December 2006 Archives

I have a story in the current print issue (Jan/Feb) of The American Prospect about the politics of using RU-486 to treat cancer. It's also online here.

Phill Kline's investigation into a Kansas abortion provider won't continue after Kline leaves office on January 8. But Kline is working hard to get charges filed before then.

Might it be possible to repeal the Global Gag Rule this year?

After initially banning an abstinence-only program, Rhode Island agreed to reinstate it -- even though it's still medically inaccurate and discriminatory.

The Vatican has upheld the 1996 excommunication of a Catholic reform group that supports the ordination of women.

In an issue about deaths this year, The New York Times reflects on Betty Friedan and Wendy Wasserstein. (There's also a video on Wasserstein.) Notable omissions: Coretta Scott King, Jane Hodgson, and Ellen Willis.

Barbara Ehrenreich on DemocracyNow! speaks about poverty and global feminism.

The politics of Patricia Heaton, Feminists For Life's celebrity spokesperson.

The movement to end violence against women in Darfur continues.

A New Mexico abstinence group is suing Governor Bill Richardson for failure to disclose how the state spends its federal abstinence-only dollars. I'm all for more transparency on how these federal grants are administered. But the abstinence group is basically just pissed because New Mexico has refused to indoctrinate kids 6th grade and younger with the abstinence-only message.

Shocker! Women who leave the workforce to raise children full-time are often financially screwed in later life.

Why the new sitcom My Boys does justice to the single gal more than Sex and the City ever did.

Even though the number of women in science continues to grow, they still routinely receive less research support than their male colleagues, and they have not reached the top academic ranks.

While many U.S. states still haven't committed to covering the cost of the HPV vaccine, Britain is vaccinating all 12-year-old girls.

Funny how headlines never scream "fear grips town" when a serial rapist targets women. (Thanks to Erin for the link.)

Linda Nieves-Powell is the president and CEO of the multimedia entertainment company, Latino Flavored Productions, Inc. based in New York, which she founded in 1995. As well as a playwright, author, mother, wife, and entrepreneur.

I spoke with Linda over the phone in November. Here’s Linda…

Lauren of Faux Real Tho (originally of Feministe) is getting hitched. Go say congrats!

Amanda has a wedding song suggestion. So do I. (Ignore the bad ending and tweed overload.)

This made my day.

Mehrnoush Najafi, a lawyer who also happens to be a women's rights activist and blogger, won in the Hamedan City Council Elections.

Eteraz notes that after the polls closed, Najafi wrote on her blog: "I am a candidate, therefore, I am." He also gives us this great quote:

“Why don’t women want to have a larger share of participation?� Najafi continues, “We shouldn’t wait until they give us a share. We should go forward ourselves and be involved. Standing aside will do no good.� (Rooz.)

Women bloggers taking over the world...I'm telling you.

Thanks to Amanda for helping me to find the perfect outlet for said mood.

Sigh. An editorial in today's NY Times voices concern over "Middle School Girls Gone Wild." Wild dancing that is.

They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust their chests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lap dancers without laps. They don’t smile much. Their faces are locked from grim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to hold onto. “Don’t stop don’t stop,� sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. “Jerk it like you’re making it choke. ...Ohh. I’m so stimulated. Feel so X-rated.� The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

As each routine ends, parents and siblings cheer, whistle and applaud. I just sit there, not fully comprehending.

Vanessa covered this girls-shouldn't-dance-sexy stuff recently, and I tend to agree with most of her thoughts.

Is it kind of shocking when you're an adult to see kinds dirty dancing or girls dancing like their grown women? Of course. But it's nothing new. Lawrence Downes, author of the editorial, seems to think that racy talent shows and dancing are a recent phenomenon brought on by an oversexualized pop culture. But I hate to tell you, kids have been shaking their shit for quite a long time.

A small example. At my seventh grade dance teachers almost lost their mind when we all started dancing to "I Want to Sex You Up" by Color Me Bad. (Don't give me a hard time, it was a hot song back then.) There was much bumping and grinding and such going on--and it was a lot more innocent than the teachers thought. We were laughing and having fun, but seeing us all up on each other was enough to give adults fainting spells. And you know that teens back in the 50s were doing the same shit, just to different music.

I'm not saying that I think that the current pop culture doesn't position young women as sexual objects in a disturbing way--it does. But I don't think the solution is to legislate dance moves or try to implement a no grinding rule at school dances. Cause seriously, the more adults are freaked out by it, the more they're going to want to do it.

Patti Binder, an advocate for girls, has more.

"I hate chores, but I guess I hate cancer more!"

I couldn't help it, I started laughing when I read the headline of this article.

A new study says that women who exercise by doing housework can reduce their risk of breast cancer.

The research on more than 200,000 women from nine European countries found doing household chores was far more cancer protective than playing sport.

Dusting, mopping and vacuuming was also better than having a physical job.

You hear that ladies? Cleaning could save your life. A job could kill you.

Never mind that the results simply show that moderate, regular forms of exercise may be more effective in cutting cancer risk than "less frequent but more intense recreational physical activity." No...let's make sure to push the dusting angle.

I mean, seriously?

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that the intimate partner violence rate has declined since 1993. (Thanks, VAWA!)

In 1993 nonfatal intimate partner violence was 5.8 victimizations per 1,000 U.S. residents 12 years old and older. By 2004 this rate had fallen to 2.6 victimizations per 1,000 individuals.

...The number of intimate partner homicide victims has declined since 1993, with greater declines seen for male victims. During 1993, the number of females murdered by intimates was 1,571, compared to 1,159 during 2004 -- a 26 percent decline. The number of males murdered by partners during 1993 was 698, compared to 385 -- a 45 percent decline.

Of course, it's not all good news. Some demographic groups saw an increase in violence, and some women are more at risk than others.

During that period [2003-2004] the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence among black females increased from 3.8 to 6.6 victimizations per 1,000 females aged 12 and older.

...The average annual rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence from 1993 to 2004 was highest for American Indian and Alaskan Native females at 18.2 victimizations per 1,000 females aged 12 and older. The risks also varied by age group. Females 20 to 24 years old were at the highest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.

You can check out the full report here.

The lovely Miss Samhita is in town, which means I'm in a state of perpetual hangover nastiness. Naturally.

Classic Samhita:

Outside a Lower East Side bar, a random guy saunters up and tries to light Samhita's cig. He can't get it to work. Samhita rolls her eyes at him and says, "Fuck that patriarchal bullshit, anyway." He backs away slowly.

And this is why she needs to move back to NY.

I'm late on this one. Salon's Rebecca Traister interviews Dawn Eden about her new book, The Thrill of the Chaste. It's priceless, really.

Pandagon and Feministe have more.

Now if we could only get our hands on that video...

Shocking, I know.

A report from NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina says inaccuracies occur in both Sex Respect and Me, My World, My Future, which are used in the county's "abstinence only" family life program taken by some middle school students.

Sex Respect, used by eighth-graders in New Hanover County, questions the protection that condoms provide against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, stating: "There is not a lot of proof that condoms really work. Would you trust your life to one?"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that condoms are highly effective against HIV when used consistently and correctly.

But the truth, of course, has no place in school. Check out this analysis of the Sex Respect curriculum from SIECUS, it’s scary stuff.

Like this gem: “A young man’s natural desire for sex is already strong due to testosterone, the powerful male growth hormone. Females are becoming culturally conditioned to fantasize about sex as well.� (Cause lord knows we wouldn’t think about sex naturally. Ick.)

Another peeve? Jere Royall of the North Carolina Family Policy Council says, “If you get into 'let us show you how to use contraceptives,' then you're sending a mixed message to young people…With drugs and alcohol we encourage them to make wise and healthy choices. We don't turn around and say, 'If you are going to do these things, this is how to do it.'�

Of course we don’t. Because drugs and alcohol are pretty much bad for you no matter what—there ain’t no coke condom. It just kills me when people liken teen drug or alcohol use to sexual activity—shouldn’t we be teaching kids that sex is a wonderful thing rather than something akin to heroin use?

Sorry about the dearth of posts; it's a vacation week though so I'm sure you'll forgive us.

Check out this piece in Alternet (originally posted on Women's eNews) about "maternal profiling"--employers asking women about their marital or parental status before hiring them. Interesting stuff.

Because I'm tired and wanting to take some vaca time...talk amongst yourselves.

Pic from Grant Neufeld.

Here's one of those things I don't know what to say about.

It is a beauty contest complete with a swimsuit round. But all the contestants in the latest reality format to sweep ratings-hungry broadcasters have a disability.

Contestants must display a “handicap visible to the eye� in Miss Ability, a Dutch show that became the surprise hit of 2006 in the Netherlands.

Twelve women, including amputees and wheelchair-bound contestants, parade in nightgowns and bathing suits.

I'm not so into beauty pageants, but this actually seems kind of cool--at least in terms of redefining beauty standards. The producers of Miss Ability say that the show isn't patronize women who are differently abled and are aiming to break down barriers:

But the prospectus does not suggest sensitivity. It reads: “Ever whistled at a woman in a wheelchair? Checked out the boobs of a blind babe? If the answer’s ‘no’, this barrier-breaking show will put an end to that.�

Controversial, no doubt. Progressive? Not sure. Thoughts?

Weirdest headline ever: "Parasite turns women into 'sex kittens.'" Whaa?

Apparently, about 40 percent of the world's population is infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in raw meat, that makes men dumb and women sluts:

'Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women.

On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.

In short, it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens.'

Hey, I fit all of those descriptions! And I do like my steak rare. And cats.

This study is just silly.

Call me crazy, but I think folks who see women as "collectibles" should be banned from seeing boobies.

Pic from Vixgirl.

Wow.

A 17-year old student at Santa Cruz was turned away when he went to donate blood at his high school because of his previous sexual history. Oh, and the fact that he’s gay.

Santa Cruz school officials are actually thinking about canceling blood drives altogether because of the incident, particularly if their students are going to be required to disclose information about their sexual orientation.

Despite the fact that the major blood supply organizations in the U.S., including the American Red Cross, petitioned the FDA to relax the rules on gay men, saying that, "the current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted," gay men are still deferred from donated blood by the FDA. Their statement on the issue?

"Studies have shown that men with a history of male to male sex since 1977 may be infected with HIV and/or may have evidence of a lifestyle that potentially exposes them to HIV."

But should we expect much more from the FDA? Sigh.

Note: This post has been slightly altered due to new information disclosed by a reader. See comments for more info!

There was a really good article in the New York Times on Sunday about the gender pay gap in the United States. Who woulda thought?

The piece approaches the varying views on reasons behind the issue, between men’s socialized breadwinner roles making them more career-motivated to blatant gender discrimination in the workplace and the nation’s lack of good daycare.

It also exposes the fact that for women with a four-year college degree, the gap has actually slightly widened since the nineties.

I had a bit of a problem with the article’s focus on Francine and Lawrence Blau from Cornell University, whom are said to have done among the most detailed research on gender and pay. While they’ve brought in a lot of information regarding statistics and helped to reveal that the gap has generally not changed, they also say that there’s no proof that discrimination is the cause of the remaining pay gap since the nineties, and suggest that it may be that men are more motivated at work and therefore do better pay-wise due to their pressure to be the breadwinner. A wee problematic, if you ask me.

Another theory I found particularly interesting (considering the current organization I work for) claims that there has been little government effort in the past two decades to enforce Title VII and Title IX policies, which may have been a significant aid in closing the pay gap.

