Recently by Ann
Newsweek recently posted a Q&A with Jean-Claude Van Damme conducted by Sarah Ball, a female reporter in her early 20s. I know that women are sexually harassed at work every day. But not all of those women have got a tape-recorder on them...
There's a monologue in the film about being a washed-up action star. Did you improvise that?
I like structure--like driving: go past the school on the street, stay on the right side, no hitting the car, go in right, you'll see a big church, stop and take a left, and you'll have it. By doing this I'm giving a structure of life, a path of light, and showing what happens between me and me, which is something very beautiful.Beautiful? Why?
I really opened myself up in "JCVD." I peeled back the skin of the fruit, cut the pulp and then took that very hard seed. In this film I cut that hard seed, and inside that seed was a kind of liquid cream substance of the man I am, or the woman you are.OK --
It was like being naked--I would love to be naked in front of you.Well, I --
Not being naked being naked. I say such things in Hong Kong and they thought I was being a crazy Frenchman. Being naked of protection.So you've no regrets at all?
Believe me--I've done very good stuff and very crazy stuff, and I don't regret the crazy stuff. So are you in New York?Yes, I am.
And are you 27, or 32?I'm 22.
Oh, f---. That is very young. Will you come to the premiere?I don ' t know. When is it?
I don't know. You will wear all black, a black dress and high heels?Uh --
You can come find me, I will be the one with the very broad shoulders, dark hair and a simple suit. We can have some champagne, you and me.
Props to Newsweek for actually publishing this. Almost every female journalist I know has a story about being harassed while trying to conduct a serious interview with a male source. Van Damme illustrates this phenomenon so perfectly. What a fucking creep.
Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we stop and take note of the fact that transgender people are murdered at 10 times the rate of everyone else. And, as queenemily says, "Many of the dead lost their lives because they were trans women of colour, doubly disposable."
Please take a moment to read about the people we memorialize today.
At least thirty people, most of them women, were killed this year because of who they are, because of their gender. Cara points out that four of the people on this list were killed in the past 20 days alone. Writes Mercedes Allen at Bilerico:
What's more chilling is what those numbers don't include. That number doesn't include the unknown numbers of transfolk killed alongside gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place in Iraq (Activist Peter Tatchell estimates the total number of GLBT casualties at around 300 people targeted by religious extremists since the war began). Bordering Iran, where a GRS-or-die policy has become a horrific distortion of the medical model and has caused many gay and lesbian persons to forcibly transition, Iraq may have a higher-than-usual trans (by birth or legally mandated) population.
But remembering these people and reflecting on their lives should not be a quiet process, as queenemily writes:
Few will respect our lives as they were, and few will mourn them, and they must be mourned. Their lives were meaningful, their names and genders were real and important, and they lost their lives from hate.Today we hold on to some memory, even if it only be a name and a photo, so that they are not as erased as completely as their killers would have.
Because the medical people treating them will have tried to erase them. The media. The police. The juries. Will try to excuse, to render less than real, the lives that have been lost. Because who would mourn? Who would bother?
We would. And we do. Today, when we say their names and remember them -- as individuals and as people, not "its" -- we reject that erasure.
Kellie Telesford. Brian McGlothin. Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz. Patrick Murphy. Stacy Brown. Adolphus Simmons. Fedra. Sanesha Stewart. Lawrence King. Simmie Williams Jr. Luna. Lloyd Nixon. Felicia Melton-Smyth. Silvana Berisha. Ebony Whitaker. Rosa Pazos. Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel. Angie Zapata. Jaylynn L. Namauu. Samantha Rangel Brandau. Nikki Williams. Ruby Molina. Aimee Wilcoxson. Duanna Johnson. Dilek Ince. Ali. And two other Iraqi transgender women.
Again, I have to quote queenemily:
And yes, today we remember those of us still living-our fear, the fear that lives at the heart of every trans person, that someone will know that we are trans, and will kill us for it. Today we remember all the other times we murmured "oh fuck" as we read the news. Today we discover the deaths we missed, because we couldn't bear hearing about them anymore for awhile, even though we must. We must.
Lately I've noticed some pundits fretting that if "identity groups" (women, people of color, gay people, immigrants, basically anyone who's not a hetero white man) ask for a cabinet that looks like America, they are endangering Obama's presidency and the Democratic coalition. In a piece up at the Prospect today, I call bullshit.
