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The always fantastic National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum has a great interview series over at their blog Warrior Prose this week.

Can you name...

A 93 year-old Chinese-American revolutionary anti-racist activist and feminist?

A queer journalist and writer named one of the most influential Asian Americans of this decade?

A Seattle based activist involved in international and domestic human rights issues over the last 30 years?

A labor organizer and lawyer, accomplished nature photographer and poet, and author of several groundbreaking books?

A visionary trailblazer and founder and Executive Director of an internationally recognized human rights organization?

Five amazing women. Five must-read interviews. In a week long interview series, the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) gets up close and personal with Grace Lee Boggs, Helen Zia, Cindy Domingo, Lora Jo Foo, and Mallika Dutt, prominent women leaders who continue to define and redefine leadership and inspire us all. Check it out!

toothpastefordinner.com

I don't know about you all, but I read A LOT of blogs. Probably too many. It's my way of keeping up with the blog world and also reading and learning about things that interest me. I use blogs to keep up with current events, to stalk (I mean, keep track of) my favorite authors, to learn about pop culture. I have a particular penchant for blogs that are very personal in nature and discuss things like sex and gender.

I recent favorite of mine is Sugarbutch Chronicles. You know how I know? Because everytime it pops up in my google reader with a new post I get excited. (I'm aware of how nerdy this is)

Sugarbutch Chronicles is a personal writing exploration of sex, gender, and relationships, and attempts to celebrate queer theory, sexuality, gender, and culture in ways that are expansive rather than restrictive, liberating rather than limiting.

What blog gets you going? (In addition to Feministing, of course)

The National Women's Studies Association has created a student blog. Check it out and contribute if you're that kind of shiny age.

The math wars - Economic Woman: Allison at the fabulous blog Economic Woman takes an in-depth look at the recent study showing girls perform as well as boys in math.

Girls=Boys in Math - The Onion: I couldn't let you miss The Onion's take as well.

Recognising 'gendercide' - The Guardian: Heather McRobie proposes that we start talking about gender-based massacres, like Ciudad Juárez, in using the word 'gendercide'.

Our Bodies Our Blog - Tribal Law and Order Act Aims to Address Abuse of Native American Women: "Last week, bills were introduced in the House and Senate that are intended to empower tribal governments to address crimes that take place on their lands, and, among other aims, to 'reduce the prevalence of violent crime in tribal communities and to combat violence against Indian and Alaska Native women.'"

LENIN'S TOMB - Noam Chomsky on Pornography: Chomsky speaks out on porn in the video clip.

Popgadget - Samsung thinks patronising women will get us into tech; Engadget agrees: "As Engadget gleefully reports, Samsung has designed a concept compact hard drive that looks similar to a piece of make-up - and this picture shows it surrounded by make-up, to prove the point."

1960s ad for rice - Boing Boing: For funsies.

Picture from 2DaH Max.

My first ever print piece is up at the American Prospect about the blog Stuff White People Like. Enjoy!

Feministing community blogger apieceofwork points us to a story about a "pro-life" Congressional candidate in Oregon whose not-so-pro-life past is coming to bite him in the ass.

(PS. Can I just say how incredibly impressed I am by the quality of community posts going up? And we haven't even launched for reals yet! Amazing.)

CEO Barbie Criticized For Promoting Unrealistic Career Images - The Onion: "Toy company Mattel is under fire from a group of activists who say their popular doll's latest incarnation, CEO Barbie, encourages young girls to set impractical career goals."

First Female General Nominated - Feministing Community (Marc): "I'd say it's the beginning of a very critical start in the equalization of genders in the military. One of the reasons I decided to stay in after eight years of service, almost to the date, is because I realize that in society where rank does matter, that those who have a bit of rank can affect the people below them. Patriarchal as it is, the military leaves some room for change - and it is up to those in the military,with what little bit of rank they have, to change the culture."

Unfetter women's intellect on campaign trail - Newsday: "Media coverage everywhere is "Michelle vs. Cindy." Where do they buy their dresses? Do they make bacon for breakfast? And, of course, which one can we compare to Jackie O? Is anyone else as appalled as I am at how quickly we have gone back to thinking of women in the oldest of stereotypes - as only wives and mothers?"

