January 2008 Archives

This headline is from an article in The L Magazine promoting a ladies' night in Manhattan. Hilarious, don't cha think? I mean, rape always is.

Thanks to Darcee for the link.

I posted earlier this week about the pros and cons of medical abortion. And right on the heels of that discussion, the New York Times reports that Shanghai Hualian, the Chinese drug company that manufactures mifepristone pills (aka RU-486) used in the U.S., has been accused of producing tainted drugs. Now, to be clear, all tainted drugs have come from a different plant from the one where U.S.-bound mifepristone is made. But that didn't stop the Times from writing the screaming headline:

Tainted Drugs Tied to Maker of Abortion Pill

Now, I absolutely agreed that the plants that do manufacture mifepristone -- and any other drugs used in the U.S. -- should be inspected immediately. Yes, I believe we need to verify the safety of this drug. But does anyone else find it suspicious that the FDA refused to disclose whether any other U.S. pharmaceuticals are produced by that company? That they only named mifepristone?

Last week, The New York Times asked the F.D.A. whether the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group exported to the United States any drugs or pharmaceutical ingredients other than the abortion pill. But after repeated requests, the agency declined to provide that information; it did not cite a reason.

On at least two occasions in 2002, Shanghai Hualian had shipments of drugs stopped at the United States border, F.D.A. records show. One shipment was an unapproved antibiotic and the other a diuretic that had “false or misleading labeling.� Records also show that another unit of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group has filed papers declaring its intention to sell at least five active pharmaceutical ingredients to manufacturers for sale in the United States.

So to summarize, mifepristone is very likely not the only U.S. drug that could be tainted. And yet the FDA is only talking about "the abortion pill". What, I wonder, could be their political motivation? I'm really stumped by that one...

Another big aspect of this story is that we're learning, for the first time, the name of the company that manufactures mifepristone.

Because of opposition from the anti-abortion movement, the F.D.A. has never publicly identified the maker of the abortion pill for the American market. The pill was first manufactured in France, and since its approval by the F.D.A. in 2000 it has been distributed in the United States by Danco Laboratories. Danco, which does not list a street address on its Web site, did not return two telephone calls seeking comment.

And this is where I get really, really upset at anti-choicers. I believe doctors and patients should have broad access to information about the drugs they prescribe/take, and the makers of those drugs. Because of the antis, that information about mifepristone has never been accessible.

That said, knowing how the antichoice movement works, I fully understand why this information has been kept under wraps until now. And the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that the FDA throwing the antichoicers a bone by leaking this information -- issuing a not-so-subtle warning about mifepristone, without issuing the same warning about other drugs made by that same manufacturer. It's bullshit.

Just saw this on a couple of email lists and, well, wow.

Esquire is asking the women of America to take part in something huge. How huge? It just might be the largest survey of American women in the history of survey. Our goal is to interview 10,000 women – you read that correctly: 10,000 – and we only have one question: What is something that men don’t know about women?

Building on our popular monthly feature 10 Things You Don’t Know About Women (examples below, or by clicking this link ), we want to educate the American man about women in a way no one ever has: By directly asking 10,000 of them.

This is just a little reminder to come to our Roe v. Wade 35th Anniversary Event tonight; it's going to be quite a night.

A special thanks to our amazing co-sponsors for their help in spreading the word:

Check out details here. Hope you can make it!

I just got an email about this new social networking site for global women activists: PulseWire. It's still in beta form, but they're looking for those working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainability to join up and test it out.

What do people think about social networking sites anyway--overhyped or actually helpful? I can never decide.

I like to imagine Ms. Wilkerson—turtleneck, cardigan, unremarkable haircut—writing the Pythagorean Theorem on the chalkboard as her students text message, fall asleep, and take notes. They probably think Ms. Wilkerson is “cool� or “okay,� but assume she has no life outside of the four walls of their underfunded classroom. Little do they know she was once a violent, anti-establishment radical who survived an explosion in her own family’s Manhattan town house.

Cathy Wilkerson, the author of the exhaustively detailed and fascinating memoir, Flying Close to the Sun, has been a math teacher for the last 20 years in New York City schools, but prior to that she was a member of the Weathermen, SDS, and a civil rights and anti-war protester.

The memoir is amazing if you’re the kind of person who is obsessed with the nitty gritty of social change and the ins and outs of shifting consciousness. Wilkerson takes the reader through her childhood, marking the moments when she first became aware of injustice and reflected on violence, into her college experience at Swarthmore during the increasingly radical mid 60s, and into her really intense days of career protest and SDS leadership. The most interesting questions for me, as I was plodding through, were: (1) How did a girl from a conservative Quaker background become convinced that violence was the only answer? (2) How did the activists of the 60s logistically build a movement? And (3) How did they handle the intersection between all the different hot issues of the time: race, gender, war, poverty etc.?

MORE magazine, one of the best women's magazines for high quality writing and a complex take on women's lives, has a fascinating feature up on their website: If Hillary Wins... A range of feminist authors, politicians, and activists weigh on what they think a Hillary Clinton presidency would be like. Some samples:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, especially chosen to administer the oath of office, in place of the traditional Chief Justice, did not produce a Testament, Old or New. Instead, she pulled out a tattered copy of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and held it to the new Commander in Chief to swear her oath upon. -Linda Hirshman, Get to Work

After Hillary is elected, she will realize that male presidents have been too freaked out about their own sexuality to help others. She however, having had to think long and hard about how sexuality has affected her personal and political life, will be ready for some national action on the topic. Given her personal experience with a sexually undersocialized husband, she will correct two administrations of neglect and opposition to sex education and make it a serious priority.
-Pepper Schwartz, Prime: Adventures and Advice on Love, Sex, and the Sensual Years

I was sure the first woman president would be to the right of Dick Cheney, that she'd appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and that we'd later find out she herself had had an abortion for tangled reasons that would rival Larry Craig for hypocrisy. The anti-woman woman -- like Nixon going to China. So imagine my delight that we've got Hillary as our first! You can call her 'establishment' all you want, but believe me, the establishment never had cleavage.
-Gloria Feldt, Send Your Self Roses, mentor extraordinaire to so many young feminists

Why can't the gals at MORE start a substantive, little sister magazine for us whippersnappers?

Here's something you may not know (I certainly didn't): A new civil rights bill introduced in Congress last week makes it easier for students to sue schools where they were sexually harassed or abused, if the school didn't respond reasonably.

From Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER):

As the law currently stands, students have fewer protections than employees and so schools have less incentive than workplaces to curb their employees and educate against hostile environments. This excellent position paper explains why the changes are absolutely crucial. (Found via a Feminist Law Professors link.)

SAFER, an organization which aims to improve schools' sexual assault prevention and response activities, is encouraging people to call their representatives about the bill and specifically mention the student sexual harassment provisions: "Our elected officials need to know that we care and that we’re paying attention. If this bill were to pass, it could be a powerful tool for fighting administrations that turn a blind eye to sexual assaults and rape culture on their campuses." Indeed.

According to a recent survey, the wage gap between men and women in the tech industry is growing.

Men are making more money than women in technology jobs, about 12% more than they did last year, according to a salary survey by career site Dice.com.

The survey found that salaries for men increased by 2.4% in 2007 but stayed flat for women. The average salary last year for men was $76,582, and for women, it was $67,507, according to Dice. The gap widened last year: In 2006, the difference between salaries paid to men and women was 9.7%.

The gap was highest for workers in retail, mail order and e-commerce industries - where men make 15 percent more than women. Yikes.

Anyone in the tech industry want to weigh in?

For anyone who ever wanted to know how Feministing came to be, here's the (probably too long) story of our start and how we know each other. If you can stand to sit through my rambling, though, you'll get to find out about the very cool new blogger we're bringing on board. (More to come in a future post on that...)

Don't worry folks, I promise from now on I'll keep these things under three minutes. And learn better editing skills. As for my penchant for subtitles...I'm not making any promises.

Some midday feminist humor... Maragret Cho explains why Bush was really afraid to grant women broader access to emergency contraception.

We've posted before on fundraising events for the Stop Traffic conference, to be held in late March in Columbia, Missouri. Well, last day to register for the conference is tomorrow! (More info on the conference below the fold.)

Also in March, Jessica and I will be speaking at the University of Missouri-Columbia about blogging feminism!

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Missouri feminists are seriously bad-ass.

We've been remiss in not posting on the situation in Kenya. Violence related to national elections has already killed more than 800 people. And the violence is spreading. As is the case in many conflict situations, sexual assault is prevalent:

It is now recognised that women and children are bearing the brunt of the raging conflict, and now the red light is on. Sexual abuse has been thrown into the equation, and these two vulnerable groups are suffering double jeopardy.

First, they have to deal with the trauma of being violently uprooted from comfortable and familiar environments to live under deplorable conditions where their existence is dependent on relief efforts.

Then, it is emerging that sexual violence targeting women and girls is rampant in the camps. It follows that the recovery of women and children already traumatised could be fundamentally compromised.

It's no surprise, then, that Kenyan women are demanding a seat at the table during peacemaking negotiations:

"We are over 50 per cent of the population, but we have been marginalised and now we are requesting for an audience," [chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK), Ms Isabella] Karanja said.

Addressing journalists at a city hotel, Karanja said they were holding talks with the national steering committee on how they could be represented in the talks.

Former chairlady of the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation, Mrs Zipporah Kittony, said women have been undervalued and under utilised in the ongoing mediation talks.

Several women are wearing sacks in protest of the violence. Says one women, Philo Ikonya (pictured above),

I need to express myself through what I am wearing, and to pass on that message, the sack cloth is very powerful.

I shall continue dressing like this and urging other people to dress like this for as long as we do not have peace in Kenya; as long as we do not have justice and reform.

If you want to help out, donations can be sent to the Kenya Red Cross. And via UN Dispatch, I see there's a benefit concert in Boston on Saturday.

What do you get when you combine the "lazily sensual harem woman reclining on a couch" stereotype with the "cowed housewife bullied by her religion and the men in her life" stereotype? Veil fetish art. Zeynab at Muslimah Media Watch breaks it all down.

And in a follow-up post, Zeynab writes about the art of Makan Emadi, and how it deals with issues of concealment and exposure of Muslim women's bodies. Is it a powerful critique of both Eastern and Western sexism? Or is it just perpetuating the worst Eastern and Western sexist stereotypes? She has some interesting thoughts.

Yesterday I was at NARAL Pro-Choice America's luncheon celebrating the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It was really great: Sarah Weddington - the lawyer who won Roe (!) - spoke, as did Nancy Keenan and Dana Delany.

But what really stuck out for me was this amazing video NARAL played at the event, Everyday Heroes (above). I think it serves as an important reminder that these issues aren't just talking points and politics - they're women's lives.

Some bad news for feminists in Iran. Authorities have shut down the country's top women's magazine, Zanan.

Managing director Shahla Sherkat was once a hardline supporter of the Iranian government but became disillusioned after the Iran-Iraq war. Zanan managed to survive previous crackdowns by cautiously avoiding general politics and focusing on women's issues.

But that didn't work, apparently.

According to preliminary reports it was banned for portraying a negative image of women in Iran, but no official word has emerged yet.

And what were the oh-so-negative issues discussed in the magazine? Everything from domestic violence to cosmetic surgery.

The Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance, responsible for shutting down the magazine, also accused Zanan of “publishing information detrimental to society’s psychological tranquility.� Sigh.

More from Inside Iran and Reporters Without Borders.

Via AP and CNN. According to CNN, he'll be announcing it at 1pm (eastern) today, from New Orleans.

No misinformation in sex-ed classes in my state!

Adding to her excellent record on reproductive health issues, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano recently turned down $1 million in federal funds for abstinence-only education.

"While we all support abstinence-only and don't believe, in particular, that teenagers should be engaged in sexual relationships of that sort, the fact of the matter is that some do," Napolitano said. "They need to have complete information for their own health."

Arizona is the 16th state to reject federal abstinence-only dollars.

