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No, it's not the Mel Gibson movie. No, it's not some stupid MSN Lifestyle poll. It's a new project called This Is What Women Want, brought to you by Center for New Words (which puts on the awesome WAM conference). They've launched this election-timed project to amplify women's voices.
Tired of being talked about this election season? Done with being represented by skewed polls and stereotypes?
Do you answer those questions with a resounding, hell yes!? Do you identify as a woman? Then click here to submit your own "What I Want."
A sampling of what other women have already expressed desire for...
- More and tougher convictions for rapists
- Universal childcare
- Equal rights for LGBT citizens
- Control of my own body
Read the rest here -- and vote on your favorites!
California high school senior Margaret Dupes had an editorial about abstinence-only education pulled from her school paper - and now she's fighting back, along with a students' rights organization.
"Why do the schools only preach 'abstinence only' education?" Dupes wrote in her editorial. "It is not the decision of your health teacher, your principal, the school nurse, or even your school board - but a decision forced upon state and local governments by the Bush Administration that is ideologically, rather than empirically, driven."The piece never saw the light of day. Fallbrook High Principal Rod King ordered the student paper's adviser, Dave Evans, to pull it from the last issue in May.
"I didn't really understand why this was being pulled," Dupes said. "Mr. Evans said that Mr. King was uncomfortable with the content."
Now the Student Press Law Center is protesting the decision - here's hoping something comes of it.
It's kind of hilarious that schools have no problem teaching medically inaccurate, biased information about sex and relationships, but a little free speech makes them "uncomfortable."
(By the way, on the off chance that Dupes reads Feministing - you can publish your editorial here!)
Note: I received this message from L (who preferred not to be named out of fear for her job), and I thought it was too important not to share. With her permission, I've posted her email below with the hope that the fabulous readers here can give L some advice about how to deal with this situation. I'd also like to say that L's story goes to show how despite laws and store policies, extremist pharmacists are still denying women access to legal contraceptives and medication.
So far I have not had to purchase or use Plan B for myself, so this story doesn't necessarily concern me, per se. However, I do work at a pharmacy, so maybe I can tell you what it's like from the front lines. I'll just come out and say that I work for Wal-Mart, and I always feel a sense of shame saying that. It's a long story as to why I continue to work there, but that's not really the point of all this anyway. Here's a bit of background: We have a male pharmacist who works at our store and he is a fundamentalist, Conservative (yes, with a capital 'C') Christian. We have 2 female pharmacists and our former manager was male. All of the pharmacy techs at our store are women, ranging in age from 25 to 45, most married/divorced with children.
When Plan B went over the counter a couple of years ago, the Conservative pharmacist brought in a couple of things he had found on 'pro-life' websites that said Plan B was an abortifacient. He had talked to our manager at the time about his feelings on the matter and the fact that he didn't want to dispense Plan B, citing his religious beliefs. The manager did not have a problem selling it, but he thought that the best thing to do would be to not stock it at all, that way the Conservative pharmacist wouldn't be put in a situation where he felt compromised. Wal-Mart's official policy, however, is that even if no one in the pharmacy wants to sell Plan B, we have to have it stocked on the shelf.
Dozens of breast-feeding women packed themselves into a Vancouver H&M last week to protest the store, where employees recently told a mom that breastfeeding was against H&M policy because it might offend other customers.
Just after noon the trendy clothing store in a downtown mall was filled with a sea of nursing moms, strollers, toddlers, dads and others who turned out to make a political point."It is normal. It is not obscene. It is every baby's need to have food and be nourished and nurtured," said Veronika Polanska as she rallied the moms to publicly feed their babies.
..."I don't want to live a world or city where that's acceptable to shun women for breastfeeding," said nursing mum Sonia Tilley-Strobel.
H&M corporate spokesperson Laura Shankland came to the protest to smooth things over: "We apologize. And it seems to be a miscommunication and a misunderstanding. Our policy is to allow breastfeeding nursing mothers to breastfeed or express milk freely in our stores."
