkers could be encouraging marriages between couples with a history of violence.

For this, Rep. Pete Stark (who requested the report along with Sen. Max Baucus), blames the Bush administration:

"Catering to the religious right at the cost of the safety of potentially millions of women and children is beyond pandering to their base, it’s morally bankrupt. Instituting programs that encourage marriage without having the staff trained to recognize whether or not that marriage may result in harm is unconscionable."

The full report is available here.

Maine has recently refused funds for an abstinence-only education program because federal guidelines don’t allow any of the money to be used to teach “safe sex” practices. Cause god forbid your kids have safe sex. Much better that they resort to anal-cause-it’s-not-real-sex and only-a-slut-would-use-a-condom sex.

You know, if people want to argue against teaching kids about contraception, they might want to use different language. Arguing against “safe sex” just sounds foolish. Arguing against “sin sheaths”--now that’s convincing.

Any other suggestions for an appropriately terrifying phrase to replace safe sex?

Time magazine can’t get enough oral.

A Teen Twist on Sex takes on a new government report that shows despite the lovely scare tactics of abstinence-only education, kids are still having the sex. Especially the mouthy kind.

Not new information, I know. But I just wanted to point this little tidbit out:

More than half the adolescents surveyed, for example, said they had engaged in oral sex (and their claims are fairly credible, since the questions were posed not face to face by an adult interviewer but through a specially designed computer program). That proportion was about the same among boys and girls. And although you may assume that girls mostly perform and boys receive, the numbers show the give and take is again about equal.

I’m not saying this in a creepy I-like-teen-girls way, but damn did that make me happy (assuming the stats are correct). I’m so sick of people talking about teen sex in a way that assumes girls are being taken advantage of somehow, as if they’re just running around doling out blow jobs without reciprocation. So long as everyone is being safe and enjoying themselves--what’s the problem?

My true fave part of the article though was a quote by a teenage girl attempting a guess at why same-sex encounters are on the rise among girls: “At least another girl isn't always trying to push her penis into you.” Ha!

They just make it so easy.

It’s not exactly shocking that WorldNetDaily loves running articles on the scary homosexual agenda. What is surprising however, is that they would leave themselves so open to ridicule by the most innuendo-ridden headlines ever.

Corporate America cuddles up to 'gays'

Bending over backwards

By the way, can anyone tell me why the word gays is in quotation marks? Are we unsure that ‘the gays’ exist?

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced a nationwide campaign today to combat abstinence-only education. Cause that shit is dangerous.

The American Civil Liberties Union today launched Not In My State, a nationwide action aimed at combating dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula. In a coordinated effort, ACLU affiliates across the country are sending letters to local officials calling for careful scrutiny of health and life-skills curricula.

“Today’s action should be a wake-up call for many states,” said Louise Melling, Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “State officials need to ensure the health and safety of students by taking responsibility for the curricula taught in their classrooms.”

Find out more about the campaign here, and click here to view a sample letter to send to state officials.

If you missed it yesterday, make sure to check out Rebecca Traister’s latest, Attack of the Listless Lads. Traister interviews Benjamin Kunkel, author of "Indecision," on a new problem (or maybe not so new?) affecting men:

...I have observed the birth of a new breed of man: a man of few interests and no passions; a man whose libido is reduced and whose sense of responsibility nonexistent. These men are commitment-phobic not just about love, but about life.

Yikes. Harsh, definitely. But I can see this to a ridiculous extent in men that I know. As Amanda pointed out yesterday, there's this real sense of disengagement in men of our generation:

There does seem to be a huge disconnect between a good deal of men and women. To put it not-so-politely, the famous alienation and ennui of modern people seems to affect men far more often than women, which is creating a sexual gap where there's a lot of really fantastic women and not enough fantastic men to love them.

So make sure to check it out; Traister and Kunkel have more of a conversation than an interview, which works well for the given topic.

(Even better is the insane amount of letters this article inspired, which Amanda takes apart with her usual wit.) Clearly this topic struck a nerve with men; even my generally reasonable boyfriend responded with a "I'd like to kick that guy's ass," after reading the piece. (Hopefully he'll explain his rage in comments.)

UPDATE: Check out Hugo on the same.

This is just too weird:

A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president.

Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.

"The Clinton condom will be the top of our line," he said. "The Lewinsky condom is not quite as good."

Ouch. It’s one thing to have a condom named after you, but a sub-par condom?

American women aren’t the only ones who have a difficult time with work/life issues. Women in Syria are struggling with an increasingly competitive job market--one that doesn’t exactly love women with children:

Maya Abed [is] a 45-year old widow...."Wherever I applied or made a phone call, I was rejected," she said. "They all wanted someone young for the job – 22 to 35 years, not a middle aged mother of five children.

"They believe that age and family responsibilities are not good for productivity at work. They say my mind would always be preoccupied with my children," she added.

One explanation (besides outright sexism) for women’s difficulty getting jobs, is that the unemployment rate in Syria is on the rise:

According to official statistics from the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment reached about 12 percent in 2004. Unofficial estimates by economists, however, put it closer to 20 percent.

..."Around 200,000 Syrians become jobless every year. Despite the fact that the female literacy rate is 74.2 percent and male literacy 91 percent, women stay at home to take care of their families' responsibilities and childcare," stated a study by Syrian economists which was recently published in the official 'Tishreen' newspaper.

