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"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
Check out Newsday’s article on the last standing abortion clinic in Mississippi, and the lead that the state has taken in the war on reproductive rights.
There used to be seven clinics available to get an abortion. Yet over the recent years, Mississippi has become widely known as a state that is intent on abolishing the procedure from its territory. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is now the last clinic remaining.
Mississippi reached a peak of abortions in 1991, when 8,814 were reported. The number dropped more than half in 2002, and last year the figures were less than one-third of the national rate. The state recently passed the new “conscience clause” in effect (allowing any health care provider to refuse an abortion or emergency contraception). It’s one of the only two states requiring consent of both parents for a minor to get an abortion (the other state is North Dakota). Along with Texas, it also requires that women seeking abortions be told -- despite the National Cancer Institute’s findings -- that abortion may increase their risk of breast cancer.
Wow. If the last clinic is closed, I say we just move all the anti-choicers there to live in their merry utopia state o' "morals".
Susan Sontag, a renowned feminist, author and playwright, died on Tuesday in a New York cancer hospital at the age of 71. She was one of the most esteemed writers of her generation, as well as a passionate human rights activist.
She was born on January 16, 1933 in New York, and was raised in Tuscon, Arizona and Los Angeles. She attended the University of Chicago at the early age of 16 and later went to Harvard and Oxford to study. She returned to New York when she was 26 and was an anti-war activist and cultural critic in the 60s. From then on she wrote various plays and novels, including In America, which won the U.S. National Book Award in 2000.
She continued to write essays this year, much on the war in Iraq and the failings of the Bush administration.
This week a new independent women’s magazine will hit the stands. The publication is not particularly about women, but written by women about various global issues, concentrating on solution-based commentary rather than the typical focus on crises and war.
World Pulse features women journalists from around the world, and includes articles on a range of issues, such as human trafficking, the drug war, and perspectives on the recent U.S. elections. The magazine was created by Executive Editor Jensine Larsen, whose inspiration stemmed from working as a freelance journalist on ethnic cleansing in Burma and indigenous movements in South America. The experience made her realize that there was a substantial lack of solutions-focused news as well as women’s voices in media coverage on global issues, and decided to do something about it.
It looks like this is going to be a great project. Look out for newsstands!
The City Council in San Antonio, Texas recently approved a measure that will require strippers to wear permits while they are on stage.
According to the Associated Press, the reasoning behind this deliberate public shaming of women (called a “human display ordinance,” puh-leeze) is to make it easier for police to identify dancers.
Um, isn’t stripping legal? And I’m guessing if you’re in a strip club, it would be pretty easy to identify who the dancers are. If the local cops can’t figure that shit out on their own, I’d say the City Council has a lot more to worry about than strippers.
A lawyer for clubs in the area is arguing against the measure, pointing out that it is pretty fucking dangerous for a woman to wear a piece of paper that displays her name and address.
But hey, what’s wrong with accommodating potential stalkers, right?
Check out Women’s eNews’ article from Sunday on the discrimination and abuses that transgendered people and lesbians endure in homeless shelters. It looks into the reasons behind these occurrences and the failure of the shelter system to provide gender-appropriate services.
Although the Department of Homeless Services insists that they work hard to ensure that people are respectful, it looks like individual shelters don’t play by the rules, says Jay Toole. Toole is a shelter inspector with the Coalition for the Homeless in New York and a community organizer for the Queers for Economic Justice network.
In the past, Toole lived in shelters herself. In her shelters, beatings and rape of lesbians by guards and other workers were common and continue to occur. Lesbian couples also face the discrimination of various forms of proof of interdependency that are required in order to stay in the same shelter (forms of proof that are easily acquired by a married couple).
Transgendered women in particular are in shit because they're usually sent to men’s shelters, where they're raped and beaten as well. Toole says the men just see them as “girly men” that need toughening up. Much of the time they also have to comply with standards of the men’s shelters by dressing as men, and are not given access to gender-appropriate health services as well.
The total number of people who enter the NYC shelter system on any night is about 36,000, which is a 75% increase from 1998. On top of that, the number of women in the shelter system has nearly doubled from 5,200 to 10,000 over the last 6 years.