Related Posts: Lactivists protest Applebee's, Alabama women can breast-feed in public. So they do., Kansas gives out breastfeeding cards
From the always incredible Alix Olson.
We were thrilled when Ann thought up of the brilliant idea to switch up our Friday Feminist Fuck Yous once in a while to a Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah; after all, it is Friday and it's nice to start off the weekend with some happy feelings.
So considering the good news us New Yorkers have had this week about the MTA putting up anti-harassment ads up in the subways, this is our first Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah to Holla Back NYC, Girls for Gender Equity, Right Rides and all of the other advocacy groups and organizations that are fighting subway (and street) harassment.
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Transcript below the jump.
Heads up, Minnesota feminists!
"I was a formally homeless Mother who once lived in an abandoned building". This was my introduction to Cheri Honkala, Executive Director of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), a coalition of organizations from across the country united in the mission to "abolish poverty everywhere and forever".As Cheri's words came through the phone I felt an instant connection to her. Having grown up with a Mother battling addiction - evictions, hunger and instability were my constant companions.
Cheri and the PPEHRC foster that same connection in poor people across color lines and across the country. She has been organizing with other poor folks for the last twenty-five years, and on September 2nd, the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul Minnesota, over a year of Cheri's full time efforts will come to fruition as the PPEHRC embarks on "The March For Our Lives", what will be one of the largest poor peoples marches ever to take place.
The March for Our Lives schedule is here.
The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign also has blog, where they're chronicling the process of putting together this mega-march. Check it out.
(Click to enlarge)
Rumor has it that the MTA in New York City has agreed to post anti-harassment ads on the subway. Finally. As a native New Yorker who has been rubbed up against, jerked off in front of and ass-grabbed more times than I care to count, I couldn't be happier.
Thanks to our friends at Holla Back for the heads up!
Hanaa Rifaey doesn't sleep much. I'll let her explain why. But the next time you find yourself pissed at another policy done wrong, know that Hanaa is on it. And you can be, too. Even if it's a small step, it'll add up.
Here's Hanaa...
Check out this spoken word performance from Sonya Renee; towards the end my jaw was dropped and I was near tears. (And I'm not that big of a softie, believe me.) Just amazing.
UPDATE: Get the transcript here.
Yesterday the Washington Post had a piece on the backlog of untested rape kits in the U.S.
Rape kits can help identify unknown assailants by matching DNA profiles obtained from evidence to profiles in the FBI's national DNA database. The kits can confirm the presence of a known suspect's DNA, corroborate a victim's version of events or exonerate innocent suspects.Most states are not required to notify victims if their evidence has not been tested, so people usually have no idea whether their kits have been processed. Many victims assume that silence from the police means that their kit did not yield helpful information. A much-delayed National Institute of Justice report on the state of the rape-kit backlog is due to be submitted to Congress in the fall; experts on the crime expect it to show that a significant backlog remains.
(What's in a rape kit? The Denver Post did this graphic to explain.) This is an issue that many, many local newspapers have covered, stating the backlog numbers in the local community and (usually) highlighting one survivor's frustration with the system. But there's been little national action on this issue in several years.
It's not only the processing of rape kits that's at issue -- it's access. Some women have been denied them altogether. Take this story from last year about a Howard University student who was repeatedly denied rape kits at several DC hospitals.
I'd really like to know more about how rape-kit processing works. Is there a queue, where every new kit is just added to the line? Or is this a situation where uninsured and other women at a disadvantage in the medical system get shunted to wait in line, while others can jump ahead and have their kits processed right away? Does it matter what sort of attorney you have prosecuting your rape case? I'd love to hear from someone who knows more about this.
