Recently in Activism Category

I've been thinking about the power of the personal a lot lately, particularly the ways in which we do or don't show up as feminists in different contexts. Women's studies classroom? Sure, everybody's doing it. First dinner out with the new boyfriend's conservative parents? Maybe not so much. It can be really difficult to make these kinds of choices, as insignificant as they might seem. As sociologist Erving Goffman argues, we are always performing different selves depending on the context we find ourselves in.

When I wrote my first book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, I incorporated feminism into my analysis, I suggested feminism as a solution of sorts for the epidemic of perfectionism and body image distortion so rampant among my generation. But you don't find feminism anywhere in the title and that was intentional. I knew it would scare away a group of women that I hoped would read the book and, in the process, get hip to feminist ideas.

In contrast, when I was on The O'Reilly Factor, they put my professional title (called a chyron in the bizz) as simply FEMINIST. It wasn't my first choice--I would have preferred to be identified by one of the many hats I wear, including editor at Feministing.com or Senior Correspondent at The American Prospect. But I also thought it was sort of awesome. It proved that O'Reilly was truly intimidated by my feminist identity.

When and where do you claim your feminist label and when and where do you shirk it? Remember, the latter usually doesn't involve an out and out denouncement or denial of feminism's importance in your life, but it's easy to downplay that part of your politics. How do you make these context-based decisions?

Love these students! Students at John Carroll University in Ohio protested during a school basketball game over the school's unwillingness to include sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy.

From a student statement on YouTube:

John Carroll's mission is to create people for others. That means support, protection, love, and understanding for all people without regard to color, creed, sexual preference, gender, age, or other personal factors. That's the goal of a Jesuit institution.

By not explicitly voicing its support of LGBTQ students, faculty, and alumni, John Carroll's administration is breaking those unspoken bonds of trust that make JCU a community.

Despite support from the faculty union to include sexual orientation in the policy, the school's administration is holding firm. JCU President Robert Niehoff issued a statement saying that the policy wouldn't be changed because it goes against "traditional Catholic moral teaching."

The nondiscrimination policy is the university's promise to employees and faculty that the institution will not discriminate based on gender, religion or race. In his message earlier this week, Niehoff issued a lengthy explanation of his views that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people should be welcomed and respected at the university. He stopped short of recommending that the policy be changed, however, instead offering a "community standards statement" as a supplement to the policy.

So make the "community" accountable, but not the school, huh? Lovely.

Selly Thiam is the founder and executive producer of None on Record, a sound documentary project that collects the stories of QLGBT Africans from the African Continent and the Diaspora. Selly, who is of Senegalese descent, was born and raised in Chicago. She came out in high school, and found herself searching for women like her - West African lesbian women - but couldn't find any. Her search for people who shared her intersectional experiences led her to community organizing and activism and, ultimately, to None on Record.

Thiam started None on Record in 2006 in response to the murder of a Sierra Leonean QLGBT activist, and since then, Thiam and her colleagues have collected thousands of oral histories from all over the world. The first None on Record satellite project was launched in Canada, and there are now additional satellites in Johannesburg, Dakar, and will soon open one in Nairobi. The goal of these satellites, Thiam says, is to enable people to collect their own local oral histories, and to create their own archives. You can listen to some of those oral histories - some of which are absolutely stunning - here.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Selly Thiam.

I'm sure you're well aware of the controversy over CBS' decision to run an anti-choice during the Superbowl. After all, blogs are writing about it non-stop and women's organizations from NOW to the Women's Media Center are organizing against it. 

What you may not know, however, is that CBS has been working with Focus on the Family for months on creating the ad.

Dana Goldstein at The Daily Beast has the story:

"There were discussions about the specific wording of the spot," said Gary Schneeberger, spokesperson for Focus on the Family. "And we came to a compromise. To an agreement." Schneeberger declined to comment on exactly how CBS changed the ad's message.

..."We've worked with [CBS] almost since the beginning," Schneeberger added. "Our senior vice presidents talked to CBS executives throughout the process. It was a very cordial, very professional, fruitful relationship."

CBS declined to comment on the details of its work with Focus on the Family on the Tebow ad, but said such cooperation is not unusual. Abortion rights advocates see it differently. If CBS did vet scripts for the ad, the cooperation is "appalling," said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women.

So not only is CBS running the ad, they're helping anti-choicers refine their message and vet scripts?!  I wonder how many other of their advertisers get such personal attention.

Did you know that there are1.2 billion people between the ages of 10 and 19 in the world today-the largest generation of adolescents ever?

As the Feministing community knows, around the world, strong and dynamic youth movements are gaining momentum--and so is the global agenda for human rights, social justice, and feminism. From Nigeria to Peru, young people are securing access to comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive health care, and engaging with policymakers locally, nationally, and internationally.

That's why I'm so thrilled to announce Young Visionaries, an exciting new campaign- and contest- from the International Women's Health Coalition(IWHC), the NGO where I work. Until March 25, 2010 if you're between the ages of 18 and 30 you can share your vision for a just and healthy life, and get a chance to win a $1000 grant from IWHC to fund a project that works toward this vision. Feministing's very own Jessica Valenti is a guest judge for the contest, which aims to highlight the voices of young people working on sexual and reproductive rights and health from all corners of the globe...Voices like that of Aysel Asgarova (Azerbaijan), who writes:

"In almost every Muslim country women experience gender-based discrimination and inequality. Azerbaijan is not an exception. So, if I win a $1000 Young Visionaries grant, I'd organise a 5-day Theatre-based Training of Trainers in the field of Peer Education and Reproductive Health in one of the regions of Azerbaijan."

And voices like that of Joseph Sewedo Akoro of Nigeria, who says in his entry that his "vision is to have a world that will be absolutely non-discriminatory and where everyone of diverse status can enjoy fundamental human rights.

If Shannon O'Reilly of Iowa, USA could tell world leaders one thing, it would be that:

"'The world isn't a power struggle. There's no war of good against evil. Your ideals are not diametrically opposed to those of every other country. You have a choice: stay at a standstill until the world changes, chaotically, without you- or work together to make sure it changes to benefit everyone.'"

And Wagatwe Wanjuki of New Jersey, USA believes "that ignorance plays a huge part in the revictimization of survivors and the perpetuation of inadequate sexual violence policies."

If you meet the eligibility requirements and share IWHC's vision for promoting and protecting the health and rights of women and young people worldwide, you can add your voice to the mix by nominating yourself today. The process is pretty painless. Be sure to read the full contest rules here first.

And even if you aren't eligible for the contest, I encourage you to check out the nominees and vote for the youth activists who inspire you. You can also click here for more information and resources on the sexual and reproductive rights and health of young people and adolescents, from IWHC's extensive online Information Library.

Audacia Ray wears many hats. Author, blogger, activist, advocate educator and director are just a few. Ray, a former sex worker, is the co-founder of Sex Work Awareness, an awareness and advocacy group that aims to empower the sex worker community and educate the public about the rights and needs of sex workers. She edits Sex Work 101, the organization's blog, and also runs Speak Up, a media training workshop designed especially for sex workers.

Ray is the author of Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration, and was an executive editor of $pread Magazine, the groundbreaking publication written by and for members of the sex industry. She's the director of the award-winning feminist porn movie The Bi Apple, and an adjunct professor of Human Sexuality at Rutgers. Ray is also the Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women's Health Coalition, where she is a colleague of Feministing's own Lori Adelman. That's a lot of hats. This week, I had a chance to sit down with Ray and pick her many-hat-wearing brain about sexting, burlesque dancers and the future of the feminist movement.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Audacia Ray.

On Monday the President of the United States is sitting down with Steve Grove from CitizenTube and will be answering a series of questions generated directly from their Youtube channel. They have about eight video questions up right now, but none of them are from women.

Submission guidelines are simple: Just click the submit a question button on the top right. If you are doing a video, keep it to 20 seconds or less and you can text questions as well, but they would prefer video. On the right hand side of the CitizenTube homepage there is a list of topics to ask from.

Let's let the POTUS know the women have questions about the future of this country like anyone else. If you put up a video, let us know in comments so we can watch and vote!

Check the YouTube blog for more information.

Halle Tecco has an interesting, albeit thin, piece up at HuffPo about the waning interest in diamonds as engagement/wedding rings. She sites the ethical issues, as well as questions about originality, style, and the symbol of ownership. This is quite a shift, although not as large as you might guess when you look at the actual history. Tecco writes:

Your great grandmother didn't wear a diamond ring. Before the 1930's, diamonds were rarely used in engagement jewelry. Instead, gems like rubies and opals served as the public display of holy matrimony.

The genesis of the ubiquitous diamond wedding ring stemmed from a brilliant advertising campaign led by the first advertising agency in the U.S., N.W. Ayer & Sons. Named the best advertising slogan of the 20th century by Advertising Age, the "A Diamond is Forever" campaign has proven quite lucrative. Diamonds are a $77.5 billion global retail market, of which De Beers holds roughly 40 percent market share.

Leave it to the feminist scholar in the piece to say the most interesting thing: "Dr. Natalie Wilson opposes the 'ownership' model of the practice which champions both ownership of women and showy capitalism. When asked what she proposed as an alternative she responded, 'Why is it even necessary to 'put a ring on it'?'"

Which gives me an excuse to watch this Beyonce video. Why must the most amazing dance video of last year correspond with lyrics that suggest women are objects to be claimed? I recognize that you might think there is a go-girl positive message for women here about articulating their desires or ditching out, but it's not for me. (sticks fingers in ears and presses play)

The Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) is continually analyzing and advocating about bias, particularly gender-related, in psychiatric diagnosis, but they've got their eyes on the prize these days: the DSMV, set to be published in 2013. For those who aren't familiar, the DSM, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is essentially the bible of psychiatry, the manual by which folks are diagnosed and prescribed treatment. As you probably already know, there have been various controversies about the ways in which disorder is defined and the ways in which various facets of personality, genetics, and a mix of the two are pathologized. There have been five revisions since the DSM was first published in 1952. Each version is concurrent with a new battle over which disorders should be removed and which should be added. These seemingly logistical questions are actually wrestling matches over meaning, culture, gender, sex, race, and science.

The AWP has a series of articles that break down some of the most pressing controversies facing us with this new version of the DSM, including: "Anorexia Nervosa and the DSM, Borderline Personality Disorder: The Disparagement of Women through Diagnosis, Female Sexual Dysfunction Diagnoses, Gender Interupted: Controversy and Concerns about Gender Identity Disorder (GID), Should Obesity Be Called a Mental Illness?, Problems with Parental Alienation Syndrome, and Social Class and Classism in Psychiatric Diagnosis."

In sum, there are a lot of red flags this time around, not the least of which is the current DSM committee's "fortress-like mentality." The AWP explains:

In addition, despite the secrecy surrounding the process, additional alarming information about what committee members are considering has already appeared. For instance, a committee was appointed to consider whether "racism" should appear in the DSM-V, a step that would disguise a social evil by making it seem "merely" an individual problem, a mental illness. One danger of such a diagnostic category is that people who commit hate crimes would blame their crimes on alleged mental illnesses and thus avoid criminal punishment (Profit, 2004). This is similar to the category of "rapism," which was proposed for DSM-III-R and which feminists successfully battled (Caplan, 1995).

So what do we do about it? Unfortunately, because of the secrecy and bureacracy involved, it's difficult for the layperson to advocate. The AWP has created this clearing house for information on bias in the next edition, in an attempt to inform its members and the press as quickly as possible when things go awry:

Unfortunately, many changes in past editions have been made at the last minute and without the public's knowledge, so that serious problems have become widely known only after the editions were published; those problems have persisted for many years. Indeed, in the case of the widely publicized claim in the early 1970s that "homosexuality" was being removed from the next edition of the manual - a claim that is still generally believed to be true - it emerged that "ego-dystonic homosexuality" actually remained in the next edition after all (Metcalfe & Caplan, 2004).[1] Situations like this make it difficult to think how to protect the public and how to educate the public and professionals about ways to stop the DSM-V authors from causing harm. We hope that this website will provide some resistance to the DSM-V steamroller.

We'll certainly do our part to follow this story and keep the Feministing community informed.

"Imagine that I'm a caveman," writer and former basketball player Paul Shirley urges his readers in a recent post on the devastation in Haiti over at FlipCollective. As you continue reading, he makes it very easy:

While the earthquake was, obviously, unavoidable, the way in which many of the people of Haiti lived was not. Regrettably, some Haitians would have died regardless of the conditions in that country. But the fact that so many people lived in such abject poverty exacerbated the extent of the crisis. How could humans do this to themselves?

Read more at your own risk, but suffice it to say that this is one of the most offensive pieces of writing I've come across in a very long time. Is it important to search for Haitian-created solutions for future natural disasters? Yes. Is it critical that the money being donated be accounted for and used efficiently and equitably? Yes. But translating those legitimate concerns into a demonization of the Haitian people, completely ignoring the legacy of racism and exploitation that has contributed to so much of the poverty there, is unconscionable.

Feel free to send Paul an email regarding your reactions to his piece: mysocalledcareer@gmail.com

Check out community post Dear Paul Shirley.

Thanks to Megan Osberger for the heads up.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is doing an awesome job with their "Not My Tax Dollars" video campaign. (Remember this one?) Check out the latest...

Transcript after the jump.

Check out Emily Pilloton on Colbert Nation. I reviewed her book back in the day. It's exciting to see this movement, and Emily's great work, getting the attention it deserves.

Via Amanda at The Sexist, I found out about this great campaign from Just Detention International (formerly Stop Prison Rape) that aims to shine a light on prison rape - and the way that it's perceived (or ignored):

More images from the campaign, and more information on JDI's work, click here.

Love this video from the Center for Reproductive Rights. (Look, all my favorite bloggers and activists!!) To take action, click here.

Transcript after the jump

As a young feminist in the movement, at one time or another, I have felt exactly like this.

In a little over a week Roe v. Wade will be celebrating another anniversary, yet feminists are still engaged in the fight of our lives for rights that seemed guaranteed by this ruling. And we can begin the finger pointing and blame shifting. But the truth is, the recent Nelson compromise was a collective loss for all women. As such, it should be treated like a collective failure.

Although I do not donate after every crisis claim, I have still maintained my membership in some of these mainstream feminist organizations. I have done so simply because my quality of life has improved from things like "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" T-shirts, The Love Your Body Campaign and the endless reservoir of sex education information that exists on websites like Planned Parenthood. Supporting attempts for justice even if they aren't always successful is reasonable; But Angry Mouse's analysis about the returns of our investment in the movement can't just be wanded away by a few great campaigns, a long track record and well spent foundation money.

When I first read Angry mouse's piece, I started racking my brain for monitoring and evaluation models. But this isn't just a matter of well-done, pro-bono, strategic planning services. The complaints about the structure, composition and effectiveness of many mainstream feminist organizations are numerous and many of them are valid. And while the role of mainstream feminist organizations is not to be understated, it is clear that a new decade must signal a new era of competition.

The women's rights and health care nightmare continues. The Senate and House bills will be reconciled soon, and both include language that will severely limit women's access to abortion.

The Women's Media Center is calling today the Not Under the Bus Day of Action.

Here is how you can take action today with the Women's Media Center:

Tweet: Take Action today with @NotUnderTheBus. Demand that women's rights be protected in #HCR: http://bit.ly/7u15IG #underthebus

Post our video to your Facebook page, Blog, or status:

Donate your Facebook Status to raise awareness:
"Today is Take Action Day with NotUnderTheBus.com. What are you doing to demand pro-choice, fair health care? http://bit.ly/7u15IG Take Action. Write an op-ed, call your Senator, sign a petition. Demand that women's rights be protected in health care reform."

Sign and Share Our Petition: Tell lawmakers in Washington to keep women's health care safe, fair and covered and urge them to strike any anti-abortion amendments from the final bill.

And visit our Take Action page for more ideas!

I'm all for making feminist activism fun, but does posting the color of our bras on Facebook really constitute a public awareness campaign for breast cancer? As Feminazery argues, the flurry of "black lace," "nude," and "purple polka dot" didn't correlate with any translation of helpful information (like the risk factors for breast cancer, tips for prevention, or where to find out about treatment options), much less point out all the other less "sexy" (ugh) cancers that affect so many people's lives.

Listen, if you want to talk about your skivvies on Facebook, more power to you. You don't need a supposedly virtuous excuse to do it. And if you really want to make a difference in women's lives, advocate for more comprehensive health care, get involved in raising money for heart disease (the #1 killer of women) or those disproportionately affected by breast cancer.

Check out these good community posts from last week on the topic:
We're not promoting breast cancer awareness. Instead we're letting it know it has wardrobe options.
No, ex-colleague, I don't want to know your bra colour!

Thanks to Sarah and other readers for the push to tackle this issue.

Meredith Villano is the co-founder of Paradigm Shift, a feminist community group and events series in New York City. Meredith, who grew up in New Jersey and went to Rutgers University, has been a feminist activist for over fifteen years, and is passionate about the intersection of feminism and media. She founded Paradigm Shift in March of 2007 because, she says, she felt that the feminist community was fractured and lacking a sense of community. Paradigm Shift was created to provide "face-to-face opportunities for coalition building and community engagement."

Almost three years later, Paradigm Shift is flourishing, with monthly events like lectures, discussion groups, open mic nights, performances and even "Progressive Single Mingles." Villano is especially proud of Paradigm Shift TV, an online video channel that features videos of Paradigm Shift's speakers and lecturers, as well as videos submitted by members of NYC's feminist community.

