September 2007 Archives

What's behind the birth-control price spike?

A hilarious review of "daddy" comedies.

On the serious harassment problems with a high school ROTC instructor in Tennessee: "Flash your breasts at the chief and you could smoke cigarettes on campus, students alleged in statements to investigators. Run topless in the gymnasium during an unauthorized sleepover and the chief turned a blind eye to drinking rum in a West High restroom."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decries the trend in his country of teenagers getting boob jobs.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye.

Iraqi refugee women and girls are being forced into prostitution in Syria.

Ok, ok, I know it's Rush Limabaugh and I should expect this. Still.

Jodie Foster talks about her latest role as a woman avenging a group of men who assaulted her. She says:

But is there a streak of feminist empowerment in your character's actions? A cop in the film says, "Women kill their friends, husbands, shit they love." You kill strangers in the street.
Such a big part of the female psyche is that we hate inwards. What if there was a woman who said, "I'm not going to be that kind of victim. I'm not going to hurt myself, I'm going to hurt you." What would that feel like? This was no feminist design on my part -- although I call myself a feminist -- but that's exhilarating to women who see this movie.

The fembot, reconsidered in light of the new Bionic Woman show and those awful Heineken ads.

A conference this weekend devotes itself to advancing the science for a male birth control pill.

Clarence Thomas says of Anita Hill, "She was not the demure, religious, conservative person that they portrayed. That's not the person I knew." In other words, that sexual harassment was totally warranted! If you're not demure, you can expect it.

On what happens when the Tyra Banks show tries to tackle the topic of women and porn.

Congress approves yet another 90-day funding extension for abstinence-only programs.

Nothing pisses me off more than reporters misquoting sources to make the point that they want to, and not the truth. Such is the case with this article in today's Times Online which takes on the recent trend piece about men feeling "emasculated" by women making more money than them.

Reporter Tony Allen-Mills uses quotes from this post to try and make the point that I was actually arguing against.

The main question on Valenti’s website last week was whether the male ego can cope with the potentially emasculating strain of being out-performed and out-spent by the new breed of fast-rising female lawyers, doctors and architects.

Really? News to me. But here's my favorite deliberate misquoting:

It is a phenomenon that older men have long learnt to deal with – one 2005 study calculated that 8.3m American wives earn more than their husbands. But it appears to be more difficult for men in their twenties to deal with what Valenti described as “their hunter instincts�.

If I ever refer to men's "hunter instincts" in a non-sarcastic way, you have my full permission to take away my feminist card. What I actually said:

April Beyer says that women should never pay for dates while in the courting process and never ask men out. Cause it would interfere with their hunter instincts or some such shit.

I know I'm being a bit ranty, but is it so much to ask that reporters use quotes accurately? Sigh.

The New York Times actually published a whole article yesterday about Hillary Clinton's laugh. I'm sorry, not her laugh, her "Cackle." With a capital C. A totally negative, gendered word:

cack·le (kkl)
v. cack·led, cack·ling, cack·les
v.intr.
1. To make the shrill cry characteristic of a hen after laying an egg.
2. To laugh or talk in a shrill manner.

No, this isn't Rush Limbaugh or Fox News using a gendered description of her laugh. It's the nation's newspaper. Aren't journalists supposed to be better at finding original and creative ways of describing things? "Cackle" falls back on stereotypes. So does "giggle," which is another descriptor used in the article.

The article goes on to discuss how Hillary laughs at inappropriate moments. Wouldn't you, if you were trying to counteract the "ball-busting bitch" image bestowed upon you by both conservative commenters and the mainstream media? If she's all serious, all the time, she feeds the stereotype. But she can't seem to get ahead by trying to infuse more humor, either. She's addressed this herself, after she laughed at her own joke about her husband's infidelities, and reporters followed up with serious questions:

“You guys!� she said to reporters, chuckling, after the third question on the topic. “I thought I was funny. You guys keep telling me, lighten up, be fun. Now I get a little funny, and I’m being psychoanalyzed.�

No kidding. Psychoanalyzed and basically called a witch.

Slate has a slightly better take on the coverage of Hillary's laugh, one that at least acknoweldges the sexism inherent in descriptions like "cackle" and "giggle":

Clinton's ideological enemies have had fun, too. Matt Drudge posted a sound clip of it, and Sean Hannity raised the pressing question of whether Clinton's laughter was presidential. Hannity should be reminded that George Bush's Beavis laugh was such an accurate imitation of the teenage cartoon reprobate he should have had to pay royalties. Like all aspects of the Clinton campaign, there's sexism in the giggle critique: Women can only laugh in certain preapproved ways. Historically, men have categorized women's laughter as a way to diminish them—they either cackle like a witch, or they titter like a schoolgirl.

No shit. If they weren't using witch or schoolgirl allusions to describe the laugh, they'd no doubt be calling it "mannish."

Below the jump, a video clip of what I'm now calling "The Laugh."

Ok, so I was clearly out of it this week and failed to notice that Steve Galson has been named acting surgeon general. Galson is the FDA official who said it was his personal decision to deny the application to sell Plan B over-the-counter without a prescription. Also, this:

The draft GAO report indicates that Galson voiced concerns in FDA meetings about how easier availability of Plan B would effect sexual behavior by girls.

That's the kind of talk that gets you promoted to act as "the nation's doctor" in this administration!

“In my mind the ‘acting’ is off the title. I am going to be the surgeon general and actively engage in policy and education,� he says.

Well, at least the nation's women and girls have that to look forward to. Galson takes over the post on Monday, as the Senate has not yet made a decision on Bush's surgeon general pick, James Holsinger.

And who's getting promoted at the FDA to replace Galson as director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research? Janet Woodcock, the FDA official who said that the over-the-counter availablilty of Plan B would lead to

“extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an ‘urban legend’ status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.�

That's right: The infamous teen sex cults quote. Woodcock also said Plan B shouldn't be sold over-the-counter to teens -- not because of the science but "to appease the administration's constituents." Again, it's no wonder she's been promoted.

Ren Jender is a writer/performer who for eight and a half years was the host and founder of The Amazon Slam, a Boston-based all woman poetry slam that won "The Best Poll" of The Boston Phoenix from 1998-2003 and was named "Best of Boston" in Boston Magazine in 1999. Her work has appeared in Bitch Magazine, Bay Windows and Spare Change. She has been profiled in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Metro, The Boston Phoenix, Curve and Teen Voices. She was the co-curator/co-producer of the Lisa King Memorial show in Boston in May of 2006.

She's currently working on a new creative and community project. Here's Ren...

Via Matt, I see that Verizon's policy chief is Tom Tauke, an anti-choice congressman from Iowa in the '80s who lost a Senate bid to Tom Harkin in 1990. From a National Review article about the campaign:

...Tauke wants a constitutional amendment recognizing "the personhood of the unborn." "When NARAL comes into the state," Tauke says, "I'm not going to sit back and take it."

NARAL apparently spent $100,000 to defeat Tauke. So is it really a coincidence that this man is policy chief of the only wireless company that (initially) refused to cooperate with NARAL?

(And this is a little off topic, but upon reading Tom Tauke's name, my first thought was, "The Indian feather guy?" As the National Review article mentions, his campaign used to hand out feathers on headbands (like this) at events. I actually remember seeing this at a parade when I was a kid in Iowa. Who knows? I may have even worn one. How retro and messed-up is that?)

Are we still asking this question? Really? Because we all know the answer is NO.

Check out the slideshow of pictures from the pro-choice rally in support of the new Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Illinois.

Cara's got even more pictures and details about the rally.

During MSNBC's post-Democratic presidential debate analysis this week, Chris Matthews asked Sen. Chris Dodd: “Do you find it difficult to debate a woman?�

You know, because vaginas have special debate-blocking powers.

Thanks to Teresa for the link.

As a security measure, a school in upstate New York, has banned students from carrying bags (backpacks, purses anything). Unless you're a menstruating girl, that is. Need some clarification? So did I.

A student at Tri-Valley High School was called out of class by a security guard during a school sweep last week to make sure no kids had backpacks or other banned bags.

Samantha Martin, 14, had a small purse with her that day.

That's why the security guard, ex-Monticello cop Mike Bunce, asked her The Question.

She says he told her she couldn't have a purse unless she had her period. Then he asked, "Do you have your period?"

Samantha was mortified.

Apparently, there was a school rumor (not an actual rule) that girls could only carry small bags or purses if they had their periods. So security guards starting pulling girls out of classes, or questioning them in the hallways, about whether they were menstruating or not. Real appropriate.

What's heartening, though, is that the students aren't taking this crap without a fight.

Girls have worn tampons on their clothes in protest, and purses made out of tampon boxes. Some boys wore maxi-pads stuck to their shirts in support.

After hearing that someone might have been suspended for the protest, freshman Hannah Lindquist, 14, went to talk to {Principal Robert] Worden. She wore her protest necklace, an OB tampon box on a piece of yarn. She said Worden confiscated it, talked to her about the code of conduct and the backpack rule — and told her she was now "part of the problem."

Yeah, girls who don't want creepy security guards knowing about their cycles are huge problems. Soon, they'll expect things like basic respect and privacy rights!

h/t to Shannon.

Happy Friday folks. If you're in the New York area and want to come to see me speak and read a bit from Full Frontal Feminism, I'll be at the West Side YMCA at 8pm. All the info is below.

And to get you revved up for whatever fun (hopefully feminist) plans you have tonight, please enjoy the above video of Le Tigre interpreted by Jem and the Holograms.

The Writer's Voice Visiting Author Series Presents:
Jessica Valenti “Full Frontal Feminism�
Friday, September 28, 2007
8:00 PM
Admission Free and Open to the Public
Reading/Discussion/Book Signing
West Side YMCA-- The George Washington Lounge
5 West 63rd Street (between Central Park West & Broadway)

Be careful, bellies, you might scare the "beautiful" people!

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. A plastic surgery office is being sued for discrimination after firing a pregnant secretary who was told to "suck in her belly so she wouldn't scare away patients."

[Erin] Griggle, who worked in the company's Cranberry, [Pittsburgh] office, said she was fired in December 2005, two weeks after telling her supervisors she was pregnant.

In the lawsuit, Griggle said she was told to keep "sucking her belly in" by Dr. Brian Vasser Heil, the company's president, so she didn't scare away patients who came to the office to look better.

Griggle was fired days later, despite having recently received a satisfactory performance review, the lawsuit said.

Yeah, but she's all pregnant and gross, and we wouldn't want the pretty people to have look at her bulging belly. I mean, that would be too real and shit.

Here's some good news to get you revved up for the weekend.

Roman Catholic bishops in Connecticut have agreed to let hospital personnel give emergency contraception to all rape victims, reversing their decision days before a new state law requires it.

Okay, so they were forced to comply. Whatevs. At least women in Connecticut can rest a little easier. But here's an interesting tidbit. Apparently, state church officials wanted to mandate an ovulation test for women seeking emergency contraception before they would dispense it. The idea being if a woman was ovulating there was a better chance of conception having taken place--and then they wouldn't give her EC.

And people have the nerve to argue that anti-choice shit isn't about controlling women's bodies?

Okay, I usually don't get gushy over celebs. But I'm here at The Clinton Global Initiative this week and the story above was one of the most touching I heard.

District Attorney Reed Walters (owner of a very selective memory) has decided not to try and charge Bell as an adult again after his conviction was overturned.

Bell still faces second degree battery and conspiracy charges in a juvenile court, but was released today on bail.

Via Washington Post.

Did anyone else see this? You can watch now at MySpace (though it isn't working for me right now), and at MTV.com. Here's the thing. In theory, it was a great idea. Get a candidate to have a conversation with actual young people, and let other young people submit questions and their reactions online, all at once. The tool they used is called Flektor, which certainly sounds fancy enough.

The problem was, as one of the other bloggers who attended mentioned, is that the event really felt like the same old boring town hall meeting candidates have been doing forever. John Edwards can talk passionately about a lot of things, but today he kind of droned on until the last 10 minutes. if the point is getting a lot of information to the (ugh, terrible phrase) MTV generation, you have to be a little more interesting, and for the love of Gideon, brief. Though, he did end up with something like 93% approval from web viewers, so maybe I just have a sort attention span.

I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you that feminist issues were not a large part of the event. However, the word feminist was uttered. By a student talking about the need for more diverse authors in college curricula.

Now that I've talked a lot of shit about the event, let me tell you what I liked. The fact that they're trying. This morning we had a chance to talk to Jeff Berman, SVP of Public Affairs at MySpace, and former Chuck Schumer staffer. He talked about harnessing the power of MySpace's huge network to make democracy more participatory, especially for young people. Yes please. So, overall it was fun. Got to meet some nice poeple, and I think this format has promise, it just needs some development. Anyway, most of the other candidates have agreed to participate in the future, so we'll see how it develops.

Okay, I'm all for sex issues. I'd just appreciate it if a leading online news magazine didn't equate sex with a headless porned out asscracked woman.

I'm also all for articles on butts. But I'd doubly appreciate it if said leading online news magazine didn't feature only women as part of their charming slide show expose on the history of the ass. (You know, because men don't have asses. At least not in a sexual way--that would be like, gay or something.) It would also be great if Slate didn't feature a picture of "Hottentot Venus" in this sexpose without any mention of racism. At all. (A pic of that slide is after the jump.)

So Slate, I ask you: What is up with your racist, sexist bullshit content?

Remember the awesome pro-choice Manhattan Mini Storage ad that attracted a shitload of media attention?

Well, it looks like there's been so much hoopla around the ad that they're asking the public to take a vote on whether you think they should give "just the facts" or continue to bring the "edgy" advertising we all know and love? So go vote.

While it's no big shocker to most of us that women feel patronized by pink gadgets marketed to them, this is the ultimate blood-boiling "girly" gadget I may have ever witnessed.

Marie Claire's October issue asked PopGadget's founder to create the most "dream" cell phone for women -- yes, the shePhone. (Look below the jump.) So according to this Phone of Fabulousness, women are drug and sex-addicted, neurotic (yet tanned, fragranced and flossed) alcoholics. Regardless of whether this is supposed to be humorous or not, it's not.

Via The Underwire.

This is just despicable. On the fifth anniversary celebration night of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, an organization that provides free legal services and advocacy to low-income people of color who are transgender, gender non-conforming or intersex, two of their community members were attacked and arrested without warning by the 9th precinct of the NYC Police Department, as well as others being pepper sprayed in the face. Via their press release:

A group of our community members, consisting largely of queer and transgender people of color, witnessed two officers attempting to detain a young Black man outside of the bar. Several of our community members asked the officers why they were making the arrest and using excessive force. Despite the fact that our community was on the sidewalk, gathered peacefully and not obstructing foot traffic, the NYPD chose to forcefully grab two people and arrested them. Without warning, an officer then sprayed pepper spray across the group in a wide arc, temporarily blinding many and causing vomiting and intense pain.

"This is the sort of all-too-common police violence and overreaction towards people of color that happens all the time," said SRLP founder Dean Spade. "It's ironic that we were celebrating the work of an organization that specifically opposes state violence against marginalized communities, and we experienced a police attack at our celebration. . . We are outraged, and demand that our community members be released and the police be held accountable for unnecessary use of excessive force and falsely arresting people."

Supporters will be gathering at 100 Centre Street today, where the two community members will be arraigned. So if anyone is around the NYC area, make sure to go and show your support.

Thanks to Radical Doula for the heads up.

From The New York Times: Verizon Reverses Itself on Abortion Rights Messages

NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan says, "Let's hope Verizon has learned a lesson today: citizen participation in democracy is neither 'unsavory' nor 'controversial.'"

Indeed.

