April 2008 Archives

Last night Ryan Sorba, an "anti-homosexual activist" spoke at Smith College. Sorba, the author of the upcoming book, "The Born Gay Hoax," (yes, seriously) can been seen in action here. The awesome feminists of Smith forced Sorba out after a mere twenty minutes of speaking, when he was drowned out by protesters.

Pam has more.

Thanks to Diana and Anne for the heads up!

In one of our threads, commenter atheistwoman cited an article I was quoted in, writing that I said I "don't post more serious stuff because no one commented." I've seen this repeated elsewhere, so I just wanted to set the record straight - because it drives me insane when people take my quotes out of context. (And this is not a jab at atheistwoman at all, just the nutty game of telephone that is the blogosphere sometimes.)

From the Utne Reader:

Jessica Valenti, executive editor of Feministing, says she'd like to see some of the "less trendy issues," like poverty and international concerns, get more space in the feminist blogosphere. "But what happens with us is we put that stuff up and no one comments," she says. "You put up a blog on abortion, and people do."

I never said we don't post on an issue because it's not "trendy" or because it doesn't get a lot of comments. I was expressing my disappointment in how posts dealing with more serious issues weren't commented on as much as lighter posts. I was criticizing how so-called trendy issues get all of the attention and talking to the reporter about how we could change that. (In our case, we post on everything we think is important, whether we think it will get traffic and comments or not.)

In any case, thanks, and back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the sex worker in the Spitzer scandal, has filed a lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild, which notes that Dupre was underage when she exposed herself on video.

GGW founder and known asshole Joe Francis' response: "But I think it's ironic that she charged Gov. Spitzer $2,000 for sex and she wants to charge me 10 million for taking some naked pictures of her...I feel like I'm getting a raw deal."

Warms the heart, no?

Thanks to Hilary for the link.

Some bad news via Female Impersonator:

At the beginning of the semester, there was an incident here at Yale involving a "fraternity prank" and the Women's Center where 12 members of the Zeta Psi frat stood in front of the Women's Center chanting "dick dick dick dick" while holding a sign saying "We Love Yale Sluts." Quite the incident.

On Monday, the Executive Committee of Yale College found the members of this group not guilty of intimdiation [sic] and harassment charges. No charges of sexual harassment were ever filed, even though complaints were issued with the Sexual Harassment Grievance Board.

The men also intimidated women trying to enter the center. But I guess that's not harassment, huh? One of the harassed women penned an article for the college paper, noting that she has no recourse to appeal the decision and that "all 12 brothers of Zeta Psi were allowed to read my written affidavit before they wrote their own — 12 iterations of the same collective story." Charming.

Thanks to Kari for the link.

Fathers should not wax their daughters. Anywhere. (An obvious sentiment if I ever saw one.) They also should not pimp their daughters. Apparently both of these clearcut parental boundaries are lost on this guy.

Because this weekend, my friend Sara Bacon is coming over to install these awesome pieces: An investigation of boy doll accessories and An investigation of girl doll accessories. SO excited.

Sara is probably my oldest friend (we chilled in diapers together), and I'm just amazed by her work and just generally proud to know her. That is all.

Despite an increase in education there doesn't seem to be a change in the practice of aborting a fetus when you find out it is female. There is still "missing" baby girls in India due to the practice. The Indian PM has made a statement against this.

via NYTimes.

Describing the abortion of female fetuses as “inhuman, uncivilized and reprehensible,� he said the government should crack down on the large numbers of doctors who illegally disclosed the sex of the fetus to the parents, and then arranged abortions of unwanted girls.

To put the national spotlight on the fact that this is a problem is a good thing. But I don't know about this:

Before undergoing an ultrasound test in India, pregnant women must sign a form agreeing not to seek to know the sex of the fetus. Doctors who disclose the sex during an examination can be imprisoned for up to five years. But the law is widely flouted. Studies suggest that doctors often give coded hints, by remarking for example, “Your child will be a fighter,� or by offering pink or blue sweets, as appropriate, on the way out. Successful prosecutions are rare.

I think attempting to moderate this problem at such an interpersonal level is a)impossible, but b) misses the bigger problem. It is not that young mothers are selfish and just want sons. There is societal pressure on women to deliver male born children and if they are not able to they are treated as though something is wrong with them. So to put the pressure on doctors and mothers avoids the bigger question of why there is preference for male children.

Pic from glans galore.

Last week, the three NYPD officers charged with murdering Sean Bell in 2006 were acquitted of all charges. I don't have much more to say on the issue than has already been said, but I wanted to make sure this news was acknowledged here at Feministing. Ann has a post up about it at TAPPED, comparing the case to the situation of Amadou Diallo and Jack at Angry Brown Butch has some interesting things to say about what it means find justice in this case.

Blogging is not always easy. Your growth (and mistakes) as a writer and activist are documented for the world to see. You become public in a way that often feels dehumanizing. But with these things comes incredible privilege and opportunity.

I feel so lucky that I get to do the work that I do - that I was able to write two books, that I can go to conferences where I meet amazing feminists, that I can travel to colleges and speak about a subject I love, and that I’m able to make connections and work with activists and organizers whose work I respect so much. Not many feminists get these opportunities, and I’m grateful for them daily.

The recent happenings in the feminist blogosphere concerning racism have had me up nights. For the last few months - whether it was the issue of appropriation, feminist presses, or racist imagery - my stance for Feministing has been one of “let our work speak for itself.� Let’s make sure we pledge to do better, to do the work instead of just spouting the rhetoric. And I continue to think that this is important, and that Feministing’s body of work does walk the walk. But I’ve been remiss in not writing something more personal and more complex sooner - because as much as Feministing is a group project, I recognize that my profile is a bit more out there these days. (Of course, I want to echo a sentiment Samhita posted about long ago, which is why my name has been the one most associated with Feministing and the importance of looking at that in a critical way.)

But I've also been thinking a lot about my own role in all of this, which has brought up a ton of personal issues for me - specifically regrets I have. And this is something I've been mulling on for a long time, but felt scared to write about. But after all of this, the silence is just weighing on me, and I feel like I have to say something.

Contributed by Nancy Gruver, the author of “How To Say It to Girls,� Founder of the international publication, New Moon for Girls and CEO of New Moon Girl Media, Inc.

Cross-posted at Girl Media Maven.

You can imagine that the sexed up photos Vanity Fair published of Miley Cyrus have been a topic of discussion at New Moon, just as on [the organization's blog]. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments so far on the topic - they're well worth reading.

Kathleen Kvern and I were talking about how the prevalence of sexualized images of girls in our public culture creates an atmosphere of impersonal, silent, constant harassment for girls.

Like an iron grip in a velvet glove, the hypersexualization of girls in the media holds actual girls hostage under the pretense of entertaining and informing them. And, like in the Stockholm Syndrome, it's not surprising when girls start to identify with the all-powerful culture that's holding them hostage.

It feels more subtle than verbal or physical harassment, but that's part of its stealthy effect. It's like a neverending buzz in the background that you try to ignore but can't. Gradually, sub-consciously, more and more of your energy and attention is spent on trying to ignore the buzz.

Girls are barraged by sexualized images all around them and everyone they come into contact with in daily life is also surrounded by those images. The images viscerally teach "the importance of being sexy" if you are female. The images teach all of us that acting sexy is how girls/women can have power without being rejected as domineering or bitchy (see media coverage of Hillary Clinton for the way "non-sexy" female power is conveyed).

Now imagine the extreme confusion girls feel when they are surrounded by images promoting the power of female sexiness and at the same time are told that it's bad for girls to be interested in sex, to act sexy themselves, to dress sexy, etc. The real message being conveyed, of course, is that girls shouldn't want to be powerful.

The conflicting messages about personal power create an epic inner struggle for girls that stays with us into adulthood, sapping creative energy and focus that would be better used in changing the culture and making our world a better place for everyone.

I believe media oppression of girls and women via hypersexualiztion is one of the most serious barriers standing between us and full equality. We need to break that barrier down and release the power it's holding back. That's why I work with girls' media and bringing girls' voices to the world at New Moon.

How would you do it?

Note: The above post does not necessarily represent the opinions of Feministing or its bloggers.

I've discovered lots of these. You've got to love The Onion. (Warning: There's auto-audio so don't click unless you want to hear something!)

So this video is NSFW (not safe for work) and it is very disturbing. Trigger warning! But it is one of the trailers to the new Grand Theft Auto coming out today, and it is reprehensible. All around the country posters for the new GTA have been removed due to their offensive nature. Most of the complaints have been about the violence in the video game. Not one article has been about the blatant violence and misogyny displayed towards women.

If you get through the trailer you will notice that not only are the sex scenes very real looking, most of the women are killed shortly after forcibly performing sex acts. So, many young men are going to have their first (or already have, as this is not new content for GTA) sexual experiences via GTA and then they are going to kill the women they are sleeping with. The implications of that are mind-blowing. It is no question that GTA is merely reflective of the bigger misogyny embedded in capitalist patriarchy, but the question is why is a game that depicts such violence towards women so popular? How is that acceptable?

I think this has two consequences in the land of no child left behind where standardized educational systems have led to a cutback in the teaching of metacognition in elementary schools. What does that mean? Youth don't get taught to think about why they make the choices they do, they are instead force fed information that they must memorize. So it can be argued that they are being force fed heavily marketed violent images (that often reflect the violence in the media, movies, government policy and in their own communities) that become normalized. And not only normalized, but given the popular nature of GTA, it is cool to be violent and kill prostitutes.

The second implication is where does this put young women gamers? How do they feel when playing video games with such violent representations of women?

I can tell you that watching that video was humiliating and I don't play video games, so I never have to see it again if I don't want to.

A lot of issues here. Other thoughts?

Latoya at Racialicious has a fabulous post up - here's a teaser...

Little did I know that finding feminism was also the beginning of the anti-click moments, dozens of little conversations and actions that served as a constant reminder that I was different. Reading anthology after anthology on contemporary feminist work and only hearing one or two tokenized voices from women of color. Attending feminist gatherings and realizing that a lot of the situations and scenarios discussed were things I had never experienced. Trying to articulate my experiences, and being told that we need to focus on the “real� feminist issues. Things that impact “all� (read: white) women.

I was dying towards the end. Dying.

This is from the Safe and Legal (in Ireland) Abortion Rights Campaign's new online efforts to spread awareness about the current status of reproductive rights in Ireland. Here the first of a three-part video they're featuring on their youtube channel, where you can check out the others.

Thanks to Alisa for the link!

I saw one of my favorite writers this weekend at Politics and Prose in DC. She's a Young Adult fiction writer named Sarah Dessen, and she happens to be from the town where I grew up. We even went to the same high school (although a lot of years apart). When I was a kid I read a lot--and much of it was young adult fiction. There are a lot of books in that genre, but what I love about Sarah Dessen is that her books have substance. Her characters (almost all of whom are young women) are strong, independent, smart and interesting. She tackles real issues, like divorce, intimate partner violence and substance abuse, but without it feeling forced or like a public service announcement. You might know her work from the Mandy Moore movie, How to Deal (which is based on two of her books combined).

I still read her new books as they come out, even though I'm much out of her target audience age. While I still enjoy them, I do wish they had more to say about things like race and sexual orientation. While Sarah does a good job of portraying women from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, the main characters of the books are generally straight and white. Kind of like the town we grew up in.

Did you read YA Fiction growing up? Who were some of your favorite authors?

A review of Baby Mama (whose problematic title is being discussed here) in The New Yorker gets a little...well, sexist.

Kate [Fey] stalks around bare-legged in skirts that lurch to a halt two inches above the knee, which is a length that Christy Turlington would struggle to carry off. It’s possible that Fey, like other television stars, is unused to being framed in full length, and, though in complete command of her delivery—dry, spiky, but unthreatening—she hasn’t yet made up her mind how funny her body is meant to be. She isn’t big enough to make a joke of her ripeness, like Bette Midler, but she’s no Lily Tomlin, either. She could do worse than steal a trick from Lucille Ball—a lovely, elegant figure who taught herself to be graceless.

Does this annoy the shit out of anyone else?

Thanks to Anne for the heads up.

Monty had a grand old time running around in Woodstock this weekend, playing with his brother. A big part of this playing was digging - nose first - in the mud. Though as you can see, he looks pretty pleased with himself.

The downside, of course, is that the boyfriend and I have found five ticks on him (not attached, just crawling). He's had a bath and brushing since we got back, but if anyone has any tick-advice, it would be much appreciated.

Contributed by Julia Serano

I had about seven different conflicting thoughts/emotions upon viewing this video:

1) Oh my god, I *cannot* believe that companies are actually using personal endorsements from transgender-spectrum people to help sell their products to non-trans women. How groundbreaking!

2) And at the same time, how disturbing! I think I am experiencing the same queasy feeling right now that old-school gay/queer rights activists most certainly felt when beer companies first began offering to sponsor pride parades and queer events.

3) Great, just what we need: more fodder for feminists who insist that those of us on the trans feminine spectrum are all merely “parodies� and “caricatures� of women and that we propagate sexist stereotypes.

4) Haven’t I written about depictions like this one before?

5) As a transsexual woman, I can’t help but notice how dependent this ad is on the concept of “drag�—that is, the fact that the subject in the video identifies as a boy and that their feminine gender expression is depicted as a “performance� or an “impersonation.� The commercial would have an entirely different meaning (and would evoke a very different emotional reaction) if it featured a trans woman who fully and unapologetically identified as female. For this reason, this video will likely annoy a lot of transsexuals because it forwards the “trans = fake� trope that is too often used to marginalize us.

6) Memo to Phillips: The “Like all men he’s not great with pain� line isn’t funny. Making fun of men is just as sexist as making fun of women. And besides, when your commercial consists of nothing but stereotypically hyper-feminine imagery, you can’t make up for it all at the end with one, apparently ironic, pseudo-feminist dis on men.

7) And one more thing: I hope the makers of Secret deodorant sue you for essentially stealing their “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman� campaign.

Thanks to Jessica for the link.

Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist.

What Danica Patrick's victory means to young girls who aspire to be racecar drivers.

Last week, coincidentally the Global Action Week for Education, UNICEF released a study showing Afghan girls are excluded from the country's education system.

The awful Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now adding to his resume of "shaming" male inmates by forcing them to wear pink underwear and denying female inmates abortion access by throwing a few immigration raids into the mix. Last week he rounded up 150 immigrants against even the wishes of the mayor , who said, "That's not acceptable behavior for anyone, let alone someone whose job is to help make our community safer."

A good post from secondhandsally on obsession, objectification, and Judd Apatow movies.

Why young women in particular are at risk for pay discrimination.

Menstrual blood could save lives! (Now I'm waiting for the Christian right to come out against this because there are baaaaaabies in that blood… or something.)

A Saudi court ruled that a man had not, in fact, attempted to rape a woman (despite the fact that she leapt out a window to get away from him) because her jeans were found folded on the bed.

Ashton Kutcher is a real asshat.

A plus-size woman will compete in the Miss England pageant. I'm torn between being glad that the pageant is expanding its definition of what beautiful looks like, and still hating on pageant culture as a whole.

Someone has started a cleaning service called Dust Bunnies in which women clean your house clad in lingerie or topless. Endorsed by Time Out Chicago: "The chance to entertain your sexy-maid fantasies while actually having your place cleaned...need we say more?" Sigh.

Christina Ricci: “I think people are learning to actually aspire to be objectified. It’s like the highest form of flattery for teenage girls. The culture we live in right now seems to reward behavior that we used to frown upon. We used to teach our daughters not to be like this." Well, I agree with the general sentiment, but let's not veer toward the "gee, everything was great back in the 1950s" mode of thinking, mmkay?

NPR's News and Notes had a good segment on women's rights in Sudan.

From a recent performance at The Whitney Biennial. Photo by Eduardo Aparicio.

