"I love feministing.com and always learn from it." Katha Pollitt, The Nation
"Many people need a morning "fix." For some, it's coffee. For others, it's "SportsCenter." For me, it's Feministing.com." Katie Stone, The Denver Post
"Feminism is fun again! Every bit as edifying as your women's studies books from college, but with a biting sense of humor that keeps things punchy, not preachy." Marie Claire, December 2006
"Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC is proud to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president. Sen. Obama has been a strong advocate for a woman's right to choose throughout his career in public office. He steadfastly supports and defends a woman's right to make the most personal, private decisions regarding her reproductive health without interference from government or politicians.
"Sen. Obama has been a leader on this issue in the United States Senate. Since joining the Senate in 2005, he has worked to unite Americans on both side of this debate behind commonsense, common-ground ways to prevent unintended pregnancy. Sen. Obama supports legislation to provide our teens with comprehensive sex education, prevent pharmacies from denying women access to their legal birth-control prescriptions, and increase access to family-planning services.
Ellen Malcolm of EMILY's List was not pleased. She released the following statement today:
"I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton - who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade - to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process. It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them."
Though Malcolm has been hitting this theme pretty hard lately, I have a hard time seeing NARAL's endorsement as a betrayal. It looks to me like they simply came to terms with the delegate count.
NARAL president Nancy Keenan took pains to note Clinton's excellent record on choice:
"Americans have been fortunate to have two fully pro-choice candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination. But only one can go forward to the general election. It is truly historic for us to have these two outstanding candidates in the race."
Unlike EMILY's List, NARAL has no stated commitment to supporting female pro-choice politicians. As Keenan says, Clinton and Obama both have phenomenal records on this issue. If NARAL truly believed Obama to be the superior candidate on choice, they could have made this endorsement months ago. (Such a move would have been far more damaging to Clinton.) I do have to ask, though, why NARAL chose to endorse now rather than, say, after one of the candidate has officially dropped out?
I wonder if NARAL is going to lose donor support over this move. I've gotta believe that a lot of NARAL's core donors are Clinton supporters. Also, is this a bad move in general because it's likely to be spun, in the media, as a "catfight" between pro-choice organizations? Other groups, such as the National Women's Political Caucus, have chastised NARAL's endorsement because they "believe that this announcement at this time will divide the choice community at a time when we need to stand united." Similar themes are popping up in this comment thread over at Blog for Choice.
Thoughts, y'all? (Please, please keep it civil. Both Clinton and Obama supporters are participants in this blog community. Be kind.)
Monica Wade was born and raised in Oakland, CA. She is now the Office Manager of Justice Now and is also the founder and director of Tender Care, transitional housing for those who need and want to be in a safe and healthy environment. She was incarcerated for 10 years of her life and knows what goes on behind prison walls and the torture and pain people go through.
Once a person is released, then what? What if they’ve been there 25 years? Then what? Children are all up and grown; rest of the family is dead or married. Where do they go? And how do they support themselves?
Once you’re incarcerated and you get out, things change. The people that you know have changed. The job fields have changed. So you’re dealing with all these changes all around, and you, personally, are changed.
You have to have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. You have to be able to take care of yourself. When you’re starting all over from scratch, that takes money. It costs to live.
And that’s where transitional housing comes in. I started Tender Care as support for people coming back to their community. “Community-based” jails and prisons are not the answer. The answer is to provide people with what they are lacking, whether it be a place to stay, a skill, or just a caring hand.
I’ve been around re-entry for over 40 years of my life. I can tell my clients, “I’ve been in your shoes before”. But we need more support for transitional housing that is community-run. All the programs that we offer at Tender Care are by organizations run by ex -felons that have made a difference in the community. We have our own solutions.
Students, that is, not Washington University, which still plans to award an honorary degree to anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly. The students who oppose honoring Schlafly have made a website:
They're raising awareness about some of the reprehensible positions Schlafly has taken with regard to women's place in society. They picketed the chancellor's home. And they're instructing students:
If you are opposed to Washington University’s decision to award Schlafly an honorary doctorate please join us by SILENTLY STANDING and TURNING YOUR BACK when Schlafly is granted her degree.
That was among the actions suggested in comments here! Commencement is in two days, and I hope there's footage of the protest...
As you probably noticed, we're having some tech issues. It's a problem with our webhost, so the site may be intermittently unavailable today. Apologies for the inconvenience; we're hoping the issue will be resolved shortly.
Starting next year, survivors of sexual assault will be able to undergo anonymous rape kits.
Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.
The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples.
Some hospitals already offer anonymous rape kits, but most states refuse to cover the cost of the exam (approximately $800) unless the survivor files a police report.
Beginning in 2009, states will have to pay for Jane Doe rape kits to continue receiving funding under the federal Violence Against Women Act, which provides tax dollars for women's shelters and law enforcement training. States will decide how many locations will offer anonymous rape exams and how long the evidence should be kept.