I’m at the University of New Hampshire right now, getting ready for a dialogue with Edwards hosted by MTV and MySpace. It’s interactive in the extreme, assuming everything goes well. Every “major� candidate (except Fred Thompson) has agreed to participate, and Edwards is up first. To learn more about this event, go to MySpace. You can submit questions via IM or text message, and you can play along at home:

Online viewers on MySpace.com or MTV.com will be able to access a simple ratings meter to indicate their approval or disapproval of a candidate's response as they watch the Dialogue live with instant results displayed on the screen. A "popular vote" function will allow viewers to compare their opinions against those of the entire viewing community. Poll results will be available online live during each event and archived for future viewing.

Obligatory legal disclaimer: MySpace did pay to bring me here. I didn’t have to blog about it, but, duh, that’s why I came. Besides, it’s kind of funny to think that Rupert Murdoch bought me a plane-ticket. I should have some gay sex and get an abortion while I'm here.

You gotta love old school SNL. As an enthusiastic chess player since childhood, I found this quite hilarious. (And a little creepy.)

The only similarity between myself and any of the girls in this video is that I also used to throw all the game pieces on the ground if I lost. Jessica can attest to it.

Via Feministe.

The New York Times reports that NARAL Pro-Choice America has been banned from using their text-messaging program to communicate to their activists because their messages are "controversial or unsavory."

Text messaging has been increasingly used by political organizations and groups as a means of sending alerts or information to their members, yet Verizon has chosen to discriminate against the organization for sending messages such as "End Bush’s global gag rule against birth control for world’s poorest women! Call Congress. (202) 224-3121. Thnx! Naral Text4Choice.� How unsavory.

Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson says they're (of course) "neutral" on the issue of abortion and their decision wasn't because NARAL is pro-choice, but claims “It is the topic itself that has been on our list.�

So I have a request to all of you with Verizon cell phones: text all of your friends with Verizon cell phones, "Abortion should be legal and uncensored." Then have them forward it on and cancel their account.

Huffington Post has more.

Full disclosure: Jessica has a working relationship with NARAL.

In the same way that Lisa Jean Moore used a pinhole focus on sperm to elucidate the giant topic of masculinity in last week’s feature, art historian Maria Elena Buszek uses the pin-up as the way in to explore huge questions about the history of feminism, sexuality, and pop culture. (How much do you love this one I found? What's up with the fish?)

Her approach is definitely academic (the book began as her dissertation). This book is not going to appeal to a gal without a little Judith Butler or bell hooks under her belt. If you are up for a challenge, it is infectiously interesting and bold. I found myself reading and thinking, “Damn, I want to have a drink with this lady.�

Buszek ambitiously looks at the entire history of pin-ups and feminism concurrently, from the nineteenth century actress to Wanda Ewing. Her aim, as she articulates it is:

In my analyses of pin-up history from its origins to the present, I hope to reveal moments in which the pin-up has presented women with models for expressing and finding pleasure in their sexual subjectivity.

County law-enforcement officials raided the police department in Harvey, Illinois -- where they found more than 200 rape kits that had never been sent to the state crime lab to be processed. (via Kate.)

"During the raid, investigators also videotaped the Harvey evidence vault, which revealed approximately 200 rape kits, many of which were never processed by the Illinois State Police Crime Lab at that point," Milan said. "In the spring of 2007, the Cook County state's attorney's office sex-crimes unit secured these kits and began having them tested by the [state] crime lab. One of those cold-case rapes had been charged since then."

John Gorman, spokesman for the state's attorney's office, said about one quarter of the cases were sent out for testing. "We went through and got about 50 cases where we thought we might have DNA in the rape kits," he said. "The other 150 or so kits were cases in which the offense would not have been a DNA-type offense or where the victim refused to cooperate."

Police not having the staff or funds to actually process rape kits has long been a huge issue, with hundreds of thousands of kits just sitting in storage awaiting testing. It got a lot of media play several years ago, when Congress considered legislation to fund rape kit testing. From what I can tell, the groups dedicated to drawing attention to this issue have not been active since 2003. Does anyone know what's going on with the rape kit backlog these days? The Harvey story shows it's obviously still a problem.

I've posted this before, but it got such a controversial response last time I figured it was worth posting again. Plus, I just like it.

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.

And of course, denies this woman's claim.

Just...wow.

Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Archbishop Desmond Tutu "expressed concern" about the situation in Burma, where dissident (and a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner) Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years. After saluting her, Tutu said:

"Please, please, how can men armed to the teeth be scared of this petite, demure, beautiful woman?" the 75-year-old said, adding: "She's my only pin-up in my office."

Classy, huh? And why, I wonder, would the repressive regime in Burma have any reason to be scared of a woman who was democratically elected to be the country's prime minister in 1990, but never allowed to assume office? It's not like petite, beautiful women have ever been primary agents of democratic change before. Nope, never happened.

Tutu also had this charming line about the Dalai Lama:

"He's the only non pop star who can fill Central Park in New York ... and he doesn't even speak English properly!"

Ugh. These remarks actually sound a lot like George W. Bush to me. You know, that tone of trying to be jokey in a frat-house way, but really just being offensive.

If feel like banging your head against a wall for the rest of the day, go read this charming piece on rape from Guardian blogger David Cox. Just to give you an idea of what you're in for...

When our houses are burgled, we're hardly more likely than rape victims to see the intruder end up behind bars. So what do we do? We fit locks to our doors and windows. We keep our valuables out of sight.

I think we all know where this is going.

By the way, do yourself a favor and don't read the comments.

UPDATE: What Shakes said.

From the woman who brought you I Was a Teenage Feminist comes a peek into one of my fave topics: virginity.

THE AMERICAN VIRGIN examines the impact of myths, misconceptions and cultural beliefs surrounding virginity.

What is virginity? Who gets to define it? Why do we care so much about it? And how do our sexual choices define our identity, especially for women?

From abstinence-till-marriage programs to teen sex comedies to hymen reconstruction, THE AMERICAN VIRGIN explores the ways in which anxiety and fascination with the concept of the "virgin" are linked to our cultural attitudes towards female sexuality.

Awesome. Also, if you're in New York, there's a fundraiser tonight, cleverly called NYC's First Purity Ball. Go and feel like a virgin again. Whatever that means.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. At all.

A controversial ad campaign featuring a 68-pound anorexic woman has been launched in Italy to coincide with Milan Fashion Week.

The ads, which are aimed at raising awareness about eating disorders, feature Isabelle Caro, a 27-year-old French woman.

Caro, who has battled the disease for 15 years, shows her exposed breasts and frail, naked body.

Another image shows Caro's buttocks and the outline of her protruding rib cage. Both advertisements feature the slogan: "No Anorexia."

I'm not going to post the picture here, because I'm conflicted about it. Is this campaign raising awareness in an in-your-face way or objectifying a sick woman? Or both?

Part of me feels like the reality of eating disorders should be confronted head-on. In our current celeb-crazy climate, the wasting away of various starlets seems more glamorized than ever. Maybe we need a campaign like this. Thoughts?

UPDATE: The campaign isn't simply an awareness campaign--it's being used to sell a clothing brand. Should have mentioned that earlier.

In the ongoing legal battle over whether Missouri inmates have a right to access abortion services, an appeals court panel heard arguments this week as to whether the state is required to transport incarcerated women off-site to have an abortion.

As we've noted before Missouri usually has from 35 to 50 pregnant inmates in any given month and surveys of incarcerated women have shown that more than 83 percent have had a history of unplanned pregnancy.

RH Reality Check sums up nicely what's at stake here:

For more than twenty years, courts have ruled that incarcerated women retain their abortion rights, and yet for all those twenty years, jails and prisons have continued to violate those rights. Across the country, women have been told by sheriffs to get a judge’s permission, something that takes time, money, and the services of a lawyer. Women are routinely told that they must pay not only for the abortion, but for the costs of employees’ time and of transportation, down to turnpike tolls, even though people in prison have a constitutional right to medical care. In many cases, these requirements are unwritten and ad-hoc, reflecting the whim of local officials. From California to New York, from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, women have wound up carrying pregnancies to term because jail officials stood in their way until it was too late to have an abortion – or until they gave up.

Every woman has a lot to think about when faced with an unwanted pregnancy, but for women inside, the question takes on special urgency. Women may be concerned about the kind of prenatal care they will receive in prison and worried about what the future holds. Those facing long prison sentences may find the prospect of having a child unbearable. A woman serving as little as fifteen months can lose her parental rights if she has to place her child in foster care, even if she has never been accused of child abuse or neglect.

I'd add that if the state of Missouri regularly transports incarcerated women as many as three hours off-site to take the State Board of Cosmetology exam, the legislature don't have grounds to complain about transporting them that far for abortion care. If they're worried about the cost of gas, the state legislators could always consider rolling back some of the TRAP laws that make it cost-prohibitive for abortion providers to open clinics in more counties. (Riiiight....)

On the most recent episode of PBS's "To the Contrary," the panelists discuss, "Feminism Interrupted: The new push to get more Generation Y women involved in feminism."

Host Bonnie Erbe: Jane, is the internet now the primary tool that's drawing young women into feminism?

Jane Hamsher (of Firedoglake): Oh I believe that it is. And I believe that's largely due to the failure of many feminist institutions to reach out to young women in a real way. Organizations like NARAL have become insider and cliquish, and are making insider mistakes like endorsing Joe Lieberman, who said it was OK for a woman who had been raped to have to go across town to get emergency contraception.

I certainly agree that the online feminist community has stepped into a void that the older feminist organizations have been unwilling (in some cases) or unable (in other cases) to fill. But it's funny she would single out NARAL, which in my opinion does a pretty damn good job with online outreach. That's definitely not where I would start pointing fingers.

Later on, there's this:

Eleanor Holmes Norton: ... This generation is not a movement generation. I believe the feminist organizations are indeed attacking exactly the issues these young women are interested in, for example abortion -- these young women would be 100 percent there -- and homosexual discrimination. That's not the problem. The problem is they don't identify -- they do their own thing. They have the underlying values of the feminist movement. We don't have a right to say, look, if you have our values, you must also take our name. Let them do their thing, their way. Be happy they have adopted your values.

I think if the online feminist community has proved anything, it's that we are a movement generation. I participated in feminist actions on my college campus, but that felt more like a club than a movement. I worked for a women's rights nonprofit, but that felt more like a day job than a movement. I went to rallies and marches, but they felt more like one-off events than a movement. It took blogging here, and being part of a community of feminist bloggers, for me to really feel like part of a feminist movement. To feel I was part of a group of people, committed to a set of ideals, who are working day in and day out to advance those ideals.

I really wish Bonnie Erbe had had a young feminist on her show to articulate that, because I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Overall, I was really disappointed by the show. How hard would it have been to have one woman in her 20s be part of the panel?

There's a lot more discussion fodder in this segment, but I'll stop there for now. Transcript and video are after the jump.

Over at TAPPED, Dana responds to the charge that NYT columnist Bob Herbert is boring (as T.A. Frank recently argued in the Washington Monthly):

Part of the problem here is how we measure influence. [...]

As for blogs, it's no surprise that the DailyKos family doesn't link to Herbert. The majority of male netroots bloggers have proven again and again that they have little interest in domestic social justice crusades centered around identity. The civil rights and women's rights wings of the Democratic coalition are far less important to their worldview than "muscular progressivism" in foreign policy, a stance largely calibrated to win elections. That's not a bad thing, but it doesn't make for a movement particularly interested in Herbert's stories of inner city poverty and persistent racism.

Frank suggests that the format of statistics about pernicious social trends embedded within personal stories is ineffective, and certainly not well-suited to 800-word columns. I'd respond that Kristof won a Pulitzer doing exactly that. That returns us to the mystery of why, exactly, Herbert isn't influential among media elites. To the extent that's true, I'd guess it's more our fault than his.

In other words, Herbert's columns are plenty interesting to people who are invested in the issues he writes about. Regular Feministing readers are, of course, aware of Jessica's massive crush on Herbert. Guess we should be showing him the link-love more often -- especially now that his columns are out from behind the TimesSelect subscriber wall.

UPDATE: Jill has a post on Herbert's column today.

Attention Chicago-area readers:

Pro-Choice Rally
Tuesday, Sept. 25 (TODAY) at 5pm
Aurora City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place

Planned Parenthood will be passing out signs and T-shirts. You just have to show up.

If you're not local or can't make the rally, PP Aurora has ideas on other actions to take:

• Donate your time, email volunteer@ppca.org for more information.
• E-mail the Aurora City Council
• E-mail a Letter to the Editor
• Request a "This Family Supports Planned Parenthood" yard sign
• If you’re further away but would still like to be involved, please consider making a donation to support Planned Parenthood.

If you go and take pictures, send them along to Cara, who is collecting photos of the rally.

For more about what's going on in Aurora, check out Amanda's Reality Cast this week and my piece for TAP Online. Also, PP Aurora has been doing video interviews with pro-choicers who support the new clinic. Check it out.

One third of the suicides that occurred in Great Britain in the last year seemed to have been committed on the train tracks. Importantly, the part of the tracks where the majority of these suicides are happening runs through West London is a predominantly Asian community.

"Suicide on the railway is a national issue and is a terrible tragedy for all involved, including crews. First Great Western has seen a number of suicides on the main line in an area west of London. Victims may come from the communities where lines run through," a spokesperson for the train company was quoted as saying.

According to figures, 80 out of the 240 rail suicides last year were on the lines into Paddington, west London. These pass through Slough, Southall and other areas with large Asian communities and carry one tenth of the rail traffic.

Meanwhile, a women’s rights organisation, Southall Black Sisters, has claimed that domestic violence are forcing more and more Asian women in Britain to commit suicide on railway tracks.

"The high instance of Asian women suicides is linked to abusive practices within Asian families. There is a correlation between these suicides and violence in homes. Psychiatric research has shown there are rarely cases of mental disorders in these cases, suggesting they are the result of social circumstances. These women are often isolated and find it hard to escape," Hannana Siddiqui from Southall Black Sisters, was quoted as saying.

That is pretty upsetting.
via Times of India.

So I guess last weeks mass mobilization of activists to free the Jena six has some vocal opponents. Some really scary vocal opponents.

No sooner did tens of thousands of African-American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices than white supremacists flooded in behind them.

First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind."

That is not all. White supremacist websites, along with former KKK Grand Master David Duke all spoke up in support of the white students in Jena. What? Are you fucking kidding me? Now, perhaps as white supremacist groups don't get as much airtime (outside of Springer), perhaps it is scary when you see mobilized efforts from a group and mind-set that I honestly believed had gotten less prevalent. Is this a growing movement, or have these people been active for years? I have failed to track it, probably wrongfully.

The Mayor of Jena has been quoted by Klan leaders as saying that he is not endorsing any of these folks and supports what they are trying to do. Hmm, later on he says that he feels his town has been said to be unfairly racist. Well then, perhaps don't let a Klan leader quote you as supporting their activities, or perhaps don't let the Klan demonstrate in your town.

Free speech and hate speech are two different things. If the response to people fighting unfair court proceedings, is led by a group that have historically believed that the appropriate form of justice for blacks is to illegally lynch them, well I am sorry, I am not feeling like that is acceptable. White supremacy is more than just the support or advocacy of people that are perceived to be unfairly dealt with and white. It is based on the belief that one race is better than the other and often times practiced in the elimination of oppositional racial categories.

So no, I don't think they should be allowed to organize, given the history and threat of hate and violence they have tortured black communities with since their inception.

via Chicago Tribune.

It was nice to see the New York Times devoting so much real estate in the Sunday magazine to the ongoing practice of honor killing. Katherine Zoepf basically takes the case of Zahra al-Azzo, which has received quite a bit of publicity, and looks at how it might be the tipping point for really changing both the culture and the law in Arab countries, like Syria, where honor killing is still widely accepted. Though statistics are almost impossible to gather accurately, The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000 women die every year as a result of honor killings.

Zahra's case has been palpable to the public because it isn't muddled by the hot button issues of female agency and sexuality. In short, Zahra was raped, then married by a sympathetic cousin, and finally murdered by her own brother.