Coco Fusco is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is the author of English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas, and editor of Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas, and Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self (with Brian Wallis). Her work on military interrogation was selected for the 2008 Whitney Biennial.

"In the guise of a CIA manual, Coco Fusco's provocative A Field Guide for Female Interrogators offers an unflinching look at women's role in the military and at America's use of torture in the War on Terror"-- (from the book's back cover copy).

Here's Coco...

This one is a keeper.

Thanks to Becca for the link.

This has got to be a joke.

When the warm weather comes, I always dread to go outside when I wear a dress for the first time and find men cat-call, whistle and - what's worst for me - stare me down as I walk past them. While I should be happy that the sun is finally out and I can wear lighter clothes again, the spring seems to bring the neighborhood sleazies out of hibernation.

The New York Times published this gem yesterday about how dresses are becoming out-of-date, in which the author makes a plea for the survival of dresses, not for the comfort or convenience for women, but for all leering men's sakes:

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.

That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become 'a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.' Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is "gender play"? I didn't realize trousers were still a "man's" piece of clothing.

And it doesn't end there, not by a long shot. He proceeds to refer to the "classic story" by Irwin Shaw, “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,� not surprisingly an unbelievably sexist story about a man who is explaining to his wife that he just loves to look at beautiful women while she begs him not to leave her for someone else. Here are a couple of other lovely references to why women should wear dresses:

The summer dress, in all shapes and styles, is preferred by many women, and by men who like watching them. (Photo caption)

From a 'retro' and 'Mad Men' garment, the dress was transformed into a wardrobe staple, to the benefit of women and those who get pleasure from gazing at them. . .

The dress, Jennifer Emory, another midday shopper, said: 'is very easy and very flattering — a no-brainer, really. It’s comfortable, and you can easily go from day to night. And guys like it because it’s so feminine.'

. . . And so, for those of us who take pleasure in the sight of a woman in a summer dress walking along Fifth Avenue, her dress caught in a faint breeze, a vision that calls to mind a Guy Wiggins painting or the famous bit of dialogue spoken by the actor Everett Sloane in 'Citizen Kane,' there is still time. (Emphasis mine)

In short, dresses are still the hot thing this summer so men can have their daily dose of voyeurism.

The sad thing about this piece is that it won't do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women's love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn't get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else's fancy.

Thanks to the readers who alerted us to this!

I added an update to my post on Wednesday about the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- noting that Senate Republicans blocked the bill from passing. John McCain wasn't there for the vote, but he opposed the legislation: (via Scott)

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," McCain told reporters yesterday. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

To summarize: McCain's not against women and people of color being paid the same as white men for doing the same work -- heck, if businesses want to pay fairly, that's great! -- but he doesn't think we should make businesses do so. And not holding businesses accountable for wage discrimination is the same thing as endorsing it.

In my interview with Lilly Ledbetter, she actually responded to McCain's position on the legislation:

We've had a lot of opposition that said this would just open up a multitude of lawsuits, and it would be tough on corporations to fight these cases. But that's not true. If a person or individual thinks they have a case, they can't even go to EEOC unless they have proof. You can't just waltz into EEOC.

Right. It's not exactly like it was easy for Ledbetter -- and others in her situation -- to prove they were discriminated against. In fact, there are some very high barriers to getting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to recognize your complaint as valid.

So the "I hate lawsuits" defense is bullshit. McCain is really saying that he values the rights of corporations over the rights of women and people of color who work for them. Thanks, buddy.

via Jack and Jill Politics, there's a new Facebook application that allows you to register to vote. You can also find unregistered friends and invite them to become voters, too!

Then, of course, you gotta make it a priority to actually vote. I know, that's easier said than done when the system is basically set up to be confusing and riddled with barriers. Check out Cara's voting story (posted when she was guest-blogging at Feministing), and Jen's story of "voter condescension". No wonder there are 5 million single women in this country who are registered but don't vote.

But that said, I'm getting so sick of the media picking apart all the supposed motivations of women voters, it feels refreshing to shift the discussion to one about actually casting votes.

This is completely indefensible. These images are flat-out racist. Not. Okay.

I want to echo Holly's sentiments, and her call for more information about how the hell this happened. And I'll be writing a letter to Seal that's very similar to Barry's.

UPDATE: Seal Press has issued an apology, and will be removing the images from future printings of the book.

UPDATE II Amanda has also apologized.

Check out Rebecca Traister's latest: An interview with Amy Poehler and a review of Baby Mama that puts the humorless feminist stereotype to rest. (Finally.)

It looks like the University of Portland not only is denying justice to an alleged rape victim, but is ignoring the existence of sexual assault on their campus altogether, reports the Willamette Week.

The private Catholic university and police have not yet taken action since Amy Kerns reported it a year ago, and when she contacted the school to inquire why there were no charges, she was basically told she was lucky she wasn't reprimanded for underage drinking. UP judicial coordinator Natalie Shank responded to Kerns:

“Based upon my findings in my investigation, I am unable to determine if a sexual assault occurred. . . I have reason to believe that intercourse occurred, but both parties admit to drinking and therefore, consent—or lack of consent—is difficult to determine. Given these facts, there are possible violations for which you could be charged.� (Emphasis mine)

Yeah, threats of penalties when a woman is seeking help for sexual assault is a really fucking responsible thing to do. Not to mention that UP's policies say that premarital sex is “considered antithetical to the community of the University of Portland.� Premarital sex? Absolutely not! Rape? Well, it depends on the case...

In fact, the university reported not one case of sexual assault to federal authorities in 2006. Kerns, who is currently taking time off from school, said:

“[Shank] decided since we were both drinking, rape couldn’t have occurred. . . It was like she was the one deciding consent—not me.�

Email Natalie Shank and demand that the University of Portland take action on Amy Kern's case and change their sexual assault policies.

Thanks to Malori and Devon for the heads up.

Because what home would be complete without a kneeling ass chair?

Shakes has a ton more in her series on disembodied woman things...

Most U.S. women have 'disordered eating' - UPI.com: "Sixty-five percent of U.S. women ages 25 to 45 report having disordered eating behaviors, such as skipping meals or cutting out food groups, a study found."

Oh Joy: The Stupid Spirit Airlines M.I.L.F. Sale Is Back: "We're probably just encouraging them, but we felt some sort of strange obligation to let you know that Spirit Airlines has brought back the (controversial?) M.I.L.F. sale."

Facebook - Equal Rights Amendment: An ERA fan page!

For Chris Matthews, Misogyny Pays Handsomely - AlterNet: "In fact, in Matthews' case, the sexist outbursts have helped propel his career. That's how he landed on the cover of the Times magazine. Why? Because misogyny pays."

Congress Holds Hearings on Abstinence-Only - RHRealityCheck: "Numerous scientific and ethical critiques have been raised about abstinence-only education for young people. These concerns are articulated in reports by the Society for Adolescent Medicine, the American Public Health Association, and others."

Our Bodies Our Blog: Mortality Inequality: Life Expectancy Declines for Some U.S. Women: "The Washington Post has a front-page story today that's a shocker: Lfe expectancy for some U.S. women is on the decline, and the data points to a growing inequality between the best-off and worst-off counties."

Woman, 19, becomes youngest college professor - MSNBC.com: "Perhaps in Alia Sabur’s wildly advanced studies she came across a famous quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 'Knowing is not enough. We must apply,' the German writer once observed."

Latoya at Racialicious has a roundup of recent incidents of blatant racism on college campuses -- particularly op-eds written in college newspapers. And here at Feministing, we've written about some pretty appallingly sexist commentary in the campus press. (People send us links to craptacular college op-eds all the time.)

One thing these articles and incidents have in common is that they often purport to be satire -- as in, "who would believe that I really want to declare war on all Asian Americans?" To be sure, there's a fine line between satirizing racism/sexism and perpetuating it. But these columns weren't printed in a known satirical publication (like the Onion). They were printed alongside straightforward opinions and reported news. And majority of these writers don't even walk that thin line between satire and hate. It's so far over the line as to make the "it was satire!" excuse completely ridiculous. The language is often incredibly violent. And it is invariably directed at poor people, people of color, women, disabled people, etc. (Huh. Wonder why that is??)

I think there are a number of reasons why college campus media provide such awful examples of straight-up racism/sexism thinly cloaked in "humor." The writers and editors are (relatively speaking) inexperienced. The audience is (perceived to be) rather small. And, chiefly, there is this idea of the Op-Ed section of the paper as a free-for-all zone. I know it was when I worked at the campus paper, and chatting with some college newspaper editors at a journalism school recently, I don't think much has changed. Most newspapers take pains to hire columnists with a "range of views," and those columnists are given free reign to write whatever they want and offend whomever they choose. (Heck, that's practically the point of the op-ed pages, isn't it?! -- kidding, folks.) And some editors seem to believe that opinions can't be held to the same standard of "fact" as news articles are. Just read what the editors of the CU Campus Press, which published a hate-filled screed about Asian people, said about the incident:

So as you can see I have been MIA again, but I promise I have a really good reason. I just wanted to drop in and say Hi!, but also talk a little bit about what I am doing and why I have been so busy. There have been tons of things I want to write about, but I have been preoccupied.

While you are reading this, I am in the middle of a three day training that I have coordinated for the last two months to support grassroots organizers in their campaign work. As some of you know I work at an organization called the Center for Media Justice where we defend the communications rights of disenfranchised communities. I have put together a training specifically focusing on social justice organizing goals such as youth rights, immigrant rights, gender rights and economic justice, recognizing that many of the communities we seek to empower, do not have access to traditional media.

Through this training and through the work of my organization we hope to build the competency of disenfranchised folks and give them the skills they need to communicate their campaign goals and lead them to victory.

Corporate takeover of mainstream media has had many bad effects on our communities. Blogging is one way that we can get our voices into the mainstream to at least attempt to reframe our issues and speak for ourselves. By supporting organizers in their work and to help them gain the skills they need to access media and get their stories heard is another way we can begin to see justice.

So I will be training for the next three days. If anyone is interested in the work I do or want resources and strategy in your neck of the woods, leave questions in comments or shoot me an email.

I will be back in action next week!

Love ya!

As sparks flew this week about intergenerational feminism and the current election circus, there was one thing that continually buoyed me: my girls. I got emails from Michelle at Lehigh and Debbie at Girl with Pen, I got calls and texts from my feministing co-editors and feminist friends offline, and, of course, Jessica's awesome post and Ann's great editing officially allowed me to feel "in cahoots" (best word ever?).

No matter what intergenerational misunderstandings may arise, it is so heartening to know that women my age stand in solidarity. We respect our elders, but god damn it's awesome that we also support, lift up, and value one another. I think we're getting better each generation at perfecting the psychology of abundance--the idea that one of us having success doesn't preclude anyone else's, and that in fact, the more young women's voices we get into the public debate and into positions of influence and power, the more all of us will be heard.

I know there are complexities within our generation of feminists--one can just look at recent blogosphere controversies for evidence of that--but I think it's important that we also recognize how much progress we have made in forming supportive friendships across class, racial, and other sorts of divides. We are down for the cause, but even more beautiful and radical, I think we do a pretty powerful job of being down for one another.

I'm still wading through both The Terror Dream by Susan Faludi and Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May. Check out last week's post for a rundown of why.

One of the things that struck me the most during this week's reading was the notion of comfort and how we seek it in very personal ways after very public events. In the case of Homeward Bound, comfort was to be found in marriages with traditional gender roles after WWII, when in fact, as May demonstrates, many people were profoundly uncomfortable in their own lives (but had told themselves a story about why it was necessary and good for it to be the way it was). She draws on the Kelly Longitudinal Study, which consisted of several surveys of 600 middle-class men and women during the post-war era. Some of the excerpts she picks out are totally heartbreaking, like when one mom/wife named Emily enumerates the things that she's sacrificed for her comfortable family life:

1. A way of life (an easy one)
2. All friends of long duration; close relationships
3. Independence and personal freedom
4. What seemed to contribute to my personality.
5. Financial independence.
6. Goals in this life.
7. Idea as to size of family.
8. Personal achievements--type changed.
9. Close relationship with brother and mother and grandmother.

And yet, Faludi is arguing that the sacrifice of authenticity for a perceived comfort is still very much alive and well.

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has confessed to suffering from bulimia for ten years before getting treatment. He told the BBC: "I want to say to the millions of people, do take advice, it can help and it can help you out of a lot of misery that you suffer in silence."

I think Prescott is incredibly brave. Too often folks only think of eating disorders as a female affliction, as he puts it "anorexic girls, models trying to keep their weight down - or women in stressful situations, like Princess Diana," but in fact 10% of those throughout the world with eating disorders are men. With the rise of lad mags like Men's Health, that are basically as body-focused and insecurity-inducing as Cosmo, men are being pressured to adhere to a body ideal as well. There's a whole cosmetic industry cropping up to profit from this insecurity--men's skin, hair, and nail products. Not exactly the equality we were looking for, huh ladies?

While Prescott is brave, The BBC article is actually pretty stupid. Even after establishing that his disease stemmed from his inability to manage stress, it ends with a focus on his weight. For the last frickin' time people, eating disorders are psychological, not physical diseases. If an inability to manage his emotions caused the disease, why not report on how he learned to do that, not his 15 stones?

Thanks to Soledad for the heads up.

Actress and Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman is at the UN today advocating for UNIFEM's Say No to Violence against Women campaign. As Mark at the UN Dispatch says, "Most coverage of this visit, though, seems to focus on the fact that Kidman is six months pregnant--and shockingly is showing a 'baby bump.' Amazing how that works."

Read the whole post here.

Three Iranian feminists were recently arrested and received suspended sentences of lashings and six months in prison for "acting against national security."

Nasrin Afzali (pictured at right), Nahid Jafari, and Minoo Mortazi were found guilty of acting against national security, disrupting public order, and refusing to follow police orders. All the charges stem from their participation in a political rally outside a Tehran courtroom in March 2006.

A fourth female activist, Zeinab Payghambarzadeh, who attended the same rally, was given a two-year suspended prison term after being accused of similar charges.

The sentences will only be carried out if the women are found guilty of another crime within two years. All four women intend to appeal the verdicts.

The women charged are the activists responsible for the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to collect one million signatures for petition addressed to the Iranian Parliament asking for an end to discriminatory laws against women. You can find out more about the campaign from the video above and here.

Zahra Arzani, Jafari's defense lawyer, said "people who take part in these projects should be appreciated and shown gratitude for doing this work, instead of being sent to prison and beaten up."

The Feminist Peace Network and Global Voices Online have more.

Thanks to Roja, who I met in California this weekend, for all the great info.

On Monday I talked to Lilly Ledbetter, a truly awesome woman who sued her employer, Goodyear Tire, for paying her less than her male coworkers for year after year. As you may recall, the Supreme Court ruled last year that, because Ledbetter did not file a complaint within 180 days of her first paycheck. Nevermind that she didn't find out about the pay disparity until nearly 20 years later.

Well, Congress is considering legislation that would undo the damage the Supreme Court has done. The Senate is voting on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act at 6pm EDT tonight! So call your Senater now and ask for a YES vote.

Here a taste of my conversation with Lilly:

What do you say to people who claim that the wage gap is not due to discrimination, it's just that women choose lower-paid work and drop out of the work force to raise children?

No! No, no, no, no. I have had my eyes opened up a great deal being involved in this. I filed my charge in 1998; I've been working with this situation since that time. I have correspondence [from people in similar situations] from all over the United States. I was born and reared in Alabama, and I thought this was just a Southern problem. But it's not -- it's a national problem. It doesn't only affect line workers like I was but professional people like doctors and university professors. It's not right, and it's high time for women to be paid equal.

In my case, the money I should have been compensated hurt me, because my retirement was based on what I earned. So that was much lower. I'm like a second-class citizen for the rest of my life. I will never be compensated for my lower wages and my pension, and Social Security wages are much lower, because Goodyear paid me less.