In the meantime, take action! The Post had some great suggestions for how Congress can start fixing this situation. Write your Senators and Representatives ask Congress to:
- Require that states that receive grants to use at least 30 percent of the money to pay for testing backlogged rape kits
- Build in accountability by requiring that states report how many rape kits are tested annually
- Lift restrictions against states using the grants to pay private labs for DNA testing; crime lab directors across the country have cited this as a reason that they have not applied for or been able to fully spend their grant money
- Remove an amendment that would require states to expand their DNA databases to include all felons and certain arrestees. Adding people who have not been convicted of any crime to DNA databases raises civil rights and civil liberties concerns, adding unnecessary controversy to the program.
We've posted before about India's Gulabai Gang, but it's even better seeing them in action!
And sign this petition. Tomorrow is the three-year anniversary of LaVena Johnson's death (on July 19), which was ruled a suicide but was, in all likelihood, a rape and murder.
Phillip Barron has been working incredibly hard to bring attention to her case. And you may have read about LaVena recently on Feministing, or from Cara, Megan at Jezebel, Gina at What About Our Daughters, and Kate at Broadsheet,.
Retired Army Col. Ann Wright explains what we all want investigated:
From the day their daughter's body was returned to them, the parents had grave suspicions about the Army's investigation into Lavena's death and the characterization of her death as suicide. In charge of a communications facility, Lavena was able to call home daily. In those calls she gave no indication of emotional problems or being upset. In a letter to her parents, Lavena's commanding officer Captain David Woods wrote: "Lavena was clearly happy and seemed in very good health both physically and emotionally."In viewing his daughter's body at the funeral home, Dr. Johnson was concerned about the bruising on her face. He was puzzled by the discrepancy in the autopsy report on the location of the gunshot wound. As a US Army veteran and a 25-year US Army civilian employee who had counseled veterans, he was mystified how the exit wound of an M-16 shot could be so small. The hole in Lavena's head appeared to be more the size of a pistol shot rather than an M-16 round. He questioned why the exit hole was on the left side of her head, when she was right handed. But the gluing of military uniform white gloves onto Lavena's hands hiding burns on one of her hands is what deepened Dr. Johnson's concerns that the Army's investigation into the death of his daughter was flawed.
They glued the white gloves onto her hands to hide burns. A literal cover-up. It's so clear that this and other details of LaVena's case don't add up to suicide. And it's sadly not exactly far-fetched that she was sexually assaulted: A full one-third of women veterans report rape or attempted rape during their time in the military. So it's important to keep the pressure on Congress and the military to open an investigation into her death. For LaVena, yes. Absolutely. But also for other military women whose rapes and murders have been covered up. Wright writes,
The military has characterized each of the deaths of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from "non-combat related injuries," and then added "suicide." Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide, strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of "non-combat related injuries," with several identified as "suicides."
Please sign that petition today. There may also be a legal fund established in the near future. We'll keep you posted.
NARAL has an action alert up about that proposed new Bush administration rule I blogged about on Tuesday. In case you missed it, a refresher:
The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.
Click here to tell your members of Congress not to "protect" anti-choice medical professionals at the expense of low-income and uninsured women.
Sitting in on the interview with creators of the Midwest Teen Sex Show. They are awesome. When asked why they started MTSS they said, "We started by doing something that was funny and entertain ourselves." It has turned into one of the most effective forms of harm reduction around young people and sex, along with educational and honest.
The moderator asks, "Why is humor so effective in trying to reach this audience?" They reply, "Sex is funny, repackaging info in a way people will listen. Not talking down to kids (and sometimes) we are making fun of them. We are building a relationship with youth through humor."
In my opinion everything should have more humor and MTSS is a great use of humor while putting out information for young people around sex and sexuality. Because of the nature of their content they have gotten negative feedback along with positive, but hey, isn't is always like that.
When asked about their favorite episode they chose this the older boyfriend.
They also gave a Feministing shout out from the stage! Thanks Nikol and Guy. We love you!
For those in or around the NYC area, next week holds a couple of cool feminist events. On Wednesday the 16th, NOW NYC is holding a forum with financial planner Diane MacPhee where she'll be talking about the economy affects women and how to take a hold of your moneys.