I feel mixed about this, of course. On the one hand, anything that we can do to stop the practice of honor killing must be done. On the other hand, it feels a little disingenuous to have the martyr of that change still fit into a box of purity and innocence so that it makes everyone comfortable. Perhaps the answer is to get honor killing criminalized and then work on changing consciousness. Zoepf reports:

With tensions like these in play, Syrian women’s advocates are careful to phrase their criticisms of tribal traditions of honor and Article 548 in Islamic terms. Though some will privately admit that they are secularists, even feminists, they keep it quiet. It would be politically impossible to suggest in public, for example, that women have the right to choose their sexual partners. The basic culture of chastity is in no way being publicly rethought. Some advocates say that their cause is damaged if they are perceived as sympathetic to “Western values,� and even that honor killing is seen by some conservatives as a bulwark against those values.

Zoepf, the author of the piece, is working on a book on the lives on women in the contemporary Arab world. If her ability to capture the reality and a vision for the future in this article is any indication, it could be a really powerful read.

Hey folks, I'm in the DC area today to speak at the Fall for the Book Festival. The fabulous Women's Studies program at George Mason brought me here, and I'm giving an open-to-the-public talk at 1:30.

The info is here if you'd like to stop by...

So, if you know me, chances are you're familiar with my sick fascination with America's Next Top Model. It's like all-woman Fear Factor without the bug eating. Though, sometimes there are bugs. So of course, any Top Model related news is exciting to read. The winner of the first season, and reality television long-timer Adrianne Curry is causing a little shit storm with comments she made. Among other things, she said:

This is gonna be hard guys. I LOVE the comedians on BET. I also LOVE the fact that they play my favorite show of all time, In Living Color. However, I do not believe in seperating ANY RACE in America. WE ARE AMERICANS! How dare we have Black History Month! […] I think by having a month dedicated to one race, and not one for any other, is RACIST. Every fund set up to only help people of one race is SICK and RACIST.

Right. You can read the rest on her MySpace blog, there's a lot of nuttiness. But here's the thing. She seems genuinely hurt and surprised that people are upset about her comments. Because she feels the way a lot of well-meaning people do. That the best way to end racism is to ignore race. She honestly seems to think that BET is the same as segregation. That's a classic white-privileged misread of reality. BET doesn't exist because black people want to segregate themselves. That's not why the "black shows" are all on The CW, or magazines like Essence exist. These things exist because of the lack of representation beyond tokenism in popular culture. I mean, remember when it was such a huge deal that one of the characters on Friends dated someone black? And that was in the fucking ninth season of the show. It was a big deal because before that their New York was all white.

So, I really wish that instead of just calling Adrianne Curry dumb, people would realize that the core of what she says is honest, but ignorant. And a lot of people share that view. I'm not getting into some of the more ridiculous things she said because, well, I don't have the energy. The woman is really out there. But this thread really stuck out to me.

I know I'm late to this one, but i figured it was worth posting anyway. A new co-host of The View, Sherri Shepherd, doesn't know whether the earth is round or flat. Because she's too busy being a mom. Or something.

Katha Pollitt is one of those writers that you simultaneously love (because she's so damn good) and hate (because she's so damn good).

Pollitt was the first feminist journalist that I ever read religiously, so I was super excited to get a review copy of Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories. The book is a collection of essays about Pollitt's life--from cheating boyfriends and Google stalking to Marxist study groups and motherhood. There's just something so amazing about getting an inside view of someone's personal life--especially someone you know and respect as a writer. Many of us only know Pollitt as this witty political feminist, so to see her as an actual person with failings and worries...well, I just found it very refreshing and touching.

So I was more than a little irritated to see this review in The New York Times. As Jill says, Pollitt gets "the usual shit that feminists catch when we write about our own lives (or about pretty much anything)." Indeed.

Reviewer Toni Bentley calls Pollitt "shameless," says she's "giving up her dignity" and she's (gasp!) angry:

Have you heard the latest? “Men are rats.� This directly from the desk of Katha Pollitt, a longtime feminist columnist at The Nation. It’s an absolute scandal. But with the recent surge of courageous investigative journalism from certain formidable women working around the clock at the front lines (which can involve detailed linen reconnaissance as they hunt down suspicious laundry), the news is finally seeping out. It still sounds a bit shrill, but I’m sure it will soon find its stride as the shock of it all wears off.

Groaning and moaning from clever, sassy women has become a genre unto itself, the righteous revenge of the liberal, pre-, during- or postmenopausal woman (anyone missing?) in the post-chick-lit age (it is over, isn’t it?). Perhaps this heralds the birth of fourth-wave feminism? (Or is it the fifth?) Or maybe it’s not something political, but just plain old biblical revenge: God knows women have centuries of wrongs to catch up on. An enraged, educated woman (Vagina dentata intellectualis) with her arsenal of experience, observation, self-deprecation and indignation is a force to be reckoned with, a kind of intellectual Mike Tyson — though, apparently, she is still not as likely to be seduced into bed as the bombshell bimbo, one reason she’s so irate.

Let's see here: shrill, enraged, and Vagina dentata intellectualis(!). So sexist, so predictable. Sometimes it seems like women are criticized just for having the audacity to speak the truth about their own lives. I'm so over this kind of hackneyed, backlashy bullshit. It's the easy way out: Don't want to bother with writing a thoughtful review of something? Just go the "harping woman" route, it's a winner!

Well take it from this vagina dentata blogger: Generally, the more sexist the review, the better the book. So go buy hers.

Related: Pollitt was also interviewed this Sunday in The New York Times Magazine.

Put it away or no man will want you!

It seems that there is no worse (hetero) dating gaffe than having the nerve to make more money than your significant other. If you're a woman, that is.

An article in The New York Times styles section looks at successful women and the difficulty they have dating men who make less money. It even comes with a lovely cartoon rendering of a poor, emasculated man. Sigh.

Apparently, women in their 20s in several U.S. cities are (for the first time) out-earning their male peers.

The shift is playing out in new, unanticipated ways on the dating front. Women are encountering forms of hostility they weren’t prepared to meet, and are trying to figure out how to balance pride in their accomplishments against their perceived need to bolster the egos of the men they date.

...Young affluent women say they are learning to advertise their good fortune in a manner very different from their male counterparts. For men, it is accepted, even desirable, to flaunt their high status. Not so for many women.

This just makes me sad. Is masculinity so damn fragile that it can't handle being treated to dinner? Have women really bought in to the antiquated idea that we need to be taken care of? (Or at least, pretend to be.) I think what depresses me most, actually, is the idea that money is so tied up with our notions of romance.

Take this charming segment from CBS, for example: Reviving Dating Rules. Along the same don't-emasculate-through-success-and-confidence lines, dating "expert" April Beyer says that women should never pay for dates while in the courting process and never ask men out. Cause it would interfere with their hunter instincts or some such shit.

My boyfriend is five years my junior and an idealistic journalist type. So clearly, not so much with the income-generating. And while it's made for uncomfortable moments (I really like going out to eat A LOT), he's cool with the idea of me paying more often than not. I mean, I can afford it. He can't right now. That's not gender relations, that's fucking math.

And frankly, anyone who isn't comfortable with women being upfront about their financial success probably won't be comfortable with other successes as well. And therefore un-datable. Thoughts?

What's it like to be a woman? Well just ask Tom Michelson, who spent a week living as he "imagined a woman might."

So did Michelson take a pay cut and endure street harassment? Balance work and family?

Nope. Apparently the experience of being a woman can be summed up by dieting, waxing, shopping, and scrubbing the bathroom floor. Seriously.

Just a taste of this stellar example of journalism:

I'm well into my experiment but am struggling to worry about all the things my female friends do. I must try harder to worry about my biological clock. I must try feeling anxious that I'll never meet the right person and settle down. And I still haven't got the hang of thinking about cellulite.

Who knew it was so easy--and so vapid!--to be a woman?

You know how pageants like Miss America are always touting the fact that they're scholarship competitions? Well apparently they're not so keen on actually giving those scholarships out, instead giving women the run-around on why they can't collect their winnings.

Via Feministe.

Monty just loves Woodstock, it give him a chance to play in the bird bath. He got his first real bath later, which he was markedly less happy about.

How was your weekend?

Did you know that 96 percent of women in Egypt have undergone female "circumcision," more accurately called female genital mutilation? Yeah, neither did I. This New York Times article paints a pretty grim picture of the pervasiveness of FGM in Egypt, where a 13 year-old died recently from the procedure in a doctor's office.

Luckily, there's a nationwide campaign in place to stop the practice--but whether or not it's making a change on the ground remains unclear.

But now, quite suddenly, forces opposing genital cutting in Egypt are pressing back as never before. More than a century after the first efforts to curb this custom, the movement has broken through one of the main barriers to change: It is no longer considered taboo to discuss it in public. That shift seems to have coincided with a small but growing acceptance of talking about human sexuality on television and radio.

For the first time, opponents said, television news shows and newspapers have aggressively reported details of botched operations. This summer two young girls died, and it was front-page news in Al Masry al Yom, an independent and popular daily. Activists highlighted the deaths with public demonstrations, which generated even more coverage.

Progress, to be sure. But not nearly enough.

Really, make sure to read the whole article. While depressing, there are some heartening stories of the work being done to battle FGM.

New research shows 26% of teen girls in abusive relationships reported that "their partners were actively trying to get them pregnant by manipulating condom use, sabotaging birth control use and making explicit statements about wanting them to become pregnant."

In the heart of abstinence-only and virginity-pledge country, STDs flourish.

A profile of the women who are Mexico's top environment-defenders. They've been at this since long before climate change became a prominent issue.

Rebecca Traister on TV's new gender order.

A Washington state court dismisses a suit filed against stores that refused to stock EC.

Women say they feel patronized when pink gadgets are marketed exclusively toward them? I'm shocked!

A New Jersey school bans a video made to teach kids about gay marriage. (Video.)

On female boxers in Thailand.

An academy teaches the forced-pregnancy advocates of the future. Ugh.

CosmoGirl magazine acknowledges the gender spectrum. (Whoa!)

The scientists who developed the HPV vaccine are in the running for a major award.

On the forced-pregnancy movement using their children as political props.

Muslim women’s bodies are too frequently used to symbolize the state of Islam in Iran, Erin Wiegand writes.

On the prominence of the "abuelita" figure in Hispanic marketing.

Will this be the year Democrats stop considering white men an important part of their base?

Arlen Specter adds earmarks to fund abstinence-only programs in Pennsylvania.

New York rejects millions of dollars in abstinence-only money.

A prominent televangelist says her husband (also a prominent televangelist) abused her.

On the messy overlap between the repro-rights movement and “reprogenetic� technology.

Why one self-described "pro-lifer" supports the supposedly pro-choice Rudy Giuliani. Add this to the list of reasons Giuliani would make a truly frightening president.

A Harvard med student won't be allowed to duck out of exams in order to pump breastmilk.

The battle over FGM rages in Egypt.

Birth control use is on the rise in Pakistan.

Why would a Polish political party calling itself the Women's Party -- which advocates for things like contraceptive access and equal pay -- put up a billboard ad featuring naked women?

A woman at high risk for breast cancer decides to have a mastectomy. She calls herself a "previvor."

Sara at F-Words on the double standards for women and men in the kitchen. (or, " Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich...but don't make it too good.")

Chris Matthews can't stop talking about his female guests' looks.

On Barnes and Noble advancing racist and sexist stereotypes with its display selections.

And the latest Carnival of Feminists is up!

Go ahead and post additional links in comments... or point us to a great post you've written yourself in the past week or so.

Staceyann Chin is a full-time artist. Writing from her experiences as a Jamaican national and a New York City resident, Staceyann has been an “out poet and political activist� since 1998. She's performed on the stages of the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, Off-Broadway and Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. In 1999, Staceyann took the American Amazon Slam title in Aarhus, Denmark.

Her acclaimed individual performances have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and "60 Minutes." Her poems and writings can be found in Stories Surrounding My Coming, and numerous anthologies, including Skyscrapers, Taxis and Tampons; Poetry Slam; Role Call and Cultural Studies: Critical Methodologies.

In 2000, Staceyann's first one-woman show, "Hands Afire" ran for ten weeks at the Bleecker Theater. Off-Broadway Theater welcomed her second show, "UNSPEAKABLE THINGS" in the summer of 2001 before she took it to Copenhagen for a week-long run. London, Helsinki, Sweden and Norway are in line for showings. These are just some of her accomplishments.

She is currently a host on Logo's After Ellen internet show "She Said What?" and a co-host of BETJ's "My Two Cents." She's still creating and sharing. Here's Staceyann...

Birth control pill cases with a built-in alarm to remind you when it's time to take them. Amazing!

I think the American flag design is pretty hilarious:

Contraception is totally patriotic!

And if you remain unconvinced, the site has the stats to change your mind:

• 58% of women sometimes forget to take their pill
• 16% of women have at least one pill left over every month
• 1 million women in the U.S. become pregnant every year due to taking the pill incorrectly.

Via the gals at Nerve, who prefer the leopard print.

So I wrote a longer piece about what's going on now in Aurora, and how it plays into this larger issue of the fight over reproductive health coming down to questions of infrastructure.

Check it out.

The location of my lotus is what makes me a whore!

Jill alerts us to the latest crazy-talk from conservative Debbie Schlussel.

Apparently, women who get tattoos are tramps, and tattoos on the lower back are "tramp stamps." It's so charming when a wannabe conservative pundit uses frat boy misogyny to get male approval. And what's Schlussel's tattoo/tramp logic?

In my view, [tattoos are] more forgivable on men. But, as I've written, a woman who doesn't take long to agree to repeatedly put a needle in her body, generally doesn't take long before she acquiesces to putting other things into her body. In other words, she's easy.

Yeah, I know what she means. Brushing my teeth, and putting that toothbrush into my mouth repeatedly--totally makes me a big cocksucker. You don't even want to know what happens after I get blood taken at the doctor's. Whore city, folks.

This post doesn't just irk me because I am one of the "tramps" that Schlussel derides (I have a tattoo of a lotus on my lower back). What really pisses me off are women who just love to bash other women using sexism, all for the hope of a patriarchal head-pat. Ugh.

Fun Fact: In her bio, Schlussel proudly lists being "attacked as 'Enemy #1' by Ms. Magazine ("Women to Watch . . . and Watch Out For," February/March 2001)." That article was actually the first I ever wrote--I was an intern at Ms. at the time. (That was also my first experience of having an article hijacked by an editor. Hee.)

In an emotional statement yesterday, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders came out in support of same sex marriage. Sanders, a republican, had been expected (and expecting) to veto a resolution in support of same sex marriage but could not go through with it at the last minute: "I just could not bring myself to tell an entire group of our community they were less important, less worthy or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else, simply because of their sexual orientation."

The video is really something, it got me all weepy. If you want to contact Mayor Sanders (I certainly did) to thank him for his change of heart--and for his touching public statement--click here.

Pam Spaulding has more.

The Fashionista Diaries couldn't be more vapid. That's part of the fun of the show. I mean, I spent 30 minutes playing Facebook TV trivia this morning, who am I to judge?

However, this one little clip from Jezebel really got my brain going.

In it, the "naïve" white girl, Tina (who's apparently hanging out with the first black person she's ever met) discovers two earth-shattering things about black people. In case you're reading this while standing, please sit down so you don't pass out from the shock of what I'm about to share.

Exhibit A. Actual tan line on black skin.

Fact #2. Black people don't automatically want to date all other black people.
Again, poor Janjay. Tina saw a cute black guy and ran over to fetch him for her friend. Janjay, not interested, notes that Tina tries to set her up with every black guy they see. What a great friend.