But if I can help support and get this bill passed for others, for all discrimination protection, it'll help our daughters, our granddaughters in the future. And I am so grateful the bill has already passed the House, and I'm hoping it'll pass the Senate.

She told me her 70th birthday was last week, and the best birthday present would be to see this legislation pass.

Here she is on video:

Also check out some Blog for Fair Pay action.

UPDATE: The bill failed to get enough votes for a floor vote. Thanks, Republicans! Doesn't mean the legislation is dead, but it certainly didn't pass tonight.

This guy wants to feel your boobs.

So apparently at a software convention called ConFusion, a bunch of guys were standing around and talking about how awesome the world would be if they could just reach out and grab any woman's boobs. And a woman near them piped up that they could touch her breasts, and they all proceeded to grope her. Then, according to a post by some dude who calls himself the Ferrett, pictured above, they asked other women:

"It was exciting, of course. I won't deny it was sexual. But it was a miraculous sexuality that didn't feel dirty, but clean.

Emboldened, we started asking other people. And lo, in the rarified atmosphere of the con, few were offended and many agreed. And they also felt that strange charge. We went around the con, asking those who we thought might be amenable - you didn't just ask anyone, but rather the ones who'd dressed to impress - and generally, people responded. They understood how this worked instinctively, and it worked.

Did you catch that? "The ones who'd dressed to impress"? Almost as if they were "asking for it"? That because they were wearing a tight shirt, their breasts were practically public property, anyway?

By the end of the evening, women were coming up to us. "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."

Because what could be more intoxicating than the approval of a room full of tech dudes?

We talked about this. It was an Open-Source Project, making breasts available to select folks. (Like any good project, you need access control, because there are loutish men and women who just Don't Get It.) And we wanted a signal to let people know that they were okay with being asked politely, so we turned it into a project: The Open-Source Boob Project.

For those of you not technologically inclined, "open-source" software means the code is available for anyone to use. All-access. Everyone has a right to it. Just like women's bodies! (Get it? They're so clever!)

Oh, but it doesn't stop there...

I have to say, I'm impressed. When I posted an anti-feminist hate email from the (now former) public relations officer of the Southern Illinois University College Republicans, I didn't expect any action to be taken.

On the contrary, not only did officers of the CR - Wess Haubrich and Jermaine Raymer - come into the thread to offer apologies (as did the emailer himself, Alex Kochno, though his apology was not as well-taken by commenters), but SIU also took out an ad in their college paper (4/23, p 14) renouncing the act. Kochno also resigned from his position at CR, I'm assuming under pressure from his peers.

And to top things off, I received an email from the SIU administration informing me how seriously they took the email and that Kochno's email privileges were suspended pending a student conduct code review.

I think major kudos go to the SIU administration and the officers of the CR for their prompt and thorough response.

SIU's response has really heartened me. I think we all know how rampant online misogyny is, and how difficult it is to deal with because of anonymity issues. But I think incidents like these show how we can hold harassers accountable, and how seriously the "real" world will take hate speech - online or off.

So big thanks to SIU administration, the CR, and the many SIU students who emailed us. I have a little more hope today because of your action.

Clinton wins in PA. Thoughts?

We're all about subversive reclaiming here at Feministing, hence our bird-flipping mudflap girl logo. So dear readers, what's your favorite reclaimed word (or image, etc)?

Pic from slithy-toves.

Talk about a fucking depressing statistic.

The British public gives more to a Devon-based donkey sanctuary than the most prominent charities trying to combat violence and abuse against women, a report released today by a leading philanthropy watchdog reveals.

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) has calculated that more than 7 million women have been affected by domestic violence but found that Refuge, the Women's Aid Federation and Eaves Housing for Women have a combined annual income of just £17m. By contrast the Donkey Sanctuary, which has looked after 12,000 donkeys, received £20m in 2006.

Justine Järvinen, the author of the report, said, "As a society we are not spending enough on this issue whether through charities or the government...Violence against women appears regularly as the subject of media reports and in the storylines of soap operas but rarely does it come up in normal conversation, which suggests there is a stigma around it. The truth is it is very common."

Since September, three University of Georgia professors have resigned amid sexual harassment complaints; the administration was faulted for not responding quickly enough. So what better speaker to bring in for UGA's graduation ceremony than U.S Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?

The university announced Friday that Thomas would be the commencement speaker, setting off rounds of angry and frustrated e-mails between faculty members. Thomas, a Georgia native, faced a bitterly contested confirmation process for his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1991 after his former employee, Anita Hill, accused him of sexual harassment.

Some faculty members said they were outraged that the university would ask Thomas to speak when UGA has been facing criticism that administrators have been slow to address sexual harassment complaints filed against faculty members.

"What a slap in the face this is to everyone who has been working to bring to light the realities of sexual harassment, and to establish appropriate methods and offices for addressing this significant problem on our campus," Chris Cuomo, director of UGA's Institute for Women's Studies, told The Red & Black student newspaper.

Via Think Progress.

To add to Jessica's earlier post on wingnuts who blame feminists for carbon emissions (you can't make this stuff up), check out this quote from today's Family Research Council email:

Today isn't just another reminder to use recycled paper or drive energy-efficient cars. It's a calculated attack on the sanctity of human life. Population control is inextricably linked to the environmental and abortion movements. [...] The crisis du jour is global warming, but even that is just another excuse to fund "Planet" Parenthood and similar groups.

OMG, they've figured out our sinister feminist-environmentalist agenda! We wreck the earth by driving to our jobs (where we're bitches who demand equal pay), then we have a few abortions to offset all the carbon we've put into the atmosphere. It's genius! Join me, my fellow feminist-environmentalists, in a round of cackling (yes, cackling)! Muhahahaha!

Yes, seriously. Jack Cashill at WorldNetDaily says feminism is bad for the environment. Wait for it...because "equal pay for equal work also means equal commutes." Anti-feminist logic is sometimes too good to be true.

Indeed, stay-at-homes moms save the state's highway infrastructure from meltdown, especially since a "nanny" often drives to the working mom's house, putting three cars on the road where otherwise one would do.

Homeschooling moms further ease the strain on the ecosystem by keeping their kids off the road. The California judged who ruled that "parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children" obviously did not prepare an environmental impact statement before doing so.

Cashill not only thinks that women should stay home (for gas conservation, he swears!) but he also thinks they shouldn't be allowed to get divorced.

As part of its sexual and feminist flowering, California all but invented no-fault divorce in 1969, the same year the Santa Barbara oil spill jumpstarted the environmental movement.

...When not ignoring divorce completely, the media have done their best to trivialize it. PBS' "Sesame Street," for instance, offered a typically perky vignette on the subject, in which a cute little bird describes her home life.

She frolics part of the time in her mother's nest, she tells Kermit the Frog, and the rest of her time in a separate tree where she frolics with her dad. "They both love me," she chirps.

If, however, mom has a nest, and dad has a nest, California needs a whole lot more nests than it otherwise would, not to mention more resources to heat, cool, light and water those nests and more gas to ferry the baby birds between them.

Uh...he knows birds don't drive, right? In any case, I've thought of a solution. Cashill drives America's working women around all day, that way they don't have to. (Also, he stops watching Sesame Street. Just because.)

Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.

While there's a humorous critique of the ridiculous "woman-friendly" a.k.a. pink idiocy of birth control commercials, there's got to be something said about the wee perpetuation here of the stereotype that women are or can be hormonally out of control. (The pink ax says it all.)

(But I will admit the general hilarity of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler caused me to laugh my ass off when I saw this.)

Thanks to Daniela for the link.

Yesterday our fellow blogger Courtney Martin wrote a thoughtful piece for TAP, calling for a more complex conversation of some of the generational feminist tension that's surrounded the election. (This was in response to Linda Hirshman's Slate article, Yo Mamma, that posited young feminists who don't want to vote for Clinton have Mommy issues.)

The media loves a catfight, and over the last six months or so, feminists have provided no shortage of finger-pointing, name-calling, and stereotyping. I don't intend to rehash the firestorms here, but suffice it to say that more than a few bridges have been burned.

When we engage in "either/or" thinking, when we dismiss and reduce one another, it weakens the movement.

The media may not have the future of the feminist movement in mind, but I do. It's time that we declared a ceasefire on the caricatures and explored the shadows -- not just the silhouettes -- of our differences.

But instead of complexity and nuance, the next piece we see on young feminists and the election is little more than a gleeful screed against all young women. Debra Dickerson writes:

I oversimplify, but so do young women who inherited what we mothers fought for and now want us to disappear so our girls can go wild and pole dance without feeling all guilty. Caricatures work both ways, missy.

She goes on to call young feminists "honey," "chicks," "childish," and greedy. All in one post!

In honor of the Reproductive Justice Week of Action that Jessica posted about last week, I wanted to share a few of my own thoughts about RJ as well.

In my day job, I work at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, whose work is based on the principles of reproductive justice (RJ). I spend a good amount of my time talking to people about reproductive justice, usually with the Latina/Latino men and women that we work with. I really like the framework because I think it provides us with a wholistic and broad-based way of bringing in all the issues we care about, through a feminist lens.

When I talk about RJ, I talk about it as being about people's right to create the families they want to create. The work that we do as part of the reproductive justice movement is all about ensuring people's right to create these families (when and how they want to create them), and that can encompass A LOT of different issues. For example, there are the obivous ones, like reproductive health care access. You can't create the family you want if you don't have access to things like birth control, abortion and prenatal care. It also encompasses things like immigration status, socioeconomic conditions, job security, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race and discrimination, spirituality, environmental conditions.

Each of these issues has an impact on our ability to create the families we want to create, and therefore must be a part of the repro justice movement. It's a philosophy that emphasizes the intersectionality of the many social justice issues, and I'm a big fan.

When you thought Western culture couldn't be more patronizing towards women from Muslim nations, their victimization and "powerlessness" might as well come with some infantalization to top it off:

Saudi Arabian women have fewer rights than infants in the West, a report released today claims.

The important thing about this condescension is that their lack of rights are compared to the West, specifically liberated Western babies. (Whatever that means.)

The (not-so) funny thing about the headline is that the report by Human Rights Watch doesn't seem to mention anything about Saudi women having fewer rights that Western children. Could they have covered the fact that some women have to gain permission from their sons to travel? Or that Saudi authorities treat adult women like legal minors? This is a blatant misrepresentation of research that addresses some serious issues.

At the same time, Zoheir al-Harithi, spokesman for Saudi's Human Rights Commission, says that the report didn't focus on productive efforts to improve the situation as well as confused tradition with state policy. "We agree with some points and we are working on that as a commission for the government, but we don't agree with the generalisation."

You can download the full report, Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia, here.

Well here's one that will make you laugh.

Thanks to Lauren for the link.

Anyone remember Erin Davies? She's the Albany woman whose Volkswagen Beetle was defaced with "fag" and "u r gay," and instead of fixing her car - she decided to take action. She kept the slurs on the car as a way to start conversations and to raise awareness about queer issues and homophobia.

Well, it seems Davies' car has gotten a new look. Thanks to the folks at Volkswagen, Davies got her car an awesome new paint job. She now takes the Fag Bug across the country, keeping a blog.

Davies says, "Fag Bug has become much more than when it started. And to be able to transform it into something positive, rather than have people look at my car and be upset and hurt, I'd rather they look and see how bright the colors are, see something fun and playful instead of something hurtful." Davies is also has a book and movie in the works. Awesome!

Thanks to Rob for the link.

New Yorker readers are probably aware of the magazine's weekly cartoon caption contest. Well, I'm positive that Feministing readers can come up with some awesome captions for this week's cartoon:

Leave your captions in comments, and also submit them to the New Yorker.

Thanks to Dana B. for the link.

Check out my response on TAP to Linda Hirshman's Slate piece last week, which basically reduced the intergenerational fracas surrounding the election down to a mother-daughter dynamic. Serious props to the brilliant Ms. Ann for her tenacious and inspired editing. An excerpt of our handy work:

When we engage in "either/or" thinking, when we dismiss and reduce one another, it weakens the movement. Of course the mainstream media encourages this degraded form of debate -- those who imitate shock-jock provocation find it easier to get column inches and air time because they are mirroring the already reductionist tone of the mainstream media. Those feminist writers that disagree while exploring the nuances and avoiding personal attacks are seen as too soft, too complex for most media outlets. Too many producers and op-ed editors want fur flying, not thoughtful exchange.

The media may not have the future of the feminist movement in mind, but I do. It's time that we declared a ceasefire on the caricatures and explored the shadows -- not just the silhouettes -- of our differences. I may not have voted for her in the primary, but I deeply respect what Clinton has endured as a woman painstakingly unknotting gender and power. I'd like to learn more about why many of the older feminists I know are so supportive of her; too often I've only heard why they're frustrated that more young women aren't. Regardless of what goes down in the Pennsylvania primary tomorrow, I'd like us all to celebrate how Clinton's run has changed the face of politics and strategize on what we can do to ensure that future women get a fair shot at the nomination.

A UK-wide survey finds that 76 percent of employers said that they would not hire a woman if they knew she were going to become pregnant within six months of starting her employment. More findings:

52 per cent will weigh up the chances of a candidate getting pregnant, taking into account age and whether they have just got married (although asking that direct question to an interviewee is not allowed).

68 per cent of employers would like more rights to quiz candidates about their plans for a family.

Depressing and infuriating. Check out NAPW's Guide to Pregnancy Discrimination in Employment for more information on pregnancy discrimination at work.

We're all painfully aware of how common it is for the media to "digitally slim-down" women's (and girls') bodies. But now some magazines are apparently using Photoshop to fill out super-skinny celebrities and models. (via bits & bobbins)

Nicky Eaton, the head of press and PR at Condé Nast, which publishes Vogue, GQ, and Glamour, also confirmed that images of models were enhanced to make them appear fuller-figured.

"There have been cases where models are booked way ahead of a shoot and then they turn up two months later looking less healthy and perhaps a bit underweight. We wouldn't be happy showing them that way, so it is then that we would need that person to look a little bit fuller."

But Susan Ringwood, the chief executive of the eating disorder charity Beat, condemned the practice. "Altering models' bodies to appear fuller-figured proves that the industry acknowledges there is a serious issue with projecting images of very thin models, but [it is] missing the point," she said. "They should be using naturally healthy models in the first instance, instead of having to make them look that way."

Indeed, if you want to send the message that curvier is sexier, then hire some models who are actually curvy! I can't imagine how thin those models must have been for Conde Nast to declare them "unhealthy looking." If you're unhealthily underweight by even the fashion industry's standards, that's pretty extreme.

At its core, I don't believe this type of Photoshopping is about deflecting criticism that models and celebrities are dangerously thin. I think this is about perpetuating an even more unrealistic beauty standard than unattainable thinness (something I never thought possible): the message is that you should be super, super skinny, borderline skeletal, but without any of the things that come with the territory, like jutting hipbones or small boobs. So even the skinniest celebrities STILL require Photoshopping to meet this standard. You can be less than a size zero and still lose this game. And that's pretty frightening.

More at Feminocracy.

Check out this clip from FORA TV of a discussion between sex columnist Dan Savage and feminist Amy Richards (whose new book Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, will be released later this month.)

I love me some good news to start the week off with!

Danica Patrick became the first female winner in IndyCar history Sunday, taking the Indy Japan 300 after the top contenders were forced to pit for fuel in the final laps.

Patrick finished 5.8594 seconds ahead of pole-sitter Helio Castroneves on the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval after leader Scott Dixon pitted with five laps left and Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan came in a lap later.

Patrick said of the win, "It's a long time coming. Finally... knew there was a good reason for coming to Japan...I want to thank my team, the fans and everyone who supported me."

UPDATE: Reader Krista mentions that Patrick also won in spite of a new rule aimed at the women in Indy car, which says that that lighter drivers have to carry ten more pounds on them. (Of course, the three lightest drivers in car racing are all women.) Patrick responded to this rule last month: "There's no weight limit in football...There's no height limit in basketball...And what about the strength aspect? What are they doing to fix that? As a smaller driver, I have to work harder in that area."