For more information about Paradigm Shift, their upcoming events, to submit a video to Paradigm Shift TV or to volunteer your time and expertise, check out their website.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Meredith Villano.

Today is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

Audacia Ray, prominent activist and writer has this to say about the day:

December 17th is the annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, a day on which sex workers and their allies gather at vigils around the world to mourn our dead and bring attention to the continued acts of violence and injustice faced by sex workers. It's a tough event, but a necessary one - because sex workers are so stigmatized, they are often disrespected in both life and death. Our community must come together to memorialize those who have been taken from us, and support each other in the ongoing fight for justice and rights.

Actions to commemorate the day are taking place across the country. Audacia also has a video up on her blog from last year's actions, which you can see here.

Just when you think you've seen it all...

Young Hindu, Muslim and Sikh men have been queuing up at the Dera Sacha Sauda (Abode of the Real Deal) in the town of Sirsa as "wedding volunteers". They say they are doing so to stop the women from being exploited in brothels. They also claim that their move is part of a campaign to stop the spread of the HIV/Aids virus.

That's right. According to BBC, 1,000 men have already volunteered to marry sex workers who want to escape exploitative conditions. Nearly 100 young sex workers from Calcutta's Shonagachi red light district to brothels in Delhi and Mumbai have contacted the Abode of the Real Deal (I'm sorry, but that name just really sounds like an R. Kelly track to me).

The guys quoted in the BBC piece seem sincerely interested in doing something useful with their privilege (of course, they don't talk about it this way) and they also seem committed to marrying women who request that kind of help (i.e. respecting the women's agency). The leader has been quoted widely as saying, "All women forced to live as prostitutes are my daughters." I like the intention...i.e. to boldly claim that the exploitation of women is not just women's problems, but of course it stinks of paternalism.

Why can't the DSS pool their resources to help women who want to get out of their current situation, get the health care they need (HIV is rampant and untreated), and then make their own choices about what they'd like to do next with their lives?

Whether the sect actually will follow through with their promises is another story entirely. Buried within the BBC piece is this little tidbit of relevant information: "The sectarian violence that ensued across Punjab - as well as subsequent rape and murder charges brought against Ram Rahim Singh - have cast a shadow on the affairs and functioning of the DSS." Not exactly a crew I'd want to trust to operate a women's liberation movement.

For information on women liberating themselves, always a much sweeter prospect, I remind you of Lori's great post last week.

Thanks to espergel for the heads up.

Jimmie Briggs, an amazing journalist and organizer, that I got to know at the national conference of feminist men a month or so back, just let me know that applications are now open for his massive undertaking: Man Up, Young Leader's Summit. In his words:

Delegates will leave the summit with a blueprint to create or scale-up self-designed projects addressing violence against women in their own communities. We will support their plans over the next five years with small seed grants, regional summits, technical support, and strong network development. These delegates will pave the way to what will become a global, youth-led movement to stop violence against women.

Man Up's message is: "Violence against women is not just a women's issue, it's everyone's issue." Gotta love that.

With regards to the title of the campaign, which I can imagine some in our community might take issue with, I believe that Jimmie sees it as a reclaiming of the old masculine norms, represented by a phrase like "man up." He has also talked about the difficulty of branding an event intended for a truly international audience. How do you pique the interest of teenagers in Cambodia, Cameroon, and Kentucky all at once?

The deets:
WHO: To be eligible, applicants must be age 18-30 and live in any of our 50 Man Up countries. Four delegates per country will attend the summit together with renowned human rights leaders, educators, artists and athletes.
WHERE: Johannesburg, South Africa
WHEN: summer 2010 on the occasion of the World Cup

Apply here.

Bianca M. Velez from the Pro-Choice Public Education Project has an incredibly insightful piece on RH Reality Check about her experience attending the Day of Action against the Stupak amendment.

Specifically, she discusses her issues with the lack of young voices of color present, particularly considering the fact that the Stupak amendment affects young women of color and low-income women disproportionately:

A word on the presence of young people: great job getting them to stand there with their pink shirts and handmade signs; disaster getting their voices heard. If no one else noticed, let me be the first to tell you that there was ONE young woman under the age of 25 that spoke at the rally. Her task: to list the colleges and universities the young people present at the rally represented. Really? You don't want to talk about how Stupak utterly screws young women? Young women of color? Low-income young women? Fine, I'LL do it:

The Stupak Amendment puts young women, specifically young women of color and low-income young women, at a serious risk. It tells these young women not only that they have no control over their bodies, but that they have no reproductive choices. Because as we all know, Stupak will not change the lack of comprehensive sex education in the U.S.; it will not change young women's inability to access contraception or reproductive services, even when they do choose to parent. No, it only continues to exacerbate the inequities young women must face when trying to care for themselves, their partners, and their families.

Read the whole piece, it really speaks to a disconnect that I don't doubt other young reproductive justice activists had with the mainstream feminist movement on a day that should have been about uniting people and raising voices. And that needs some addressing.

The NWSA website has posted video of two of Angela Davis's speeches at NWSA. Check out the video of her speaking on NWSA and then on the theme of the conference, Difficult Dialogues.

[Also, my thesis is due today (finally!), putting some final touches on that. Posting will be a little slower than usual. Apologies in advance.]

Sixty-one years ago today, the United Nation General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document which contained world governments' promise to ensure dignity and equality for all.

But today, women and girls are too often excluded from this promise, and are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations, especially women and girls of color, poor women, rural women, indigenous women, and sex workers.

In honor of this special anniversary, and in an effort to highlight grassroots efforts to ensure the inclusion of women and girls in the promise the Universal Declaration, check out this fantastic new IWHC short documentary highlighting the mobilization efforts of sex workers in rural India. The video was shot and edited by my ever-amazing co-worker Audacia Ray on her recent trip to India. It comes as the result of collaboration with SANGRAM, an organization based in based in Sangli, Maharashtra that is becoming an increasingly strong advocate locally, nationally, and globally for health policies and programs that are responsive to the real-life needs of local communities. You can read more about SANGRAM here.

An update on the horrendous anti-homosexuality bill we posted about last week:

Bloomberg is reporting that the death penalty and life imprisonment will be struck from the bill:

"Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.

The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the two punishments to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties."

This is certainly great news, and comes on the heels of increased criticism from the international community

But it's important to remember that this bill is still AN ANTI-GAY BILL. No matter the severity of the suggested "punishment" for homosexuality, the premise is uber-problematic. I also think it's important to remember that the anti-gay sentiment that created the bill has not been eradicated. I've included a link roundup below, if you'd like to learn more about eradicating homophobia in Uganda:

Click here to read a post on Akimbo with more context on the difficulties gay Ugandans already face.

Click here to view the the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) call to action (and to contact the Ugandan parliament).

Click here for the Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement "Uganda: 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders"

Click here to listen to a radio Interview with Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)

Click here to read about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's reaction to the bill (hint: she's not a fan).

Yesterday the Center for Public Integrity released an investigative report on the dizzying amount of utter bullshit faced by survivors of sexual assault on college campuses.

A full 95 percent of rapes on campus go unreported and, the Center reports,

[T]hose who come forward can encounter mystifying disciplinary proceedings, secretive school administrations, and off-the-record negotiations. At times, policies lead to dropped complaints and, in cases like Russell's, gag orders later found to be illegal. Many college administrators believe the existing processes provide a fair and effective way to deal with ultra-sensitive allegations, but alleged victims say these processes leave them feeling like victims a second time.

Go check out the whole investigation.

Reading stuff like this is often so disheartening. Which is why I was so glad to see SAFER and V-Day are launching an effort to respond: the Campus Accountability Project.

The project invites all students to become researchers and advocates for better policies at their own schools. Check out the database of policies across the nation. Your school not listed? Incomplete data? Take action! Submit info on your school's policies and programs. Then,

"In the 2011-2012 school year, V-Day and SAFER will review the data collected, assess the state of the nation's campus sexual assault policies, follow up with students to find out what changes they have started on their campuses, and make recommendations based on the data that you've collectively input."

Seriously?

Students at Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.

BMI is not an accurate measure of health. Mine is way into the "obese" zone and you wouldn't even step to me I am so buff, I will run circles around you and then beat you in an arm wrestle--oh snap. I am just kidding, I would never hurt a fly...but you get my point.

Joking aside, fat activists have shown that faux medical measures of BMI as related to health are wrong. Instead of focusing on health, which is a holistic thing about mind, body and things like self-esteem, they go after a fragmented part of who you are that is not the most accurate indicator of health. And excessive focus on your weight affects your self-esteem and how you interact with the world around you. I thought going to college was to help you deal with the world around, not make it harder. Umhm.

A student at Lawson feels that everyone should have to take the class not just people with certain BMI.

"I didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range," Lawson wrote. "I came here to get an education which, as a three-time honor student, is something I have been doing quite well, despite the fact that I have a slightly high Body Mass Index."

T-shirt reads: i want my tax dollars to support abortion access!

This is very cool. You can get one on Etsy.

A UCLA student being tased last Wednesday for protesting the fee hikes.

From November 17-19, the University of California Board of Regents met to decide whether to raise University of California tuition 32%, to exceed $10,000 for the first time in history, including a $585 mid-year fee increase in January. They decided to approve both hikes, with Student Regent Jesse Bernal casting the only "No" vote.

On the front lines of the fight for public higher education in California, I have been part of a group of faculty, students, and union workers who are organizing against the cuts, which I wrote about on the day of our first system-wide walkout this year. When the UC Berkeley administration perceived unrest, the Chancellor sent out emails to redirect frustration away from administrators and Regents, and toward the California State Legislature. Yet students pushed back, first with the September 24 walkout, then with the November 18-20 strike, and now with the occupations sprouting up on campuses across the state.

Berkeley's strike was advertised as three days of action: Walkout, Reclaim, and Escalate. There were tentative plans that if the Regents passed the fee increase, there would be a meeting to decide what "Escalate" means. Friday, it meant occupying Wheeler Hall, the largest lecture hall on campus, canceling 118 classes, pulling fire alarms across campus, and rerouting 3,800 students. The point where the action became less salient, however, was when negotiations ceased to focus around the demands of the students in the building, and began to concern their safety. Over a thousand students joined the picket lines and protest surrounding Wheeler Hall Friday, met by riot police and barricades.

Identifying as a cisgender white woman, I have lived with the privilege of relying on police for safety. Yet, last week, for the first time, I, and hundreds of other middle class students across the Universities of California saw police brutality. Thanks largely to my generation's internet addiction, the videos and pictures of tasing, beating, and brutality went viral. J-Dilla's "F--- the Police" re-emerged as a student anthem. First to hit YouTube was a video of a UCLA police officer so intent on beating a student that he had to be restrained. Then, Yahoo posted a picture proving that UCPD's denial of taser use was a lie. Throughout Friday, as UC Berkeley PD called in support from the Alameda County Sheriff's department, the Berkeley PD, and Oakland PD, brutality videos continued to pour in.

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It's been officially celebrated since 1999 when the United Nations general assembly adopted this resolution formally acknowledging the day.

November 25th was picked as the date in commemoration of the murder of three Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic. The sisters were assassinated by the Trujillo dictatorship because of their work in opposition to the regime. The assassination led to uprising which forced Trujillo to step down.

Today also marks the first of sixteen days of activism to end violence against women which ends with Human Rights Day.

I'm in awe of her strength and compassion at such a difficult time for her family and such a horrific act of violence. Miriam's child, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, was brutally murdered last week.

Via Out for Justice

Video taken by Pedro Julio Serrano and translated into English by Andrés Duque of Blabbeando.

This is just a whole new level of disturbing. (Trigger warning.)

I don't give a rat's ass what your cause is; comparing the dangers of cleaning products to sexual assault is just not okay.

h/t to reader Valerie.

Yes, I'm aware that rotary phones are largely a thing of the past, but I still have affinity for them after growing up with one that looks just like this (but was a horribly awesome beige color).

Today and Thursday evening from 6 to 9 PM EST, NARAL Pro-Choice New York is holding phone banks to call in Senators in battle ground states and ensure the Stupak amendment won't be in the Senate bill or the final health care reform bill.

The great thing is that you do NOT have to be in New York to join the phone banks - all you need is internet and a phone and the folks over at NARAL Pro-Choice New York will guide you through it.

Email their awesome Community Organizer Lalena Howard to sign up.

This afternoon, I participated in a conference call with Loretta Ross, National Coordinator of SisterSong Reproductive Health Collective on the notorious Stupak Amendment. I have known her for years and she has mentored me from fledgling feminist thought to where I am today. I hopped on the call while my head was still reeling from the auctioning of women's rights on Saturday. But hearing the voice of Loretta, a woman who once regaled me with stories about her days tracking extremist hate groups in the South, made everything all right. She is that elder feminist that puts her hand on your shoulder and makes you feel like the impossible is in reach.

What I admire most about Loretta Ross is that preserving and restoring women's human rights is central to her analysis. "Health care," she said "is not an option, not a privilege -- but a human right." She described Stupak's amendment as "a loss and injury to the human rights of women" and referred all members on the call to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the U.S. government in 1948. Articles 12, 16 and 18 discuss privacy, the right to find a family and the right to "manifest faith" as one sees fit -- all tenets that Stupak ignored. This isn't just a document that has shaped America's Bill of Rights. In it lies the ethics that encompass what Obama has referred to as the character of our country. "This frame of human rights," Loretta argues, "has potential for feminists to situate women at the center of the debate allowing us to call attention to our rights to our body and control over our money."

In the end, she had no negative sentiment towards Obama, who in recent days has voiced dissatisfaction with the Stupak Amendment. But she maintains that this has got to be an approach from the bottom-up. "Sending an e-mail," she said, "may not establish a long-term relationship that will allow us to advance the agenda for women's rights." Of the hundreds of protesters affiliated with SisterSong who banded together on Saturday in DC to oppose the bill, "70 percent made advocacy visits," she said. The callers agreed that a reenactment of 2004's March for Women's Lives may very well be on the table.

Miriam, Samhita, Jess, and I are headed to Hotlanta tomorrow for the National Women's Studies Association's annual conference. We look forward to meeting readers there for the first time and reuniting with old friends. (And pretty please, if any community posters are there and get to see Angela Davis' keynote tonight, please write about it. We were all dying to see it but couldn't get out in time.)

Anyways, we're doing a panel on bringing off line and on line feminisms more, well, in line. I thought I'd throw an excerpt of the abstract up here and see if anyone had any thoughts/questions for us as we head into our lil' talk:

There is no question that the internet is one of the most vital sites of feminism activism today, but too often the women's studies classroom feels separate from, at best, and alienated from, at worst, this valuable resource. Some academics may not be familiar with the terrain of feminist blogs and intimidated by learning the language and customs associated with them. Some may have had a taste and decided that contemporary feminism needs more, not less, grounding in theory and history.

Many bloggers, for their part, have turned to the internet as a medium in direct opposition to what feels like an academic discipline that increasingly falls into the same traps of inaccessible language and unnecessary bureaucracy as its patriarchal counterparts in the university system.

So how do we bridge the divide? It is our conviction that the feminism's very survival depends on the interplay between the academics that train young women and men to be critical thinkers about gender and power, and the bloggers that continue to engage them in grassroots movements and continued analysis of this half-changed world. And of course, many of us are both in the same body--professors and bloggers, academics and activists, theorists and artists. How do we bridge the sometimes largest gap of all--that within ourselves?

The Guerrilla Girls are at it again. Two of the original members performed at the Acadia University Art Gallery in Wolfville, Nova Scotia last weekend. I loved this excerpt from the local coverage on what the Girls got riled up about:

They talked about tokenism, how the art world showcases the same artists of colour over and over instead of showcasing the diversity of artists of colour. They asked: "Is tokenism a solution to the problem of exclusion or is it an extension to the problem of exclusion?" Or, as their poster says, If February is Black History Month and March is Women's Month, what happens the rest of the year?

It's amazing that after 20+ years of existence, the Guerrilla Girls' message is still as resonant and needed as ever. Art museums average 15% women in curated exhibits, women of color .003%, and 4% of museum acquisitions are of work by women artists. Ridiculous.

There's no question that the Guerrilla Girls' methods are funfunfun, but are they effective? I'm not blaming the lack of change on these creative, bad ass women, but I do wonder if their antics entertain the choir more than challenging the power brokers. Thoughts?

Thanks to Rob for the heads up.

I'm really tired of these stories.

The fact that these young people are brave enough to come out in a climate as difficult as high school and then are faced with this kind of bigotry, is just really really sad.

Via Towleroad and the ACLU:

Cynthia Stewart, a 17-year-old junior at Tharptown High School in northern Alabama, is a member of her school's prom planning committee, had personally raised over $200 for the prom, and created the theme her classmates had chosen for the dance. She is also an out lesbian.

When Cynthia approached her principal to ask if she could bring her girlfriend with her to the prom, he said no. He also made Cynthia remove a sticker she was wearing that said, "I am a lesbian," telling her, "You don't have that much freedom of speech at school." Cynthia's aunt and guardian, Kathy Baker, then appealed the principal's decision to the school board. But the board let the decision to bar Cynthia from bringing her girlfriend to the prom stand.

I hope she can find support and love from her community to stand up to this and keep going on what is a difficult road.

Two older but happier stories from our archives on LGBTQ teens:

Friday Feel-good Story: Teen Lesbians Voted Best Couple in Yearbook
California high school elects gay male prom queen

UPDATE: The school is reconsidering her request.

The House of Reps is debating abortion in health care reform right now in Congress.

