A new study looked at workplace-transition experiences of transgender people "to provide new insights into the long-standing question of what role gender plays in shaping workplace outcomes."
Congress is considering the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, and has a chance to really improve this legislation. And on a related note, a new report shows major gaps in sex-trafficking enforcement.
Australia's new governor-general -- who happens to be a woman -- has been denied access to some of the country's most exclusive clubs, because of her gender.
Equal pay? Not yet. But at least we're gaining ground in other important areas. (Sarcasm, people, sarcasm.)
An Alburquerque high-school yearbook staff has pissed off some Christian conservatives by daring to acknowledge that gay students attend their school. For real, the headline reads, "Clovis High School Yearbook Features Gays." Who do these gay students think they are, wanted to be included in their school yearbook?
A great op-ed from the Baltimore Sun: "What do families of children with disabilities need from the next president? Not just a 'friend' in the White House but a willingness to pay for services they need"
Low-income women continue to lose ground, while Wall Street gets a bailout.
The 65th Carnival of Feminists!
Monica Roberts points to this short documentary on transkids.
Crypto-Muslim (formerly known as the Muslim Hedonist) has a really interesting post on what happened when she, a white Muslim woman, stopped wearing hijab. Go read it.
Rebecca Traister nails it: "Is it me, or does [Bill] Clinton make the act of being the partner of a powerful woman sound about as easy as parking on the edge of the Grand Canyon?"
Common cosmetic chemicals can disrupt teen girls' development.
Talk about the material writing itself -- Tina Fey is now doing SNL sketches that simply quote Sarah Palin word-for-word. I lost it at, "Katie, I'd like to use one of my lifelines."
OMG! OMG! Lindsay Lohan is dating a woman!
PBS's NOW has a series on women, power and politics.
Jacob Zuma, the likely president of South Africa next year, is a rapist.
A Southern Baptist bookstore yanked a magazine for daring to feature women pastors on the cover.
Deepa Mehta's new film on domestic violence premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.
A woman is barred from playing in a volleyball game because of her hair beads.
A great point-by-point takedown of arguments "debunking" the Palin rape kit controversy.
Use of wet nurses is on the rise in China.
Sandra Bernhard says some really stupid shit. (More from Shakesville.)
An Orthodox Jewish sect in Jerusalem is waging a campaign against women with "secular lifestyles."
The Montreal Gazette is featuring a column/diary from a FtM transsexual.
Kai Wright on the Republican plan to steal the election.
Actions and Events
St. Louis: A Girl Like Me: A Conversation About Race, Beauty and Self-Image, Weds, Oct. 1.
Washington, DC: AIDS Walk Washington, Sat, Oct. 4
New York: Election volunteering opportunities!
Toronto: FORUM: Supporting Non-Status Women Fleeing Violence, Thurs, Oct. 2.
Montreal: Rebelles 2008: A Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering "Waves of Resistance", Oct. 11 to 13
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just a note on the debate the other night. i have reservations of obama's plan to pay for his programs (even though i think they are greatly needed) given the bailout and current deficit. but i noticed mccain and giuliani talking about obama's "big" and "wasteful" spending when it was targeted to vulnerable people - like children, the uninsured, the poor.
silly me for thinking it's a good idea to spend money on our future. it's such a waste to help people get affordable health care and not crowding our ER's every time their children get sick.
it's the slashing funding for maternity homes. i dont think some folk realise mccain thinks children and the poor "wasteful." that certainly is more accurate than saying he's "fiscally responsible."
first time commenter here...
It is important to note that the story about the yearbook is from Clovis, NM, not Albuquerque. Albuquerque is trying (slowly) to be more LGBTQI friendly, but Clovis is an entirely different story.
Clovis is on the TX/NM border, and it is a very conservative town. The fact that students are taking action to support their gay and lesbian classmates is incredible.
I teach in a district in another small town in NM. Just a couple of years ago there was a ridiculous argument from teachers and parents about creating a Gay/Straight Alliance club at the schools. Now students can join the club, but only if they have permission from their parents. And there has been no mention of the club since I arrived.
Or shorter version--way to go Clovis yearbook staff! Show your parents and community members that you refuse to be as closed minded as they are.
With regards to the Rebelles conference coming up this Thanksgiving weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving), the conference is actually in Montreal, and the posted link does not work- the web address is http://www.rebelles2008.org/
Are they EFFING KIDDING ME about the tv remote equality thing? my god
Re: the salon.com article about Lindsey Lohan's relationship with a woman:
WTF? Rebecca Traister slams Anne Heche for supposedly turning straight because she dated men after she dated a woman.
People who do that are bisexual, and bisexuals are queer! Anne Heche herself has said that she is no less queer just because she married a man.
What's with the biphobia in a liberal blog?