That weekend on Saturday, July 19th, the inspiring Girls for Gender Equity are having their 3rd Annual Gender Equality Festival (check back on their site for more info) and a fundraiser, "Get Down 2 Get Up" with DJs spinning dope beats at Sputnik in Brooklyn. Click here for more info.
I'm sad to say I'll be on vacation joining Jess in Martha's Vineyard that week, but I highly recommend you join the summer feminist love.
Some of you may remember that last year the awesome bloggers at Feministing were awarded by Choice USA at their Generation to Generation Celebration. Well it's that time of year again, and they are awarding a new and great group of young activists. If you are in Washington DC you should make sure to make it out to this great event!
On July 17, Choice USA will host it's annual GENERATION-to-GENERATION Celebration and they're bringing folks together to celebrate six stellar individuals: Deborah Arrindell, Amanda Harrington, Kym Lovell, Amber Madison, Asal Sadatrafiei and Alisha Thomas Morgan - winners of the 2008 GENERATION Awards.
LEFTBANK
2424 18th Street NW
Thursday, July 17
VIP Reception: 6-7pm
Main Reception: 7-9pm
Tickets: $50
Student tickets: $35
Some very sad news out of Kansas. 25 year-old Jana Mackey, a feminist activist and law school student, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend last week.
Mackey, who worked with NOW (a Kansas chapter, I believe) on issues of violence against women and who organized activists to go to the March for Women's Lives in 2004, was killed by her ex, 46-year old Adolfo Garcia-Nunez, who subsequently killed himself while in police custody.
I really don't know what I can say about this, other than my heart goes out to Mackey's family and friends. What a horrible loss.
(Trigger warning: If you go to the videos, do yourself a favor and don't read the comments.)
Are we really surprised?
Planned Parenthood of Central Washington was scheduled to hold an event at a local Wal-Mart on National HIV Testing Day where their Teen Council were simply going to stand outside of the store and hand out information about HIV prevention and testing. But the American Life League got a tip on the event, and urged their supporters to call and complain to the store, after which Wal-Mart succumbed and canceled the event.
You know, because handing out preventative information that saves people's lives is just so not okay. American Life League's statement is horrific, and conveniently makes no mention of what the event was actually for:
“Planned Parenthood is now in such desperate need of customers it’s willing to do anything – even stand outside shopping centers to lure young people into its clinics,” said Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher for American Life League."They’re pushing pornography and contraception onto young children – beginning in kindergarten. Now parents aren’t even safe to go shopping without worrying Planned Parenthood will pressure their kids into promiscuous lifestyles that will increase their bloated birth control and abortion profits,” Hahnenberg said.
I just love it when they equate pro-choicers with pushers and pimps. (And on 5 year olds, no less. They're big money, I tell ya!) This is the kind of shit that reminds me just how fucking insane these people are. Their supporters who called Walmart - and Walmart itself - should be ashamed that they believed these horrid lies and, in Planned Parenthood's words, "put the wishes of extremists ahead of crucial community health information that empowers people to make responsible choices."
Call Walmart at 509-628-8420 and let them know just how wrong they were.
This petition was inspired by the R. Kelly verdict from last week, read and pass along.
Statement of Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black WomenSix years have gone by since we first heard the allegations that R. Kelly had filmed himself having sex with an underage girl. During that time we have seen the videotape being hawked on street corners in Black communities, as if the dehumanization of one of our own was not at stake. We have seen entertainers rally around him and watched his career reach new heights despite the grave possibility that he had molested and urinated on a 13-year old girl. We saw African Americans purchase millions of his records despite the long history of such charges swirling around the singer. Worst of all, we have witnessed the sad vision of Black people cheering his acquittal with a fervor usually reserved for community heroes and shaken our heads at the stunning lack of outrage over the verdict in the broader Black community.