The Loud Silence of Feminists - The Washington Post: "Michelle Obama has become an issue in the presidential campaign even though she isn't running for anything. An educated, successful lawyer, devoted wife and caring mother has been labeled 'angry' and unpatriotic and snidely referred to as Barack Obama's 'baby mama.' Democrats, Republicans, independents, everyone should be offended. And this black woman is wondering: Where are Obama's feminist defenders?"

"If she's not crying...then I did not do my job" - Women Who Serve: "In this same story, [Justin] Gimelstob goes viciously after Anna Kournikova, calling her a bitch, a douche and a scumbag. With regard to playing against her in World Team tennis mixed doubles, he says 'If she's not crying by the time she walks off that court,' then I did not do my job." That is mild, however, compared to: '...she's gonna be serving 40 miles an hour and I'm gonna be just plugging it down her throat.'"

Bratz Candy Cosmetics - Candy Blog: The doll company launches candy makeup for young girls.

Pantsuits and the Presidency - The New York Times: "Some supporters of Hillary Clinton believe that sexism colored news coverage of her presidential campaign. The Times reported in a front-page article on June 13 that many are proposing boycotts of cable news networks and that a 'Media Hall of Shame' has been created by the National Organization for Women. The Times itself, however, was barely mentioned, even though two of its Op-Ed columnists, Maureen Dowd and William Kristol, were named in the Hall of Shame."

Generation Y Refuses Race-Gender Dichotomy - AlterNet: Courtney's latest!

Judge's ban on the use of the word ‘rape’ at trial reflects trend - Kansas City Star: "It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her. She was raped. But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word 'rape' in front of a jury. The term 'sexual assault' also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word “assailant” to describe the man who allegedly raped her....Bowen’s case is part of what some prosecutors and victim advocates see as a national trend in sexual assault cases."

Tila Tequila: California lifted its gay-marriage ban "because of me" - Reality TV World: "Tila Tequila thinks she deserves some credit for California lifting its ban on same-sex marriages."

I have to admit I was pretty irritated by the cover story of the New York Times Magazine this past week. Not that they featured a young woman blogger, of course, but that the article by former Gawker blogger Emily Gould - which was more of a juicy diary of sex, lies and blogging - that gave a pretty inaccurate portrait of what it means to be a female writer.

And why is that when women writers get attention in the mainstream media, they can only be portrayed in this sexualized and pleasing way in tousled bed sheets? (The NY Time Magazine cover picture to the right is only one of a few.)

Rebecca Traister had a great analysis of the piece yesterday, where she addresses the way that the media - largely controlled by men - not only allows a limited number of women writers to get their 15 minutes of fame, but the only time we're given it is when we're willing to expose something:

"When we are fed -- and gobble up -- stories by or about single urban working women, those exotic and potentially threatening creatures presented to us are often doing things like confessing their self-doubt, discussing their sex lives, lying on rumpled sheets looking pretty."

But being personal is not what necessarily should be condemned:

We have to remember: There is nothing wrong with women writing about themselves, their youth, their indiscretions, their habits and values and personal development. Men have been writing about this stuff for thousands of years; they call it the canon.

And like their male contemporaries, a lot of this writing disappoints. When it does, there is nothing wrong with criticizing it. The thing that is wrong -- really wrong -- is when we forget that these kinds of stories are not the only ones that women have to tell. (Emphasis mine.)

The comments section of the article had to be shut down because of the severity of abusive responses towards Gould for writing about her experiences. Would she have received this kind of backlash if she was a man? Likely not.

What do others think?

By Roja Bandari.

A few days ago we hit a new low in systematic filtering of women's rights websites in Iran. Along with the website Change for Equality, 11 other sites and blogs belonging to local branches of the One Million Signatures Campaign in several cities or regions in Iran (Arak, Rasht, Mashhad, Esfahan, Shiraz, Zahedan) were blocked simultaneously. The list of blocked blogs included Men for Equality, set up by male activists in the campaign and those of a few Iranian immigrant populations in other countries (Kuwait, Cyprus, Germany, and the US). Campaign websites in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan had been blocked in April 2008.