In the context of this debate about cabinet appointments, "identity politics" is more or less derisive shorthand for "women, people of color, immigrants, gay people speaking up for themselves." But if not now, when are we supposed to raise these issues? After the decisions have been made? People who have traditionally been cut off from the highest avenues of power are well within their rights -- and, I'd argue, responsibilities -- to demand a seat at the table, before appointments have been made. I'm not going to retread the arguments for why diversity is important. I will say, however, that there is rarely the right person for any given position -- most jobs could be done competently by any number of people, and some of those people are no doubt women and people of color. Pointing out this fact must not be seen as threatening or petty, but as productive and necessary.
Read the rest here.
Here's Wanda Sykes, at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday:
"You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation," the Emmy Award winner said. "I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life,""Everybody that knows me personally they know I'm gay," she continued. "But that's the way people should be able to live their lives." [...]
Sykes said the ban (also known as California's Proposition 8) made her feel like she was "attacked."
"Now, I gotta get in their face," she said. "I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay."
Awesome.
There's a new in-depth report on the Global Gender Gap (PDF).
The U.S. named the first female four-star General, Ann E. Dunwoody.
Audio: New America Media on the glass ceiling for Asian American women.
The latest Carnival Against Sexual Violence is up now at abyss2hope.
Rachel Setzer on why we still need an ERA.
Aimee Wilcoxson, a transwoman from Aurora, CO, was found dead in her apartment. Police say it's suicide, but her friends and family say she was murdered.
The Women's Appointments Project, which pressures incoming presidents to appoint women to high-level positions, is running out of cash.
Rebecca Traister on the mom-ification of Michelle Obama. Gina MacCauley's alternate take.
Die-hard Beatles fan Cara lists the top (bottom?) five anti-feminist Beatles songs.
A sex-trafficking group operating out of the UK and Thailand has been broken up.
How not to make the case for organ donation.
Single mothers' college attendance has dropped.
My review of Jeanne Flavin's Our Bodies, Our Crimes and Carol Gilligan and David A.J. Richards's The Deepening Darkness is up at Bookforum.
Girls in Afghanistan are staying home from school after a series of brutal acid attacks.
Check out the National Women's Law Center's Platform for Progress, which "offers concrete proposals and outlines steps that should be taken by the new Congress and Administration in the areas of education, employment, basic economic security, health, and legal rights."
A Pakistani 17-year-old, Taslim Solangi, "was forced to give birth, and the baby was thrown into a canal. Taslim was then put in front of dogs to be mauled, and subsequently shot dead." Female senators in Pakistan staged a walkout to demand better protections for women.
Another reminder that new media isn't much better than old media when it comes to women's bylines.
A woman was banned from British department store Marks and Spencer after she pulled an emergency bell because her wheelchair was stuck in a bathroom. The store deemed her a "health and safety hazard"?!! WTF.
The U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs has new shelters and outreach efforts for homeless female vets.
Jessica Yee on Barack Obama and the Native vote.
Actions
A fund has been set up to help cover Duanna Johnson's funeral expenses. Jack at Angry Brown Butch suggests that folks match the donation they made to No on 8.
Tell the Bush administration -- again -- not to implement that HHS rule protecting employees who want to exercise their antichoice beliefs.
Call for submissions: The Body as a Site of Discrimination - A Multidisciplinary, Multimedia Online Journal.
Events
New York, NY: Paradigm Shift: A discussion of feminism and motherhood with Amy Richards on Nov. 19.
New York, NY: Toward a Greater Understanding: Transgender Identity and the Jewish Community on Nov. 25. More info here.
Portland, OR: Susie Bright speaks on the Sexual State of the Union on Nov. 18.
Washington, DC: Feministing/Racialicious happy hour on Nov. 18!
The secret is out! Much like TruBlood, feminists now satisfy their desire to eat fetuses by baking cookie-shaped representations of them. We also eat brownies shaped like "traditional marriage." And those penis gummies? Yeah, not just for bachelorette parties. In the gift bag at every feminist event.
(Full disclosure: I stole the title of this post from a Buzzfeed commenter. But isn't it perfect?)