Over these years, justice has been delayed and it has been denied. Perhaps a jury can accept R. Kelly’s absurd defense and find “reasonable doubt� despite the fact that the film was shot in his home and featured a man who was identical to him. Perhaps they doubted that the young woman in the courtroom was, in fact, the same person featured in the ten year old video. But there is no doubt about this: some young Black woman was filmed being degraded and exploited by a much older Black man, some daughter of our community was left unprotected, and somewhere another Black woman is being molested, abused or raped and our callous handling of this case will make it that much more difficult for her to come forward and be believed. And each of us is responsible for it.
Keep reading and sign petition here.
Thanks to Kara for the heads up.
The UK's TrueTube has a series of videos on abortion and reproductive rights. They're all pretty interesting, but this one in particular struck me.
From the folks who brought you half-naked "chicks" and a slew of other stunts using women's bodies to make a point, comes the latest:
Yup, a nearly naked lady painted like a snake, in protest of an exotic-leather-goods store in Florida. (via Suzie at Echidne's place)
I know we've debated these ads before, so I'll quote from commenter GottaBeMe, who nicely summed up the issue (in a previous PETA thread):
But again, the issue for me is that although PETA has apparently used naked men in a tiny number of their ads (which I've never seen and got nowhere near as much press as the naked women) is the fact that they have long used the objectification of women to attract attention to their point.I'm not saying that the women who get naked for PETA are being exploited. I'm saying that PETA is promoting and using the objectification of women as sexual objects to get attention for their cause, which has nothing to do with sex. The fact that they continually use young, naked women to get attention for their cause shows who their target audience is: men.
UPDATE: Wow. This is even worse.
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota has set up a new blog, Stand Up SD, to keep you updated on all the latest info on the SD abortion ban (which, unfortunately, is back.)
Check it out and get involved!
I love NYC in the summer. There's always a ton of amazing feminist events going on, and it seems to have begun. This weekend kicks off with Rock for Young Women, an event to support the New York Metro Chapter of the Young Women's Task Force.
Then Monday, the amazing Girls for Gender Equity will be partnering with HollaBack NYC for a post-show talk back about subway harassment after a special showing of the play Standing Clear, described as "an ensemble piece that digs deep into the personalities we commute with each day."
Support and enjoy three awesome organizations in one week. If you're in the NYC area, be sure to check em out.
Contributed by Juhu Thukral, Esq., the Director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. She has been an advocate for the rights of immigrant women in the areas of health, work, and sexuality for over 15 years.
Friday's post about the anti-trafficking law that Congress is in the process of reauthorizing explained the basics of the dangerous and unnecessary change to the Mann Act that the House has adopted. This proposed change may not seem problematic, but it actually harms women and victims of trafficking, and does not even address the problem of trafficking in persons, as intended.
The federal anti-trafficking law already defines anyone under 18 who is involved in commercial sex acts, and anyone in prostitution who experiences force, fraud or coercion—regardless of immigration status—as a victim of human trafficking. The law does not prevent anyone from being arrested for prostitution, since most trafficked persons are not identified immediately. Changing the definition of trafficking so that law enforcement does not need to look at a person’s age or experience of coercion (the heart of the trafficking crime) is not going to help victims be identified—in fact, it is just going to create more problems.
The proposed change is based on the notion that all sex workers are victims, and that work in prostitution is inherently victimizing, even when no actual incident of violence or psychological abuse occurs. Sex workers actually do want help from the police when they are victims of violence—46% of the sex workers we interviewed in a 2005 study had been victims of violence during the course of their work —but often find the police ignoring their needs when they try to file a complaint. Broadly categorizing all prostitutes as trafficking victims means that police will go looking for victims who look and act like “victims,” allowing for even less focus on prostitutes who really have been abused in some way, but who have made the decision to enter into sex work for reasons far more complicated than a local police department might understand.
As law enforcement look for more victims, they will inevitably arrest more sex workers—because arresting people is the way that police reach them. Arrests can have a devastating effect—a recent arrest of sex workers affected a woman trying to get professional credential. Arrests drive people away from mainstream work and toward sex work. Our clients express incredible fears of being arrested and having their neighbors or family find out about their other life.