Much thanks to Radigals of the Women's and Gender Studies Dept at Rutgers University for inviting me to return to my old stomping grounds (I got my BA there) and speak at their conference this weekend, "Feminism, the Body and Technology."

I had the pleasure not only to speak for the lovely ladies of the official Undergraduate Women's and Gender Studies Association, but to learn more about how the program has been since I left and all the wonderful work these kick-ass women are doing. Check out their MySpace page for more info.

On feminism and Sex and the City. (via Broadsheet)

Serving sushi on naked women is a high-end food trend in the U.S. now, too? (Ok, and serving some on naked men, too. Still.)

Illinois considers putting known domestic abusers on a GPS tracking system.

Some female superdelegates who support Obama have had their sisterhood called into question.

The SAFER blog has a thought-provoking post on drinking and consent.

Unmarried women earn only 56 cents for every dollar a married man earns (PDF).

LiP magazine on Obama and white voters: "But this is where things become considerably more complicated; the point at which one is forced to determine what, exactly, his success means (and doesn't mean) when it comes to the state of race, race relations, and racism in the United States. And it is at this point that so-called mainstream commentary has, once again, dropped the ball."

Fewer med schools are training future doctors in how to perform abortions.

Pro-choice women turned out before the Lithuanian Parliament to protest the proposed abortion ban.

How race, class, and other factors influence quality of life for aging Americans.

A group called the Internet Sexuality Information Services is holding a contest for the best underwear design that promotes STD awareness. Oh lord…

The sexist coverage we've come to expect from articles about Hillary Clinton is now showing up in articles about Chelsea Clinton.

Iraqi refugees forced to turn to prostitution.

Are black women always the "mean girls" on "reality" TV?

Much more after the jump...

Martha Ma is a food and media educator and producer, community chef and health counselor. She is the host and producer of "The Tasty Life," a bi-weekly television show on Manhattan Public Access channel 57, and the editor of the e-newsletter, "Eater's Digest."

Martha is also executive producer of the Food for Thought Film Festival. If you're in the NYC area this weekend, check out the last weekend of the festival at Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place at Third Ave. Feature films include King Corn, Black Gold, and Life and Debt. Shorts include The Meatrix I, II and II 1/2 and The True Cost of Food.

Here's Martha...

So I had to plug this event because it looks so bad-ass. I have been really busy lately, but I am going to try and promote more Bay Area events, since there is so much bad-ass stuff going on around here. And please put more events in comments!

Bibi Chic * Queer Middle East Shake Those Hips!
An unprecedented fundraiser for Six International Charitable
Queer Middle-Eastern and North African Organizations

San Francisco's Premier Queer Middle-Eastern and North African Charitable Dance Party will sweep into San Francisco again for our fourth major event since June 2007 Pride. On Saturday, April 19th, an incredible lineup of artists of the music and performance variety will be tantalizing your hips and senses at Bibi Chic!

Bibi Chic will feature an unprecedented performance by a collective of local, queer, performance artists and DJs performing a mixture of classical and fusion style Go Go Belly Dancing, and music spanning the entire Middle-Eastern and North African region.

Remember the Jena 6 situation of 07? Well it hasn't gotten much better, just off the radar of the mainstream media. But that is why we blog. Jesse Ray Beard, the youngest of the Jena 6, is fighting to have the notorious Judge J.P. Mauffray and District Attorney Reed Walters removed from his case. I am going to reprint the press release here and you can read more about it here, here and here. It is clear that this situation is really fucked up and a very real example of how racism is still very vibrant, both in nuanced ways and in institutional-oh that's so 40 years ago-ways. Will keep you posted on any developments.

I have acne, my knees are round, my left breast is bigger than the right one, my abs are not flat (and never will be), but surprisingly enough, I’m OK with all of these things. Two years ago, though, I would not have been. I am a girl who has gone from being obese to weighing practically nothing. While I did not necessarily suffer from anorexia, I dangerously flirted with the disorder. I felt as though my entire body was socially inadequate, so in high school I determined that the only way to be accepted was to be skinny like all of the celebrities that were in my home state of California. In a mere year and a half I lost 70 pounds, at the end of it I looked like a skeleton and was in critical health. After years of therapy and seeing a nutritionist, I am finally at a healthy weight. Now as a college freshman in Texas, I try to promote more realistic expectations of the female form through my work with the campus Women’s Center.

At V to the 10th in New Orleans, we had the privilege of attending a panel regarding body issues that was lead by Rosario Dawson (RENT), Kerry Washington (The Last King Of Scotland), Ali Larter (Heros, Legally Blonde), and Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants).

Thank god.

After the highest court of Maryland reheard the case which made the horrifying ruling that a woman cannot be raped once she has consented to sex, the court has overturned the decision and broadened the definition of rape to, um, rape:

With this expansion of the legal definition of rape, Maryland joins seven other states whose courts have determined that a woman can revoke her consent after intercourse begins.

'This goes to the heart of women's autonomy,' said Lisae C. Jordan, legal director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which filed a brief in the matter. 'It says that, yes, women do have the right to make decisions about something as intimate as sexual intercourse.'

The Maryland Court of Appeals' opinion in a rape case from Montgomery County overturns what defense attorneys and a lower appeals court said was existing common law and the high court's own 1980 opinion.

Like Jessica said, it's hard to believe that this was actually up for debate in the first place, but at least the right decision was made. (Nearly two years later.)

Aliza Shvarts writes,

As an intervention into our normative understanding of .the real. and its accompanying politics of convention, this performance piece has numerous conceptual goals. The first is to assert that often, normative understandings of biological function are a mythology imposed on form. It is this mythology that creates the sexist, racist, ableist, nationalist and homophobic perspective, distinguishing what body parts are .meant. to do from their physical capability. The myth that a certain set of functions are .natural. (while all the other potential functions are .unnatural.) undermines that sense of capability, confining lifestyle choices to the bounds of normatively defined narratives.

Just as it is a myth that women are .meant. to be feminine and men masculine, that penises and vaginas are .meant. for penetrative heterosexual sex (or that mouths, anuses, breasts, feet or leather, silicone, vinyl, rubber, or metal implements are not .meant. for sex at all), it is a myth that ovaries and a uterus are .meant. to birth a child.

When considering my own bodily form, I recognize its potential as extending beyond its ability to participate in a normative function. While my organs are capable of engaging with the narrative of reproduction . the time-based linkage of discrete events from conception to birth . the realm of capability extends beyond the bounds of that specific narrative chain. These organs can do other things, can have other purposes, and it is the prerogative of every individual to acknowledge and explore this wide realm of capability.

Thanks to Sarah for the link.

Previous post on the subject is here.

...because it worked out so well for Nicaragua?!

A few Lithuanian readers wrote in to let us know that the Lithuanian Parliament, under intense pressure from the Catholic church, is considering an abortion ban. Though I had a hard time finding English-language links on the subject, here's a letter from a pro-choice member of the Lithuanian Parliament, and here's a brief interview about the proposed ban.

Reader Julija writes,

Womens rights activists, local feminists and 110 members of the European Parliament have signed a letter to the Lithuanian Parliament appealing to MPs to reject the proposed legislation, yet it's hasn't been effective and there's a serious threat for women and the whole society. As you might know, abortions currently are illegal in three countries of the European Union (Malta, Ireland and Poland). As the example of Poland shows, women are forced to go to other countries of EU, while low income women are simply left with no choice.

Again -- and this is worth repeating -- laws like this only succeed in banning abortion for low-income women. Wealthy women in Lithuania will still be able to meet their reproductive health needs elsewhere in the EU.

Yesterday, according to Julija, the Lithuanian Parliament reportedly met to discuss the "pro-life experience" in Poland, presumably to determine what Lithuanian women have to look forward to? I wonder if they had any Polish women testify about their "pro-life experiences" with back-alley abortion? Because their stories are pretty horrifying.

This one was fun. (All the stories I mention are linked to on our YouTube page.)

And, of course, don't forget to subscribe to Feministing's videos!

Best Feminists Forever!!! Comix women Desiree Burch and Kambri Crews

Thanks to all the readers who came out for our monthly NYC happy hour and to check out the fabulous ladies of the Hysterical Festival on Monday night. They were all absolutely hilarious. Check out more pics after the jump.

Pics from Maryanne Ventrice.

This is horrible news:

The Triqui indigenous community of San Juan Copala, which declared autonomy on January 21, 2007, has suffered the bitter loss of two young women. Felicitas Martinez, age 20, and Teresa Bautista, age 24, were traveling in a rural part of Oaxaca state on route to the statewide meeting “For the Defense of the Rights of the Peoples of Oaxaca,� when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle late Monday. The gunfire killed the two women, and wounded three others in the vehicle, a man and wife and their three-year-old child, the Oaxaca attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Did you catch that? They were 20 and 24 years old, respectively. For me (someone who works in journalism), this news was a stark reminder that being an independent lefty journalist means very different things and carries very different burdens depending on where you live and the color of your skin. These women were infinitely braver and more dedicated than I will ever be.

The community radio station they worked for is called La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (“The Voice that Breaks the Silence�).

Feminist Peace Network has information on which authorities to contact to demand an investigation into the murders and punishment of those responsible.

Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the Supreme Court's decision to limit workers' ability to sue their employers based on gender and other forms of discrimination. This is a big deal because:

• Women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men.
• African-American women are paid 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men.
• Latinas are paid 52 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

That's not ok. Luckily Congress is considering legislation that would reverse the effects of the Court's anti-woman decision in Ledbetter, so please take a few minutes and ask your Senators to pass the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Seeking big-picture answers to wage discrimination is important. I am completely aware that women earn less than men for a whole host of systemic reasons. But this is a great opportunity to share some practical tips for women who aren't getting paid what they deserve, and to empower them to act on their own behalf. (Lord knows it's faster than waiting for Congress to help you out.) So I did a little vlogging on the subject:

(I'm not an expert or anything, so please post your own tips in comments. Also, I realize this advice is mostly geared to the 9-to-5 office-type gals among us, but hopefully it'll have some usefulness for those of you who work in other environments, too…)

If you don't want to watch 5 minutes of my "likes" and "ums," what I said is available in convenient bulleted-list form, after the jump…

Tons of readers wrote and asked us to address this article in the Yale Daily News about an art student who, supposedly, artificially inseminated herself and then had multiple abortions -- and taped the whole thing and called it art.

When I read the article, I was totally shocked it was in a student newspaper, not on an anti-choice website. I mean, it sounded like a crazy hoax (like the abortion providers who eat fetuses) designed to perpetuate all the worst stereotypes about women who choose abortion and people who protect their right to do so.

Well, turns out it the art project isn't real:

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, said. "She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body."

Ah, but rather than spark a discussion about the "ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body," this really just propped up a lot of ridiculous anti-choice talking points, like women have abortions just for the heck of it, because they're bored on a Saturday night or something. I imagine we'll be seeing this story cited as fact in anti-choice Power Point presentations for decades to come...

UPDATE: Ok, so it now appears the artist is disputing the university's claim that it was a "creative fiction."

But Shvarts reiterated Thursday that she repeatedly use a needleless syringe to insert semen into herself. At the end of her menstrual cycle, she took abortifacient herbs to induce bleeding, she said. She said she does not know whether or not she was ever pregnant.

“No one can say with 100-percent certainty that anything in the piece did or did not happen,� Shvarts said, “because the nature of the piece is that it did not consist of certainties.�

This afternoon, Shvarts showed the News footage from tapes she plans to play at the exhibit. The tapes depict Shvarts — sometimes naked, sometimes clothed — alone in a shower stall bleeding into a cup.

Well now I don't know what to think.

ANOTHER UPDATE: To clarify for those who may be confused, she didn't take any abortion-inducing drugs that are available from a doctor only (mifepristone/RU-486 or misoprostol), and because she never took a pregnancy test, it's my strong suspicion that she merely gulped down a lot of EmergenC and videotaped herself menstruating. (Over the course of her nine-month project, she would have had nine opportunities to film herself bleeding.) Of course, the concept is still interesting to discuss. Just wanted to point that out... (Skeptical commenters have said similar things.)

I like LindaBeth's comment:

I'd really love to see her artist statement or even talk to her...there is likely mush more thought than is being told here. And I think people maybe a little too quick to jump all over her for the possible political fallout. And while I understand the very real threats we face, can you honestly say we (as feminists, as a culture) couldn't also use some deeper discussions about the body?

Yes! I also want to flag this provocative question from Jess in comments:

Would it be different if she was having sex to get herself pregnant?

Via Political Wire:

"A 60-foot phallus created by vandals on the grassy slopes beneath the Idaho governor's mansion has been fig-leafed over by work crews on their second try," the Idaho Statesman reports.

"The grassy graffiti appeared in July after someone applied extra-strength weed killer. Officials said at the time it was too late in the growing season to attempt to remove the image."

It's old news, but still pretty hilarious. I just wonder what message they were trying to send.

Tomorrow we'll be participating in Blog for Fair Pay for Women day. You should, too! Head over to the National Women's Law Center to sign up.

I know y'all love Michelle Rodriguez, because Girlfight was named over and over in our favorite feminist movies thread. And I thought she was great in her (all-too-brief) role on Lost. So I wasn't surprised to read her awesome response to repeated prying questions from journalists about whether she's secretly into girls.

She explains: “I picture [the journalists] turning into pigs, slime coming out the side of their mouth, and I picture them jerking off. I don't answer those questions.

“I just keep it to myself and it's nobody's business. If I wanna f**k a girl, a boy, a dog, that's my business. That's why there's bathroom doors."

She adds: "What the majority of (people) want to know is what I'm doing with my vagina, and I think that that's sick.

"What do you care who I'm dating? I can tell when somebody just wants to know about sex. And it makes me sick."

She is rad.

(h/t Jezebel)

We receive a lot of hate email here at Feministing, and this one was too good not to share.

Men are better than women look at the comparison in IQ men are scientifically proven to have a higher IQ by roughly 5 points, or 5% you cannot dispute science sorry and if you want a much better website than your shitty one you might want to go to [redacted]. I think you would gain a lot more knowledge from that website and you might learn about the truth that way you would not be so stupid and ignorant you stupid cunts.

Apparently that extra five percent doesn't help prevent run-on sentences. You would also think that those extra brain power percentage points would stop a dude from sending harassing emails from his school email address. Because then we wouldn't know that our charming admirer is the public relations officer (yes, public relations) of the Southern Illinois University College Republicans, Alex Kochno. I think I'll stick with my stupid cunt lady brain, thanks very much.

I'm heading to Los Angeles tomorrow to go hang with the awesome ladies of California NOW, and speak at their conference, Women in the Public Eye.

If you're in the LA-area, come on down - it's going to be a great event and you can register on -site!

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this video that my good friend, DJ No Friends, sent my way.

It's called "Gluttonous" and it features awesomely curvy ladies singing and rapping about their healthy appetites. Seen as an effort to reclaim "hunger" and do away with a sin-infused view of femaleness and food (while being really, really funny), I'm so down. But there's something here that makes me nervous...could it be the all-or-nothing tone of the whole thing? Could it be that I fear douche bag dudes could use it for douche bag purposes? Help me understand dear Feministing crew.

If you haven’t seen this amazing video of Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist, speak at TED about her experience of having a stroke and discovering nirvana, um, you should. (My mom sent it to me…momma, I promise to stop talking so much shit about the things you forward.)

Today I want to thank Jill, who was moved to study the brain because of her schizophrenic brother. That original love led to a whole career of critical research, and in this wild twist of fate, a stroke that led to a whole different understanding about the way our brains work, not to mention consciousness and life’s meaning as a whole.

At a time when brain research has become so trendy, and reductive female vs. male brain analysis particularly “sexy,� it’s moving to hear a female scientist (Larry Summers bite us) explore the brain and its interworkings in such a revolutionary, non-gendered way.