In not-so-great Arizona news, an appeals court just ruled in favor of "Choose Life" license plates. Grrr. As we've mentioned before, most states don't also provide a "Choose Choice" (har har) license plate option. And in many cases, the state is, uh, less than diligent in monitoring how anti-choice groups are spending the proceeds from these license plates.

I have a guest post over at The Nation about the recent Mexico City decision to launch women-only buses. Check it out...

I'm told that the sign reads: "The fight will be feminist...or it won't be." (As in, we'll fight as feminists or not at all.) Word.

Pic from gaelx.

Via Jill, I see an article -- and a post by Sara Robinson at the Group News Blog -- about how medical abortion (mifepristone, otherwise known as RU-486) is "shifting the front lines" of the abortion debate. I have to say I think this is a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, it gives women another abortion option. Yes, may be a reason for the slower rate at which we're losing abortion providers. That is all great. But I'd argue that its impact on the abortion politics has been a bit more limited than Sara suggests.

Let me also say that, while again, I fully support every individual's right to choose what method is best for her (and I DEFINITELY support the legality of mifepristone), I think there are a lot of misconceptions about medical abortion. I'd like to respond to a few of Sara's points, below the fold:

The Globe and Mail certainly thinks it is (headline above). They even say "it's official."

And what is this "official" evidence that feminism isn't in vogue? Well, the reporter's daughter and niece don't know who Gloria Steinem is and don't read Ms. magazine. Pack up your things, ladies; that's proof enough for me!

You know, I've really had enough of the sentiment that young women don't care about feminism because they don't necessarily relate to the second wave. Young women don't need to be NOW members to be activists, and they don't need to read Ms. or vote for Hillary Clinton to prove their feminist bona fides.

It's folks like reporter Karen Vohn Hahn that are doing feminism a disservice, because they're incapable of looking past what feminism has meant to them to see the feminist work that's happening across the country (and the world) while they sit around opining that no one has consciousness raising groups anymore.

And if we really want to talk about who is abandoning feminist values, let's talk about women who buy into the idea that the pop culture ideal of young women is what actual young women are like. I don't know about you, but I don't know any girls going wild; I don't know any Paris Hiltons or apathetic "giggling" (yes, she calls us giggling) shoppers. I know activists, I know students, I know women who are making a difference in their communities. And they're all pretty damn "stylish" to me.

Check out (and subscribe to!) our new YouTube channel.

Wow. This is completely unhinged, and frankly, mind-boggling. (Apparently the press release's authenticity has been confirmed by NOW-NY president Marcia Pappas.)

All I can say is, NOW-NY does not speak for me. And it does not speak for all feminists.

UPDATE: The statement is now up on the NOW-NY website. For some feminist blogger reaction, see Jill and Liza.

Clarification: The press release was from NOW-New York State. NOW national and NOW-NYC do not necessarily share the views expressed by Pappas.

In her Zapotec village in Mexico, women aren't allowed to vote, attend town assemblies, or hold elected office. But Eufrosina Cruz decided to run for mayor anyway.

The all-male town board tore up ballots cast in her favor in the Nov. 4 election, arguing that as a woman, she wasn’t a “citizen� of the town. “That is the custom here, that only the citizens vote, not the women,� said Valeriano Lopez, the town’s deputy mayor.

Rather than give up, Cruz has launched the first serious, national-level challenge to traditional Indian forms of government, known as “use and customs,� which were given full legal status in Mexico six years ago in response to Indian rights movements sweeping across Latin America.

“For me, it’s more like ‘abuse and customs,�’ Cruz said as she submitted her complaint in December to the National Human Rights Commission. “I am demanding that we, the women of the mountains, have the right to decide our lives, to vote and run for office, because the constitution says we have these rights.�

The "use and customs" law was enacted in 2001 as part of a series of reforms after the Zapatista uprisings. But, especially given the major role Zapatista women played in the revolution, it's important to note that it's not (as the Newsweek headline implies) as if indigenous rights and women's rights are diametrically opposed. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Rebecca Solnit attended this year's encuentro (or "encounter"), where Zapatista women speak about the state of the movement. She quotes one woman as saying:

I spent the weekend at the Women's Media Center--started by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan--as part of the first meeting of the Progressive Women's Voices Program:

a new media training and spokesperson program from the Women’s Media Center to connect media professionals with smart, media-savvy women experts in a variety of fields. Funded by a generous grant from the NoVo Foundation, the program will provide each of the participants with intensive media training and ongoing support to promote their perspective and message into the national dialogue.

My favorite moment of the weekend was when the whole group was out to dinner, breathlessly anticipating the South Carolina primary results, and the restaurant staff changed the channel to SportsCenter right as the first data was coming in. The whole table let out a giant groan, exactly akin to the sound my crew of friends makes when the enemy team scores a touchdown. "Put CNN back on! Put CNN back on!" we all screamed feverishly.

You know you're with your people when they lose their minds over primary results. Anyway, thanks to the whole crew. I'll keep you feministing readers posted on how the training progresses. Right now, I'm focused on getting the message out to mainstream media that young people are politically engaged; we're just a bit more pragmatic and creative than what the country might be used to. Betta recognize.

Monty has figured out that if he hides under the blanket, his sneak cuddle attacks don't startle Neidra so much. And that was my weekend. Taking pictures of the animals and cleaning my apt. I'm so glamorous, I know. How was your weekend?

PS. Happy (belated) birthday, Dad!

I found myself cracking up at this. Because, really, the symbolism is too subtle for me to understand. What are they getting at? I think there's an undercurrent here beyond how delicious candy is, but I can't quite figure it out.

Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that struck down Canada's anti-choice laws as unconstitutional.

In the majority decision chief justice Brian Dickson stated: "State interference with bodily integrity and serious state-imposed psychological stress, at least in the criminal law context, constitutes a breach of security of the person. Section 251 (the old abortion law) clearly interferes with a woman's physical and bodily integrity. Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a fetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations, is a profound interference with a woman's body and thus an infringement of security of the person."

So congrats to our neighbors in the north, on 20 years of choice and trusting women.

Gotta say it’s nice to type that. I mean, damn. In the wackiness that is presidential campaigns, I lost sight of the bright side. This jackass is going away. The subject of the speech sounds interesting, the theme is “trust and empower,� and his plans to “advocate his philosophy of trusting Americans, empowering them to make good and wise decisions�.

Hey, great! I’m a fan of all of those things. If only he meant it the way I do. I’m pretty sure he’s just talking about tax cuts for rich people. Oh well.

What would your State of the Union address this year? Mine would take a stroll down memory lane of Bush's previous State of the Union speeches. Hmm, now that I see them, never mind.

A new study came out last week indicating that women who take oral contraceptives have a greatly reduced risk of ovarian cancer.

The protection from ovarian cancer is greater than the risk of other cancers associated with use of the Pill, such as breast and cervical malignancies, Beral said.

"There is a slight transient risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer, but that goes away when you stop taking the Pill," she said. "But the decrease in ovarian cancer is persistent and long-lasting. The magnitude of this outweighs the other risk."

Thanks Marg for the link.

Hillary Sexism Watch: More name-calling.

Three women in Canada file a complaint against their imam for treating them differently than men and using abusive language toward them.

Ema has a nice rundown of the history of Kansas patient-chart stealer Phill Kline.

On the gross new "reality" TV show, Battle of the Bods.

Margaret Cho calls out the racist, sexist assumption that women of color will have to "choose" their race or gender while voting. "Why are white men allowed to look at the issues and judge for themselves and the rest of us are expected to take sides grade school style?" (DnA has a counterpoint.)

Our Bodies Our Blog asks, "do women really want on-demand C-sections?"

[Note: I had a bunch of other links in here with nice snarky comments, but MovableType decided to randomly delete the rest of my post. So I'm just going to put the headlines and links below the fold. My comments will return next week...]

Big numbers for Obama, and super fantastic lots of primaries Tuesday is right around the corner. Thoughts?

Props of the Day go to Sweden's Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising for reporting a Jagermeister advertisement for its...well, just check out the ad:

The LA Times had an great opinion piece on Wednesday with the following headline, "Does a rapist deserve a military burial?"

Hmmm, let me think about it a minute...No.

James Allen Selby was a rapist. He raped and assaulted at least 12 women (not including a 9-year old girl). In October 2004, he was convicted on 27 counts, which included armed robbery, rape, kidnapping and attempted murder (for slitting the throat of one of the women). Hours before his sentencing, he hung himself in a Tuscan, AZ jail.

James Allen Selby was also a Persian Gulf War veteran. So in respect to Pentagon policy, he was buried with full military honors. Anne K. Ream, author of the opinion piece, wrote:

The military policy of allowing honors burials for veterans convicted of rape sends a chilling message to victims: Even the most heinous sexual violence does not trump prior military service. It is a position that is as ethically indefensible as it is inconsistent. In 1997, after Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombings, Congress barred veterans convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death or life in prison from being buried with full military honors. Veterans convicted of rape or any other violent crime, however, encounter no such restrictions.

'By honoring those that do not deserve it, we dishonor those who do,' Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said during 1997 hearings on the policy. McVeigh, he said, 'was worthy of honor at one time, but he is no longer worthy of honor.' Surely the same can be said of Selby. [Emphasis mine]

Just like the KBR cover-up rape case, this is showing not only the pardoning of military and government-related rape crimes, but also how these crimes are simply not dealt with and swept under the rug. Ream ends the piece:

In the wake of mass violation of women and girls during the conflicts in Kosovo and Rwanda, rape and sexual violence were for the first time codified as distinct crimes under international law. How telling then, and how troubling, that our country's policy on military burials is at odds with international standards the United States worked to establish.

But should we really be surprised?

Nearly six months after the House passed its companion measure, the Senate heard testimony for S. 1843, the "Fair Pay Restoration Act," or the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act", reports the ACLU. Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, stated:

"This bill is a modest and logical fix to an ongoing civil rights problem. American workers should know that they are protected from wage discrimination and are able to challenge such discrimination when they discover it. There should be no benefit to employers in keeping pay discrimination hidden."

Let's hope this is soon put to bed.

Andrew Sullivan declares himself the arbiter of what is and what isn't feminist, and Dana takes him to task.

Feministing fave Margaret Cho has some (Tampax) pearls of wisdom to share:

Let she who is without menstrual stains throw the first tampon.

Amen, sister. Who among us hasn't flipped a mattress at least once? Who hasn't had a month where they've gone through, like, two boxes of super-absorbencies? Who doesn't have a few pairs of stained cotton underwear that only comes out of the drawer once a month? (You know -- the C team. As in, you've got your A-team underwear -- the cute stuff that fits really well and that you feel great in; and B-team underwear -- ill-fitting, or slightly old, or not that cute; and finally your C-team, which is basically your period panties.) Anyway. Thanks, Margaret. We love you.

This is almost as obvious as the recent study revealing that (gasp!) bisexuality is an actual identity and not a phase; more new research shows that same-sex couples not only can maintain a healthy and committed relationship, but are just as happy and committed as your average heterosexual couple:

The researchers found that all the couples had positive views of their relationships, but the more committed couples (gay or straight) resolved conflict better than the heterosexual dating couples.

The belief that committed same-sex relationships are 'atypical, psychologically immature, or malevolent contexts of development was not supported by our findings,' noted lead author Glenn I. Roisman. 'Compared with married individuals, committed gay males and lesbians were not less satisfied with their relationships.'

Roisman added that gay males and lesbians 'were generally not different from their committed heterosexual counterparts on how well they interacted with one another, although some evidence emerged the lesbian couples were especially effective at resolving conflict.'

Who woulda thought.

Note to readers: Feministing is honored to have Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (NY-28) guest posting today on the KBR rape cover-up and violence against contractors abroad.

Yesterday, I, and over 100 of my colleagues, took a serious step to breaking the dangerous “boys will be boys� attitude that has been allowed to fester for far too long among United States government contractors in Iraq and around the world.