It’s obvious that many of these things may contribute to the gender pay gap in this country, from horrendous daycare to the lack of government enforcement of policies that could potentially eradicate the gender discrimination that exists in our schools and jobs. The real question is -- where do we start?

This game is horrifying. According to its description, The Battle of the Sexes Game “is about defending your gender tooth and nail.� Your gender role, that is. In other words, you test your knowledge of the opposite sex by answering questions that only “they� would know.

For example, a question a guy would be asked might be, “Which member of the bridal party throws the bridal shower?� or “How many birth control pills come in a single pack?� (So basically, the only woman-friendly questions are about marriage and sex?) The male questions seem to be mostly on fishing and cars. 'Cause what real man doesn't know about fishing??

I can totally see some ass thinking this is the perfect gift for a feminist. After all, this is what feminism is all about, right?? Battle of the sexes?? Hahaha!! Heh.

After we finish opening our gifts...

(Heads up: graphic images.)

Thanks to Irene for passing this along.

Before I head off to my parents' place in search of yummy food and day-early gifts, I just wanted to share a couple of things that (almost) ruined my holiday spirit.

This one is from Libby Copeland at The Washington Post, in an article oh-so-cleverly titled, From Thong to Thesis: Monica Lewinsky Flashes Her Intellect:

There are moments that make you question your fundamental assumptions about the world. One of them took place a few days ago, when news emerged that Monica Lewinsky had just graduated from the London School of Economics.

She did not!!

Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft, and the notion of her earning a master of science degree in social psychology at the prestigious London university is jarring, akin to finding a rip in the time-space continuum, or discovering that Kim Jong Il is a natural blond.

You know, cause she sucked dick. Which clearly is a mark of the intellectually impaired.

Another cringe-inducing moment came from an otherwise good article about the princess craze among young girls (though didn't Salon already cover this two years ago?). From Peggy Orenstein in What’s Wrong With Cinderella?:

In the 1990s, third-wave feminists rebelled against their dour big sisters, “reclaiming� sexual objectification as a woman’s right — provided, of course, that it was on her own terms, that she was the one choosing to strip or wear a shirt that said “Porn Star� or make out with her best friend at a frat-house bash.

Wow. Could a more snarky (not to mention inaccurate) description of third-wave feminism be possible? Sometimes I wonder if it's cluelessness or nastiness that gives way to this kind of writing about young feminism.

But one thing today did put me back in tip-top holiday shape. David Usher, who warned young men to "stay away from feminists and strippers," thinks that Rutgers University--where I got my MA--is the center of "global feminist terrorism." Day made.

Rachel B. Tiven is the executive director of Immigration Equality based in New York City. Immigration Equality is a national organization that fights for the U.S. immigration rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals. Founded in 1994 as the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, Immigration Equality has grown to a membership of 10,000 people in cities across the country. Immigration Equality is funded by donations from members as well as private foundations.

Here’s Rachel…

My new apartment is in perhaps the most Italian-Catholic building in Queens, and things are geting a little Jesus heavy in the lobby's decorations. So a little eco-Santa action was a much needed treat.

I can imagine it now...

The guy at the bar who has spent the last fifteen minutes making bad feminism jokes after I told him about what I do is now inexplicably asking me for my number. Instead of wasting my breath to tell him what I think about him, I just hand him a card. Perfection.

Via Gawker.

Cristina Page, author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America, has a great piece in Alternet about contraception and how it changed life in the U.S.--for the better.

In Contraception Saves Money and Marriages, Page points out that despite what the anti-birth control nuts say--you know, that birth control causes homosexuality and increases abortion rates--access to contraception is pro-family.

The religious right is right in this: Birth control is the source of seismic change. Family planning has led to a transformation of our society so rapid we've only recently had the occasion to take stock. For example, the past century has actually witnessed a steep decline in extramarital affairs as a result, it would seem, of the very changes that drive the pro-lifers wild: The more lengthy and thoughtful trying-out of marriage partners in combination with greater candor about sexual desires within marriage.

...Another truth is that when the birth control revolution got underway, women waited to marry and start a family. In 1970, the average age of a new mother was 21 years old. By 2000, the average age was 28. Harvard researchers recently reported that legalization of contraception is directly linked to the spike in the number of women becoming more highly educated and entering the "career" professions. In 1970, 5 percent of all lawyers and judges were women; today there are six times that. In 1970, one in 10 physicians was female, today it's one in three. Similar patterns are true for women architects, dentists, veterinarians, economists and women in most of the engineering fields.

Page goes on to highlight other ways that contraception has changed American's lives for the better, including happier marriages and decreased poverty rates. Take that, assholes.

Global Orgasm for Peace Day. I am so glad I read Alternet or this one would have just passed me by. The purpose is that we get as many people as possible worldwide to orgasm while focusing on world peace. The only thing is you can't fake it. DUH.

When anti-war activists Paul Reffell and Donna Sheehan planned their latest peace-making project -- the synchronized global orgasm -- to fall on Dec. 22, they may not have realized that it's the last Friday before Christmas. It's a day many people take off, and so, have a little extra time on their hands. Sweet coinkydink or a holiday miracle, today's your chance to improve the world -- batteries not included.

And why did they propose it? Because human behavior has become too focused on violence.

The couple wondered what they could do to help change that, so they decided to use the same brand of witty activism that inspired a previous project, Baring Witness. As you might guess from the name, protesters used their naked bodies to create peace-promoting slogans and symbols -- a tactic which drew international notice.

The Global Orgasm for Peace certainly has the same winking cleverness, but it also invites us to consider the power of collective thought. Does what we think really effect anything?

Hey it couldn't hurt to try. I don't know about you but I am already typing with one hand.

via Alternet.

Although religion and culture do not permit working in bars, many young women in Senegal are being forced to work in bars due to economic necessity. Voice of America looks at the story of two women that are trying to make it out of the bar scene.

Estimates for the unemployment rate for Senegal range between 40 and 60 percent. Many high school and even college graduates cannot find jobs in the formal sector.

Based on current population trends, the International Labor Office estimates that by the year 2015, the number of young people will grow by 30 million in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Which may mean less choices for many youth like Mya, who will not settle for just any job.

"It is hard for me to find a job if I have conditions or standards. Perhaps I am too demanding," she says.

As a Muslim, Astou has second thoughts about working where she does.

"Religion does not permit us to work in places like discotechs and bars," she says, " but we do this because we do not have other things to do. If I had another job, I would not continue to do this. I do not have a choice."

She adds one final reason for staying in her job. She says she makes very good money.

Economic necessity forces women into all types of work they are not happy with. Women aren't "opting out" they are systematically being left out of global capital flow and not being given the jobs they deserve. The situation intensifies in places where the economy has less room for advancement.

via VOA.

I mean this is not really surprising due to constant warfare, threat of rape, lack of food or money and ongoing displacement happening in several parts of Sudan. But either way, the women of Darfur are indeed suffereing from poor mental health.

A new study of internally displaced women in Sudan's South Darfur illuminates the bleak status of women's mental health in the volatile region. The study, which will be published in January by the International Medical Corps (IMC), found that although humanitarian aid helps meet women’s basic nutritional needs, the mental health of displaced women in Darfur is largely neglected.

Almost one-third (31 percent) of women surveyed met the criteria for major depressive disorder while 63 percent reported suffering the emotional symptoms of depression. Five percent reported suicidal thoughts, 2 percent had attempted suicide, and another 2 percent of households had a member commit suicide in the past year. Nearly all of the respondents (98 percent) felt that counseling provided by humanitarian agencies would be the most helpful way of dealing with these feelings.

via Ms. Daily News Wire.

This creates the possibility for some serious clown-car vagina action.

Having the flu sucks. But this Free To Be ... You And Me cartoon short from the 70s cheered me up. (The comments it elicited on YouTube? Not so much.)

not Martha Stewart fantasies. Check out our gal Courtney Martin's piece on the reality of the so-called "opt-out revolution." Did folks really think women were opting out?

It turns out that Belkin's "opt out revolution" was more like an opt out overreaction. Heather Boushey, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. found that the drop in women's work participation rates between 2001 and 2005 was largely due to a weak labor market, and further, men's labor rates also dropped at this time. Joan Williams, the director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings, recently reported that 86 percent of those women who did leave their jobs did so because of inflexible office policy, not Martha Stewart fantasies.

Women aren't throwing away their careers, they can't find childcare! Only 1 in 7 parents get paid childcare leave. And the stats get uglier. . .

This is not just a touchy-feely topic, but an economic watershed. The average female college graduate who becomes a mother will sacrifice about a million dollars over her lifetime. And it's not just personal financial loss that is caused by rigid work/family policy. A new study by Catalyst, a research and advisory organization on women at work, and The Community, Families & Work Program (CFWP) at Brandeis University, found that of the 1,755 working parents studied in three Fortune 100 organizations, 1 in 20 parents, experience high stress as a result of inflexible work/family policy. A staggering number when you consider that, according to American Psychologist, workplace stress costs companies an estimated $50-$300 billion in lost job productivity each year.

Check it at Alternet.

(I am so sick, I think Jessica did it, over the interweb. BITCH!)

This is the worst idea ever. The BBC is planning on airing a “reality� show about a rape trial. Basically, the show will recreate a rape trial and then have 12 celebrity jurors reach a verdict. Cause what’s more fun and entertaining than rape?

Understandably, some folks are a little concerned:

…the inclusion on the jury of the likes of former MP turned perjurer, Jeffrey Archer, and Stan Collymore, the former footballer involved in well-publicised domestic violence and "dogging" incidents, has already sparked concern about the motives of the programme-makers from rape charities and support groups.

Even better is the fictionalized story the jurors are supposed to be judging:

The case involves a young woman called Anna Crane from Epsom, who goes to see the musical Chicago with her best friend in London.

After the show they wind up in a hotel cocktail bar where the friend spots celebrity footballer Damien Scott and his friend, a less successful player called James Greer. They retire to Scott's suite where one of two things happens to Anna Crane: either she has consensual sex with Scott or she is gang-raped. Both defendants plead not guilty.

Crane decides not to go to the police. Instead, her best friend sells the story of her alleged rape to a Sunday newspaper for £30,000 and covertly tapes Anna describing the assaults. This tape was played in court to the celebrity jury who have to make up their minds as to whether it is a harrowing confession or a fake tape concocted by two money-grabbing girls. (Emphasis added)

Because trivializing rape through a celebrity reality show just wasn't enough--depicting violence against women wouldn't be complete without giving credence to the idea that women make up rape charges for cold hard cash. Classy.

Complaints can be made to the BBC here, or by writing to Anthony Salz, Acting BBC Chair, BBC Complaints, PO Box 1922, Glasgow, G1 3WT.

Ezra Klein has tagged me (and Ann) with a meme. I'm supposed to reveal five things most people don't know about me. This is somewhat difficult, because anyone who has ever met me knows that I have a tendency to blurt out inappropriate anecdotes about myself at the drop of a hat.

In any case, I'm with Ezra that this is a little lacking in the fun department so I'm also going to include one thing in my list that isn't true. See if you can guess.

1. The two songs I dance around my apartment to the most are The Grasshopper Unit by the Beastie Boys and Elton John’s Don't Go Breaking My Heart. But the most listened to artists on my iPod are A Tribe Called Quest and Slim Harpo.

2. While I think lip rings on guys are uberhot, I have yet to make out with anyone who has one.

3. I’m a bit of a math and science dork—they were always my best subjects but I refused to go with my strengths and took all English classes instead.