I know we're all fixated on the Prop 8 defeat right now, but as protests gear up in front of Mormon temples across the country, we should note that it's not only extreme right-wingers who propagated anti-gay sentiments in this election.
This is an ad against Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican: (via)
UPDATE: I originally wrote that this was produced by AFSCME, but apparently that's not the case.
And this is an ad against California Representative David Dreier, produced by Blue America PAC (via):
Both of these ads are truly disgusting. Alex at Bilerico is spot-on in his response to the Dreier ad -- but I think it applies to the McConnell ad, too:
It's worth noting that Howie Klein does great work with Blue America PAC to get more money to good Democrats and to run ads for them. He blogs over at Down with Tyranny and is himself a gay man.
But I don't think that excuses something like this. I know I'm a minority on this one, but I don't think that homophobia has a particular target. Using a homophobic ad against one person who, however we justify this one, deserves it stirs up homophobia against the rest of us. That might not have been the best idea about a week before Prop 8.
I know that some in the community would justify this based on "hypocrisy," but there is no discourse on the importance of honesty in this ad, why voters should not elect someone based on his hypocrisy, or even a mention of that argument. It's clearly meant to trigger the knee-jerk, lizard brain reaction of the people of California's 26th and make them go out and vote against the queer.
(Emphasis mine.) I'm completely with Alex on this. It's important for us to keep in mind, as we rally against groups like the LDS Church and Focus on the Family for their support of bigoted ballot initiatives, that the underlying sentiments are not the exclusive purview of those on the right. And that's something we should be working just as hard to change.
For those of you in the DC area, Racialicious editor Latoya Peterson and Miriam and I are co-hosting a happy hour on Tuesday! The details:
When: Tuesday, Nov. 18, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Where: Chi Cha Lounge, 1624 U St NW, Washington, DC
RSVP on Facebook here, or just show up. Should be super fun.
In the November issue of The American Prospect, Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Daniel Redman report on the trans-rights movement in between the coasts:
Many would view the politically red heart of the country as a harsh, unwelcoming, and vaguely dangerous place for the transgender community. When we think of states like Nebraska and Wyoming, we don't think of M.J. -- we think of people like Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard, both killed in vicious, nationally publicized hate crimes. But the truth of the matter is far more interesting, inspiring, and instructive. Away from the coasts and the urban havens, a vibrant transgender-rights movement is slowly emerging across the mountain and plains states. Through increased visibility, community building, legislative outreach, and face-to-face public education in churches, schools, and neighborhoods, trans people are building a foundation for equality in some of the nation's most conservative regions.
And Emily Douglas has a sidebar on the mainstream gay-rights movement's slow evolution on transgender issues.
Read 'em both.
On November 15, cities in every state will host protests of the same-sex marriage bans in California, Florida and Arizona, and the unmarried-couple adoption ban in Arkansas.
Click here to find out where/when to protest in your state.
And New Yorkers, protest Prop 8 today:
Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: New York Manhattan Mormon Temple
Street: 125 Columbus Ave at 65th Street
City/Town: New York, NY
For days now, I've been meaning to blog about The New York Times' post-election headline:
The story's first paragraph read:
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.
Um, what? Ok, first of all, this was easy?! Also, more importantly, one person of color at the top does not mean the glass ceiling -- or any other barrier -- is gone. Yes, Obama surpassed that barrier. But that doesn't mean it isn't still firmly in place. It doesn't mean that now the floodgates are opened, and we now live in an America where race is no longer a factor. A few months ago, I wrote about this in the context of women in politics:
And to be totally fair, I don't think Hillary Clinton's nomination for president (or even her election as president) would have, in and of itself, shattered the glass ceiling, either. That's because when we talk about the invisible ceiling holding women back, we're talking about broad, systemic problems that can't be solved by one woman, no matter how fierce.