There’s a really interesting exchange going on over at Slate’s The Book Club over Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs and Pamela Paul’s Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. (I just started Paul’s book, so I can’t say much on it yet.)

Laura Kipnis (who I’m an admitted super-fan of), along with Wendy Shalit and Meghan O'Rourke have an email conversation about the two books. It’s really worth checking out.

Some food for thought: Both books’ covers feature the “mudflap girl” image that Feministing modified (you know--to give the finger) to use as our logo. Funny.

I would hope that any feminist perspective on porn would be a little wary of the censorship cops:

The FBI is joining the Bush administration's War on Porn. And it's looking for a few good agents.

Early last month, the bureau's Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad...

...The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

...Popular acceptance of hard-core pornography has come a long way, with some of its stars becoming mainstream celebrities and their products -- once confined to seedy shops and theaters -- being "purveyed" by upscale hotels and most home cable and satellite television systems.

...But [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales endorses the rationale of predecessor Meese: that adult pornography is a threat to families and children. Christian conservatives, long skeptical of Gonzales, greeted the pornography initiative with what the Family Research Council called "a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general."

I wonder how long until SpongeBob is taken in.

In case you like tennis. (Or even if you don’t; I sure as hell have no interest in it.)

The French Open recently decided to pay equal prize money to both men and women.

This now leaves just Wimbledon as the only Grand Slam to pay women less.

Sorry about the title, couldn’t help myself.

I could have seen this coming. Check out this title of a book review covering Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs:

Raunch culture, fake boobs signal feminism gone wild

See, cause it’s feminism’s fault.

By the way, Amanda has a really good post on this book/raunch culture as well.

Who is heading up FDA's Women's Office?

Former director of the FDA's Office of Women's Health, Susan Wood, resigned recently over the agency's bullshit stalling on emergency contraception. And who did they replace her with?

Norris Alderson--a veterinarian. Yeah, that's right.

After a well-justified what-the-fuck response from folks on the web and elsewhere, the FDA is now saying that Theresa A. Toigo will be new acting director of the office. Alderson? Alderson who?

The FDA is doing a less than stellar job covering their tracks:

Asked yesterday who exactly was running the office, FDA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said that Alderson had never been appointed acting director. She said that Toigo would take over from the departed Wood, and that her office knew nothing about the statement regarding Alderson, who is the agency's associate commissioner for science.

"There was no official decision made until we announced Theresa Toigo's appointment on Friday," Trevino said.

The seeming mystery thickened when several women's groups said that not only did they receive e-mails announcing Alderson's appointment, but also that he was also listed on a Health and Human Services directory last week as the acting director of the office. In addition, people who have spoken with women's health office staff said that Alderson was introduced to the staff last week as the new acting director, and that he even had some one-on-one discussions with staff members about future plans.

Yeah, real mysterious.

Let�s hope the confusion is over. Toigo is a 20-year veteran of the FDA and thankfully has more experience with women than with animals:

Toigo has led the FDA's Office of Special Health Issues, which works with patient advocates on issues such as AIDS and cancer. The FDA announcement of her appointment also says that she has worked with the women's health office on agency initiatives related to the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical trials.

The New York Times has a piece today, Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood, that reeks of the same old shit Lisa Belkin wrote about two years ago.

Belkin wrote about all the high-class ladies with MBAs and such “opting out” of work to stay home with the kiddies. Today, Louise Story writes the same about women at “elite” colleges:

At Yale and other top colleges, women are being groomed to take their place in an ever more diverse professional elite. It is almost taken for granted that, just as they make up half the students at these institutions, they will move into leadership roles on an equal basis with their male classmates.

There is just one problem with this scenario: many of these women say that is not what they want.

Yawn. Sounds exactly like Belkin’s cringe-worthy quote: “Why don't women run the world? Maybe it's because they don't want to.”

Another similarity between the two pieces is that both authors gloss over the fact that most American women don’t have the financial capability to make that kind of choice—even if they want to. Story only mentions this once:

It is a complicated issue and one that most schools have not addressed. The women they are counting on to lead society are likely to marry men who will make enough money to give them a real choice about whether to be full-time mothers, unlike those women who must work out of economic necessity.

Another thing that really pisses me off is the assumption that privileged women are somehow more worthy of examination.

But perhaps the scariest thing about this latest article were the students (male and female). First of all--who in the world is making decisions like this at 19 years old?!

Second--just check this shit out:

Sarah Currie, a senior at Harvard, said many of the men in her American Family class last fall approved of women's plans to stay home with their children.

"A lot of the guys were like, 'I think that's really great,'" Ms. Currie said. "One of the guys was like, 'I think that's sexy.' Staying at home with your children isn't as polarizing of an issue as I envision it is for women who are in their 30's now."

Am I really supposed to be shocked that some guy "approved" of having a wife who stayed at home? And what the hell is up with the sexy comment? Ew.

Now, clearly I believe feminism is about choices, and that the work women do at home is just as important as work in the paid economy. (But somehow I don’t think that’s what this guy meant by his “sexy” comment.) But shouldn’t we be focusing on the women who don’t have the ability to make choices about their child care?

Check out RebelDad on the same. And Echidne, Stone Court and Culture Cat.

I just ran across this piece from beloved anti-feminists the Independent Women's Forum, which rags on feminist groups for their supposed failure to speak out against stalking.