And while we’re at it, why not thank our sturdy, little, stupendous brains. Sure, sometimes they freak out, break down, burn too bright, but most of the time they are frickin’ miraculous.

I’ve been reading Susan Faludi’s The Terror Dream and Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound side by side—in part because the books have similar themes and I thought it would be interesting to experience them as a pair, and in part because I get to meet Elaine this weekend. Whoo-hoo! It helps to be best friends with her amazing son.

Anyways…

I’m only about a quarter of the way through both, but already my mind is being kind of blown. I’ve never read two books that make the link between the personal—in this case family and gender roles—and the political—war, violence, global insecurity—so amazing clear.

Faludi’s argument is that the attacks of September 11th sent Americans into a frenzy of traditional, regressive gender roles. Images of burly firemen saving damsels from distress were everywhere, feminism was framed as irrelevant and newly immoral, and all of us were led to believe that it was not just “normal,� but our patriotic duty to fall into stereotypical gender norms (ladies, make babies and spend money; boys, don’t cry or puss out).

Yesterday kicked off the first National Week of Action for Reproductive Justice. The Third Wave Foundation has a list of local and national organizations that you can get involved with to support the week's work...

For more information on the Week of Action for Reproductive Justice, you can also check out SAFER's blog and our very own Miriam at Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz, the blog of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

Thanks so much to Jacinta, of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), for giving us the heads up.

Warning: This video is graphic and upsetting.

Current TV is featuring this short documentary on breast ironing in Cameroon - a practice that about 1 in 4 girls in the country are subject to.

It looks like the French are trying to take aim at the media-manufactured thin ideal, but seriously missing the mark. A bill, approved by the lower house of Parliament but still set to face a Senate vote, would make it illegal to “provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or endangering health.� See The New York Times for more.

As someone who has spent years immersed in research, reflection, and discussion on this topic, I am continually amazed at how short-sighted the government response is to body image issues. It's not website and magazine policing, or even runway banishment, that we need most. It is, first and foremost, health care systems that subsidizes treatment for eating disordered women and men. At present, most health insurance companies stateside (France is a different story) give and withhold treatment based on physical symptoms, even though eating disorders are psychological diseases--resulting in a revolving door of pain for most eating disordered patients and their families. For more on this, check out pieces I wrote awhile back for HuffPo and Women's eNews.

If government officials seriously want to deal with the culture that promotes food and fitness obsessions, self hatred, and body anxiety, they need to make sure that public schools are infused with physiological education (for example, we each have a set point within which our metabolism adjusts automatically), media literacy (airbrushing and the like), and social and emotional learning (most eating disorders stem from emotional issues that go unresolved).

For too long we have congratulated leaders when they decide to point the finger at media moguls. Sure, these schmucks play a role, but so do we as consumers, mothers, fathers, pastors, coaches, and peers. Eating disorders won't be eradicated by policing fashion magazines or pro-ana and mia websites. They'll be eradicated by a paradigm shift where we all take responsibility for our part in promoting a body-focused society.

Check out Kathryn Joyce's article on Religion Dispatches, "Marriage Savers" Lobbies for Repeal of No-Fault Divorce. Great (but disturbing) stuff.

Happy hump day, folks.

Pic from gaelx.

A new children's book, My Beautiful Mommy, (being released on Mother's Day, no less) aims to explain to kids why their mom is getting plastic surgery.

It features a perky mother explaining to her child why she's having cosmetic surgery (a nose job and tummy tuck). Naturally, it has a happy ending: mommy winds up "even more" beautiful than before, and her daughter is thrilled.

Okay, I can understand the need to explain to children why a parent is getting surgery, but this...well, it's just ridiculous.

"My Beautiful Mommy" is aimed at kids ages four to seven and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: "You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better." Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.

Superhero, huh? I suppose that should come as no surprise, given the book is written by a Florida-based plastic surgeon, Dr. Michael Salzhauer. Now, I'm certainly not going to sit in judgment of those who get plastic surgery - but do we really have to teach our kids that we need it to "feel better" and be "beautiful"? Ugh.

Thanks to Alexis for the link.

Marriage: Do it for the economy!

Well, that's what some groups would like us to think...

Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing cost U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by four groups advocating more government action to bolster marriages.

Sponsors say the study is the first of its kind and hope it will prompt lawmakers to invest more money in programs aimed at strengthening marriages. Two experts not connected to the study said such programs are of dubious merit and suggested that other investments - notably job creation - would be more effective in aiding all types of needy families.

But who needs jobs when you have a husband, right? The study was sponsored by four organizations that identify as part of a "marriage movement" - Institute for American Values, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Families Northwest, and the Georgia Family Council (an ally of Focus on the Family). So yeah, not biased at all.

Studies like these are not just about promoting marriage, of course, they're about promoting traditional marriages. And the idea that women don't need a job (just a man) has hurting women welfare recipients for far too long. So if we're worried about the economy, let's focus on jobs, education, and affordable child care for parents - not weddings.

Thanks to Monica for the link.

The College Republicans at Bowling Green State University - the same group that held a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" last year - held an "Anti-Feminist Bake Sale" yesterday, and ended up getting smacked down my campus feminists.

As part of Conservative Week, the College Republicans held their bake sale on the front steps of the Education Building, selling cookies, brownies and other treats for 50 cents each.

Members of the club also handed out a sheet of quotes, which they labeled "The Radical Feminist Agenda."

Some of the quotes included:

"All men are rapists, and that's all they are," said by author Marilyn French.

It's always amazing to me how anti-feminists find the most obscure, old-school quotes to use in their "activism." But you've got to love this: feminists on campus came out to protest the event, eventually outnumbering the College Republicans.

The protestors came out with signs that said, "Anti-feminist is half-baked sale," and "Feminism is about choice." They handed out free candy to people passing by, saying, "Feminism: it tastes better."

Indeed it does.

Thanks to Emily for the links.

Last week the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to to rename Squaw Peak in Arizona for Lori Piestewa, the Hopi woman who was killed in combat in Iraq in March 2003. Cecelia notes that because the word "squaw" has long been used to denigrate Native women, the name change to honor Piestewa is especially welcome.

From a Rolling Stone profile of Piestewa:

The attack made Jessica Lynch famous. U.S. Special Forces later plucked her from an Iraqi hospital and rushed her to safety, and the media seized on the daring rescue to create a tale of American heroism and valor. But the real story of what happened in Nasiriyah that day -- and the clear warning it offered of things to come -- involves a different soldier, one who gave her life to protect her friends. Lori Piestewa, born and raised a Hopi on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, became the first American woman to die in the war, and the first Native American woman ever to die in combat on foreign soil. Only twenty-three years old, Piestewa saw herself as a Hopi warrior, part of a centuries-old tradition developed by a people who once resisted an invasion and occupation by the U.S. military -- much as the Iraqis are doing today. She went to war, but she believed above all in peace, in doing no harm to others. "I'm not trying to be a hero," she told a friend just before the invasion. "I just want to get through this crap and go home."

Apparently there's a show on WE (the network that brought you Bridezillas) called Bulging Brides, in which women buy wedding dresses two sizes too small, and rely on a drill-sergeant-like trainer to get them to lose the weight by their wedding day. It's size-shaming meets the bridal-industrial complex. Or, as Big Fat Blog asks, "There aren't enough reality shows that combine unrealistic feminine body ideals with unrealistic and heavily-marketed ideals towards heterosexual weddings?"

Here's a sample of what it's like:

Ah, a tasteful montage of close-ups of everything the bride-to-be eats during her bachelorette party, followed by an early-morning pole-dancing lesson to shed the pounds she supposedly gained the night before from all those quesadillas and mojitos. My feminist head is exploding.

Yes, there's a lot of sexist, sizist, crappy "reality" TV out there. But something about this show seems to have it all. Which is why it's worth mentioning and decrying here.

Thanks to Tomi for the tip.

Today a friend sent me this article, about how testosterone affects investment bankers and traders, which "could eventually compromise their ability to make rational decisions, as the traders take bigger and bigger risks during so-called 'bubbles.'" (Having read so many junk science articles, I'm skeptical. But here's an interview with the study's author, who seems to support the BBC's portrayal of his research.)

I found it especially interesting because I picked up a copy of Conde Nast Portfolio -- not a magazine I typically read -- in an airport last week, mostly because of the cover:

Given that cover image I was prepared for some piece about how those girly women in their red stiletto mary janes just can't cut it on Wall Street. You know, it's all their estrogen and "emotional intelligence." So imagine my surprise when I opened the magazine and found this:

Boxer Laila Ali and BMX racer Kim Hayashi at the Women's Sports Foundation 2007 Annual Salute to Women in Sports.

I love good news. A report by the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport shows that girls are involved in sports in record numbers.

The report outlines research pertaining to the benefits of girls' involvement in sports and physical activity, as well as the barriers that they encounter.

Nicole LaVoi, one of the report's authors, says “The research within the report confirms that many good things are happening when it comes to girls and physical activity. Girls are participating in organized sports more than ever and at all levels -- from organized youth sports, to interscholastic sports and up through Olympic competition."

For more information on women and girls in sports, check out the Women's Sports Foundation.

All of the Feministing ladies have been so busy (or laid up with bad backs) that we totally missed our own anniversary! Four years ago last week, we launched Feministing. And I have to say, it's been an amazing four years. I feel lucky every day that I get to collaborate with such incredible and talented women, and that I get meet and speak (online and off!) with such committed activists.

So thanks to Vanessa, Samhita, Ann, Celina, Jen, Courtney and Miriam - for all the hard work and for always managing to be smart, funny and innovative in ways that continue to surprise me.

And thanks to all of you, for making it all worthwhile. Feministing wouldn't be what it is without you.

This is from Wayout TV, a project of Damon Wayans'. I'm almost speechless. (Almost.) When will people realize that violence against women isn't fucking funny? Not to mention the fact that violence against women increases during pregnancy. So, yeah. Hilarious.

Thanks to Rachel for the link.

Rebecca Traister at Salon takes on the sexism that has no name in the presidential elections in, "Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!" Here's a teaser for you:

Yet some female voters have begun to express nearly as much disenchantment with the Obama-mania of their peers as with their Clinton-promoting mothers. And even while they voice dismay over the retro tone of the pro-Clinton feminist whine, a growing number of young women are struggling to describe a gut conviction that there is something dark and funky, and probably not so female-friendly, running below the frantic fanaticism of their Obama-loving compatriots.

Come back and let me know what you think in comments. (If I'm not quick to answer, it's because I'm about to take Monty to the vet to get neutered. I'm nervous about it, but he had one last hurrah with his pillow last night so I don't feel so bad.)

RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, launched a new service yeserday to provide support to victims online. Now, instead of just being able to get help through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE), survivors can also reach out to the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline at www.rainn.org.

Scott Berkowitz, president & founder of RAINN, says, "The Online Hotline provides a solution to the dangerous trend of victims getting help online through insecure websites...Many young sexual assault victims are turning to the Internet for help through insecure chat rooms, blogs, and social networking sites. This dangerous trend of victims turning to the Internet for help leaves victims vulnerable to unreliable advice, exposes their identity, and makes their postings available to the world through Google.�

See USA Today and abyss2hope for more.

UK supermarket giant Tesco is coming under fire for selling a padded bra marketed towards girls as young as seven. Sound familiar? Back in 2006, Target was criticized for doing the same thing - selling padded bras under childrens' brand names like Bratz, to girls way too young to even have boobies.

Even more interesting is that the excuse is almost exactly the same - modesty.

A spokesperson from Bratz distributor Funtastic in 2006: "The idea of the padding is for girls to be discreet as they develop."

A Tesco spokesperson today: "It is a product designed for girls at that self-conscious age when they are just developing."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you need to cover up a six years-old's non-breasts in order to feel like she's being "discreet ," there's something wrong with the way you look at six year-old girls.

H/t Jezebel.

At the V to the 10th in New Orleans, activism is the word of the weekend.

Playwright and founder of V-Day, Eve Ensler, informed us that "Our destiny will not be changed by the people on top." In other words, this weekend was all about the grassroots movement. We can no longer rely on elected officials to eventually come around and see the light on issues that affect women worldwide; we must take back the power, motivate allies to increase our strength in numbers, and develop our own solutions.
Besides visiting the amazing Activist’s Lounge where a ton of feminist and environmental groups were giving out information, we sat in on a number of panels, one being the fantastic discussion "From New Orleans to the World: Women in Conflict Zones."

Mark Goldberg at UN Dispatch has a great video interview up with filmmaker Lisa Jackson, whose documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo premiered on HBO this week. Make sure to check it out.

For more information on sexual violence in the Congo, click here.

For blogger's thoughts on the film, check out Elle, PhD, Faux Real, WOC PhD, KitKat's Critique, Shakesville, and Historiann.

Last week the Oklahoma legislature passed an omnibus bill chock-full of antichoice provisions. Now it's sitting on the Governor Brad Henry's desk awaiting a signature or a veto. (Henry is a Democrat with a mixed record on choice -- he recently signed a parental notification law.)

An in-the-know friend of Feministing emailed to explain the bill to us:

SB 1878 is a hideous piece of anti-choice omnibus legislation that would, among other things, compel physicians one hour prior to performing an abortion to do an ultrasound on the patient and point out various features (e.g. heart beat, fetal movements) to the patient. A vaginal probe ultrasound is mandated if that gives the best image, even in those instances where the unwanted pregnancy is the result of rape. In first trimester terminations (almost all of them) that will be the case. There is a very hefty penalty if the physician fails to perform an ultrasound. (BTW, Oklahoma already has a law that requires doctors to offer women the opportunity to view an ultrasound at no cost to the woman by referral to a location that provides no-cost ultrasounds).

The bill also:

• Prevents employers from "discriminating" against health care workers who refuse to perform a medical procedure (i.e. abortion, or a pap smear on a single woman)


• Says only physicians can prescribe mifepristone (the abortion pill also known as RU-486) -- even though this is already the law


• Requires women's health clinics that provide abortion to "conspicuously" post a sign on the premises that states it is "against the law for anyone, regardless of his or her relationship to you, to force you to have an abortion."

The Oklahoma State Medical Association opposes the bill because it interferes with the practice of medicine. Also, if a doctor fails to comply with the law, the fines are absurd -- starting at $10,000 and possibly up to $100,000. (Compare that to the maximum fine for DUI or reckless homicide in Oklahoma -- $1,000.)

All of us at Feministing have been following the heated discussion happening in the feminist blogosphere right now about issues of race and privilege. (We're not going to summarize, but here is some suggested reading. ) We want to say up front that Brownfemipower's voice will be greatly missed. We also want to say that, yes, there is a history of white women (and white feminists) appropriating the ideas of women of color. It's a problem that persists today. That doesn't make Amanda a plagiarist, and we don't believe she is.

And that's all were gonna say about the specifics. Not only because we don't want this to get too blog-insidery, but also because many brave bloggers have forayed into this territory before, and the discussion doesn't seem to be getting any more constructive. Here, we hope to have a larger conversation about feminism and privilege and community. And how Feministing, as a website and as individual bloggers, can find ways to contribute to a blogosphere that is vibrant, accountable, forward-thinking and just.

Monty is very annoyed with me, as I'm pretty much immobile on the couch with a pulled-out back. Luckily, the boyfriend has decided to stay home from work and take care of me - so Monty has a playmate after all.

The fabulous NY-based organization Girls Write Now, which pairs at-risk high school girls with professional women writers as mentors and writing coaches, has a great profile in today's NY Times. If you haven't already heard of GWN, make sure to read the article and check them out - they're doing incredible work.

An 8-year-old Yemeni girl takes her father to court for forcing her to marry a 30-year-old man.

The Guardian publishes an ignorant, hate-filled screed against fat people.

Female leads in blockbuster movies, by the numbers.