From Planned Parenthood Action Center:

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops met with leaders in the House of Representatives in their bid to eliminate women's access to abortion care under health care reform. Their efforts are working. Representative Bart Stupak has introduced an amendment to the health care reform bill that will result in women losing health care coverage for abortion. Now, Congress is considering the Stupak amendment to the health care reform bill that will eliminate choice for millions of women.

We need you, and your friends and family to call your representative now at 202-730-9001 and ask him or her to oppose the Stupak amendment.

You can urge friends on Facebook and Twitter to call Congress.

For Facebook, post this to your status:
EMERGENCY -- Representative Bart Stupak has just introduced an amendment to the health care reform bill that will eliminate coverage for abortion care. I just called my Rep. and you should, too. Call 202-730-9001 and ask him or her to reject the amendment.

Tweet this on Twitter:
URGENT- Call your Rep NOW to reject the Stupak amendment to health care reform. It would eliminate all abortion care. 202-730-9001. RT

Take action today, voices in support of access to abortion are crucial right now.

Regular readers will have noticed that in recent months, Feministing has brought in a number of new contributors: Ariel, Jos, Lori, Rose and myself. No doubt you're getting to know them by reading their posts and engaging with their ideas in the comments section, but I also suspect that you might want to know a little more about these wonderful women (I know I do!). Over the next few weeks, I'll be interviewing my fellow new contributors so that you and I can get to know them a little better. This week I interviewed Jos Truitt.

Jos joined Feministing as a contributor this July, and in the past few months has been blogging up a storm (those of you who love Mad Men Mondays, you can thank Jos for that!). Jos grew up in Boston and graduated from Hampshire College, where she studied philosophy of race, feminist organizing and sequential art, which, she informed me, is the academic term for comics.

Jos now lives in DC, where she is pursuing her passion for reproductive justice. She recently started working part-time at the National Abortion Federation hotline and she serves as a clinic escort with the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force. She has also worked and blogged for Choice USA. In her spare time, she likes to bake and spend time in the printmaking studio, and when I asked her which feminist she'd take with her to a desert island, she gave by far the sweetest answer I've heard yet.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Jos Truitt.

In response to the constant objectification of women, the recent gang rape of a 15 year old girl in Richmond, CA, the unjust incarceration of Sara Kruzan and even the highly publicized violence faced by Rihanna, conscientious rapper and activist Jasiri X has put out a track that discusses the injustice and inhumanity of these crimes.

Love it. Lyrics after the jump.

Regular readers will have noticed that in recent months, Feministing has brought in a number of new contributors: Ariel, Jos, Lori, Rose Afriye and myself. No doubt you're getting to know them and their expertise by reading their posts and engaging with their ideas in the comments section, but I also suspect that you want to know a little more about these wonderful women (I know I do!). So, over the next few weeks, I'll be interviewing my fellow new contributors, so that you and I can get to know them a little better. This week I interviewed Ariel Boone.

Ariel is in her third year at Cal Berkeley, where she is completing a double major in Music and Political Economy. She grew up in Davis, CA, and was heavily involved with student activism during her high school career. At Berkeley, she is even more heavily involved in student activism, and her list of extracurricular activities reportedly makes her parents wonder how on earth she gets her schoolwork done. In addition to being a Senator in the Associated Students of the University of California and a member of Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education (CalSERVE), Ariel spends her summers doing a dizzying number of jobs and internships, working on a wide range of issues, from national security to reproductive rights.

Ariel is a self-described policy wonk and a huge West Wing fan (check out who her favorite fictional heroine is). She started contributing to Feministing this August, when she covered for Miriam when Miriam was on vacation. And I speak for all of us when I say that we're might glad that she stayed on.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Ariel Boone.

Yesterday was Intersex Awareness Day.

Oct 26th marks the 5th annual celebrate intersexual awareness day! Today is the (inter)national day of grass-roots action to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children.

Via Queers United, where you can learn more about the issue and what you can do take action.

Champions of Sexual Literacy Honorees: Richard Garcia, Cecile Richards and Rose Afriyie

Last week, I got the chance to be honored at the National Sexuality Resource Center's (NSRC) Champions of Sexual Literacy Dinner following in the footsteps of my amazing mentor Samhita. This year, the main honoree was powerhouse sexuality-rights advocate Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PP). From afar, she had this elegance to her that was really alluring. When I first arrived, she was knee deep in a conversation with an ambassador. It seemed that the entire room occasionally glanced at her, the woman at the helm of perhaps the only woman's rights organization left that is a household name no matter one's race, class, or gender.

In her acceptance speech, she recognized the efforts of young women and young educators. She described the award as "a reflection of the thousands of teen sex educators across the country." She identified them as crucial to political gains and referenced the 3,000 young people that advocated through PP in their community for sex education this September. Her closing was the most interesting to me. She spoke about an African American male who was a prominent sexual health educator in Anacostia in Washington, DC. She recognized his courage as he educated in a community with high incidence rates of HIV and chlamydia amidst financial hardships during the Bush years. She ended by mourning the possibility of what this man could have done with just a drop of abstinence-only money. While drawing attention to young people's political action is something that I am gladly starting to see more of in woman's rights circles, it is all too rare. Somehow, this woman's rights organization that centers it's mission on delivering medical services, administering education, and advocating for public policy still finds a way to prioritize women while highlighting the efforts of men of color in reproductive equality.This is progress in a world where many feminist organizations struggle to include young people, men, and people of color in a way that is meaningful.

Later, I had the chance to sit down with Cecile to talk about the health care debate and women's reproductive health care generally. For ten minutes we gabbed about the role of Planned Parenthood in the health care debate, the current status of abortion in negotiations, staying encouraged despite gender discrimination and what's next on the agenda after health care reform. It was as revealing as it was encouraging. So here's the recap:

Lambda Legal made this great documentary that tells the story of the Supreme Court victory in Lawrence v. Texas that struck down state sodomy laws.

Click here to find out more about the film and how you can host a screening at your school or organization.

h/t Audacia Ray on Twitter.

Yesterday was the The National Day of Action Against Police Brutality, and guess what went down in Brooklyn? Yes, just that. From a reader:

This morning at 11:30am a young woman was having an altercation with about 8 folks from the nypd at the R/M 25th st stop in bklyn. After it was over and she was on her way to the turn style, they came back to arrest her. When she resisted, they tasered her. Clearly, I don't know the background, but she was one, unarmed, woman and the tasering was undeniably excessive.

This is breaking news, so I don't know if anyone is organizing around this incident, but please use the comments section as a place to link folks to that work if and when it happens!

Related posts:
Police Taser Disabled Man for Not Leaving Bathroom
Obama on Skip Gates
Understanding the Dialogue Around Lovelle Mixon
Understanding the Dialogue Around Lovelle Mixon Part II
Justice for Oscar Grant-Please spread widely!
Justice for Oscar Grant: Update on Fruitvale BART Protest

*Content is triggering*

This story speaks for itself. From the free Sara Kruzan action page at change.org:

"Life without parole means absolutely no opportunity for release," said Senator Yee. (of California) "It also means minors are often left without access to programs and rehabilitative services while in prison. This sentence was created for the worst of criminals that have no possibility of reform and it is not a humane way to handle children. While the crimes they committed caused undeniable suffering, these youth offenders are not the worst of the worst."

"As a society we've learned a lot since the time we started using life without parole for children," said Elizabeth Calvin, a children's rights advocate with Human Rights Watch. "We now know that this sentence provides no deterrent effect. While children who commit serious crimes should be held accountable, public safety can be protected without subjecting youth to the harshest prison sentence possible."

Watch. Listen. Weep. Take Action.

Also, read our previous coverage on prisons.

Michael Kimmel is an author, teacher and activist, and is widely acknowledged as America's most prominent and prolific scholar on masculinity. Kimmel is the author of a staggering number of books, including Men Confront Pornography, The History of Men, The Gendered Society and Manhood in America (noticing a theme?). Most recently, Kimmel's book Guyland examined the lives of young American men. To write it, Kimmel interviewed hundreds of men between the ages of 15 and 25, using their words and his expertise to draw a frightening picture of young American manhood today. Luckily, Kimmel has a one-word solution to the problem: feminism.

Kimmel lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Amy Aronson, with whom he frequently co-writes, and their 10-year-old son Zachary, a budding male feminist. He is a Professor of Sociology at SUNY Stonybrook, where he teaches on gender and masculinity, and has taught and lectured all over the world. He is also a frequent contributor at The Huffington Post. And as if all this wasn't impressive enough, last year he was brought in as a consultant on gender politics during the production of Feministing's favorite TV show, Mad Men.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Michael Kimmel.

October is National Equality Month. Sunday on the National Mall, thousands will gather for the National Equality March, promoting the Gay Agenda: equality!

Logo TV is going dark for the march. Thousands of youth from across the nation are traveling in delegations to make it to the march. And the night before the march, President Obama will deliver the keynote speech on gay rights at the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner.

He is expected to detail "incremental progress" on equality. Many believe President Obama hasn't yet earned his Nobel, noting his solid procrastination of fighting Don't Ask Don't Tell, and his less-than-resounding endorsement of ENDA and hate crimes legislation.

Recent outcry in the LGBT community, however, has focused instead on the dismissal of queer people of color in the marriage equality movement. Over at Queerty, Nakhone Keodara details what he perceives to be the systematic devaluing of the experiences of queer people of color in the national equality organizing space, and their underrepresentation even in lists of supporters like this one.

Keodara "quit" the movement, eliciting head-shaking disapproval by some activists. It's possible that the lack of commitment by President Obama, a celebrity of color so popular that "Dreams of my Father" almost beat "The Bible" on the list of books people lie about reading, has influenced the inclusiveness of the movement. But any change in inclusivity must start not with the government, but with marriage equality organizations.

Jonathan Escobar, a former student at North Cobb High School, was told by the assistant principal to dress more "manly," or consider being home schooled. This was on Jonathan's third day of school.

Escobar said the assistant principal told him his style of dress had caused a fight...

"You can't wear clothing that causes a disruption," said Jay Dillon, spokesman for Cobb County schools.

...Jonathan Escobar says he wasn't a disruption in the classroom, but he attracted attention in the lunchroom. "Everybody was surrounding me," he said.

On his second day of school, Escobar says he was pulled out of class to speak with a police officer who told him he was concerned about the student's safety.

"They should've told the students to back off," Escobar said. "They should have never given me the option of homeschooling or changing who I am."

Sounds like actual disruption were, you know, the students who were harassing Jonathan.

Escobar says, "If I can't express myself, I won't go to school...I want to get the message out there that because this is who I am, I can't get an education."

Also frustrating: Escobar says explicitly, "I don't consider myself a cross-dresser...this is just who I am," yet most news videos and articles covering this story refer to Jonathan as a cross-dresser.

To join the Facebook group supporting Jonathan, please click here.

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting Lydia Cacho, Mexican, feminist, journalist, human rights activist -- and overall badass in general. Thursdays are my crazy days because I have 7 and half hours of classes, but I couldn't pass her up. Because, after all, I am a sucka for hot, feminist, women of color getting the recognition they deserve for feminist advocacy. She was at my stomping ground, University of Michigan, receiving the Wallenberg Medal L. And, I must say, the Lydia Cacho experience was such an affirmation to my quirky black-girl self. It reminded me that although things like the George Sodini murders or the threat of rape keep me up some nights, I cannot allow the ills of sexism to jade me. I always have the resources to share a smile, count my blessings and prioritize love on my to-do list.

Her feel-good points were like India Arie's third album rolled into a lecture. She spent a large part of the evening explaining to over 100 students and Ann Arbor residents that, unequivocally, we all had the right to sexual pleasure and to live free from violence. While these concepts may be Women Studies 101 for some folks, many audience members were having an a-ha moment. It was a beautiful thing. The part of her talk I enjoyed the most is the notion that we can be change agents and enjoy this life thing along the way. Sounds good to me.

Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World without Rape edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, is being used to frame a new official sexual education class at Colgate University.

Colgate University has introduced an official sexual education class on campus. "Yes Means Yes" is a series of five non-credit classes held on Wednesday evenings over dinner from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The topic of discussion will be Colgate's "hook-up culture," what one wants in a relationship, how to navigate one's own sexuality better and how to help others with these areas. Facilitators will focus on the formative novel, Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape.

Berger selected Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape, written by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, to emphasize positive sexuality and consensual sex. An individual chapter is assigned for each week's discussion in order to have a strong foundation for conversation and plenty of participation.

As a contributor to Yes Means Yes I'm by no means impartial, but I think the book rocks and has coverage of issues I would have loved to talk about in college.

Way to go Colgate!

This week, a victory from the folks at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the ACLU.

This case is pretty horrific. You can see more about Nelson's story in the RH Reality Check video after the jump. More info:

On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit (the federal level appellate court that reviews decisions from federal district courts in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, and Arkansas) issued the long-awaited decision in Nelson v. Norris. In this case, Shawanna Nelson argued that being forced to go through the final stages of labor with both legs shackled to her hospital bed was cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. She argued that she should be allowed to sue the director of the prison and the guard who repeatedly re-shackled her legs to the bed. Ms. Nelson, an African-American woman, was incarcerated for non-violent offenses of credit card fraud and "hot checks."

I've been getting really into entrepreneurship lately. It's strange, to be honest, to be wishing I could have taken business classes in college. I went to a liberal arts school, majored in Anthropology and Spanish, and stayed away from anything practical. But in the years since leaving school, and particularly these last few, I've started to get super excited about the idea of business and entrepreneurship.

What turned me off from business for so long was the idea that the goal had to be making money. That I could only be involved in business if I wanted to get rich off my project.

I've come to learn that's totally not true, and there are business out there that aren't non-profits (at least legally or tax-wise) but are more like not-really-for-profits. Where the owners and employees cover costs and receive salaries, but aren't in it to become millionaires.

I've also come to value the skills that are required for business ownership. Taxes, financial management, legal statuses, all of these are really valuable things to understand--even just as individuals.

I've been tagged as "the Business" by my co-editors at Feministing (check out the best birthday rap ever if you didn't see it in May) and the title is pretty accurate.

There is something about the seeming simplicity of business--meeting a need and covering costs--that is really appealing to me.

I firmly believe that one huge factor holding back entrepreneurship in this country is employer-based health care. Speaking as a self-employed person, it's a scary proposition that I could lose my coverage at any time. How many folks would choose non-traditional routes of employment if they didn't have to worry about being denied health care coverage? How many more amazing companies and inventions would we have if everyone (regardless of employment) had access to health care?

I've got plenty of dreams and ideas about what my feminist businesses could look like (not surprisingly, a feminist sex shop for example). Any of you budding entrepreneurs? If you could run your own feminist business, what would it be?

I mentioned in a What We Missed post two weeks ago that an organization based in DC had decided to close it's doors after the DC government slashed their budget almost completely. A group of volunteers and founders from the almost ten year old domestic violence organization (one of the biggest in the District) got together to try and save WEAVE. And save they did!

I am very, very excited to tell you that it's official... we have saved WEAVE!

On the morning of September 30th, the Board of Directors officially voted to keep WEAVE open. This is a long-term commitment not just a temporary reprieve. Every dollar of the more than $85,000 you helped the team behind the SaveWEAVE.org effort raise was pivotal in convincing a consortium of foundation funders to make a significant investment that will keep WEAVE going in the coming months.

All in all, more than 700 gifts were made to SaveWEAVE.org in just 10 days! This campaign has truly been one of the most amazing things I've ever been a part of and I cannot thank you enough for being part of it, too, by making a gift and helping us get the word out. Every one of you has a special place in WEAVE's history for helping us make sure that domestic violence survivors still have WEAVE to turn to.

We have all been overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of support WEAVE has. This proves that WEAVE is viable and is necessary in our community. WEAVE has had to make some changes in order to stay strong and continue to pay a key role in the community. Unfortunately, that has meant some lay-offs of staff and the transfer to SAFE (another domestic violence organization in DC) of a very long-standing program that WEAVE adopted in the early 2000s that helps people file the necessary paperwork to seek court-ordered protection orders. WEAVE is very grateful to SAFE and so many other partner organizations that were willing to help during this tumultuous time.

I know the work of WEAVE in the DC community and chipped in what I could to this campaign. I'm really happy to know that the larger community values their work as well, and as tight as times are, folks were willing to chip in. Their struggles are still ahead of them, as $85,000 does not replace the budget of a large organization, but hopefully we can ensure women in DC still have access to their import domestic violence support and services.

If you still want to support WEAVE, they are continuing their push to raise money.

USSA, Campus Progress and USPIRG are working on a campaign to get a bill that would increase Pell Grant funding passed through Congress. As many of us know intimately, debt is one of the most pressing economic issues of our generation and the rising cost of education is a huge part of this.

Getting a college degree is more important than ever, but students have to assume too much debt to pay for it. Increasing federal Pell grant aid will help students rely less on federal loans to pay for college.

Both President Obama and the House proposed a massive $40 billion dollar increase in student Pell grants. Now it is up to the Senate to invest in students.

Big lenders have spent millions fighting this proposal, which cuts wasteful lender subsidies from the federal government, and uses the $87 billion in savings to make college more affordable. To ensure that the Senate prioritizes students over banks, we need to Raise Some Pell!

During the week of October 5 - 9, USSA, USPIRG and Campus Progress are asking young people to call, fax, and tweet their senators to demonstrate massive grassroots support for more Pell grant aid.

The link to take action is here. You can also sign the Student Wall of Debt, to show how much debt our generation really has.