4. I only sneeze in threes or more.

5. I got a tattoo of a lotus on my lower back when I was 15 years-old; I used a fake i.d. to get it. The parents were not pleased.

Ok, my turn to tag: Amanda, Zuzu, LadyRed, Lauren and Norbizness.

Let’s hope not.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries is pushing a bill that would reduce the timeframe a woman is allowed to obtain an abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks and would call for a one-week “cooling off� period.

Lovely. The “cooling off� period would mean that a woman would have to wait a week after seeking an abortion before she can actually get one. You know, so she can get counseling and think about her decision. Because god knows, she hasn’t thought about it before.

Labour MP Chris McCafferty has called the cooling-off proposal "an attack on women's reproductive rights".

…Ms McCafferty has said that forcing a woman to have counselling goes against the whole principle of counselling, while the 10-day delay [proposed in an earlier version of the bill] could prompt women to travel abroad for abortions "when they are in a vulnerable state" or resort to illegal abortions.

Not to mention, this whole “cooling off� period nonsense implies that women are basically children. That we’re incapable of making our own decisions without a “time out� from the government to really think things over. Disgusting.

Love it.

Thanks to Nate for the pic.

As I get over my flu (I'm a huge baby when sick, not pretty) check out one of my new fave blogs, Postcards From Guyville.

The tagline says it all: In which one thirtysomething queer feminist attempts to date men for the first time in over a decade. Fun read, I'm telling you.

We may be a little short on posts today, sorry. I have a wicked flu and writing from bed is harder than you think. Send me thoughts of chicken soup and Nyquil.

These studies are the worst.

Headline reads, "High-quality marriages are the best stress-busters for women." The study was actually on hand-holding; which found that while a woman feels threatened, holding her husband's hand calms her nerves. I'm sorry to use this played out phrase but I just have to do it: No-fucking-duh.

It's almost as if these obvious and pointless studies are purposefully done so headlines can say that marriage is the answer to women's anxiety.

Pic from msondo.

Well, I was about to write something about the same story from Jessica's last post, Almost all Americans have pre-marital sex, but she beat me to it. However, what Jessica did not address is the dark purpose behind this study. I'll let the experts tell you.

Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group which strongly supports abstinence-only education, said she was skeptical of the findings. "Any time I see numbers that high, I'm a little suspicious," she said. "The numbers are too pat."

But a fellow in family and culture issues at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., that supports abstinence-only legislation, blasts the report as "an attack on abstinence."

Ah, yes. The long-standing evil liberal war on abstinence will stop at nothing. Now, stop reading and get to screwing out of wedlock, just like your grandparents did.

So enough with the flower-based threats, already!

A new study, “Trends in Premarital Sex in the United States, 1954–2003,� says pre-marital sex is nearly universal among Americans.

The study, published in the January/February 2007 issue of Public Health Reports, reports that by age 44, 99% of respondents had had sex, and 95% had sex before marriage.

From The Guttmacher Institute:

...Further, contrary to the public perception that premarital sex is much more common now than in the past, the study shows that even among women who were born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 had sex before marriage.

“This is reality-check research. Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades,� says study author Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute. “The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government’s funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12–29-year-olds. It would be more effective to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active—which nearly everyone eventually will.�

Yeah, but what fun would that be? Then you couldn't make folks feel all slutty and bad for doing what pretty much everyone else is also doing. And that would just be silly.

Just in time for Christmas! You know we love those weird boobie products.

via Gobaz.

This is just so horrible.

A 17 year-old boy in Georgia has been sentenced to ten years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year-old girl.

Now, I understand the need for consent laws--but this is why they piss me the fuck off. This poor kid is going to jail for getting a blow job.

Not to mention, there are some serious sexist implications here. Consent laws are overwhelmingly enforced to "protect" young girls, even if some of them don't need protecting. I find it pretty insulting that any teen girl who has sex is an automatic victim. Not to mention, I wonder if charges would have been brought had he been giving her oral sex instead of the other way around. Just seems to me that if she was being "serviced" the situation may have been different. (This is based on nothing but my random thoughts, of course. I very well could be wrong.)

In any case, this is fucked.

A children's shirt depicting a male stick figure pushing a female stick figure out of a box ilicited some complaints from shoppers.

"I thought that shirt was very offensive, and I'm sure people who made that shirt thought it was cute," District Attorney Evert Fowle said Friday. "But when you prosecute 728 domestic violence cases a year, it's not cute."

The shirt was removed briefly after a customer protested, but later returned to shelves. As it stands now, the final word from Kmart corporate is that the t-shirt will continue to be sold.

"We respect the opinions of our customers," [Kmart] said in a statement issued from corporate headquarters. "However, we believe these attitude Ts are meant to be light-hearted in nature."

Cause what's a little light-hearted assault, after all?

Thanks to David for the link.

This is just nuts.

Immigration authorities in Hong Kong are considering prohibiting pregnant women from crossing the border from mainland China because of an abundance of unpaid medical bills.

There has been recent occurrences of women in late stages of pregnancy crossing the border to Hong Kong, delivering babies in public hospitals, and leaving without paying the bills. It’s apparently so common that the government believes that it’s a large contribution to the $40 million debt of unpaid bills in public health services. They’re even giving it a title:

One reason why this “maternity tourism� thrives is that Chinese babies born in Hong Kong get permanent residency rights — and a slew of welfare benefits like free schooling and medical benefits. Additionally, many women seek out Hong Kong’s vastly superior public health service.

Those moochers, seeking good health service and all.

A group of women staged a protest last week due to the deterioration of maternity wards in Hong Kong’s public hospitals because of the flow of pregnant women coming in from the mainland, supposedly forcing some to give birth outside the wards without any privacy.

I suppose improving maternity health care isn’t an option?

The folks at One More Soul prove why sex and contraception is bad through a handy "Roots of the Problem" poster. Click here for a larger image (pdf).

Aw, and sluts are weeds. How sweet.

Dirty dancing is a quickly spreading across schools in the nation, which has resulted in banning certain types of dance and and even canceling student dance functions. And shockingly, most of the emphasis is on the girls.

This New York Times piece discloses what has become an apparent problem for many schools, where students (in other words, female students) are “bumping, grinding, shaking, arching, teasing and flaunting� in the middle of school dances:

‘If you watch this stuff, you end up seeing girls playing out, or being forced to play out, sexually submissive roles,’ said the principal of the 1,600-student school, James Chupaila. ‘I don’t think a public school should be allowing that to happen.'

Not surprising, most of the students — who view their moves as nothing worse than what they see on music videos — were outraged. But across the country, more and more principals are taking a similar line.

My initial reaction was that it’s just push of conservative, “moral� values on kids who want to do what many kids naturally want to do at that age: shake their groove thing. (And more specifically, an attempt to control high school girls’ sexuality.)

Additionally, to suggest that girls are being forced to play out “sexually submissive roles� is a bit presumptuous. But in one case mentioned, some female students complained of being dragged into the mosh pit of dancers and groped against their will.

Now, for someone who works in an organization that specifically combats sexual harassment in schools, this is obviously something that needs to be addressed. But does prohibiting students from dancing with each other or canceling dances altogether really going to solve the problem? Lastly, drawing such a thin line between merely dancing and sexual harassment could be extremely problematic.

Thoughts?

The gals of Feministing are pleased as punch to have Kavita Ramdas of The Gloabl Fund for Women guest posting today on the status of women in Iraq. Many thanks to SheSource for hooking us up.

Contributed By Kavita Ramdas, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Global Fund for Women

The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) recently issued a frightening report documenting the growing practice of public executions of women by Shia Militia. One of the report’s more grisly accounts was a story of a young woman dragged by a wire wound around her neck to a close-by football field and then hung to the goal post. They pierced her body with bullets. Her brother came running trying to defend his sister. He was also shot and killed. Sunni extremists are no better: OWFI members estimate that no less than 30 women are executed monthly for honor related reasons.

Almost four years into the Bush Administration’s ill fated adventure in Iraq, Iraqi women are worse off than they were under the Baathist regime in a country where, for decades, the freedoms and rights enjoyed by Iraqi women were the envy of women in most other countries of the Middle East.

Before the U.S. invasion, Iraqi women had high levels of education. Their strong and independent women’s movement had successfully forced Saddam’s government to pass the groundbreaking 1959 Family Law Act which ensured equal rights in matters of personal law. Iraqi women could inherit land and property; they had equal rights to divorce and custody of their children; they were protected from domestic violence within the marriage. In other words, they had achieved real gains in the struggle for equality between women and men. Iraqi women, like all Iraqis, certainly suffered from the political repression and lack of freedom, but the secular—albeit brutal—Baathist regime protected women from the religious extremism that denies freedom to a majority of women in the Arab world.

The invasion of Iraq, however, changed the status of Iraqi women for the worse.

One of the worst anti-feminist stereotypes is that we’re all humorless, dour and scary. At least, it's a pet peeve of mine. The term “ball-breakers� seems to come up a lot.

I can't tell you how many times after telling a guy I'm a feminist, he'll jokingly throw his hands up in defense as if I'm gearing up to attack him. Now of course, this is tremendously stupid and annoying on a number of levels: first, it plays on the idea that feminists are scary and man-hating, but more importantly it’s meant to be mocking. (Haha, don’t hit me, little cute feminist girl!) I even had someone, after telling him that I run a feminist blog, lift up my arm and peer into my armpit jokingly—looking for hair. Yeah, hysterical.

What’s truly kills me about the “oh so scary feminist� stereotype is that it’s generally a big joke to the people who perpetuate it. The implication is that while we’re unattractive and annoying (bitches and ballbusters, all of us), we’re not really a threat at all—just bothersome. It’s a sweet little way to make feminism seem uncool and unimportant all the same time.

I think what's most important to remember about this stereotype—and most hackneyed bullshit involving feminism, really—is that is serves a specific, strategic purpose. Not many people want to be considered nasty and scary—especially young women. It’s a great stereotype for keeping girls in check and away from feminism. And that’s why, while it’s definitely dumb, it’s also effective.

Some of the coolest, funniest women I know are feminists. (Shit, you need to have a great sense of humor if you want to survive the patriarchy in style.) Do we get in someone’s face when confronted with sexist tripe? Of course! But that doesn’t make us scary or humorless, it makes us fucking awesome.

(Yes, I'm a bit ranty today.)

Damn, South Carolina!

Pic from Woodrow.

With the holidays just around the corner, much attention has been brought to a recent survey which has stated that holiday season stress is driving women to get fat.

Nearly half of all women in the United States suffering from increased stress during the holidays, a condition that contributes to rising levels of comfort eating, drinking and other unhealthy coping mechanisms that can lead to weight gain, according to a survey conducted in October by the American Psychological Association.

Is it just me, or is it pretty typical and normal for people who celebrate the holidays to stress out, and even overindulge a bit? Is holiday stress really a “condition� and simple holiday celebration really a “coping mechanism�?

In other words, is this a real problem or is simple holiday weight gain being diagnosed as just another woman’s “condition� that needs to be cured?

Finally! A story about women's lack of advancement in the corporate world that doesn't gloss over the fact that outright discrimination is largely to blame.

Many other women end up in dead-end staff positions, says Ilene H. Lang, president of Catalyst. “Women are almost two and one half times as likely to be channeled into staff jobs like H.R. and communications than into operating roles where they would be generating revenue and managing profit and loss,� Ms. Lang says. [...] Analysts and executive women also say that one of the biggest roadblocks between women and the c-suite is the thick layer of men who dominate boardrooms and corner offices across the country. “The men in the boardroom and the men at the top are choosing and tend to choose who they are comfortable with: other men,� Ms. Bartz says.