Many of you have heard the appalling tale of Jamie Leigh Jones, the past employee of US government contractor KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton.

While working in the Green Zone within Baghdad, Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, assaulted, and viciously gang raped by her coworkers. Upon learning of the attack, KBR had US Army doctors perform a medical examination showing that she had been viciously raped both anally and vaginally. After, the rape kit was turned over to KBR; she would later discover that portions of that kit had magically vanished into thin air.

Jamie Leigh was then placed under armed guard in a shipping container for 24 hours without access to food or water. There, she remained until she was rescued from her American employer by the State Department at the urging of her Member of Congress.

Over two years after these near unspeakable acts of violence and incredulously callous reaction by her employer, not only has the Justice Department not brought any criminal charges, but ABC News recently reported that they could not confirm that any federal agency was investigating the case at all.

Instead, it appears that the Departments of Justice, State, and Defense would prefer that the American public forget what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones.

It appears they do not want to rock the boat.

But this boat must be rocked. Because what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones was not an isolated incident.

It is increasingly apparent that there are many women working for United States government contractors that are regularly subject to sexual harassment, assault, and rape. And what is even more apparent, the perpetrators of these heinous acts are not held to account and justice is almost never served.

With over 20,000 Americans employed by US government contractors in Iraq alone, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates are in need of a big wake-up call.

Well, yesterday morning, I sent two letters that I co-authored with Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL) and Ted Poe (TX) with the signatures of over 100 Members of the United States House of Representatives to demand answers from Secretaries Rice and Gates. We are demanding that they go on record and answer specific questions detailing the precise steps they are taking to ensure that what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones does not happen to another US contractor again.

We will not rest until these answers meet our satisfaction and there is a guarantee that criminal offenders are punished to the letter of the law and that contractors, getting rich on massive taxpayer funded contracts, are held to account.

It must be the Bush Administration’s unequivocal position that individuals working as United States government contractors, whether at home or abroad, have the same rights to treatment, services, and proper legal recourse when they are victims of a violent crime.

Take Action: Keep pressure on the Department of State and Department of Defense on the Jamie Leigh Jones case and protecting US contractors; let them know that you expect a timely and appropriate response to Rep. Slaughter's letters.

While sex-segregated train cars aren't new to Mexico City, the most widely-used form of transportation, buses, are now including women-only vehicles. (And like Brazil, has pink included on the new "ladies only" buses.) While it seems that women in Mexico City are pretty happy about this change, we go back to the question - is it protection or segregation?

Related: Check out Jessica's Guardian piece on the issue from this past summer.

Registration for the Women, Action and Media (WAM) conference goes up in price on February 1st, so make sure to your ticket asap. There are some amazing presenters (like our own Jessica, Ann, Courtney and Deanna!) and sessions planned for this weekend of discussion, collaboration and strategizing for the future of women and media. Register today.

If there's one thing antichoicers were chirping about this week, it was how many "young people" turned out for the March for Life. And then there were a few flimsy "trend" pieces about how kids these days are increasingly anti-choice. Maybe it's the recovering Catholic-school kid in me, but it just burns me up. Talking to kids from church groups and religious clubs does not exactly make for a representative sample. Those kids are enrolled in Catholic school and driven to church group by their parents -- parents who are in all likelihood antichoice.

What do you all think? Do you agree that most kids' views at that age are just a reflection of their parents'? Some food for thought: a few personal examples from the comments thread to my post yesterday. (After the jump.)

Just. Wow.

Copyranter is on a roll with the vintage sexism! (You can view the full-sized ad my clicking on the picture.)

This 1974 ads reads: "Be the you he likes. Good to be around, any day of the month." You know, not like those bitches who don't take Midol. They get dumped.

Amazing.

These go in actual vaginas! Isn't that hilarious?!

Sexists' shocking lack of originality never ceases to amaze me. Take the idiots who pranked called a group of women's basketball coaches:

The prank callers, who were claiming to be legitimate reporters from actual media outlets, managed to get on and ask at least six questions to more than half of the league's 12 coaches. The questions were graphic in nature and included inquiries about coaches having sexual relations with players and players' performances based on their menstrual cycles. (Emphasis added)

This reminds me of the first prank call I got after I started Feministing (and was stupid enough to have my cell phone number listed with domain info). It was intensely disappointing. Do misogynists really have no better jokes than "girls get their periods?"

Thanks to Andy for the link.

Dennis P. Gallagher, who was accused of raping a woman in his Queens campaign office on July 8 after meeting her at a neighborhood bar, has been dismissed of all charges. Earlier, a grand jury indicted the councilman on 10 counts of rape, criminal sexual acts and assault. A judge just threw out the case based on the charge that prosecutors had unfairly prejudiced members of the grand jury when presenting the case against him.

Is this a case of the law's formalities getting in the way of true justice? I don't know enough about the law to comment but I'd love to hear what you all think. Here's the New York Times on the case.

Girl with Pen has a fascinating guest post by sociologist Virginia Rutter on Juno and love. Anyone obsessed with the movie (which seems to be just about everybody, including Ms. Oprah, these days), should check it out.

Be sure not to miss one of the links later on to an academic article called "Must We Fear Adolescent Sexuality?" by Dr. Amy Schalet. It is a cross-cultural study of parental attitudes towards teen sexuality in the United States (where adolescent sexuality is an evergreen hot button issues) and the Netherlands (where anxiety around adolescent sexuality is nill). She essentially asks: how is it that two countries similar in terms of wealth, education, and reproductive technologies have had the highest and lowest rates of teen pregnancy, respectively, in the Western world?

The answer: basically that adolescent sexuality is dramatized in one country (good ol' U.S. of A.) and normalized in the other. Parents in the Netherlands repeatedly expressed believing that love between teens is very possible, whereas American parents scoffed at it. Parents in the Netherlands said they'd be fine with their teen spending the night with a boyfriend or girlfriend (9 out of 10), whereas America parents said "No way Jose" 9 out of 10 times. Dr. Schalet also talks about the ways in which Dutch educators diffuse tension around adolescent sexuality by taking an open, informational approach. Again, normalizing sexual feelings and approaching responsible choices as inevitable! Damn do we have a lot to learn.

Thanks to Debbie at Girl with Pen for the great discovery!

A federal appeals court said this week that inmates in Missouri have the right to obtain elective abortion. Damn straight.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It throws out a policy by Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration and the Missouri Department of Corrections that restricted an inmate’s access to abortion.

Thomas M. Blumenthal, the St. Louis lawyer who brought the suit on behalf of an anonymous “Jane Roe� inmate, applauded the decision.

“This (abortion) is not a right that is lost at the jailhouse door,� he said.

Blunt responded, "Over the last three years, we have … enacted laws that reflect our profound respect for the inherent dignity of each and every life...I am hopeful and prayerful that we can further protect life by enhancing our laws to defend the dignity of human life.�

Unless that life is an incarcerated woman, then her dignity doesn't really mean shit to Blunt.

It’s no secret among my friends and colleagues that I am a bit angsty when it comes to social change. It never seems to be happening fast enough. It never seems to be happening big enough. I’m generally dismayed at how not-urgent most of the nation seems when it comes to the very urgent issues of violence, inequality, sexism etc.

Rebecca Solnit, as if answering this angst directly, wrote a book called Hope in the Dark, which was published in the fairly dark time of 2004. It is her manifesto of poetic activism, her argument that even in times that seem stagnant and cruel on the surface, there is a thumping, passionate movement afoot…slowly gaining steam, haphazardly creating momentum, dreaming big dreams. You’ll miss it, she argues, if you only look for the fast, big stuff, as I sometimes do. It can be painfully slow and almost imperceptibly small. But it is there.

In all the Blog for Choice hoopla yesterday, I forgot to post about this amazing new group, EMERJ. A national movement building initiative founded in January 2007 by a group of reproductive justice leaders, EMERJ seeks to grow and strengthen the reproductive justice movement. Hear what I'm telling you folks, this group is at the cutting edge of the activism being done for reproductive justice. These are the people doing the work, these are the people that you will start to hear a lot more about. So check them out.

Moira Bowman, the Movement Building Director at EMERJ, had this to add about yesterday's anniversary:

The anniversary of Roe is a time to celebrate that fact that abortion is still legal and the amazing efforts that have been needed to protect it - but it is not enough. At EMERJ we are organizing for a strong and vibrant reproductive justice movement that ensures that all people have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our gender, bodies, and sexuality for ourselves, our families and our communities. We represent diverse communities and a broad set of strategies. Together, we will transform the way we think, talk and act on reproductive justice issues so that our families and communities can thrive.

Like what you hear? Go get involved...

Does anyone else see pictures of Rudy Giuliani in front of his campaign slogan:

...and think, so he's declaring to the electorate that he's STD-free and ready to jump in the sack? Maybe its just me with my dirty mind. But given the man's history, that's probably not so crazy.

Also, when I ran this theory by Jessica, she replied, "It actually sounds a lot like a blind date i had once." HA!

A new 527 organization has formed with the express purpose of opposing Hillary Clinton. Which, in and of itself, isn't sexist. Until you hear the name of the group:

That's right, C.U.N.T.

Oh, and also, the group doesn't really do anything except sell sexist T-shirts.

Does it drive anyone else nuts when they see commercials for MaxiPads and they use that goddamn blue liquid as a stand-in for menstrual blood? (I'm talking to you, Always!) I mean, who even thought of that?

Here's a little blast from the sexist past courtesy of copyranter. Ugh. And I totally used to wear that, too.

If you want a great round-up of yesterday's posts and articles on reproductive justice and the anniversary of Roe, check out Alternet's Reproductive Justice and Gender section. It's super comprehensive.

UNIFEM has launched an online campaign to battle violence against women worldwide. Today, the UN Foundation announced that it will donate $1 dollar for each of the first 100,000 signatures to this online petition - so please sign it! 18,000 people from all over the world have already added their names to the "Say NO to violence against women" campaign since November.

To find out more about the campaign, and to download the campaign toolkit, click here.

This slipped passed us, but last week Cambridge, MA voted in it's first black lesbian mayor, making her the first in the country.

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has made history after the city council chose Denise Simmons to serve as the first black lesbian mayor in America.

Gay political activists in the US praised Ms Simmons' selection by her fellow city councillors. Her predecessor, Ken Reeves, was also gay and black.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which campaigns to increase the number of LGBT elected officials, said: "We are enormously proud of Mayor Simmons. Like Mayor Ken Reeves before her, she is among our community's trailblazers. Today is a day to celebrate another broken glass ceiling."

Ms Simmons has served on the city council since 2001.

I originally read this on Perez Hilton! *ducks*

Thanks to Jessamyn for the link.

Just in case you got too nostalgic about "how far we have come."

My ode to reproductive justice cross-posted from Wiretap.

Because I'm a Values Voter. I value women's health and safety. I value women's full participation in society. I value women's right to make decisions about their own bodies, regardless of how much money they earn or what county they live in.

It's as simple as that.

On a somewhat unrelated Roe anniversary note, as I was walking in to work today, I crossed paths with a gaggle of junior-high girls in matching hats on their way to the March for Life. I resisted the urge to stop, hand them my business card, and tell them to give me a ring once they start having sex... and start realizing they want the rull range of reproductive choices. (I'm sure I'll be seeing those girls' pictures on anti-choice sites in the near future, crowing about how beautiful they are and about how all the pretty girls want to deny other women the right to choose.)

K-Lo declares that the real reason people say they aren't ready for a female president is... bad Lifetime movie portrayals of female presidents.

Because we all know that sexism has nothing to do with it. Nah, it's because people don't want life to imitate crappy TV dramas.

Check out even more great posts on choice:

Pandagon: "Now, I realize that most of us tend to think that “human rights violation� is traditionally about violating someone’s rights—their liberty, their freedom, their autonomy—and thus the argument that taking away women’s rights is saving women’s rights doesn’t quite make sense. But we’re from the old school feminist camp that believed that women are humans, with rights similar to those traditional human rights."