Note to Silvio Berlusconi: "Your women are ugly" is not a political argument.

A court dropped charges against an Oklahoma man who took photos up a 16-year-old girl's skirt while she was shopping at Target, because apparently you can't be a "peeping Tom" in public.

Philadelphia magazine on 8-year-olds getting waxes. Shudder. (Also file under: Lifestyles of the Children of the Rich and Famous. This is one of those New York Times-style "trends" that only affects the wealthiest 1% of the population, but yeah, has some resonance for the rest of us.)

The case for young women getting better breast cancer screening -- not just cervical cancer screening.

An elementary school in Wisconsin has a dress-in-drag day, and conservatives freak out.

A great post over at Bitch Ph.D, "Coming out of the menstruation closet." And Sara wonders, "Why aren't [tampons] provided for free in public restrooms, like toilet paper?"

More links after the jump...

We followed a line of women (and a few scattered men) into the Superdome early Friday morning. After being thoroughly searched and promising never to turn on our video camera, we were allowed admittance. The entrance was decorated with a selection of feminist art pieces such as poster board sized pages of a graphic novel entitled, “Oh fuck, I’m a Victim.� In it, artist Vicki Rabinowicz depicts a woman who is followed, kidnapped, and raped. In one frame, she is drawn small enough to fit in her attacker’s hand as he masturbates onto her entire body then flushes her down the toilet. At the end of the strip we discover that the victim is the artist and that she drew this on her 28th birthday, tens years after the attack. Not all of the pieces were as jarring though. To the left lay a ball of bras (think office ball of rubber bands) roughly five feet tall. The only thing holding this work together seemed to be the very godforsaken wired hooks of each boulder holder. Along the back wall was a timeline of shirts, bags, posters, and other promo items representing performances from around the world. Near that was an altar with lit candles to honor those who fell to final rest when Katrina hit.

Past the welcoming gallery inside is where we all met. We were an international collection of women and girls. Represented in the audience and on stage were activists from Bosnia, Kenya, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iceland, Afghanistan, France, Guatemala, The Philippines, Iraq, and displaced Americans from New Orleans.

Sara Fajardo is a staff photographer at the Orlando Sentinel. Her photojournalism journey has taken her to many places, from local places in the States to covering the rise and fall of president Alberto Fujimori in Peru. You can see some of her photos at her website: http://sarafajardo.com/.

She's also the author of a children's nonfiction book, Enrique's Day: From Dawn to Dusk in a Peruvian City.

Here's Sara...

As many of you may know, the V to the Tenth, the ten year anniversary of the Vagina Monologues, is underway this weekend in New Orleans.

Unfortunately none of the gals from Feministing could be there, but we've recruited one of the fabulous women I met at SMU in Texas to do some blogging for us. So please give Meg Bell a warm Feministing welcome, she'll be blogging with some of her classmates and allies under the name "NOLA Blogging." We're all really looking forward to hearing about the V-Day madness down there! (And by "down there," I mean New Orleans, of course.)

Meg has been a grassroots community organizer and an office manager for the Texas Campaign for the Environment for over two years. She first became acquainted with social justice activism while protesting the Iraq war as a freshman in high school. At Southern Methodist University, she is the current president of the Women’s Interest Network, the student feminist organization on campus. Meg recently returned from the 2008 Young People For summit in D.C., a progressive youth conference dedicated to serving "motivated, socially aware, diverse and creative young adults who are leaders in their communities." As a YP4 fellow, she was challenged to write a proposal for funding any progressive vision of hers. Her Blueprint for Social Justice is called SMU in NOLA: Bigger Picture Feminism."

Our apologies for not having this week's Friday Feminist Fuck You, but we'll be having a special Monday edition instead.

In the meantime, I thought we'd end the week with some Friday Feminist Fun for your viewing pleasure. We linked to it a couple of months ago, but I just had to put the full video up.

She keeps her own name, motherfuckers! Happy Friday, folks.

This is awful. I don't even know where to begin with it, but it is wrong on so many levels. A teenager who is pregnant is being held in custody so she can testify against her boyfriend who has abused her.

A judge ordered her to be placed in jail on a material witness warrant after the Crown prosecutors in her boyfriend's case expressed concerns she wouldn't testify at his trial.

The warrant was issued after police said they tried several times to serve her with a subpoena to attend court.

Mowatt is expected to be released after she testifies at her boyfriend's trial on Friday. Christopher Harbin, 25, is facing eight charges, including assault and forcible confinement.

Did it occur to the court at all that she might be afraid?

via.

This is vile.

Now that Senator David Vitter is likely to get a pass for this past summer's scandal with having a connection to the "D.C. Madam" prostitution ring, prosecutors are having their day in court with D.C. Madam and 15 other women who worked with her in a pointless , slut-shaming witch hunt.

Prosecutors are making the women recount sexual experiences with their clients, condescendingly poking and prodding into personal and irrelevant details. Prosecutor Catherine Connelly even asked DC Madam:

'Did you specifically discuss what happened when you went in the shower?' the prosecutor wanted to know.

The witness explained, 'I was having sex.'

'What would happen if you were menstruating?' Connelly asked.

Because a lady's bleeding has everything to do with money laundering! For this, women's careers will be ruined; a young naval officer on the stand yesterday was put on leave from the navy after being forced to talk about when she was "aggressive" or "submissive" with a client.

And this is just the beginning. Over 100 other previous sex workers will also be publicly named.

We all know who should really be ashamed here.

Sorry to invoke the immortal works of Snoop Doggy Dogg here, but this study is high-larious. Uh, yeah. According to this article in ScienceDaily, animals have shown that they trade goods for sex and apparently this behavior repeats itself amongst humans, no matter how wealthy. So prostitution is a naturally occurring phenomenon, not something that is a function of patriarchy. People wonder why I have beef with evolutionary psychology.

New research shows that even affluent college students who don't need resources will still attempt to trade sexual currency for provisions, said Daniel Kruger, research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The exchange of resources for sex---referred to by scientists as nuptial gifts---has occurred throughout history in many species, including humans, Kruger said. The male of the species offers protection and resources to the female and offspring in exchange for reproductive rights. For example, an arranged marriage can be considered a contract to trade resources.

No, an arranged marriage is a cultural norm designed to control women's sexuality and maintain a certain type of society. Men buying women gifts for sex isn't innate, it is learned behavior based on values that are determined by culture.

In addition, there are predictable, sexual differences in the types of exchanges attempted. Men are more likely to attempt to exchange investment for sex, females were more likely to attempt to exchange sex for investment, Kruger said.

By predictable, they of course mean, "bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks." You know once in a while when you come across these bogus studies that try and justify inequitable distributions of income among genders or try explaining inequitable power relations in sex between men and women, you may sometimes say, oh yeah maybe there is *some* truth to that. But when you start telling me that women put out for Louis Vuitton and that is somehow an innate and natural thing, I am tuning you out.

This is just a reminder for Monday night's Feministing Happy Hour and All-Woman Comedy Show, the Hysterical Fundraiser. Fantastically funny women from Comedy Central, Flight of the Conchords and the Upright Citizens Brigade are performing at this event sponsored by BUST magazine. Feministing Happy Hour is from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the club, where we'll be sipping our special Feministinis before the big show at 8. Buy tickets here!

P.S. I'm giving away Courtney's ticket (she can't make it, boooo) to the person who can email me first the name of the hysterical comedian who said this:

I slept with a woman. . . and afterwards I was thinking, 'Am I gaaaay? Am I straaaaight?' And then I realized: I'm just slutty. Where's my parade?

Congrats to reader Maria for being the first to answer!

Oh, hells yeah.

Thanks to Gabrielle for the link.

I will admit that the blog Stuff White People Like is no doubt one of my guilty pleasures, (maybe even an (Un) Feminist Guilty pleasure), but I, like most with a sense of humor certainly laugh along with the uncanny amount of humor in that blog and all those "aha" moments you have when reading it. The first time I read it I was sure a person of color was writing it and was honestly surprised and pretty happy that it was being written by a white man. I mean what makes a person of color feel better than a white person that can totally laugh at themselves and not take it personally? Well a lot of things, but it is definitely up there.

But jokes aside, I have some deeper feelings that I am trying to work out about this blog that make me not think it is as great and groundbreaking as many have hailed it to be. The real question being, what does this blog do for actual dialog on race?

I guess one simple answer is that it names, marks and makes visible the assumed invisibility of white culture. I grew up hearing, "you are so lucky to have a culture," and I remember thinking, dude you have a culture too. So on a basic level the calling out of white culture for what it is, is in fact powerful and will get you a lot of unexpected fans.

But if you believe that culture is not a static thing, but something that moves and changes and takes in and drops different participants as you go, than maybe it is not as salient. I am all about poking fun at the dominant culture, but if you are a person of color that is reading this blog and you can relate to a lot of the stuff white people like, does that make you white? Are you not a hard-core enough "person of color" if you like the things on that list?

For me, despite the humor (and yes, I see the humor and LMAO to different entries all the time) I don't see how marrying the concept of white-ness to the concept of material is actually helping us get to a new place. And as a friend of mine pointed out, the opposite effect of this is that the underlying assumption of stuff white people like is that the stuff they like is not cool, so then is everything that people of color do totally cool? Does that mean that we should look to people of color for what is cool (insert "wow you are such a good dancer!")? So in a way it is perpetuating that same thing we are trying to get away from. A hyper fascination with the things that white people like.

What sealed the deal for me was when I heard the author got a $300,000 dollar book deal. That is fucking crazy. If he had been a person of color he would have never gotten so much attention or such a hefty book deal. People would have said, omg, that is racist! They wouldn't have given it so much cred. My point being, there are a lot of people that call out racism and whiteness, but they don't get huge book deals for it because they are not white. So despite the potential transformative nature of calling out whiteness for what it is, the author is still getting rewarded for being white, even though he is making fun of white people. And let's not forget, white people also get paid for making fun of people of color. And what exactly do people of color get paid to do. . . ? To also make fun of people of color or to create characters that fit into white people's comfort levels of what is acceptable people of colorness. Because as the blog points out subtly, white people have the most capital to be the biggest consumers of everything, so all the images we see are tailored to their sensibilities.

This may be a total stretch, but this is where I am at with the whole thing and just had to put it out there. I see how many people LOVE this blog and how many people of color love it. And I see how uncomfortable it makes white people, which I also think is good. Being uncomfortable can often motivate you to think outside yourself. But is it really leading to this transformative conversation for a racially just world or is it perpetuating our assumed differences, realigning them with a gaze on what is considered white?

If you haven't had a chance to check out Sarah Seltzer's awesome piece in Bitch on sexism in The New York Times Book Review, pick up a copy today (or read it online). A sharp and savvy excerpt:

Recently, Times editors—in both the daily paper and the Sunday section—have trotted out a particularly insidious formula for bashing feminist authors. First, hire a female reviewer to unleash misogynist tropes in her piece and then, lest she appear prejudiced against her own gender, throw in an illogical, contradictory statement about the importance of a less threatening version of feminism that isn’t so “polarizing,� “provocative,� or “strident.� 


I know I don't. And it's not the duck lips speculum exam, or the awkwardness of sitting half naked in a rough paper gown, or the oh-so-personal questions they ask you. I just moved to a new city, so I had the fun job of trying to find a new provider (not that I had found one I liked in my last city either). Many of you are probably familiar with the process. First you have to ask around to everyone you know for a recommendation of someone good. Then once you've collected the references, you have to call all of those providers (maybe after you've googled them to see what other random people have to say) and see if they accept your insurance. Talk about rejection. Then, if you're lucky enough to find someone, you have to wait who knows how long to make an appointment. So fun, and we haven't even gotten to the gyno's office yet!

I know I was nervous from the moment I got in my car (in which I had to drive 45 minutes to get to someone who accepted my insurance). It was a little absurd really, I was kind of sweaty and my heart was pounding. For all the writing and advocating I do for sexual health and reproductive rights, I was a mess. Maybe it was the uncertainty of the whole experience, not knowing if the provider was going to be friendly, totally dismissive, or just rude. I've had all of those experiences and never been truly satisfied with a provider. I know that being queer adds a whole other level to it (why aren't you on birth control?!?) but I'm sure some of you straight women have similar feelings.

Then there is the part where you try and squeeze in all those questions that have been accumulating over the past year. What about this? Is this normal? How can I treat this? I've had a variety of experiences in terms of response to my questioning (and I always have A LOT of questions) but in most situations the provider always feels super rushed, which doesn't put me at ease. What if I forget something?

For a lot of these reasons, I choose to see a midwife (a nurse midwife actually). Did you know you can go to a midwife for regular gynecological care? You can. It definitely made things better, but not perfect.

What have your experiences been with gynecological care?

Cartoon from Natalie Dee

So I don't know about you, but I am a HUGE fan of the HBO series the Wire. I haven't written about it much because I was watching it mostly in the month that I was not present here due to personal issues. Ironically, the Wire ended up being the reason I had to move out of my apartment because the not-so-well man living below me thought that the Wire was my actual life which was how he justified that I was trying to have him killed. Yes, he thought I was running a drug cartel out of my house and he knew about it and I was therefore trying to have him killed. But I digress.

I have so many favorite Wire characters that it is hard to rank them. But I have to say for those of you who have seen season 4, Felicia Pearson, who plays Snoop is awesome. She is one of the most terrifying characters ever written into television. Interestingly, she is not a trained actor but was discovered by Omar at a bar (you can here about it on fresh air) and was one of the local Baltimorians included in the HBO hit. Somehow my homies at Wiretap were able to get an interview with her which is apparently very hard to do. Check it out here.

Depictions of sexuality and gender are very complicated in this HBO series. From gay gang bangers to lesbian cops you get the full gamut of gender and sexual identities. I think the honesty of Felicia's character and the subtle ways she resembles other women's lives is notable to say the least. Her character is not a common one and therefore I think makes it groundbreaking.

Who is your favorite Wire character? (You can have more than one, hehe).

As if Victoria Beckham hasn't done enough damage by catapulting anorexia-on-the-page Skinny Bitch to instant bestseller status, now she's offering women an even more degrading perspective: you're not just a sex object; you're a straight-up product.

In today's New York Times Style section, photographer for Marc Jacobs, Juergen Teller, is quoted as saying:

I told her, ‘You’re the most photographed woman in the world. And fashion nowadays is all about product — bags and shoes — and you’re kind of a product yourself, aren’t you? She was, like, ‘Uh, yeah.’

Cathy Horyn, the author of the article, titled "When Is a Fashion Ad Not a Fashion Ad," writes:

Instead of looking like a glamorous celebrity, she has been rendered as an abstraction, a living doll. In the most disquieting image, we see only her bare, high-heeled legs flopping over the side of a shopping bag Mr. Jacobs had specially made to hold her.

On the one hand, I'm almost relieved that Beckham is owning the fact that she's selling herself as a product. It's what so many of today's vacuous celebrities are doing anyway, but many of them pretend their ascent to stardom is something deeper than it is.

On the other hand, it all makes me sick. We've moved beyond "the male gaze" and objectification; now girls can grow up worshiping Victoria in her painfully tall stilettos and aspiring to be seen as a "living doll," an inhuman product. Beyond the classic advertising trope of cutting women into pieces, this ad campaign also seems to suck the real life right out of them. Please, please, please boycott Marc Jacobs. (As if most of could afford that shit anyway.)

Thanks to Kathy at the Women's Media Center for the heads up.

This might seem sort of ridiculous, but this Thursday I’d like to take a moment of gratitude that I get to wear pants. It blows my frickin’ mind that there was a time when women like me—smart, ambitious, creative—were stuck wearing skirts seven days a week. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a princess-sleeve dress with a bell skirt, but I love it because I get to choose it.

Women first started wearing pants during World War II when they also filled in on jobs traditionally held by men. But when the men returned and the gender backlash commenced, women were back in skirts until the 60s when feminism’s second wave started to take hold and Audrey Hepburn made those black capris famous in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961).