I have to say, I feel Janjay's pain here. I grew up as one of two or three black kids in my grade at school, and it can be exhausting. Having to "teach" your friends about race is so isolating. For the longest time I actually felt like a freak, because how could someone you like be so ignorant about such simple things. I thought there must really have been something weird about me for it to be so confusing. It was a lot worse in feminist circles. Not that the comments were worse, but the feeling like an outsider. I became to loathe going to certain group meetings in college. Being expected to speak for all black women, or sometimes, all non-white women. Can't. Won't. The sad thing is, it still happens. And it still sucks. It sucks to have to steel yourself against the seemingly inevitable ignorance, disrespect and bigotry of your allies. And that's why it sucks extra hard when you hear that it's not a big deal. Because this shit is usually the latest in a long list of painful moments.

See, reality TV is fucking deep.

Update: To go back to the tanning thing, the reason it bugs me so much is I don't understand how anyone could think that. I mean, skin gets darker in the sun. Even if you never thought about black people tanning before, when you do, doesn't it just make sense?

So creepy on so many levels.

Eric at TPM Election Central reports that Sam Brownback has introduced the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act--which would require women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound.

Brownback says, "I am hopeful that this bill will inform women and will cause a deeper reflection on the humanity of unborn children." Deeper reflection. Sure, that's what they want from women.

The ultrasound debate makes me absolutely insane, especially because the rhetoric surrounding it suggests that women are dolts who have no idea what a pregnancy means--using language like "informed consent" and talking about women needing to see the fetus. As if otherwise we would have no idea that it was there. As Amanda once said to me via IM: "If women only knew that they were getting abortions when they got abortions!!!!!"

Assholes.

A judge ruled today that the new Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Illinois, won't be allowed to open. The court sided with the city attorney, who argued PP violated land use and permit regulations -- and that this supposedly isn't about abortion. (Yeah, right.) PP lawyers responded, "We wouldn't be here if this was a foot care clinic."

It's bad news in the short term, but legal precedent appears to side with us on this one. In a nearly identical case (PDF) out of New Hampshire in 2001, the court came down in favor of Planned Parenthood.

At today's hearing the city attorney also said, "The city of Aurora's image is important." Which, I think, is so revealing -- I'm struck by the class angle to all of this. The new clinic is "tucked between a supermarket, a Blockbuster Video, and a cluster of upscale homes" in the suburbs. It's clear that this is not just about opposing abortions in general. It's that some residents don't like the idea of abortion (and contraception) being available down the street from their McMansions. It's the attitude that abortion is an icky thing, best left to the seedy parts of town. I know the serious anti-choice crazies are going to come protest no matter what, but I really wonder if there would be any local opposition to this clinic if it was opening between a liquor store and a Popeye's on a strip in the bad part of town. My guess is no.

It's also curious to watch anti-choicers decry the fact that the new Planned Parenthood clinic is a $7.5 million, state-of-the-art facility. Because they're used to portraying abortion clinics as dilapidated and riddled with health-code violations. This new clinic clearly conflicts with that stereotype. They're going so far as to call the new clinic the "Abortion Fortress." (I prefer "Contraception Fortress" or "Pap Smear Fortress," thankyouverymuch.) Of course, they fail to acknowledge that the reason for the fortress-like facade is the so-called pro-lifers' tendency to lash out violently at women's health care providers. Ahem.

And speaking of hardcore forced-pregnancy activists, Eric Scheidler responded to today's ruling with some serious co-opting of pro-choice language, calling the decision "a great victory for choice -- freedom of choice for the people of Aurora to determine their own destiny." Yeah, people of Aurora who don't have uteruses.

More to come as the story develops...

After their tasteless "Milk Gone Wild" campaign a while back, we can't expect much more from PETA. And featuring Alicia "The Crush" Silversone, no less.

Via Nerve.

In addition to the four targeted strains of HPV that Gardasil protects against, new data shows that an additional 10 strains are also (partially) prevented:

Gardasil in clinical trials has been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, and about 99% effective in preventing HPV strains 6 and 11, which together with HPV strains 16 and 18 cause about 90% of genital wart cases among women not already infected with these strains

The new data found that Gardasil reduced by nearly two-thirds the incidence of precancerous lesions caused by HPV for three of the most common HPV strains found in North America after strains 16 and 18. The three strains cause about 11% of cervical cancers worldwide. According to the AP/Daily News, the finding means that Gardasil provides at least partial protection to 90% of HPV strains that cause cervical cancer.

Good stuff.

Gender studies professor Lisa Jean Moore looks at sperm—in the same way that Mark Kurlansky looked at salt or Ellen Meloy looked at turquoise—as a way of understanding larger issues in our culture: masculinity, childbirth, sexuality etc. She writes, “It seems to me that there are several connections to be made between the increased knowledge about and control over sperm and the cultural anxiety men experience in contemporary societies.�

First off, I have to say that I’m a total sucker for this kind of approach. I think that looking at a microcosm in order to tackle a macrocosm is a brilliant way of getting at a complex issue, or in this case, series of issues. Writing about masculinity isn’t easy because it’s vast, culturally-specific, and always in flux. Moore finds a way in without dumbing things down.

Not only do I like Moore’s structure, her style is irresistible. She blends a very personal voice and journey (she and her wifey have conceived two daughters via IVF) with her background as a gender expert and rigorous researcher. It makes for a really rich read—one minute you’re at the playground with her daughter, the next you’re in the lab with a scientist studying the competition of ejaculating dungflies. Plus, Moore’s got a sense of humor, which really helps when you’re writing about sperm for 154 pages.

After last week's ever-so-disturbing "Jingle Jugs" (which Rebecca Traister reminds us of the ever-so-popular song that accompanies the product, "Titties and Beer"), reader ekf sent me another dismembered body part product for your "browsing" pleasure. Shudder. Beware, the description makes it all the worse:

Slip into something a little more comfortable for work with the hot, hot, HOT Body mouse. Rock this body all day long at your desk, working or surfing the Web for…well, you know. ;) Designed to feel good in your hand, the Body mouse will give you something nice to think about when you need a break from crunching numbers, designing web sites, or whatever it is you do all day long.

Perhaps the creepiest thing I may have ever read. Feel free to let them know how you feel about this charming product.

There's nothing like the old "woman scorned" bullshit. In this case, it's over five dozen women "scorned."

A man who is being charged with 261 counts of rape and assault claimed in a Johannesburg court yesterday that all 65 women who came forward were having an affair with him and just jealous of his marriage or "made a mistake."

Well done sir, well done.

NARAL Pro-Choice America's Donna Crane drops some knowledge.

A recent piece looks into the increase of men entering more traditionally female careers, such as teaching, nursing, etc. While I'd like to think that we've gotten past the point of seeing teaching as just a woman's profession, it's still an interesting discussion to be had. Until, that is, the author asks the question, "Is there such a thing as a reverse glass ceiling for men?"

A featured "expert" ass-hat psychologist Warren Farrell who has written such captivating anti-feminist books titled Why Men Earn More and The Liberated Man says:

"Women enter into those areas because they are the most fulfilling...Men don't because they feel they need to take on the responsibility of providing for the family, and the way they earn love is to earn money." (Emphasis mine)

You know, because women always have the luxury to choose a low-paying career they enjoy since they constantly have a wealthy man they're wired to love.

Their examples of this apparent "reverse glass ceiling" is of a male nurse turned high-level administrator and travel agent John Clifford, who has been featured in Travel & Leisure's "A-List All Stars" and has clients like Georgio Armani yet "feels" like he doesn't get the recognition and respect he deserves within the female-dominated field. (A-List All Stars is small potatoes, I suppose.) And no mention of discrimination regarding a pay gap or a promotion in his work, just his contention that:

"Just as women in the corporate world may feel it is hard to break into the old boys' club. Whether or not we like to say a 'women's club' exists, it does. It's just as hard for a man to break through that." (Emphasis mine)

Which is just laughable. In fact, it sounds like these men are doing just fine in their endeavors. What kind of "reverse glass ceiling" is this exactly? We could be having much more productive conversations about male gender roles and the difficulties men in traditionally female careers may experience. But putting the blame on us money- and power-hungry women is hardly helpful, especially when you don't even seem to know what the term "glass ceiling" actually means.

Never thought I'd say this... but I'm starting to love Barry Manilow. That's right. He declined to appear on The View when producers denied his request that the interview be conducted by anyone but the anti-choice Elizabeth Hasselbeck. (You remember her, right? She was the one screeching that emergency contraception is abortion.)

As Manilow writes on his website,

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled. I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out.

It’s really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs. The good news is that I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album so I hope you can catch me on those.

Love,
Barry

Love you, too, buddy.

Gawker does the math on the pretentious-record-review gap over at Pitchfork. Women had 6 to 8 percent of all bylines.

To find out what women think about new music, please please go check out Venus Zine.

Also see Amanda's list of Myths that Run Women Out of Insufferable Music Snobbery.

Hilarious. Nothing beats the intro to the segment...catty...whorish...menstruating!

So I am on my way to Cortes Island, off the coast of British Columbia for the annual Web of Change conference to talk about technology, politics, and social movement building. But really I am going because I hear there is a hot tub on the beach.

I will be presenting on how to build and maintain integrity and political credibility in developing technology projects. What this means exactly, I am going to have to get back to you (LOL), but if people have initial thoughts, please let me know.

So anywayz, wish me luck and expect some live blogging!

A Wisconsin bill making emergency contraception available to rape victims has a horrific amendment that would allow health care professionals and hospitals to refuse to dispense EC if it goes against their religious beliefs.

Get the full story at BushvChoice.

Any excuse to use the Happy Tampon picture!

Researchers have created a new tampon that seems to cut the risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS):

The key to its success: a fiber finish called glycerol monolaurate, or GML, that reduces the production of the toxin that causes menstrual TSS, says researcher Pat Schlievert, M.D., a professor of microbiology at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.

His team’s study of more than 200 women also showed that the new coating promotes vaginal health, facilitating an environment with a protective bacterial balance, he tells WebMD.

Johnson & Johnson hopes to have it on the market soon.

Though, of course, you can always just bypass all the health fears and go with the Keeper.

Via Jezebel.

You know how there's that made up term "sexy ugly" (from the great movie Kissing Jessica Stein)? I think we need another term that describes this amazingly gross ad taken out by a Harvard senior looking for a date.

My final club has a reunion this fall, and my relationship of two years ended disastrously earlier this summer. I have an invitation for myself plus one, and am willing to show you a great time. It is a private party, in an extremely classy setting. There is no real way to describe how ornate the club is, but I guarantee that it will be the most upscale experience of your life. Think back to your high school prom, take away the terrible music, and multiply the experience by ten. You must be white, 5′6″ - 5′9″, young, blonde, attractive, and intelligent. You must be in school, preferably Tufts or Wellesley but BU and BC are acceptable (definitely not MIT). You should be able to hold a conversation, know when to be quiet, and polite in all your behavior. I have seen unruly guests embarrass members before, and I hope this won't be a problem. This event is black-tie, and I am willing to procure an evening gown for you. I hate to sound so harsh, but I have expectations to live up to. No Asian, overweight, or unattractive women please. Ages 18-22 only.

Something like..."funny sad." But better. Any ideas? (Or come to think of it maybe just "fucking pathetic" would work.)

I didn't catch Bill Maher's "comic" tirade against breastfeeding the first time around, but thank goodness for YouTube.

You know, you have to love guys who really don't want to think of breasts as anything other than sexual body parts for their own ogling. And I appreciate that there are a million frat boy jokes to be made at the idea of "boobs being sucked on!", but come on now.

While Maher falls back on some predictable quips ("They say it's natural--so is masturbating, but I generally don't do that at Applebees!") it's the jokes-that-aren't-jokes that are truly insulting.

"Look there's no principle at work here other than being too lazy to either plan ahead or cover up...t's not fighting for a right, it's fighting for the spotlight."

I don't have a kid, so I'll defer to Kelly Mills at Babble:

There he totally hit the nail on the head, didn't he? I mean, I had no desire to actually get out of the house or anything when I ate in restaurants; I just wanted a little attention. In fact, that's why I chose to feed my baby with my exposed tits in the first place. I mean, yes, it's recommended by every doctor ever and it's good for the kid, but of course that was secondary to my desire to have total strangers jump in my face and say, "Good job on the procreation!" Why, I know that when I walked into restaurants people looked thrilled to see me and my infant, and I'd hoist her onto my shoulders, whip out my boobs, and say, "Gimme some sugar, folks!"

This totally reminds me of a post Amanda did a while back on a column giving advice to married women to not breastfeed in front of their husbands (lest they be turned off by lactating):

The erotic nature of a wife’s body is one of the principal elements of attraction in marriage. When a husband ceases to see his wife as a woman, and begins to see her as “the mother of his children,� a negative trend has begun in his mind that can only subvert his erotic interest.

I have a feeling this is what's at work with Maher and a lot of men who take issue with public breastfeeding. They resent that a woman's public body--her exposed or partially exposed breast--could be there for someone other then them, for something other than sexual consumption. After all, if a woman is exposed in public it's supposed to be because she's flashing her tits for beads or taking money in a g-string--not for feeding babies. Because that's unsexual, and therefore unacceptable.

UPDATE: By the way, we have a great piece from writer Sarah Thyre on this whole debacle after the jump. Check it out!

But important. As Amanda says, it's pretty astounding that some men feel so justified in abusing their partners that they would actually want it on video.

Warning: This video shows emotional and physical abuse--it's very upsetting.

While Mychal Bell's conviction has been vacated, the organizing efforts are not stopping. On Thursday, more than 10,000 people are expected to arrive in Jena to protest the injustice. And the DA in Bell's case has said he plans to appeal the conviction or try the case again in juvenile court. Either way, it's far from over for all of the boys. Even if you're not able to go to Jena, there are still things you can do. Participate in the Thursday's national day of action. You can find out what's going on in your area from Color of Change. Or check out other actions here. At the very least, people are being asked to wear black or green on Thursday.

Black will symbolize “strength and mourning,� while green will symbolize “growth and surpassing hate.� Take your pick. You can’t go wrong with either color.

Brian McFadden asks, "What do manly men do for fun?"

Click the picture to see. Stooopid. What do you do for manly man fun?

Well I would rather fly the gay friendly skies, as opposed to the slut shaming ones. We all know about the popularity of gay and lesbian cruises, but Air New Zealand's marketing department thought to take it to the next level. In celebration of the very well attended gay Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, Air New Zealand will be flying a one time "pink flight" from San Francisco to Sydney. OK, OK, I know the gratuitous market driven corporate machine that "gay tourism" has become and all the major problems with the obsession to go after the gay dollar, but you gotta admit, this sounds pretty fun.

The flight will be modeled after an Auckland-to-Sydney trip Air New Zealand made this year for the gay Mardi Gras, according to Williams. Before that full flight, the crew put on pink feather boas and sang for its couple hundreds passengers, she said.

"Even the pilot was wearing fairy wings and got into it," Williams said.

We can all use a little camp every now and again.

via USA Today and Queerty.

AB-43, a bill re-introduced by Mark Leno, that would redefine marriage as a civil contract and passed by the state legislator last week, will be vetoed AGAIN by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Gubernator claims because of a previous 2000 ballot initiative (Prop 22) that defined marriage as between a man and a woman that was supported by 61% of voters. You know it is the "will of the people."

"I don't want, as the governor, to go against the will of the people," Schwarzenegger said at an event put on by the YMCA, but added: "If it goes back on the ballot, the people can make the decision."

The Legislature approved the bill Sept. 7, and the governor has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto the measure.

Foes of same-sex marriage argue, along with Schwarzenegger, that California voters made their decision in March 2000, when Proposition 22, the protection of marriage initiative, was approved by a landslide 61 to 39 percent. The 14-word measure, which conservative and religious groups placed on the ballot, said simply, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Um, yeah, but a lot has changed in seven years. There are a lot of legislators that now support same-sex marriage. But these people just don't stop.

Opponents of same-sex marriage say there's a simpler reason for that reluctance: The issue is still a loser at the polls.