Kudos to the Times for not doing its standard "opt out" piece. Lucky for us Louise Story (author of one of the more egregious pieces of non-reporting on this issue) was busy putting her anecdote-gathering skills to use on this harmless story about wedding registries, and they were able to assign a decent reporter to write about women (not) moving up the corporate ladder.

This is also a great excuse to show the visual breakdown of how women disappear the closer you get to the top:

del.icio.us was down yesterday, which meant I couldn't get to most of the links I'd bookmarked for the WFR. So here they are, a day later than usual...

As Shakes writes, rape is NOT a compliment.

Newspapers are hesitant to cover "maternal profiling."

Check out the Hey Hetero! art exhibit.

Internationally, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for gay marriage.

Andi Zeisler takes down Camille Paglia for saying that Britney, Paris, and other crotch-flashing starlets are "affecting feminism."

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is fighting to broaden access to emergency contraception.

Research is underway on an HPV vaccine for men. Experts are figuring out how to get the vaccine to women in poor countries. Also, researchers think that HPV may not only cause cervical cancer, but breast cancer as well. All the more reason to expand access to the vaccine, as California is doing with proposed legislation to make it mandatory for girls.

Repro rights in Poland: Not a pretty picture.

One woman's thoughts upon finding out she's having a daughter: "I thought of all the girls I hated growing up, girls who were mean to me, girls who were catty, bitchy, who made a point of not including me and letting me know, girls who were too cool, girls who were too perfect, girls who everyone liked. The fact was, I kind of hated girls." Wow.

Former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline is back. Conservative Republicans engineered his appointment as district attorney of Johnson County.

My friend Cameron is now blogging at Gender 3.0 about news, politics, and his life as trans dyke.

Here’s an interesting tidbit.

The State Department's office combating human trafficking issued a directive Friday to US agencies urging them to avoid using terms "sex worker" or "child sex worker" and even advised governments not to use them.

"Of course, one can rationalize words such as 'sex worker' and "child sex worker" in an effort to avoid a demeaning label such as 'prostitute," said John Miller, the office's director.

"However, there are other substitutes such as 'women used in prostitution' or 'sexually exploited children' that are neither pejorative nor pretend that violence to women and children is 'work,'" said Miller, who retired Friday after campaigning extensively across the globe to stem the human trafficking problem. (Emphasis added)

Huh. Where to start.

First of all, I fail to see how “women used in prostitution� is somehow better than “sex worker.� Used? Thanks for the agency, guys! And since when are all sex workers women? But that’s not the point.

I’m all for accurately describing situations—if someone is being forced into prostitution, let’s call it that. If someone is being forcibly trafficked, let’s call it that as well. If a kid is being exploited, by all means, call that shit out.

But issuing a directive that the term “sex worker� not be used? Come on. Who the fuck is this guy to decide the preferred nomenclature? Because the thing is, he clearly has a definite view that most, if not all, of prostitution is forced.

"People called 'sex workers' did not choose prostitution the way most of us choose work occupations," Miller said.

Miller says that the majority of people in prostitution are “victims of slavery� and that 89 percent want to "escape." I don’t know the study he’s citing so I can’t speak to numbers. I agree that it seems ridiculous to call a minor a “child sex worker� because it implies that a child can consent to sex, but the rest of it is just too sketch for me.

There’s a lot of power in language, and the ability to name yourself is pretty damned important. I know of a few groups that use the term “sex worker,� if you know of any other organizations please list them in comments. You know, so women can speak for themselves.

Also, this is a great book.

While underage drinking and possible cocaine use are not surprising activities that would dethrone a beauty queen, I love the fact that one of those activities that may lose her the crown include dating multiple people.

Miss USA, 20-year old Tara Conner, is being “evaluated� by pageant organizers and pageant owner Donald Trump for her “behavioral and personal issues.� Aside from underage drinking and supposed drug use, one of the “behaviors� that have been repeatedly mentioned is her apparently sluttiness.

Via the New York Daily News:

She really is a small-town girl. She just went wild when she came to the city," one nightlife veteran said. "Tara just couldn't handle herself. They were sneaking those [nightclub] guys in and out of the apartment."

Rivera [Miss Universe] cleaned up her act, sources said, but Conner still brought boyfriends home. . .

Soon she broke up with her hometown fiance and started dating around in the Manhattan nightclub world - when she wasn't traveling all over the country for pageant obligations.

They also make sure to mention the fact that she's kissed 18 year old Miss Teen USA in public as well. (She'll turn all of our little girls into lesbians!)

I didn’t know dating was a breach of contract, or a “personal issue� for that matter. While most of the public statements that Trump and pageant organizers have made references solely to her underage drinking, pageant queens have historically been booted for their sexual and personal lifestyles in the past:

In 1973 Marjorie Wallace, the first American Miss World, was dethroned for dating too many men. . . Vanessa Williams, who was the first African-American Miss America, resigned in 1984 when sexually explicit pictures of her appeared in Penthouse.

Rebecca Revels was fired as Miss North Carolina after her former boyfriend e-mailed to pageant officials topless photos of her. She unsuccessfully sued the organisers to get her title back.

Perhaps the beauty queen with the biggest exposed secret was Leona Gage. Crowned Miss USA 1957, she was stripped of her title soon after- wards when it emerged that she was married with children.

Okay, so you can’t be married and/or with children (A single mom beauty queen?? The horror!) but you also can’t date or have any sexual history whatsoever. Oh, but can you put this bikini on for us please? (In short: your body belongs to us.)

Not at all a surprise, just a reminder of the dichotomies that these ridiculous contests create.

Retired teacher, Helen Nichols from Nebraska, decided recently to let out all of her frustrations against George W. Bush in a book. It’s titled, Open Letter to George W. Bush: Including a Great Number of Select Quotations.

She’s onto her second book as we speak. Here’s Helen…

Oh dear lord. Fox25 News out of Boston had this gem of a segment called "Letting it Rip" about Harvard possibly featuring gender-neutral housing.

The featured commentator is Doug V.B. Goudie--who I was unsurprised to see is known as Doug "Virgin Boy" Goudie. (Not that there's anything wrong with being a virgin, but it seems to me that the virgin thing in this case may be more about finding women gross and untouchable than anything else--and therefore relevant.)

Shorter Goudie? Girls are The Nasty! Who would want to be in the same room as them?!

What he actually said?

"Are they going to have that time of the month together too, because what guy would sign up for this other than one that has that issue?"

Only a guy with like...a VAGINA would want to be near girls. Ew.

Goudie: ...I went to Hamilton where we had coed bathrooms which by the way weren’t so groovy either for the ladies. Why not up the ante? Oh hey Gene, I’m Stacey, I’ll be your roommate, I’ll put up some lilac curtains and I have some potpourri over here...are you kidding me? Life’s tough enough once you get into the real world.

Anchor: What does she (Stacey) look like?

Goudie: Harvard... she’s smart...so how good can she look?

Classy, classy guy.

Thanks so much to the folks at The National Student Genderblind Campaign for letting me know about this.

This is some crazy (good) news:

Rates of the most common form of breast cancer dropped a stunning 15 percent from August 2002 to December 2003, researchers reported yesterday.

They proposed a reason for the drop that was just as stunning: It probably occurred, they said, because at that time, millions of women abandoned hormone treatment for the symptoms of menopause after a large national study concluded that the hormones slightly increased breast cancer risk.

Wacky! The New York Times piece is pretty comprehensive, check out the whole thing.

If you want more info on breast cancer and ways to get involved, check out Breast Cancer Action.

Ugh. Online virtual game Second Life allows you to purchase a rape. Options include "hold victim," "rape victim" and "get raped." Gawker reports that a sexual assault costs 220 Lindens (the Second Life currency) which, from what I can tell, is less than a dollar.

This is different from games like Grand Theft Auto, namely because Second Life is, for many players, really more like an alternate life than a video game. There have been several articles about the real-life implications of Second Life, noting how players are emotionally and socially affected by their virtual selves. So while the idea of rape fantasies in general is certainly disturbing to me, I'm even more troubled that it's even offered by Second Life as an option, as if this is one of a range of activities to make your virtual life more "real." You know... the "virtual you" can get a job, attend some social events, go to the supermarket, and then rape someone in an alley. This is a game that people get so absorbed in that they use it to help kids overcome social anxiety disorders. Now it's normalizing the idea of rape. I'm disgusted.

[UPDATE: Jess just sent me the link to RapeLay, which is truly a new low.]

Which seems like a natural segway to this post from Thinking Girl. In response to an entry she wrote on sexual assault, a reader recently wrote in and asked her for advice on how not to become a rapist:

Laura Bush says that while Condoleezza Rice would be a "really good candidate" for president, Condi just isn't interested:

"Probably because she is single, her parents are no longer living, she's an only child. You need a very supportive family and supportive friends to have this job."

And lonely spinsters just can't take the heat.

It's a good news/bad news kinda thing.

The New Jersey Legislature voted this evening to allow civil unions between same-sex couples, quickly settling an emotionally fraught issue but frustrating advocates on both sides.

...The civil union law was written under pressure, in response to a directive by the State Supreme Court seven weeks ago to assure that gay and lesbian couples are guaranteed the same rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples.

The court left it to the Legislature to decide whether gay couples should be allowed to marry or placed on a separate, parallel track. Both houses settled on the civil union route, sending it through in just 10 days from introduction to voting.

So no marriage, but thankfully Republicans failed in their attempts to amend the legislation to define marriage as strictly hetero--that means a marriage bill could be brought forward in the future.

Lauren (and Amanda) pointed me in the direction of a fun new blog toy...voice commenting! So call 1(641)985-7800 *2537249 and do some feminist message-leaving. Fun!

Don't know what to say? Tell us who your favorite fictional feminist is. Mine is Maude Lebowski.

Joe Francis, the oh-so-classy founder of the Girls Gone Wild empire, was sentenced to community service yesterday as part of a guilty plea for taping underage girls.

The company, Mantra Films Inc., also agreed to pay $1.6 million in fines for using drunken 17-year-olds in videos it filmed on Panama City Beach during spring break and failing to properly label its DVDs and videos as required by federal law.

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak told company founder Joe Francis he added the community service because it did not appear a fine would be a meaningful punishment.

..."It does not take a very brave man to go out and corner a girl in the middle of spring break who had four drinks," Smoak told Francis.

I appreciate the judge calling him out for being a cowardly douchebag, but community service? Fucking lame. This guy belongs in prison.

A survey by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts says that some hospitals are failing to offer EC to rape victims, as required by law.

The survey, which is due to be released today, indicated that officials at 7 percent of the hospitals with emergency rooms contend the provision for emergency contraception may be left to the doctor's discretion. Another 7 percent indicated that such provisions were contingent upon the woman undergoing a rape exam.

NARAL conducted the survey by having a rape counselor make mock calls on behalf of a fictitious rape survivor, asking if EC was available.

All nine Catholic hospitals surveyed said they offered emergency contraception "in some capacity" to rape victims, but 56 percent had serious limitations, according to the survey. The limitations include requiring a woman to undergo a rape examination and offering the contraception only at a doctor's discretion, [executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Melissa] Kogut said.

Lovely.