As I’ve been on the road speaking at colleges, I frequently get a question like, “Can you be a feminist and wear lipstick or high heels?� Hell yeah, and you know why? Because you can CHOOSE to wear those things. Or CHOOSE not to wear those things. Or CHOOSE to wear them on every second Sunday.

Now if we could only expand the clothing options open to men…

Gross.

Thanks to Erika for the link.

“Woooow. Come over here Court. Come look at this,� my roommate Yana would holler from across our tiny dorm room.

“What is it?� I asked, while getting up from my desk chair and heading towards her. Putting my hand on her shoulder and leaning over, I was rudely confronted with a picture of rotting flesh. “GROSS!� I screamed, turning back to my post-colonial lit essay aglow on the computer. “Why do you do that to me?�

“Necrotizing faxciitis, flesh eating bacteria,� she announced, a smile still on her face.

Yana is not the devil. Actually she’s the closest thing I’ve ever come to knowing a real life angel. Today she is a pediatric resident at Boston Children’s Hospital. She helps teenage moms learn how to feed their toddlers. She works ungodly hours and eats crappy hospital food. She frickin’ saves babies.

Her altruism, matched with her curiosity about biology, anatomy, and health, has led her to be a doctor. When I went to visit her recently, she handed me a copy of Atul Gawande’s Complications and urged me to check it out. Not only is it really good writing, but it’s fascinating, sometimes frightening reading about the human body in all its fragility.

So, dear readers, if it seems like you're seeing a bit less of me on the blog, it's because I'm hard at work on a new project - a book on the myth of sexual purity and how it harms young women. I'm stoked about it, but it's obviously taking up a lot of my time. So I'm asking your forgiveness in advance if you see a couple of less posts than usual or if my posts are on the short side for now. I'll be back in full force soon, promise. In the meantime, remember, the all-knowing abstinence eyes are watching you!

Pic from Dale Miller.

A new report prepared for UN Human Right Commissioner Louise Arbour by a professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) says that women are discriminated against in nearly every country in the world.

It says that this is despite the fact that 185 UN member states pledged to outlaw laws favouring men by 2005...It adds that 70% of the world's poor are women and they own just 1% of the world's titled land.

For more information on the rights of women worldwide, make sure to check out Beijing Betrayed: Women Worldwide Report that Governments Have Failed To Turn the Platform into Action. It's a global report issued by the Women's Environment and Development Organization on how different countries have implemented the Beijing Platform for Action. (And yes, I'm biased because I edited the report, but it's still great!) Better yet, it's available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian.

Check out this great piece from William Wolfrum (who also blogs at the fabulous Shakesville) on the five-year anniversary of Martha Burk’s protest at Augusta National. Give it some love.

This is a pretty funny parody. And if it is not, I am still laughing at it.

I could just see this remixed into some great diva house music.

Please, pretty please, someone tell me that a misogynist hacker got into thesaurus.com. Because this just seems to crazy to believe. Screen shot is here, in case it is a joke and gets taken down...

Thanks to Christine for the heads up...

Seems Jezebel caught this yesterday as well.

NOT at all like rape.

From Londonist, we find out that an official from the BNP, Nick Eriksen, was removed as the party's London Assembly candidate because of an oh-so-charming blog post he wrote on rape (it's since been removed):

"Rape is simply sex (I am talking about 'husband-rape' here)... Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal…To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence.�

Baffling. You have to love the logic of a dude who thinks that violating a woman's body is akin to a delicious desert. And of course, Eriksen's misogyny doesn't end with thinking rape is fabulous - he's also been quoted as saying women who work are “unnatural and vile.� Fucking someone without their consent, however, is all good. What an asshole.

So my poor laptop is in the shop, and I'm freaking out because it looks like I won't have it for the rest of the week (and will be stuck using my boyfriend's computer, which hates me). But I had the most hilarious moment on the phone with a woman at the AppleCare call center of the store that's fixing my Mac. Turns out, she reads Feministing and told me that the folks over there all read our blog and Pandagon. Nice!

So, a big shout out to Daisy and all the other folks at AppleCare who read Feministing. And I swear I'm not doing this in the hopes my computer will be ready faster. Seriously.

While I was perusing around the blog for The American Virgin - a film in the works by the woman who brought you I Was a Teenage Feminist - I found quite a gem. Trixie featured this amazing "Virgins are hot" shirt being sold at a Heritage website. They're like the guru of abstinence-only ed, marriage-initiative (for straights only!) programs that tell women to get back in the kitchen and various other fun anti-feminist dribble.

But really and truly, my day wasn't made until I saw this shirt on the right, featured on the same site. Wowza! We're virgins or wives. I know what I'm wearing to this year's purity ball!

We've received a number of emails from y'all over the past few days about not being able to connect to the site. It looks like it may be a browser compatibility issue with Internet Explorer 7, which we're working on. Unfortunately, the only temporary solution we have is to use another browser to view the site.

Thanks for your patience, we'll have this resolved soon enough!

From The New York Times: "New Jersey moved another step closer on Monday to becoming the third state in the country to give employees the right to take paid leave to care for a newborn or a sick relative."

For more information on why paid leave for new parents is so important, check out Moms Rising.

Ok, this totally depressed me. Truth be told, if someone was in my face with a camera when I was trying to walk somewhere, the rude New Yorker in me would come out and I would bounce. But, this whole deferring to dudes thing made me crazy. Because I know women aren't apathetic and docile little things (at least, the women I know) - is this just some weird when-faced-with-a-camera phenomenon? There's some commentary on the MobLogic blog about this - but what do you think?

via Our Bodies, Our Blog, I belatedly found Kate Harding's ode to Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville," which Kate calls, "the album that made me a feminist."

A few years ago, I wrote my own mash note to "Exile" -- which is being rereleased this year for its 15th anniversary.

Kate and I had remarkably similar experiences with this album -- and I imagine we're not alone. I wrote, "I certainly didn't think of "Exile" as a feminist statement. It was just good music. But the album was sort of my musical bridge from Pavement to riot grrrl -- which was, I think, my bridge to feminism." Kate wrote, "'Guyville' was not only my favorite album of 1993 but an early foundation of my feminism."

(As a side note, I also love that Kate cites "6'1"" as a song that made her, a 5'2" woman, feel incredibly strong and empowered -- the lyrics go, "I kept standing 6'1" /instead of 5'2"/ and I loved my life/ and I hated you." The funny thing for me in reading Kate's post was that it's eminently clear to me now that the song is about a super bad-ass 5'2" woman, but I had always heard it as an anthem for over-6' women who is proud of her unconventional height. Hahaha. It's so awesome that both Kate and I identified with the song.)

Recently, Courtney and I were talking about "click" moments -- you know, the point at which it all came together for you and you started identifying as a feminist. (Courtney's story is great -- she should really post about it.) I told her I couldn't think of my "moment" -- that it was an evolution for me, and no single experience stands out as a turning point. And while I'm not quite willing to say that listening to "Exile in Guyville" was when it all clicked, this album is certainly one of a series of things that led me to feminism.

So what about you? What was your "click" moment?

Feminist Jennifer Baumgardner - who created the controversial "I had an abortion" shirt several years ago - has just released a new shirt as part of a rape-awareness project.

Abortion and rape are subjects that are secreted away and are also surprisingly common, Ms. Baumgardner said. One in six women is a victim of sexual assault, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a nonprofit sexual assault prevention and education group. According to the Department of Justice, 60 percent of sexual assaults go unreported.

As she has been interviewing women for a film she is making about sexual assault, Ms. Baumgardner has heard women describing the usual reasons why they frequently don’t report rapes — shame, humiliation, fear that they wouldn’t be believed, or that they themselves had somehow provoked the attack. “By having an object like this� — a simple T-shirt — “that’s so mundane, it sort of forces it into everyday conversation,� Ms. Baumgardner said.

I appreciate the work that Baumgardner is doing here and I think it's super interesting - though I'm not sure how I feel about it. First of all, the passivity of the sentence itself bothers me. It takes the rapist out of the equation. (Although it seems that Baumgardner was trying to counter that through the design.)

I'm also concerned about the possible division that a shirt like this could create - those who are willing to be public about their assault and those who'd rather not. Are rape survivors who don't want to wear a shirt like this going to be perceived as somehow not "owning" their experience? (That's not to say I think anyone would be that weird or judgmental in reality - it's just a theoretical point...) But I do think that discourse surrounding violence against women is important - and this shirt certainly will be a conversation-starter. What others think?

Reader Erika passed this video along, which is featured on MSN today. Apparently it's an old clip from Comedy Central's The Man Show. I just have no patience for these kind of gags anymore. Not only because they're so degrading to women (and we're supposed to laugh along, cause it's just for funsies, right?) but also because it's fucking incredibly insulting to men - who we're to believe are all assholes at heart if we go by videos like these.

(Also, I'm cranky this morning. Not enough coffee.)

A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

This story is so weird and the fact that it plays up how kind and progressive this judge is creeps me out. Ordering men to learn English because you are frustrated that they can't speak English and need translation is a type of racism. On the other hand, if this distracted the courts from incarcerating more men of color, that is cool.

But ordering people to learn English? If the state is forcing you to adopt culture and language in the context of incarceration, that is not in the best interest of the accused. It is part of the process of colonizing the underclass and forcing them to do things you think are *good* for them, while ignoring what is actually harming their communities.

The best part? If they don't learn English and pass a test they go to jail for 2 years. That is A LOT of pressure.

via.

Karen Houppert reports for The Nation about the rape of a paramedic working for defense contractor KBR in Iraq. The details of both the incident and the response are truly nauseating. This is shameful stuff. (Trigger warning -- more below the jump.)

The Real McCain by Cliff Schecter reports that back in 1992, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain snapped at his wife, calling her the dreaded "c-word."

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

Um...yeah. Makes me wonder how he treated her when no one else was around. Jeez.

Via The Raw Story.

The amazing film, NO! The Rape Documentary is being screened tonight in Brooklyn at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons will also be at the screening to answer questions and discuss the documentary, along with anti-violence activist Quentin Walcott and writer Kevin Powell. Seriously, this is not an event to be missed.

Doors open at 6:30 pm
program begins at 7:00 pm

at BROWN MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH
484 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(at the corner of Gates Ave. | Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY)
A or C to Clinton/Washington stop

For a Feministing interview with Aishah, click here.

But I find this really disturbing.

It's not the first hyper-masculine, sexist ad the show has run (see after the jump), but this over the top. While it does seem like Henry VIII's character is also sexualized in other ads and the show (the series itself seems to exude sex), spousal strangulation is just not screaming "hot" to me.

(The picture actually makes me wonder if it's a precursor to Anne Boleyn's beheading, which would make it even more unsettling; although I tend to doubt SHO is trying to incorporate historical cues into their marketing.)

I'm really curious to know how fans of the show feel about this image.

Since my laptop is in the shop (terrifying, truly), I don't have access to my pictures. So please enjoy this blast from the Monty past.

The New York Times published an interesting article yesterday about the continuing story of the Bush Administration trying to protect drug companies from lawsuits being brought against them for drugs that were approved by the FDA.

The Bush administration has argued strongly in favor of the doctrine, which holds that the F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers and that its decisions should not be second-guessed by courts. The Supreme Court is to rule on a case next term that could make pre-emption a legal standard for drug cases. The court already ruled in February that many suits against the makers of medical devices like pacemakers are pre-empted.

In the case of Ortho Evra (the birth control patch), that question is very much up in the air. When making the results public, Johnson and Johnson applied a “correction factor� to the results of a test showing the higher levels of estrogen in the patch. An attorney for the company explains:

“The judgment was made by the pharmacokeneticists at the time that in doing the calculation, it was probably appropriate to make that correction,� Bob Tucker, a lawyer representing Johnson & Johnson, said in an interview Thursday. “Later on when people looked at it in a different time frame, they concluded that probably the correction shouldn’t be applied.�

But, if the Bush administration and the drug companies get their way, consumers won’t be able to sue in cases like this. That’s just ridiculous. Cases against Johnson and Johnson are pending, waiting to see if they can move forward at all. In the meantime, we're all stuck hoping the greedy drug manufacturers and the overworked FDA don't kill us.

On Friday afternoon, Hillary Clinton made good on her promise to make her tax returns public. And the returns are being scrutinized. Which was the point of releasing them. But, there’s this attitude about the money that the Clintons have earned that I don’t understand. First of all, when was the last time someone running for president wasn’t rich compared to most Americans? That’s how it is.

But there’s something else. Stories claim Clinton

had long delayed disclosing details of her fortune, for fear of driving blue-collar and low-income voters to Barack Obama. The Illinois senator and his wife have earned about 4 percent of the Clintons' income during the past seven years.

John Edwards, whose dedication to doing something about poverty in this country is, I think, generally accepted, has also made a lot of money. Tax returns made public in 2004 showed that he and his wife made $39 million between 1994 and 2003. Did that stop him from championing what was important to him?

What do you think? Does it matter to you how much money Clinton makes?

To the folks at Morning Joe: Shame on you. What pains me is that I generally really like Mika Brzezinski, and consider her a voice of reason in an otherwise frat-boy-gross show. But this is just horrifying.

UPDATE: There's an email form on Morning Joe's website that you can use to complain, or you can check out the general MSNBC contact info.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Despite what the L.A. Times prints, it's still a major problem on college campuses.

More colleges are assigning coed roommates.

Illinois considers tracking devices for people with restraining orders against them.

The Department of Justice's inspector general is investigating whether a U.S. attorney was fired because she is a lesbian.

Weight discrimination hits women harder than men.

Minnesota considers comprehensive sex ed -- 'cause, yeah, abstinence-only doesn't work.

Some interesting linguistic history on how we talk about virginity.

Women fight back against poverty.

The Pentagon apparently has a problem with "transporting gay domestic partners." WTF?

On rape as a weapon of war. (The Senate recently held its first-ever committee hearing on the subject.)

The Navy abruptly changed its policy to allow women to serve on submarines. (Ok, I was belatedly gotten by an April Fools joke. Sadly, the item about the Pentagon and gay partner travel is no joke.)

What have y'all been reading? What about actions/events coming up this week? Leave your links in comments...

Allison Kilkenny describes herself as "a political humorist, a fancy way of saying writer, who makes shitty world news funny." She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, The Beast, Alternet.org's Wiretap Magazine, and Timothy McSweeney's. Her work has appeared on The Nation and SIRIUS radio.

Here's Allison Kilkenny...

This makes me want to tear my hair out. Remember the Nebraska judge who banned the word 'rape' from a rape trial? (You know, so the accuser was forced to use words like "intercourse" and "sex" to describe the attack. Charming.) Well, according to an appeals court, that's all fine and dandy.

The lawsuit argued that Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront violated Tory Bowen's constitutional rights in barring her from using certain words during her testimony in the trial, in which she said Pamir Safi sexually assaulted her.

While Cheuvront barred Bowen from using phrases and words like "rape kit" and "victim" in her testimony, he allowed Safi's attorneys to use words such as "sex" and "intercourse" when describing the encounter between Safi and Bowen.

Even worse, of course, was that the jury wasn't told about the banned words.

Dahlia Lithwick at Slate had this to say when news of the case first came out: "The fact that judges are not rushing to ban similarly conclusory legal language from trial testimony—presumably one can still say murder or embezzlement on the stand—reflects not just the fraught nature of language but also the fraught nature of rape prosecutions. We as a society still somehow think rape is different—either because we assume the victims are especially fragile or because we assume they are particularly deceitful. Is the word rape truly more inflammatory to a jury than the word robbery?" Indeed.

Bowen (who made her name public), has been an inspiration through this disgustingness. First, she refused to abide by the judge's rule: "I refuse to call it sex, or any other word that I'm supposed to say, encouraged to say on the stand, because to me that's committing perjury. What happened to me was rape, it was not sex."