The reality is that people go into this work for a variety of reasons, often complicated, but usually based on financial need—for example, we found in a study we did a few years ago that 67% of the sex workers we interviewed in that 2005 study did not make a living wage in other jobs such as waitressing, administrative work, or retail.
The proposed Mann Act expansion will also hurt people who truly are victims of human trafficking. People are trafficked into all sorts of labor sectors, and an increased focus on prostitution will mean that immigrant workers in coercive situations will receive even less attention from law enforcement than they do now. The Department of Justice and other law enforcement groups are opposing this change because they want to keep their focus and resources on actual cases of human trafficking.
Broadly proclaiming any group as victims is a dangerous road for women and feminists. Denying people their own voice as activists, workers, and members of their community falls in line with the many policies that have historically been used against women in the name of protecting them.
I hit up a lot in the last few days, but right now I am sitting in a panel of organizing the social web for change. The panel has Feministing's lovely tech lady, Deanna Zandt, along with Chris Rabb from Afro-netizen, Andrew Slack, Craig Newmark (craigslist) and Ruby Sinreich.
They are talking about how we use the web for social change. And asks the critical questions, "How can social networking impact politics and policies, and what new technologies will revolutionize organizing in the future?"
Earlier today I hit up "Netroots: What's Next?" about the power of the political blogosphere. It was interesting, but I am really apprehensive about the role of political blogs in the changing political landscape. The panel asked some key questions, one of which I care about dearly, "How are the Netroots connecting with the grassroots and organizing for lasting change?"
After 3 days of hanging out with media reformers and media justicers, I am still stuck on this question. How do blogs and online technologies connect with real grassroots efforts? I know you can give me a list of online efforts, campaigns, petition signings, action centers that have in fact been effective. But the communities that I work with aren't online in the same way that we are. They don't use the web in the way that many of us do, let alone go to a blog to understand how it can help in their campaigns and on their issues. As long as that disconnect exists and only certain people are producing and consuming blogs, I don't see how it is creating this democratic space that so many big political bloggers claim it to be.
Other ideas? How do we use the web to connect with people doing work on the ground? Email lists, listervs, blogs, online journals, myspace? Is Feministing doing this? Are we creating a space where organizers can come together to work on their issues in a real way, make connections and create impact?
So, we are running out the door to the Media and Democracy Coalition party, but I had a great and fulfilling day including meeting some great bloggers (Jenn Pozner, Baratunde Thurston, Matt Stoller, and if I forgot any others than shout out in comments!) and shared our ideas on media policy change, activism, and internet tools and how it relates to the communities that we work with. I also met some amazing organizers and activists.
I am so hyper and full of information and will definitely have some more substantive posts tomorrow about content, but all the panels I hit today were excellent. If you are around I will be that MAGnet table tomorrow morning from 8-10 so come say hello.
I am watching the amazing Adrienne Maree Brown ED of the Ruckus Society, activist, singer and gal pal is keeping it real about the necessity for the media reform movement to be accountable to community organizers in this morning's key note. This is going to be a theme throughout the conference for me. Media justice is not just about inviting us community groups to the table of your reform agenda, but letting us set the agenda through our grassroots work.
You can listen live here.
She also gave CMJ and MAGnet a shout out as an example of community based activism around media policy. YAY!
UPDATE: I am sitting next to Jenn Pozner of Women in Media and News. You know you want to be me. She is live-blogging as well check here for updates.
Just a little reminder that tomorrow not only marks the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, but unfortunately will bring out a slew of anti-choicers to protest at Planned Parenthoods across the country for American Life League's totally misleading and horrendous campaign, The Pill Kills!
Many targeted clinics will be needing support tomorrow. If anyone else knows of on-goings in their areas, post in comments. Otherwise, check out your local Planned Parenthood and find out about what they're doing, and if there's anything you can do to help.
For more info on "Protest the Pill Day," check out Dr. Dana's Stone recent guest post.