I wish the feminist establishment would make protecting women from stalkers one of their pet causes (and be as realistic as Gavin de Becker), especially now that the Internet has made stalking so much easier. But they sometimes dislike acknowledging that young attractive women are the main targets. "Eight-month-old babies and 80-year-old women get raped," is the approved feminist line. This is true, they do; but these situations are freakishly horrible rather than horribly common.

What?? The Violence Against Women Act, which includes provisions to combat stalking, has been supported by every major women's rights organization, including NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation and Legal Momentum.

And where is the IWF now that VAWA is up for reauthorization? They certainly aren't speaking up for stalking victims. Nah, they'd rather we just let the legislation expire.

From The Canadian Press:

Untold scores of society's most vulnerable members - young native women - have gone missing across the country only to be forsaken by a jaded justice system and neglectful media.

The death and disappearance of aboriginal women has emerged as an alarming nationwide pattern, from western serial murders to little-known Atlantic vanishings.

Grim statistics and anecdotal evidence compiled by The Canadian Press suggest public apathy has allowed predators to stalk native victims with near impunity.

The record also points to an ugly truth behind the political and legal lethargy: racism.

For more information, go to The Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) and their Sisters in Spirit campaign.

I’ve had several people tell me about (and recommend) Ariel Levy’s new book, Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture.

I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but a recent Glamour interview with Levy and this weekend’s Washington Post article left me with mixed feelings.

Levy argues that “raunch culture” is being increasingly prevalent and accepted--especially by younger women:

It was women who, across the country, were choosing to firm their thighs by attending Cardio Striptease workouts. It was women -- usually young, always unpaid -- who, by agreeing to flash their breasts or make out with their friends on camera, were making a killing for the insanely popular "Girls Gone Wild" franchise. Even my best friend from college, who is the kind of feminist who used to take part in "Take Back the Night" marches on campus, had become fascinated by porn stars and strippers.

Apparently being fascinated by porn stars and strippers means you're the "kind of feminist" who doesn’t care about sexual assault anymore. Levy herself is fascinated by porn stars and strippers--that’s what her book is about. So I find it kind of annoying that she would use her friend as an example of feminists-gone-bad. The cultural pervasiveness of sex work necessitates taking a good old look at it. It doesn’t mean everyone has to agree.

Levy goes on to discuss the popularity and mainstreaming of pornography:

Apparently, where decades ago the women's movement saw objectification, contemporary women are seeing inspiration. The going wisdom is that we now are liberated enough to get implants, we're empowered enough to start lap dancing. Gloria Steinem and her compatriots were either wrong about these things, or just reacting to them in a different time, when different rules applied.

...Strippers, porn stars and Playboy Playmates are women whose job it is to fake lust, to imitate actual arousal. We're supposed to imitate an imitation of our own sexuality and call that empowerment? Seriously?

While I understand where Levy’s concern is coming from, I think she’s confusing the issue. And me.

I’m not sure who she’s talking about really--young (I hate the term, but whatever) sex-positive feminists or young girls who are being inundated with unrealistic images of sexuality? Both? Can we differentiate?

It seems to me that Levy is simplifying the issue--it’s like she’s combining the very different views of different women into this big old glob of naive pro-raunchiness. She uses language associated with younger feminists (i.e., empowerment) while describing actions like buying a “Porn Star” shirt at the mall.

There’s a big difference between a younger feminist who is trying to understand the complexities of sex work and how it informs her politics, and a young woman flashing for Girls Gone Wild cause boys will like her. And this is not even to say that one pro-raunch action is “better” than the other--I’m not going to fucking lecture some 19 year-old about who she wants to show her tits to. I just think it’s a bit condescending to assume that any kind of pro-pornography perspective is uninformed, and that they’re all the same.

I have sooo much more to say on this, but I'm getting myself all riled up. More to come in comments perhaps.

Any thoughts?

A new study published in the latest issue of Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports that sexism could explain why men have a lower life expectancy than women. Huh.

British researchers analyzed rates of female murders and male death rates from all causes in 51 countries in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and North and South America. The prevalence of violence against women was used to indicate the extent of patriarchal control in each of the countries. Socioeconomic factors were also taken into consideration.

The study found that women lived longer than men in all 51 countries. The study also found that those countries with higher rates of female murders (indicating higher levels of patriarchy) also had higher rates for male death and shorter male life expectancies, compared to countries with lower female murder rates, the researchers said.

In fact, statistical analysis showed that variations between countries in rates of violence against women accounted for close to half (49 percent) of the variation in male death rates, the researchers noted.

"Our data suggest that oppression and exploitation harm the oppressors as well as those they oppress," researchers at the University of Liverpool concluded.

They noted that the higher death rate and shorter life expectancy among men is "a preventable social condition, which can potentially be tackled through global social policy."

For example, changes can be made in the way that young males are socialized into patriarchal gender roles, such as the emphasis on risk taking, aggression and suppression of emotions, the researchers said.

Any thoughts?

If you don’t already know about obstetric fistula and its devastating effects on women, go to the UNFPA’s campaign page immediately and find out more. Here’s a quick definition:

Obstetric fistula is an injury of childbearing that has been relatively neglected, despite the devastating impact it has on the lives of girls and women. It is usually caused by several days of obstructed labour, without timely medical intervention — typically a Caesarean section to relieve the pressure. The consequences of fistula are life shattering: The baby usually dies, and the woman is left with chronic incontinence. Because of her inability to control her flow of urine or faeces, she is often abandoned or neglected by her husband and family and ostracized by her community. Without treatment, her prospects for work and family life are greatly diminished, and she is often left to rely on charity.