Then, after there was a mistrial (because of the controversy over the word ban), Bowen sued. I'm just so disappointed that it's come to this end. But kudos to Bowen for not taking shit - she is one amazing woman.

It looks like all the attention POPLINE has received from their decision to omit the term "abortion" from their search engine has been brought to the attention of the Dean of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who released the following statement:

I was informed this morning that the word "abortion" was blocked as a search term in the POPLINE family planning database administered by the Bloomberg School’s Center for Communication Programs. POPLINE provides evidence-based information on reproductive health and family planning and is the world’s largest database on these issues.

USAID, which funds POPLINE, found two items in the database related to abortion that did not fit POPLINE criteria. The agency then made an inquiry to POPLINE administrators. Following this inquiry, the POPLINE administrators at the Center for Communication Programs made the decision to restrict abortion as a search term.

I could not disagree more strongly with this decision, and I have directed that the POPLINE administrators restore "abortion" as a search term immediately. I will also launch an inquiry to determine why this change occurred.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH
Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Good stuff.

Sexism, racist stereotypes, general assholery - it's all here folks.

Thanks to nursing student Sara for passing this along, who was just as appalled as we were. Regarding the actual story, it looks like the nurses are rightfully pressing charges against the clinic. The Chair of the Nurses Working Committee said, "We feel like ornaments in the skirts. We don't have freedom of movement and can't bend over to tend to patients. We are made to expose our bodies to do our work." Let's hope they get justice.

BBC news reports on Dr Brian McKinstry's recent article in the British Medical Journal where he expresses his concern over the increase of women doctors in the UK.

There are now more women in medical school than men in the UK, and McKinstry finds this alarming, largely because women are taking up more primary care positions rather than becoming surgeons. He says they also tend to go part-time more often.

He proceeds to discuss the "feminisation of primary care," (grrr) and spews off a list of reasons why women in primary care are problematic, like how women with children print fewer publications than men with children, which in part effects the "education, research and development" of the field. Also, women spend more time with patients than male doctors - the horror!

While the doctor acknowledges past inequalities of women entering the medical field, the general tone of the article seemed sexist and holier-than-thou. After his note of women doctors spending more time with patients, he says, "Empathy and communication skills are important, but so are efficiency and the ability to live with risk." I didn't know that spending more time with patients to make sure they're correctly diagnosed and treated was just about the empathy; I would say those are the better doctors, no question. And to turn it into the stereotype of women as caregivers and "good communicators" is a cheap shot.

In the BBC article, Dr Steve Field, chair of the Royal College of GPs, also questioned the selection process when it comes to medical school entry:

"[H]e added that there were concerns over the fact that girls tended to do better in the interview process for medical school at age 18. 'I'm concerned about how we select into medical school as it seems to be more difficult for boys post A-level.' "

So of course something has else rather than competency has to be going on if women are doing better than men in their interviews. Those 18 year old hussies!

All I can say is that I was glad to see a rebuttal of McKinstry's contention; check it out. Do any UK readers with more knowledge want to weigh in on this?

My new crush is Peter Sagal of NPR, who came out of watching the new flick Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who with his daughters pretty pissed off:

In a new subplot added by the filmmakers, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it, I'll wait.

Check out the whole fantastic, feminist rant. (And thanks to our readers for the tip!)

A random note I learned in this process: anti-choicers apparently stole a line from the original book, "a person's a person, no matter how small," to use as their own. (Despite Seuss' past threat to sue.) Lovely.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Thousands of people - including presidential candidates, activists and civil rights leaders - are commemorating King's life in Memphis today, where he was killed.

"Here was a man who understood nonviolence at a depth that I had never known before," said C.T. Vivian, a former King associate.

...King advised his followers to keep working for equal rights for all citizens, "to keep on moving," no matter what obstacles they faced, [writer Cynthia Griggs] Fleming said in a talk Thursday at a Memphis church.

"Don't be so consumed by the pain that you don't hear the message," she said.

There's a picture of MLK that I love, I hadn't seen it until my boyfriend moved in and hung it in our bedroom - it's of King sleeping. And while the pictures and videos of him speaking are amazing - I like to remember not only how important King was for the country and for the civil rights movement, but also that he was a person. A person who got tired, who got sad, who was complex - someone who was much more than just a symbol. And I guess that picture reminds me of that.

If anyone would like to share thoughts about King and today's sad anniversary, please do so in comments. Below are two videos; the first is King's last speech, the second is Robert Kennedy announcing King's death.

For more on today's anniversary, see Pam's House Blend and Think Progress.

It looks like the "world's largest database in reproductive health" has omitted the word "abortion" from its search function.

While other terms are very searchable, like "birth control," "fertility" and "family planning," POPLINE has decided to make "abortion" a stop word. Rachel at Women's Health News clarifies:

"If you’re not familiar with “stop words,� they are typically words like 'a,' 'an,' and 'the' that are omitted automatically from the search, because they is assumed to have no added value or meaning."

So "abortion" apparently has no value or meaning, at least according to the federal government. A librarian inquired about it after coming up with zero results when she searched for the term and was given this answer: “We recently made all abortion terms stop words. As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now.�

You know that I think is "best for now"? How about giving women accurate information? How about acknowledging the existence of medical fact, of a legal and safe medical procedure? Ignoring it isn't going to make it go away, people.

As a project of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, POPLINE receives its funding from USAID. We have the history there. However, "abortion" is searchable on that site; you can guess what comes up.

Thanks to all the readers who alerted us about this!

A survey in Florida showed that some teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and that a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy. Lawmakers in the state say the myths are a direct result of Florida's abstinence-only sex education.

Thankfully, legislators are using these disturbing survey results as a kick in the ass to propose a bill requiring comprehensive sex ed.

The title of this post is in honor of the fact that I learned yesterday that Fran Drescher has an organization called Cancer Schmancer. For serious.

Anways, Amanda over at Pandagon blogged about this today too, but it was just too ridiculous to pass up. One of my all-time favorite books, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (if you haven't read it, GO PURCHASE NOW) is being censored by a group of students at the University of Utah. Because Alison is so freaking great, her response to this news was "awesome!"

"This sort of bullshit will pretty much permanently fuck up any attempt of feminists to start a reasonable discussion about why so many men are attracted to a flavor of pornography that is as much, if not more, about humiliating and hating women as it is about getting men off. Which is not even all porn, but certainly doesn’t encapsulate novels like this. Hell, we’re stuck in definitional hell, with the right wingers defining porn as “any material that portrays sexuality in a way that I don’t approve of�, and most everyone else in liberal land defining it as, “sexually explicit materials designed to sexually arouse the reader/viewer�, and radical feminists defining it as “photos and videos where the humiliation and pain of the woman is considered an essential part of the erotic experience for the viewer�. Which is, to be fair to radical feminists, the majority of the material available through your internet channels or “Girls Gone Wild� videos. I’m not getting into the discussion of censorship from feminists, since it’s a red herring, since the number of feminists willing to talk censorship is a minority of a minority."

Yea, what Amanda said.

Limbaugh should get back to being an oxycotin addict because this bullshit that is somehow marketed as political punditry is disgusting. You would think when are you talking about the women's movement or the civil rights movement you might want to do *some* research as to what were our guiding principles, along with some understanding of our wins.

First listen.

No wonder right-wing pundits say such ignorant things about what they perceive as identity based voting. They don't know anything about it-which could turn into our advantage. I would give a more thorough response to his actual comments, but I am too busy convincing women to get abortions.

I think Rush Limbaugh owes it to us to STFU.

via M-pyre.

Thanks to Karlos for the link.

So I was sitting with one of my favorite 18-year-old superstars a few days ago at Cosi near Union Square, chatting about life, WAM, sexual politics, college, social change, when all of the sudden this guy posted up outside on the street and started starring at us through the window. I didn't want to jump to any conclusions so I just kept on talking with my mentee, and then he inched closer and I realized he was looking directly at our feet and rubbing his dick through the pocket of his jeans. Um, yes, he was masturbating to our feet. I got up and got a manager, at which point dude ran off.

This is the third time that I've been in a public place, minding my own business, and had a guy masturbate near me--the first time was when I was 16-years-old having a picnic in the park near my house, the second was at Smokin' Grooves Tour in the late 90s (yes, I'm that old).

When I brought up this experience to friends, just about every one of them had a similar story, but we all realized there's no real name for this kind of violation. It doesn't even get brought up that much, it seems to me. So I'm reaching out to y'all and asking...does this shit happen to you? Do you think we should name it? Or does it already have a name that I don't know about?

I know the Holla Back crew has created a great way to respond to being harrassed on the street, but this feels different, right?

Cambodian officials have suspended all marriages between foreigners and locals in response to growing concerns about human trafficking detailed in an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) report. The article reads:

Some 1,759 marriage visas were issued by South Korea in 2007, up from just 72 in 2004, the report said. While no systematic exploitation was uncovered, several cases of abuse did raise a red flag with the government, said You Ay, secretary of state with the Women's Affairs Ministry...You Ay commented that the ban, which was approved last week, would be lifted after the government developed a legal framework to address mixed marriages. "This suspension is to prevent human trafficking through marriage," she said, adding that while the brides often receive as little as USD 1,000, agencies can make tens of thousands of dollars on each marriage.

New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams was one of the first magazines I ever published in...I think I was about 16 and it was an essay about an old woman named Ana Lucia that I met while spending a summer in Costa Rica. She rocked my world and I immediately wanted to write about the experience, but what's a girl in the middle of Colorado Springs, Colorado to do with a lot of ambition and a cheesy personal essay? Send it to New Moon, it turns out.

New Moon has encouraged so many young voices over the years, many of whom I'm sure have developed into bonafide journalists and editors and poets as the years wear on. Part of this is due to the fact that the magazine recognizes that wellbeing and authenticity go hand in hand. You don't have to sanitize the content just to make it safe and you also don't have to dumb it down to make it attractive to girls. Let girls create their own media, and enlightenment follows.

Thanks to Nancy Gruver and all the other visionaries behind New Moon's founding and all those that continue to keep it alive and thriving.

*In this month's issue, by the way, is an interview with DJ Rehka alongside an essay with "examples of artists who bring positive messages to the airwaves while maintaining the true essence of hip-hop." See what I mean?

If you're in Delaware, I imagine you don't get as many opportunities for feminist arts and culture as us New Yorkers do, so be sure to check out this event:

Bridge of Hope Show: Iraqi/US Art Initiative
by the International Cultural Arts Network (ICAN)
at the
Delaware Art Museum
Outlooks Gallery, US and Iraqi Artists' Reception
Friday April 4, 2008
5:30 p.m. ~ 9 p.m.
Delaware Art Museum's Art on the Town reception is open until Midnight.

It's a great model of international women coming together to share space, ideas, and resources. I know some of the women at WAM were expressing frustration over figuring out how to partner with women abroad after hearing Haifa Zangana's amazing keynote Saturday morning...here's one interesting answer.

On my way to WAM this last weekend I ate french fries and caught up on my New Yorkers. One article, in particular, really struck me and I wanted to write a bit about it here: "Exposure: The woman behind the camera at Abu Ghraib" by Philip Gourevitch (of the amazing book, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families) and Errol Morris (one of my favorite documentary filmmakers.

In it, they look closely at the life of Sabrina Harman, the young soldier who took the photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib that have come to haunt us. The piece is so powerful, in part because the authors rely heavily on quotations from those involved, particularly Hartman. Unlike most New Yorker pieces, which I find sometimes err on missing the voices of those at the center of the issue, this one is full of organic wanderings by the soldiers who got caught up in that horrendous place and time.

What becomes clear very quickly is that Harman used her camera as a way to process the dissonance between what she felt was right--a small but nagging sentiment--and what she was watching happen all around her to the point of normalization. The lens becomes her way of organizing the world, of making sense of the nonsensical. Interestingly, she is known as the one who won't even let people kill a bug, but she never speaks out directly about the abuse being heaped on detainees. Clearly this contrast tells us something even more frightening about the power of conditioning. She wasn't seeing bugs tortured day in and day out. She was seeing people endure that to the point that it no longer seemed like something to endure or end.

They write of her: "Nobody called Sabrina Harman Mother Theresa at the Abu Ghraib hard site. But even on the Military Intelligence block she retained her reputation as the blithe spirit of the unit, obviously not the leader and yet never a true follower, either--more like a tagalong, the soldier who should never have been a soldier."

Harman writes in a letter home: "They've been stripping 'the fucked up' prisoners and handcuffing them to the bars. Its pretty sad. I get to laugh at them and throw corn at them. I kind of feel bad for these guys, even if they are accused of killing US soldiers. We degrade them but we don't hit and thats a plus even though Im sure they wish we'd kill them."

I am fascinated by the processes by which we dehumanize one another, the slow crawl of corruption into even the most well-intentioned souls, what Hannah Arendt called the "banality of evil." This article is not to be missed by those with similar interests. Gourevitch and Morris manage to present Harman and the action surrounding her with a deep compassion, but also a sharply focused, unforgiving lens of their own.

A forewarning: This is about as bad as it gets.

A Maryland man with bipolar disorder with a history of suicide attempt murdered his children this weekend after a court refused to submit a permanent restraining order requested by their mother partly because she was still "having sex" with him in fear for her and her childrens' lives.

While the psychologist's report claiming that Mark Castillo was not someone of harm to his children was a factor in the decision, Amy Castillo said that her husband told her "the worst thing he could do to me would be to kill the children and not me so I could live without them," which she wrote in the petition for the order.

Nonetheless, Judge Joseph A. Dugan Jr. said, "I am not satisfied that indeed there is clear and convincing evidence of abuse in this case." And brought up the fact that Amy continued to "have sex" with her husband, including "twice on the day he allegedly talked about killing the children," despite Castillo testifying that she was - very understandably - scared of him and worried that if she didn't, he would suspect she was taking action against him.

This is beyond horrid. To discredit a woman for being raped to save her and her childrens' lives is unbelievably heinous. I wonder if Dugan has that on his conscience now that her children are dead. Fucking horrible.

Thanks to Sarah for the tip, who is from the same neighborhood.

Ann posted the original Advocate story in the feminist roundup, but there has been a lot of press around this story since then. I will post something longer with my thoughts after I see the Oprah interview, but for those of you who are interested, tune in tomorrow. You can see the preview here. From Oprah's site:

Thomas is 34, happily married and…pregnant. Our cameras capture it all—the ultrasound, inside the nursery and more. How is this possible?

RH Reality Check had a great feature for April Fool's yesterday with a focus on how crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) fool women into believing that they're all-options clinics, not to mention load them with a ton of dangerous misinformation. And surprise surprise - these illegal and harmful practices are heavily funded by the Bush administration.

Kierra Johnson of Choice USA wrote a piece about CPCs and their efforts with the National Abortion Federation to support a bill that Senator Menendez proposed yesterday, Stop the Deceptive Advertising in Women Services. Call your senators to support the bill.

My beaver is not to be compared to a beaver! (I keeeed). But really, I don't know about that thing.

via.

Thanks to Dave for the link.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has signed a new law that will allow victims of domestic violence to break rental contracts without punishment.

Supports say the law removes a hurdle that often prevented victims from getting help and leaving abusive relationships.

“If you’re required to stay with an abuser because of a lease you can feel trapped in your residence,� said Kathryn Chapman, executive director of the Golden House shelter in Green Bay.

Naturally, landlords aren't too pleased, because they feel like the law "burdens" them. I get it, but sorry - I don't trump being "burdened" over not being killed by your partner.

Josh Freker, policy director for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the bill’s sponsors worked with landlords so the provision wouldn’t be a burden to them.

Freker said anyone breaking a lease under the provisions of the bill would have to show documentation, such as a criminal complaint or restraining order.

For more information on the employment and housing rights of domestic violence survivors, check out women's legal rights organization, Legal Momentum.