Recently in Hungover Feminist Weekly Report Category

I'll be honest, I really am hungover today, so this is going to be quick. And trust me, you do not want to look at me on video today. The Supreme Court session has ended until the fall. Let's take a moment to enjoy some of the lowlights from the last few months of decisions that we've covered here at Feministing. Feel free to add others in comments.

April 18th - Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court decides that outlawing abortion methods is fine, even if a woman's health is at risk.

Vanessa summed it up well. "We're fucked." From the decision:

Respondents have not demonstrated that the Act […] imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion based on its overbreadth or lack of a health exception.

Congrats, ladies. Your health is irrelevant.

May 29th - Ledbetter v. Goodyear

The Supreme Court decides that you can't file a pay discrimination complaint more than 180 days “after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred.�

Ann breaks it down, " 180 days isn't much time to figure out a pay disparity exists. How many people -- especially, for example, women in nontraditional professions -- talk openly with their coworkers about how much they're earning?"

June 28th - Parents Involved v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education

The Supreme Court strikes down, K-12 voluntary integration programs in public schools. The consideration of race for admissions was determined to be constitutional in colleges a few years ago. I guess they figure kids can wait.

Chief Justice Roberts said, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Pissed off me says the way to make schools more racially diverse is to fucking make schools more racially diverse.

Samhita notes:

The policy, cultural mindset and economic racism has been in place for a long time, but today the Supreme Court made the few slightly effective attempts at desegregation, that much less possible.

Quite a year they're having down at the Supreme Court. Fuckers.

By request, here's a round-up of my posts from Take Back America this week. I'm definitely glad I went, got to see some old friends, did a little netroots networking, and got some free food and drink. But overall, as I said a few times, the conference was frustrating.

It's upsetting to see progressive people (when we're alone together) get so bogged down in winning that they don't talk about who is always losing. And it's disappointing that issues like equality and justice are addressed for people in the Middle East, but not people in the Mid-West.

If the democratic party wants to be the party of progressive politics, it needs to recognize that "single issues" are about creating freedom for all of us, and are central to the fight. Maybe you can win elections against conservative republicans by using their tactics, but what have you really won? And, who still loses?

Here's a list of all the posts I did from the conference:

Last night I was excited to attend a dinner as part of the Women's Information Network (WIN) Women Opening Doors for Women event. The topic of our group dinner was Netroots: Women & the Internet Movement, all about the growing community of women doing progressive online work. Hey, that's what I do! What was so great about the dinner (aside from the amazing food spread and the special cocktail) was being surrounded by women who work in technology for a lot of great causes. There was networking, venting, some commiserating, and a great show of support for each other.

I asked the willing to share their thoughts towards the end of the evening. And as you'll notice from the background noise, there was a lot of fun had by all. So, take a look at what some of these great progressive women have to say. It was great to spend some time with peers, with different skills and experience, brought together by a desire to kick ass online. Many thanks to all of you fantastic ladies who shared your thoughs for this video and at the dinner.

For more information about the event and WIN, click here.

* The "series of tubes" is how the always wacky Ted Stevens described the internet last year.

Other titles i came up with were "when men close a door women open a WINdow edition" (get it? WIN, window?) and "Sisters are Doing for the Internet Edition." See? Those suck even worse.

Samhita's post about gentrification and "ghetto fabulousness" has, not shockingly, turned into quite a conversation about race and privilege. I think it's an important conversation to have, so let's do it. The whole thing is really getting to me for four reasons.

First, my back hurts.

Second, just last week a bunch of us were sitting at a ceremony celebrating the future of reproductive rights and justice - a diverse group of young women I am proud to be counted among. And now this. Good thing all of those women were young and tough. There's a lot that needs doing.

Third, instead of sitting here I'm supposed to be in Chicago rocking out at Sistersong.

And fourth, because as the headline says, you don't have to mean to be racist to say racist things. And I understand that most of the readers here don't want to be called racist. Fine. Then don't say racist things. I'm not sugar coating this one, folks. The following comments on Samhita's thread are either racist, or positively drowning in privilege. Regardless of how you meant it. Read them, and please take a moment to think about why I say this. Just like I assume we'd like well-meaning sexist people to think about why we respond the way we do to things they say.

I stopped writing this post and came back to it later. Now I'm not angry, I'm curious. I'd really like to hear from some of the folks whose comments I include. Thoughtfully, not just angry because you think I'm an asshole and calling you racist. I'm so rarely earnest, but I really mean it.

