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Have a great night everyone, and happy-almost-New Year!
The New York Times reports today on a Mexico City policy that mandates children born in prison stay with their mothers until they're 6 years-old--rather than being raised by relatives or foster parents.
Fifty-three children under the age of 6 live inside the prison with their mothers, who are serving sentences for crimes from drug dealing to kidnapping to homicide. Mothers dressed in prison blue, many with tattoos, carry babies on their hips around the exercise yard. Others lead toddlers and kindergartners by the hand, play with them in the dust or bounce them on their knees on prison benches.
...A debate continues among Mexican academics over whether spending one’s early years in a jail causes mental problems later in life, but for the moment the law says babies must stay with their mothers. So the prison has a school with three teachers.
This is a hard one. I cringe at the idea of children being taken away from their mothers, but I also doubt that a prison is the healthiest place for a child. Women who lack the financial resources to care for their kids in prison say that their children are often sick because of the poor condition of the cells and can't afford to buy the prescriptions given to them. I'm especially wary when there are women who want their children raised elsewhere.
Ms. Rendón, however, said she sometimes wished she could give her daughter to relatives to raise. No one gives her money, so she makes a living selling snacks to visitors. Her child is delicate and gets sick frequently with chest colds, she said. She said she considered the prison food unhealthy, so she buys food for the girl from a grocery store the prison allows to operate inside its walls...“I think the best thing for my daughter would be for her to be outside with her grandmother,” [she] said.
Monty was very happy to be home after spending a week in the country (Woodstock muddiness above), especially since he got to play with his bestest friend Phoebe the Pug. Check out their reunion after the jump. Also making a cameo after the jump is Teddy, who kept me company while I was in Santa Rosa over the holidays.
Sudy delves into the not-always-pleasant world of feminist blog comments.
The New York Times Magazine's latest is the "The Lives They Lived" issue. If anything, read it for the piece on blogger Steve Gilliard who passed away this year.
And Hoyden About Town is collecting nominations for the best feminist blog posts of the year...go put your two cents in before tomorrow's deadline.
Cara points us to this great anti-rape campaign from several years back which was put out by Peace Over Violence. Like Cara, my only criticism would be that most of the ads seem to feature white women, but the messages are right on point.
Check out a few more below the jump and on the site.
Police arrested two men in connection with the Albuquerque clinic arson. One of the men reportedly wanted to burn down the clinic because his girlfriend had scheduled an abortion there.
Sorry we're a little light on the posting, I'm still a bit jet lagged and catching up on emails. Have a great weekend everyone, and enjoy a little bit of the most crush-worthy boy band ever. (Ad Rock...swoon.)
You know, I'm aware that gross people can make all sorts of ridiculous things on Cafe Press, but this struck a cord with me. Because it's so telling. The vitriol directed at Hillary Clinton's run is so mired in misogyny that it's exhausting just keeping track of it all. But I think the message on this shirt gets to the heart of those who are so incredibly incensed that a woman (and a powerful woman, at that) would have the audacity to run for president: It's not enough to say that she shouldn't run--she should be killed. And not just killed, but murdered via domestic violence. If that's not fucking transparent, I don't know what is.
What better way to send the message that women who dare to seek power deserve to have it (and their lives!) violently taken away from them.
Also from the site: "Abstinence helps to ensure a more successful future, avoid STDs and to avoid possible life-long dependency on the welfare system." And here I thought it was the lack of well-paid jobs that make women poor--turns out it's just the absence of a hymen. (Does that mean if I get hymen restoration surgery that my income will magically increase? Nice!)
But seriously, I just lurve the idea that these folks think that promoting sexuality and women's bodies as a gift is a fantastically moral idea. Are hymens the new graduation watch?
A little anti-choice paternalism to start your morning (as good as coffee!)
Jamie Lynn Spears must be so pleased that her decision to have a baby meets with the approval of a republican presidential hopeful that she's (likely) never met.
"Apparently, she's going to have the child, and I think that is the right decision, a good decision, and I respect that and appreciate it," [Mike Huckabee] told CBS News.
"I hope it is not an encouragement to other 16-year-olds who think that is the best course of action. But at the same time I'm not going to condemn her..."
You know, unless she decided to have an abortion. Then I'd call her a sinning whore. I realize that Spears herself has made her pregnancy public (though given her celebrity it seems unlikely she had any other choice), but I don't see how this means that random men she doesn't know have the right to comment freely on her situation and its moral implications. Of course, antis like Huckabee think that it's their right to judge all women and their reproductive decisions so I suppose I shouldn't be shocked.
In a way, Spears has come to represent an anti-choicers dream--the universal American teen they can wax misogyist about. She's a pretty white teen who is being "responsible" by keeping her baby. But she had premarital sex, which makes her ripe for chastising. And the anti-choicers swoon! (I wonder how giddy they'd be if it was a young woman of color who was in the spotlight....just saying.)
The point is, Spears is a person--difficult to fathom, I know--and perhaps people should treat her with a little dignity, rather than as a political argument.
The Philippines Bureau of Customs seized several sex dolls from PETA, who have been using the dolls to protest against KFC in Thailand, Japan and the red light districts of the Philippines with a banner reading, "KFC Blows."
I'm sure it was just lovely for two Planned Parenthood clinics in Albuquerque to be attacked on Christmas Day. One office's roof was set afire and the other's windows were broken into.
This is just weeks after a fire at another abortion clinic. There's an ongoing investigation; let's hope they find the culprits.
The producer of Superman Returns (of all movies) is being sued by two women for sexual discrimination and harassment.
The most recent case was made by a couple who worked for Jon Peters; when informing Peters of her pregnancy, he recommended she have an abortion or her husband would be fired, in which he was shortly after she refused.
The other pending lawsuit was filed in 2005 when an office assistant claims she was harassed daily and physically threatened by Peters.
Breaking News: Benazir Bhutto assassinated at political rally
Pakistan's former prime minister and leading contender to serve for the third time was killed today in a suicide bomb attack. Bhutto was the first woman to lead a Muslim country, and served as an inspiration for many.
This was not the first attempt on her life; 134 people were killed in a previous attack just a few months ago. During today's campaign rally, she was shot in the neck and chest immediately before a man blew himself up, killing at least 20 others.
You know, I'm aware that gross people can make all sorts of ridiculous things on Cafe Press, but 
Jamie Lynn Spears must be so pleased that 