I wrote about this group when they first got started, but I continue to be impressed by what the Young Invincibles are doing to send the message that folks of our generation (18 to 34 year olds) care about health care reform, and have a lot at stake in the debate.

Michelle's story is one of the many the Young Invincibles are bringing to the conversation.

They are organizing events all around the country for folks of our generation to push the health care conversation. There is a lobby day in DC next week on Tuesday October 13, and there are more events and ideas for getting involved here.

I went to a great book party last night for Emily Pilloton's Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People. Emily, a visionary designer still in her late 20s, started Project H Design in January 2008, a nonprofit aimed at supporting product design initiatives "for humanity" (such as more vivid and engaging foster home facilities, playgrounds that double as math teaching laboratories etc.). In Design Revolution, she has gathered together 100 products from all over the world and profiled them. It is not only beautiful and charged with an undeniable spirit of outrage and imagination, but there is so much for the non-designer to learn.

In the introduction, Emily writes:

As a whole, today's world of design (specifically product design) is severely deficient, crippled by consumerism and paralyzed by an unwillingness to financially and ethically prioritize social impact over the bottom line. We need nothing short of an industrial design revolution to shake us from our consumption-for-consumption's-sake momentum. We must elevate 'design for the greater good' beyond charity and toward a socially sustainable and economically viable model taught in design schools and executed in design firms, one that defines the ways in which we prototype, relate to clients, distribute, measure, and understand. We must be designers of empowerment and rewrite our own job descriptions.

Amen. When you flip through her book, you really get a sense of the breadth and purpose that she's talking about. Everything from sugarcane charcoal to montessori toys make sense for real people; they simply make our lives better and healthier. What a refreshing re-visioning of the design and consumer market place, one where conspicuous consumption is replaced by quality-of-life enhancing tools for the world over, not just "stuff and things" for the top 5%.

As if the book weren't inspiring enough, Emily will be taking it to the streets next spring in her very own traveling museum of sorts--a biodiesel-powered truck and an airstream filled with many of the products she writes about. To meet her in a city near you, check out the schedule here.

I was one of those feminists who spent a lot of 2007 planning community forums about the importance of having options, first and foremost, when it comes to sexual health. But it didn't sit well with me that HPV vaccination efforts only involved young women.

Last month marked an important breakthrough in sexual health: an FDA panel recommended Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, for males ages 9 through 26. Although men and women have equal chances of getting genital warts -- a symptom of HPV -- they don't have equal access to testing or vaccinations, which are not widely available for men. Being the equality advocate that I am, when I learned that the vaccines would now be recommended for both sexes, I started to do an Irish dance -- yes, like the ones in the River Dance commercials that air at 5 a.m. -- but halted mid-step.

It's not my intent to do an about-face on this issue, but now that the vaccine is almost here I am totally conflicted. On one hand, men should take their sexual health more seriously because of how health outcomes can affect them and their partners. The introduction of this vaccine gives men an incentive to invest in their sexual health. But there are drawbacks when considering the decision-making of Merck, the maker of Gardasil, and the circumstances surrounding how money has been spent to advocate for the vaccine.

My beef with Gardasil is really a beef with the unethical practices of Merck, the pharmaceutical giant that currently has a monopoly over the HPV vaccine in the U.S. A report published in Business Week reminded me of Merck's decision in 2006 and 2007 to lobby lawmakers to make the vaccine mandatory in some states. To boot, the article notes that we still aren't in the know about long-term effects of Gardasil.

Campus Progress, those clever kids, have launched a campaign to get young activists to send an e-card to their grandparents about health care reform. You get to be a good citizen and a good grandchild in one fell swoop.

Go here to participate.

Love this story:

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz writes about a courageous school librarian in Norman, Oklahoma who made sure that local teenagers smitten with young adult novelist Ellen Hopkins got to hear her speak. After realizing that she used the f-word and wrote honestly about meth addiction--which Hopkins own daughter had suffered from--in her wildly popular novel Crank, parents and local radio loud mouths called for Hopkins' book to be banned. Not only that--the superintendent disinvited Hopkins from speaking, despite the fact that she explores some key social issues affecting the Norman community and brings a definitively anti-drug message.

Middle-school librarian Karin Perry to the rescue! Schultz reports:

Perry asked Hopkins if she would still come. The answer was yes. Then she asked Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College -- love the name -- if she could move Hopkins' talk to their campus. The college said yes. About 150 students, parents, teachers and librarians attended last week's speech.

Go Perry! I love librarians. And it's a good week to love 'em. As Schultz reports, "This is Banned Books Week, which is sponsored annually by the American Library Association to celebrate the freedom to read. The library group says there were at least 513 challenges to books last year." Cool added bonus: check out this blog, Future Feminist Librarian-Activist.

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

An organization that is near and dear to my heart, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, is turning 15 this year! In honor of this milestone, they're throwing a Quinceañera, a fifteenth anniversary celebration that is a Latino tradition for young girls. It'll be a fun twist on this traditional ceremony.

NLIRH was my first job out of college. It was a kind of a college-student-gets-dream-job situation. I like to think it was fate actually, but I had learned about NLIRH at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC and was so psyched to see an organization that brought together two things I cared about deeply: the Latino community and reproductive rights. I was beyond excited when they offered me a job as an organizer there.

The staff and activists affiliated with NLIRH taught me about reproductive justice, taught me how to be an organizer, how to work in immigrant communities, how to work in an office. I feel so grateful that my first experience in the non-profit world was an organization staffed and run by young Latina women. I have always felt supported and nurtured by the organization and it's values. I still work for them now, three years later, but in a more limited (and not full-time) capacity as their E-Communications Manager.

I'm excited to be able to celebrate NLIRH's Quince at the fantastic event they are putting on in a few weeks. There will be amazing food, Latin music, and awards presented to some amazing activists and leaders in the Latino community. It's on October 7th in Washington DC at the Museum of Women in the Arts. It's a fundraiser, so tickets aren't cheap--but trust me when I say it's a seriously worthy organization.

If you're interested in attending (or supporting the organization with a donation), the details are here.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with coalitions and groups of student activists, student government leaders, statewide student organizers, University faculty, graduate students, and union workers around a Day of Action today, September 24, against the severe budget cuts and student fee hikes.

In the 1970s, student fees were less than $100. The University of California extols the virtue of a free public education, and thus charges "fees" instead of "tuition." On July 17, 2009, the UC Regents, a board of decision-makers appointed by the Governor of California and including only one student, declared a state of fiscal emergency and granted UC President Mark Yudof emergency powers to make financial decisions. The Regents are now recommending a 32% fee hike, which would push UC student fees over $10,000 for the first time in history.

The CA state legislature cut the University of California system by $813 million. Some of the fault for crumbling access to higher education lies with California's Republican choke hold on state revenue, which has de-prioritized public education through de-funding and program cuts. And some blame should be attributed to the UC Regents, who have continued to make ill spending choices and granted themselves raises while academic services have been cut ("Execs still get raises as UC cuts staffing, pay"). Instead of disclosing their highly-guarded budget or devoting resources towards serious reform of the California policy on tax revenues, the UC has sought to fund the cuts on the backs of students, workers, and faculty.

Today, we stage a walkout, to show voters that public education is worth funding, to show the UC Regents that the fee hikes and denial of access to higher education are not inevitable, and to allow students to stand in solidarity with faculty, workers, and each other in this battle. At Berkeley, the day's activities will include picket lines, a rally led by students and faculty alike, and a march around campus, but each UC campus has many different actions planned.

The winners of one of the most prestigious awards in the US, the McArthur Fellows program, were announced this week. Also known as the McArthur genius grant, it's a no-strings-attached award of $500,000 that winners don't even know they've been nominated for until they receive notice that they've won via phone call. 24 people were named winners this week.

Winners are usually pretty impressive folks, activists, academics, researchers, journalists, writers. They range in age this year from 32 to 69, and are a geographically and racially diverse crew.

Anna Clark has a break down of the three writers who won awards, but profiles of all the winners can be found here.

A video of one of the winners, Camille Utterback, a digital artist, is after the jump.

Patricia Berne is the Co-Founder and Director of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco theater company that blends performance and art with the political vision of a more just and equal world. The goal of the company is to challenge and reshape the public's ideas about people with disabilities and other traditionally marginalized groups. Focusing particularly on disability justice, their performances resist the framing of the company members' bodies as "less-than," simply by putting those bodies on stage. "It's the most basic claiming of voice and claiming of space by creating beautiful work with political grounding," Berne says.

Berne, who believes that performance and other forms of cultural work play a crucial role in movement building, has dedicated her life to social justice, a dedication that has taken many forms. Currently, Berne also chairs the board of San Francisco Women Against Rape. Clearly, her role as Director of Sins Invalid is only one piece of a life devoted to giving voice to the voiceless and empowering the invisible. When I observed that the mission of Sins Invalid sounds both challenging and crucial, Berne's matter-of-fact reply was, "It's challenging, but life is tough."

If you're building a social justice movement, this is the woman you want in your corner. That said, as her answer to question number two reveals, she is a (self-professed) total geek.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Patricia Berne.

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul, and Mary passed away yesterday after a battle with cancer. From the Times:

Their sound may have been commercial and safe, but early on their politics were somewhat risky for a group courting a mass audience. Like Mr. Yarrow and Mr. Stookey, Ms. Travers was outspoken in her support for the civil-rights and antiwar movements, in sharp contrast to clean-cut folk groups like the Kingston Trio, which avoided making political statements.

Peter, Paul and Mary went on to perform at the 1963 March on Washington and joined the voting-rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965.

Over the years they performed frequently at political rallies and demonstrations in the United States and abroad. After the group disbanded, in 1970, Ms. Travers continued to perform at political events around the world as she pursued a solo career.

At a time when there are too few women singing about social justice in the mainstream music world, it's easy to admire such a bold, unapologetic voice. And hot damn if she didn't have some hot dresses back in the day. RIP Mary.

While I and the rest of the world mourn the death of Patrick Swayze, I hope the death of another amazing and important figure in American history doesn't slip through the cracks. Today the AP is reporting the death of Crystal Lee Sutton, labor organizer and activist for the working class, whose story of fighting to unionize textile plants in the South was depicted in the film "Norma Rae."

From the AP:

In 1973, Sutton was a 33-year-old mother of three earning $2.65 an hour folding towels at J.P. Stevens when a manager fired her for pro-union activity.

In a final act of defiance before police hauled her out, Sutton, who had worked at the plant for 16 years, wrote "UNION" on a piece of cardboard and climbed onto a table on the plant floor. Other employees responded by shutting down their machines.

Even though Sally Field won a best-actress Academy Award for playing the character inspired by Ms. Sutton, the AP reports today that she never made much profit off the movie. I wonder if that was because the film execs didn't give her her fair due, or because she was too much "of the people" to get rich from the story. Or some other unknown reason.

Either way, she is completely bad-ass and her work is inspirational to me. As a female labor organizer in the 70's fighting against low pay and poor working conditions for "ordinary people," both black and white, she was certainly a trailblazer.

May she rest in peace.

This is a video about an awesome organization based in Denver, Colorado--the LUZ Reproductive Justice Think Tank. I had the opportunity to connect with them through my work with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and I was impressed by their vision for reproductive justice.

You can watch part II of the video after the jump!

UPDATE: The video was made by Corina Leu, an awesome Mount Holyoke College student and a 2009 Reproductive Rights Activist Service Corp intern through the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program who was working with LUZ.

There has been a lot of amazingness at this conference, so one would think it would be difficult to pick out a favorite moment or aspect of Women & Power. But not for me.

By far the best part of the conference has been meeting this amazing group of young women who came to Omega after seeing our post about scholarships for the conference. Not only is my heart warmed that they ended up here because of our blogging - but the fact that they met each other and connected is similarly amazing. In fact, they've connected so much that they've decided to start a group blog together - woot!

Sometimes I forget that despite the downsides of blogging - hating on each other, out-of-control threads, feminist one-upmanship, etc - the communities we create through blogging really do inspire real life activism and serve an important role in a lot of people's feminism. And I can't imagine a better lesson to remember this weekend than that.

So a big thanks to the young women I've met this weekend; you remind me why I do this work.

I am currently watching a panel discussion with three young leaders and each are so inspiring that I find myself repeatedly holding back tears. Jensine Larsen, Alberta Nells and Lateefah Simon have in common deep roots in community based organizing efforts and a deep connection with a spiritual force that is moving them to action.

First up, Jensine Larsen founded World Pulse an interactive media center that projects the stories of women around the world and analysis of international issues through their eyes. She believes that "pulse" symbolizes the electricity of women's voices rising around the earth. She says, "the creative human potential of women and girls is the greatest untapped resource on the earth and we can use technology and communications to connect and empower these voices." To add she says,"When women control the communications channels, they control their destiny."

There are countless examples of women having even a tiny bit of access utilizing it to share their voices, be it one computer, text, one blog or the strategic use of web 2.0 technology, she tells us. Often women don't have time to be online to blog, their husbands sitting next to the computer disallowing them from using it. She concludes with an example of a woman in Kenya that had been dying of AIDs but managed to retrieve retroviral drugs for herself and 17 other women in her village. Through the use of World Pulse and web 2.0 technology, they were able to bring her story to life and is now flown all over the world to tell her story and train other rural women in how to organize their communities. "How can I go to sleep when my country is burning and Pulse-Wire is my light?"

Up next, Alberta Nells, a young leader/organizer, Navajo organizer. Southwest organizer, her work is focused on protecting indigenous rights to land. When she found they would use recycled waste water as snow on sacred land, that is when she knew she had to speak out, "I can't allow this to happen to my people, to the teachings of my people." She speaks tenderly of her relationship with her grandmother and the power of teachings from a previous generation on how to move our people. She speaks to the power of song to organize and uplift and specifically the teachings of women. When asked about Navajo relationship with feminism, she says she doesn't understand the question as they believe in the balance between the feminine and masculine energy, or recognition of two-spirit in all of us. And concludes, "each one of us is indigenous to a different place and we must tap into that energy."

Finally, Lateefah Simon, 32 feels old as we carry the weight of our grandmothers and came to this work because of our grandmothers and mothers. Lateefah became an organizer by giving out condoms she got in her girls group in high school. It was her informal realization that this is what organizing is. She worked deeply with communities that people wouldn't touch, drug addicts, sex workers and holding them and giving them support. She understood at a young age how to raise money and build resources, "if we could battle pimps on the street, it was easy." When she realized that there was a choice to parent, she embraced the power of that choice and decided to become a radical choice organizer for the African American community. In talking about the prison industrial complex and re-entry programs she says, "human and civil rights issues are women's issues" and concludes, "of all that we have learned in our work how to do we move that power and use it in a man's world?"

I don't think this live-blog can even start to do justice to how powerful this session was. We took some video so we will be posting that as well.

The Feministing crew is still at the Women & Power retreat at Omega. Kicking off today's speakers is Sakena Yacoobi, who founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995. After the Taliban closed girls' schools in the 1990s, AIL opened underground home schools and women's learning centers. Today AIL is still working to empower Afghan women, and Yacoobi continues her work despite constant threats to her safety.

One of the biggest consequences of her nation being at war for decades, Yacoobi says, is the loss of the educational system. If people can defend themselves through communication, they don't need a weapon. But through years of war, the educational system was demolished. So she wanted to do more than teach people to read and write -- and think critically. And so she began opening schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

In a matter of one year, her classes went from 300 students to 1500. All girls. "These girls are very bright. They wanted to have a future," she says.

Since the government has taken over many of the schools AIL founded, many people have become distrustful of the schools. So AIL began opening Women's Learning Centers as an alternative. The centers teach some curricula that the government-run schools don't: peace education, democracy, ethics, health, family planning, sex education. These are the topics, she says, that lead to electing better leaders, making a more peaceful country, empowering women.

Why has her organization been so successful? "We work with tradition, culture, religion." No matter how much the technology advances, people's traditions must be treated with respect.

"A lot of good things are happening in Afghanistan," Yacoobi says. "But the government is not doing that much. We don't have roads, electricity, clean water, shelter, basic rights of human beings. The Taliban, day to day, are getting more power. And our people are tired of fighting. Those people close the door of education. Women can't even walk down the street. They have no mercy."

On the recent election: "The men are scared to go to the polls because the Taliban announced that if you go and vote we'll cut your finger. And they did that. But women did go. They went to those polls. Through the leadership workshop we teach them how to choose their leader, why it's so important you get involved in politics, why it's so important for you try to negotiate and communicate. So women are going and voting."

Yacoobi continues, "The news is that Afghan women are empowered. They are intelligent. They are courageous."

"You might hear there is war. People are killed. Acid poured into faces of girls. Every day there is bombing, rocket shelling, torturing. But the women of Afghanistan get up in the morning and say goodbye to their family and go to work and go to the learning center. They found out that this is the only way they can stop the problem. They must be educated. And they are learning. And they are not afraid."

As you may already know, the Feministing crew is in upstate New York at Omega's Women & Power conference. We'll be liveblogging a good deal of the conference's events and posting pics and videos of the amazing women participating this weekend.

We just finished up dinner (we're still recovering from the awesome chocolate cake) where we met all of the bad-ass faculty here, and waiting on tonight's speakers. More to come!

I just moved to Brooklyn (Fort Greene stand up!) and I'm definitely loving my new neighborhood. However, as a last tribute to my old neighborhood, I thought I'd share this feminist gem, snapped in the east village. I know there's been some lively discussion on this site in the past about the merits/morality of altering public property in the name of feminism, and I think that needs to be an ongoing discussion because I don't know that it was ever quite resolved. But for the record I tend to think that "renegade feminist" acts like this one usually do more good than harm. I don't know about you, but I can always use a little something to make me look twice at that objectifying image or heavily touched up ad and remind myself not to be fooled by the BS, or to ever take it at face value. So for that jolt of a reminder, I appreciate the person who put up this sign. The verdict is still out on whether or not these kinds of street sign tactics are viable for long term effectiveness.

