Weekly Feminist Reader

Or, “everything we didn’t have time to blog about.” A new Feministing feature!
Molly Ivins lays out the reasons she wouldn’t vote for Hillary.
Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can’t get up and fight, we’ll find someone who can.
Legal Momentum compares (or, more accurately, contrasts) Alito and O’Connor.
The Associated Press reports the U.S. Army is kidnapping the wives of insurgents in Iraq and using them as bargaining chips.
During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF [Task Force] personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target’s surrender,” wrote the 14-year veteran officer.
The Chicago Tribune has an in-depth package examining women crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
AlterNet reminds us that illegal abortions are on the rise.
“Our local hospital tells me they see 12-20 patients per year, who have already self-induced or had illegal abortions. Some make it, some don’t. They are underage or poor women mostly, and a few daughters of pro-life families…”
After a Kansas judge dismissed Attorney General Phill Kline’s appeal to end state funding for abortions, Kline says he won’t appeal the decision.
Candidates for House Majority Leader are touting their anti-choice records.
Inside Higher Ed covers the new AAUW report about sexual harassment on campus.
[Anti-feminist Christina Hoff] Sommers also said that she found it interesting that the numbers on harassment were so close, considering that there are fewer men than women on many college campuses. “For many women on campus, their problems are not ones of harassment,” she said. “It’s that they can’t get a date.”
A United Nations event honoring Mukhtar Mai was cancelled after Pakistan lobbied against it, arguing that it would be embarrassing to the Prime Minister. Mai is a Pakistani woman was publicly gang-raped on orders of a village court.
In the winter issue of Ms., Anita Hill tells us what the failed Miers nomination reveals about Bush.
I believe that George Bush’s presentation of Miers reflected his own cynical view of women’s, and perhaps minorities’, qualifications for such a prestigious position. And I’m concerned that the failed Miers nomination will make it that much harder for future women judicial nominees.
A new study shows that the Pill does not cause women to gain weight.
Kaiser summarizes recent state-level actions affecting women’s health.
A high-school girl in Tennessee was recently allowed to return to her weightlifting class, after she was barred from the course and assigned an office job instead. Administrators had cited “safety issues.”
ABC News reports the unfortunate but unsurprising statistic that women ages 16-24 are more than any other age group to be victims of dating violence.
Media Matters dissects coverage of the anti-Roe march in D.C.