Liza Sirota White of the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence said, "It is outrageous that a rape survivor seeking to prevent pregnancy would be forced to undergo a sexual assault evidence collection kit exam in order to receive treatment.�

Kogut added that the policies “are problematic because they leave open the possibility that a rape survivor may not have access to [emergency contraception] at a particular hospital…Women who have been raped should not have to worry about which hospital they go to.� No joke.

Whoa. About 100 prostitutes were marched through the streets of Shenzhen as part of a public shaming campaign:

For people who saw the event on television earlier this month, the scene was like a chilling blast from a past that is 30 years distant: social outcasts and supposed criminals — in this case 100 or so prostitutes and a few pimps — paraded in front of a jeering crowd, their names revealed, and then driven away to jail without trial.

The police kept watch over the public shaming. Suspects were allowed to partly hide their faces with masks.(Emphasis mine)

This is pretty frigging horrifying. But thankfully, it didn't go unnoticed--it sparked a furor led by Chinese bloggers.

...But the event has prompted an angry nationwide backlash, with many people making common cause with the prostitutes over the violation of their human rights and expressing outrage in one online forum after another.

Click here for more about the blogger response, and here and here for more pics.

Via Emboldened.

Indeed. Or I will trip you.

Pic from helenbettysgrrl.

The kicker? She’s the Status of Women Minister. Lovely.

Status of Women Minister Bev Oda says the Conservative government has removed "equality'' from the mandate of the status of women program because it wants to instil the belief in equality in every government department, agency and office.

Oda said in a CanWest News Service interview Tuesday that many people feel that the status of women office "relieves them of responsibility'' for making progress on equality.

Uh huh. What a load. So all of this must be in women’s interests then:

…[The] closure of a dozen status-of-women offices across the country, a halt to spending on women's rights advocacy and removal of the “equality� mandate from the women's program, which provides $10.8 million in annual grants.

This part I found especially interesting:

She denied the controversial moves are in response to pressure from REAL Women, a conservative organization that has long pushed for dismantling of the status of women department on grounds that for decades it has funded only "the ideology of feminists.''

Holy shit, it’s the Canadian IWF! Scary.

But if you’re still unsure about where Oda stands when it comes to women, check out this gem: “She indicated she has little patience for research and studies on well-known matters of inequality, such as the deteriorating financial security of elderly women in Canada or the need to stop human trafficking.� And I have little patience for women who sell other women out.

Yet another article points out that women in politics need to be just as concerned about their physical appearance as their political maneuvers. The regendered version is great -- check out this poignant quote:

The challenge for powerful men has always been how to find a balance in their look between masculine and forceful without the negative connotations that come with either of those characteristics, said Mark Anthony Marsh, a political analyst for Fox News.

What if male political figures were subjected to the same type of critiques their female colleagues constantly face? I've done some speculating below the fold...

It's been a month now that Plan B has been available without a prescription for women over 18 years old.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any stories about obtaining (or trying to obtain) EC since it became available over-the-counter. I'm especially curious because I've gotten several emails from women who were turned away by their pharmacist or straight up lied to about its over-the-counter status. One woman in Georgia who contacted me was even told by her pharmacist that even though the FDA approved OTC sale of Plan B, the state legislature now had to okay it. Not true.

So let's hear your stories about Plan B: the good, the bad, the ridiculous.

Too much tofu turning you into a gay sissy boy? Then get thee to the Heart Attack Grill, where there's enough meat -- both waiting tables and on your plate -- to straighten you out again. This place has it all! Including the seemingly contradictory fast-food advertising one-two punch: meat is manly and women are meat.

The restaurant, which asks customers, "Are you man enough?" and sponsors "Alpha Male Mondays," looks as if it were created to be a living, breathing example of the sexual politics of meat. They appear to have purchased a warehouse's worth of "sexy nurse" costumes, and employ incredibly young and thin (they must never eat at this place) women to wait tables in said costumes. And how to describe the food? The burgers are "1.5 pounds of beef slid between two tasty buns."

Registered nurses are going after the restaurant for giving them a bad name and perpetuating the "sexy nurse" stereotype.

''Nurses are the most sexually fantasized-about profession,'' said Sandy Summers, executive director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy, based in Baltimore. ''We're asking people, if they're going to have these fantasies, please don't make it so public. Move these sexual fantasies to other professions.''

Although I sympathize to a degree (how would I feel if women in my profession were being hyper-sexualized? Oh, wait...), I find it somewhat ridiculous that they'd try to take official action. When it comes down to it, I think people who believe restaurants shouldn't require their waitresses to wear Slut-O-Ween costumes shouldn't patronize said restaurants. And, sorry Sandy, I can't get on board with attempting to regulate people's sexual fantasies. In this case, I think it's appropriate to draw attention to how fucked up this establishment is, and leave it at that.

The super cool Guttmacher Institute is having a party to benefit reproductive rights tomorrow night in New York City. If you're around, make sure to come show your support. And buy me a drink.

Check out the full invite here.

Damn those "equal marriages." Perhaps Matthews would feel at home with these guys.

(Soy: It will make a pussy of you yet!)

I shit you not, this is an actual headline: A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals.

What's the devil food you ask? Well, soy of course! And why is soy the devil? It's "feminizing." And be careful, because accordning to WorldNetDaily columnist James Rutz, "you can hardly escape them anymore."

I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you're also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.

And you know how those estrogens will fuck you up.

Estrogens are female hormones. If you're a woman, you're flooding your system with a substance it can't handle in surplus. If you're a man, you're suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your "female side," physically and mentally.

...Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products.

Oh baby, I'm sorry. This never happens to me. I was HUGE and hetero before I had that tofu. Damn you, soy!

You know, I can't even write anymore about this--it's just too easy.

Check out the 2006 Weblog Awards, and vote for your fave feminist blogs!

And not that the girls at Feministing would ever try to sway you one way or another, but I wanted to put in a plug for the great group blog WIMN's Voices for Best New Blog and naturally Feministe for Best of the Top 250 Blogs.

Oh yeah, and anyone but Althouse. (Thanks, Ezra!)

I don't know what's more disappointing: that I've subjected myself to yet another crappy anti-feminist article, or that the piece was written by someone with a name tailor-made for feminist badass-ness--Rosie Boycott.

Of course, one look at the picture that accompanied the article (above) and you pretty much know what you're in for. But if you're interested in the longer version, read on.

Apparently author Rosie Boycott is quite the controversial gal--she started a feminist magazine back in the day, had some run-ins with the law, but generally had a pretty successful career. But we all know (too well) that feminism doesn't pay the bills. At least not well.

Enter this piece of shit: Feminism was going to liberate both sexes, but instead it destroyed a generation of men. And by destroyed, she means damaged their egos. Boo-frigging-hoo.

The whole article is priceless, but here are my favorite bits:

My father's generation defined their wives: nowadays, the role has completely reversed and men are defined by women. As a result, their definition of themselves has faltered and society has been cruel towards their attempts to redefine themselves.

So because women aren't defined by men, men must be defined by women? Logic, anyone?

Women, meanwhile, are groomed relentlessly to succeed. How did we get into such a predicament?

How indeed. Everyone knows that women are there to relentlessly bolster men's success, not their own. Quite the "predicament."

The current crop of teenage men's magazines - most of which are openly hostile to women, regarding them as nothing more than sex objects - seem to me to be a confused cry for help.

Or whiny over-privileged sulking. Whichever.

Even many books for toddlers, with the exception of titles like Bob The Builder and Postman Pat, no longer have men in them.

Our witchy feminist magic made all the men disappear. Next on the list? IWF.

The main point of Boycott's piece seem to be that because women don't "need" men anymore, we're destroying them. Yeah.

Because ultimately if women can look after themselves, we are forced to ask the question: "What are men for?"

Well that’s an easy one. Deep dicking, of course! Oh…wait.

...after confessing to his congregation that he's had sex with men.

No comment.

While others address Louann Brizendine's claim that women use 20,000 words a day while men use 7,000, NYT is shmoozing it up with this "female brain."

The New York Times Magazine had an interview this week with Brizendine on her book, “The Female Brain,� which essentially rejects the existence of gender roles and says not only that women are hard-wired to be talkative, but also emotional, nurturing mommies. In fact, we actually sort of get off on taking care of people.

The NYT questions her on the study about women talking significantly more than men, in which she responds, "The real phraseology of that should have been that a woman has many more communication events a day — gestures, words, raising of your eyebrows."

Here's the kicker:

Are you concerned that you are rehabilitating outdated gender stereotypes that portray women as chatterboxes ruled by female hormones?

A stereotype always has an aspect of truth to it, or it wouldn’t be a stereotype. I am talking about the biological basis behind behaviors that we all know about.

Wow, do I wish I could have an interview with her after that comment.

Via Ema comes the news that some pharmacies are asking women to provide personal information about themselves when they purchase emergency contraception. This is troubling because the FDA only requires pharmacists to check the age on your ID -- not collect other information.

Anecdotally, it appears Walgreens and Target are chains that have asked women for extra info. I suppose its possible that these stores have policies of collecting personal information on everyone who purchases a behind-the-counter (make no mistake, Plan B is still a behind-the-counter medication), but that seems somewhat unlikely. Does anyone know?

Ema has some sound advice:

Last, but not least, when you go to buy Plan B, go prepared. Challenge any intrusion attempts. Ask questions ["What are the legal requirements to purchase Plan B?", "Why does the store need my personal info?", "Who instructed you to take down this information?"], and refuse to give out any personal information. Most importantly, if possible, document the interaction and let one of us bloggers know, so that we may publicize these incidents.

Absolutely.

If you want to check out some dope handmade clothing, jewelry and more by a collective of fantastic female designers, check out the INDIE*LICIOUS Holiday Bazaar this weekend.

It's been organized by the Ladies Independent Design League, a group of women who seek "to promote the importance and legitimacy of goods that pay heed to tradition and craftsmanship and recognizes the relationship between the fine arts and applied arts."

Here's the info:

Sunday, December 17th
Noon - 5 pm
Micro Museum
123 Smith Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

There will be apparel, accessories, stationary, pottery, skincare, housewares and handbags sold. Go to the site for more details and the list of vendors.

Happy shopping!

Language Log has a great breakdown/takedown of Louann Brizendine's assertion that "A woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000."

Wow. Thanks G4 TV, for reminding us just how funny it is to pit the ditsy-sexy-blonde-girl stereotype against the dour-frumpy-smart-girl stereotype. I mean, talk about original!

Oh, and since the cable network thinks women are oh-so-funny, I'm sure they won't mind us calling (and emailing) to tell them just what we think of their vid. Tee hee.

... by portraying it as "macho"? A radical idea! If all employees are likely to demand flexible hours and paid family leave, then women are less likely to be penalized for taking advantage of these policies. The Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd) reports today that some companies, including the Manhattan accounting firm Ernst & Young, are attempting to do just that.

Some employers are trying to overcome a perceived stigma on flexible work schedules -- often viewed as a concession to women -- by redefining the issue as a quality-of-life concern for everyone. The approach is gaining traction, especially in the male-dominated financial-services sector, where employers have long struggled to retain and promote women.

While flex-time and other family-friendly policies have long been touted as a way for women to get ahead in the corporate world, they often carry the "mommy track" stigma, making many women reluctant to take advantage of these options.

In a survey of 2,443 women college graduates released by her center and the Harvard Business Review, 35% of respondents thought they would be penalized for taking advantage of their employer's work-life policies. ... about two-thirds of professional women who stop working would stay if they had a "recognized and respectable" way to scale back. [...]

"We want to make flexibility gender-neutral, so everyone wants to take advantage," says Maryella Gockel, the firm's flexibility-strategy leader.