What do you think-Was the ad problematic in the first place? (I say yes.) Are you moved to put a sign up every time you see a bothersome/un-feminist/offensive image? Would it make a difference if we all did this all the time? Should it matter whether or not this is technically "legal"?

Here at Feministing we often get asked how a young woman interested in feminism can get involved. There are about nine million ways (get trained as a community organizer, volunteer in the rape crisis center on campus, start a feminist discussion group or blog, donate money, help a friend find funding for birth control etc. etc.), but here's one that just came to my attention for NYC-area folks via the fabulous Women's Glib: join NARAL's Activist Leadership Circle. More deets from Miranda and Shira:

We've written quite a bit about our work with NARAL, which has included calling voters directly during group phonebanks, distributing condoms and information about emergency contraception, rallying support for the Reproductive Health Act, and getting pissed when our efforts were essentially derailed by the childish behavior rampant in the New York state senate. We've also covered their fabulous Choices event series (though I'm sad to say I couldn't make it to any of those three lectures).

Please consider donating your skills and pro-choice passion to this incredible organization.

I imagine those of you not in NYC can find similar opportunities at your local pro-choice orgs. Fall is for feminist activism.

Check out the Khede Kasra campaign, a fascinating lesson on gender and language:


Thanks to Pierce for the heads up.

As the end of the summer is upon us and advocacy groups are gearing up for some serious activism this fall (check out the pic from last weekend's health care reform rally in NYC, via NARAL Pro-Choice New York), I thought I'd highlight a couple of awesome things going on this month that I've heard about:

NARAL Pro-Choice New York is kicking off their Activist Leadership Circle training next Wednesday, September 9th. If you're interested in joining their efforts in pushing for health care reform, reproductive rights legislation and elections in New York, email their community organizer.

A pool party for Lambda Legal in West Hollywood on the 13th. Nice.

The Younger Women's Task Force in D.C. is having an Intergenerational Discussion on Feminism on September 15th. (Miriam will be there!)

On Saturday, September 19th, the Doula Project is holding an Activist Olympics in McCarren Park in Williamsburg. Doesn't get more fun than that.

Remember that we have an events calendar, so please post anything going on that you know about! (More non-east and west coast events encouraged!)

Photo credit: Richard Downing

I wanted to give a shout out and a heads up that Sins Invalid has announced the dates for their 2009 series. I've heard great things about them, although I haven't been able to see a performance live. About Sins Invalid:

Sins Invalid is a performance project on disability and sexuality that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized from social discourse.

Unfortunately their performances are only in San Francisco, but if you're in the Bay Area you should check it out, October 2-4. You can also check out their blog and videos from their performances.

Josh Phillips and Rachel Griffin make one heck of a team. The pair met at Central Michigan University, where they were both members of Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates, CMU's sexual assault education and prevention group. Today, they're taking the mission of that group off campus and all over the country.

Dr. Griffin is an Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University. Griffin's written works, including her doctoral dissertation, address the intersection of gender and race.

Phillips is the founder of East Coast Walkers, a group of CMU students who, in the summer of 2008, walked from Miami to Boston to raise awareness about sexual violence. His book about the experience, 1800 Miles, comes out this fall. The Walkers blogged about their trek along the way, and one entry, written from South Carolina, filled me with hope:

"Something remarkable keeps happen on this trip: our restaurant bills disappear. We will stop in a small mom and pop diner, the waitress will undoubtedly inquire what we are doing, and an eavesdropping patron will sneakily pay our tab as we devour whatever food is on the table. It must be magic..."

It's not magic, but something better: it's a sign that Phillips, Griffin and the East Coast Walkers are not alone in wishing and working for an end to sexual violence.

Phillips and Griffin regularly team up to speak about sexual violence, and to teach workshops on awareness and prevention. Their team approach works well, Griffin says, because when they're addressing a crowd on the topic of sexual violence, "there are people who can hear Josh who can't hear me and vice versa."

And now, without further ado, the inaugural Feministing Five, with Rachel Griffin and Josh Phillips.

Yesterday, L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yarovslavksy announced that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department will completely fund the testing of every single rape kit in the backlog within the next two years, and the expansion of a staff to ensure that a backlog will never return to their shelves.

We've been following this story for awhile and it's just so gratifying to see that the coalition of organizations advocating on this issue have won the fight on all fronts.

Thank you to the following groups and all the individuals who got the word out about this outrageous backlog: Human Rights Watch (led by superstar Sarah Tofte), Peace Over Violence, the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center, the Downtown Women's Center, National Council
of Jewish Women, Hollywood Now, and many more.

Randall Terry is at it again. The founder of anti-choice extremist group Operation Rescue who said the late Dr. George Tiller "reaped what he sowed" as well as launched a terrifying and violence-inducing campaign against Sonia Sotomayor, has been going on a completely bizarre and batshit crazy road show tour. Joe from Amplify has more:

Yesterday, the freakshow went to Louisville, KY, where Terry performed a "skit" with two "actors". Dressed as a doctor (after stabbing a baby doll), he stabbed someone playing an old women in the neck, with a sign behind him reading "Obama death-care. One dead patient at a time." He then shook the hand of a white guy in an Obama mask over the woman on the ground.

While many folks are seeing this just as a silly act by a crazy man, Joe reminds us that this is no laughing matter; Terry and his organization will try to incite violence if they get the chance. And with the removal of federal Marshall protection from Dr. Leroy Carhart and his Nebraska clinic, Operation Rescue's intentions to "keep it closed" (referring to Carhart's intentions to re-open Tiller's clinic in Kansas) could ensue some serious shit this weekend when they'll be protesting.

The good news is that local NOW chapters and other activists in the Nebraska and Kansas area will be holding huge counter-protests. So if you're in or around these areas this weekend, be sure to get involved. If not, contact Attorney General Eric Holder and demand that they reinstate Marshall protection over Dr. Carhart at 202-353-1555.

Via Feministe.

Is anyone else having a really hard time waking up this morning? (Yes, I may still be recovering from my sis throwing me a bachelorette party Friday night.) I figure there's nothing like a never-ending slide show of feminist graffiti to put in a little spring in one's step...

Don't miss the latest issue of the Scholar & the Feminist Online, guest edited by Janet R. Jakobsen (an amazing professor I had while at Barnard) and Kate Bedford.

Via OutSports, we find out that Australia's national rugby union team, The Wallabies, have joined forces with gay rugby union club the Sydney Convicts to fight against homophobia. (At left is David Pocock of The Wallabies.)

The campaign - This Is Oz - touts itself as "celebrating diversity and challenging homophobia," and uses its online photo gallery to feature athletes (and everyone else!) holding up messages supporting GLBT rights.

h/t Morgan.

Ann already mentioned this video - made by a group of young people in Chicago discussing rape culture - but I wanted to make sure we posted it as well...

Check out Katha Pollit's piece about UN press officer and general badass Lubna Hussein, who is standing up against the sexist Sudanese government. Hussein was one of the 13 women charged under Sudan's Article 152 Criminal Code, prohibiting "indecent" dress, on July 3rd. Their crime? Um, pants. 10 of the 13 women accepted a plea bargain, but not Hussein. Pollit reports:

Lubna Hussein and two others insisted on going to trial-- even though losing in court will mean forty lashes and a much bigger fine. In fact, Hussein resigned her UN post so as not to have immunity -- she wants to win this battle on principle, not a technicality, and have the dress-code law abolished. 'I will take my case to the upper court, even to the constitutional court,' she told The Guardian . 'And if they find me guilty, I am ready to receive not only 40 lashes, I am ready for 40,000 lashes. If all women must be flogged for what they wear, I am ready to be flogged 40,000 times.'

Support Hussein and her crew here.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is going up against the Mississippi Department of Health and Human Services for an Abstinence Summit that was held using government funding. Amplified has a video about the summit, from Huffington Post:

God and Abstinence from Stuart Productions on Vimeo.

The ACLU is arguing that the use of tax dollar funds is a misappropriation, and violates separation between church and state.

My favorite quote from the event?

"Stop, don't touch me there -- this is my no, no square," said one cheer by the Grenada High School cheerleaders. It wasn't about school spirit.

h/t to Amanda Marcotte

They have a sense of humor.

You may remember a while back I wrote something about getting married for The Guardian. In it, I mentioned that some super cool dude online called me a "ball-cutting cybersuccubus" - and wondered if I could get that descriptor on a business card.

Well, thanks to the awesome Maia at Dandy Lion Press, I have the calling card I've always wanted.

Amazing, no?

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - making last minute cuts to the budget - eliminated all of the state funding for domestic violence shelters. That's right - all of it.

Although the state Legislature submitted a budget with a 20 percent reduction to the $20.4 million the state provides to agencies that offer domestic violence services, Schwarzenegger slashed the funding by 100 percent Tuesday.

For Catalyst, which relies on state funding for nearly 35 percent of its operating budget, the affect will be "devastating," Executive Director Anastacia Snyder said.

"We're still in shock," Snyder said Wednesday afternoon. "We were bracing for the 20 percent cut, but did not believe the governor could, with a clear conscience, cut 100 percent of funding for services that keep women and children safe and alive."

If you're a resident of California, please click on Stop Family Violence's action alert to urge lawmakers to reinstate funding for the programs that save women's lives. If you're not in CA - pass this on to someone who is! You can also post the following message to your Facebook account, or tweet it: CA Gov Eliminates funding for Domestic Violence Programs. Lives will be lost. You can help! CA residents click http://bit.ly/3jKQSo

The Red River Women's Clinic is filing an injunction to block the North Dakota state law that essentially makes women look at an ultrasound of the baby 24 hours before the abortion.

According to a news release from the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, the new North Dakota law "includes a confusing provision requiring that the 'auscultation of the fetal heart tone,' which makes the fetal heartbeat audible, be consistent with 'standard medical practice in the community,' without making it clear whether or not the facility is required to offer the woman the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat."

Adding the equipment to allow women to hear the fetal heartbeat "would impose a high financial burden on the facility," according to the center, which is working on behalf of the Fargo clinic.

"This law does nothing to enhance the safety of abortion care, and in the end, just subjects the only clinic in North Dakota to strict criminal liability for failing to conform to a medical standard that doesn't exist," said Suzanne Stolz, staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, in the news release. "The staff at Red River would either be forced to choose between providing abortions altogether -- in effect denying women in the state access to abortion -- or risking criminal prosecution to continue providing abortion services."

Pro-lifers will stop at nothing with their slut-shaming, anti-woman, pro-forced child birth antics. The sad, but not so shocking reality is that the legislation passed in the first place.

Cuz I am going to be there! And I am going to be on an amazing panel of bloggers including Jill from Feministe, Amanda from Pandagon, Lindsay from Majikthise and Pam from Pandagon and Pam's House Blend.

Our panel is about feminist blogging. Shocking, I know :)

Women Bloggers Found: Has Feminist Blogging Gone Mainstream? Saturday, August 15th 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM Panel, 317 Time: Saturday, August 15th, 3:00pm - 4:15pm Room: 317

A few years ago, male bloggers 'round the liberal bloglandia were wondering out loud, "Where are the women bloggers?" Many of the women in the feminist and progressive blogospheres responded with frustration--we were there, and had been, the whole time. Today, the blogosphere looks awfully different, as feminist bloggers are increasingly mainstreamed and able to exert stronger influence on online discourse. But "blogging while feminist" isn't always easy, and feminist bloggers have faced harassment and threats that are uniquely gendered and sexualized. Feminists who have been most successful at running bigger blogs have also been mostly young, white, heterosexual and middle-class--so their issues have been presented to the mainstream progressive movement as the whole of feminism. This panel will look at what has changed, what hasn't and who remains on the edges of progressive blogging. It will also examine how female bloggers--and feminist bloggers in particular--are treated in mainstream spaces, and what we can do about it.

I am excited. I am sure I will learn a lot, but will also have a lot to say so expect live-blogging!

A new blog for teenage feminists, called the f bomb is up!

About The F bomb:

The FBomb.org is a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. Young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here.

Name
In this case the "F Bomb" stands for "feminist." However, the fact that the "F Bomb" usually refers to a certain swear word in popular culture is not coincidental. The FBomb.org is for girls who have enough social awareness to be angry and who want to verbalize that anger. The FBomb.org is loud, proud, aggressive, sarcastic...everything teenage feminists are today.

Author
Julie Zeilinger is one of the proudest teenage feminists of all, who delivers every bitter social commentary with a smile. She's from Pepper Pike, Ohio, and her own experiences with constant bad weather and a depressing city life have made her comfortable with (loudly) expressing her every complaint. She is a wary optimist who loves chocolate and hates people who speak two inches away from her face. Queries, comments and bad jokes to be sent to: juliez@thefbomb.org

Very cool. Check it out here.

Hey crew, Courtney here. I just wanted to write a little note to let folks know that I'll be MIA for the next month while I finish the manuscript for my book on young people and social justice. I'm feeling terrifically grateful, and a little nervous, for a writer's residency in Italy. While I'm there, I'm going to take a break from my online life. I'm hoping that it will allow for the sort of reflection necessary to make these ten disparate profiles that I've been working on become one solid whole. Sum total, I'm hoping to say something important and clear about the newest generation of activists, advocates, and artists.

That, of course, wouldn't be possible without the generosity and flexibility of my fellow feministing editors, who never cease to support one another's individual dreams through our collective work. Thanks, especially, to Jess, V., Miriam, Ann, and Samhita.

I leave you with a quotation from my research and hopes that you all have space to reflect, create, and relax this summer in a way that fits you best.

The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for and the most you can do is live inside that hope.
-Barbara Kingsolver

RH Reality Check released another compelling video with the Feminist Majority Foundation on their investigation into the deception of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) and the serious harm it poses to young women.

For the next week, the House Appropriations Labor Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will be conducting hearings on the FY 2010 spending bill. Take action and tell House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. David Obey that continuing to fund abstinence-only programs and crisis pregnancy centers would be a severe injustice against women's health and rights.

I've written about GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) before. Basically, I think they are the shit. In more official terms, they are "the nation's largest survivor-led organization serving American girls and young women who have experienced sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation." You may remember the amazing documentary on their work called Very Young Girls, which is now available via Netflix.

Well GEMS is at it again. This time they're joining forces with Beyoncé Knowles, Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Sinead O'Connor, Mary J Blige, Katie Ford and women across America for their Girls Are Not for Sale campaign. According to GEMS:

The campaign will use e-activism, live events, all-star artist collaborations and other initiatives to promote girls empowerment and education as critical tools in the fight against child traffickers and pimps who victimize between 100,000 and 300,000 American children and teens each year.

After seeing the film, Beyonce said, "I don't know how anyone could see that documentary and not want to help those young women. I didn't want to just donate money, I wanted them to know that someone really cared about them. My time, my heart, my ears, and my voice are the biggest gifts I could think to give." She hung out with the girls featured in the film and others who are now working with GEMS, and reflected: "I wanted to listen to every girl's story and the stories were all so different. I watched them dance. I heard them sing. I asked lots of questions. They were so open and so brave."

You go Ms. Fierce. Want to get involved? Join the Council of Daughters:

GEMS hopes many more women will join Knowles and other artists in spreading the girls' message. The organization has launched a national social network, The Council of Daughters, to empower women and girls to bring the needs of young survivors into local communities. Through its online hub - http://www.councilofdaughters.ning.com - Council members can meet, share news and ideas, plan campaign events, raise funds and introduce the needs of girls to their friends through a variety of social media tools. Council members across the country, in conjunction with Netflix, the world's largest online movie rental service, will host National Viewing Nights to celebrate the online and DVD premiere of 'Very Young Girls'.

We'd love to hear about your viewing night experience on our community site, so get registered, get watching, get reflecting, and make the world a better place for this country's most vulnerable girls.

The very first non-profit I worked for, Girls for Gender Equity, is having their 4th Annual Gender Equality Festival in Brooklyn on Saturday. And it's going to be quite the event.

So come network, enjoy some free entertainment, or just chill at the park on a Saturday afternoon with a kick-ass organization. Hope you New Yorkers can make it!

I'm at the Campus Progress National Conference today, liveblogging. Campus Progress is the student activism arm of the Center for American Progress. There are over 1000 young people here from all over the country, gathering to talk about a broad agenda of social justice issues.

I'll be blogging a bit today and sharing some of the information from the speakers and plenaries (some high profile people are going to speaking later, including Van Jones, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Kathleen Sebelius.

I'll also be tweeting from the conference, so you can follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/miriamzperez or follow the hashtag #CPNC for other tweets from the conference!

Check out Project 1, a new two-part project. The site documents Jamila K. Gaskins' 12, 000 mile bicycle journey across America "facing her physical limitations, desolate stretches of road, miles of mountain climbs, hot asphalt, and cold winds which mirrors the situations in the lives of many HIV+ and HIV- women." She plans to make this journey into a documentary in honor of her uncle Tommy, who is HIV positive (pictured right). More on Jamila's motivation:

I want my actions and this production to engage the hearts and minds of girls and women across the country, and serve as a signal of empowerment, education and hope. I am creating this film and cycling for myself my niece, Kai, my sisters, Sidney, LaShonda, my best girlfriends, Michelle, Erin and Sofia, and the many other women I hold in my heart. We all have women we love; your wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, daughter, and best friend. It is vital that they are confident in their voice, secure with themselves and knowledgeable enough to make informed, healthy decisions in every aspect of their lives.