"It would be interesting for the same-sex marriage people to make their research public, since every survey we've done shows opposition well into the majority," said Ron Prentice, executive director of the California Family Council, which is associated with James Dobson's huge Focus on the Family Christian ministry.

Proponents of traditional marriage are so confident of their support that they are preparing ballot initiatives even stronger than Prop. 22. One or more of them could go before voters next year, either in June or November.

Scary. You can sign a petition urging him not to veto here. I am sick and tired (literally and of these anti same-sex marriage people), so I thought what better way to respond to this, but with Wanda Sykes views on same-sex marriage, in her special Sick and Tired.

A group of Saudi women have formed a committee to lobby the government and petition King Abdullah to stop the ban on allowing women to drive.

The government is unlikely to respond because the issue remains so highly sensitive and divisive. But committee members say their petition will at least highlight what many Saudis — both men and women — consider a "stolen" right.

"We would like to remind officials that this is, as many have said, a social and not a religious or political issue," said Fowziyyah al-Oyouni, a founding member of the Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars. "And since it's a social issue, we have the right to lobby for it."

I find it interesting that a country that leads in the export of petroleum, a country who's economy is based on the consumption of oil, does not allow women to drive. Furthermore, you would think that one of the Western interests that are so supportive of the Saudi economy and building sustainable relationships with them, would say something about the fact that women in Saudi Arabia CAN'T DRIVE.

Does anyone else find that to be strange?

via AP.

So in response to the woman in Nebraska who is rightfully suing for the ban of the word "rape" at a rape trial, State Senator Ernie Chambers has said that he is suing god to show how frivolous lawsuits can be.

Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.

The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is “Omnipresent�.

In the lawsuit Chambers says he’s tried to contact God numerous times, “Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out, wherever you are�) has been unable to do so.�

The suit also requests that the court given the “peculiar circumstances� of this case waive personal service. It says being Omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.

The lawsuit accuses God “of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent.�

It says God has caused, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.�

The suit also says God has caused, “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.�

Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant “will laugh� when calamity comes.

Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as “expeditiously� as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.

via AP.

I pasted the whole thing, because it is just so weird. It is also extremely disappointing as Ernie Chambers is a well known civil rights activist and according to an interview in Mother Jones last year, "he’s been named the “angriest black man in Nebraska,� the “defender of the downtrodden,� and the “maverick of Omaha.� And it's hard to deny that Chambers lives up to such colorful titles." How can someone with such a reputation think in anyway that banning the word "rape" at a rape trial is justified, let alone something to parody?

That really is disappointing. Thoughts?

Thanks to Azliza for the link.

There are many reasons to go listen to Amanda's new podcast at RH Reality Check. Amanda is smart and funny, she talks to interesting folks like Aimee Thorne-Thomsen, and she's constantly smacking down anti-choicers. But if you just need one hilarious reason, go listen because it contains a clip of an abstinence-only "educator" dropping knowledge like this:

"Many of the products left over from abortions, you girls wear them on your faces. Do you know they sell them to makeup companies? Did you know that, friends? The base of most of the lipstick sold in our stores comes from aborted babies."

Your federal dollars at work, folks!

You know, I honestly didn't think I could think any lower of Southwest Airlines. Then this happened.

Southwest has offered a faux apology mocking the women they harassed. Seriously. Company President Colleen Barrett released the following (obnoxious and perhaps further harassing) comment:

"From a Company who really loves PR, touche to you Kyla! Some have said we've gone from wearing our famous hot pants to having hot flashes at Southwest, but nothing could be further from the truth. As we both know, this story has great legs, but the true issue here is that you are a valued Customer, and you did not get an adequate apology. Kyla, we could have handled this better, and on behalf of Southwest Airlines, I am truly sorry. We hope you continue to fly Southwest Airlines. Our Company is based on freedom even if our actions may have not appeared that way. It was never our intention to treat you unfairly and again, we apologize." (Emphasis added)

Charming. The "apology" was followed by Southwest promoting new reduced fares called...wait for it...mini-skirt prices:

Southwest Airlines today faces the bare facts and reveals the naked truth by issuing an apology to its Customers who have commented about its handling of a few who were dressed in revealing clothing. Poking fun at itself, Southwest has lowered its already skimpy fares to "mini-skirt" size of $49 to $109 one-way.

Wow, glad to see they're taking sexual harassment seriously. Let Southwest know that harassing women isn't a joke; here's the number to their PR department (who came up with these stellar releases): 214-792-4847

Thanks to Janice for the heads up!

I'm working like crazy to finish my second (!) book, 50 Double Standards Every Woman Should Know. Above is the very non-controversial cover. Thoughts?

And since it would be unfair of me to shamelessly hawk my book without extending an invitation to others to do similarly, please feel free to use the comments section to plug your blogs, posts, organizations, etc.

Happy Monday!

Big ups to the funny, real, and powerful Tina Fey for her big win at the Emmy Awards last night. Not only is her TV show (she writes, stars, and produces) 30 Rock fresh and original, but she manages to use humor to highlight feminist issues on a pretty consistent basis.

It's nice to see that rewarded in a field that is otherwise dominated by funny men who, yes, we love (did you see that group hug between Carell, Colbert, and Stewart?), but there's nothing like a funny-ass woman to make my day. Oh, expect when that funny-ass woman gets her long overdue props. (P.S. How much do I love Tracy Morgan?)

Congrats also to America Ferrera, the lifeblood of the otherwise so-so Ugly Betty. She looked ridiculous hot in that bright blue dress.

Oh, and another up to Sally Field, who fearlessly addressed the war in the context of motherhood. She was censored by Fox. Big surprise.

Okay, I started shaving my legs when I was a young teen--so I'm certainly in no position to hate on hair removal. But this just seems...creepy.

Now Nair, the depilatory maker, is finally breaking that mold — by aiming at even younger customers. This year the company introduced Nair Pretty, a line aimed at 10- to 15-year-olds or, in industry parlance, “first-time hair removers.�

It's that "first-time" reference that give me the heebie jeebies. The Nair Pretty marketing scheme is half hilarious, half terrifying. Hilarious because of the obvious attempt to speak to young people in contrived slang:

It's not that you're obsessed or anything but maybe you've noticed that the hair on your legs (and other parts of your body) is just a little bit thicker and darker than before. Chill. You're growing up...it's all good.

I almost expected the next line to be about "getting jiggy" with hair removal. But it's still terrifying because the message of Nair Pretty is that you can't be pretty unless you're taking care of that unsightly leg (and everywhere else) hair.

And as Gawker put it, "We're probably months away from Baby Brazilians."

Via Broadsheet

I'm at my parents' house in Woodstock, NY trying to breathe some country air into my city lungs. And while it's great up here for relaxing and getting writing done, being in the woods provides way too many opportunities for Monty to get wet and roll around in the mud. Though he certainly doesn't seem to mind. Check out his "before" shot after the jump.

The anti-choice protests against the soon-to-open Planned Parenthood health clinic in Aurora, Illinois are heating up a bit after some religious leaders spoke out in support of reproductive health and rights.

Four days before the scheduled opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, an estimated 800 abortion protesters huddled around community religious leaders Saturday morning and called for closure of the new clinic and an end to abortion.

Standing in an empty field in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic building, which is scheduled to open Tuesday, clergy from across denominations called for the protesters to band together to work against the clinic and its presence in the city.

Planned Parenthood is working hard to make sure that the center opens on time, but they could still use your help.

I've gotten a TON of emails about this crazy-creepy website, Marry Our Daughter. And while the site has been outed as a hoax site, I think it's worth mentioning. Because there's something severely fucked up about the idea that women are in such a bad place that a site like this seemed like it could be real.

After all, with things like purity balls and abstinence-only education teaching young women that their only value is as future wives--something like this site doesn't seem so far-fetched.

Luckily, the actual purpose of Marry Our Daughter is to bring attention to a somewhat related issue:

Contacted through MarryOurDaughter this morning, [site creator John] Ordover quickly conceded the page was a parody aimed at drawing attention to inconsistencies in state marriage laws. States consider it a crime for adults to have sex with minors, but they allow kids as young as 12 to get married with parental and sometime judicial permission.

Ordover is also a co-creator of the super controversial "Technical Virgin" website that Melanie Martinez was fired over.

So I'm actually kind of pleased about this--assuming that the issue gets some attention. In fact, I wrote about this in my book (shameless plug alert). People are up in arms about teenagers (well, teenage girls) having sex, but only if they're not married. Best example ever: the 13-year old in Nebraska whose parents married her off to the 21 year-old man who got her pregnant. You know, so she'd still be "pure."

UPDATE: Amanda has more. And it's disturbing.

Some good news for you weekend.

via Write What I Like.

Elizabeth Dahmen front; Photo by Liz Liguori

Elizabeth Dahmen is a comedian, actor and singer who's performed in countless productions in NYC over the last 10 years. She's been featured in The L Magazine, and in GO Magazine’s “100 Women We Love.� She also hosted karaoke at Meow Mix for three years before it closed down and starred in the hit lesbian short "Bar Talk " directed by Cheryl Furjanic. She starred in "Ex-Antwone" a controversial play directed by Juan Souki that had an English language world premiere at PS 122 last fall, and just recently shot a scene in Madeleine Olnek's upcoming film.

She's also Terry Tone of The Lesbian Overtones. Here's Elizabeth...

Alternet has an interesting article about the new trend of schlubby/slacker guys in movies and on television. (Rebecca Traister hit up a related topic this week.)

You know the guy. He has a monosyllabic retro name like Hal or Earl or Chuck, mildly wacky hair and a death grip on his adolescence. He's got frat house furniture and dependency issues with his friends, and is hapless or commitment-phobic with women. The Act One diagnosis is usually that he just "needs to grow up."

Lakshmi Chaudhry had a similar piece in In These Times a while back, "Men Growing Up to be Boys."

Where traditional masculinity embraced marriage, children and work as rites of passage into manhood, the 21st century version shuns them as emasculating, with the wife cast in the role of the castrating mother. The result resembles a childlike fantasy of manhood that is endowed with the perks of adulthood—money, sex, freedom—but none of its responsibilities.

While a lot of folks have covered this story, I always thought Chaudhry's analysis was right on:

But where “lad lit� authors disguise the dumbing-down of adult masculinity with witty prose, advertising executives are less subtle. Commercials for cell phones, fast food, beer and deodorants offer up an infantilized version of masculinity that has become ubiquitous since the rise of “lad� culture in the ’90s. These grown men act like boys—and are richly rewarded for it. A recent cell phone ad, for example, features a guy who responds to being dumped by his girlfriend—because “you’re never going to grow up�—by playing, on his cell phone, an ’80s pop song that tells her to get lost. Of course, this immediately earns him the attention of a younger, prettier woman walking by. While these ads pretend to mirror a male fantasy—say, of walking down the wedding aisle armed with a six-pack of Bud Light—they in fact reflect a corporate executive’s dream customer: a man-boy who is more likely to remain faithful to their product than to his wife.

After all, as Chaudhry points out, this fictional image of men doesn't necessarily match up to the reality. Men are more likely to say that they want jobs that will allow them more time at home, and they're more likely to take on domestic labor. (Though, of course, women still work far more than men in the home.)

So is this what men are really like? Or is it just a made up character reflecting "a corporate executive’s dream customer?"

Related: Traister's "Listless Lads."

Crush SO hard. Seriously, if you haven't read her books, you should.

The NJ Supreme Court has ruled that doctors have "no legal duty" to tell women who obtaining abortions that the fetus is "a complete, separate, unique and irreplaceable human being."

Justice Barry T. Albin, who wrote the 5-to-0 decision, said, "There is not even remotely a consensus among New Jersey’s medical community or citizenry that the plaintiff’s assertions are medical facts, as opposed to firmly held moral, philosophical and religious beliefs, to support the establishment of the duty she would impose on all physicians."

Ed Barocas, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief, welcomed the ruling. "Today’s victory sends a message that New Jersey will not tolerate backdoor efforts to curtail reproductive rights or free speech," he said. "We will not allow the anti-choice lobby to force its moral or theological beliefs upon others."

I love good news on a Friday.

Just in case you didn't get the oh-so-subtle hint the first time around, Tom Ford wants to make sure that you know he has the most cock-like cologne around.

Here's a little depressing tidbit:

According to police, a red older-model Buick slowed behind the [cross country team] as the girls ran south on Campbell, near Northview, around 3:45 p.m. on Sept. 5. A teen in the back seat leaned out the passenger-side window and allegedly yelled, "Keep going or I'll rape you," at a sixth-grader.

Teenage boys using the threat of rape against little girls. Charming. But not very surprising.

This may be one of the most heinous (and most ridiculous) displays of dismembered women's body parts I've ever seen. The question is, is it more disturbing to dismember with functionality like a sink, or just straight up for display?

The fact that this product in particular is being used as a substitute for a dead animal makes it a wee more heinous for me, but it's a toss-up.

Thanks to zuzu for the heads up.

(Sorry for the repost: had to make some clarifications! Too scattered today!)

After extensive debate about the Quebec by-elections, veiled women should be allowed to vote in the upcoming Ontario elections. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has criticized the very controversial decision by Marc Mayrand, Canada's chief electoral officer in Quebec and Premier Dalton McGuinty said, despite the controversy in Quebec, the same will be true for Ontario. The current law requires photo ID.

That law requires election officials to confirm the identity of the person voting by comparing their face with a picture on photo ID. Mayrand has said that could be done by asking Muslim women who wish to remain veiled to swear an oath, however, federal Parliamentarians insist the law they passed requires officials to actually confirm identifies.

Liberal leader Stephan Dion, by way of compromise, called on Elections Canada to have female officials on hand at voting booths to verify identification and ensure the religious values and privacy of Muslim women, a position advanced by the Canadian Islamic Congress.

However, in Ontario’s Oct. 10 election, veiled Muslim women will be allowed to keep their veils on as long as they bring adequate personal ID.

“My understanding of the rules that (we) have in place at present is that there is no requirement that a woman lift her veil and that other alternative forms of ID are acceptable,� McGuinty said in an exclusive interview.

“I am supportive of that,� he said.

I think this is weird. I have never had to show picture ID to vote. I can't think of ever having to show any ID, but am I forgetting? Either way, if you don't let citizens vote because they are veiled, that is discrimination against women because of their religious choice. I thought didn't do that in the free world! Broadsheet tells us, Mayrand could reverse the decision with regard to the Quebec elections.

Thoughts?

via London Free Press.

Since Anna Quindlen's piece came out asking "How much time should she do?", it looks like Fred Thompson apparently has an answer for that.

The presidential candidate was asked that very question while in Iowa last week, and answered that women shouldn't be criminalized if seeking abortion under the first three months of pregnancy. That's right, just the first three months. You second and third trimesters can all rot in jail.

He also said, authorities "can do whatever they want to with abortion doctors, as far as I'm concerned," but "if it comes down to giving criminal sanctions to a 19-year-old girl and her mama, I'm against that." Such consideration!

The National Institute for Reproductive Health's president Kelli Conlin responds:

"We are shocked and outraged that Thompson would even suggest support for putting women in jail. Any Presidential candidate who pledges to support overturning Roe v. Wade and making abortion illegal should acknowledge they are making abortion a crime and women criminals. They owe it to the American people to answer the question directly, how much time should a woman do? And if doctors are not able to provide safe abortion care to women facing unintended pregnancies, who will?�

Do housework and maintain your masculinity all at the same time!

"Size may not matter as much as how well a man folds and irons," says CBS opinion piece. Ha!

While it seems sort of obvious that a woman would be happier with and thus more inclined to have sex with a partner who shared the housework, I find it hilarious how it's used as a "pitch" to men. The writer assures them that it's not like "women are consciously trading sex for housework, but that seeing their men do more of it puts them in a better mood in general." And also, "a man doesn't have to do exactly 50 percent of the housework to please his wife. If he just does enough so that she feels supported, she'll be happier." (emphasis mine)

The bare minimum will do! Just throw them a bone and you'll get one in return! (No pun intended. Oy.)