Yes, Obama's election is historic. Yes, it is a sign of progress. Yes, it is a huge triumph. But the "racial barriers" to ascending the highest ranks of society and politics are far from gone. There is still a lot of work to do. Again, as I wrote with regard to Hillary Clinton,
This can be applied to Obama, too. And I think this is at the heart of why many of us will be watching as his Cabinet and other appointment announcements are made in the coming months. (I refuse to freak out about the white-dude-ishness of some of the "short lists" created by the media. But I will certainly not be happy if Obama's actual appointments are mostly white men.) Because while Obama's election alone does not immediately shatter barriers, he is now uniquely positioned to make some great strides in dismantling them.Hillary Clinton would have been a far greater ceiling-smasher than Palin -- not because Clinton was a presidential candidate while Palin is a VP candidate, but because Clinton has shown she actually cares about dismantling the ceiling that holds all women back. She has advocated for policies guaranteeing equal pay and paid family leave, and elevated many women to positions of considerable power within her campaign.
(Trigger warning.) Last week, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, a 13-year-old Somali girl was stoned to death by insurgents because she was raped. They called it adultery.
"Reports indicate that she had been raped by three men while traveling on foot to visit her grandmother in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu," Unicef, the United Nations children's agency, said in a statement."Following the assault, she sought protection from the authorities, who then accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death," Unicef added. "A child was victimized twice -- first by the perpetrators of the rape and then by those responsible for administering justice."
As if that wasn't terrible enough, she was killed by 50 men who buried her up to her neck and pelted her with rocks until she died. In a stadium in front of 1,000 spectators. The details of this crime are just wrenching. At least some in the crowd tried to stop it:
Inside the stadium, militia members opened fire when some of the witnesses to the killing attempted to save her life, and shot dead a boy who was a bystander.
Cara at the Curvature and Tracy at Broadsheet have more. Cara writes,
But in the end, whether she was killed because of a rape, because of consensual sex, or because of sexual contact neither consensual or non-consensual because it was entirely imagined, it's not the point. To emphasize that Asha was murdered because she was raped, and that's why her death is a tragedy is to suggest that it would be less tragic if she actually had committed consensual adultery.Asha's life was taken from her, quite simply, because she was a woman.
The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women has a letter-writing action:
You can write a letter to the representatives of Somalia, the African Union, and various UN human rights offices to encourage them to take action by investigating this murder, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and denouncing the actions of these insurgents.
None of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow's killers have been arrested.
In Silverton, the sleepy Salem, Oregon suburb 40 minutes outside of Portland best known for its lush Oregon Garden and quaint antique shops, the small town's new mayor-elect is poised to get some major attention in the days and weeks ahead as people come around to realize we've got another Oregon first on our hands: the recently elected [Stu] Rasmussen is the first openly gender fluid, transgender-identified mayor of any American city.
Check out the whole article, which includes a short Q&A with Stu. Maybe I'm the only one, but it felt pretty good to read this nugget of post-election good news on the LGBTQ front.
via Bust.
We rejected smears and race-baiting and Muslim-baiting and desperation. We rejected so much history and so many rules that have bound us to the way things have been and are supposed to be. We rejected fear. Most importantly, we rejected fear.
Despite the beliefs of certain cable-news talking heads, white privilege is, uh, still around.
Latoya rounds up some good links on the Prop 8 fallout.
New Hampshire just became the first state to have a majority of women in the legislature!
Veronica Arreola on Larry Summers topping the short-list for Treasury secretary under Obama. (Jill has more.)
Eliot Spitzer escapes prosecution for his involvement in a prostitution ring. (More thoughts from Bianca on the community blog, and from Figleaf.)
Echidne makes the case for why First Lady should be a paid job. Gina at Michelle Obama Watch has some related thoughts, and Dana also adds her two cents.
A voting-rights movement for the mentally ill is gaining ground.
One man's experience with taking his wife's last name. (via Renee)
Well-known anti-immigrant Sheriff (and all-around asshole) Joe Arpaio caused an incarcerated woman to lose her baby.
Image via.
Some post-election thoughts from 'round the Internets:
In my mind I saw a vision of the middle passage. I saw my ancestors chained together, surviving on menstrual blood and feces. I heard the cruel cry of the whip as it sailed through air, permanently scaring the bodies of my ancestors. I heard the weeping of my foremothers as they watched powerlessly as their children were sold away from them. On this night I saw the culmination of all of that suffering for millions of Americans and beyond, for all of us.
I was actually sort of fascinated last night, flipping channels, Juan Williams, Eugene Robinson and Roland Martin (Fox, MSNBC, and CNN, respectively) were all crying. I mean, these are men who, while not anchors, are literally quite close to the tops of their professions, and yet it took this to make them feel actually accepted, was the sense that I got. It was kind of amazing.