As I researched for my book, I came across these awesome quotations from Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark that I wanted to share:

War is easy to abhor, but it takes a serious passion to unravel the tangles of financial manipulations and to understand the pain of sweatshop workers or displaced farmers. And maybe this is what heroism looks like nowadays: occasionally high-profile heroism in public but mostly just painstaking mastery of arcane policy, stubborn perseverance year after year for a cause, empathy with those who remain unseen, and outrage channeled into dedication.

What's missing...is an ability to recognize a situation in which you are traveling and not arrived, in which you have cause both to celebrate and to fight, in which the world is always being made and is never finished.

A better world, yes; a perfect world, never.

I posted a quick link a few weeks back to the new documentary Food Inc.

I finally got to see it last week. In one word, it left me nauseated.

Ever since reading Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma a few years back, I became much more interested in the politics of food. It made me think more about ingredient lists, industrialized agriculture and the mass production of meat.

Well Food Inc took the whole scenario to another level entirely. The visual element, coupled with a really wholistic view of how our highly industrialized food system is impacting us, really hit me. They hit on so many issues: health, poverty, worker's rights, immigration, environment, big business, government subsidies.

The way we eat is not a small problem. In fact, its connected to almost every other problem we work toward solving. The message of the movie is that you can make a difference, and what you choose to eat matters. I take that to heart, not just because of how it impacts my personal health, but how it might impact the health of my community, my environment, my economy.

I'm privileged. I live in a city with plentiful access to farmer's markets during most of the year. There are Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) options, as well as a few co-ops and other locally grown natural food options. After seeing this movie, I've recommitted to buying exclusively from these venues. I can do it, because I don't live in poverty and because I don't live in a food desert as some do. Others can't make this choice, because they can't afford farmer's market prices, because they need to feed their large families. But I can spend the extra money to support food that is wholesome and ethically grown and raised. I can eat meat once a week, rather than a few times a week, and pay more for animals not grown in a factory or shipped thousands of miles. I can make more foods from scratch, rather than buying prepackaged mixes with preservatives and chemicals. I can try my hand at gardening, even in my urban environment. I can support local farmers, bakers, cheese makers.

It's amazing that something as fundamental as how we feed ourselves is only beginning to be scrutinized from a social justice perspective.

Do you garden? Participate in a CSA? Shop at farmer's markets? Is the way you eat part of your activism?

If you haven't seen the documentary yet, check it out. You'll never be able to eat the same way again.

They also have a few special guests (like Bill Clinton, ahem). It's a pretty amazing program and best of all it's free. Check out the agenda here to see the great line up of speakers and panels.

In DC next week? Apply for the conference now!

PS I will be there :)

NorthEast Two-Spirit Society and Audre Lorde Project's Executive Director seemed to have been forcefully kicked out of the NYC Heritage of Pride march this past weekend.

From the Ness website,

Just before 2PM, Lieutenant Connoly of the Midtown Taskforce demanded that the People of Color Contingent leave the parade. The reason given was that a delay of 6 blocks existed between the People of Color contingent and the contingent in front of them. NYPD raised the issue of the gap once and POC contingent marshals were in the process of closing the gap. Kris Hayashi, Executive Director of Audre Lorde Project (ALP), and Loyda Colon also of ALP explained to Lieutenant Connoly, that they were in the process of closing the gap and Lieutenant Connoly refused to listen. Lieutenant Connoly then insisted that the POC contingent leave the parade, and attempted to arrest both Colon and Hayashi. Lieutenant Connoly then ejected Harlan Pruden, the driver of NE2SS' support vehicle and co-founder of NE2SS, other members of NE2SS (who led the People of Color Contingent), and Hayashi from the parade. Hayashi was physically dragged off the parade route.

"It should have been a day to celebrate and have fun," Harlan Pruden, Co-founder of NE2SS.

First off, having a six block gap seems like a weird reason to be kicked out of the parade. Secondly, I think this speaks to an inability to see people of color as a fundamental part of the pride festival. The conference organizers said that NE2SS can rejoin the parade, but I do think that the police are their to protect the ability for marchers to march in safety and what they feel is appropriate membership in the parade.

Whatever the reason may be, both NE2SS and the ALP are amazing organizations that should be part of Pride and it is sad that they were not able to participate without being harassed and kicked out by cops.

New York City is commemorating the 40th anniversary of Stonewall by asking wealthy LGBTQ folks to make a "Rainbow Pilgrimage" to the city. (See poster at right.) Meanwhile, the city has refused to fund shelters that serve homeless queer youth. As a statement from Queers for Economic Justice puts it:

The campaign's website encapsulates Stonewall in a nostalgic distant light; a movement of the past now best found in a culture of style, restaurants and hot new clubs that are profiled in the ad campaign. The past violence and homophobia is replaced by the promise of a New York experience akin to Sex In The City. Further denying the violence of that fateful night in June, the Rainbow Pilgrimage describes the West Village as having a "population [that] has matured and neighborhood scene [that] has quieted along with it."

But that "quiet" has come at a cost to poor and working class queers today.

City officials found little remarkable in using an event associated with violence and resistance as the centerpiece of a marketing campaign.

"I don't think it's ironic, I think it's significant," said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who is openly gay, at a news conference announcing the campaign. "You know, 40 years ago a group of people said enough was enough. And they struck back against police officers. They struck back against unfair treatment."

"And," she added, "it created the modern L.G.B.T. civil rights movement."

• Sylvia's Place
• FIERCE
• Audre Lorde Project

The 2nd US Social Forum will be in Detroit June 26, 2010. If you don't know what the US Social Forum is (shame on you! what kind of progressive are you?? ahem), learn more about it here.

Spread the info.

I'll see you there.

We just got this letter from a reader:

Help out a newbie!
I just new to feminism, thanks to my psychology of women class I'm taking this summer. It inspired me to read Full Frontal Feminism - now I'm hooked! But...I have no idea where to go from here. What should I read next? And what can I do as someone who's still pretty clueless but would like to change that and get involved?
Thanks for any suggestions!

My two cents:
On reading, you can't go wrong with Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, Backlash by Susan Faludi, and This Bridge Called My Back by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua (among SO many others). Seal Press also has a new series called Seal Studies designed to be an introduction to a lot of different topics that you might want to check out.

Reading blogs is a great thing too. Make sure to look for voices with perspectives that are unlike your own, allowing you to stretch your definitions of what constitutes a feminist issue and even how you might look at the same ol' things.

On getting involved, I think starting locally is a great way to get your feet wet in feminist activism. Is there a feminist group on your campus or on in your town that you can get involved in? The people you meet there can probably key you into other activist networks. Activism, just like everything else in life, is about relationships, so start meeting other feminists and they'll lead you to the action. Also, be sure to check our events page to look out for other feminists in your area doing great work.

Alright community, what suggestions do you have for this self-declared newbie?

a) knowledge of sexual health and anatomy are very low among adolescents from Burma's conflict zones;

b) cursory knowledge of condoms and birth control pills is widespread (more than half of teens know of them) but use of family planning and safer sex techniques is incredibly low;

c) the estimated rate of STI's in this population is 7%;

d) both young men and women report high levels of acceptance of gender based violence and male authority over women's reproductive choices: more than half of young men and a third of young surveyed believe that women sometimes deserve to be beaten; more than half of young men think that husbands shoud determine whether or not wives use birth control.

Last week was the World Economic Forum on Africa with a critical focus on the role of girls in the economic development of Africa. The World Economic Forums are a series of convenings led by a Swiss non-profit of the same name. Their platform focuses on the role of economic development and its relationship to social development with the simple vision to be, "the foremost organization which builds and energizes leading global communities; the creative force shaping global, regional and industry strategies; the catalyst of choice for its communities when undertaking global initiatives to improve the state the world." I suppose it is always hard to understand the depth of intent of these types of meetings without being present and while I am critical of top-down economic focused development plans for "developing nations," I think they still make profound contributions, if not just in giving us statistical and analytical data.

Maria Eitel, president of Nike Inc., and the person nominated by Obama to be in charge of the Corporation for National and Community Service (they run Americorps and Peacecorps) was at the meeting and took some interesting notes that I found via Huffington Post that included the following themes discussed at the meeting,

1. 1. Investing in girls as smarter economics
2. 2. Economic solutions are often masked by culture
3. 3. It's urgent - we can't wait. We must reach girls before they are 12
4. 4. Girls won't count until we count them...specifically
5. 5. A little bit of support is not enough

I think these are apt conclusions considering the precarious conditions for girls in Africa. But I do wonder is it empowering for these girls to have outside organizations doing development work? Or is that the only way at this point? I struggle with this questions a lot.

Moderator Isobel Coleman begins by pointing out that there is some controversy over the title of the panel itself. She asks: "Is this a new agenda? Who's agenda is it?"

The first panelist to speak is Lamia Karim (pictured right), from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. She speaks to all of the various human rights discourses, many of which she obviously doesn't think are complex or ethical. "What I am most interested in is grassrooots, indigenous, human rights movements organized, not around an individual human, but much more on a group rights basis.This is taking up these rights discourses but trying to renegotiate with the realities on the ground."

"As feminists we need to really go beyond the rhetoric of the empowerment of women and ask carefully, 'What does it take to empower women? Is money enough? What does it mean to give women access to capital without giving them skills training?' This is the Grameen Bank model--based on neo-liberalism."

Larnia has a book coming out through UC Press in spring 2010 which she describes as "a radical critique of this model, this particular model. I wanted to put it out there because this has become a very innovative way of framing how women, especially in the global south and very poor women, can be economically and socially empowered." Can't wait for that!

Isobel turns to Jill Lester next, who is the ED of The Hunger Project, to ask her what her reaction is to the radical critique of micro lending.

"Unfortunately, I think we're going to be in violent agreement." [audience laughs]

"The Hunger Project believes in an integrated approach to poverty. Part of that is having a micro finance facility. We ask the community to form a micro finance committee of 100% women to set their own agenda."

Next up is Radhika Balakrishnan (pictured left), of the Marymount Manhattan College:
"Rather than talking about the crisis as if it something that fell from the sky, we're calling it the 'manufactured crisis,' caused by deliberate changes that the government made in the regulatory framework."

"We're trying to turn human rights around on them. You want to oppose human rights all over the world? What about the human right violation right here. What about the TARP legislation? There's no transparency. That's public money. This is our institution. Therefore there's a human rights obligation on the state."

Cynthia Enloe (holy amazing) jumps in as the pinch hitter:

"One has to be able to think analytically in order to act. I've hated the theory-practice divide. It's stupid. Anyone who acts, especially if you try to act collectively, if you try to mobilize beyond your best friend, it means you've done some causal thinking. You are an analyst. Out of your action come new analytical understandings. It works and you think why did it work? Or it didn't and you have to go back to the drawing table. We are all analysts. We are all thinkers who think thinking matters. Thinking is in handshake with action."

"If we've learned something from feminist thinking from around the world, it is that you have to think big in order to think small--the guys say that of course--but you also have to think small in order to think big. It works both ways and it's really one of the great strengths of feminist thinking for action."

"We are at a moment now where we've got a pool of schools and an understanding of what needs to be acted upon, some people call it an agenda, and we are at a moment, not just because we have a new president of one country, not just because the institutions of capitalism are wobbly (they're not as wobbly as we'd liked)."

"We really are at a moment amongst all of us, and I mean all of us who aren't in the room, where we have the capacity to think as if it matters and the capaity to know what needs to be acted upon. This is a very, very exciting moment. We shouldn't let cynicsm let that moment pass."

"Think as if it matters and then act as if it affects our thinking."

Richard Brown, from American Express talks about the intersection between corporate philanthropy and leadership development.

Janelle Shubert, from Babson College, talks about social entrepreneurship. Babson College, which she claims is the premier educational institution globally for social entrepreneurship, is based on three principles: people, planet, profit. According to Ashoka, one of the leading organizations on social entrepreneurship:

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.

Janelle says that her hope is that women worldwide continue to have access to employment and training, income and knowledge. If you're interested in S.E., you should also check out Echoing Green, the Schwab Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation. For a critique of the SE framework, check out this coverage of Dr. Paul Farmer's speech on the subject.

Maria Torres from the NYC Economic Development Corporation is up next. She talks about the Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan-(1) create jobs today, (2) diversify economy so we can create more jobs for tomorrow, (3) more affordable housing.

How can women take advantage of this? Check out government partnerships with organizations like Nontraditional Employment for Women.

She also talks about Opportunity NYC, a somewhat controversial program aimed at helping families break out of cycles of intergenerational poverty by paying them incentives to reinforce certain behaviors. It will be evaluated for effectiveness at the end of a five year stint.

"The big message is that we think opportunity exists, that this is the best time to invest in New York City, to invest in women."

Next up is Sara Gould, of the Ms. Foundation.

She starts by talking about women's funds and the network which the Ms. Foundation is a part of, The Women's Funding Network.

She also talks about the ways in which this economic downturn has often been framed as a men's issue, but she reminds us that this is also because of years of gender segregation in the workforce. We can't talk about all women in the labor market as one group because women of different races and classes have such different experiences. Women still comprise the majority of low-wage workers. Women are more likely to be without health or employment insurance. We are still living with the pay gap, and we are still living with this extreme occupational segregation. There are 27 million women and children living in poverty in the U.S. Unemployment for female heads of household is 10%, increased over the last year, of course.

Ms. Foundation, the oldest women's foundation (36 years old), is taking a new approach to their work which they're calling "creating connections." It is about lifting up leaders out of issue-area silos, being able to fund at the intersections, and build great power to bring about policy and cultural change to benefit women of color, poor women, and in so doing, benefit everyone. This means less restricted money and more funding at the race/class/gender intersections.

"We believe in funding sustained civic engagement, we believe in funding the trusted messengers in communities, we believe in getting resources to the ground."

I'm going to let my friend Laura Leischner, the Prevention Specialist at The Collins Center, blog this one out...

It's a pretty informal setting with people finishing their lunch, but the caucus is going to be moderated by Kyla Bender-Baird and Lisa Rast, both of NCRW. Everyone went around and introduced themselves. There are a wide range of women in the room, from freelancers, college students to attorneys.

Lisa talks about how one of her favorite quotes is by Madeleine Albright, "There's a special place in hell for women that don't support other women." She poses the question, "How can we support other women while looking out for ourselves?" A tough one indeed.

A NCRW intern Shirley raises the point that she appreciates the quote, but doesn't like how it focuses on the individual. Sisterhood is powerful.

Another participant transitions and talks about corporations and the lack of support that they give women here in the US (especially with maternity leave) as opposed to other countries. She explains we are taught here to compete with men.

Lisa raises the point that in New York, in all sectors of business, the norm is leaving the office at 7pm. This point alone shows the importance we place on work as our livelihood and in turn how it's becoming our whole life.

Someone brings up the point about women's organizations and how there is an internal glass ceiling there. She says that If the older women don't get out of the way, how can we as young women get a move on and take the reins? It's a constant struggle for us as young feminists and something time and time again we end up talking about.

Hey crew. I'm here in New York City at the NCRW Annual Conference. I'll be live blogging all the sessions for the rest of the day, with a few other posts thrown in. The first session that I'm attending is Youth: Opportunities and Challenges for Building Pipelines for Leadership.

Supriya Pillai, Executive Director (ED) of the Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing:

1. Youth leaders already exist. We need to recognize that.
2. Youth leadership has to come from the inside. Young people of color need to be empowered to make change for themselves, in their own communities, in the best way they see fit.
3. Discussions around a leadership pipeline are not new. We need to start investing at the high school age, looking at young people of color as the engine for that pipeline.
4. Youth organizing is the best "after-school program." In winning and losing, especially losing, young people gain self-efficacy early on and learn about collective momentum.

She then talks about the example of Inner City Struggle in LA, which "goes beyond conversations about diversity to attack structural racism." Communities for Educational Equality. Their demand: young people of color need college. It is a human right. They created a curriculum called "A to G," designed to be a mandatory college prep course.

Major victories: the curriculum is passing statewide in California and they're trying to take it national. The key to their success has been young people organizing with their parents.

Supriya is amazing! I'm totally crushing on her.

Next is Kim Salmond from the Girls Scouts of the USA.

After a big new survey with girls about leadership, they have articulated a new framework for girls' leadership: Discover, connect, and take action. They are moving away from the typical Girl Scout model to a more deeply articulated approach that looks at the systemic influences in girls' lives. Only 9% of girls flat out reject the idea of becoming a leader themselves.

They're seeing a lack of urgency about women's leadership. Many see the change as "all done." The majority of boys and girls surveyed said that they wouldn't be disappointed if there wasn't a woman president anytime soon.

Next is Sally Stevens, ED of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women at the University of Arizona.

Are you a young activist in the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin area? Would you like to speak about your experience getting started, as well as discuss the issues and provide some ideas for student activism?

English professor Lisa Schreibersdorf is looking for someone to speak at a student summit that is part of a Higher Education Diversity Initiative sponsored by the four area colleges in Fond du Lac County. Drop her a line (lisa.schreibersdorf_at_uwc_dot_edu), if you're the right person for the job.

Today, Catherine Pierce, the Acting Director of the DOJ's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the importance of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Some highlights from her testimony after the jump.

Oh, snap. This is awesome. (Back story: some women interrupted an anarchist conference to show this video and speak out about sexism in the movement.)