Rebecca Traister takes on strong female characters on TV that end up being portrayed as money-grubbing, selfish and more-or-less evil while emasculating the male characters. In short, although showing women as strong and self-sufficient should be anticipated as being progressive, the end result is offensive to women, men, and their relationship with one another. Sigh.

Rape victims in Scotland are being questioned more than ever about their sexual history despite a previous victim committing suicide after being forced to show her underwear in court.

After the incident five years ago, the law was changed so that lawyers must request an application to "investigate" the person's sexual history. (How considerate of them!) Unfortunately, that hasn't changed much; more than three-quarters of rape trials include a request for an application. Scotland is also among the worst of rape convictions in the world with 3.9% of reported rapes ending in conviction in 2005.

The most unbelievable (and heinous) addition to all of this was that the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) Act of 2002 (which enforced the application process) also ended "the practice of allowing the accused to question their alleged victims." Yes, really.

Needless to say, Scotland has got much work ahead of them. Go here for more info.

Miranda July is a breath of fresh earnestness in a world of smirking irony. She is abnormally kind and thoughtful, obsessed with the minutia of life in a way more in line with the true meaning of Buddhist mindfulness than any of the celebrity monks that make all the new agey wanderers bow in “fill my empty soul up� reverence. She wants you to fill your own soul up.

“With what?� You might ask. July advocates artfully for a special blend of the young and the old. She asks you to relocate your original, profound wonder at the world and all its ordinary complexities. And at the same time, she pushes you to develop a commitment to seeing the sensitivities in fragile human beings—something only the wise are capable of in this increasingly harsh and flashy world.

Her always unique, sometimes bizarre collection of short stories encompasses all of this in literary form. The pieces range in context and approach from a lonely young woman recounting how she taught some senior citizens to swim in her kitchen with giant bowls of water, to a old man who has retired from the purse factory he spent his life working in and is manipulated into sex with one of his former co-workers.

(Giving this its own post since people have been discussing in other threads.)

A young black woman was held for over a week by six people, raped, stabbed, and tortured, police say. What they did to her is horrific.

The six people, all white,

choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet and made her eat dog feces and rat droppings. She was also beaten and sexually assaulted during a span of about a week, according to the complaints.

At one point, an assailant cut the woman's ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaints.

I have issues with this article listing the 20 year-old's name, but her mother said she wants people to know what her daughter went through, which I respect. You can also see an interview with her mother here.

Police got a tip and went to the residence, where a woman claimed no one else was home. While they talked the victim managed to walk out and beg for help.

She was forced to lick up blood, eat animal feces and drink water from a toilet, the documents said, and she was also stabbed repeatedly in the leg and was told that if she tried to leave, she would be killed.

According to the New York Times, the owner of the house, who answered the door, admitted to holding the young woman, and the family has a rather violent history.

For more, see Rachel's Tavern

Southwest Airlines, the proud sexists who nearly kicked a woman off of a flight because they deemed her outfit inappropriate, are at it again.

A second woman is complaining after an airline took issue with her sexy attire.

Setara Qassim said she was flying home to Burbank, Calif., from Las Vegas in June when a Southwest Airlines flight attendant gave her a blanket and told her to cover up.

"The flight attendant came up to me and asked me if I had a sweater, and I said, 'No, because why would I pack a sweater in the heat?'" Qassim said. "So I asked her why, and she said I needed to cover up."

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that both women that Southwest has harassed have been well-endowed in the boobie department? Because as someone with not-small breasts, I have to say nothing pisses me off more when someone assumes my outfit is "sexy" just because of said breasts' presence. Disgusting.

So I say boycott Southwest Airlines, and give them a piece of your mind.

For more on this story, check out Ann on CNN.

The Guardian reports that the birth control pill helps to prevent cancer in women's later lives.

The pill, which has been a source of controversy since it was introduced in the 1960s, is today revealed to have an overall net benefit for the women who take it. Researchers who have followed 46,000 women taking the pill - beginning in 1968 - say that it cuts the individual's risk of cancer of any kind by up to 12%.

The study showed that women who took the pill were less likely to have ovarian, endometrial and bowel cancer. Nice, but I'll stick with my NuvaRing.

Anita Roddick, 64, died on Monday of a brain hemorrhage. From The New York Times:

A woman of fierce passions, boundless energy, unconventional idealism and sometimes diva-like temperament, Ms. Roddick was one of Britain’s most visible business executives, and not just because of the ubiquitous and instantly recognizable Body Shop franchises. Working on behalf of numerous causes — the rain forest, debt relief for developing countries, indigenous farmers in impoverished nations, whales, voting rights, anti-sexism and anti-ageism, to name a few — Ms. Roddick believed that businesses could be run ethically, with what she called “moral leadership,� and still turn a profit.

I actually worked at The Body Shop through my college years, and always appreciated their positive campaigns, particularly concerning women. (My favorite is below the fold.) Sad stuff.

Remember the judge in Nebraska who banned the word "rape" at a rape trial? (Cough, asshole, cough.) Remember the bad-ass woman who refused his order? Well, she's suing.

The accuser in a sexual assault case is suing a judge because he barred the word "rape" and other words from the trial.

The federal court complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Neb., claims Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront violated the accuser's First Amendment right to free speech by barring her from saying words including "rape," "victim" and "assailant" during the trial of Pamir Safi.

Good for her, cause that was some bullshit. By the way, there have been two mistrials in this case because of the controversy over the language ban. Prosecutors are planning on seeking a third trial.

My cubemate Phoebe alerted me to the awesomeness that is the video for Ciara's "Like a Boy."

This is the most successful execution of a move I'll call "subversive crotchgrab in menswear" that I've seen in popular music since Madonna's "Express Yourself" video. And Ciara does it with a group of drag-king backup dancers. So great.

I'm glad some researchers are out there asking the tough questions and have set about designing a bra that supports women in three dimensions. (Apparently breasts bounce three different ways.) Interesting facts:

- "[D]uring exercise, women's breasts bounce more than previously estimated, moving a vertical distance of up to around eight inches"
- Sports bras support wome with G-cups better than women with A-cups.
- The overall pattern of breast-bouncing resembles a figure-8.

And those stats apply, presumably, to women who are wearing the correct bra size. Most aren't. Take it from Oprah, or from super-fab style icon Tim Gunn:

I found that across the board there were a couple of common denominators with all eight women we worked with this season. For instance, not one of them was wearing the right bra size.

Who knows? Maybe the myth of the bra-burning feminist arose because women are so uncomfortable in the damn things they want to set them ablaze.

I know I posted this Danish feminist poster last year, but it's too good not to bring back. The translation? "We demand: respect, equal wages and orgasms." Yeah.

Pic from puddaholic.

And, not a new trend. Shudder to think.

Mote was responding to reports of a noose found hanging in a tree near a building that houses several African American campus organizations.

"The possibility that this act appears intended to bring to mind the horrific crime of lynching, which is such a terrible and tragic part of our nation's past, is particularly abhorrent," Mote wrote.

The noose, small and crudely tied, was found Thursday on a tree near the Nyumburu Cultural Center, home to the Black Faculty and Staff Association, the Black Explosion newspaper and other organizations.

Unlike the situation in Jena, LA, at least the President of the University of Maryland recognizes that hanging a noose from a tree near a group of black student and professor organizations is a hate crime. Let us not confuse this-hanging a noose from a tree-is a hate crime, it is not a prank, it is not irony, it is not something to overlook. It is a sign of impending danger and it is a reason to be afraid and should be taken very, very seriously.

What is wrong with people?

It is interesting all the speculation around the increase access in technology and new media to people in rural places and how it is or is not emancipating them. Specifically, this article in Slate delves into the commonly discussed question of TV series (Indian equivalent of soaps) and their effects on women in India. According to Slate, these women are being "helped" or rather, brought into the modern times (if you will) by the cable television.

A new study by Robert Jensen of Brown University and Emily Oster of the University of Chicago shows that television is having a distinctly helpful effect on women, at least in rural India, which admittedly doesn't have America's half-century of experience with the medium, or 300 channels to surf through.

So I checked out the abstract from the study and it said this:

This paper explores the effect of the introduction of cable television on gender attitudes in rural India. Using a three-year individual-level panel dataset, we find that the introduction of cable television is associated with improvements in women's status. We find significant increases in reported autonomy, decreases in the reported acceptability of beating and decreases in reported son preference. We also find increases in female school enrollment and decreases in fertility (primarily via increased birth spacing). The effects are large, equivalent in some cases to about five years of education in the cross section, and move gender attitudes of individuals in rural areas much closer to those in urban areas. We argue that the results are not driven by pre-existing differential trends. These results have important policy implications, as India and other countries attempt to decrease bias against women.

I think it can be argued that there is some truth to this. I don't really prefer Waldfogel's presumptive nature of the way that things are for women in rural India, as backwards and traditional and the television is helping them come into the light. However, I think some of the trends that are happening, as a result of a change in economy and the women's movement in India, are probably reflected in television and they mutually reinforce each other.

I am weary of studies that say new technologies emancipate people in "old, narrow and backward" places. There has been similar work done on internet access and rural women in India. Women in rural India have roles and responsibilities, extensive kinship networks, methods of healing, irrigation techniques that "modernization" sometimes wipes out. I am not saying one is better than the other, it is just important to see things for what they are. Series television is very much like soap operas, they are not based in reality, the women reflect idealized and unattainable standards of beauty, and the plot lines are unrealistic and fantastical. So although they women in series may represent a more modern woman, she is also a production of capitalist desire, latching on to upper-middle class notions of success.

It is hard to judge one culture while sitting in another, wondering what exactly emancipation is for rural women in India, having some intense desire for them to be free. While ignoring how many of us are enslaved by the images we watch on television and I would hardly call that freedom.

Ultimately the study found that it was a change in attitude that is most notable, as opposed to a change in actual behavior. I think it is safe to say that TV has the potential to change attitudes everywhere, but it is a matter of the direction that we want it to change in. Mainstream media and its reach has had truly dangerous consequences for the American imagination, so, I maybe a little skeptical of calling the TV in India an "Empowerment box."

Ok, I know this is really, really old, but it still made me laugh:

The item in question. Women of all ages certainly seemed to, um, grasp the appeal:

Shortly after Mattel releases its Nimbus 2000 broom as part of its line of Harry Potter toys, the vibrating device begins getting the wrong sort of customer raves. "I'm 32 and enjoy riding the broom as much as my 7-year-old," says one enthusiastic mother on Amazon. "My only complaint is, I wish the batteries didn't run out quite so quickly." Mattel stops making the toy, but denies that the unintended value-add is the reason. Says a spokesperson: "It's just not a continued product in our line."

Value-added indeed! (via the gals at Unibloggal.)

China seems to be the only country in the world that has been documented to a higher suicide rate for women than for men.

Stress and depression caused up to 80 percent of suicide attempts in the city, with many choosing to jump off buildings, the China Daily said, quoting the centre.

"China is the only country where suicides among women outnumber men," Yang Fude, vice-president of Beijing Hui Long Guan Hospital, was quoted by the China Daily as saying.

According to government figures, more than 287,000 people end their own lives every year in China.

Clearly, a question of public health. But I do wonder if there is a relationship between social norms and attitudes towards women and suicide rates? And if so why wouldn't the suicide rate be higher for women in a lot of places? Just a thought.

via Reuters.

This is one of 6 clips from the show, I have the links below. In this clip they talk about the Jena 6, but I suggest watching all of it.

I love Mos Def and this is not just because Ms. Fat Booty is one of the most played tracks on my Itunes. I swear. And of course Mr. West is as always captivating. When someone that has truly influenced my life more than any politician and one of my favorite academics get to talk politics, I tend to listen more. I mean I am not going to say I agree with everything he says (and I have had problems with some of his music RARELY, but his track with Kanye, I can pass on that), but I find his perspective to be refreshing and West's support/interpretation to be effective. Maybe MSM can take the hint and not just call Al when they need decide to include a black voice.

What does it mean when people that already prefer the birth of male children over female are given the ability to choose the biological sex of their child? It means never having to have baby girls.

New American Media intern Mandy Oaklander takes a look at Fertilities Institutes and their ad campaigns in ethnic media new outlets, such as India-West.

The Fertility Institutes, which has several hundred Indian clients, has been running the ad for months in papers like India-West, a 30-year-old weekly headquartered in San Leandro, Calif. But in its July 20 issue, India-West carried it on the very same page as two articles about female infanticide in India, a dark corner of India’s past that continues to plague its present.

Now some Indians are traveling from India to The Fertility Institutes, which claims to run the largest sex-selection program in the world. Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of the gender selection program at the Fertility Institutes says 25 percent of his Indian patients travel from India to Los Angeles for the $18,000 procedure. Steinberg affirms that the institute’s ads “absolutely� target the ethnic media because “there’s a strong preference in certain ethnic groups for gender selection, one way or another, boy or girl.� The Fertility Institutes devote 5 percent of its advertising to ethnic media. “The 5 percent brings in about 20 percent of our business,� Steinberg said.

I mean why should Fertility Institutes care right? All business is good business and why not make money off a sexist practice? I mean it is not like these well meaning, balance and better the good ole American family, doctors support the sexism, they are just letting other (and when I say other I really mean OTHER) people practice their (ignorant and backwards) practices. They are just making money off of it, what could the harm be?

If it were only so simple. Atashi Chakravarty, the executive director of Narika, (a 15-year-old support group for South Asian women battling domestic violence) is telling us a different story. The same thing I am thinking, that perhaps, Fertility Institutes is benefiting from sexism and hatred against the birth of baby girls in India and the Indian diaspora communities.

[She] claimed The Fertility Institutes is profiting from gender bias. “We see that technology being used, and women are using it to abort female fetuses,� Chakravarty asserted.

While the technology does not discriminate between boys and girls, Indians’ historical preference for a male child is no secret. Females are viewed more as a burden largely because parents must pay significant dowries when the girls are married off.

This could be why female infanticide ravages India. In July, body parts from approximately 36 female fetuses were found packed in plastic bags and discarded in the state of Orissa. Last year in Punjab, the remains of at least 50 female fetuses were found dumped in a well. The United Nations recently declared that in India about 2,000 female fetuses are aborted every day.

Chakravarty said that culturally ingrained biases run deep even in Indian communities in America. "The sex selection technology is really being used to get boys. They're not really using it as a tool for family balancing.�

Yeah, you don't say.

A pastor in Australia who recently pled guilty to raping two of his teenage daughters said he only did it in order to teach them how to be good wives:

The man told the court the sex was not about fulfilling his desires but about teaching his daughters how to behave for their husbands when they eventually married, as dictated in scripture.

Just a thought--how far off is this from Purity Balls?

After all, it's all about fathers owning their daughters' sexuality and preparing them to be "good wives." And while incest isn't explicit in the purity ball madness, it sure is implied. Thoughts?

You know, you have to just love anti-choicers. They have so little regard for young women that they seem to think we don't know where babies come from. Or check out this lovely shirt.

But what really bothers be about this ad campaign is that it's promoting a website that touts itself as a place where women and girls can go for "straight facts about sex, choices and where to go for support." What they don't mention is that they're an anti-choice group that directs teens to pregnancy crisis centers. Their shirts and posters are even carried on CareNet's website.

And don't even get me started on the misinformation they're spreading about contraception and abortion. (Actually, pretty much everything on this site is total crap.)

Why is it that anti-choicers think so little of young women? Do they really think that young women can't handle the truth about sex? Pathetic.

A 2002 study found that 87 percent of women in Jordan believe their husbands are justified in using physical and verbal violence against them. So the country is launching a project, under the direction of Queen Rania, to curb violence against women.