The Galloping Beaver: "[T]here is a considerable difference in both practice and law between Canada and the US. While Canadian women may feel they have easier access to abortions in Canada than women in the US, the law in the US is actually much more firmly established than it is in Canada and has been so for much longer."

The Curvature: "Those of us who have been paying attention know perfectly well that Roe is under attack. And 2007 was a particularly interesting year. The Roberts-led Supreme Court upheld the “partial-birth abortion� ban that has no exception for a woman’s health, despite its direct conflict with Roe. States have been tripping over themselves to pass “trigger laws� that would outlaw abortion immediately if Roe was overturned. State legislators have also been proposing an endless amount of misogynist bills that would restrict women’s right to an abortion: all out bans, “informed consent� laws that lie to women, laws requiring forced, medically unnecessary renovations to abortion clinics, laws requiring women get permission from their fetus’ fathers before having an abortion, and laws granting legal rights to fetuses, or even to fertilized eggs."

Radical Doula: "Are women getting less abortions because they have better access to things like emergency contraception and birth control? Or are they getting fewer abortions because 83% of counties have no abortion provider, restrictions like the Hyde Amendment prevent low-income women from obtaining abortions (the report said that the average cost for a 10 week abortion was $413), and anti-choice sentiment around the country is making women feel shamed into carrying these unwanted pregnancies to term?"

Trailer Park Feminist: "I may be a member of the post-Roe generation, but that doesn't mean I'm naïve enough to want to go back to the bad old days. Prohibition doesn't work for alcohol, doesn't work for drugs, and doesn't work for abortion. Regulation does work, has worked, and should be allowed to continue working. "

As we're commemorating the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I'd just like to point out that reproductive health and justice doesn't begin and end with abortion. Too often, because of the attention that Roe and abortion rights get from mainstream feminist and pro-choice organizations, issues of reproductive justice are not talked about.

For those who are unfamiliar with the idea of reproductive justice, as opposed to reproductive rights...

The term "reproductive justice" was coined in 1994 by the Black Women's Caucus at a national pro-choice conference in Chicago. (Some of these same women went on to co-found the amazing organization SisterSong.) Instead of focusing on the right to abortion, reproductive justice takes a holistic view of women's health and social justice issues.

From Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice:

We believe reproductive justice is the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic, and social well-being of women and girls, and will be achieved when women and girls have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our bodies, sexuality and reproduction for ourselves, our families and our communities in all areas of our lives.

And as Jill says in her great Blog for Choice post: "Reproductive justice is about you."

If you want to know more about reproductive justice, check out Understanding Reproductive Justice, by SisterSong and A New Vision for advancing our movement for reproductive health, reproductive rights and reproductive justice, by Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice.

Because of Saudi women's activism, the ban on women driving cars will be lifted at the end of the year. Women's rights organizer Fouzia al-Ayouni has said, "We have broken the barrier of fear."

Eye roll:

(Click the image to see a larger version, in all its sexist glory.)

Here are some great Blog for Choice posts to start your morning off...

Lawyers, Guns and Money: "While it's true that it's important to vote "pro-choice," I want to write about more than that -- why it's important to vote for someone who really understands what it means to want reproductive justice. In order to understand this, it's important to know how far Roe got us, and how far we've got to go."

Kay Steiger: "Abortion will always be available for (white) upper class women who need or want it. They can fly to Europe, drive to Canada, or take a quick weekend to Mexico City. Other women -- poor mothers and women of color may not always be so lucky. If the pro-life movement succeeds in criminalizing abortion, it will be the worst off that will pay the price."

A Gender Queer View: "As a trans-women I will never have to worry about getting an abortion so why is voting pro-choice so important to me? Well the main reason is that I am a feminist, one who holds that radical notion that women are humans capable of making rational decisions about what’s best for them. But there are other reasons to vote pro-choice, ons that have to do with the rest of the anti-choice agenda."

Think Girl: "On this 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, consider learning more about the wider reproductive justice concerns of women of color! Join me in reading books like Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice, and learning more about the work of organizations like SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective."

Angry Grrl's Rants: "Why is this decision even in danger? I resent the fact that I, and so many others, am having to expend time and energy today fighting to not lose any more ground than we already have. I’m sure all of us would rather be spending time with our loved ones, our children, our pets. But no. We’re taking part in NARAL’s Blog for Choice today. We’re giving money to Planned Parenthood. We’re marching. We’re signing petitions. We’re volunteering at clinics. We’re working to elect pro-choice officials at the local, state, and federal levels."

Future Feminist Librarian-Activist: "What wakes me from nightmares, sweating, in the early hours of the morning is the knowledge that, as a pregnant woman, I will lose my right to determine what is done to my body. What knots my stomach is the knowledge that, under current legal precedent, when I become pregnant I could be stripped of my rights to bodily integrity—including the ability to consent to or refuse medical procedures."

Babeland: "For me, remembering Roe v Wade is important not just because we need to keep abortion not only legal but accessible, but because of what this decision symbolizes. Namely, we should have the right to do what we want with our bodies. This isn’t just about whether or not to have children, it stretches into who we can love and the pleasure that each and every one of us has a right to."

Here's an interesting story. The Women's Center at Yale University, which provides sexual assault counseling to students, has said it will sue the fraternity that posed in front of their building with a sign reading: "We love Yale sluts." And I say good on them.

It seems that Zeta Psi pledges not only posed in front of the center with the sign, but also intimidated women who tried to get into the building.

Former Women’s Center Public Relations Coordinator Jessica Svendsen ’09 said she found a group of men chanting “Dick! Dick! Dick!� in front of the Elm Street entrance to the Center, which is located in Durfee Hall, shortly before midnight last Tuesday. Frightened, she decided to take a detour through the Center’s Old Campus entrance, she said.

“I stopped even before I got to Durfee, because I recognized that as a single woman facing 20 to 25 frat boys, I wasn’t going to be able to enter the Women’s Center,� Svendsen said. “This was my first experience knowing that misogyny does happen at Yale — and right in front of the Women’s Center door.�

The picture, which you can see here, was featured on Facebook the next day. Naturally, once the frat found out that they were potentially in hot water, they removed the picture from Facebook and issued an apology.

All of the individuals involved wish to issue a formal apology to the female community, those directly or indirectly affected, as well as the Yale University community at large. We realize that the photographed actions were inappropriate, and we send our regards to any and all offended parties. The intentions of everyone involved were not to harm anyone socially or psychologically; rather, it was a lapse in the judgement [sic] of the group as a public organization.

A lapse in judgment? Really? Posing for that picture in their own frat house could maybe be a lapse in judgment. Going to a center that provides services to rape victims with a sign that calls women sluts is deliberate, it's fucking transparent, and it's harassment. I hope they shut them down.

Thanks to everyone who sent us links.

For the past two years, I've blogged for choice on the anniversary Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. Today, on the 35th anniversary, NARAL Pro-Choice America calling on bloggers to answer this question: Why do you vote pro-choice? I'll be featuring links to blog posts on choice throughout the day, but to kick things off - here's why I vote pro-choice.

I vote pro-choice because I believe in bodily integrity;

I vote pro-choice because I want the Hyde Amendment to be repealed;

I vote pro-choice because I support healthy choices for women;

I vote pro-choice because anti-choice laws disproportionately affect young women, women of color, low-income women and women who live in rural areas;

I vote pro-choice because I don't want women to die;

I vote pro-choice because I think the Global Gag Rule is harming and killing women worldwide;

But perhaps most importantly, I vote pro-choice because I trust women to make the decision about what's best for them and their families.

Why do you vote pro-choice? (Feel free to leave links to your posts for choice in comments!)

Warning: Potentially triggering

When I saw this on The Soup, I was just speechless. This "joke" is abuse, plain and simple. And her mother was in on it?! I'm just...done.

This one is a doozy. John Bustrak of Michigan Tech writes that "Feminism has gone too far." What is it this time? We've made girls slutty? We're the reason more women are in prison? No, Bustrak thinks feminism has overstepped its bounds because we've made it difficult for women to fulfill their "desire to nurture." Also, we probably shouldn't be allowed in college.

This day and age feminism has gone too far. I have several female friends whose greatest ambition is to be a wife and mother, but feel social and cultural pressure to go to college and get a prestigious job simply because it is expected.

Poor, poor women. Because of feminism, they feel like they have to go to college, instead of following their much more natural urge to pick up Bustrak's dirty socks.

Since Bustrak goes to a Tech college, he's semi-careful in trying not to offend his female colleagues. (He doesn't do a very good job.)

Now, Michigan Tech’s female population is exceptional in many ways. Overall, not many women are drawn to the heavier math and science studies, which is most of Tech’s programs. Thus, most of the generalities of this article do not apply in anywhere near as high a degree to the female population at Tech.

I'm only sexist against my non-classmates, I swear! Bustrak goes on to dig his misogynist grave even deeper, waxing idiotic about how men like to "build and destroy" and women like to "nurture," and even finds time to mention once more how unfortunate it is that women feel the need to go to college.

But it's only towards the end that the true Bustrak's true motives come out:

Now, I have known a number of women who consider themselves not simply equal to men, but superior. Why? Because they are more “sophisticated,� because they are more “rational,� and less prone to violence. Further, I have seen women who have decided that they need to one-up men for aggressiveness and become almost psychotic in their brash confrontationalism...When did feminism stop being about “we are worth just as much as you are,� and start being about “we can do everything you can do, and then some�?

You know, he really could have written this article in five words: Uppity bitches piss me off. Someone is just all irritated because he thinks women fancy themselves better than him. The thing is...they probably do and they're definitely right.

Love it.

Thanks to Amie for the link!

Pioneering journalist Fran Lewine has died. She was the first woman to be a full-time White House reporter for the Associated Press.

Class issues, weight issues, and Starbucks' new "Skinny Platform."

What? You mean you can be in a devoted, life-long, loving relationship without getting married -- or even wanting to? Wow!

Schools in the UK are told to stop giving students sexist career advice.

The New York Times has a big feature and photo essay on female genital cutting. Plus, and Iraqi Kurdish parliamentarian is pushing legislation to criminalize FGM.

Women in Saudi Arabia are now allowed to rent hotel rooms without a male guardian.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour calls Hillary Clinton "mannish."

Texas teens were arrested for forcing girls as young as 12 into prostitution.

Susie Bright on "smashmortion" cinema.

Note to political journalists writing about Obama and the Latino vote: Black and Latino are not mutually exclusive.

UK police are trying tactics that encourage rape suspects to incriminate themselves via text message.

Wisconsin antichoicers are mailing out 40,000 plastic fetuses.

Rep. Louise Slaughter has a letter asking the Department of Defense to investigate the KBR rape case.

High-school moms in Denver ask for four weeks of maternity leave.

Does caffeine increase pregnant women's risk of miscarriage?

Frances Kissling and Kate Michelman on Roe's 35th anniversary.

How Kansas antichoicers are using grand juries to undermine abortion rights.

Reviewing the new Bella Abzug biography.

How John McCain is using his adopted daughter to "prove" he's got antichoice street cred.

A Muslim girl was denied the right to participate in her high-school track meet because of her modified uniform.

If you haven't listened already, check out Melissa Harris Lacewell's brilliant response to Gloria Steinem (and her op-ed) on Democracy Now.

And Rachel points out that race and gender are real issues in this election.

If you've never checked out Jay Smooth at Ill Doctrine, you really should. I just love this vlog he did about ten of his favorite quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., ones that you don't hear all that often. Nice.

If folks want to share their favorite MLK folks in comments...feel free.

Tomorrow is Blog for Choice 2008, so if you haven't signed up yet--hop to it! Even if you don't have a blog, you can still participate by encouraging your favorite bloggers to take part in Blog for Choice Day or by joining the Facebooks group "I'm celebrating the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade."

Feministing will be posting on reproductive justice for the majority of the day, and pointing you in the direction of other great blogs covering choice--so make sure to stop by often tomorrow.