Change for Equality has had over 10 web addresses since early 2007. The state continuously blocks the site, and in response activists create a new web address and move to a new location. This happens despite the fact that the activists of the One Million Signatures Campaign work strictly legally and despite the fact that they do not oppose the government of Iran.

Other women's publications both online and in print have also been a target of censorship in the past few years; the popular women's rights e-zine Zanestan ("Woman's Land"), and the long-published and well-respected magazine Zanan ("Women") have both been shut down and are no longer published as of and November 2007 and January 2008 respectively.

Read the rest at openDemocracy.

Thanks to Roja for permission to reprint an excerpt of her piece!

After leaving my last (very long) steady job, I was terrified about money. Because there’s no financial buffer but what I save. Even though I only have myself to support, it’s something I think about every day. That’s probably a result of knowing how hard my mom worked when I was growing up to give me everything I needed and some of the things I wanted. Really, I'm obsessive.

This is all only to say that I think about money a lot. So, discovering the blog Feminist Finance a few weeks ago was fantastic for me. The writer covers practical tips to get out of debt, to buying local produce, the importance of mentoring, and a lot more. If you’re part of a couple, she’s also got a lot of interesting content on dealing with joint financial lives.

A recent post notes a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against a company founded by Michael Bloomberg. Check it out.

National Science Foundation - Chore Wars: Men, Women and Housework: "Husbands create an extra seven hours a week of housework for wives, according to a new study. But wives save husbands from about an hour of housework a week."

Shakesville: Horrifying New Law: Forced Ultrasounds Condition of Abortion: "Last week, the Oklahoma Legislature overrode the governor's veto and enacted a law that puts a horrifying twist on informed consent requirements for women seeking abortion. While other states require that women seeking abortion be offered an ultrasound, this law requires that the woman have either an abdominal or a vaginal ultrasound, whichever offers the clearer picture, as a condition of having an abortion."

New York Times - More Mothers Breast-Feed, in First Months at Least: "About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed their infants at least briefly, the highest rate seen in the United States in more than a decade, according to a government survey released on Wednesday."

The Frisky - The Daily Squeeze: Disney push-up bras?!

Our Bodies Our Blog: On Increasing Rates of Diabetes in Pregnancy: "An article set to appear in the May issue of the journal Diabetes Care is garnering widespread media attention today, as it declares that the prevalence of pre-existing diabetes in women who become pregnant has doubled over the past several years."

Femme Den - Design for females, without "pinking and shrinking": "Women are still underrepresented in the design industry," says designer Erica Eden, of Smart Design. To combat that, Eden and three other female members of Smart's staff (Agnete Enga, Yvonne Lin, and Gina Reimann) have started Femme Den, an in-company initiative to address the needs of female consumers without alienating males by merely 'pinking and shrinking' existing products.

Except totally not cool, because they decided to link to someone who thought that the best way to counter-act my argument about patriarchy and Grand Theft Auto, was to make fun of the fact that I think patriarchy exists. Huh?

The girls at Feministing weren't having it: "It is no question that GTA is merely reflective of the bigger misogyny embedded in capitalist patriarchy, but the question is why is a game that depicts such violence towards women so popular?" (Jesus Christ, if this is what degrees in gender studies hath wrought, polysyllabic bloggers still carping about the patriarchy, please fucking stop handing them out.)

I don't think polysyllabic is an insult. And yeah omg, patriarchy is SO ten years ago. . . except these stories (among the many many others posted on Feministing and around the feminist blogosphere, this was just a quick google search) are testament to this assertion being false.

But Reverse Cowgirl continues (and ya know some feminists like doing the reverse cowgirl too, you don't have to shed feminism to enjoy different sexual positions, but I digress and sorry mom) with a very common anti-feminist argument about political correctness being outdated.

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

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

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

Facebook - Equal Rights Amendment: An ERA fan page!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's Allison Kilkenny...

Our lovely editors Jessica and Miriam are on this panel, along with the fantastic Carmen from Racialicious, who is also (in case y'all didn't know) the co-founder and President of New Demographic, and Patti Binder, an amazing leader and advocate of girls' programming in NYC and board chair of Girls Write Now.