Who exactly is the mythical Joe Six Pack (or Joe the Plumber, for that matter)? What happened to the soccer moms, NASCAR dads, and hockey moms? For far too long, these shifting labels have masked the political identity of white voters, who have had the luxury of not having to deal with the issue of their race in past presidential elections. For the only ethnic group that was permitted to be split into unique demographics instead of a monolithic voting block, Obama changed the game forever.
Marcia Fudge, former chief of staff to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who was just elected to Jones' seat, the 11th District of Ohio.
It wasn't exactly a landslide, but some progress for women in politics this year:
U.S. SenateIn other words, we increased the number of women in the Senate by one, and the number of women in the House by 10. No new women governors.
When the 111th Congress convenes in January, 2009, 17 women (13D, 4R) will serve in the U.S. Senate, besting the previous record of 16 set in the 110th Congress. Four women (3D, 1R) won Senate elections this year, including 2 incumbents and 2 challengers. Newcomers Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) will join incumbent Susan Collins (R-ME), who was re-elected. Incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) lost her race to Hagan. Thirteen incumbent women did not face re-election.
U.S. House of Representatives
A total of at least 74 women (57D, 17R) will serve in the 111th Congress, setting a new all-time high. Ten new women (8D, 2R) will join the 64 incumbents (49D, 15R) who were re-elected, topping the previous record of 71 women set in 2007. The newcomers include 5 challengers (4D, 1R) who defeated incumbents and 5 winners of open seats (4D, 1R). Among the congresswomen will be 12 (12D) African-Americans, 7 (6D, 1R) Latinas, and 2 (2D) Asian-Americans. One race involving a woman candidate (Darcy Burner, D-WA) challenging an incumbent remains too close to call.
Governors
Beverly Perdue (D-NC) was the only new woman governor elected in 2008. She joins Christine Gregoire (D-WA), who was re-elected, as the only women to win gubernatorial races. With six incumbent women governors not facing election, the total number of women who will serve as governors in 2009 is 8 (5D, 3R), matching the number and party affiliations of the current women governors.
Not to rain on anyone's post-election parade, but the news on gay-rights related ballot initiatives is really grim. I'll admit that, seeing these results, it rings a little false for me that this election was supposedly all about hope and change, for all Americans. (I know I am being a bit melodramatic given Obama's landslide victory, but somehow that made this news even harder to take.) I was, however, thrilled to see the news that every radical anti-choice initiative failed.
As an update to my pre-election ballot initiatives post, here are the results:
ANTI-GAY
Proposition 8 in California: Passed. This is such a crushing loss. I went to bed last night before the final results were in, and woke up to the news that the people of California actually approved the gay marriage ban. So devastating.ANTI-CHOICE
Amendment 2 in Florida: Passed. Yet another gay marriage ban.
Proposition 102 in Arizona: Passed. As Dana noted previously, "Arizona became the first state in the nation to reject an anti-gay marriage amendment in 2006, but they're likely to pass the measure this year, now that it has been stripped of language that also denied domestic partnership benefits to hetero couples." Looks like that was the magic change to make bigotry palatable to Arizona voters.
Act 1 in Arkansas: Passed. Now gay couples are unable to adopt or foster-parent children. This from a state with 3700 children in the foster-care system, and only 1000 foster homes. Disgusting.
Question 1 in Connecticut: Failed! Lindsay at Female Impersonator explained earlier that this initiative would have allowed the state constitution to be changed -- essentially clearing the way for anti-gay and anti-choice amendments to be tacked onto it. Glad it didn't pass.
Amendment 48 in Colorado: Failed! By huge margins -- 73% voted against granting fertilized eggs full rights. I'm so glad voters saw this amendment for the radical piece of garbage it was.ANTI-IMMIGRANT
Measure 11 in South Dakota: Failed! Voters rejected another radical abortion ban.
Proposition 4 in California: Failed! Voters said no to a parental-notification requirement.
Measure 58 in Oregon: Failed! As Alas, a Blog summarized, it would have mandated "that school districts limit foreign-language instruction for non-English-speaking students to one or two years, depending on their age."ANTI-EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Amendment 46 in Colorado: They aren't calling this for either side yet -- it's neck-and-neck, with the "yes" side slightly ahead, unfortunately. The initiative would ban programs that work to eliminate the gaps between white dudes and everyone else. Let's hope the final reporting precincts swing the balance to "NO."