The following is from a very good friend of mine, Jennifer Conrow, who works at a clinic that provides abortions. I'm hoping this post will just be a preview of this important, and usually missing perspective. I can't speak to whether or not this Jen is currently hungover.

In the wake of the most recent anti-choice ambush of Planned Parenthood, I wanted to take a moment to introduce everyone to the world of independent abortion provision and the philosophy of care that most independent abortion providers strive for. This philosophy often gets lost in all of the hullabaloo surrounding the Big Scary Abortion Debate because most independent providers don’t have the money or time to launch a high profile campaign about the level of care provided within our walls. Our priority is helping the women (and their families) who seek our care while simultaneously trying to navigate the murky waters of public policy and ensuring the safety of our patients as they wade through protesters and have surgery. We are so often put on the defensive, waging never ending legal battles that we rarely have the opportunity to talk about how we care for patients.

My facility is one of only two dedicated abortion providers in my state that provides terminations to 24 weeks and 6 days in a pregnancy (yes, that’s 6 months; a fact that can sometimes challenge even the most pro-choice among us and is not lost on the small percentage of women who have terminations at that stage in pregnancy). What differentiates us from the other provider is our dedication to a holistic approach to abortion care. In our world abortion is not just about the physical removal of a pregnancy from the body, but it’s about the heart and emotional well being of our patients as well.

Due to some technical difficulties (namely my lack of internet access at home), there's no video this week. However, I do have a little story, and a follow-up question for everyone.

Last night I went out with some friends to celebrate an engagement. Good times. At bar number two, randomly, some guy (I'll call him White Linen Pants, or WLP for short) came over and hugged and kissed by friend on the head. Awkward! Later, we were dancing, and he came back again. And again. And again. Awkward the first time. Vaguely funny the second time. Irritating the third time. Seriously pissing me off by the fourth time. And this shit happens all the time. Nothing rare about it. This is not behavior I see women engaging in.

Sure, drunk people tend to be more friendly with strangers, which is fine. Maybe we'll talk to a group of people, but I've never seen a woman repeatedly return, touching, and physically pushing her way into a group like that. Here's what bugs me about it. At least two of the times WLP came to visit, none of us even talked to him. I certainly didn't say, "Hey, come over here, WLP. Put your arm around me, too." Don't even get me started on the woman he held on his shoulder and asked us to give "birthday spankings" to.

Before starting to write this, I took a little survey of some of the women I was with, and asked them, after the numerous visits, why didn't anyone tell him to go away. I got a few different answers. Some said because WLP wasn't really near them, or dancing with or hugging them individually, he wasn't bothering them. Another said she thought he was funny. And another said it never even occurred to her to ask him to go away. That got me thinking. Because I did think about asking him to go away. But I didn't. Not because I wasn't adamant about him leaving, but because I was worried about how it would seem. I didn't want to be the angry, mean girl. I didn't want to "spoil the fun." Except this guy's presence was spoiling some of the fun for me.

Instead of just having a great time with my friends, every time he came over, he was the center of attention, and I was annoyed. Along with the hangover, this left me thinking, especially about my very cool, feminist friend who didn't consider the option of asking this guy to go somewhere else.

I swear this isn't a plug, but one thing that has been sticking with me from Jessica's book is how important it is to analyze the things we do from a feminist perspective. Not to follow any sort of rules, but to really think about the reasons behind behavior. So that's what I'm doing.

Now, you help. What do you all think? Why didn't anyone say something (at least among those of us who wanted WLP to fuck off)? Was it the booze that made me want to put being "nice" to someone else above my own good time? And if, as someone just suggested to me, you think I'm "overreacting," why do you think so?

This week's report is about the always entertaining topic of abstinence-only programs.

(Thanks Amber for introducing me to the term Vessel of Honor)

This week's video is up early because I'm going to be heading up to New York for the big Feministing Birthday shindig tomorrow.

P.S. Trust me, my taste in television shows is the least of hundreds of embarrassing things about me. Come to the party tomorrow and I promise you'll see at least a dozen.

No one should be surprised about the topic of this week's report.

The other ladies have been talking about this too. Go read them:

BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Federal Abortion Ban
"Today's decision is alarming."
More on today's SCOTUS decision
Quick Hit: Supreme Court upholds ban on "partial-birth" abortion
Anti-choicers dizzy with joy

Wanna know why we're talking about this? Very simple. Here's another quote from the decision.

Respondents have not demonstrated that the Act, as a facial matter, is void for vagueness, or that it imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion based on its overbreadth or lack of a health exception.

What do I think of that? Well, watch the video.