Go here for the tour schedule and to find out more about how you can help.

I didn't even have to do a wrap-up of the World Summit, Women's eNews did it for me...

Here's an article that appeared today titled Women's Groups Find Silver Lining in Summit.

Among the achievements for women:

Language changes about women in the outcome document were either retained or added to the so-called millennium development goals, a set of eight objectives to address global poverty, health, environment and gender inequities.

Language condemning violence against women, boosting their access to reproductive health and defending their property rights--fought for, but not obtained, at the U.N. Millennium Summit in 2000--is now in the outcome document.

It’s a start—now comes the hard part—pressing governments to put their words into action…

Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

What the hell is wrong with this world!?

via Monsters and Critics...

In India`s Punjab state, with only 793 women for every 1,000 men, the practice of several brothers sharing a wife is growing, a national women`s group says.

The National Commission for Women is concerned about the practice -- termed 'fraternal polyandry' by sociologists -- which it says is degrading to women, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

Commission chairwoman Girija Vyas said some women were forced to have sex regularly with up to seven brothers. She said the practice was spreading.

Punjab is the richest province in India, yet it has the lowest female-male ratio due to female abortion and infanticide.

Gurpreet, a 32-year-old woman in Punjab`s Mansa district, said she had married the eldest of three brothers, but after she had a son, her husband forced her into a sexual relationship with his younger brothers, including one who was only 16.

Although polyandry is illegal in India, authorities said it is almost impossible to stop it because such marriages are not formalized.

Remember when beloved President of Pakistan said this. Well luckily the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP)Makhdoom Amin Fahim has come out said maybe that is not so hot.

via Daily Times...

President Musharraf had said in an interview with a New York-based newspaper that Pakistani women exaggerated rape as publicity stunts to obtain foreign nationalities. These remarks had been met with severe criticism from political parties and NGOs working for violence against women in Pakistan.

More young women are giving bisexuality a try, so says a new study by the Centers for Disease Control.

About 14 percent of women in their late teens and 20s said they'd had at least one sexual experience with another woman. Only about 6 percent of men the same age said they'd had a same-sex encounter. Researchers aren't sure whether young men are less likely to have same-sex experiences, or whether they're simply less likely to report them.

The trend among college women has prompted some sexual behavior experts to light-heartedly refer to the term "LUG," or "lesbian until graduation," said Craig Kinsley, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond who studies the biology of sexual orientation and gender.

They never miss a chance to make a "sexy co-eds" joke, do they? But thanks to this study, I guess we can all rest assured that bisexuality really does exist, if only during our youth.

Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell is putting out a new novel, "Lipstick Jungle" about forty-something women that are rich, powerful and at the peak of their careers.

via IndyStar...

There's fashion designer Victory Ford, who heads her own global conglomerate. There's movie executive Wendy Healy, clawing her way to the top of a Miramax-like corporation. And finally, magazine editor Nico O'Neilly, who is close to becoming the first female CEO of her multinational parent.

"These aren't women who are competing with each other.

So I go back and forth with the Sex and the City imaginary. I love the show, I mean really I have watched every episode like 3 times. But I recognize the lack of diversity in EVERY episode or the beauty standards/obsession with high fashion big ticket items that does affect you and make you want to buy Manolos, etc. But one of the reasons I have always liked SATC is because the women were not competing, they were friends and created a community for themselves where they didn't need men. Naturally they end up with them, I mean it is HBO and they have to get ratings from mainstream hetero-monogomy obsessed America, but still...

What do we think about these particular representations of women?
Has anyone read "Lipstick Jungle"?

Looks like Germany has its first female chancellor. Exit polls show Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats with a narrow victory over incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, although both sides are claiming a victory.

A former physicist, Merkel is an interesting figure, who has been labeled as "dowdy," "uncharismatic," and "a mix between Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher." Some pre-election speculation on how her gender would factor in at the polls:

It is thought the fact that she is a woman may play both ways. On the one hand, there are female voters who say she wins their vote because she is a woman. On the other there are those who wonder aloud whether as a woman she will be "strong" enough to stand up to the men around her.

That is not to mention the constant media coverage about her appearance. Even the journalists who write it concede they probably would not be doing so if she were a man.

Merkel ran on a platform of buddying up to the U.S., opposing Turkey's admission to the European Union, and strengthening the German economy. Women's rights were an election non-issue (but for a conservative, she has been called a centrist on issues like abortion and gay rights).

Still, it should be interesting to see where Merkel takes the country. That is, if Schroeder concedes.

Wait, women's rights is not one of our beloved Condi's priorities? Who knew?

via Reuters...

Diplomacy's most powerful woman, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has turned down a dinner date with other female foreign ministers to discuss women's rights, citing a clash with her schedule.

My ass. Perhaps if we were to start butting out of everyone else's business, we might notice perhaps the serious threat to a loss of women's rights IN the home of the free. Instead of making it clear that this administration does not have women's rights at the top of their to do list.

Today's New York Times has a "ground-level" view of abortion. The article manages to clear up some misconceptions about falling abortion rates.

"While abortion rates have been falling generally since 1990, the decline has been steepest among teenagers, and rates are lowest among educated, financially secure women.