Thanks to Gwen for the links!

Washington's former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson called the sentencing part of "a high-stakes poker game" being played by North Korea. He said on NBC's Today show that he thinks negotiations for their "humanitarian release" can begin now that the legal process has been completed. Other South Korean analysts also said they expect the two to be freed following negotiations.

But we should still keep the pressure on. Click here to sign the petition for their release. There are more action suggestions here. Join the Facebook group. And for regular updates, follow LiberateLaura on Twitter. AngryAsianMan also suggests "emailing the State Department at secretary@state.gov demanding they step up negotiations with North Korea."

Using journalists as political pawns and bargaining chips is unfortunately nothing new. Roxana Saberi's case made headlines recently. But this is not only a tactic used by Iran and North Korea. The United States -- yes, the very U.S. that claims to honor freedom of the press and human rights -- is holding an Iraqi journalist named Ibrahim Jassam. He hasn't been charged. An Iraqi court ordered he be released. And yet he remains in U.S. military custody. This is by NO means a suggestion that it's "fair" for North Korea to hold two American journalists. But it's hard for America to have credibility on this issue. Those of us who push for Ling and Lee's release need to expect the same standards of our own government. (See more at the Committee to Protect Journalists.)

Interestingly, Nerdette encountered a lot of push-back when she tried to get folks to sign the petition and take action for Ling and Lee. She writes,

I know that this petition will not directly sway the North Korean government. That doesn't mean its not a meaningful act. That's not why I'm trying to get people to sign it. The point is to keep the energy, the noise and the interest at as heightened a level as we can... so that maybe the media will pay attention to what's going with Laura and Euna... As we come together - online or even off (there was a vigil for Laura and Euna last week) - we are building capacity. Yes, none of us are diplomats, but that doesn't mean we don't have an opinion. Moreover, why would anyone want to silence that? Isn't that the problem with North Korea? That they censure their people? Even if you think the petition is dumb, futile or pointless, luckily the internet is so vast there is space for me and 13,000 other people to publicly declare that we want Euna and Laura to come home. The idea that someone would tell me "don't try, you look ridiculous" just makes me more committed to becoming even noisier.

Those are wise words for any action campaign. Even if it doesn't achieve the desired result, the very act of collectively standing up and saying that we are watching, that we will defend human rights, that we value the right to free speech and fair trials, that, in and of itself, is valuable and important. 

More on Euna Lee and Laura Ling from Matt Yglesias, Jezebel, and Latoya Peterson.

I recently got an email from a reader about her reflections on activism after Dr. Tiller's death. Here is her email:

Hi, Miriam, Among my many reactions to Dr. George Tiller's murder is a desire to put my money where my mouth is (so to speak) with regards to my support for choice in reproductive health. I'm contacting my local Planned Parenthood about volunteering in whatever ways they need. But for me "pro-choice" is about more than access to abortion. My local birthing center just shut down (to the disappointment of one of my best friends, who's seven months pregnant). I'm really interested in becoming a doula and/or midwife, but I have very little medical training. Would you consider doing a post about why and how you became a doula, and how that work intersects with your support for abortion rights? I'm really interested in hearing about your experiences.

I left her name out of it for privacy reasons, but she's right on target. For me being pro-choice has always been about more than just access to abortion and I think a broader focus on the many phases on people's reproductive lives is a great response to anti-choice hate and violence.

I'm a doula. I've been a doula for four years now, practicing on and off, only as a volunteer. You can read more about this at my other blog, Radical Doula. I went back and found my very first guestblog that I wrote for Feministing, right when I started calling myself a radical doula. Here is what I wrote:

During the pre-conference training organized by Be Present, Inc, I stood up and introduced myself as a radical doula. This was a designation that I came to assume for myself through an understanding that my beliefs (which seemed to me completely logical and altogether natural) placed me apart from a large part of what I have come to call the "birth activist" community (midwives, doulas and advocates who work toward changing the standards of care for birthing women in the US). This conference highlighted many of the ways my politics are a seeming contradiction: I'm a doula and I'm a pro-choice abortion advocate. I'm a doula and I'm a lesbian. I'm a doula and I may never have children. I'm a doula and I'm Latina. I'm doula and I'm not entirely comfortable with the gender/sex binary.

What was so groundbreaking about this conference was that it brought together two of my worlds, the birth activists (midwives, doulas, academics) and the pro-choice activists (policy people, advocates, organizers). I can see now how these two groups, the former of which dedicates its time to supporting women as they bring children into the world, and the latter that fights for women's rights to not bring children into the world, don't necessarily go together. The irony is that I never understood the contradictions that exist between the them until Lynn Paltrow pointed it out to me precisely because the two are really good about not mentioning the others issues. The midwifery conferences I have been to in the past never mentioned the issue of abortion allowing me to erroneously assume that they were all pro-choice just like me. Likewise, the pro-choice conferences rarely mentioned the issues that face birthing women so focused as they are on the rights of women fighting not to birth. So congratulations NAPW, you succeeded in beginning a dialogue between the two movements (as stilted and precarious as it may have been at times) even just by creating a space where that dialogue was possible.

What this conference made entirely clear to me (and maybe what I already understood from my own dual roles) is that the activists from these two camps need to be in the same room, if not simply because the people whom we are fighting are one and the same. The people who want to take away women's rights to abortion, contraception, and comprehensive sex education are the same ones who aren't afraid to forcibly subject women to c-sections, limit the scope of women's choices about how they birth or place the rights of an unborn fetus above the rights of a woman. So let's keep the conversation going, and focus on how we can protect women's choices throughout all the phases of their lives.

I think in time's like these, when the lines between our movements are being drawn so starkly, that it's even more important to reemphasize these connections.

In that vein, there is an amazing project in NYC that I was part of the early stages of that is looking for applicants! It's called the Doula Project.

Details after the jump.

OK, full confession, I am totally not a poetry buff, but I recently received as a gift from my best friend a book of love poems written by Pablo Neruda and a poem from Cole Krawitz, "Ode to Aretha Franklin's Hat." They both reminded me of the power of poetry to move you to action, to reflect, to dream and to believe in the capabilities of yourself and your communities. My chosen form of communication to express my outrage at an unjust world has manifested through political writing, but there are multiple mediums through which activists and organizers communicate their messages, street theater, song, film, chanting and of course poetry. We choose these mediums often because mainstream media has failed us, and because we need spaces to speak our own truths.

So when lgbtq literary luminaries and fierce emerging writers come together to do an event on poetry, love, sex, politics, chisme and more, y'all know it's going to be hot. And hot it will be this Monday, June 8th when these poets, whose works testify to the many generations and stories of LGBTQ lives and experiences, hit the stage. For those of you in the Bay Area looking for some really amazing poets of the radical, queer, working class, activist, POC set, check out this event Testimonies, Chisme, Spilling the Tea: An Evening of Poetry featuring Dorothy Allison, Ching-In Chen, Elana Dykewomon, Rigoberto González, Eloise Klein Healy, Cole Krawitz, D.A. Powell, Ely Shipley & Griselda Suárez, and will be hosted by Jewelle Gomez.

Mary Alice Carr has a really poignant piece up at the Washington Post about why she has chosen to never go on to O'Reilly's show again after having faced his hypocrisy in the past.

[O]n Tuesday morning, when an O'Reilly producer called and asked me to come on the show to "discuss the reasons why women have late-term abortions," I held fast to my pledge. I told his producer what I thought: that I had had that conversation on air with O'Reilly five years earlier and that he agreed with me at the time that the decision was between a woman and her doctor. That O'Reilly then went on to pretend we had never talked about it and continued condemning women and doctors. That the nation and those of us in the pro-choice community are reeling from the murder of a doctor who helped women. That we hold O'Reilly responsible for helping to create a climate in which hate was allowed to fester. That I refused to dignify his irresponsible behavior, not to mention his deplorable reaction to Tiller's shooting.

O'Reilly had the opportunity to apologize for his words, and he didn't. He had the opportunity to say that this tragic outcome was something about which he felt sorry. He didn't. When restraint and perspective were called for, he fanned the flames higher. In fact, on his June 1 "Talking Points," he played the martyr, saying his critics were seeking to stifle any criticism of "people like Tiller -- that and hating Fox News is the real agenda here." On his show the next day -- the show I declined to appear on -- he again called a murdered man "Dr. Killer."

I admit that after the call from the producer, I hesitated. What an opportunity, I thought, to sit across from O'Reilly and call him out for what he has done and where his responsibility lies. To speak for everyone in America who is hurt and scared and angry. I have never been a Fox News hater; clearly, I've used the show for the benefit of my movement and my organization, and I've answered his questions on some of the toughest issues around. Didn't I have the right to also call him out for his speech?

But then I realized I just couldn't. Because if the murder of a man in a house of worship wasn't enough to make Bill O'Reilly repent, what hope did I have?

Naturally, I don't have the kind of profile or connections that land me in a seat in front of the jerk myself, but I can say from my small world of fighting with people on the internet at a certain point you have to decide what you can and can't do. It is really powerful that Carr said no, because it is such an incredible opportunity for exposure. But bet the producer didn't understand why she would chose not to. The problem with going against conservative pundits is that for them it is funny hour, their news spots are just more time for them to act like jerks and say off the wall things (that they unfortunately believe) that gets them higher ratings. For people like Carr who have dedicated their lives to actual policy change, it is not worth doing a show like that just for publicity if it doesn't result in fair exposure, confidence in the movement or is attached to a campaign goal. Perhaps it is time we stop giving him the opportunity to talk to us since he is so unapologetic about his relationship to the assassination of Dr. Tiller.

We talk about this a lot at Feministing, how we choose to devote our energy and to who. It was an early moment in my career at Feministing I remember sitting in a panel with Lynne D. Johnson and Professor Angie Colette Beatty at WAM and Dr. Beatty was talking about how she had given up talking to brick walls. I always think about that when I am engaging in especially painful conversations that don't seem to be moving, my words not being absorbed but merely bouncing off the density. At a certain point you have to think about if you want to talk to a brick wall, is it even worth it? The sad thing is that Bill-O has such a huge viewership and it is an incredible opportunity. But perhaps facing him head on is not the way to do it, perhaps the way to do it is to campaign against media consolidation and ownership and fight to give more voice to the pundits that do say the things we need them to and train new, up and coming voices.

Didn't make it to one of the memorials earlier this week?

• Rochester, NY: 5pm on Thursday at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, a rally honoring Dr. Tiller's life and vision
  
• Austin, TX: 8 p.m. on Thursday, The Hill at Butler Park: 903 W Riverside Dr, Austin, TX, Located between Riverside Drive and Barton Springs. Immediately west of Palmer Events Center.
• Columbus, OH: 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Broad Street Methodist Church, 501 East Broad Street, Columbus 43215
• Concord, NH: 5 p.m. on Thursday, statehouse grounds (107 North Main St.). For more information, call NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire at 603-228-1224.
• New Haven, CT: 6:30pm on Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Avenue. For more info contact Gretchen.Raffa@ppct.org or 203-865-5158
• Chicago, IL: 8:15 pm on Friday at Churchill Field, Playlot Park (c/o Holstein Park), 1825 N. Damen Ave. Contact: outreach@ilchoiceactionteam.org
• Los Angeles, CA: Speak out in memory of Dr. George Tiller. 5pm-8pm on Saturday, 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica (3rd and Arizona st.). For more info: (213) 488-1303 or librosrevo@yahoo.com
• Washington, DC: Memorial service for Dr. Tiller at 6pm on Monday at The National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle, N.W. Eulogy: Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Member of the Board of RCRC, Colleague and Friend of Dr. Tiller. Please RSVP at info@rcrc.org
• San Diego, CA: Vigil at 7:30pm on Thursday at First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, 4190 Front Street
• Madison, WI: Vigil at 8:00pm on Sunday in Peace Park, 400 State St.
• Milwaukee, WI: Vigil at 8:00pm on Sunday at the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, 1342 N. Astor Street.
• Pittsburgh, PA: Letter- and op-ed writing training. 5:30 to 7:30pm on Monday at Planned Parenthood's downtown Pittsburgh office, 933 Liberty Avenue
• Fredericton, NB, Canada: Vigil at 9:30pm on Saturday at the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic, 554 Brunswick Street
• Toronto, ON, Canada: Vigil at 7pm on Saturday at Bloor Parkette, Southeast corner of Bloor and Spadina
• Portland, OR: Vigil at 6:00pm on Sunday at 3727 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. (NE MLK & Beech, one block north of Fremont, Planned Parenthood health center construction site, enter from NE Garfield Street.) Please bring candles.
• Nashville, TN: Memorial protest at 9am on Saturday at Planned Parenthood, 412 D.B. Todd Blvd.

Pictures via NARAL Pro-Choice America's Flickr page.

Here are a few of the beautiful pictures of vigils in honor of Dr. George Tiller that I found this morning:

Gloria Feldt, former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has a moving piece up at Salon about the need for a reaction more definitively political than vigils. An excerpt:

Each time, we held vigils all over the country. We wept and we pledged to continue our work. Which we did, increasingly, in isolation. We were the ones who had been wronged, and yet we were labeled controversial, to be shunned rather than supported. The murders were only the tip of the iceberg, among over 6000 cases of violence, vandalism, stalking, bombings, arson, invasions and other serious harassment.

Later, during the nine years I served as president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, we dramatically beefed up our own security while figuring out how to make our health centers nevertheless welcoming to patients and workers alike. In fact, we got so adept at the task that during post-911 anthrax scares, we provided federal government agencies with model protocols for dealing with such threats. But though self-sufficiency is valuable, a just society should offer much more succor to citizens who are attacked.

That's why today, after what happened to George Tiller, I know that the only thing that will assuage my personal grief over his shocking loss is for leaders across our nation to join me in expressing outrage at this heinous crime, this domestic terrorism. And yes, they need to call it out in exactly those terms.

So far, the only public statement that President Obama has made is this: "I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

Thanks to Jason in Kansas for the link, who says, "There were 600 people who turned out for this rally--which was organized exclusively through facebook & twitter. Wichita and what Dr. Tiller stood for are not going to be deterred."

In comments to my previous post on the killing of Dr. George Tiller, AnatomyFightSong asked,

I would love to hear people's thoughts on how we can mobilize to (non-violently) fight back. How can we turn this terrible tragedy into an opportunity to strengthen the pro-choice movement?

It's hard to know how to respond to something like this with more than just sadness and anger. A few suggestions on what to do with that energy:

Attend a memorial vigil for Dr. Tiller.

• Wichita, KS: Meet at 8pm on Sunday in Old Town Square.
  
• Lawrence, KS: Meet at 8pm on Sunday at the South Park Gazebo
• Washington, D.C.: Meet at 9pm on Sunday at the fountain at Dupont Circle. Also at 6:30pm on Monday at the White House.
• Boston, MA: Meet at 6pm on Monday at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral.
  
• Seattle: Meet at 6pm on Monday, Details TBA. (Follow @ProChoiceWA on Twitter for details.)
• Portland, OR: Meet at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Monday at 8:00pm
• Ottawa, ON: Meet at 8:00pm on Tuesday, June 2 at the Human Rights Monument @ Elgin & Lisgar
• Kansas City, MO:Meet on Monday at 8pm at the JC Nichols Fountain (near the Plaza).
• Yakima, WA: Meet at 6pm on Monday at Millennium Arts Plaza
• St. Louis, MO: Meet at 6:30pm on Monday at St Johns Episcopal Church
• New York, NY: Meet at 6pm on Monday, Union Square Park - South End - near 14th Street.
• Dallas, TX: Meet at 6:30pm Monday at Robert E. Lee Park (corner of Turtle Creek and Hall)
• Chicago, IL: Meet at 4pm on Monday at the State of Illinois Building (Thompson Center)
• San Francisco, CA: Meet at 7pm Monday at City Hall
• Atlanta, GA: Meet at 7pm on Tuesday at Woodruff Park
• Columbia, MO: Meet at 6:30pm Tuesday in Peace Park
• Greensboro, NC: Meet at 6pm on Tuesday at the corner of N. Elm and W. Bessemer streets (in front of 917 N. Elm)
• Minneapolis, MN: Meet at 9pm Tuesday in Loring Park
• Philadelphia, PA: Meet at 5:30pm on Tuesday in Love Park
• Hayward, CA: A memorial will be set up between 9am and 6pm on Wednesday at the Cal State University campus, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd. People are welcome to come bring balloons, poems, photos, rocks, candles, etc

More vigils listed at NARAL's site. If your city/town isn't listed, plan a vigil yourself! 

Vigil photos are posted here and here.

* Also, NOW is urging people to wear white armbands in memory of Dr. Tiller today (Monday).

Donate to a pro-choice organization.

• Medical Students for Choice -- to train the next generation of abortion providers 
• National Network of Abortion Funds -- to help low-income women access abortion

Discuss how this is connected to the daily intimidation of abortion providers all over the country.

• Write letters to your local media when you see this framed as an isolated incident, or as the act of just one extremist. Explain how this is connected to the broader issue of threats and intimidation against women's health care providers.
  
• Encourage your friends and family members who aren't pro-choice to reject groups that endorse or support extremist behavior.
  

Thank an abortion provider!

People who work and volunteer in reproductive health clinics (both those that provide abortions and those that don't) risk their lives every day to ensure women's health and freedoms are protected. They also deal with a lot of harassment and crap that might not be physically dangerous, but is a huge mental burden and daily stress. Let's use this as an opportunity to recognize their commitment, and say THANK YOU!

UPDATE: Ask Obama to commit to reviving the National Task Force on Violence Against Health Care Providers.