Patti discusses her experience within girls' programming, and how people generally make the assumption that there shouldn't be a need for girls' leadership organizations because there's a woman running for president. And all of the girls' organizations that exist aren't recognized nearly enough, not to mention the difficulty in trying to get the same funding (since so little are funded) when they're all on the same side. She also touches on how the "boys' crisis" has effected their ability to get funding on top of that. And amidst all of these forces working against them, the organizations focus on pushing their message through to convince people that girls' and women's issues, well, exist.

Miriam talks about Radical Doula and as someone who is a part of the birthing movement, how she feels that it's important to identify herself not only as a birth activist, but as someone who supports abortion, and tries to bring the conversation into the movement. Hence, "Radical Doula." So for herself and the way she identifies, the push back she deals with is the doulas and midwives who stigmatize or judge her for being a supporter of abortion. Another form of back lash she's experienced, referencing to her work with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, is a general misconception that Latina women are all blatantly anti-choice. Yet the Latina Institute works with and helps Latina women who support abortion and those who don't necessarily support it but are accepting of the organization regardless and are pro-birth control and support a number of other aspects of reproductive health.

Carmen divulges her experience with Racialicious, where in the beginning there was no moderation for comments but came to a point when moderation was definitely necessary. She talks about the general "rules" that they ask their readers to abide by, which includes to not make generalizations about race or any other group of people or person, which is something that they deal with on a consistent basis. She also discusses how to figure out what's "ban-able," and some strategies that the editors have talked about to handle particular comments that have been problematic for the productivity of the site.

Jessica makes a point that - after listening to the speakers - how different blogs' backlash can be, and how disruptive comments are usually (and obviously) not appropriate in public spaces which is why commenters use anonymity to speak their ignorance. (Because they wouldn't do it in person.)

Somehow the suggestion that chicken and beef's hybrid would be spam also came into the conversation, but that's a whole other conversation. (And no, I'm totally not joking.)

iPartySmarter.com - Smart Women Smart Choices:"Girls just want to have fun. Right? However, a woman's party style can make all the difference between having fun or having regrets." (Nothing like a little victim-blaming campaign to shame women into not "partying.")

Copyranter - French men can't see the forest for the trees. Or something: Some charming ads for hair removal cream.

Rebel Dad - Men: Shrinking Violets?: Brian takes on Laura Sessions Stepp's latest nonsense.

Open Society Fellowship: "The Open Society Institute has launched a fellowship program for outstanding individuals from around the world working on issues concerning national security, citizenship, authoritarianism, and new strategies and tools for advocacy." (For all you activists who need funding, check it out!)

Feminists More Open-Minded on Weight - New York Times: "If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then try to be beheld by a feminist."

Think Progress - HHS Secretary: OB/GYNs With Objections To Abortion Should Not Have To Refer Patients To Other Doctors: "In a little-noticed letter on Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt wrote a letter to the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), stating that providers with moral objections to abortion should have no obligation to refer patients." (NPR has more.)

"Spanx" Now Hold In Your Unsightly Boobies As Well As Your Hideous, Mutant Gut - Guanabee: "Speaking of bacon cups, “Spanx� underwear brand is re-launching their line of bras designed to make you, the average bacon-chomping woman, look more like the feminine ideal put forth by store mannequins and anime heroines alike."

Kansascity.com - Kansas House gives first-round OK to abortion bill: "The House today advanced a bill supporters say will lead to better enforcement of restrictions on late-term abortions. Approved on a voice vote, it also requires that women get more information about the fetus and the procedure before having an abortion."

Chicago Business - Illinois AG to appeal overturning of abortion notification law: "In an action that is scrambling normal political alliances, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has decided to appeal a federal court order that overturned the state’s law on parental notice for abortions for minors."

Religion Dispatches - An Open Letter to Western Feminists: "It is appalling that in these catastrophic times, many U.S. liberal feminists are focused only on misogynistic practices associated with particular local cultures, as if these exist in capsules, far from the arena of imperial occupation. Indeed, imperial violence has given fuel to some of these patriarchal practices of misogyny and sexism. They should also know that such a narrow vision furthers a much older tradition of feminist mobilizing in the service of colonialism--�saving brown, or black women, from brown men,� as observed by Gayatri Spivak."