Conversely, for poor and low-income women, rates increased during the 1990's, possibly in response to the 1996 welfare overhaul, which reduced support systems for women who carry their fetuses to term.

Which is why I find it appalling that the same politicians who claim to be against abortion are the same ones who continually vote against child care subsidies for welfare recipients.

The article also illustrates how increasing abortion restrictions-- whether it be parental consent, waiting periods, or overly stringent clinic licensing laws-- inflict further financial harm on women who are already in low income brackets, and only serve to delay (rather than prevent) many abortions.

In addition, the descriptions of why the women chose abortion demonstrate how people who are "pro-life" often change their minds when faced with an unwanted pregnancy themselves.

Take it from Leah, 26, who said she does not earn enough money to support a child:
"I always said I would never, ever have an abortion," she said... Afterward, in a recovery area, she said she was less shaken than she had expected. "I thought I'd be crying," she said. "I feel goofy now, but not in a bad way. I feel relieved more than anything."

Or from Tammy, who was in the clinic for her second abortion:
"I know it's against God," she said of her abortion. "But you have three kids, you want to raise them good."

Even though they believe abortion is wrong, they're still exercising their right to have the procedure. Clinic director Ann Osborne says, "I very often hear, 'I don't believe in this, but my situation is different."

The abortion-rights movement needs to do a better job of reaching out to women like Leah and Tammy. I'm not saying we should start referring to abortion as a tragedy. But if we can effectively convey to these women that the right to an abortion is what counts, maybe they would start voting for pro-choice candidates.

For more first-hand stories from the abortion front lines, visit the Abortion Clinic Days blog.

The Massachusetts state legislature has smacked down Governor Mitt Romney's veto of bill to allow emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter.

"Not only was his veto irresponsible, his argument was based on weak and misguided information," said Senator Pamela P. Resor, an Acton Democrat.

Right on. Massachusetts is now the eighth state to allow pharmacists to dispense EC without a doctor's prescription. As an added bonus, the new law also requires hospitals to offer EC to rape victims.

I have a new boyfriend, and he’s a college boy too! Well, sort of. His name is Ryan Barone, and he’s the coordinator for the Men’s Project, a program in Colorado State University that aims to educate men about sexual assault. Awesome.

The program stems from of the Office of Women’s Programs and Studies at the university; director Chris Lend gave Barone the opportunity to start the project. "We talk to women about reducing their risk," she said. "We need to educate men about their role in ending sexual violence."

The program’s four goals include: developing a long-term initiative to educate others about sexual assault, dispelling rape myths, increasing bystander intervention and raising awareness about how masculinity contributes to sexual assault.

The Men’s Project is also looking to specifically target undergrads who are involved in peer groups, such as ROTC, varsity sports and fraternities. They’re hoping that will cause some sort of chain reaction o’ awareness across the campus.

I know I’ve heard of similar programs to this in the past. I think it’s a fantastic idea, especially considering the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Thoughts?

It looks like Trojan is smarter than we thought.

The condom brand has launched a new line of products called Elexa, which claims to commit itself to a woman’s right to “sexual freedom.” (I can’t help giggling when I read that.) Additionally, they’ve included Club Elexa, a forum where women can get advice from sexologists and share “inspiration and war stories” with each other. (Whatever that means.)

The products range from condoms and gels to “freshening cloths” (ew!) and a vibrating ring (ooh!). The ring is actually not available in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. (I wonder why...)

So while the language may seem a bit cheesy, I have to give at least some props to a condom brand that pays attention to the ladies’ needs.

Also check out Amanda from Pandagon's take on Trojan's new project.

After Maria Lopez Urbina was replaced in May as the special prosecutor to work on the killings of hundreds of young women in Ciudad Juarez, her replacement announced on Wednesday that she’ll be leaving her post as well. Ugh.

Mireille Roccatti, the former president of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, was just five months on the job when she decided to join the Cabinet of Mexico’s new state governor, Enrique Pena Nieto. Roccatti said in a statement:

"I want to make clear the respectful solidarity I feel with all the mothers and all family members of the victims whom I tried to serve and support and whom I provided personal and direct attention."

The bodies of a school teacher, Alma Delia Moreno, and her daughter, Diana Belem Ortega, were found by the authorities in Juarez on that same day.

It doesn’t get much worse than this.

As promised, a little update on what's been happening at the World Summit...

President Bush spoke on Wednesday, September 14th. MADRE has done a little run-down of the truth behind Bush's rather empty statements:

Bush to Summit: "Either hope will spread, or violence will spread—and we must take the side of hope."

MADRE: As the world's biggest arms exporter, the US has clearly taken the side of violence. On Bush's watch, US arms sales have outpaced the second-largest arms dealer (Russia) two-to-one. More than half of these weapons went to governments known for human rights abuses against civilians, such as Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Colombia.

BUSH to Summit: "The terrorists must know that wherever they go, they cannot escape justice."

MADRE: Oh no? While the Bush Administration has been busy killing civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, al Qaeda has regrouped to become a more diffuse network of local units able to strike with greater frequency in multiple countries. Osama bin Laden, meanwhile, cannot be found because—as Bush famously explained—"he is hiding."

Not that I really trust anything that man says anyway, but when you put it like that...

Click here to read the rest of MADRE's fantastic analysis.

And, just because you sometimes need a little humor in these situations, my favorite report to come out of the Summit so far is about this note Bush apparently wrote to Condi yesterday asking whether he could take a bathroom break. Priceless.

Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

After all the hoopla this week, it’s nice to hear about a judge that’s on our side.

In Detroit on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood ruled against the Michigan’s Legal Birth Definition Act, stating that the law places an “undue burden” on women’s right to choose. Amen.

While similar bans on late-term abortion have been struck down in other states, Michigan anti-choicers used new language with this particular legislation. The Legal Birth Definition Act defines birth as the moment that any portion of a fetus emerges from the woman’s body, legally making the fetus a person. It has been considered one of the most extreme anti-choice laws in the U.S. since Roe. This wasn’t surprising coming out from Michigan; they have quite the reputation of pushing serious anti-choice legislation.

In her ruling, Judge Hood also stated that the law is confusing and vague, and that its exceptions for the health or life of the woman is unconstitutional and basically doesn’t mean shit. Word. Finally, someone is telling it like it is.

via Reuters...

A group of more than 300 women from 34 countries are due to ride on bicycles into the Syrian capital, Damascus on 18 September as part of a regional tour to promote peace and change the stereotypes about Arab women in the Middle East, organisers said.

"The main goal of the Women's Bicycle Ride is to support women. Women and children suffer more from wars than others and could make peace by raising awareness in society," Mona Ghanem, chairperson of the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs said on Tuesday.

When Norbizness sent this pic over, I warned him about my penchant for public shaming. I wasn't kidding. Here he is, sporting his well-earned prize for making me laugh. See, boys love us too. Even ones with manly beards.

Marcia D. Greenberger, National Women’s Law Center Co-President is calling Roberts out in his failure to be realistic about the real-world implications of his legal beliefs. Here are some excerpts from her testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

via National Women's Law Center...

“Some have claimed that because Judge Roberts has been so supportive of women family members, friends, and colleagues, he must also support women’s legal rights. But, Judge Roberts’ record consists of document after document detailing his past work to undermine women’s legal rights on the job, in schools and in government programs.

“Judge Roberts provided a clear explanation for this seeming contradiction. He testified that he forms his legal views without regard to his life experiences as ‘a father, husband, or anything else.’ Unfortunately, John Roberts’ view of the law is entirely divorced from its real-world consequences on women’s lives.

I find myself cutting and pasting the entire thing. Check out the tesitmony. She also discusses the Christine Franklin case that Robert's, "argued that Title IX should be interpreted to preclude her, and indeed any student, from recovering even one cent of damages – no matter how severe her injuries or how egregious the discrimination." She also calls him out on his lack of clarity with his stance on equal protection for women and what his potential view points on Roe v Wade may soon be (frightenly in accordance with Justice Thomas).

“Judge Roberts has refused to disavow his past record, refused to answer the key questions on Americans’ legal rights, and left the Committee without the benefit of his full written record, including the Christine Franklin memoranda. Judge Roberts said many times he believes in judicial restraint. Unfortunately, he has been restrained in protecting individual rights and freedoms, and unrestrained in seeking to narrow them. The risks of turning back the clock for all Americans, and most especially women, are too high to confirm John Roberts to the Supreme Court.”

via BBC...

Women's rights activists in Nepal have hailed a Supreme Court order to end discrimination against women during their menstrual cycle.

There is a tradition in parts of Nepal of keeping women in cow-sheds during their period.

The practice is common in far western districts of the country. The Supreme Court has ordered the government to declare the practice as evil and given it one month to begin stamping the practice out.
The court reached its decision on Wednesday.

In a COW SHED!

Make sure to check out Katha Pollitt’s latest, Intelligible Design. Besides being a great piece (shocking, I know), the column also contains perhaps one of the scariest facts ever:

40 percent of high school biology teachers don't teach evolution, either because it's socially unacceptable in their communities or because they themselves don't believe in it.

Eh?!

From The Onion:

Bush Nominates First-Trimester Fetus To Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, DC—In a press conference Monday, President Bush named a 72-day-old gestating fetus as his nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat that opened following the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Too funny. Read the rest here.

I'm all for body-love, but this post from Gawker, on the recent Seventeen Magazine article, "Owners Manual: Your Vulva Has a Lot of Parts — Check Out Where They Are and What They Do," is hilarious.

They said it perfectly when they wrote:

This "October issue of the teen stalwart is giving us a horrible flashback to middle-school health classes and the overwhelming fear that someone will imminently wheel in a TV and VCR to show us 'The Miracle of Life,' in which that skeevy tattooed couple lets PBS film their delivery."

Hee hee.

From Reuters:

Saudi businesswomen will be able to stand for election to a local trade and industry chamber in the first vote of its kind for women in the conservative Muslim monarchy, a top executive said on Thursday.

Saudi authorities allowed businesswomen to take part in a November election of 18 board members of the Red Sea city of Jeddah's Trade and Industry Chamber (JTIC), the chamber's chairman Ghassan al-Suleiman said.

"Businesswoman in Jeddah asked this year to participate and vote in the election of the chamber's board members," Suleiman told reporters in a conference call.

Women account for less than 10 percent of the chamber's 40,000 members, but Suleiman said he would be happy to see them make their presence felt in the relatively liberal city, which is also Saudi Arabia's main commercial center.

This study published in the UK suggests that women deal better with decline in social or financial losses. The study seems to have several flaws(like suggesting that one reason is because women look to successful family life instead of career success for happiness) and should not be generalized outside of its sample population, but I still thought it was interesting.