And this is in New York. I can only imagine what goes on in other cities.
It looks like Martha Stewart’s new home in the can has motivated her to speak up about women’s prisons. Her Christmas message this year is not full of cookie recipes or how to make a fabulous wreath out of hair, but about the need for address towards women’s treatment in prisons. Here’s a section of her Christmas message:
“I beseech you all to think about these women--to encourage the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared for life ‘out there’ where each person will ultimately find herself, many with no skills and no preparation for living.”
Good for her. But if this is going to be a new interest she’s taking on, hopefully she’ll divulge more about the serious problem of sexual and physical abuse, medical neglect (which includes reproductive health), and discrimination based on race and sexual orientation that incarcerated women are subjected to.
I'm too horrified to write anything about this. A Small Victory has compiled a list of organizations taking donations to help the earthquake victims. Go there. Be generous.
Last week, the LA Times reported something extremely disturbing on the contest to replace Terry McAuliffe as the head of the Democratic National Committee:
The debate is focused on curbing the party's support of abortion rights.
The article reports, "The leading candidate, former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, an abortion foe...argues that the party cannot rebound from its losses in the November election unless it shows more tolerance on [abortion,] one of society's most emotional conflicts....Party leaders say...they are looking at ways to soften the hard line, such as promoting adoption and embracing parental notification requirements for minors and bans on late-term abortions."
According to the BBC, there is a growing trend among Western Europe's well-to-do to travel to Romania for egg donations. Wait-lists for egg donations in the UK may be as long as seven years, while they are readily available in the Romanian market.
In Bucharest, women earn up to £150 for donating their eggs. Due to Romania's relatively low standard of living, earning more than a month's wages for egg donation may seem like a steal. However, given the extensive medical procedures involved in the donation, including hormone treatments and surgical egg retrieval, the profit isn't as great as it may seem.
This is an issue that I have a hard time wrapping my head around. I believe in giving women agency to make decisions about their body. And I think that women should have the ability to use their bodies for financial gain or to help others. *BUT* given the realities of international political economies, I feel uncomfortable in advocating for the right of affluent Western women to travel abroad and consume the eggs of women in lesser developed countries.
Dr. Stephen Wilkinson, a medical ethics specialist, notes that: "[Egg donation] is such a difficult area of ethics. One the one hand, people are benefiting from the money. But on the other, we do have this residual concern about exploitation and about inducing women to do something that's not in their best interests." Ummm yeah. Not to mention the underlying issues of xenophobia and racism.
Also, interesting to note is that in both the UK and the US women are paid for their "time and effort" in the egg donation process--not for the eggs themselves. The idea behind this policy is that payment should not be the primary motivation in donation. BUT considering that women in their twenties are the target suppliers of eggs, this ethical consideration seems out of touch with the realities of the market. Thoughts?
Jo An Corrales, Marlon Brando's former business manager, has filed a $3.5 million suit against the deceased actor's estate, accusing him of sexual harassment.
Clearly it's awful if she was harassed by Brando, but suing a dead guy? Come on now.
Illegal abortions kill one in four pregnant women in Gabon
Now this is some seriously disturbing news. Reuters (through Integrated Regional Information Networks) reported today that in Gabon, illegal abortion killed more than 25 percent of pregnant women in 2001. It was also reported that many of these women were teenagers.
Abortion is illegal in Gabon, unless the life of the woman is in danger. I would say that more than one in four pregnant women dying counts as lives being in dager, wouln't you?
The Associated Press reported today that Japan is setting up a task force to consider allowing an empress, something that is now banned by a post-World War II law.
Unfortunately, it's not really for a seeking-to-end-sexism kind of reason:
Japanese law bans women from ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne. But no boy has been born to the Japanese royal family since the 1960s, and government officials have been fretting about how to solve the royals' most serious succession crisis in centuries.
We hope all of you had a great holiday weekend are making amazing plans for the upcoming New Year celebrations...