Ernst & Young -- which has a flexibility-strategy leader and amenities like on-site child care -- is leaps and bounds ahead of many other firms that still lack basic flex-time options. But their thinking on this, that employees (regardless of gender) should create schedules, hours and career tracks to fit their personal needs, might have a positive effect on the way other companies (even those that are significantly smaller) approach work-life policies. After all, this isn't just some feminist group releasing yet another report calling for women-friendly workplaces. It's a huge company that's already instituting these changes and attempting to do so in a gender-neutral fashion, which in my opinion makes it a much more concrete step in the right direction.

The Center for Work-Life Law, which recently published the media-analysis report debunking the "growing trend" of women opting out, has loads of resources on workplace flexibility for men and women.

While this isn’t really news to me, it’s good to know that the effects of pro-eating disorder sites are being recorded.

A new study from Stanford has found that pro-eating disorder websites such as “pro-ana� sites and the like may be more harmful to girls and woman with eating disorders. In short, girls are learning new ways to lose weight through the sites, which obviously feeds the illness and puts them more at risk.

One surprising thing that the study did find was that there may be a (smaller) trend of actual recovery sites that can teach girls new ways to lose weight as well.

The Academy for Eating Disorders is saying that the pro-ana sites should carry warnings. Perhaps this study and others that come after it will help make that a reality.

As yesterday was Human Rights Day, it has also been declared the Global Day for Darfur, which mobilized women in over 40 countries to protest outside of Sudanese embassies, demanding for the end of sexual violence and rape against women and girls in Darfur.

Additionally, international stateswomen released a letter addressing the same issue on Saturday, calling for peacekeepers to be sent to protect the women and girls who are being systematically raped as a weapon of war. Among the authors of this letter were former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela’s wife), Glenys Kinnock of the European Parliament, former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

Check out a recent report on the status of the thousands of women and girls in Darfur who continue to suffer these heinous war crimes, which has only become more severe since the Darfur Peace Agreement.

The Kaiser Report rounds up some good tidbits of information about Plan B availability, including which major pharmacies have pledged to stock it. (Safeway won't release its policy.)

Laura Kipnis and Daphne Merkin debate The Female Thing.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in trouble for attending an event at which un-veiled women danced.

Big Pharma is withholding an important herpes medication from poor women.

Why the "Brokeback marriage" label is harmful to "mixed-orientation" couples.

How to address the issue of the shrinking number of abortion providers? Train nurse-midwives to perform the procedure.

Australia moves to regulate crisis-pregnancy centers.

A detailed look at the women of Hamas.

Milan fashion week follows Madrid's lead and moves toward banning super-skinny models.

Ohio legislators are trying to push through a few last-minute anti-choice bills.

A 13-year-old Utah girl is on trial as both the victim and perpetrator for having sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend.

A new report laments the state of women's rights in the Arab world.

Where not to buy holiday gifts this year: Discovery Channel, where the merch is divided by gender (via Lindsay).

Nigerian women demand political inclusion.

News of Mary Cheney's pregnancy (shockingly!) causes a political stir. More at MoJo Blog. And the Guardian says of course lesbians make great mothers.

After numerous assaults on women walking home by themselves late at night in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, two Brooklyn, New York neighborhoods, partners Oraia Reid and Consuelo Ruybal decided to do something about it. RightRides has been giving many women, trans and gender queer folks rides home since 2004.

In honor of the official “RightRides for Women’s Safety Day� on Thursday, December 14, RightRides is hosting a special celebratory event at the Cake Shop in New York City. Come show your support if you’re in the city.

Here’s Oraia…

Now you can have fresh breath and avoid pregnancy all at the same time!

That's right, chewable birth control pills are now on the market. And they're spearmint flavored! Who woulda thought.

Via Nerve.

So, what it's like to be a woman who's over 6 feet tall?

To begin with, to be extra-tall is to be somehow more public than the average woman. Everybody sees me. Strangers on the subway peer upward and tell me about their childhood neighbor who was tall. Fellow grocery shoppers sheepishly request my help procuring items from upper shelves. Male passers-by mutter, "That was one giant woman." Men seem particularly inclined to register one characteristic: tall.

I'd add to that: Fratty dudes in bars will chant "6 footer!" or loudly make bets with each other about how tall I am. (Well, I've actually had restaurant wait staff and fellow wedding guests make bets, too, so maybe it's unfair to pin that one on the bros alone.) People stare openly, all the time, everywhere I go. There are some days, namely those when I'm wearing whopping 1-inch heels, that I feel like I leave a ripple of height comments in my wake. Small children point and say, "Mommy! Look at the giant lady!" Women who feel insecure about their own height will often say to me, "I wish I was that tall!" No, honey, you don't. Really.

But it does have certain benefits.

In case you missed it, Ms. Smart Ass Valenti tried to embarrass Samhita (the fan fucker). But she didn't mention that she's using it to cover what a freak she is.

Exhibit A. A quote from the woman herself. "So, prunes are made from plums?" When challenged about how she didn’t know, her defense was "I'm not a fruitologist."

Exhibit B. See photo. Notice weird wonky finger behind the Blackberry face.

In closing, back up off Samhita, Jess. Now what?

The way certain evangelical Christians process masculinity is endlessly fascinating. Seems to me that they usually invoke masculinity in an attempt to restore the "proper gender roles" those awful feminists have tried to do away with.

At what he hopes will be the first of many such conferences, in a warehouse-turned-nightclub in downtown Nashville, [GodMan Brad] Stine asks the men: "Are you ready to grab your sword and say, 'OK, family, I'm going to lead you?' " He also distributes a list of a real man's rules for his woman. No. 1: "Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down."

Stine's wife, Desiree, says she supports manly leadership; it seems to her the natural and God-ordained order of things. As she puts it: "When the rubber hits the bat, I want to know my husband will protect me."

And what about when your good Christian wife wants you to lift a finger around the house or take a active role in child-rearing? Turn to one of the GodMen hymns:

You're not a slave, break the chains...
We've had enough, "cowboy up"
In the power of Jesus' name.

Yikes. Though I do find the characterization of "Onward Christian Soldiers" as "very Barry Manilow" pretty hilarious.

Amanda has more. Also check out Jeff Sharlet's piece on Nerve about books for Christian men.

Is it a cookie? A candy? I have no idea, but I've never wanted to eat feminism so badly.

Pic from workingclassglamour.

The abstinence mafia are worried that their funding will be cut off when Democrats assume control of congress.

A Republican source told CBN News that the staff of liberal Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman is in the process of rewriting the set of definitions of what is considered an abstinence program.

Sweet! Could this mean they'll start funding comprehensive sex education, which discusses abstinence but also teaches students about contraception? At the very least, they could impose greater restrictions on programs that receive abstinence-only money, ensuring that all federally-funded curricula are medically accurate and free of gender stereotypes. I, for one, am excited about the possibilities.

Well ideally. Kofi Annan demanded at a meeting that there would be "zero tolerance" for peacekeepers and aid workers who sexually abused any of the people in the areas they are working in. Um, I would hope so. . .

Mr Annan said all UN personnel, whether civilian or uniformed, had to understand that sexual exploitation and abuse was "utterly immoral", at odds with the UN mission and would be punished.

"There have been crimes such as rape, paedophilia and human trafficking," he said.

"My message of zero tolerance has still not got through to those who need to hear it - from managers on the ground, to all our other personnel."

Mr Annan said it was essential that the UN create an environment in which people felt able to report allegations of sexual abuse without fear of retribution.

If the peacekeepers are raping and exploiting "vulnerable" populations then we are indeed in troubled times. I understand Annan's desire for better training, but what kind of circumstances allow for such abusive conditions? All of the locations UN troops are stationed (Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda among others) are impoverished, war-torn and unstable. Without looking at and dismantling greater power structures that are creating these wars, the implicit side effect of sexual exploitation by any party, is essentially unavoidable. If certain UN peacekeepers don't know that raping young girls is problematic, then what do they know?

At least he acknowledged it is happening.

via BBC.

(Still from The Shape of Water)

Contributed by Courtney Martin.

One of the most disappointing things about the way that contemporary feminism is portrayed in the mainstream media, besides plain ol’ dead, is as a strictly American phenomenon. The truth is that there are all kinds of fierce, complex, and effective feminisms being enacted all over the world. But the gatekeepers of big corporate news—all, like, five of them—don’t think that’s news.

Thankfully UC-Santa Barbara sociology professor Kum-Kum Bhavani does. Her new documentary—The Shape of Water—tells the story of five feminist activists in diverse parts of the world, all dedicating their lives to diverse forms of uplift and preservation. A series of journeys through Brazil, India, Jerusalem, and Senegal feel winding to the point of wandering, at times, but all lead to profound epiphanies about social change work.

Bhavani had the wisdom to let the story ebb and flow in a way that mirrors contemporary activism in all its frustrating and sometimes fragmented glory. The viewer can’t help but see that some of the most monumental moments are also small—women sprawled across a living room floor talking about female circumcision in Senegal, a communal prayer among another group of women in India.

The Shape of Water confirms what so many of us suspect is true based on our own lives—that feminisms are happening, as often unseen as they are transformational, all the time, everywhere. It is enough to give a cynical feminist some faith.

This ad from Think Equal, a project of Blue Jersey, is some hot shit.

Pam points us in the direction of this story, highlighting why it's so important to recognize the real world differences of civil unions and marriages:

Civil unions may look like marriage on paper to some, but we already know that these kinds of awkward legal constructs have failed in New Jersey.

Consider Paula Long and Rosalind Heggs of Camden who have been together over 15 years. They were registered as domestic partners and also had a civil union from Vermont. Under New Jersey law, they have hospital visitation rights and the right to make decisions on behalf of each other when the other is sick. That’s what’s on paper, but when Rosalind had a heart attack and needed a blood transfusion, the hospital refused to allow Paula to give consent. Paula even had a highlighted copy of the relevant law with her, but that didn’t matter to the hospital. They demanded to see their marriage certificate. (see video of their story)

Think Equal has other ads, make sure to check them out.

Good news. Female human beings who are unable to bear children are still considered women! Huzzah!

As Broadsheet and our astute commenters pointed out, this bill also sought to define the age of a fetus by the weeks past fertilization, rather than by the woman's last menstrual period (as every ob/gyn in the country does). So it was not just legislation based on junk science about fetal development. It was also a back-door attack on contraceptives, many of which don't prevent fertilization, only implantation.

Happily, the legislation isn't likely to come up again next session.

Yesterday marked the 17th anniversary of the "Montreal Massacre" that left 14 women dead.

On Dec. 6, 1989, 25 year-old Marc Lepine opened fire at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, targeting the female students. Before opening fire on a classroom full of women engineering students he screamed, "I hate feminists." He later turned the gun on himself.

Vigils and ceremonies were held across Canada yesterday in remembrance of the victims. In 1991, December 6 was made into Canada's National Day of Commemoration and Action on Violence Against Women.

A list of the young women killed in the massacre is after the jump.

First they tell you to shave it, wax it and pluck it. Then they try and market it. Fashion will never cease to amaze me. This takes the pubic hair panties to the NEXT level.

Watch with caution, you may spit out your coffee.

Thoughts?

(and if this is really a new trend, I am SO fashion forward)

Thanks to Jason for the link.

A new study out of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says that underweight women are 72 percent more likely to miscarry in the first months of pregnancy.

