2006 August Archive | Feministing

As long as they’re bought and paid for…

Feminist Law Profs points to this truly disgusting excerpt from the Economist’s obituary for Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda.

The Americans, fed up at last with his wiliness and his human-rights abuses, began to part company with him in the late 1970s. Paraguayans as a whole, however, were much slower to be disillusioned. It was true that he treated the country as his fief, to the point of picking out teenage girls for himself when he presented school diplomas; but he paid for the girls, set them up in houses, and gave their relatives money.

Get that? So long as you provide housing and pay for your teenage sex slaves, it’s not such a big deal. Good to ...

Feminist Law Profs points to this truly disgusting excerpt from the Economist’s obituary for Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda.

The Americans, fed up at last with his wiliness and his human-rights abuses, began to ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Women cops less likely to take bribes?

This is just weird.

Russia is to create its first women-only traffic police unit because commanders believe they are less corrupt than men, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The male-dominated traffic police routinely forgive traffic violations in exchange for bribes. Many believe this culture helps make Russia’s roads among the world’s most dangerous: about 35,000 people are killed in accidents each year.

Regional police chief Mikhail Tsukruk says that “there is research which proves that women are not inclined to bribe-taking.” Um, huh?

This is just weird.

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Why Woodstock blogging is fun

This is the view from my desk/deck.

I know it has nothing to do with feminism, but I’m from NYC and I got all excited to see deer. Apologies.

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Quick Hit: Baby Mania

Check out Infertile in a baby-crazed world in Glamour, by Lynn Harris (a contributing writer at Salon among other things). It’s great stuff.
I have to admit, I find the whole “bump watching” thing completely fascinating. A full uterus is the new black, it seems.

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Designer pepper spray!

Ok, I have no idea why I find this so appealing…but I do.
Pepperface is designed “to provide dependable, effective self-defense without compromising style or convenience.”
Shit, you don’t even need the pepper spray part–the Bedazzled exterior is enough to blind an attacker!
Via PopGadget.

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Go comment on Forbes forum!

Now. Please.
The discussion board for the infamous Forbes article has taken a nasty anti-feminist turn. Just check out some of these oh-so-clever comments:

I guess the feminazis have the power now to censor all opinion that does not suit them.
I’m grateful for Forbes to publish this – very few western media outlets would even dream to publish something like this – such is the anti-male grip on society.
I’m quite sick of the anti-male hysteria that is generated by the media and by government bodies.
There’s nothing wrong with dating career women, except the obnoxiously loud one’s or the ugly one’s.

And this is just the first couple of nasty comments I saw. There are ...

Now. Please.
The discussion board for the infamous Forbes article has taken a nasty anti-feminist turn. Just check out some of these oh-so-clever comments:

I guess the feminazis have the power now to censor ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Not-so-shocking headline of the day

South Dakota becomes abortion focal point

The Washington Post has a piece up on the renewed focus on South Dakotaâ€™s proposed abortion ban, now that November is creeping up on us. (You may remember, pro-choice activists collected more than twice the signatures necessary to get the ban on ballot.)

South Dakota is the unlikely home of this year’s most intense duel over abortion, a Nov. 7 referendum to decide the future of HB 1215, a measure that would institute a broad ban on the procedure. No exceptions would be allowed for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest — abortion would be permitted only when the mother’s life was in jeopardy.
…”This has become the focal point in ...

By Jessica • 17 years ago

Thanks, ABC! (And fuck you, Forbes.)

Yeah, I’m still bitter.
On Friday night, ABC World News ran a segment about the Forbes kerfuffle.
Reporter Nancy Weiner interviewed several “career girls” about their response to Michael Noerâ€™s bizarre anti-working woman diatribe. It’s good stuff.
ABC news also reported that Steve Forbes, the editor-in-chief of Forbes issued an apology about the article:
“The piece was intended to be part academic and part humorous…Instead, it profoundly offended hardworking career women everywhere. We deeply regret having done so.”
Eh, kind of a half-assed apology if you ask me…
In any case, WIMN’s Voices is asking that people thank ABC World News for running a piece that went to female sources and “properly contextualized the ...