Last month the NY Times reported that the Defense Department fed talking points to former generals who appeared on cable news. Now the DoD has released a lot of those talking points to the public. Alyssa Rosenberg went through the documents, and found that a number of them instruct the generals to trumpet all the awesome stuff the U.S. military is doing for women in Iraq and Afghanistan -- painting people like Donald Rumsfeld as some sort of savior for downtrodden women all over the world, and conveniently downplaying things like sexual assault by U.S. soldiers.
The talking points actually included this awful story:
Except for this one, from September 23, 2004: "Sally's children were taken away from her more than six months ago. Her husband beat her. Her brother threatened her life while holding a gun to her head. Her own father contracted her deal with a $5,000 reward. Sally, an Iraqi translator, lost everything by working to help Americans rebuild Iraq. Still, she feels her service with Americans is the right thing for her country. ‘I lost everything I have, but I have gained so much,' Sally said. ‘If I had to do it over again I would. I help the Americans help my people.'"
Rosenberg writes,
The anecdote is meant to be an illustration of how much Iraqis love their American liberators; but given how Iraqi translators have been abandoned by the Americans they helped, it's a grotesquely ironic PR ploy.
Almost five years after the Defense Department promoted Sally's story, domestic violence in Iraq is skyrocketing, female illiteracy rates are 10 times higher than they were in the 1980s, and in the past few months more than 40 women--and in two cases their children--have been murdered for defying dress codes. I wonder if Sally still feels like working for Americans was worth it.
After it became clear there were no WMD in Iraq, the Bush administration began using things like women's rights as a reason for its violent occupation of another country. And now that this war has dragged on for five years -- and women's rights in Iraq and Afghanistan have clearly deteriorated, not improved -- it's all the more infuriating to look back and see how military spokespeople (even though they weren't identified as such) used women to justify the war.
For more on the state of women's rights in Iraq -- not filtered through DoD talking points -- check out Women for Women's 2008 Iraq report (PDF). (via)
Hey folks, just a note to say that posting may be slow today. I have a flu/cold that's kicking my ass, despite all the Sudafed I'm forcing myself to take. (Any tips for getting better sooner would be much appreciated. I'm a garlic-clove-eating person myself, but it's not working.)
In the meantime, enjoy the picture above - a little something I like to call "shoe graveyard." It's what Andrew and I came home to on Monday night after a long dinner. Monty has never been much of a shoe-eating dog, but it seems he got it all out of his system at once. I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite shoes, but the cute-guilty look on Monty's face was almost worth it. Almost.
Lynsay Skiba is the Reigle Human Rights Fellow at Justice Now. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where she focused her studies on human rights law.
Many people who are pregnant inside California’s women’s prisons experience some form of mistreatment on a daily basis: they are deprived of basic information about their pregnancy; they lack access to responsive and consistent medical and mental health care; they endure degrading treatment at the hands of some prison staff; they lack control over important lifestyle choices impacting pregnancy such as diet and physical activity; and they are forced to cope with the prospect of being separated form their newborn shortly after birth, in some cases permanently.
Driving this mistreatment is the prison system’s apathetic and punishment-driven approach toward people in prison and their medical and mental health needs. What this means is that while people in women’s prisons who do not experience physical or mental problems during their pregnancies may receive treatment and experience medical outcomes that are unremarkable by accepted medical standards, those who have physical complications, mental health problems, or who choose to challenge their treatment are vulnerable to serious consequences, including death.
Using a participatory model of human rights documentation, Justice Now partners with those most impacted by these issues – people inside the two state prisons that house pregnant people – to expose pregnancy-related abuses through an international human rights framework. Together we have found that these prisons consistently violate the human rights to family, information, health, bodily integrity, dignified treatment, life, and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
Miriam already acquainted you with the Wanderlust Reproductive Justice Bike Tour with the fabulous Nora Dye and the Pro-Choice Public Education Project. Well, this week they're holding a fundraiser in NYC to support the awesome bikers taking part in this trip for justice, so get your wallets out and drinking hats on and show Wanderlust some love. (Or donate if you can't make it!) In the meantime, check our their travel blog.
* Wanderlust 2008: A Benefit *
featuring Mint Juleps and Southern Burlesque
Thursday, May 15th from 6:30 to 11 PM
@ Stonewall Inn
53 Christopher Street at 7th Ave South
$10 - $20 Sliding Scale donation requested
(all proceeds go directly to the Wanderlust bike tour)
9 PM raffle with fabulous prizes from yoga studios, Good Vibrations, and more!
When a disaster occurs, don’t forget the gendered aspects. During the chaos, women can be more vulnerable to rape and violence by intimate partners. They may trade their bodies for aid. Because women often care for the young, the old and the sick, they may have greater needs or different needs than men. In many cultures, women have to protect their honor or dignity in different ways that may hinder their ability to get help.
With extensive community ties, women also can have an advantage in distributing aid after a disaster.
Cara also links to this research showing that, in countries where women do not have equal rights, they are more likely to be killed by natural disasters:
Professor Neumayer said: 'The feminists got it right. Natural disasters are a tragedy in their own right but in countries with existing gender discrimination women are the worst hit. While most disasters cannot be prevented, policy makers, international and humanitarian organizations must develop better policies to address the special needs of women in the wake of large-scale natural disasters.'