Initiative 424 in Nebraska: Passed. Voters said they're ok with re-writing the state constitution to eliminate equal-opportunity programs. Sigh.
Jeanne Shaheen, who looks likely to win her Senate race in New Hampshire
When we talk about women in politics, it's important to look down the pipeline. Political leaders don't start their careers as presidential nominees -- they work their way up after being elected to Congress, as governor, or to the state legislature. So to figure out the immediate future for women in U.S. politics, we have to look down the ticket.
The polls say this could be a landslide election for Democrats. But will it be a landslide election for women? Here's the breakdown:
Ok kids, tonight's the night, and we'll be here live-chatting as the results roll in. Check back around 7pm, when the festivities are slated to begin...
A quick note: Unlike our previous live chats, this time we won't be accepting comments in the chat window itself. Because we've had over 300 participants in previous chats, many commenters were shut out all together after we maxed out the software's limit. Several hundred commenters are also a LOT to keep up with -- both for editors and for readers-- and because we plan to keep the chat running well into the night (not just for two hours, like the debates), we thought it better to keep the chat just among the Feministing editors. The comments section on the post will be wide open, however, so everyone will still have a forum. Hope y'all understand.
My take on the Gossip Girl OMG ad campaign, for purposes of this blog post.
Time for a little break in the onslaught of election news and voting tales... This recent article in the Washington Post is basically fundie-bait:
Teenagers who watch a lot of television featuring flirting, necking, discussion of sex and sex scenes are much more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get a partner pregnant, according to the first study to directly link steamy programming to teen pregnancy.
Ok, try to stop laughing over the fact that the Post uses the term "necking." Moving on...
The study, which tracked more than 700 12-to-17-year-olds for three years, found that those who viewed the most sexual content on TV were about twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy as those who saw the least.
When a study finds two things are "linked," that doesn't necessarily mean one causes the other. Maybe kids who watch more sexy TV have less parental supervision, as Matt at Pushback suggests, and therefore get it on more. But regardless of the study's merits, the abstinence-only-until-hetero-marriage crowd is up in arms, and ready to push their agenda.
After all the ups and downs and nail-biting primary nights and crazy-making debates and smear campaigns and oppression olympics, I know I can't be the only one who needs a little mental break until results start rolling in tonight.
So take a breather. Here are some pictures I've seen this week that really made me feel inspired about this election:
via Melissa's awesome roundup, Girls 4 Obama
A woman stands in the rain at an Obama rally in Chester, PA. via JJP
Say what you will about the actual events and outcomes, but I have to say that, as a feminist, this was a pretty damn fascinating election to observe and participate in. But I am admittedly relieved it's almost over.
Oh, and if you haven't already, GO VOTE.
I know we're all deeply, deeply caught up in the presidential race, but I want to take a moment and highlight the fact that a lot of ballot measures are going to be voted on tomorrow, too. Most are anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant. Basically, the ballot-initiative process allows voters in certain states to directly pass measures, bypassing the legislature. Miriam already linked to a great voter guide, and my colleague Dana Goldstein highlighted several initiatives to watch.
These measures are all important because, at a time when America seems likely to elect the most liberal president of my lifetime (not that that's saying much...) and there is an overall feeling of hope, the motivations behind these initiatives are truly backwards and bigoted. As Katha Pollitt put it recently, "The culture war may fail at the top of the ticket, but it still has enough juice to do damage further down."
Here's my own list of what to watch tomorrow, down the ticket. The way states vote on these measures will say as much about our country as whether or not we elect our first black president.
I know it seems impossible to think about after the election... but the Center for New Words is hosting an awesome post-election event on Wednesday:
The Day After: A Feminist Town Forum
Wednesday, November 5 @ 7:00PM
PARTICIPATE IN PERSON: Cambridge Family YMCA, 820 Mass. Ave., Cambridge
PARTICIPATE ONLINE IN REAL TIME: Participate by logging on 11/5 at 7PM EST to any of our participating blogs, including Feministe, Feministing, Girl with Pen, WIMN's Voices, No Cookies for Me, Writes Like She Talks, Heartfeldt Politics, TakePart, or at our mogulus channel.