This year, let's commemorate Roe by ensuring that the blogosphere is jam packed with pro-choice posts!

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Romney and Clinton win Nevada. Thoughts?

If you're not in NYC for the Feministing-sponsored Roe v. Wade 35th anniversary event, there's lots of stuff going on throughout the week, across the country. I've cobbled together a partial listing -- below the fold. (Some contain only partial info, so you'll have to follow the links or google to fill in the gaps.)

Please post info in comments about events I may have missed!

Next week, Roe v. Wade is celebrating its 35th Anniversary. And Feministing wants to party.

After all the panels, conferences, and meetings around this historic day, why not celebrate with some cocktails and great company? This is also an opportunity for us to recognize the fantastic work that’s being done on the front of the reproductive health, justice and rights movements. We want this night to be about Roe, but we also want it to be about a wholistic vision of reproductive health and justice.

If your organization/group is interesting in co-sponsoring, please email me!

I received this as a forward yesterday with the message, "This is how a real man uses post-its." It reminds me of oldie-but-goody Lakshmi Chaudry's "Men Growing Up To Be Boys," where she talks about consumer culture literally consuming more traditional concepts of manhood and spitting out a man-child.

So move over, beer commercials and manly meat ads; we've now entered the realm of sexist stationary. Sigh.

NOTE: We have found out that this is, in fact, a joke and not an actual post-it ad. At the same time, the fact that this is being disseminated very widely still perpetuates the same confused notions of American masculinity/man-boyhood we find in our everyday commercials and magazine ads. But we are glad to find that that Post-It has not taken part in it.

A recent L.A. Times article about "men's post-abortion syndrome" got lots of pickup by feminist bloggers. Now my friend and former colleague Sarah Blustain has the goods on the political roots and possible implications of this latest antichoice tactic.

She says up front that men who truly are suffering -- no matter what the cause -- deserve help and support. I agree. But this arm of the antichoice movement isn't really about providing counseling. As Sarah puts it, "PAS is a political strategy masquerading as a psychological crisis." It takes the politically successful "two victims of abortion" rhetoric one step further.

As with nearly everything in the antichoice world, it all comes back to traditional gender roles -- how feminism wrecked America, and how conservative Christianity is the only way to "redemption." As the antichoicers see it,

Media Matters has the transcript. This really struck me:

This program, I am proud to say, is tough, fearless, and yes, blunt. I want people to react when I say something. I don't like saying things so carefully, so politically correctly, that no one thinks they even said anything.

Oh! Poor thing! We wouldn't want him to have to censor the sexist bile that he spews forth on a regular basis. That would be an act of fear!

Before we consider the apology excuses, let's have a look back at just a few of Matthews' "greatest hits":

• In an interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards: "Behind every great man is a woman trying to kill him... What's this with equal marriages? Why do people try to marry their equals? What happened to the Stepford Wives, the good ol' days? [Audience boos.] Oh, how PC! How PC!"
• He's called Hillary Clinton "witchy," "she devil" and compared her to a "strip-teaser." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys." He has called her "Madame Defarge" and "Nurse Ratched."
• He has described one of Clinton's speeches as a "barn-burner speech, which is harder to give for a woman; it can grate on some men when they listen to it -- fingernails on a blackboard."
• To Sen. Chris Dodd: “Do you find it difficult to debate a woman?â€?
• To CNBC's Erin Burnett: "You're beautiful," "you're a knockout," and "It's all right getting bad news from you."
• On one show, he repeatedly asked his guests if they find Ann Coulter attractive. And when they, smartly, wouldn't answer, Matthews said, "You guys are all afraid to answer. No, I find her—I wouldn‘t put her—well, she doesn‘t pass the Chris Matthews test."
• And to top it all off, the Hillary Clinton cheek-pinching incident.

Given all that, I find it *really* hard to believe him when he says this:

If my heart has not always controlled my words, on those occasions when I have not taken the time to say things right, or have simply said the inappropriate thing, I'll try to be clearer, smarter, more obviously in support of the right of women -- of all people -- the full equality and respect for their ambitions. So, I get it.

This would maybe work as an excuse if he'd made just one offensive comment. But what we clearly have here is a pattern. Which doesn't just indicate he failed to phrase something carefully, one time. It means when he's talking off the cuff, his sexist beliefs are completely unchecked. Keep in mind this isn't just about Hillary Clinton. He's said all sorts of reprehensible things about women on the air -- not only about Clinton (though she does take more than her share of abuse from Matthews).

In any case, we're gonna do our best to hold him to that vacuous promise. Maybe if he behaves we'll remove him as the poster boy for our Privileged Political Pundit Drinking Game. But I'm not holding my breath.

Hey New Yorkers, don't forget to join Courtney and other fabulous women at the Girls Write Now reading tonight!

7:00 - 9:00
John Street Church, 44 John St.
Admission: $10 (suggested)

With hospitals charging as much as $12,000 to $15,000 to deliver babies, home births cost $3,000 to $4,000. And now, New Hampshire may require insurance companies to pay for babes delivered at home by midwives.

While the federal government reimburses women for home delivery under Medicaid, a woman with health insurance that includes maternity benefits has to pay out of her own pocket if she decides to deliver at home.

On a related note, it's not news that Rick Lake recently made a documentary which argues that the medical industry has turned childbirth not only into a business, but pregnancy into a medical condition that needs to be "treated." Check out the trailer after the jump.

Has anyone seen the movie? Thoughts? Experiences?

The Guttmacher Institute has released a mother of a study today revealing that in 2005, the U.S. abortion rate was the lowest it has been since 1974. In other words, the rates continue to decline. The study reveals a number of other interesting (and depressing) findings, like:

The number of abortion providers is decreasing, yet at a slower rate than previous years

Medication abortion - or mifepristone - use is growing

More than 1 in 4 abortion patients reports traveling at least 50 miles to reach a provider.

Nationwide, 87% of counties have no abortion services, a figure that has existed since 2000

They also have a state-by-state guide with abortion rates and access. Check out the full study, "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services, 2005."

Hey folks, I'm in Minneapolis gearing up for the Minnesota Choice Coalition's event commemorating Roe. I'll also be at the University of Minnesota tomorrow, speaking about my book and the blog. In the meantime, I've written kind of a fun article for Babble about Monty. Hope you like it. PS: Minnesota is cold.

We've been called apathetic. We've been called selfish. We've been called cheaters. We've been called petty. We've been called appearance obsessed. We've been called Generation Y, Millenials, Echo Boomers, the Look at Me Generation, and now, well, it's all been boiled down to simply Generation Me.

I'm, frankly, a little sick of the whole thing. The New York Times just ran a story about a new study that puts into question the previous wisdom on our generation--namely that MySpace, Oprah, and Free To Be You and Me has made us all narcissistic. The article explains:

Kali H. Trzesniewski, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Western Ontario...along with colleagues at the University of California, Davis, and Michigan State University, will publish research in the journal Psychological Science next month showing there have been very few changes in the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of youth over the last 30 years. In other words, the minute-by-minute Twitter broadcasts of today are the navel-gazing est seminars of 1978.

The study was done, in part, as a response to the work of Jean M. Twenge who wrote Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before. Twenge is already at work on another book, this one with an even more damning title, The Narcissism Epidemic (by the by, could we all agree on a definition for what constitutes an epidemic? It's getting a little ridiculous).

I appreciate this Yale fella's response:

Richard P. Eibach, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale, has found that exaggerated beliefs in social decline are widespread — largely because people tend to mistake changes in themselves for changes in the external world. “Our automatic assumption is something real has changed,� Mr. Eibach said. “It takes extra thought to realize that something about your own perspective or the information you’re receiving may have changed.�

Is it really us, people, or might it just be a little bit about you? Are older folks projecting their own unmet needs on an entire generation? Now that's narcissism.

In my not so humble opinion, I think that sports are pretty homoerotic. People can decide if they want to agree with that or not, but watching men talk about or watch sports tends to border on homosocial, but oftentimes homosexual tension. So for those of us that already kind of know that, the thought of two men kissing at a sporting event wouldn't shock us, but it wouldn't revile us either. However, lest we forget, given homophobia's strong hold on so much of the country, there are other people that are not as comfortable.

Take this for example. This is a picture of two men embracing after a tough sporting event, where they came out victorious. Now, to be real, they are not kissing, just excited that they won. It is a tense moment that is full of complicated emotions. But this picture caused a controversy, because readers Courier-Journal (in Kentucky) consider it inappropriate.

Some of the comments registered by angry, offended and/or baffled readers: "Awful," "an embarrassment," "horrible decision," "poor judgment," "distasteful," "a mystery" and "shame on you."

I have to admit I was a little baffled by the response. Aren't sports the province of the ubiquitous fanny pat? Aren't players in each other's faces all the time during athletic matches? Yes and yes. So what's a little game-time hug in that universe?

Well, apparently this photo crossed a line for some readers, some of whom demanded an apology and/or an explanation.

It is interesting how gray the space between what is considered an motivational pat on the ass and "inappropriate" touching. I think it is OK to acknowledge that these different types of behavior can be relational to each other. But given the context of homophobia, it is hard to break out of what is considered acceptable "straight male" behavior. I think this is one of the reasons it is difficult for players to come out as gay for fear of being deemed too inappropriate to still be a respectable athlete.

Thanks to Maz for the linkage.

Check out our answers to Glamocracy blogger Fernanda Diaz's questions concerning the election, in general, and Hillary's run, in specific. Glamocracy is a new project of Glamour , designed to highlight the voices and opinions of five diverse young women on the election. We think that's pretty darn swell (although it might now be our new goal to get Fernanda out of the feminist closet). Watch out lady!

I'm not one of those feminists who was galvanized by women's studies courses (my feminism was born from less academic conditions), but I've taught Intro to Gender Studies at Hunter College off and on for the last few years, and I love seeing the light come on. Clearly what starts out as a drag--a general education requirement or whatever--often turns into a life-changing experience for young women and men across the nation who stumble into their feminism via a women's studies course.

What role has women's or gender studies played in your feminism? What have your favorite classes been?

The National Women's Studies Association has partnered with the National Opinion Research Center (with funding from the Ford Foundation) to conduct a national survey on women's studies programs. They found:

There are 652 women's and gender studies programs at community colleges, colleges, and universities in the U.S.

Undergraduate women's studies courses enrolled nearly 89,000 students in 2005-06, and 85% of women's and gender studies courses fulfilled general education requirements.

Undergraduate majors enrolled nearly 4,300 students, while undergraduate minors enrolled nearly 10,500 students in 2005-06.

30.4% of women’s studies faculty are faculty of color, compared with 19% of faculty nationally based upon a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 2003 report on post-secondary faculty at degree-granting institutions.

You can check out the full report for yourself. And thank you, seriously thank you, to the foremothers of women's and gender studies programs out there! You have changed so many lives.

We all have these stories, even if they’re not our own—stories of friends or aunts or mothers. Stories of women who have faced the miracle of the human body in less than miraculous circumstances, women who have starred their own power dead in the eyes and made a decision, women who have considered “life�—not as existential philosophy—but as a pragmatic and urgent (more urgent than anything has ever been) question.

It’s breathtaking and devastating to see a handful of these stories gathered in one place. The new anthology, Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion, edited by Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont, is not to be missed. It adds dimensions to the word “choice,� to the question of pregnancy, even to the field of what it means to be female.

In consistently original voices and beautifully crafted writing (not always such a hallmark of anthologies), these stories enfold you in a dark but deeply compelling fog and remind you of how totally powerful and pained we sometimes are. Some stories literally had me in tears on the subway, some smiling on my couch, a few outraged and angry at a world that still causes women so much suffering with its callous bureaucracies and hypocritical politics.

I don't really know what to make of this ad for Target that's hanging in NYC's Times Square. I mean, there's a part of me that feels like it's just an innocuous ad that passed through the cracks without someone noticing that the model's vag was in the center of the target. But then I think about how much money is spent on advertising, how many people it's vetted through, and how so much of advertising is deliberate. And then I puke a little. Thoughts?