I am in Minneapolis for the National Conference on Media Reform. If you are here, please come say hi! I am here with my organization the Center for Media Justice and will be repping at the MAGnet table tomorrow from 5:30-7. I am also live-blogging most of the conference and will be filling you in with happening and rants of the media justice movement and where disenfranchised communities fit into this debate and why media has to be on the agenda of every campaign for social justice. Media reform and media policy is not just for DC wonks, but something all of us have a stake in. So please check back over the next few days. The agenda looks awesome. You can also follow me on twitter if you do that sort of thing.
Don't forget that this weekend is Girls Write Now's Spring Reading. If you're in NYC, you really shouldn't miss it: June 8 at 4pm at the Barnes and Noble in Tribeca
RH Reality Check has a great piece up about Jackson Katz, an educator and activist who works on gender violence issues.
Katz says, "As a culture, Americans first must take the step in acknowledging that violence against women is not a women's issue, but a men's issue...The first problem I have with labeling gender issues as women's issues is that it gives men an excuse to not pay attention. This is also the problem with calling them gender issues, because the majority of the people in the status quo see gender issues as women's issues."
I'm especially interested in Katz's ideas about how the messages that women get about rape (don't go out at night, don't drink) are risk-reducing rather than prevention - and how those messages completely take men out of the equation.
"These programs focus on how women can reduce their chances of being sexually assaulted. I agree that women benefit from these education programs, but let us not mistake this for prevention...If a woman has done everything in her power to reduce her risk, then a man who has the proclivity for abuse or need for power will just move on to another woman or target," he says.
I highly recommend reading the whole piece - there's even a section where Katz explains how passive sentence construction in the media coverage of violence against women perpetuates the notion that rape is something that just happens to women, rather than something that's perpetrated by another person.
Amir Yaqoubali, a male supporter of the Iranian feminist campaign One Million Signatures, has been sentenced to a year in prison.
According to a feminist website, he was arrested as he collected signatures.The campaign seeks to change the Islamic republic's laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody by collecting signatures both online and in person.
In recent months four feminists -- Rezvan Moghadam, Nahid Jafari, Nasrin Afzali and Marzieh Mortazi Langueroudi -- were handed down suspended sentences of six months in prison and 10 lashes by Tehran Revolutionary Court for disorderly conduct in public.
Related posts: Iran cracks down on women's rights websites, Arrested Iranian feminists and the One Million Signatures Campaign, Another Iranian feminist arrested,
In a few weeks I am going to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, one of my favorite events of the year mainly because of the showcase of local organizing work that is going down in the D. When the time is near, I will be live-blogging, but I wanted to put up a quick blurb about this video that goes into one of the biggest problems in Detroit and most other cities in the United States which is displacement and gentrification. It is also from my homie and comrade, Ilana Invincible's (hot HOT female MC) new album, Locusts. Check it out and vote if you can.
And if you are in the Bay on Friday, please PLEASE check out her show. Flyer after the jump.
While 134,000 deaths are mourned in the midst of bringing aid to survivors of the Nargis cyclone, two Canadian advocacy groups are addressing another crisis that has existed in Burma for quite some time - systemic violence against women by the ruling military junta. And they're doing it by sending their underwear to the Myanmar's embassy:
The Quebec Women's Federation and the activist group Rights and Democracy claim the secretive military leaders in the country formerly known as Burma are superstitious and believe contact with women's underwear will usurp their power, CTV News reported.'The campaign was launched by women from Burma,' Rights and Democracy spokeswoman Mika Levesque told the broadcaster from Montreal. 'They believe this is a very powerful message to the military because they are very superstitious.'
The campaign is called Panties for Peace. The Burmese women's rights group Lanna Action for Burma made a statement regarding launching campaign in the midst of catastrophe: "This campaign empowers the women of Burma a sense of purpose and hope," they said, "and we need hope now more than ever."
For more info on the cyclone, check out Ann's recent post on natural disasters and women.