It's been a long election season, and now it's time to come together to figure out what it all means and what's next.
At this culmination of our This Is What Women Want election project, please join us, our panel of national leaders and the feminist community nationwide to discuss what happened on Election Day, and what we should be thinking about and doing now to fight for equality and justice for all.
This is a first of its kind event convening feminists from around the country live via the blogosphere! Watch live, converse with other audience members around the country and submit your comments and questions in real time.
Panelists will include:
BYLLYE AVERY: Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project and MacArthur Genius Award Recipient
MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Journalist and author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
ANNE ELIZABETH MOORE: Critic, activist, artist, journalist and author
PAULA RAYMAN: Founding Director of the Radcliffe Public Policy Center
LORETTA ROSS: National Coordinator, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER: Executive Director, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy
Come optimistic, disgruntled, angry, or just exhausted. Come in person or online. But come. We need to hear every voice and idea!
(Facebook users: Click here to RSVP and invite your friends!)
If you're not in Boston, you'll be able to follow the conversation here at Feministing. Just load up our site on Wednesday at 7pm, and you'll be a virtual part of the town hall.
Just two days before the election, every single guest on the Sunday political talk shows is a man.
The first female judge was appointed to a Palestinian religious court.
We've discussed Biden and the Violence Against Women Act before, but RH Reality Check has more on his efforts to pass an International VAWA.
On a related note, men's rights groups are upset about a series of anti-domestic-violence ads in Dallas.
Check out and submit to the Transgender Carnival, which now has a permanent website home.
Women with disabilities are more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence.
As series of anti-domestic violence ads in Dallas have the men's rights crowd all riled up.
Rebecca Traister on women in nightly news.
JC Penney apparently doesn't do "black hair." WTF?!
Kay has a historical perspective on same-sex marriage.
A mailer from Bed, Bath and Beyond essentially promotes eating disorders.
Boston Magazine has a long feature about the lives of teenage girls in Gloucester, MA, and goes beyond the "pregnancy pact" label affixed by the media. (via)
I'm not sure how to reconcile the news that the Democratic party is running a high number of anti-choice candidates this year with the news that pro-choice messaging is also prevalent in this election...
Obama goes on the record against Prop 8 in California.
Jill has even more links.
Actions and Events
Take the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's discrimination survey.
Nov. 14: Feminism and bioethics conference in New York.
What have you all been reading/writing this week?
Transcript after the jump
The fall issue of Ms. magazine should be hitting newsstands this week, and I've got an article in it about period-suppressing birth-control pills like Lybrel and Seasonique. (Timely, in light of the approval of a new low-dose version.)
Also, Veronica of Viva La Feminista reviews Yes Means Yes, the anthology edited by Jessica and Jaclyn Friedman that features essays by our own Samhita and Miriam, as well as Jill, Cara, Kate Harding, Latoya, Julia Serano, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and a roster of other awesome writers.
The issue also features an expose of crisis-pregnancy centers, a piece on innovative programs for mothers in prison (shout-out to the awesome Beth Schwartzapfel, who reported it), and short fiction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Unfortunately, articles aren't posted online, so check it out in your local bookstore. Or subscribe here.
Perhaps you've seen the image on the left circulating around the Internets. It's an homage to the image on the right, a '60s antiwar poster featuring Joan Baez and her sisters.
I second Rebecca Traister, who says the newer, Obama-themed poster "Makes me want to put a fist through a wall, put a hammer through my skull and move to France." More specifically, as Renee puts it:
It's not even a new twist on an old theme; as Barack would say, it's more of the same. The idea that women's bodies can and should be offered as a reward for good behaviour has been with us for centuries. It's appearance as a campaign slogan only proves how far we need to progress as women.
I really hate that this props up the idea that there's a "groupie mentality" among young women who support Obama. The poster echoes the insulting argument made by some during the Democratic primary that young women who support Obama don't actually think he has good policy positions or political stances. We just think he's HAWT. And we like that our boyfriends like him!
Look, I understand this poster is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, retro fun. (Hello, it just oozes "Made in Brooklyn" hipsterrific charm.) And you know what? I'm into retro. Retro fashion? Yes, pls. Retro music and home decor? Yes and yes. But retro politics and political statements? Um, no thank you.