Top Ten Feminist Blogs - TakePart Blog Network

In Alabama, a Crackdown on Pregnant Drug Users - New York Times: "A day after she gave birth in 2006, Tiffany Hitson, 20, sat on her front porch crying, barefoot and handcuffed. A police officer hovered in the distance...Ms. Hitson’s newborn daughter had traces of cocaine and marijuana in its system, and the young woman, baby-faced herself, had fallen afoul of a tough new state law intended to protect children from drugs, and a local prosecutor bent on pursuing it. She made arrangements for the baby’s care, and headed off to a year behind bars." (Note: Make sure to check out this response from the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.)

Akansas Woman, Left in Cell, Goes 4 Days With No Food or Water - New York Times: "A woman was locked for four days in a tiny holding cell in a northern Arkansas courthouse, forgotten by the authorities and left without food or water, the local Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday...'Everybody is backing away from it as fast as they can,' Mr. Petty said. 'Frankly, that’s how they treat Hispanics down here. They treat Hispanics like cattle, like less than human.'"

UN Dispatch and RH Reality Check are hosting an online salon, "A New Agenda for Girls' and Women's Health and Rights," this week and next about what global plans the new U.S. president should be creating to improve the status of the rights and health of girls and women worldwide. I'm thrilled to be a participant along with a number of intelligent minds including journalists, authors and leaders within the international women's movement.

Adrienne Germain, the president of the International Women's Health Coalition, kicked off the salon on Monday and we've had some great discussion since. Make sure to check it out on either site.

The charming header above is the tag Jezebel chose to use in their response post to us and their own readers who were not too pleased about Moe's bizarre diatribe against Hillary. (Now, there is no link to Feministing, but they link here often and considering the first line addresses Jen's very post title, I think it's clear. But hey, even if it's directed at pissed commenters--WTF?)

Calling women "fucking dykes" (and something tells me this is not in the queer-reclaimy way) while saying you were just kidding when you wrote that NH women voters "suck" is just...I'm speechless. But hey, I'm just a fucking dyke so what do I know?

UPDATE: My bad. But I still think the whole Clinton coverage there is strange.

The super fabulous Jill Filipovic is the new editor of Alternet's recently-launched Reproductive Justice and Gender section.

I can't think of a smarter gal for the job.

Check out the fabulous Amanda Marcotte's interview with the also fabulous Miriam Pérez, doula, writer, blogger and Senior Advocacy Associate of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. And the rest of Amanda's podcast rocks too (as always).

The Boston Globe has a piece on bloggers of color, including quotes from Carmen Van Kerckhove of one of my fave blogs, Racialicious.

Congratulations to California NOW for launching their new (and very impressive) blog. I've had the pleasure of meeting several of the women at CA NOW, including President Mandy Benson--who I believe is the youngest NOW president in the country--and Zoe Nicholson. Both are awesome women doing incredible work. So add it to your blog readers, ladies! (Coincidently, I'm wearing my very cool CA NOW shirt this very moment.)

I have just been alerted to the fact that Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein has a blog on NPR.com.

This is just awesome.

I always like interviews with bloggers, because it helps to debunk some of the myths (like we get paid, LOLZZZ) or that we believe that the revolution will be internetized. I especially like interviews with the bloggers I read on the regs. So go check out this interview with Pam from Pandagon and Pam's House Blend. She breaks down some of the myths of political blogostopia. (Wow, I just made up a lot of words.)

Check out this great vid (and more!) from I Am Emily X, a new blog by an anonymous Planned Parenthood worker.

On the most recent episode of PBS's "To the Contrary," the panelists discuss, "Feminism Interrupted: The new push to get more Generation Y women involved in feminism."

Host Bonnie Erbe: Jane, is the internet now the primary tool that's drawing young women into feminism?

Jane Hamsher (of Firedoglake): Oh I believe that it is. And I believe that's largely due to the failure of many feminist institutions to reach out to young women in a real way. Organizations like NARAL have become insider and cliquish, and are making insider mistakes like endorsing Joe Lieberman, who said it was OK for a woman who had been raped to have to go across town to get emergency contraception.

I certainly agree that the online feminist community has stepped into a void that the older feminist organizations have been unwilling (in some cases) or unable (in other cases) to fill. But it's funny she would single out NARAL, which in my opinion does a pretty damn good job with online outreach. That's definitely not where I would start pointing fingers.