Jeff at Shakesville has more about Target's, well...interesting response to complaints about the ad.

Thanks to Jeff K for the link.

Ladybrains are not to be trusted. Nor is Steve Martin.

Former state Rep. Sue Burmeister from Georgia in a debate about why women who want abortions should have sit through a state-written lecture about how terrible it is and wait 24 hours before obtaining the procedure: "Women are intelligent, but when you're emotional, you're not thinking with the right part of your brain."

Rosario Dawson says it's New Orleans. No, seriously.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Vagina Monologues, VDay is holding a star-studded event in New Orleans on April 12.

April 11 and 12 will find the Louisiana Superdome interior turned into a pink and red vagina -- "with a big vagina entrance," Ensler said -- as a setting for performance events, parties, parades, workshops, wellness and education programs, speakers, even spa treatments, which will be free to residents of New Orleans and the Gulf South. (Men are excluded only from the spa.)

For those two days, New Orleans will be "the Vagina Capital of America," Ensler said. "We're coming here to say that we should celebrate New Orleans, cherish it, protect it, just as we do our vaginas, and make sure it goes on and on."

Okay, I love me some Vagina Monologues--but this just made laugh. Is it possible for vagina-talk to get too hokey? Cause I think we're almost there.

Vagina-exhaustion aside, this looks like it's going to be a fabulous time and I really want to go. VDay is teaming up with local grassroots organization the Katrina Warriors (logo above) as part of the V to the Tenth event. Hope to see you, and your Vs, there.

Talk about the "no duh" headline of the day: Women's bisexuality an 'identity,' not phase

A new study from the University of Utah shows that bisexuality in women isn't "just a phase."

[Lisa] Diamond, [an associate professor of psychology and gender studies] conducted face-to-face interviews around New York state in 1995, when the women (who identified themselves as lesbian, bisexual or unlabeled, but not heterosexual) were ages 18-25. She then spoke with them by phone every two years.

"These findings are therefore more consistent with the model of bisexuality as a stable identity than a transitional stage," the study says.

I did find it interesting that the study only focused on women who were bisexual - I thought it was a major limitation. After all, bisexual men are often accused of just being slow to come out as gay. It seems to be that it's always been more "acceptable" for women to be bi because it feeds into straight male fantasies. With bi men, not so much. Thoughts?

Pic from the NYT.

Girls Write Now has a special place in my heart--it's amazing organization here in New York that pairs at-risk high school girls with professional women writers for a mentor relationship that lasts an entire school year, up to four years.

As you can see from one of their readings above, any event given by Girls Write Now is not to be missed. Especially the one this Friday. Not only will the fabulous young women writers be reading their work, but our own Courtney Martin will also be there. All of the information is below the jump, but if you're in the area, please stop by. It's only a $10 suggested donation to support an amazing organization. A small price to pay to support girls' voices, wouldn't you say?

Mitt Romney beat out the other Republican candidates in Michigan, while the Democratic candidates are debating right now In Nevada. Who's watching? What do you think?

It is always fun to come across female writers that are surprised by phenomena such as women picking up hammers. They open their eyes and low and behold, women have jobs and pink tool belts.

There has been an explosion of womantargeted self-help books, videos, radio shows (including one called "A Repair to Remember"), TV spots and home-improvement Web sites. Some sites -- including bejane.com and toolgirl.com -- are specifically for women, while others offer female-friendly links and columns. Home Depot has introduced "Do It Herself" clinics for women interested in learning how to use a stud finder; the classes are evidently a success since, as NPR has reported, in some locales the store is becoming known as a hot singles spot. Even schoolgirls are joining the revolution. The Girl Scouts now offer a Ms. Fix-It badge for members eager to learn how to rewire a lamp or fix a leaky toilet, and an outfit called Vermont Work for Women has introduced a summer program called Rosie's (as in Rosie the Riveter) Girls promising "hands on instruction in the skilled trades."

Well, I agree with her that the explosion of self help literature that capitalizes off women's supposed helplessness and thus need to be told she is dumb and useless, unless she does so and so is huge. But instead of a scathing critique on capitalism and the ways it pigeonholes women into predefined roles, she relies on some tired nostalgia of women hitting the ground running in their new found freedom of building shit around the house.

Please tell me you aren't serious.

Everyone knows about my long-standing crush on Bob Herbert. Well, if you needed more proof as to why he rocks, it's here.

For activists and organizers that work on issues of displacement, jobs and housing, it is not exactly news that the subprime lending situation has had a malign effect on working class women and women of color in low income communities. They are usually first in line to fall prey to predatory lenders and usually the most viable customers of such loans. According to this morning's NYT women of color in Baltimore have inevitably been the first to be effected by foreclosures.

For each of the last four years, more than half of the foreclosures in this neighborhood have been homes owned primarily by women, according to an analysis of public records by the Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit community development organization.

The foreclosures threaten the neighborhood’s fragile stability. And they highlight a broader dimension of the housing meltdown: subprime mortgages, which are driving the foreclosure rate, have gone disproportionately to women.

Although this is not surprising, it shouldn't be ignored either. The trend in subprime lenders engaging in predatory lending practices have targeted low income people, making their living off ruining other people's financial lives (and I speaketh from experience). Debt has been normalized in communities of color and working class communities, it is assumed the only way you can live is in debt. The debt we are accruing, we will not pay off in this generation. The damage being done has serious long-term consequences for disenfranchised communities.

Check out our fantastic Jessica on this week's Reality Cast being interviewed by our other fave, Amanda Marcotte.

Stepha Henry (left) and Maria Lauterbach (right).

I hate posting about news like this, but I know I can't avoid it... Last week and today we found out about the respective fates of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and Stepha Henry, two women who had been missing. Lauterbach's body has been found and the suspect in her death is on the run; Henry's body hasn't been found, but police have made an arrest for her murder.

What (shockingly) seems to be missing from the coverage of both of these cases is a discussion of violence against women. In Henry's case, it's been difficult to find a lot news coverage at all about her disappearance--wonder why that is. In the coverage of Lauterbach's murder, we've heard nary a word on violence against pregnant women, sexual assault in the military or the silencing of rape survivors.

Every time I see a story on cable news about a missing (usually white) woman, I want to turn off the television. Not because I don't care, but because I can't stand seeing how the story is treated. But instead of tuning out, I'm committing myself to start holding our media outlets accountable--and so should you. Demand that missing women of color don't go missing in the news as well, and let the media know that they must talk about violence against women in relation to these stories. It's not that hard to contact news outlets, so when you see "missing women" coverage, get moving...

I don't know what disturbs me more: That Paris Hilton is being named Harvard's Woman of the Year, or finding out that we have the same taste in clothes.

UPDATE: Thankfully, this award isn't as shmancy as it sounds.

Amnesty International is campaigning for the end of stoning in Iran, which the international rights organization calls "grotesque."

There are currently eleven people in Iran awaiting death by stoning; nine of them are women.

The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women. Women are not treated equally with men under the law and by courts, and they are also particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because their higher illiteracy rate makes them more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit.

Amnesty's report notes that stoning is "specifically designed to increase the suffering" and that victims typically take 20 minutes to die. Horrific. Visit the Amnesty International website to see how you can help.

The front page article of the Sunday times delved into a multi-part series about veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq and the violent crimes they have committed since their return. According to the Times, 121 returned veterans have committed a killing since their return. Most of the victims have been their spouses or their children.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.

About a third of the victims were spouses, girlfriends, children or other relatives, among them 2-year-old Krisiauna Calaira Lewis, whose 20-year-old father slammed her against a wall when he was recuperating in Texas from a bombing near Falluja that blew off his foot and shook up his brain.

If we haven't already exhausted the reasons for why we should not be at war right now, let this be one of the issues that comes to the forefront of national attention. It is clear that the costs of war are more than the massive debt we have incurred or the horrendous damage we have done overseas, but also includes the use, abuse and disposal of young men and women, turning them into killing machines, that have little chance for normalcy afterwards. There is a line I always remember from Fahrenheit 9/11 where Michael Moore talks about how the first ones to go to war are usually the last ones to benefit from its outcomes. Young, working class men and women, young people of color, are being dragged to war, as pawns in our bizarrely maniacal, illegal attempt at imperialistic domination, while their communities continue to suffer even greater consequences.

Well, at least that's what the Associated Press is reporting. I'm going to go ahead and second Shakes. STFU already.

Right before this was taken, Neidra was spooning Monty on the bed. As soon as I came in she got up with an ashamed look on her face. She's also taken to rubbing on Monty while hissing--it's her way of letting him know that she'll cuddle him, but she's not fucking happy about it.

A Milwaukee group has created these ads to raise awareness around teen pregnancy in the city. What do you think of it?

I know I'm a bit late on this, but I think considering how horrifying Crisis Pregnancy Centers are--definitely better late than never.

Last week republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee toured the Carolina Pregnancy Center:

“Sometimes those of us in the pro-life community have been known for what we’re against — that we don’t want to see an unborn child have his or her life ended prematurely and unnecessarily. And yet it’s not enough to be known for what we’re against. We have to be known for what we’re for, which is being for life,� Huckabee told volunteers after touring the center.

That's true, you should let voters know what you're for. If Huckabee stands by the work at the Carolina Pregnancy Center, here's what he's for...

Telling young and low-income women that they shouldn't worry about the financial burdens of caring for a child: "It can be very scary to have financial difficulties, but there are a lot of possible solutions...Today's schools often give aid to single mothers or a job could always come through...A lot can change financially in nine months!"

Lying to rape survivors: "You are in a very unusual circumstance (conception from rape is extremely rare) and it is understandable that you would be frantic. But don’t allow the rapist to further impact your situation by causing you to end the live of an innocent child."

Downplaying the reality of pregnancy: "A normal pregnancy lasts only 40 weeks, a relatively short amount of time in your whole life."

Shaming women considering abortion: "If you get the abortion, you will always remind him of something he isn't proud of."

Crisis Pregnancy Centers lie to women. They intimidate women. They manipulate women. No candidate should support their work--no matter what they believe about choice.

Thanks to all the readers who sent us links on this story!

I'm a day late with your link roundup this week... but I've got lots of good stuff to make up for the delay:

Isabel Allende talks about her writing and feminism. (video)

A woman is suing the Chinese government over her forced abortion.

On Lorrie Moore's idiotic op-ed.

VenusZine reviews the new anthology, Choice.

Canada will no longer allow sexually active gay men to be organ donors.

France celebrates the centennial of Simone de Beauvoir's birth... but not without controversy, of course.

How girls' view of their bodies is supposedly related to how popular they believe they are. (A super scientific study featuring self-reported data!)

A new Guttmacher study shows that women's concern for their existing children is one of the biggest factors in their decision to have an abortion.

Female employees of the University of Michigan health system sue under the Equal Pay Act.

Revolting Product of the Week: SlumpBuster.

Is this for real? "Yo" as a gender-neutral pronoun?

South Korea threatens to shut down its Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

Are Taser parties really all that common? I smell a fake trend...

Anti-choicers and the "moral ambiguity" of attacks on women's health clinics.

An Australian website is promoting Brazilian waxes for girls as young as 10. Ugh.

Tennessee moves toward passing a bunch of abortion restrictions.

And Rebecca Walker offers her take on last week's Steinem op-ed.

The Pentagon won't investigate the KBR rape case. See Feministe for an action item for Jamie Leigh Jones.

Canada is now putting female soldiers on security detail in Afghanistan.

Paradigm Shift (NYC feminist community) is sponsoring an open mic on January 25 on the subject of feminist entrepreneurship. Click here for more details.

Other links? Leave 'em in comments.

I was looking for this story about the development of a saliva test for breast cancer when I stumbled on the Fox News headline about it.

Uh, not exactly. Funny, but confusing.

Indeed. So how was everyone's weekend?

Pic from justusjonas.