I didn't watch the MTV Video Music Awards, so I didn't see the entirety of Britney Spears' performance. I did, however, see sections of it replayed (over and over again) on several cable news networks. Now, there's not doubt that it was a bad performance. She seemed to just be going through the motions and I felt kinda bad for her.

But if I hear one more person comment on how "fat" she was, I'm gonna lose it. Whether it's a news story saying she has a "paunch" or a cable news dude calling her chunky and fat--it's fucking gross and wrong. When was the last frigging time a male musician's beer belly made news? Assholes.

Monty is so excited about the new ideas for expanding Feministing, he gives me a high-five.

Monty has been flattered by all of the attention he's been getting lately (at home and on the blogosphere); he tells me he wants an agent immediately.

Since a few people in comments mentioned that they didn't think it was appropriate to have personal posts (pet posts, etc) on a news blog, I'm adding a little extra to Monday Monty blogging. I wanted to use this post to relay a tremendous thank you to those who donated to Feministing this weekend after hearing about our financial woes. It's much appreciated.

On that same note, be on the lookout this week for a super duper announcement concerning the future of Feministing and the work we'd like to do expanding the site. It's gonna be awesome.

Check out this collection of Wonder Woman interpretations. Interesting stuff. And as Zuzu points out, the art really runs the gamut (and not all of it fantastic). Which is your fave?

Thanks to John for the link.

What better way to find out what women want in a car then to dress in skirts, heels, and throw on some fake nails?

"A few times a year we go off-site and try to have a learning exercise that is a lot of fun," said [GM vehicle line director Mary Sipes]. "We took our group to the proving grounds and broke them into teams. One guy on each team had to be Mr. Mom. We dressed him in a garbage bag to simulate a tight skirt. We gave him rubber gloves with press on nails, a purse, a baby and a baby stroller and some chores like loading groceries."

The men were then required to go through what women do routinely every day. They had to put the baby in a car seat and buckle them in, fold up the stroller, pull up the liftgate and stow the stroller, put grocery bags in the back. They then had to walk around the vehicle and step into it not using the running board. Wearing the gloves with press-on nails they had to operate the key fob, adjust the radio and then figure out what to do with their purses -- without breaking or losing a nail. Lost or broken fingernails or torn garbage bag skirts resulted in points against the final score.

"We had a lot of laughs," said Sipes, "but the men's awareness of how women function in the vehicle really changed."

Okay, I'm all for thinking of women's needs when designing cars--but is this just a tad too stereotypical? I keep thinking about that horrible Mel Gibson movie (image above) where he waxes his legs and tries on nail polish to get into the "female mind." I mean, are women's concerns about their vehicles really all about fingernails and purses?

What do you, dear readers, look for in a car?

Random interesting aside: Snipes said, "Twenty years ago I never would have attempted this at GM...I would have been labeled a feminazi and lost my career." Sigh.

Our gal Courtney makes the case for including men in discussions about abortion.

The debate rages on about whether to sex-segregate classrooms.

Woo! Political crafting! But, Sabotabby wonders, why no mention of the knitted uterus, the AIDS quilt, Chilean arpilleras?

Lauren on the usefulness of the term "baby daddy."

Nevada officially allows brothels in counties with populations of fewer than 400,000. A new book on sexwork in the state does not paint a pretty picture -- the details are jaw-dropping. Says one woman, "It's like you sign a contract to be raped."

Suicide rate soars among girls.

There's a new documentary on women and humor.

On why the HPV vaccine is valuable beyond preventing cervical cancer.

A pro-choice leader responds to the Catholic columnist who called for jail time for women who get abortions. Also, Fred Thompson takes the politically palatable position: he favors jailing doctors, not "a 19-year-old girl and her mama." Gee, thanks.

The new Adipositivity Project seeks to "widen definitions of physical beauty. Literally."

What Barbie's butt can tell you about globalization.

Two women accused of "acts of obscenity" were beheaded in Pakistan.

Why do already-successful actresses choose to strip down?

Facebook bans photos of lactivists.

Women's eNews on efforts to curb dating violence in Croatia.

This whole article about new efforts to help boys cast out of polygamist Mormon sects contains only one brief aside about girls in this situation. I kept wondering, if this is what they do to the boys who like to watch movies, what do they do to the girls? Marry them off quicker?

Do you have a Republican man in your life who's insecure in his masculinity? Here's the perfect gift!

On Don Imus and the state of black media activism.

Needles were discovered inside a Chinese woman, whose grandparents put them there when she was a baby because they were disappointed she was not a boy.

A Wrinkle in Time was a huge favorite of mine. I fucking loved Meg. She was smart, but reassuringly imperfect. In 4th or 5th grade my class took a trip to New York to meet her. It was great. Except a certain boy I had a crush on accidentally stabbed me with a pencil. You can still see the scar on my palm. That part sucked.

Anyway, great series of books. Very sad news.

So. I'm sure you've noticed the addition of a shit-ton more advertisements on Feministing. Some of you may not like them too much. (I'm certainly not a fan.) But the sad truth is, we are broke.

As most of you dear readers probably know, all of us at Feministing do this in our free time and we make no money from blogging here. It used to be that I could shoulder the costs of maintaining the site by myself, but as our traffic has increased so much in the last year--it's really not feasible anymore. So in addition to our BlogAds (in the left sidebar)--which really only makes us enough money to go to conferences and such--we've added in Google Ads.

We're hoping that the additional income will help us to expand the site in the next few months (we have some really exciting ideas that I'll be sharing with everyone soon enough), and that perhaps one day Feministing will be a self-sustaining blog and activist resource with a paid staff. (A gal can dream, no?)

In the meantime, don't forget that you can help Feministing survive and expand--donations are always appreciated, after all.

All of us at Feministing work hard to provide an informative, fun, and accessible feminist news site--so please, show us some love. And don't hate us for the ads. We're doing it for the greater good, we promise.

Thanks for the support, Jessica

Feoshia Henderson is a former reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Before the Enquirer she covered the Kentucky Legislature and Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Post and The Kentucky Gazette.

She is currently a freelance journalist and blogs about social issues on her Myspace page. Feoshia describes her blog, Femblog, and her blog identity, Femblogger, as:

“I’m a frustrated political reporter looking for people who care about themselves and the world and are looking for a place to talk about it. I blog every day and you’ll find stories here that you usually won’t hear about anywhere else. I’m working to create an e-community of people who vote, who pay attention and who have something to say to politicians. Come by MySpace anytime! If you like it, then friend me. Here you’ll read about politics, social trends, technology, free speech, mass media, women’s health, sex, gender issues, relationships and more!�

Here’s Feoshia…

Not only did the bill I wrote about yesterday pass the Senate, they also passed an amendment fully repealing the Global Gag Rule. Bush has promised a veto -- even though he supposedly supports contraception for "responsible adults" and polls show that over 70 percent of Americans support USAID-funded family-planning efforts.

Still, it's a huge symbolic victory. Props to Sen. Barbara Boxer for working so hard to repeal the Gag Rule, which has killed so many women in the developing world:

The destructiveness of the gag rule is hard to overstate. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 500,000 women in developing countries die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Of those, roughly 70,000 die from back-alley abortions. And aid restrictions have hurt those groups best positioned to help. In Kenya, for example, two health organizations have had to shut down eight clinics since 2001 after proving unable to abide by the gag rule and losing their USAID funding. Many of those clinics were the sole providers of health care for women and children in their respective regions, and most had offered post-abortion care--critical in a country where abortion is illegal, unsafe, and causes an estimated one-third of maternal deaths annually.

Lots for Bush to be proud of. Ugh.

Why is it that feminism is always blamed for tacky sexist trends?

College fraternities, long known as bastions of grace and decorum, are these days featuring yet one more accoutrement of scholastic refinement - the stripper pole.

The most important campus development since the keg, the stripper pole shines like a luminous totem festooning the halls of the American academy. It's erected for a single, glorious purpose:

To get drunken chicks to do slutty stuff.

And where does feminism come in?

Post-feminists argue that the pole is empowering. If a young woman chooses to use it, they say, she is telling the world that she is in charge of her sexuality.

Apparently these pole-loving feminists and post-feminists only exist in reporter Alfred Lubrano's imagination--because he fails to quote one woman outside of the publicist for the company that creates the poles. I mean really, who are "they?" Who are the "some" who are arguing that stripper poles "flaunt liberation?" Great reporting, dude.

It's fairly clear that the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter had little interest in researching his piece, but a lot of interest in making snarky sexist comments:

There was a time when feminism was about women being smart and assertive, and building inner strength.

Somewhere along the line, though, it morphed into slut culture. Girls tell themselves they're in charge. But they're still just strutting it for the boys.

Welcome to Skank 101, freshmen. Open your books to Chapter One, "Pole Vixen." Note how the women in the diagram are dangling, half-dressed and off-balance.

Charming. It's nice to know that some reporters can use their position to call women whores.

Seriously, why the fuck is the PI running this tripe? Contact the paper and ask them why they're running biased, un-researched stories.

Or, if you're feeling feisty, contact the reporter himself. (If you're more of a phone person, his number is 215-854-4969.)

Ann drops knowledge on CNN.

Women in 30 different states held demonstrations outside their local Applebee's recently to protest the restaurant's policy on breastfeeding.

Plans got started shortly after news about Brooke Ryan hit the Internet last week. Ryan went public after the manager of the Applebee's asked her to cover herself with a blanket while she breastfed her 7-month-old son in a booth in the back of the restaurant in June. According to officials, this request was in violation of a 2006 state law which prohibits any interference with a woman breast-feeding in public.

Applebee's responded by saying it would keep blankets so breast-feeding mothers can cover themselves.

You know, so no one would be offended by the oh-so-vile sight of a baby eating its lunch. But luckily, breastfeeding moms and their supporters organized online, and created nationwide action. Nice.

Nerve's Scanner highlights this creepy mannequin-as-model Wonderbra commercial from the 60s. It kinda makes me want to turn that feminist bra-burning myth into a reality.

I usually try my damnedest to avoid bringing more attention to these bullshit bunk studies, but everywhere I turn this week, I've been seeing coverage of this recent "research" that the media just eats up:

"Men chase beauty, women money when picking a mate"

In fact, hundreds of articles have been covering this shit. The kicker? Only 46 people were surveyed in the study. Give me a fucking break.

The District of Columbia, where I live, has extremely high infection rate for HIV and AIDS. So, the mayor implemented a plan to give away a million free condoms. Like my RA in college, except I don't imagine Mayor Fenty is saving 1/2 for himself (but maybe…).

So, I have good news and bad news.

The good news: demand is down from 2,000 a week in March to only 400 in May. Plenty to spare.

The bad news: The reason why. Turns out the packaging is shitty. Tens of thousands were returned to the health department.

Volunteers concerned about why interest had dropped began asking people who had picked up the condoms. They were told about packets ripping in purses or bursting open in pockets. As a result, recipients said they had little confidence that the condoms would offer protection.

In addition, expiration dates on some of the Chinese-made condoms were illegible.

Oops.

I'm also a little concerned about their plan to fix the problems with the next bat by holding a "contest for new versions."

Well, this is depressing. A recent survey shows that the gender pay gap in the UK has actually increased for the first time in over a decade, and almost 40 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed.

While there has been a rise in promotions for UK women, the occurence of resignation has increased, where they often leave to create their own business outside of the unaccomodating work environments regarding pay, training development and flexible working.

The government is anticipating drafting a "single equality bill" next year that would essentially update the outdated Equal Pay Act. Let's hope this happens soon before the gap widens even more.

Here's a more readable close-up. Even the table of contents consist of chapters entitled, "How to Tell the Girls Apart" and "How Much Space Does a Man Need?" (Keep in mind this was a New York Times bestseller.)

Thanks to Michael for the inspiration.

There's a post over the the Group News Blog, “Do you understand where you are?� that made me actually cry, here at my desk. A rare occurrence, I assure you. As I told Jessica, I don't know what else to say about it. The beginning talks about the Jena 6, but there's a lot more. Read it, and remember that this is about 2006 and 1993.

Southwest's website happily touts its sexist 1970s ads, one of which says,

Remember What It Was Like Before Southwest Airlines? You Didn't Have Hostesses in Hotpants. Remember?

Wow. (I've taken a screenshot for posterity's sake.) The ad in question:

The 2007 version would have to read:

Remember What It Was Like Before Southwest Airlines? You Didn't Have Passengers Getting Thrown Off the Plane for Wearing Short Skirts. Remember?

via.

The Senate is set to vote today on a bill that would provide contraceptives directly to international family planning clinics that have been denied funds under the Global Gag Rule. The bill, which passed the House in June, is a way to work around Republicans' objection that U.S. international family-planning funds could be used for abortions. (Sen. Sam Brownback has threatened to tack on an amendment stripping out the provision on contraceptives.)

Of course, Bush has promised to veto the bill -- even though he supposedly supports contraception for "responsible adults." He must not consider women in developing countries "responsible" or "adult" enough to be trusted with contraceptives.

Over on Tapped, Dana notes that "Republicans claim giving NGOs free condoms would encourage them to spend their resources on abortions instead." Seriously? Perhaps they'd have to devote far fewer resources to abortions if they could provide broader access to contraception.

I know I promised Miranda July, but you'll have to wait another week for her. Instead, I want to talk about movies (incidentally, if you haven't seen MJ's Me and You and Everyone We Know, check it out immediately).

My mom started the longest running women’s film festival in the world when I was just a wee young thing in the otherwise culturally-deprived city of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I grew up, nestled in the crook up her arm, watching the documentaries and feature films—always by and about women—that she would screen each year. It was, as you might imagine, ridiculously influential.

It also led to my family’s annual tradition (our version of a religious holiday) of going to the Telluride Film Festival. (By the by, check out the pic on the homepage...totally NOT Telluride). This year, I decided I’d take notes along the way and do a gender analysis of sorts of the films I saw. (My family is hardcore about movies, by the by; we saw 17 full-length films over the course of a weekend). So here you go…

Ok, so Jess beat me to blogging about the "office wife" comment, but I found the following quote in that column more appalling:

At last night's dinner hosted by Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney, the president posed with Rice and told photographers, "She can be my date."

Someone at that dinner should have slapped him. This isn't a woman weeping at the singles' table at a wedding, or dateless at the prom. She's the secretary of state.

They called me WHAT?

I'm not a fan of Condi, but I think we owe the Secretary of State just a tad more respect than this:

Without the first lady at his side, the president is escorting his office wife -- Condi Rice-- to official events.

Office wife? So...does that means she works on foreign policy in an apron? Charming.

Thanks to Dana for the link.

Planned Parenthood is preparing to open a large clinic in Aurora, IL, but not without some warm welcomes from the anti-choice folks.

Loads of protestors have been outside of the clinic for nearly two weeks, and Planned Parenthood has made a call to action. Get a ribbon of support tied outside the clinic to show the clinic and women seeking care some solidarity.

Southwest Airlines is apparently now telling its female passengers how to dress. Kyla Ebbert was reprimanded and nearly kicked off a flight for daring to wear a tank top, miniskirt, and cardigan. (This picture is of the outfit she was wearing at the time. Scandalous, no? How dare she walk around in 100-degree weather wearing that?!)

They walked out onto the jet bridge, where [flight attendant/fashion policeman] Keith told Ebbert her clothing was inappropriate and asked her to change. She explained she was flying to Tucson for only a few hours and had brought no luggage.

“I asked him what part of my outfit was offensive,� she said. “The shirt? The skirt? And he said, 'The whole thing.' �

Keith asked her to go home, change and take a later flight. She refused, citing her appointment. The plane was ready to leave, so Keith relented. He had her pull up her tank top a bit, pull down her skirt a bit, and return to her seat.

Guess we know what airline Wendy "Modestly Yours" Shalit is going to be flying from now on!