Men who experienced a downward social shift were four times more likely to feel depressed than men who improved their social status, whereas there was no marked difference in the mental health between women who moved up or down the social ladder, according to research from Britain's Newcastle University.

Women in the study were actually twice as likely to be downwardly mobile but generally avoided the depression and poor psychological wellbeing shown by men, the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health said.

Maybe because women have had to deal with lack of access to upward mobility for so long, that they can just deal. A sad thought, but just an idea...

I will believe it when I see it. Muslim scholars are saying that sharia laws in Nigeria will protect women more then the traditional laws.

Muslim scholars in northern Nigeria are launching a campaign to improve women's rights through Islamic sharia law, which they say provides greater protection for women than traditional practices.

Sharia in Nigeria has made world headlines as a threat to women after several were sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, but Nigerian Muslim jurists, both male and female, say sharia is an opportunity to help downtrodden women.

So much of sharia is up to the interpretation of scholars. It has been bent and manipulated to justify all types of abuse and loss of rights for women.

Just sayin...

Check out this blip on Alternet about Robert's sad track record on defending basic civil rights, like segragation BAD. Scroll down to Rachel Neumann's entry "whites only" bathroom still persist in Alabama.

If you can't find it just read this.

The director of a Cape Town rape crisis center has responded to the recently-developed South African anti-rape device, Rapex.

Check out some of her concerns...

Women have a constitutional right to feel safe in their homes, community and country, and this device creates the perception that women are to be responsible for their own safety. A woman thus has the responsibility to ensure that she is not raped. Why are we not asking why men rape and why are we not focusing on what must be done to stop men from raping?

This device will not protect you from being raped as the device is only activated once the penis enters the vagina.

There are different kinds of rape including oral rape and anal rape. Women are also raped with a range of objects and are gang-raped. This device will not help women who are raped in these ways.

This device will make women vulnerable to violent reactions from the rapist and the potential of being violently harmed or killed is enhanced. The possibility also exists that rapists will "test" to see if the woman is wearing this device by using an object and then rape her using their penises.

I am concerned that this device creates the idea that we should prepare our daughters and women to protect themselves from being raped as it is inevitable that this will happen in their lifetime and that it is OK to live in a state of constant fear.

Thoughts?

Italians can now legally bet on the Miss Italy contest because of a change in gaming rules.

The pageant folks aren’t too pleased:

"We're people, not objects or, worse, animals," complained Anna Prete, the "Miss Calabria" from the southern region of the same name and one of the many finalists unhappy with the government-sponsored scheme.

...Miss Italy purists are appalled at what they see is the vulgarization of a 66-year-old national institution and the competition's founder, Enzo Mirigliani wrote to the government to complain.

Allowing bets "damages the girls' dignity, bringing them down to the level of champion racehorses," he wrote, according to Il Messaggero.

Make sure to check out Bill Scher’s (of LiberalOasis) excellent take on the hearings yesterday. He calls Roberts out for his statements on privacy. Cause really--they didn’t mean shit.

Much is being made of John Roberts’ claim that he believes there is a right to privacy in the Constitution.

But it was a meaningless statement.

Favorite line ever: ...And you get one nasty anti-privacy sundae.

(Can’t help it; I like ice cream.)

Wow.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that women in Pakistan get themselves raped for getting a visa to Canada and becoming a millionaire.

"You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a moneymaking concern...a lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped," the Daily Times quoted Musharraf as saying in an interview with The Washington Post.

From Reuters:

Jamila (not her real name), aged 28, is too afraid to leave her home, in fear that she will be raped again. She says she constantly relives the nightmare she endured three months ago at the hands of an unknown attacker on the streets of Baghdad.

...She is just one of hundreds of cases of sexual abuse in the country that have taken place since the US-led invasion in 2003 when thousands of criminals were set free from the prisons, officials say.

Insecurity in Iraq has given criminals an easy environment in which to operate again, locals say. Most of the attacks are on university students, according to the authorities.

...According to the Ministry of Public Works and Social Affairs, there has been a significant increase in cases of abuse against women, especially in the capital, Baghdad.

Does it bother anyone else that an Ohio abstinence-only education program shares its name with an 80s Molly Ringwald flick about having a baby in high school?

I'm just saying...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) just finished up her questions...she brought up all of Roberts' past they-were-a-joke-I-swear comments on women and some choice issues. Of course, Roberts didn't answer much.

Read more at BushvChoice.

The NY Times has a transcript of this morning's question and answer session. Pay special attention to Roberts' exchange with Sen. Biden. Here's just a bit of it:

BIDEN: Let me go on to my next question: violence against women. I realize it's a bit of a hobby horse for me, since I wrote the legislation. And I know people say they wrote things. I mean, I actually did write that my little old self, with my staff. And no one liked it, I might add, at first; women's groups or anybody else.

But in 1999, you said, in response to a question -- you were on a show, it was 1999, you were talking about a number of things. And you said, and I quote, You know, we've gotten to a point these days where we think the only way we can show we're serious about a problem is if we pass a federal law, whether it's the Violence Against Women Act or anything else.

The fact of the matter is conditions are different in different states. And state laws are more relevant is, I think, exactly the right term. More attuned to different situations in New York as opposed to Minnesota. And that's what the federal system is based upon.

Judge, tell me how a guy beating up his wife in Minnesota is any different condition in New York.