Kathleen,
That's exactly what I was going to say. So the possibility that La Lohan is bi has completely been ignored?
The links to the Toronto and Montreal events should be fixed now.
I'm a trans woman, and the very first thing here interested me because I'm newly smack dab in the middle of a workplace transition (which is going very roughly).
Unfortunately, the PDF requires a license or registration or something or another to view. Anybody have a copy?
I'm incidentally a little amused and frightened at the same time about the "insights" that paper provides. I could probably chip in a few...
I love the Alburquerque headline, I just think it should be in a starburst or something on the front of the yearbook. "Now featuring teh Gays!!!" and perhaps an "As seen on TV" for good measure.
@Kathleen6674
I think a lot of people (myself included) were under the impression that Heche personally identified as "formerly gay". She seems to flip flop on the issue from time to time.
I love how the quote in the Clovis article is a man who has no children at the school yet he is "appalled". This officially has nothing to do with him yet he still feels he has the right to step in and discriminate against others.
Ann, I think you're being very facetious about the TV remote thing. Watching TV plays a HUGE role in American life, especially married life, so this is comparable to say... Sex. Imagine if there was a study showing that 25% of 21st Century couples (they're modern! So hip!) made the mutual decision to have sex. Come one, man. This is a huge breakthrough!
I can't believe that a woman can become Governor-General here in Australia, yet is denied membership to elite clubs because she's a woman! They're so high up, they have the power to fire the Prime Minister (one did that, too)!!
The article about the Aussie Governor-General really struck me - I wonder if Dame Cath Tizard experienced the same sort of thing when she was GG of NZ? She's the first GG I can remember (1990-96). I remember thinking that it was really cool for her to be in that position. I was about 8 when I actually understood who she was & what the position meant.
The Quentin Bryce article is a bit unclear as to whether she was refused membership as such. It says that she should have expected automatic membership and that she hasn't been invited to join, and other articles say that all three of those clubs are exclusive men's clubs. But they don't seem to have actually stated that she's not allowed.
I'm not saying this isn't hateful and backward, but I suspect that if the Governor General were to turn up there with a posse of high-up chums, wanting a fancy room or whatever for political networking and rounds of scotch, they would probably not turn her down.
This is the full version of that article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4823261.ece
Quite a few people in the comments section there argue that there is never any public objection to exclusive women's clubs or segregated sections of libraries, gyms etc. This is a point, but to me, the refusal of these clubs is not objectionable because of the segregation per se. The clubs were set up with the intention of providing ritzy places for high-up politicians and businesspeople to network, gossip, eat fancy food and generally feel exclusive. They were not devised as male-only spaces, it's just that when they were established men constituted all of the powerful political and business scene, and presumably they wrote the no-women clause in to stop the important men bringing in their wives as guests (or something equally silly). It's the fact that the clubs are now treating the clause as though it were essential to their founding and ethos, and not simply admitting that it came from a now-outdated cultural norm, which irks me.
Anyway, we can comfort ourselves that for all their exclusive airs, these clubs are really just like the local Seniors Centre, only peopled by richer and even more decrepit clients:
"Don't make it sound so exclusive. I've been there and believe me the Athenaeum Club here in Melbourne is pretty much a leather clad old age nursing home with old dribbling frumps spilling wine and several times mashed potatoes upon themselves."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4823261.ece
Re the appointment of a female Governor General in Australia.
Feather--
The Governor General has no real power. The office is to represent the Queen, (yes of Great Britain and Australia too we're told), and really involves rubber-stamping, attending charity events, garden parties, openings and the like. Each state has a Governor as well to represent the Queen. Personally it all seems like an enormous waste of money to have in high office people with no real political power, but live a very well-paid and privileged life-style complete with state-maintained residence and all the accompanying perks. When Government House was built in Victoria, Queen Victoria, after whom the state was named, was not amused to be told that the ballroom was in fact larger than that in Buckingham Palace!
Yes, the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, did sack the Whitlam Labor Government in the 1970s, but this was a result of political action on the part of the opposition party at the time which caused a constitutional crisis. They blocked supply in the Senate, where they held a majority, which basically meant the democratically elected government had no money. Kerr, as a result, sacked the elected government, and guess what, appointed the opposition party and its leader, Malcolm Fraser, as caretaker government and Prime Minister respectively until an election could be held, which Fraser subsequently won! This was a very low point in Australian political history...
Since then, law has been changed so that supply cannot be blocked, thus this scenario could never happen again. Governmental power lies with the majority party in the House of Representatives (lower house of Parliament) and its leader is the Prime Minister. In fact, it is the Prime Minister who appoints the Governor General.