Alright gals and guys, I'm heading over now to the Third Wave Foundation’s 10th Anniversary benefit. The info is below--you can buy a ticket at the door. And by the way, a little birdie tells me that if you just want to come for the party portion of the evening (9:30 and on) you pay half the ticket price....just saying.

Come show your support!

Wednesday December 6, 2006
6:30 – 9:30 program and auction
9:30 – 11:30 after party

The Prince George Ballroom
15 East 27th St.
New York City

Ticket price: $100

I know it may be a little late, but more than 350 Planned Parenthood clinics around the country are giving away free EC today! So stop by on your way home from work and pick some up.

This video made me fucking insanely angry last night...and I knew I wanted to post it, but I also didn't want to give these assholes any publicity. So I figured what better way to have fun with antifeminists than to get shitfaced while laughing at them. Plus, if y'all are drunk by the end of the flick you won't be able to make out the web address they give touting the movie.

So here's the rules, bitches:

Drink whenever Marxism is mentioned.

Drink whenever someone is interviewed in her country style kitchen.

Drink when feminist-child-hating is claimed or implied.

Two drinks when feminism is blamed for rape in the military.

Drink whenever someone says that equality just makes women unhappy.

Drink if you catch a cameo by clown car vaginas.

Drink every time someone says "victim" or "victimization."

Take two drinks every time someone outright lies.

Drink every time someone accuses feminists of trying to stop women from being housewives.

Spit up your drink when hear how feminists try to get teen girls knocked up.

Drink anytime you see someone in garb better suited for churning butter than being interviewed.

Drink every time someone calls feminists "loose." Then go fuck someone, you slut.

Now, puke.

(Thanks to Amanda for help with the rules.)

And I want Christopher Hitchens to know that.

Though it must be said, I'm disappointed with myself for allowing Hitchens' idiotic "provocation" to, um, provoke me. Sure, I'm used to reading this shit on Men's News Daily and World Net Daily and all manner of largely ignored, wack-job websites. But this is Vanity Fair. An established and somewhat respected publication. Ugh.

If you don't want to bother reading the whole essay, I'll summarize the key point: Women are nothing but baby-makers. For this reason, they are serious about everything and have deeply impaired senses of humor.

Echidne has a nice, detailed takedown. Also, when I first looked at this article, I thought it was Christopher Hitchens who was pictured, not some "humorless woman." Turns out, I wasn't that far off. Check out side-by-side photos below the fold.

Katha Pollitt's latest, Double, Double Toil and Trouble, takes on some of the (sometimes wacky) stuff being blamed on women these days. Rape, gay preachers, bad dogs--just to name a few.

So using the article as inspiration, I thought I'd ask all you lovely readers: what else is women's fault?

I'm betting we can get quite the list going here.

The fabulous Deanna pointed me in the direction of this poem. I love it so fucking much, I just had to repost it here.

It's after the jump. Sigh.

Thanks to Anna for pointing out that I missed this pic. So check out the English version (to clear up all of the "oh but the poor men!" confusion), and the German beer throwing version (to laugh your ass off.)

Enlarged pic here.

Pic from vog.

Do not get your sexy on in the conservative town of Kotu Baru, Malaysia. You will be fined 138 dollars. And why? Because scantily clad women mar the image of the town.

The Kota Baru town's municipal council has said it will no longer tolerate indecent dressing and will begin enforcing an existing Islamic law that prohibits indecent dressing, The Star newspaper said.

The bylaw on proper feminine attire prohibits Muslim and non-Muslim women from wearing body hugging outfits, blouses that show the navel, see-through blouses, miniskirts and tight pants.

Women's groups are unhappy and ask rightfully, "I would like to know what is the (acceptable) level of tightness of a pair of pants or jeans, and what happens to those of us who have larger buttocks?" I understand differing cultural/relgious practices (whether I agree with them or not), but I bet there are no laws restricting what men wear.

via AP.

You think modern feminists have to put up with the "hairy-legged man-hater" stereotype too often? Just imagine what it must have been like for these ladies. New research says neanderthals died out because their womenfolk didn't want to stay home and take care of the babies -- they wanted to join in the hunt.

That's right. Their quest for equality is being blamed for the downfall of the entire species. In other words, the neanderfeminists are STILL facing the backlash, a hundred thousand years later. Doesn't bode well for the rest of us, does it?

Just as I always knew she would.

Check out this kick ass article about Samhita in Nirali Magazine. I just fell in love with her all over again. (Ahem, not that I ever was...)

There's been some great stuff on HollaBack lately... and by "great" I mean very articulate responses to truly appalling experiences. One woman writes, interior monologue-style, about how it feels to be ogled by a stranger:

So yes, I am kind of dressed up. I was just at an internship interview. Yes, I am sitting by myself eating my lunch. Thanks. By the way - what the fuck is your deal? I know you can't be looking at train schedules for all of those 15 minutes. I know you keep leering at me. You're not being that discrete, and you are kinda grossing me out. Why can't I just sit alone for half an hour and eat my lunch without someone thinking I'm there to look pretty for them?

There's the tale of what should be branded "hipster harassment" (an incident of the American Apparel variety), in which a woman at a Bowery Poetry event was asked to take her shirt off for a photographer, some dude who was compiling an "art" book of polaroids of shirtless women. He actually told her he "likes the authentically dykey ones the best, next to the trannies."

Another woman reacts to being groped on the street:

I have my wits about me always and I walk confidently with a sort of 'don't fuck with me' look on my face, but it still happened! I was just walking, and this guy walking by, out of no where, stuck his hand out and felt my vagina. I just can't believe it. If there's anybody with any encouraging words, I'd love to hear them, because right now, I just feal like I never want to walk outside by myself again- and I hate that.

And Sandra sums it all up nicely:

Now, some might think it was a bit of an overreaction to kick someone's property in response to a "compliment". I'd like to tell those people to take their ignorant, sexist agendas and shove it up their arses. As a woman and as a lesbian, I spend every day of my life confined by the consequences of men's belief that it is perfectly acceptable to verbally, physically and sexually assualt, harass, and intimidate me. I spend each day fighting off unwanted physical advances, being powerless to respond to drive-by sexual advances, having to shut up and ignore the endless streams of catcalls and wolf whistles, watching program after program representing women as sexual/domestic play objects for men, and battling with both men and women to convince them that yes, it is important to be aware of the the power issues that surround gender relations. I spend nights crying as a result of the sexual abuse I have experienced, days altering my routes so I can feel safe when walking home, and endless hours being overwhelmed by how much work is yet to be done in order to create a world which is safe, equal and free from violence and intimidation.

... which is why we need HollaBack. The site is having a fundraising concert on Dec. 14, so if you're in NYC you should definitely go. I wish I could make it, as I love both HollaBack and Langhorne Slim, who will be performing.

My friend (and former cubicle-mate) Nicole Hill spent the better part of a year getting to know the women of the Pakistani community in Lodi, California. Many of the women have become increasingly isolated following a sweeping FBI terrorism investigation of the community, after which plans for a women's mosque and educational center were scrapped.

Women born and raised in Lodi are often pulled out of school at an extremely young age and sent to Pakistan to marry men from a village in the northwestern part of the country. They then return to Lodi with their husbands, most of whom speak little to no English. Here's one woman's story:

On the same block, Aneesa's cousin, Gulshan Din, 28, never learned to read or write. She came to Lodi with her parents when she was 9 and was pulled out of school as a teenager.

Resentful that her cousin was allowed to go to school and she wasn't, Gulshan says, "If it were up to me, I would've done everything I could."

Like Aneesa, Gulshan had an arranged marriage at 16 that was off to a rocky start.

"When he came from his own country he was really different," Gulshan explains.

He only let her out at night.

After arguing with her husband when he wouldn't let her sit in the front seat of the car, Gulshan pleaded with her husband's uncle to intervene.

"He told my husband This is the United States, you have to change yourself, this is not Pakistan,' " she says.

Others weren't so successful. Aneesa has one cousin in a domestic violence shelter and another who ran away from home.

"Their husbands weren't letting them out of the house," Aneesa says.

Another woman, who doesn't want to be identified out of fear of being perceived as immodest, also grew up in Lodi and returned to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. Her husband paces the house in a long white traditional gown, staring intensely at her as she speaks in English - a language he doesn't understand.

"They feel out of control, so they control their wives," she says.

See more of Nicole's Lodi photos at WashingtonPost.com.

This may be my favorite feminist Flickr to date. A translation:

Careful! Women answer back

If you stupidly stare at a woman, talk rubbish or touch her, you have to be aware that she might insult you loudly, a glass of beer is emptied over you or you might be hit in the face. We strongly advise you to refrain from this kind of harrassments.

Women, migrants, homeless people, transgender people, gays and lesbians are often victims of assaults. Don't look away, interfere!

Pic from yog.

Props to the New York Times for covering the deaths of four prostitutes in Atlantic City by finding out a little bit about each of the women, rather than just rattling off some statistics on sex work or relegating the story to a one-paragraph blurb in the police beat section.

I appreciate the editors' decision to show their pictures, tell (at least a minor part of) their life stories, and acknowledge that these were real women who were murdered. Especially because one of many reasons sex workers are such easy targets for violence is that they're often seen as nameless and faceless. As a man who was convicted of killing several prostitutes told a judge, "They were easy to pick up, without being noticed... I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing." Indeed, only two of the four women found dead in Atlantic City had been reported missing.

Seems like a good time to plug HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive), a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides education and support to sex workers.

This is dope. While the class issues involved in the FDA approval of the HPV vaccine is a huge concern (to be vaccinated costs nearly 400 dollars), girls in certain states will now have the access to the vaccine, and for free.

The Vaccines for Children Program received federal funding to give 17,000 girls in New Hampshire next year the HPV vaccine for free. Additionally, the VFC Program is funding Oregon, giving girls who are enrolled in Medicaid or the Oregon Health Plan, are uninsured or are an Alaskan native the vaccine as well.

It’s not everyone, but it’s certainly a start.

The Morning-After Pill Conspiracy activists and lawyers at the Center for Reproductive Rights are well aware that the fight over Plan B access isn't over.

The Center is trucking right along with its lawsuit against the FDA for its decision to ignore the science and deny Plan B over-the-counter to teens. A New York judge recently agreed to allow the Center to subpoena White House officials and question them about their involvement in the FDA's three-year delay. Predictably, the Justice Department is fighting the subpoena.

Depositions in this case have already revealed some details about the Bush administration's meddling. As far back as 2003, then-FDA commissioner Mark McClellan agreed to an unprecedented meeting with a White House domestic policy adviser to discuss the Plan B application. And Dr. Janet Woodcock (who also warned that Plan B would create teen sex cults) came right out and said Plan B shouldn't be sold over-the-counter to teens -- not because of the science but "to appease the administration's constituents." And that information is just from depositions of FDA officials. Just imagine what will emerge if the Center for Reproductive Rights gets a peek at White House officials' Plan B-related email and correspondence.

Via MediaMatters, Rush Limbaugh and Joe Scarborough act the fool when talking about women. (I don't know how Rachel Sklar of HuffPo stayed so cheery as she took Scarborough down a peg. Kudos, girl!)

On Limbaugh comparing women to cats: I'm about *this* close to sending him a bag full of used cat litter.

Feministe, Pandagon and Shakes at Ezra Klein have more.

Due to the recent lawsuit and following discussions concerning racism within the Los Angeles Fire Department, resulting in the resignation of Chief William Bammatre, more women are feeling confident in stepping forward about their experiences of sexism and harassment within the field, reports the LA Times.