ROBERTS: Senator, I was not speaking specifically to any piece of legislation there. That was making...

BIDEN: Well, you mentioned Violence Against Women.

ROBERTS: That was the issue that had come up on the show. And the general issue that was being addressed is a question of federalism.

I think it was part of the genius of the founding fathers to establish a federal system, with a national government to address issues of national concern; state and local government more close to the people to address issues of state and local concern. Obviously, issues of overlap as well.

I was not expressing the view on any particular piece of legislation. And I think the statement you read...

BIDEN: Well, let me ask you...

ROBERTS: ... confirms that.

BIDEN: OK.

Judge, is gender discrimination, as you've written in a memo, a perceived problem or is it a real problem?

ROBERTS: The memo you talked about, Senator, I've had a chance to look at it.

BIDEN: I'll bet you have.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Roberts won't really answer any questions, but it's still damn annoying.

And believe me--there are many. (Yeah, yeah, I know this is about sports...but generally when I think hazing, I think Greek.)

Six women pleaded guilty yesterday to hazing for their roles in a boozy college field hockey initiation in Cumberland, Md., that left an 18-year-old hospitalized with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit.

The six current and former Frostburg State University field hockey players each were fined $300, given suspended 60-day jail terms and placed on a year's probation.

On Dec. 3, the victims were urged to drink so much beer and liquor that one was hospitalized with a 0.365 percent blood-alcohol level, court documents showed. The freshmen also were pelted with flour, ice and eggs, and made to sit in their own vomit and urine, according to court documents.

Joseph Biden (D-DE), using Ginsburg as an example, asked Roberts about abortion and whether he thinks a state prohibiting abortion would limit women’s rights. Roberts refused to answer. Shocking.

Biden is too funny. When the Chairman tried to get Biden to stop talking so Roberts could answer, Biden said to Roberts, “Yeah, go ahead and continue not to answer.” Sweet.

Biden also asked Roberts about VAWA, pushing him pretty hard, but Roberts is dodging. He just talks about having three sisters (who work outside the home!) and a wife (who is a lawyer!). See, so he can’t be a misogynist. Never mind what he said about VAWA in the past.

Yes, I'm very cranky today.

I'm blogging the hearings again today at BushvChoice, so go get the full story there. But if you're feeling lazy, just check out these tidbits from ConfirmThem (a blog organized by RedState.org). They're all gleeful and shit over Roberts’ answers on privacy. That should be enough to make you terrified:

Roberts’ answer was brilliant. He made a statement that will satisfy most Americans about privacy while leaving himself enough wiggle room to move the Court on that issue in the future.

A top-flight, leading conservative pro-life lawyer with a vibrant Supreme Court practice whose name most readers of this forum would know just walked into the room where I’m sitting. He was thrilled about Roberts’ answers during the dialogue with Specter and indicated his strong approval and endorsement. He explained that Roberts’s answer was carefully framed to provide a basis for revisiting and overturning Roe in the future. Specifically, he indicated that Roberts said that precedent could be overturned on the basis of changing circumstances.

Lovely.

Well, maybe. But by virtue of the city I live in, it very well may be true.

According to a new survey from Trojan, women in New York City have sex several times a week, much more than women in L.A., Dallas, Miami or Chicago. Yeah, baby!

NYC women also the biggest fans of safe sex; 93 percent of us use protection the first time we have sex with someone. (I’m hoping this safety trend continues to the second and third times, but the survey didn’t address it.)

Upsetting fact--only 22 percent of women questioned say they orgasm during sex. What?!

Among the MANY newsworthy things going on this week, UN Headquarters in New York is hosting the World Summit, a follow-up to the 2000 Millennium Summit that resulted in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals being promoted by the UN, targeting everything from ending world poverty to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. While the MDGs have been criticized by many women’s rights organizations for not being inclusive enough of women (for example, check out this great article by MADRE), they are a start. And, not to mention, having over 180 world leaders in town to talk about the MDGs provides a good opportunity for women’s rights advocates and activists to voice their concerns.

Unfortunately, but oh-so-unsurprisingly, U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton (who incidentally was appointed to this position by President Bush over the summer without the Senate’s approval) has been causing a ruckus already. The Summit doesn’t start until Wednesday, but Bolton & Co. have already made about 750 additions or deletions to the 40-page document that needs to be agreed upon and signed by 180 leaders from around the world at the close of the Summit.

I’ll try to have an update to you during the Summit proceedings (from the 14th to the 16th). And lucky for us, 3 women’s organizations—the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)—have formed the Gender Monitoring Group of the World Summit to make sure that women’s voices are heard throughout the process, so be sure to check that out in the meantime.

Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

Uh oh. Just what we need to give fuel to the anti-feminist fire:

A new political party in Sweden says it will abolish marriage if it gets into power.

The Feminist Initiative, which expects more than 20% of the vote in next year's election, claims marriage "is not about love, but about ownership".

FI founder Tiina Rosenberg, said: "Instead of marriage we want to promote a co-habitation law that ignores gender and allows more than two people in a partnership."Huh. Clearly there are many problems with the institution of marriage--namely its history of misogyny, and here in the U.S. its unavailability to same-sex couples--but is this really the way to go? People want to get married; we’re frigging wedding obsessed!

I can just see the MensNewsDaily headlines now...sigh.

Any thoughts?

Posted by Jessica - September 12, 2005, at 05:08PM | in International, News, Politics, Sexism