Jezebel: Teen Moms Displeased At Double Standard Glorifying Bristol Palin & Jamie Lynn Spears
Genevieve at UneFemmePlusCourageuse catalogs the pro-rape "flair" on Facebook. (Via)
There have been a series of attacks on gay and trans students at Washington State University. (Via)
Sara calls out Palin for giving domestic terrorists a pass.
Fatemeh wrote An Open Letter to White Non-Muslim Western Feminists.
Chicago Defender: "Domestic Violence Hits Black Women Harder"
Mable F. Yee: How Can 30+ Million Women Be Invisible? (Also see Celina's interview with Mable.)
Religion Dispatches: A Woman Leads Muslim Prayer in Britain For the First Time
A new anti-rape campaign in Scotland takes on the "she was asking for it because..." excuse.
Actions and Events
Oct. 29: Attention bloggers! Participate in Write to Marry day to oppose Prop 8.
Oct. 30: Be Bold, Wear Red to protest violence against women of color. (Cara has more.)
Oct. 31 - April 5: Brooklyn Museum exhibition: Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection
What else have you all been reading/writing this week? Leave links in comments...
My colleague Tim Fernholz at the Prospect has a piece up about candidates this cycle appealing to voters by touting their pro-choice cred:
But this year, Democratic political operatives have been surprised by the success they've had in deploying pro-choice messages. Congressional campaigns from New Jersey to Nevada have picked up on the trend, and outside groups spreading the word are not just usual suspects like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, but also the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)."We didn't use it as much in 2006. Voters then were really focused on Iraq and the economy," says Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who is working on several House and Senate races this year. "I was surprised, honestly. You think the economy and nothing else will break through, but this is breaking through."
Read the rest here.
I gotta say, it's refreshing news given the anti-choice rhetoric the McCain campaign is spewing, along with some of the stridently anti-choice ballot initiatives we've seen this year.
A pharmacy in Chantilly, VA. has become the seventh pharmacy to be officially certified by the anti-choice group Pharmacists for Life International.
On Tuesday, the pharmacy celebrated a blessing from Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde. While Divine Mercy Care is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, it is guided by church teachings on sexuality, which forbid any form of artificial contraception, including morning-after pills, condoms and birth control pills, a common prescription used by millions of women in the U.S."This pharmacy is a vibrant example of our Holy Father's charge to all of us to wear our faith in the public square," said Loverde, who sprinkled holy water on the shelves stocked with painkillers and acne treatments. "It will allow families to shop in an environment where their faith is not compromised."
Because otherwise families will be forced to compromise their faith by shopping at the CVS down the block, where cashiers toss handfuls of birth control pills into the air with wild abandon, buckets of NuvaRings are for sale right next to the cash register, and every aisle contains giant posters of copulating couples with taglines like "SEX WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES!" (Kidding.)
Seriously, though, Jessica at Jezebel explains why this matters:
So what's the big deal, you may think, this pharmacy is in the D.C. area, competing against thousands of pharmacies that do dispense birth control. But, as former Planned Parenthood lawyer Roberta Riley points out, "in parts of Montana, women must drive 80 miles to find a pharmacy willing to sell contraception," because so many pharmacists are practicing their "consciences."What's more, as Tarina Keene, executive director of the Virginia chapter of NARAL notes, "If this emboldens other pharmacies in other parts of the state, it could really affect low-income and rural women in terms of access." But isn't denying women their prescriptions illegal? Well, it depends on where you live.
Let's hope it doesn't become a full-blown trend.
This web video from the Obama campaign highlights the importance of the Violence Against Women Act (and, of course, Joe Biden's role in its passage):
(Trigger warning.)
Related:
Quick Hit: Biden and VAWA
Meet Joe Biden
I'm sure most of you have seen the news that Sarah Palin has been appearing with "a small group of high-profile feminists," including Oregon NOW Vice President Linda Klinge and former Ms. magazine editor Elaine Lafferty. (More about that later.)
Rather than focusing on who or what is or isn't feminist, let's just step back and look at the policies Palin stands for. Not the talking points or labels. Let's examine what she's actually saying on the stump this week:
Palin went o