The piece definitely brings to light the culture of masculinity that exists within the profession. Many firehouses act as a type of frathouse where women firefighters are largely undesired as colleagues, and it shows. Fire Commissioner Genethia Hudley-Hayes admitted:

There are still quite a few firefighters who don't believe women belong. . . Firefighters are manly. Women are suspect. 'Why would she want to do this?' But they don't ask a guy why he wants to be a firefighter.

There are some seriously upsetting stories in here, particularly the one where Melissa Kelley dropped a 180-pound ladder on her head during a drill while her fellow firefighters watched because the station captain ordered them not to help her. She ended up tearing a rotator cuff, damaged four discs in her back and three in her neck, resulting in surgery and months of rehab. The captain was suspended, then appealed and had his penalty reduced by the Board of Rights to a written reprimand, which is less penalty that you’d get from losing a radio.

It seems doubtful that Kelley will return to be a firefighter. (Misogynist mission accomplished.)

(What's that? No one wants me here? Fuck.)

Breaking news, bitches:

Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.

There’s so much bullshit flying around these days concerning feminism, I thought what better way to start off the week than with some good old fashioned debunking. So here goes the inaugural post for what will hopefully be a fun series: Myth-Busting Mondays.

The idea for this series was actually sparked by this disaster of a post, pointed out to me by the fabulous Courtney Martin.

An unnamed blogger at Violent Acres (at least, I can’t find her name) argues that feminists have taken all the fun out of heterosexual sex. Cause we’re all-powerful like that.

You know that stuff you’ve been reading in the girly magazines that tell you that women like to be romanced with candlelit dinners before you gently (gently!) make love to them by first giving them hours of oral pleasure and then softly (oh so softly!) penetrating them while staring lovingly into their eyes…always making absolutely sure that they reach orgasm first? Well, it’s all bunk.

How exactly feminists have taken control of the “girly magazines� I don’t know, but that’s beside the point. Violent Acres goes on to say that it’s actually the “scraped knees and the bruises on our backs where we were bitten in the throes of passion,� that women like. You know, the supposedly anti-feminist sex.

Well, the feminist movement came and went and what did the majority of the women choose to do? That’s right: cook food and make babies. Fuck, most can’t even be bothered to do a little political reading before they vote. It just doesn’t satisfy them.

…These days, feminists got men so twisted in the head that they’re afraid to be a little aggressive sexually lest they get slammed with a date rape charge. Unfortunately, women are equally being conditioned to believe that if a man doesn’t proclaim his undying devotion to you with every thrust, he doesn’t respect you.

Ok, so clearly this blogger knows shit, so it seems kind of pointless to address her points. Because seriously, I don’t know what men—or women for that matter—she’s frigging talking about. (I’m not even going to touch the most-women-cook-and-make-babies comment.) People do what they do in the bedroom. Some people like different things, and I’m pretty sure most people change it up and don’t only have one kind of sex all the time. Sometimes you feel like a fuck, sometimes you don’t. (Sorry, candy bar commercials going through my head.)

There was an AP piece yesterday that discussed the post-traumatic stress that many women soldiers experience after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. While we’re all too aware of the disturbing patterns of sexism, discrimination and assault that occur within the military, what comes afterwards is a whole other story.

Much of the article -- not surprisingly -- focuses on the pressures of returning to role of caretaker of the family (while not recognizing that not all women soldiers are mothers and/or wives), but it was interesting to see the ways in which women with families cope with their emotional distress when back to the reality of their lives back home.

To start, sexual assault is a large factor in women’s emotional stress post-service:

Mental health experts say one of the biggest contributors to psychological problems for women in uniform is military sexual trauma - a term that covers verbal harassment and physical assault, which is a strong risk factor for PTSD.

Studies conducted by the VA health system vary, but generally about 20 percent of women report a physical assault during their service, Westrup says. ‘Unfortunately, a huge aspect of that experience is guilt and self-blame and shame on top of stress,’ she adds.

Another apparent trend is that women tend to focus on their families after returning as a kind of therapy, which (shocker) doesn’t seem to work.

Some are so determined to re-establish that bond with their children that they'll ignore their own problems, says Katherine Dong, women veterans program manager at the North Chicago VA Medical Center.

‘They want to make it up to their family for being gone, yet they have all these symptoms and all these thoughts that are still haunting them,’ she says. ‘Women tend to put their families' needs above their own. They're trying to push their bad stuff aside and focus on their families and unfortunately, it's not always successful.’

What’s angering about this piece is that there is a theme of these conflicting feelings of domestic duty vs. patriotic duty which is supposedly the main components of their post-traumatic stress. Between “having a hard time negotiating their domestic life� like having (god forbid) their husbands join their daughter’s Brownie troop and feeling the need to return to Iraq and be a good American, their ability to serve as both proves difficult.

The effects of returning to work, school or any other aspect of having a public, social or professional life is barely mentioned.

Expectations are a bitch.

A Saudi teenager who was gang-raped is set to receive more lashes than one of her rapists will.

Why aren't there more female CEOs? Hint: It's not innate gender differences.

Alabama considers a slew of new TRAP laws.

Says French presidential candidate Segolene Royal, "There is a strong correlation between the status of a woman and the state of justice or injustice in a country."

The ACLU is fighting for inmates' right to abortion in Arizona.

Lifestyle anorexia websites provide young women with "thin-spiration."

And Iranian TV star is in trouble over a sex tape... and rather than just tabloid chatter, she faces a lashing as punishment. Her partner faces three years in jail.

The newly accessible Plan B is not so accessible in Chicago hospitals.

A woman has The Talk about abortion with her 15-year-old daughter.

Human Righs Watch criticizes Uganda's promotion of "virginity parades." The country was successfully fighting the spread of AIDS until the government started pushing abstinence instead of condoms.

One in three U.S. teens get no formal education about birth control.

Jewcy's MovableSnipe has a conversation up about this very blog.

The Gurkhas, the British army in Nepal, will allow women into their ranks for the first time.

A size-12 woman was branded "too fat" for the British version of Top Model.

An essay from a "sisterwife," one of four women married to the same man.

A Wisconsin court ruled a boy could not try out for the girls' gymnastics team, even though there is no equivalent team for boys.

Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero says, "Violence against women is one of the worst forms of human rights violations."

...plus an interview with Sam Hamm, who wrote a screen adaptation of Raccoona Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution.

Girlistic Magazine debuted December 1 on Girlistic.com, “Your Ultimate Feminist Resource.� Based in the Central Coast of California, Jaymi Heimbuch and her partner April Weiland launched Girlistic.com in mid-July.

Described as being the end result of a threesome with Ms., Bitch, and Bust, Girlistic Magazine is available online and in a PDF format for free in-hand access. Features include: interviews, editorials, profiles, essays, and reviews.

Here’s Jaymi…

The fabulous Elizabeth Gettelman alerted me to a new study that debunks the conservative theory that we can credit abstinence-only education for the decline in teen pregnancy.

The study, led by Columbia University's John Santelli (who has done a lot of the research on federally funded abstinence-only programs under Bush), says 86% of the recent decline is the result of improved contraceptive use, and only 14% of the decline is due to teens waiting longer to start having sex. Shocking! Contraceptive use is more effective than abstinence? Somebody send a copy of this study to HHS, pronto.

This is some of the best anti-feminist stuff I’ve come across in a while.

John Bambenek writes, “You Are More Than Your Vagina, No Matter What Neofeminists Tell You.� Because as you all well know, a feminist utopia looks like the above pic. Vagina vagina vagina.

Bambenek, who touts himself as an “information security practioner [sic]� and “academic professional,� makes a strikingly eloquent argument against feminism:

Throughout history one of the main dynamics that has influenced relationships between men and women is what can be called the ‘vagina monopoly.’ Men want them and only women have them.

Bitches that we are…monopolizing all the pussy. But no worries, ladies. Bambenek has only the utmost respect for us:

Far from being merely sperm receptacles, [women] are people entitled to the full balance of human dignity.

Well that’s a relief! If only feminists were so enlightened. Because you see, unlike Bambenek—who sees us as so much more than just cum dumpsters—feminists want to reduce women to their vaginas.

The slogans they chose to put on their T-shirts revolve around sex toys and genitalia.

Bambenek uses his background in extragalactic astrophysics to elaborate: “In psychology this would be called a ‘fixation.’�

So apparently, all this feminist-driven vagina madness has lead women to be big ole whores:

Frat boys on campus look at these poor girls as a vagina on two legs and they want to slap that idea on a T-shirt and sell it. They’ve gone one step further from the prostitution of women to preaching harlotry. The difference between a prostitute and a harlot is that the prostitute at least has enough self respect to demand payment for services rendered.

Oh, snap! Feminists like sex—and have it for free! And you know what happens when you have consensual, money-free, sexual encounters don’t you?

College-aged women can entertain notions of promiscuity-as-fulfillment because society has always lusted after the young woman. However, as they age they find fewer and fewer partners. They’ve become “cold product� and are discarded in favor of “younger models.�

Not that you’re a sperm receptacle or anything.

But the ever-classy Bambenek really does have women’s best interests at heart.

Being free from the Friday-night quests to the local syphilis buffet for Mr. Right Now means that women are free to pursue being doctors, lawyers, and being all-around great women.

Friday nights at the syphilis buffet? And here I thought the Saturday night herpes disco jam was where it’s at. At the end of the day, gals, our pal Bambenek has an agenda—plain old sexual fidelity.

Women are finding that sexual fulfillment isn’t found in anonymous sexual encounters or relationships that generate only from physically satisfying sexual escapades, but is found from the lifelong, permanent and complete union of marriage.

So please, don’t be everyone’s sperm receptacle—just his. It’ll be fun, he swears.

Ugh. (Wish I could "Report as shockingly offensive.")

Even with him out of office, the Phill Kline drama just doesn't end. After the former Kansas attorney general seized women's abortion records, two health clinics asked the Kansas Supreme Court to intervene and take the records away from the AG's office. Probably a good idea, as someone in the AG's office leaked the women's private abortion records to Bill O'Reilly. Then Paul Morrison, the former Republican who was elected to replace Kline, said he'd be keeping the records for himself. You know, just in case.

Anyway, the Kansas Supreme Court just denied the clinics' request to have the records returned to them.

The ruling means Kline, a Republican, can continue his investigation, refer potential cases to county prosecutors or file charges himself before leaving office Jan. 8.

Want to start placing bets on which right-wing talk show host will end up with the records next?

As of 2002, HIV infection was the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25-34 (that's me), and the 5th leading cause of death for all women 35-44. According to the CDC, the "only diseases causing more deaths of women were cancer and heart disease."

For me, this is a day to remember everyone we've lost, everyone surviving, and everyone living under fear of contracting HIV. Get out there and do your part. There are a lot of great organizations that have ways to get involved.

Black Women's Health Imperative
Feminist Campus
World AIDS Campaign

There are also a bunch of events happening today in DC today, what's going on where you live?

We've known for a long time that low doses of mifepristone, the active drug in the abortion pill RU-486, can help treat various health problems in women. Now a new study shows it may also effectively shut down the breast cancer gene.

Aside from being great news about a potential new treatment for a deadly disease, an FDA approval of mifepristone as a cancer treatment could help safeguard the option of medication abortion.

Too young for woman's work? PlayMobil helps train 'em young! Ugh.

Pic from ThinkVegan.

Here's some good news to start your weekend off with. President Pervez Musharraf has signed Pakistan's Women's Protection Bill. (Text of the bill here.) Sweet.