Just a quick thing:
Don't know if anyone noticed this in the NY Times magazine yesterday, but it was too laughable not bring up:
Check out the headline for one of the articles (the whole mag was "The Lives They Lived," focusing on different folks lives who died this year):
RUSS MEYER, B. 1922
The Man Who Really, Really Loved Women
By CHRIS GORE
He couldn't take his eyes off his actresses' breasts. But deep down, they say, he was a true feminist.
Um, ok. I'm game.
Russ Meyer was a filmmaker and Playboy photographer. And according to Tura Satana (a former star of his films) was also a feminist because:
He loved to make women look good. I have never seen any of the gals in his films look bad. And the men in his movies were always incapacitated in some way. They were either in a wheelchair or on crutches or short of a full deck. He liked to make women strong, make them feel that they were empowered.
Uhh...ok. Last time I checked, making women look good didn't qualify you as a feminist. And of course it's great to make women empowered in films, but no so much if you have to cripple men to do it. Creepy.
Check out yesterday's article from the Village Voice, "Superwoman 2.0", which discusses the economic struggles that that our generation has to endure as young women in American society.
There is also another article on this issue on the generation debt that is specifically directed towards men, "I, Breadwinner?", which deals with young lads' own economic conflicts that can arise.
Interesting articles, but I was a bit disappointed with the heteronormative/nuclear family vibe.
I'm curious to know what y'all think, so feel free to comment...
As an update to my post earlier this month on complaints being made by women being violated and humiliated during patdowns in airports, it looks like some action has finally been taken.
NBC11.com reported yesterday that the government has modified screening procedures for female passengers, prohibiting security to feel in between their breasts, which they were formerly allowed to do. Now they are only authorized to check the perimeter of the chest, backside and stomach.
So is this a good change? Sure. Will women no longer feel invaded during airport screenings? Eh, I don't know about that. Let's hope this is just a start.
It looks like the conservative radio giant, Clear Channel Communications, has shifted their focus from their pro-war antics to another target: insecure young women.
Titling their new enhancement program, “The Breast Christmas Ever”, they are running a number of contests on their radio stations where young women send in letters and pictures, hoping to be the lucky winner to get breast implants for the holiday, reports CBS News. The listeners vote, ultimately deciding which woman “deserves” it the most. They apparently claim it a “noble cosmetic self-help exercise” that saves young women’s self-esteem. Give me a fucking break.
The contests also require the lucky winners to send in “before and after” pictures of themselves (one station insisted they be topless), as well as sign a liability release that frees Clear Channel, their radio stations and the plastic surgeons of any future problems with their implants. So not only are they promoting sexist and voyeurist ideas, but potentially putting women’s health in danger.
Don’t you just love the holidays?
To take action against this ridiculously degrading shit, here are some contacts:
Clear Channel:
Mark Mays, President and Chief Executive Officer
1-210-822-2828
MarkPMays@clearchannel.com
FCC:
1-888-CALL-FCC
fccinfo@fcc.gov
Or if any of y’all live in these areas, you can call individual stations:
Radio Stations:
95.5 WKQI FM Detroit, MI
248-967-3750
Because Social Security Matters & Privatization Isn't the Answer
Reuters reports that things aren't looking good for Bush's social security plan. In case you haven't been following, his plan allows workers to divert a portion of their retirement contributions into an individual investment account. Sound good? Think again...
Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America's Future, a progressive platform of labor, minority and women's organizations explains that, "Bush's plan [would] dismantle America's most successful social protection and anti-poverty program." Why? Heidi Hartmann of the National Council of Women's Organizations explains that, "Social Security is critical to women, because it offers lifetime guaranteed benefits, higher returns for low-earning workers, cost-of-living adjustments and spousal benefits for widows and divorced women." In fact, more than half of elderly women would live in poverty without the limited protections of social security.
While critics contend that the stock market generally *is* the only way to make long-term returns on investment, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond challenges this assumption, explaining that, "African Americans cannot afford to see their future raffled off in a risky stock market gamble." Further, those individuals who do manage to turn a profit will find that their returns are "taxed" by administrative costs. For those who earn less & invest less, the administrative costs will be proportionally greater and the net returns smaller. (sigh).
So who exactly stands to benefit from this plan? John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO contends that: "The only group that would benefit from privatization is the financial service industry,