The San Diego Union-Tribune columnist clearly thinks Ebbert's treatment was unacceptable, but then he throws up his hands:

Who knows where the lines are drawn these days, particularly when it comes to dress? If you watch television, or visit the mall, or take in a game at Petco Park, you'll see women dressed in ways that, 50 years ago, were pornographic. Today they are stylish.

Uh, newsflash: 50 years ago, Southwest was requiring its own stewardesses to wear skirts just as short as Ebbert's. (Picture below the fold.) So much for the good ol' days of modesty.

You recall that video that made the rounds on feminist blogs... the one in which forced-pregnancy activists are stumped when asked, "How much jail time should women get for having an abortion?"

Well, Catholic columnist Matt Abbott has answered the question. He hems and haws a bit about the scores of women who are apparently "coerced" into abortion. But ultimately this paternalistic viewpoint ("women couldn't possibly be choosing abortions because they think that's what's best for them -- no, must be a man coercing them!") doesn't hold up, and he decides 15 years to life in prison is an appropriate punishment for deciding to end a pregnancy.

...I do believe, in some cases, the abortion-seeking woman is indeed the perpetrator. She knows very well what she’s doing. She’s not coerced by anyone. Perhaps she’s even going against the wishes of her loved ones. This is the woman who should be treated as a criminal – if not a murderer, then an accessory to murder.

What really jumps out at me there is "Perhaps she's even going against the wishes of her loved ones" -- which seems to me a way of saying that, if she's defying a male figure in her life who doesn't want her to end the pregnancy, her offense is all the more punishable.

Abbott realizes, of course, that throwing women in jail for 15 years or more for obtaining an abortion isn't going to be widely popular, and at the end says he knows many fellow "pro-lifers" won't agree with him. Because portraying a woman who chooses abortion as a victim -- coerced, unable to think for herself, and in need of state intervention -- is lamentably a much savvier strategy for the forced-pregnancy movement. But props to Abbott, I suppose, for at least answering the question. Finally.

Remember Cowgirls Espresso, where the baristas are required to wear little more than bras to work? Well some women employees aren't having it.

"I make coffee, I don't sell my body, you know?"

That's what Barista Amy Klett told her boss at Lola Bean Espresso last week.

"He said he was going with a franchise called Cowgirls and that the attire would be different, and that if we weren't on board, he would find other people," said barista Heather Cyrus.

All of the female workers quit in protest. Nice.

"Cowgirls," who get paid minimum wage, have to dress according to (oh so classy) theme days: Military Monday, Cowgirl Tuesday, Bikini Wednesday, Schoolgirl Thursday and Fantasy Friday.

Sigh.

I'm sorry, I think this is hilarious.

Scented underwear? Huh?

Melon scented underwear utilizes a new technology that weaves the same material from a drier sheet into the underwear fabric, creating a powder fresh scent that lasts for up to fifteen washes. The underwear not only smells great but it's light seamless fabric feels like second skin. This is the most comfortable pair of underwear you will own! The underwear comes in 4 colors (thong and fullback) and has a variety of melon signature color bands on the top.

Melon, started by Brooke and Meredith Sloane two sisters from Los Angeles, has become the leading designer of sexy-funky lingerie. Through word of mouth and celebrity support, they have already built a name for themselves synonymous with quality and style.

Questions and terror are rolling through me. Why would I want my cooch to smell like a dryer sheet? My vagina and
I agree with Slut Machine, "Three little letters come to mind: UTI."

Gross. And, they're temporarily sold out on Drugstore.com. Call me crazy, but I don't really want a "powder fresh" crotch. And maybe my drier sheets are just cheap, but I don't think they're soft enough to hang out in that particular area.

[Via Jezebel]

Cara at The Curvature received a response to her letter (I'm sure one of many) condemning Cosmo's craptastic "gray rape" article. And it's completely insulting--they basically insinuate that readers who are upset over the article just didn't "get it." We get it, and it still sucks.

Their response to Cara after the jump.

Also, I love Mo Rocca.

I have failed to write about the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, as have most mainstream news outlets and mainstream blogs. Shame on me, but lucky for you, I stumbled upon this video that sums up what happened quite well, so please watch and take action ASAP.

Nooses are a prank? Can we say Jim Crowe? Clearly, the MSM doesn't even know where to begin since this is such a clear display of racism. Granted there is an over generalization that racism happens more so in the South, even though racist shit happens everywhere, so perhaps we want to cover the story in a more balanced manner, thinking about the national state of race relations. However, it is pertinent that the use of a noose to intimidate a group of young black students is at the least horridly offensive, but more like, threatening and attempting to put some black kids in their place using an object that is both historically and geographically relevant.

And I like the apt comparison he draws between mass media coverage of the supposedly wrongly done Duke Lax players, while Mychal Bell, a 16 year old, rots in jail and gets sentenced to 22 years with little to no coverage in MSM. One of the key arguments made by feminist and POC bloggers in response to the Duke case was that the coverage and the treatment of those men would be different if they were black. As we can clearly see, this is true. Where is the outrage about this? Why isn't FOX news or some of the conservative blogs making noise and demanding justice?

Well we can still make some noise. This is the petition mentioned in the film and you can sign another petition at Color of Change. Also while you are it, call your local paper and your local TV station and demand they do more coverage on the Jena 6 case.

Also, as of earlier today, the charges against two of the young men have been reduced.

Prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the attempted murder charges against two more teenagers among the "Jena Six," a group of black high school students who were arrested following an attack on a white schoolmate.

Five of the teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison. The sixth faces undisclosed juvenile charges.

Civil rights advocates have decried the charges as unfairly harsh.

On Tuesday, charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. That same reduction was made earlier for Mychal Bell, who was tried and found guilty and could be sentenced to 22 1/2 years at a hearing Sept. 20.

Also awaiting trial are Robert Bailey Jr. and Bryant Purvis, who still face attempted murder charges, and the unidentified juvenile.

If you don't know, now you know.

via AP.

Monty just chewed through my laptop power cord and I'm about fifteen minutes away from my battery dying. So if I'm late posting tomorrow--you know why. (I have to run to the Apple store in the wee hours.)

In the wake of all of the Larry Craig headlines, the Washington Post reports on Mike Rogers, a blogger who maintains a list of closeted gay politicians. His "outing policy" is as follows:

"I write about closeted people whose records are anti-gay," he says. "If you're a closeted Democrat or Republican and you don't bash gays or vote against gay rights to gain political points, I won't out you."

It's hard to disagree that this type of hypocrisy is really odious. But what end does outing these politicians serve? The uber-conservative Republican base just writes them off as a "few bad apples," and clearly fails to connect them to their party's culture of repression. I doubt there are many voters thinking, "Hm. So Larry Craig likes to have sex with men in public bathrooms? Guess it doesn't matter much to me, as he's always done such great legislative work." I wish, but no way is that happening! I'm sure it's a much more common, upon hearing a Republican Congressman outed as gay in the wake of a scandal, for their constituents to think, "Gee, that Congressman is a perv. All gay people are totally gross and depraved!" And after an outed politician's inevitable resignation, the odds are good that he will be replaced with a legislator who has an equally anti-gay record.

So really, what's to gain from outing? I suppose it feeds into a larger narrative about Republicans being two-faced. It allows us to feel like we're "punishing" a politician who has long voted against fundamental rights for others. But beyond that...?

I definitely believe there should be repercussions for, say, sexually harassing a Congressional page. But soliciting anonymous sex in a bathroom? Can't say I find that too offensive. Garance's characterization of the scandal as a "pre-Stonewall morality fable" seems spot-on to me. And as for politicians on Rogers' "hit list" who are publicly anti-gay, privately gay, and NOT embroiled in scandal, I'm pretty sure I come down on the side of letting them keep their sexual identities to themselves.

This whole thing has got me thinking about other types of outing. What if, for example, someone were to send an anonymous tip to Feministing that a prominent anti-choice legislator had had an abortion in the not-too-distant past. Publicizing that story would be very useful in making the point out that, hey, even women who claim abortion is morally reprehensible sometimes find themselves in a situation where they decide it's the choice that's best for them. It would be an opportunity to point out that it's ridiculous to think that the only moral abortion is your own. It's got the hypocrisy factor. But making the (hypothetical) information about this politician's abortion public also flies in the face of what I believe about a woman's right to privacy. So I think I'd ultimately choose not to write about it.

I'd love to hear what you all think about it, but my gut feeling is that outing politicians (even ones who have anti-gay records -- or anti-choice records, in other cases) is counterproductive. It turns queer identity into a "gotcha!" and has few positive political outcomes.

Oh my goodness. Love.

Big Sister is always watching you...

This is quite a gem for your Monday afternoon pleasure. Men's Daily News urges dying rich men to put "men's rights" organizations into their wills instead of their wives so they can't feed the oppressive feminist machine.

It's funny because it's sad.

In a classic move of anti-feminist predictability, an Australian lad mag is holding a search for "Australia's sexiest feminist" after being taken to task for a gross contest.

The men's magazine which sparked outrage when it offered a $10,000 boob job as a competition prize has responded to its critics by launching a search for Australia's sexiest feminist.

Zoo Weekly magazine angered health and women's groups when it urged men to "win" their girlfriend a boob job by sending in shots of her cleavage.

The lad's mag today revealed its new competition - a search "for the hottest girl in sensible shoes" - promising the winner a year's supply of deodorant and a sexy photo shoot.

Get it? Cause feminists stink! The originality is awe-inspiring, truly.

The ad for the search reads, "If you hate men, we want to see photos of you in sexy lingerie." And, naturally, the ad also features a picture of a burning bra. Because they needed to fit all the stereotypes in there. (Seriously, I'm surprised there wasn't an image of a hairy woman in Birkenstocks castrating someone.)

Magazine editor Paul Merrill says, "We're calling for feminists all over Australia to show that women can be sexy even if they disapprove of sexy women." You know, I would seriously die of shock if just one anti-feminist douchebag could come up with an insult that wasn't a variation on feminists-are-ugly-and-hate-hot-women.

Australian feminist blogger Audrey has been covering the mag's nonsense since the original contest, and she hits the nail on the head:

Indeed, "Feminist!" has become the rallying attack cry from the armies of men that refuse to acknowledge that a woman's greatest aspiration isn't uniquely connected to how much men want to fuck them. Its hissed utterance has become ubiquitous for a host of inaccurate and lazy ideas that only serve to crudely mask the speaker's own ignorance and disinterest in directly engaging with those he seeks to demonise.

Indeed. By the way, my submission for said contest is after the jump. Feel free to link to your own in comments.

Image at top from the Guerrilla Girls.

I'm sure you all read Ann's gauntlet throw-down to felines everywhere. The one in my apartment would like to respond:

The video of Miss Teen South Carolina mucking up a question got a ton of play everywhere--there was even some controversy in comments over Samhita's decision to run the video. The always-fabulous Rebecca Traister decided to take on the video and, more importantly, why so many were laughing so hard.

It is frankly just embarrassing how eagerly, joyfully, jeeringly we've embraced Upton as pure point-and-snarf spectacle. She falls into a particularly dirty sweet spot for Americans: young, pretty, blond, Southern and female. That she appears to also be sort of dumb completes our idealized vision of laughable femininity, and the popularity of the clip shows that her embodiment of our national punch line is going over like gangbusters...

Check out the whole post...good stuff.

It is amazing to me how advertisers in the male body care products industry, beer industry and most recently found example, the fast food industry, continue to rely on sexist and racist stereotypes to sell their products. This ad, sent in by a reader, is another example of the consumption of women's bodies or buns to the consumption of hamburgers and their respective buns. And as this narrative illustrates, men have preferences for how they like women's buns, so naturally, they have preferences for their hamburger buns. This is so tired, I fell asleep.

Carl's Jr strikes out bad, not only for supplying a bad product that is a public health threat (IMHO) but for producing such corny and trashy commercials that a 2 year old could deconstruct as highly problematic.

Hot for teacher anyone?

Seriously, what the hell? And I don't appreciate the race implications of casting a bunch of white boys dressed up like "rappers" rapping about how the like flat buns, to sarcastically mimic black rappers in how they like round ones. It is just tacky.

Thank you to everyone (and Jessica and the ladies of Feministing particularly!) for reading our Voices of the Latina Institute series. The work that is being done on the ground and in the non-profit community rarely gets shared with the general public and we love any opportunity to talk about our work outside of conferences and grant proposals.

The work of the Latina Institute is only a small part of a broader movement for reproductive justice, just check out the Feministing blogroll for more of the awesome organizations doing this work. For change to happen in our lifetime, we all have to find ways to contribute to social justice movements, so pick an org and find a way to get involved.

To keep updated on what's going at the Latina Institute, check out our website for updates and join our listserve to receive our monthly e-newsletter. And to hear more from the staff and activists of the Latina Institute, check out our blog, Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz (Our Lives, Our Voice).

By Grace Kaissal, Summer Intern, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

“!Aye Mija! ¡Hablemos de eso otro día! ¡De eso no se hable! Cuando estes casada, okay?� These are the phrases and responses my friends and I have shared and laughed about when recounting the stories of our first family conversations about sex. I remember vividly when I was a scrawny ten year old pre-pubescent girl watching TV with my mother one evening and a “sex� scene came on in the movie we were watching. I remember getting so nervous and to my surprise, looking over to my mom and noticing she was really nervous as well. As she switched the channel she told me, “Hablare contigo acerca de eso cuando cumplas quince anos.� (“I’ll talk to you about this when you turn 15). Sure enough, by the time I turned 15, I was having my first experiences with the world of boys, crushes and dating. My mom never had a problem with that but she always told me, “Cuidate y no habras esas piernas.� (Take care of yourself and don’t open your legs). No talk of sex, love, or relationships not to mention birth control and condoms. My mother and I are very close and I confide in her about everything, but it still kills me to say that I never really had the “birds and the bees� conversation with her until recently, after my first year of college. Many things have happened since the last time I was sitting with her on that couch nervously.

Growing up as a first generation immigrant in the US, and attending a liberal arts college has really changed the way I view this aspect of my life. After watching the Sundance Film documentary Quinceañera with my mother this summer, we finally had the opportunity to talk explicitly about sex. Although we were both very uncomfortable, conversation flowed and I learned a lot about how she perceived sex, birth control, relationships and love. I also realized how different our worlds were, and how different her knowledge about STIs, contraception, and what happens during sex were from mine.

I'm upstate on a weekend vacation and don't have my camera wires up here to bring you any new pics, but I think you'll enjoy the alternative. Monty versus the bone.

So we'll just have a couple of posts up today. But the good news is that those few posts will include the last of our Voices of... posts from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, which have been truly amazing. (A big thanks to Miriam!)

So enjoy the holiday, folks--we'll be back full force tomorrow!

Anti-choice acvitism reaches a fever pitch in Mississippi.

Reframing fighting cancer as... sexy? (The lead paragraph is incredibly annoying.)

GPS shoes for sex workers warn police, or, more likely, sex-worker outreach groups when the alarm is triggered.

What the demise of Punk Planet says about media consolidation.

More on the campus birth control price spike.

Shocker: Discrimination drives people to leave the workforce: "What is pushing these professionals out is not, by and large, overt racism and sexism but rather a series of more covert actions that end up undermining their trust and respect for their company and colleagues."

Chinese couples try to circumvent the country's forced abortion policies by doing everything from bribing officials to filing lawsuits.

On feminism and baking cookies.

If an Albany hospital merges with a Catholic hospital, they'll be cutting their women's health services (i.e. contraception, tubal ligations, and counseling).

Your weight could affect how effective your birth control pills are.

On whether it's appropriate to compare Elvira Arellano and Rosa Parks.

Some DC firehouses may be running a prostitution ring. (Talk about a hostile work environment.)

HHS bows to pressure from infant formula companies and "tones down" ads about the benefits of breast-feeding.

U.S. childbirth deaths are on the rise.

And the 16th Erase Racism carnival!