Most Governors General have the sense to go about their office in an apolitical way, but there have been a few who see it as their right to speak out on political matters. This is generally seen as negative as they are not elected representatives of government, thus they should not use their office to push personal political views.
Rosie--
I agree with you, but while it might be fun to take an ageist line against the men who are members of these clubs, the reality is that those men who do belong to them represent the powerful elite in Australia in the political, corporate and social arenas. Thus it is likely that they are going to be older. However to liken them to an ageist stereotype of senile, "dribbling frumps" is denying the real power-broking that exists in these clubs. You state in a previous entry that they exist for such people to network and thus maintain their privileged position, so it is unlikely they spend their time dribbling wine and mashed potato on themselves!
While women are barred from membership of such institutions, they are also barred from being part of this networking and power-broking. Not all deals are made in the boardroom or through transparent political processes. As a result, women are effectively pushed to the fringes.
As more women obtain positions of real political and corporate power in Australia, these institutions by default will decrease in relevance if they continue to bar women. We now have a female deputy Prime Minister, a number of female senior members of Cabinet, and growing numbers of females obtaining high positions in state politics including a female Premier of Queensland.
The fact that this had made the newspapers and become a subject of public debate is also encouraging as these clubs are thus exposed for what they really are, being the maintenance of classist and sexist institutions that ensure privilege and power is kept firmly in the hands that already hold it.
AliCat; good post. BUT... I don't pretend to have first-hand experience of these elite clubs, that was a quote from the comments page of the full article from somebody who does. I wasn't saying the clients of these places were powerless or insignificant because they are old, nor was I trivialising the importance of the places as centres of political and corporate power-broking.
And speaking of the deputy PM, isn't it odd that it's the GG not receiving an invitation that caused this media kerfuffle, when one must assume that Gillard was not invited either - a post which certainly does hold a lot of power, not just Bryce's token power. Could it be because Bryce, with her aristocratic appearance, genteel speech, and dignified age seems more worthy a candidate for club membership to the media than screechy, cold, deliberately barren (you can't understand Australia if you don't understand nappies!), Gillard? I can easily see the media ignoring her not being invited, and if asked, giving the excuse that "she wouldn't accept anyway," or "she's a Labour woman, of course they wouldn't invite her," or some such nonsense. OR could it be that Gillard was in fact offered membership? The full article notes that the female governors of NSW and QLD weren't invited, but doesn't mention the deputy PM, or even Bligh or any others with more power than the governors. Anybody know?
Why don't we let Anne Heche define her sexuality for herself (assuming she wants to)? I find it's best to avoid insisting on labeling somebody else as queer, bi, straight, whatever, based on who they happen to be fucking or who they happen to have fucked in the past.
Re disabled people actually needing services (duh!), YES! Great piece. Thanks for posting that.
Rosie--
I think it can be taken as given that no female, regardless of her office, would have been offered membership of these clubs simply because they do not admit women. However, it would be interesting to know whether Kevin Rudd, or any other Labor Party Prime Minister or senior member of government, is or has been a member of these clubs. Rudd, being male, would not have membership problems on that score, but his politics would certainly not be aligned with the majority of the membership of these clubs. That said, it would also be interesting to know how many Liberal Party highflyers (conservatives for non-Australians, certainly not small "l" liberal!) are or have been members. It might give an insight into the connections between political and corporate Australia.
As for Julia Gillard, (deputy Prime Minister), it is easy to see why the popular media would fail to see her ineligibility to join these clubs as a non-issue. Could you see these clubs welcoming her with open arms after she was instrumental in dismantling John Howard's draconian industrial relations laws. This must have had a fair number of members of these clubs spilling their wine and mashed potato at the mere thought of someone taking away some of their privilege, (ie the lawful right to exploit working people), and a woman at that!!! Yes, I remember the Liberal Party male who said that she wasn't fit for the office of deputy Prime Minister because the was a "barren woman" due to choosing not to have children. I also remember her accent described as that of a "Footscray fishwife". Anyway, she's there in office despite what was said, and doing an absolutely fantastic job.
The focus on Quentin Bryce, as Governor General, is given because she represents the establishment. What could be more representative of the establishment than being the Queen's representative, even if the office is politically impotent? As an aside, the Queen herself would be ineligable as well!!!
Yes it sure would be great to know the membership breakdown of these clubs, past and present, as it would certainly reveal a lot about power-broking in Australia, but somehow, I don't think the Australian public are going to find out too easily...
re above entry
Apologies for typo. Should read:
"As for Julia Gillard, it is easy to see why the media would fail to see her ineligability to join these clubs as an issue."
Strike out "non-issue".
Re: Traister's Clinton piece.
Can we please get over Palin's run being historic? It is not frakking historic. A woman has already run for vice-president on a major party's ticket. The only way it becomes historic is if, God forbid, McCain/Palin win.