Later on, there's this:

Eleanor Holmes Norton: ... This generation is not a movement generation. I believe the feminist organizations are indeed attacking exactly the issues these young women are interested in, for example abortion -- these young women would be 100 percent there -- and homosexual discrimination. That's not the problem. The problem is they don't identify -- they do their own thing. They have the underlying values of the feminist movement. We don't have a right to say, look, if you have our values, you must also take our name. Let them do their thing, their way. Be happy they have adopted your values.

I think if the online feminist community has proved anything, it's that we are a movement generation. I participated in feminist actions on my college campus, but that felt more like a club than a movement. I worked for a women's rights nonprofit, but that felt more like a day job than a movement. I went to rallies and marches, but they felt more like one-off events than a movement. It took blogging here, and being part of a community of feminist bloggers, for me to really feel like part of a feminist movement. To feel I was part of a group of people, committed to a set of ideals, who are working day in and day out to advance those ideals.

I really wish Bonnie Erbe had had a young feminist on her show to articulate that, because I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Overall, I was really disappointed by the show. How hard would it have been to have one woman in her 20s be part of the panel?

There's a lot more discussion fodder in this segment, but I'll stop there for now. Transcript and video are after the jump.

Feoshia Henderson is a former reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Before the Enquirer she covered the Kentucky Legislature and Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Post and The Kentucky Gazette.

She is currently a freelance journalist and blogs about social issues on her Myspace page. Feoshia describes her blog, Femblog, and her blog identity, Femblogger, as:

“I’m a frustrated political reporter looking for people who care about themselves and the world and are looking for a place to talk about it. I blog every day and you’ll find stories here that you usually won’t hear about anywhere else. I’m working to create an e-community of people who vote, who pay attention and who have something to say to politicians. Come by MySpace anytime! If you like it, then friend me. Here you’ll read about politics, social trends, technology, free speech, mass media, women’s health, sex, gender issues, relationships and more!�

Here’s Feoshia…

You know what's fun? When you're linked to by a great blog just to have assholes in the comments section ruin it all.

And people ask me why I'm a feminist...sigh.

Deidra has been running her blog, Black and Missing but Not Forgotten since July 2007. She states:

"This blog is dedicated to all the missing black women in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." If the media doesn't step up—who will? Let these ladies know that we did not forget about them."

Deidra made time between her two jobs and blog to answer my questions. Here's Deidra...

My colleague Garance Franke-Ruta put together a panel at YearlyKos to discuss Blogging While Female, or, as The Nation put it, "the toxic online environment for female political pundits." (The panel, which featured our own Jessica, Amanda of Pandagon, and YearlyKos organizer Gina Cooper, was also mentioned in this Washington Post piece about the lack of diversity at the conference.)

So... use this thread as a space to share your own "blogging while female" stories.

The 15th Erase Racism Carnival is up over at Racewire and it is GOOD! Please go check it out and show some love for all the excellent, insightful and necessary writing that makes this carnival what it is.

Lord knows we do it enough. Spread the word about a post you think Feministing readers might fancy; link it in comments.

Happy Friday!

Former Feministe blogger and dear friend Zuzu now has her very own blog, Kindly Póg Mo Thóin.

Congratulations, Zuzu!

I am few days late on this, but please check out the Carnival of Radical Action with a special focus on the Allied Media Conference. I have been liveblogging conferences for a while and it is always fun and exhausting, all at once. Conferences tend to be full of emotion, excitement, enlightenment and sometimes frustration. It is nice to have a forum to share your thoughts and give people an opportunity to read about an event they weren't able to attend. It is always fun for me to go back and read what myself and other people wrote during the conference and the sheer energy and raw emotion that being around folks, talking our talk, releases.

So please, enjoy.

So I am helping organize the 15th Erase Racism Blog Carnival which will be hosted at Racewire.org (part of the great and mighty Colorlines Magazine). I am really excited to get the opportunity to read some of the best anti-racism writing out there. So if you are interested click here for more details and to submit go here.

The topics are diverse, but super interesting including:

Black/Brown politics
Environmental justice/green economies
And Humor/Satire blogs and vlogs

So check it out or add suggestions in comments. And please go check out some of the older carnivals if you are interested.