To Help:
MADRE: "MADRE is working with the Women's Human Rights Defenders Network and Burmese women's organizations. We learned from our work with women's organizations in the aftermath of the tsunami that, in order to best identify and meet the communities' needs, we must rely on the local women's organizations." Donate here.
American Red Cross International Response Fund: Every day people around the world are suffering from countless crises, like the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China. Your gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund helps provide them immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support. Donate here or call 1-800-HELP NOW.
Michelle “Cookie” Concepcion works with Justice Now for the benefit of all prisoners by exposing Correction’s lies of discipline, security and rehabilitation with the truths of abuse, fear and indoctrination.
Wearing boxers makes women less female and more violent. Well that’s the perception by officers and staff at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). I know this because I am an inmate at CCWF and have been harassed because of the type and sizes of the clothes I wear. I also prefer to wear boxers instead of panties. This is a rule violation. I have been verbally counseled, written up and charged money for possessing the less female, more violent boxers.
How does the size of my clothes or the type of underwear I have on change my character of affect my behavior? I have asked staff that question numerous times. The answer I receive is usually, “you are a female you should dress like one.” I promise, if allowed to wear boxers, I will not fall prey to their negative influence on my femaleness.
Lately a lot of time and money has been spent on mandatory “Gender Responsive” training for all the officers and staff. The objective of this training is to define differences between female and male inmates. The basic ideology is that females commit crimes because they are victims, whereas males are just bad and mean. This must be where they learned how dangerous it is for females to wear boxers.
I am very very excited this week to present our Voices of series for May featuring the amazing organization Justice Now. Justice Now is located in Oakland CA and works at the intersection of violence against women and incarceration and prison expansion. They are one of the amazing organizations that fights for prison abolition.
In their own words,
Our mission is to end violence against women and stop their imprisonment. We believe that prisons and policing are not making our communities safe and whole but that, in fact, the current system severely damages the people it imprisons and the communities most affected by it. We promote alternatives to policing and prisons and challenge the prison industrial complex in all its forms.
This weeks posts will blow your minds both from women inside the prison system to advocates working alongside them.
Thank you Justice Now for joining us in our Voices of series! Give em some extra love feministing fam!
Reader Katherine Chun Eriksen, who is graduating from Washington University in St. Louis this week, wrote us to ask about what action we'd suggest to respond to her school's decision to "honor" Phyllis "Martial Rape Doesn't Exist" Schlafly. Katherine writes,
The "honorary" degree being presented to Phyllis Schlafly has caused quite a stir on campus and we are in the process of trying to decide how to protest the presentation during Commencement. I was wondering if you would be able to help us out by asking your readers to submit ideas for our protest. We would like to maintain the dignity and solemnity of the event while still making our point clear to those in attendance. We are looking for something that cannot be labeled at "juvenile" or "immature".
So we thought we'd take a cue from Feministe Feedback, and pose the question to you, dear readers. Do you have activism suggestions for the feminists at Wash U?
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is lobbying to get the video game rated "adults only" (effectively killing it in the US market, where major console manufacturers won't support AO games) because there's one scene in the game where you have the option to drive drunk. Apparently none of the good ladies of MADD have ever played GTA, since if they had they might have discovered that when you try to drive drunk, the video game informs you that you should take a cab. If you do drive, the cops immediately chase you down. Which is exactly the sort of move you'd expect from this sly, fun game, which hit stores last week.
I actually stand at a different point than MADD and I don't necessarily support the censorship of the game, I don't really think censorship works. The more ratings and labels you put on something, the edgier and sexier it becomes. Censorship doesn't change the fact that violence and misogynist sex scenes make up the bulk of edgy popular culture or that violence is a serious problem for youth today and so is the sexualization of women, along with violence against women.
On some level, I do agree with proponents of GTA 4. Several of my friends have said, "but it is just fun." I don't deny that advances in video game technology are in fact mind-blowing and down right incredible and the they are fun. Hello, I am a blogger, I get the nerd new-cool-fun-fangled-technology thing.
What I can't get down with is justifying blatant misogyny by calling it art.
If GTA4 were a movie, it would have been directed by Martin Scorsese or David O. Russell, and we'd all be ooohing and aaahhing over its dark, ironic vision of immigrant life in a world at war with itself. But because GTA4 is a video game, where players are in the driver's seat, so to speak, it freaks people out. Earlier installments of GTA-inspired feminist and cultural-conservative outrage (you have the option to kill prostitutes!), and concern over moral turpitude from Hillary Clinton (you can beat cops to death! Or anybody!).
I think it is really problematic to lump all criticisms of GTA4 together. I believe at some point, I was written about along with a conservative writer (shudder to think) and that is not giving the full range of view points space to air their concerns. I am pretty sure if a movie had prostitute killing in it, I would write about it, but that is besides the point. GTA4 is not a movie, it is bigger than a movie. In fact, movies switched around their release dates for the release of GTA4. In the first week out it has grossed 500 million dollars. Furthermore, it is played, repeatedly and it is a role playing game, where you are the person engaging in violent acts. It is a fantasy, your fantasy. Perhaps there is a moment of identification like this with movies, but it is different then actually acting someth
* Wanderlust 2008: 