Write to the Obama administration and ask that the Department of Justice work to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. FACE was enacted after the murder of Dr. David Gunn in 1993, but the task force to ensure its enforcement was basically dormant during the Bush years. Ask Obama to revive it to protect reproductive health care providers and women who seek these services. More info here.

Other thoughts on how to respond -- both individually and as a pro-choice community?

Some moving commentaries:
A Heartbreaking Choice
Awearness Blog: Dr. Tiller Assassinated in His Church (Read the first comment.)
A commenter at Balloon Juice on his experiences with Dr. Tiller
The Compassion of Dr. Tiller
Guest Book for Dr. Tiller

A Powerful Noise is a new documentary about three different women activists around the globe: Hanh, an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam, Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war and a community organizer, and Jacqueline, who works in the slums of Bamako, Mali to educate young women. Here's the trailer:

It was visually stunning. The shots of all three locations were exquisite, really bringing you into the full sensory experience of these diverse locations. The work these women are doing were also deeply inspiring. These are not superhero stories in the typical conventions of the genre--women who have done more, better, faster than any other activist. Instead, and thankfully, these are stories of fairly ordinary women with tremendous courage. You don't finish watching the film and think, "I could never be like that." You finish and think, "I could do that if I really drew on my inner resources." In other words, the film pushes you to be more courageous without presenting a paralyzing model of activist or feminist perfection.

My only wish was that each story contained more of an arc. As it was, I was always interested in what these women were doing, but I was never pulled in by a really riveting unsolved question or sense of tension. I think it would have gone a long way in getting film seen, not just by people like me who are interested in women's activism around the world, but people who are interested in good stories. They've certainly got the incredible visuals going for them.

You can now order the DVD from their website, and check out all the great resources there as well.

Thanks to Rosario for the heads up.

Not only do female unionized workers earn more, but this great op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News by a single working mother gives us personal account of why unions can be a pretty damn big feminist issue:

I became a single mother of an 8 year-old son while I was serving in the United States Army. This was a very frightening experience for me. My son's dad was not around to help raise him. After I left the Army, I found a job working for a company where women had no opportunity to advance. I was fortunate to then land a union job. I started work with a 90-day probation period, and on my 89th day I had an accident for which I was fired.

Even though I didn't have grievance rights, my union fought for me. The accident wasn't my fault, but my employer argued I was responsible. Because of my union steward, however, the mediator decided to reinstate me. To begin with, the accident wasn't my fault, and the mediator also pointed out that there were four men who were involved in accidents in their first 90 days and weren't fired. Would I have gotten my job back if I didn't have a union fighting for me? Was this worth every penny of my dues? You're darn right it was. I love my job and I raised my son with no worries. I earn a fair day's pay, decent benefits and have job security. Shouldn't everybody have this?

The op-ed was written in efforts to get Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which she has recently said she would consider negotiating.

Read more here about why the Employee Free Choice Act is a feminist issue and take action here.

I had the total honor of attending a Congressional meeting yesterday called "The Growing Needs of Women Veterans: Is the VA Ready?" It was hosted by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and widely attended by a variety of women veterans' groups who each had a chance to testify about what they see as the growing and unique needs for women veterans (who are currently about 15% of our military).

I plan on writing extensively about some of the issues that were brought up (including childcare, VA climate, cultural shifts, and of course, sexual assault), but what I really wanted to emphasize here at feministing was how inspired I was by the presence of young, fearless women activists yesterday. The stand outs were Anuradha K. Bhagwati, Executive Director of the Service Women's Action Network (which I've written about before), Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More Than You, and Dawn Halfaker (pictured here), of Wounded Warriors.

They each spoke with such passion, clarity, and authenticity at the hearing. As the various leaders and ED's of organizations made their remarks, I was thrilled to hear these young women's voices, which truly stood out as professional, but also unequivocally real. They didn't let the official nature of the meeting or the onslaught of statistics overshadow the fact that women are suffering unimaginable pain because of sexual harassment and assault experiences, inadequate access to reproductive and mental health care at the VA centers through out the nation, and a sense of invisibility in a country that still assumes women don't see combat or get PTSD. Though the day was overwhelming, and the sense of glacial movement in our legislative branch palpable, I left with this rock solid confidence that this generation of women vet activists are going to make things right. They're too strong and bold and eloquent and convicted not to.

P.S. SWAN's site went live today, so be sure to go over and check it out.

Update: Miriam just sent me this update and it articulates another perspective on GENDA. What do others think?

Via the Curvature, today is the state-wide call in day to get GENDA passed. GENDA is the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act and provides anti-discrimination protection under the law in the area of housing, job discrimination and other sites of potential discrimination. From the wording of the act itself, the Transgender Law and Policy Institute tell us why GENDA was written,

To ensure that transgender people are included in the New York State human rights law, Senator Thomas Duane and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried have introduced legislation that adds the category of "gender identity or expression" to the state's Human Rights law, and defined that category in the law's definition section. If passed, this statutory language will make it clear to all New Yorkers that no one should be subject to discrimination because of their gender identity or gender expression. The definition as written is very similar to the definitions used in New Mexico, Rhode Island, Boston, Baltimore, New York City and many other jurisdictions.

The passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in 2002 was not enough and doesn't apply to the rights of the trans community. Read more about it here and if in NY call your Senator today and demand that they vote for GENDA. Call in TODAY, this bill has passed the Assembly and needs to get to the Senate floor NOW.

Information on how to call-in reposted from Cara's spot via Empire State Pride Agenda after the jump.

Yesterday was the birthday of the late El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, also known as Malcolm X. He would have been 84 years old. I often wonder what Malcolm would say about race relations today. Would he think we have come far? Would he feel satisfied that we have a black president? Was Malcolm's sole motivation the symbolic shifting of race relations in this country or was it the actual change in the material conditions of the black community?

As an up and coming activist there were few books that influenced me as much as the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Not only was his life inspiring and continues to inspire myself and others committed to the movement for social change world-wide, his voice of dissent to mediocrity masked as social welfare to benefit the black community, as opposed to full self-determination and self-actualization, has yet to be replaced. His voice maintains in the background always motivating us for true equality, for basic human rights, and to demand a better world, "by any means necessary" for those that have survived a brutal history of colonization, racism and slavery.

So happy birthday Malcolm X. Your spirit continues to inspire those of us that see injustice and continue to work for a better world. I can't imagine where we would be without you.

Check out this great video of one of his most influential speeches.

Also, check out Grace Lee Boggs on knowing Malcolm X, Adrienne Maree Brown on the application of Malcolm's teaching to building power in communities around violence and Melissa Harris-Lacewell on the legacy of Malcolm X.

See below for a great leadership opportunity from a great reproductive justice organization!

The Young Women's Leadership Council of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project is seeking new members to continue its mission to be the voice and raise the voices of diverse young women in the sexual and reproductive justice movement.

We are looking for potential YWLC members that are:

• Between the ages of 16 and 29, with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of interests within the reproductive justice movement including HIV, abortion rights, LGBTQ issues, community organizing, blogging, racial justice, and media/pop culture.
• Passionate about these and many other issues that affect women, particularly young women, women of color, and low-income women.
• Interested in opportunities to travel, network, and/or facilitate workshops on behalf of the YWLC and PEP, all of which will help build skills that will be useful for school, career, and beyond.

For more information and to apply, go here.

The application deadline is July 1st, 2009.

Whatever you might think about Code Pink or direct action, you can't argue with how incredible this quilt is. Thousands of women from over 11 countries sent in these little cozies to be stitched together--the resulting quilt reads "I will not raise my child to kill another mother's child." It's an enormous, gorgeous spectacle if there ever was one. I'm just wondering which museum is going to snap it up.

Love this.

Twenty songs that refer to women as "hos" and other derogatory names won't be played at the Arcadia High prom Saturday night.

That's because senior Madeline Conrique and fellow members of the Women's Health and Issues Club brokered a deal with school administrators limiting songs with misogynistic themes and lyrics.

The group wasn't making a push for squeaky clean Disney pop groups. Club member Lani Luo says, "We are not trying to push for abstinence...We are just trying to advocate for respect."

Awesome.

I know, I know. Everyone is talking about Twitter. So many people are tweeting and talking about tweeting, it's nearly jumped the shark. But I don't care - I love it. Mostly because I love following fabulous feminists. I can see what Sarah Haskins is up to, or what Latifa Lyles (running for NOW president!) is thinking. I can even follow the bloggers I like.

How about you, do you tweet? Who is your favorite person to follow? (And of course, if you'd like to follow your friendly Feministing bloggers, our twitter profiles are listed after the jump. /self-promotion)

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Sex 2.0 "unconference." It's the second time this meet-up has occurred, and it's focus is the intersection of social media, feminism and sexuality. What does that mean? You get a group of about 200 sex positive bloggers, writers, sex workers and affiliated fans together in a room to talk about sex, feminism and technology.

It was pretty awesome.

While I am not a sex blogger, I do often write about sex-related topics (feminist sex shops anyone?) and am a big fan of many of the people who do write about sex and culture.

I was also psyched to see that feminism was a highlighted intersection, as I do think that sex positive movements and feminism go hand in hand.

I've also very much benefited from the way the internet has given me access to all sorts of sex related experiences and writing that I never would have had otherwise. Sex bloggers like Sinclair Sexsmith provide me with experiences that often mirror my own, and that is so valuable and validating.

Some of the great bloggers/activists/writers I met this weekend whose work you might want to check out:

(Warning, some of this content might not be safe for work)

Audacia Ray, author of Naked on the Internet and the Waking Viken blog
Amber Rhea, co-founder of the Sex 2.0 conference and blogger at Being Amber Rhea
Essin' Em, sex blogger at Sexuality Happens
Melissa Gira, sex and technology writer
Mollena, incredible sex educator and blogger at The Perverted Negress, where her tagline is "it ain't just the hair that's kinky"

And many more! You can check out the twitter feed here

One of my favorite quotes from the weekend:

Ricci Levy, Woodhull Freedom Foundation Executive Director

"Imagine a country where you are just as comfortable talking to people about sex and what you like as you are talking about chocolate. That would be what sexual freedom would look like."

Back in 2004, we were excited to announce the beginning of an international magazine about women and activism called World Pulse. Well, World Pulse had a rocky road in print, migrating online to become PulseWire, another development that we were proud to announce. And now, we're excited to let you know that World Pulse is back in print and the online home is thriving. Check out the latest issue for everything from exploring the benefits and often overlooked dangers of microlending to Best Buy's new women's program called WOLF to self care for activists to new media activism across the globe. There's nothing like World Pulse out there, so we all need to heartily support its continued survival--whatever form it takes. Congrats to editor Jensine Larsen and her team for their determination and vision.

This is an issue that's become increasingly dear to my heart, as I've gotten to know a couple of amazing women veterans and read more about their experiences. There is no question that women vets have special needs at this time, especially as the epidemic of sexual assault and the psychological trauma that follows, is being acknowledged publicly for the first time. A few stats in case you haven't been following the issue:

• The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are employing the greatest number of American servicewomen in US military history.


• Women are rapidly adding to the already existing population of 1.8 million women veterans, most of whom have yet to be adequately recognized for their sacrifices.


• The sexual assault rates among female veterans are astronomically high -- at least 30, and as high as 70 percent.

The Service Women's Action Network, an organization co-founded by a group of women veterans (mostly women of color) in 2006, is poised to step into the gap of services and advocacy and the rest of us need to support them to do this. Here's an excerpt from a recent email I received from co-founder and Army National Guard veteran Jennifer Hogg:

The issues faced by military women today present the public with specific challenges that have largely been rejected as a national priority by veterans organizations, the government and the media. Most major organizations that serve veterans pay mere lip service to the issues of women veterans. They fail to hire women veterans as staff members, and often retraumatize women veterans by minimizing, trivializing, or ignoring the experiences of women in uniform. As we all know, women's issues rarely get the attention they deserve when women are not empowered with the agency and authority to represent their own needs.

Therefore, SWAN focuses on the leadership development of women veterans. Given that few military organizations acknowledge the rampant sexism, racism, and homophobia in both the military and veterans organizations, SWAN ensures that women of color veterans and LGBT women veterans make up at least half of our staff, and that the experiences of women from these populations is featured prominently by the organization on both the website and in media appearances.

SWAN's staff and steering committee consist exclusively of women veterans whose collective experiences in the military encompass a broad spectrum of challenges faced by returning women veterans. These issues include the trauma of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, the horrors of Military Sexual Trauma, the trials of VA health coverage and the VA benefits system for women, and discharges under the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy.

If you can give money, do it:
Your donations are tax deductible. Checks can be made out to our fiscal sponsor, The Women of Color Resource Center. Please write "SWAN" in the memo line, and mail your check to:
The Women of Color Resource Center
1611 Telegraph Ave #303
Oakland, CA 94612

Or online.

If you can give some other kind of resources or support, do it:
Email Jen Hogg with grant leads, fundraising ideas, or other in kind donations or support at jen@claimingjustice.org.

Let's let the brave women of SWAN, and all the female veterans they are poised to help, know that we support their basic human rights to bodily integrity, health services, legal support, and healing community.

I'm headed to DC this weekend for Code Pink's Mother's Day slumber party on the White House lawn for peace. I'm following one of their organizers for my book. The protest is inspired by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe's bad ass Mother's Day Proclamation, which I thought I'd post here in case folks hadn't seen it:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Check out the video of famous ladies reading parts of it:

There was no question that the immigration detention facilities and policies in this country are dehumanizing, but the latest news out of Arizona underscores it. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) jail is being called out for human rights abuses against female detainees. From the Inter Press Agency:

MCSO is currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over alleged abuses of a section of immigration law known as 287(g) that allows the federal government to deputize local police to enforce immigration law.

"The abuse of these powers within the jails is worse than in the street," said Salvador Reza, an organizer with the pro-immigrant group Puente that has been monitoring the alleged mistreatment. "If we were able to stop torture in Guantanamo Bay, we should be able to do that in Maricopa County," he added.

On May 2, Reza's group organized a six-mile march to protest this situation from the offices of the sheriff in downtown Phoenix to the Estrella jail, a detention facility for women.

The march was in response to claims of abuse by an immigrant woman whose arm was allegedly broken by sheriff's office guards, and a letter by 13 others who also denounced mistreatment within the same jail. At the protest, 43 women inmates launched a hunger strike to make their point.

"Please help us, we're in a tunnel without end, treated like dogs," reads the letter obtained by Respect/Respet, a local organization that documents human and civil rights abuses. Among the signatories is an immigrant woman who claims the sheriff's deputies broke her jaw during a workplace raid.

I've written about this issue in the past. Not only is this whole thing a gross violation of human rights and a moral black mark on us all, but there is a giant business behind it that few are aware of. While this is a government jail, many women are being detained in private prisons (the biggest being in Texas) that make big money off of imprisoning innocent immigrants (including children).

I'm so glad to see people protesting this issues and trying to organize others to join them. Check out Grassroots Leadership if you want to learn more, especially about family detention. Here's a video they made:

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

Transcript after the jump

via Danah Boyd, it seems the government is not taking gender identity or sexual orientation into account when it collects health data. Bill Jesdale writes,

But there is no nationally representative dataset that yet captures sexual orientation data, making it very difficult to do the kind of research I am most intereted in - looking at the impact of normative heterosexuality on health. Because most of the studies that do include sexual orientation data happen in States that are relatively friendly (VT, RI, MA, CA, WI, etc.), it is difficult to find a comparison group exposed to higher levels of societal homophobia.

I understand reservations about differentiating between different sexual orientations and gender identities when collecting this data -- because research can be manipulated to make generalizations and downplay or ignore people's individual experiences. (We discussed this in the comments to Courtney's post on the New York Times Magazine piece on female desire.) But in order to advocate for big-picture solutions to address the ways LGBTQ folks are discriminated against in the health system, it would really help to know how widespread problems are. That's where data come in -- and why I ultimately think it's a good idea to ask that info like gender identity and sexual orientation be included in data collection.

There's already some movement in this direction:

Hats off to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for initiating a "Dear Colleague" letter to ask the Senate to set aside $2M to ask questions about sexual orientation and gender identity on the National Health Interview Survey is a good start.

Now let's get other senators to sign on. Do you live in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia or Wisconsin? More info on how to contact your senator, after the jump...

We are happy to announce the launch of ¡PRESENTE! an online organizing effort to support and make powerful voices of the Latin@ community. From their introduction letter,

Our goal is to create a broad-based online community of Latinos and our allies strong enough to make the United States honor its promises and protect our people. We're starting with immigration, but we won't stop there--we'll provide you with ongoing opportunities to make change on the issues that most affect our communities.

Get more information here and retweet and re-post widely.

via Nezua.

We are humbled and honored to be among the nominees for the Our Bodies, Ourselves Women's Health Heroes contest.

Nominator Amy says:

I would like to nominate the great blogging women of feministing.com as my Women's Health Heroes. I have been enthusiastically reading feministing for quite some time and I feel that it gives young women a space to voice their concerns, in addition to learning about other's perspectives on important health issues. The women of feministing deserve recognition for always keeping readers up-to-date and for also sharing lighter and funnier news.

Thanks Amy!

You can check out our nomination here, and vote for us if you like. You can vote by rating the entry using the stars at the bottom of the entry, or by leaving a comment.

Also take a gander at the other nominees, who are an impressive bunch of activists and leaders.

Voting ends May 8th.

(I am not writing a transcript for this, but basically every man that interacts with this woman in the work place calls her a different der