By Jessica • 18 years ago

Being “rescued” from sex work

The New York Times magazine had a piece yesterday profiling Womyn’s Agenda for Change (WAC) in Cambodia, an advocacy organization that helps organize and improve working conditions for sex workers:
By tacitly accepting sex workers’ choice of livelihood, WAC stands on one side of a growing divide among aid groups. Since the U.S.’s policy shift, more and more of the other groups working with sex workers in Cambodia are what are often known as ”rescue” organizations. The rescue groups, like Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire and the Christian evangelical International Justice Mission, contend that sex work is virtually always oppressive and that many or most prostitutes are trafficked into the business against their wills. Both organizations ...

The New York Times magazine had a piece yesterday profiling Womyn’s Agenda for Change (WAC) in Cambodia, an advocacy organization that helps organize and improve working conditions for sex workers:
By tacitly accepting sex workers’ ...
By Samhita • 18 years ago

San Jose State women stage “renegade” ordination

This is pretty badass.
On Monday, Victoria Rue of Watsonville will drape herself in a white robe and take a controversial step as part of her journey to become a better spiritual leader. She’ll also be performing a grave sin in the eyes of her church.
The San Jose State University instructor will join eight other women in a renegade “ordination” as priests — an act she is fully aware is forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church and could bring her excommunication. She doesn’t care.
The women are part of a tiny organization that began in Germany and Austria in 2002 called Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The first seven women to hold their homegrown “ordination” ceremony on the Danube River ...

This is pretty badass.
On Monday, Victoria Rue of Watsonville will drape herself in a white robe and take a controversial step as part of her journey to become a better spiritual leader. She’ll also be ...
By Samhita • 18 years ago

Badass women voters in Afghanistan

Reuters…
Female civic educators have been dispatched to provincial areas of Afghanistan to promote awareness of the forthcoming parliamentary elections among women, officials at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) announced on Thursday in the capital, Kabul.
“We have to use all possible means to deliver election information to women in rural areas where the majority of women are illiterate,” Nafisa Kohistani a MoWA public information officer said. Cultural sensitivities and discrimination against women are likely to discourage female involvement in the historic poll slated for 18 September, observers say.
Oftentimes, lack of education does in fact keep potential voters out of the loop, as we have seen in the States as well. This project plans to ...

Reuters…
Female civic educators have been dispatched to provincial areas of Afghanistan to promote awareness of the forthcoming parliamentary elections among women, officials at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) announced on Thursday in the capital, ...
By Samhita • 18 years ago

Rights for Iraqi Women

As the new constitution in Iraq is being drafted several NGO’s working in the Middle East are urging the drafters to incorporate women’s rights.
Reuters reports…
Some 20 NGOs, from Jordan, the occupied Palestinian territories and Iraq, raised their concerns at an international conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, this week.
The event was organised by Spain’s Movement For Peace, Disarmament and Liberty (MPDL).
“It is vital that policy-makers in Iraq listen to and act upon the needs of women, and ensure that women’s rights are protected,” head of mission of MPDL-Iraq, Audrey Palama, said on Thursday.
MPDL is working with women in the Middle East to create a space for face-to-face dialogue on gender issues.
“Iraq is ...

As the new constitution in Iraq is being drafted several NGO’s working in the Middle East are urging the drafters to incorporate women’s rights.
Reuters reports…
Some 20 NGOs, from Jordan, the occupied Palestinian territories and ...
By noauthor • 18 years ago

How to Make a Feminist Video Game?

Thanks to the recent Grand Theft Auto controversy, a closer look is being taken at the gender dynamics that undercut the video game industry.
According the A.P., only 4% of software engineers in the video game industry are women. Tammy Yap, a game programmer for six years, told the AP that she had never worked with another female programmer.
Why so low? Anthony Borquez, director of University of Southern California’s Integrated Media Systems Center, hypothesizes that: “A lot of women think that there isn’t much video game content for them. The perception is that video games are just shoot-em-ups with half-naked women running around.” Yapp also notes that: “Game magazines have ...

Thanks to the recent Grand Theft Auto controversy, a closer look is being taken at the gender dynamics that undercut the video game industry.
According the A.P., only 4% of software engineers in ...
By noauthor • 18 years ago

Domestic Violence Increase in LGBT Relationships

A new report released by the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) this week found that domestic violence in LGBT relationships increased 16% in 2003 and 21% in 2004.
Clarence Patton, acting director of AVP, notes that, “In 2004 alone, there was a 35 percent increase in serious injuries and a 71 percent increase in deaths or murders that occurred as a result of the violence.”
Why? Diane R. Dolan-Soto, AVP’s director of programs and co-author of the report, does not think that increased reporting is the only culprit. Dolan-Soto explains that: “We’re living in a society that is in the middle of a war, that condones violence against LGBT folks, and is ...

A new report released by the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) this week found that domestic violence in LGBT relationships increased 16% in 2003 and 21% in 2004.
Clarence Patton, acting ...

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