There’s this revolting, ever-growing theme in the primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that’s leaving me feeling like I need to pick a side. Not on the candidates themselves, but what they represent for and in me. Race or gender. Sunday’s New York Times ramped it up nicely with Rights vs. Rights, about the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and the Women’s movement coming to a head this election season. Douglass or Stanton? Jackson or Steinem? Obama or Clinton?

Yvette Bello joined Latino Community Services (LCS) in June 2005 and is currently serving as the Executive Director. Based in Hartford, Conn., LCS works to reduce the further spread of HIV/AIDS among the Latino community and other populations at risk, and improve the quality of life of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

Yvette also serves on the board of the Medical Interpreting Association of Connecticut, The Ryan White Latino Caucus, the Connecticut Association for Nonprofits board and the Mayor's Commission on AIDS.

Here's Yvette...

This week was no joke. Between misogyny in the media, "gray" rape and and election madness, I think we all could use some cuteness to take the edge off.

Have a great weekend, folks.

UPDATE: Here's another video since the first was taken down. But be warned, maybe don't listen to the newscast. Sad news about the other cub...

Media Matters has a call to action, and I'm all about it:

Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a "she devil" and compared her to a "strip-teaser." He has called her "witchy" and likened her voice to "fingernails on a blackboard." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys." He has called her "Madame Defarge" and "Nurse Ratched."

Had enough? Contact MSNBC to tell them what you think.

Yes, please, please do. Contact info is after the jump.

Now this is what I call some activism:

A group of female protesters locked in a land dispute with the Greek Orthodox Church defied a 1,000-year-old ban and entered the all-male Mount Athos monastic sanctuary in northern Greece, a police official said Wednesday.

A police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity that the small group of nearby villagers, including at least six women, climbed over a fence Tuesday and briefly entered the self-governing peninsula, where women are strictly forbidden.

Awesome. While the rally was concerning certain land claims, it's still no doubt a great statement. In the past, single female visitors were said to have entered the grounds disguised as men. But not today.

While just a couple of months ago, we were thrilled to find that Wonder Woman comic books are going to have a female "ongoing writer" for the first time, Playboy has some other plans in mind for the heroine. Playmate of 2005, Tiffany Fallon, is featured on the cover naked with a Wonder Woman suit painted on her. The article begins:

You know the painted lady on the cover as Playmate of the Year 2005 Tiffany Fallon, but to usher you into the story, Sex in America, we recast her as that champion of truth, justice, and American sensuality, Wonder Woman. Tiffany, a modern-day Lynda Carter, has been honing her TV skills. She appeared on The Simple Life with Paris Hilton, became a weekly co-host for the international Fight League's Battleground and accompanied her country music star husband, Jon Doe Rooney of Rascal Flats, to numerous award shows. What's next? 'I've been filming The Celebrity Apprentice,' says Tiffany. (Emphasis mine)

Is this really the face of today's Wonder Woman? A reality TV show "bombshell"? And to compare Fallon to Lynda Carter, who was not only a kick-ass Wonder Woman but also a kick-ass, outspoken feminist?? While I'm aware that this is Playboy, it just seems too representative of how American television has such a dire need for strong female characters like Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman. And ironically, the only "real women" that we have are the Tiffany Fallons and Paris Hiltons of America.

That's a headline from The New York Times, which apparently thinks women are just "perceiving" sexism. No, motherfuckers, we're seeing it. Everywhere.

Who said teens need role models when they can be their own? This week, high school students are our hero.

Pregnant teens at East High School in Denver are requesting maternity leave due to the school giving unexcused absences if school days are missed immediately after giving birth. Unfortunately, it's not atypical for a high school to make being pregnant or teen mother difficult to stay in high school; aside from the general struggles of being a teen parent, another Colorado school rejected the suggestion from one student that a day care center be created within the school because the principal felt it would encourage teen pregnancy.

Let's hope East High won't have a similar sentiment. (You know, because a month off and some day care makes having a kid at 16 SO appealing.) Only a third of teen moms receive their high-school diplomas and 1.5 percent get college degrees before they turn 30, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Back east in New York City, high school students have testified before the City Council to make sex education in Bronx high schools mandatory. While the NYC Department of Ed approved sex ed curricula to be disseminated to all high schools, it's at the principal's discretion as to whether the curriculum is used or not.

But that wasn't enough for concerned teenagers from P.S. 218 in the South Bronx, who have been advocating for the right to sex education in all Bronx high schools, a borough where the rate of teen pregnancies is nearly 14% as opposed to 10% throughout all of New York City.

If that's not some serious inspiration, I don't know what is. Here's to the teen activists of Denver, New York, and beyond.

This one has got to be on our next Disturbing Product Poll, despite the fact that it's a little more, um, complicated than your typical sexist toy. Move over Real Dolls, "re-born" babies are becoming a trend in the US and UK. And it absolutely terrifies me.

Thanks to MAC for this disturbing shit. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy a stroller for my new fake baby.

I will rescind my statement from yesterday that perhaps the sexism faced by Clinton in the media, didn't actually sway women voters. I still think it is not safe to homogenize female voters, however, instead I will put forth the term coined by Pam at Pandagon and Pam's House Blend of what she calls the "Tweety Effect," a complication to the Bradley effect.

I’m not sure that it applies here, given the complicating factor of gender bias, and what we can now call “The Tweety Effect,� where the misogyny of a talking head in the MSM so enrages a demographic that they go out and vote in a manner that will put egg on the face of the talking head.

So which one was it at the polls in NH? Like Pam I am hoping it is the "Tweety Effect," not the fact that Clinton inadvertently said, it takes a white president to get a black man's hopes accomplished.

Everyone please show our amazing editor and friend Ann some birthday love today! Not only is Ann a ridiculously brilliant editor and feminist, she also is quite the fashionista. (As evidenced above.) Anyone who can rock a hat like that deserves props for life.

Happy 26th, lady--we love you!

From Time magazine's blog Swampland: "[I]s there room in Washington for both a Speaker Pelosi and a President Hillary?"

I don't know, is there room enough for two vaginas in DC? *Headdesk*

Oh how clever. It would be nice if misogynists could be fucking original for once.

Thanks to Brandann for the link, who saw this shirt in the airport (!) and went through the trouble of looking it up online.

Health centers that provide abortions in Spain are on a week-long strike as part of an effort to change the law.

The mainstream media continues to make the election about gender. Today's piece in the NYT, "Women’s Support for Clinton Rises in Wake of Perceived Sexism," is testament to this phenomena and that no matter how much we insist that gender is not the only issue we as young women are looking at, we are told over and over, that it is.

If the race wasn’t about gender already, it certainly is now. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has been running for president for nearly a year. But in the past week, women in Iowa mostly rejected her, a few days before women in New Hampshire embraced her. All over the country, viewers scrutinized coverage for signs of chauvinism in the race, and many said they found dismaying examples.

You don't exactly have to scrutinize to find examples of sexism against Clinton. Also, there is no article about which way men are voting, because it is assumed that they just do vote and have the authority to already know what candidate they are voting for and it is not to be questioned because of their gender. Women are seen as not only unjustly homogeneous, but also as "wishy-washy" in their choices, so their vote is a subject of much discussion. The same sexism that Hillary is facing through the sexist coverage of her campaign, is being reproduced in the coverage of how women vote.

I think it is a tricky assumption to make that because of her sexist coverage, women are changing their vote. Several feminist bloggers and writers (that we have even linked here) have said they were compelled and angered by the sexism, but her centrist philosophies count them out, again and again.

Young women of color are frequently angered when lumped into the category of "women voters." The realities that make up the lives of young women today can't be contained in a singular category and the voting behavior of young women of color is probably as diverse as young women.

So as Ann said yesterday, I think it is time to call off the oppression Olympics, and ask the media to stop making this an issue of race verse gender. We also have to stop trying to figure out all the different ways that women are voting, because we are all voting in different ways, often in opposition to each other. And we all have a variety of reasons to be voting the way that we do, be it our ethnicity, our race, our ability to READ policy and people's voting records or our belief in who we think will be our most effective elected officials. If we did a study of young women of color and their voting records, we would come up with figures that might surprise us. Unless, we do this research, let's not pretend we know.

There's an interesting article in the latest New Yorker about all the British pop stars who have become so popular as of late (Kate Nash, Lilly Allen, Adele, Remi Nicole, Amy Macdonald). Sasha Frere-Jones makes the argument that MySpace has essentially "made" some of these stars too early--that Nash, in particular--needed more time to mature as an artist before she hit the big time.

I find that thesis less interesting (and a little patronizing) than the idea that MySpace has created a new way for these young women to "make" themselves. Power in the music industry has been consolidated in so few hands for so long and all of that is changing thanks to both MySpace and so many other technological innovations. The days of male music execs shaping teenage girls into pop hit machines and pushing them to market their voices only as an extension of their bodies may be coming to an end (at least in Britain). Even if you look at Allen or Nash's style ("granny dresses", vintage, healthy figures) it seems testament to the fact that objectification in the music industry is shifting. These girls may still objectify themselves to varying degrees, but at least they're the ones with their fingers on the button. Thoughts?

All this talk about Hillary's imaginary tears reminded me of an exhibit I saw in Chelsea not so long ago called Crying Men, in which Sam Taylor-Wood photographed famous actors mid-tear. The prints were giant, looming testaments to the idea that society is still only comfortable with men crying in movies (and sometimes, not even then); you could just watch people as they walked through, stunned by the sight of so many emotional dudes all at once. I remember there being an almost church-like hush in the gallery space.

It got me thinking a lot about the social norms we have for "acceptable" ways for men and women to express emotion, and further, the contexts in which certain emotions are considered "acceptable" for display. I asked my Intro to Women's Studies class that semester what they thought, and a sea of predominantly female 20-somethings admitted they were uncomfortable with men crying. There were a few exceptions, a few brave women who said they were fine with men's sadness, frustration, anger and the expression of those emotions in the form of tears, but others (I have to admit, to my shock) echoed the old-school "he's a pussy if he cries" mentality.

Why, after so much progress in the feminist movement and so much Dr. Phil, are we still so uncomfortable with people in power crying (i.e. Hillary and Teargate 2008), and relatedly, men crying? Do crying men remind us that there is, ultimately, no "invincible knight in shining armor," just as a crying politician reminds us that no one can truly protect us from "evil," that life is insecure no matter who's in charge?

I, for one, don't give a shit how you chose to express your emotion as long as its nonviolent and authentic.

I was tipped off to Benjamin Percy’s work by a great article in Poets & Writers magazine that highlighted this young short story writer’s poignant grasp on contemporary masculinity and war. When the collection arrived, I was so not disappointed.

These short stories, especially the title story, literally pull you in to the high desert of central Oregon and drop you off, to feel, process, and face the emotional upheaval of our time, usually through the rich inner life of a young male character.

The effect is devastating, as in the title story where the young man trades blows with his best friend every day after school in the backyard—clearly an attempt to physicalize some of their mutual pain over having dads in Iraq indefinitely. He hits refresh over and over on his computer, praying for an email from his pops letting him know that he is, indeed, alive. The terrain is as unusual and vivid as the emotions that seem to echo it through out every carefully chosen word in this story. I felt like that kid was sitting on my couch and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hug him because he was already too invested in not letting on how fucking hard life is.

Other stories explore domestic violence, rape, thwarted love, miscarriages, familial relationships etc. Basically there isn’t a hot button issue concerning masculinity and violence that this volume doesn’t touch, although always in an artful, complex way.

I can’t frickin’ wait to see what this guy writes next.

Up next: Choice by Karen Bender and then Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit.

When I first started writing about the myth of gray rape, a bullshit term made up by slut-shamer Laura Sessions Stepp, I didn't really think the term would end up being as pervasive as it seems to be. The Cosmo article certainly didn't help.

And stories like this are why the idea that there are somehow shades of rape is so dangerous. A young woman at Lewis & Clark College was raped--not "gray raped," because it doesn't exist--by a fellow student.

[The young woman] calls what happened to her something akin to “gray rape,� a term she learned from an article in Cosmopolitan written by Washington Post journalist Laura Sessions Stepp. Hunter admits she initiated the encounter. But she eventually withdrew her consent, she says. “The whole thing was very confusing to me, and I didn’t know what to do about it for such a long time,� she says.

Rape can be confusing, it doesn't make it "gray." Feminists have long fought to dispel the myth that initially consenting to one form of intimacy does not make it okay for someone to force another kind on you. In this case, the young woman was hooking up with her eventual-attacker when he forced her to perform oral sex on him. (Trigger warning for what follows)

[His] mattress was on the floor pushed up against a wall, [she] says. “I’m sitting up against the wall on his mattress, and he’s standing over me,� she continues. “It started happening, and then he, like, twisted his fingers around my hair and started pulling it and being just kind of violent. I started choking because he was just, like, pushing my head.… I started gagging and choking, and I couldn’t really breathe.�...She says she started pushing on Shaw-Fox’s abdomen to tell him to stop. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s right, choke on it.’�

There is nothing "gray" about this. There is nothing "gray" about being violent. There is nothing fucking gray about "choke on it." There is nothing "gray" about rape. Please, enough already.

Thanks to Jake for the link.

UPDATE: To clarify, I'm not criticizing the victim for using the term "gray rape" to describe her assault. I'm criticizing Sessions Stepp and folks like Cosmo for promoting the false notion to young women that not all rape is equal.

The ladies of Feministing cope with election coverage.

Brought to you by Ann and Jessica, who both wish they were drinking right now

Watching campaign coverage can be trying. Especially when the talking heads seem hell-bent on relying on racist and sexist sound-bites in lieu of substantive commentary. So to get your though the hard times, we proudly present ....

• Drink anytime someone refers to Clinton's teary moment in NH as "crying," "sobbing," "weepy," or "contrived."

• Take a drink for every "magical negro" reference to Obama.
• Take one drink anytime someone calls Clinton "shrill" or "screechy."
• Chug one whenever you hear of, see, or read Maureen Dowd. Always.
• Two drinks anytime anyone expresses the sentiment that Edwards is at a disadvantage because he isn't black or female.
• Take a shot when a pundit refers to Clinton as (or implies she is) a nagging bitch or cackling witch.
• Drink for any lamenting that white-dude voters are being ignored.
• Take a healthy gulp every time someone describes Obama as "clean" or "articulate."
• Take two shots whenever someone implies that women only vote with their vaginas.
• Warning: Do not watch Chris Matthews under any circumstances--doing so could induce alcohol poisoning.

What Rebecca said.

Yes, yes, and yes to what Jennifer Fang says:

Ultimately, however, Steinem’s piece (intentionally or unintentionally) draws a line in the sand between people of colour and women, essentially disregarding the everyday racism faced by Black and Brown people, and claiming the Oppression Olympics gold medal for women. Further, by casting the debate as between Black men and White women (despite her imperfect creation of Achola Obama), Steinem renders the woman of colour invisible, reaffirms the binary Black-White paradigm of race, and demands we take a side in the epic battle between race and gender. Is it no wonder, then, that women of colour have long felt alienated by feminists like Steinem? Where do we fit when we’re being asked to choose between Obama and Clinton as a metaphor for race versus gender? And how are we supposed to react when an incorrect choice labels us as “less radical�?

It's also posted at Racialicious.

Chris Matthews really needs his own category when it comes to sexist bullshit, but this really got me. I haven't had my cheeks pinched as an adult, well...ever. But I admire Clinton's restraint--I would have lost my shit.

The charming header above is the tag Jezebel chose to use in their response post to us and their own readers who were not too pleased about Moe's bizarre diatribe against Hillary. (Now, there is no link to Feministing, but they link here often and considering the first line addresses Jen's very post title, I think it's clear. But hey, even if it's directed at pissed commenters--WTF?)

Calling women "fucking dykes" (and something tells me this is not in the queer-reclaimy way) while saying you were just kidding when you wrote that NH women voters "suck" is just...I'm speechless. But hey, I'm just a fucking dyke so what do I know?

UPDATE: My bad. But I still think the whole Clinton coverage there is strange.

Fox News' Your World recently featured "No Nonsense Man" Marc Rudov, who commented that "When Barack Obama speaks, men hear, 'Take off for the future.' And when Hillary Clinton speaks, men hear, 'Take out the garbage.' " The text on-screen during his appearance...well, you can see it for yourself.

Rodov's expertise? Well, he wrote what I'm sure is a page-turner called Under the Clitoral Hood: How to Crank Her Engine Without Cash, Booze, or Jumper Cables, and has been featured here on Feministing for his warning to parents not to send their "actively heterosexual" to "gynoversities." And if that was telling enough, just check out the headline on Rodov's homepage: "YOU Are Tolerating Her Nonsense!"

Who knew that Frank T.J. Mackey actually existed in real life?!

Media Matters has the video.

Washington Post blogger Joel Achenbach has an interesting idea for controlling uppity women:

Clinton fought back, but she needs a radio-controlled shock collar so that aides can zap her when she starts to get screechy.

Thanks Joel, for doing the work of marking yourself as a misogynist so I now know never to read anything else you write. Shameful.

People's political opinions can be strong enough to make them act a little crazy, but this, from Moe at Jezebel, is out of control:

"So Basically, Women Voters Just Chose The 'Crying Will Get You What You Want' Candidate. Awesome."

Dear all you commentwhores who said HIllary's teensy little tear session had swayed your vote to Hillary: Fuck you. I'm sorry, I realize that you pay my bills, but this makes no sense. Her narrow lead in yesterday's New Hampshire primary is entirely attributable to chicks like you, and you were alllllll chicks.

Perhaps some of those "commentwhores" saw the sexist responses to it and took a minute to think about if they were considering Clinton based on her, or based on what misogynistic crap people said about her. I don't know. And neither do you. And even if they did change their minds because she cried (which she really didn't, but whatevs), so? What's wrong with appreciating that someone exhibits strong emotions about something?

New Hampshire women, after telling pollster after pollster they were ready for change, went inside the booths and had a little cry. Maybe they felt bad for Hillary for sticking it out in that humiliating, mirth-free marriage of hers only to vote against her now. Maybe it reminded them of the time they stuck it out in an emotionally abusive situation and only got through it because somehow, somewhere, they still held out hope that karma would make it all right in the end. Well, that is not an audacious hope. That is a STUPID hope.

The super fabulous Jill Filipovic is the new editor of Alternet's recently-launched Reproductive Justice and Gender section.

I can't think of a smarter gal for the job.

Christopher Hitchens, who believes that the presence of a vagina prevents one from having a sense of humor, stayed classy in his column for Slate this week:

Off to the side, snarling with barely concealed rage, are the Clinton machine-minders, who, having failed to ignite the same kind of identity excitement with an aging and resentful female, are perhaps wishing that they had made more of her errant husband having already been "our first black president."

I guess if anyone knows something about being aging and resentful, it's Hitchens--but that doesn't mean he's not still a sexist asshole.

Romney is asked a question about the ground-breaking Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and responds: "I'm not familiar with the act."

Clearly the guy asking the question is a Grade-A douche bag MRA who is trying to get Mitt Romney to say that VAWA is flawed, but it's still pretty fucking terrifying that Romney has never heard of the Act that provides for $3.9 billion in funding to help survivors of intimate partner violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. I'm also not quite sure why anyone, even Romney, would feel the need to pander to someone who obviously thinks that women have gotten too uppity with the whole not-wanting-to-be-hit thing.

News sources are calling the New Hampshire primary for Clinton on the democratic side, and McCain for the republicans. Obama is conceding as I write this. What do folks think? Clinton and Obama are very close, but McCain is preyy far ahead (which makes sense because he won NH last time he ran for president).

Have at it, folks.

For full results, click here.

They may be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, Gloria Steinem and Michael Barone seem to be in agreement that young women's lack of support for Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses indicates that they are in denial about the pervasive sexism in American society.

Barone:

Today's young women voters are different. They were not raised by mothers who told them they had a duty to stay home with their children. They were raised by mothers who told them they had all sorts of choices they could choose. And mothers who, in some cases, made their own choices which the girls resented -- divorce, spending lots of time at the office. These young women don't react defensively to antichoice politicians and don't feel a need to be liberated from restraints that were never urged on them.

Steinem:

What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.

So if I choose not to vote for Hillary Clinton, it's because I've never been restrained by sexism in my daily life? Or because I'm in denial about the barriers to women's success in politics? Did either of these people even talk to younger women about how they decided which candidate to support? I'm pretty sure Steinem would be able to get young women to return her phone calls. (Barone? Guess I'm not certain…)

The last few days have really brought out some sexist assholery concerning Sen. Hillary Clinton. In the past, we've ran a post series called Hillary Sexism Watch, but given just how many different sexist things have happened recently, one post isn't enough. So therefore tomorrow we're launching a 24-Hour Hillary Sexism Watch: all day I'll be posting different instances of nasty misogyny leveled against Clinton. (If you have any you think I should post, please email me.)

But just so you have something to look forward to (as much as one can look forward to hearing about sexism), I'll put up one today.

This I'm a little late on--it seems several young men at a campaign event in New Hampshire yesterday started yelling out "Iron my shirt!"

Mrs. Clinton asked for the lights to be turned on, and the shirt man was removed along with another man who had stood up too.

“Oh, the remnants of sexism are alive and well,� Mrs. Clinton said.

When everyone had settled down a bit, she said, “As I think has just been abundantly demonstrated, I am also running to break through the highest and hardest glass ceiling.�

Indeed. Also, for the dude with the sign--I'll iron something for you, but it won't be your shirt.

Random product of the day. Support National Breast Cancer Awareness in their use of pink to let you know they are serious and *very* feminine about Breast Cancer. Oooh, it even has rhinestones on it.

via Engadget.

Thanks to Maz for the link.

Because of security concerns in Pakistan.

The rescheduling of the Pakistan general election has forced organisers of the women's World Cup qualifying tournament to move next month's event to South Africa, the International Cricket Council said on Tuesday.

"But with the rescheduling of that vote for February 18 (after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto), the decision was made to move the event to South Africa," an ICC statement said.

The event will now be held in the Stellenbosch district of the Western Cape.

via ReutersUK.

Now I have been known to call some of my best friends skinny bitches, but usually it is a term of endearment or as a total joke. I know, totally tacky. But I have never thought of "skinny bitch" as a term of empowerment or reflective of girl power. Sure we know all about the reclamation of the word "bitch," but I have yet to see an effective reclaiming of "skinny." Of course it is OK to be skinny, it is more the pressure women face to be skinny or stay skinny or even being told they are too skinny, that frankly makes all of us, go insane. In a culture where being skinny is something held over the heads of young women and used to determine their social and cultural value, I am wary of its use in the politics of food.

So this piece struck a cord with me from last week's NYT. It is about the new book by the author of vegan best-seller, "Skinny Bitch," called "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch." It is a cookbook for politically conscious, weight conscious, vegans.

Despite its seemingly indigestible qualities, “Skinny Bitch� (Running Press) became one of the hottest-selling vegan books ever published. Now, the book’s peculiar combination of girl power, tough love and gross-out tales from the slaughterhouse has been translated to the kitchen. The authors’ new cookbook, “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch,� was published in December and reached No. 6 on the New York Times best-seller list in the paperback advice category last week.

Now it does not surprise me that this book is selling so much. There is a huge market for literature that calls women fucked up things and tells them they are stupid or fat and why they should buy this book and be svelte and will have men swooning after them. If they could just do this wonder thing that the book details. But similar to what Debbie Rasmussen from BITCH says in the article, I too am all for an assault on the food industry, but I have major issues with demanding that skinny is the end all goal for being a vegan. That is not "girl power" to me. It is tacky and a dated way of selling books.

Speaking personally, I used to be vegan and honestly, when done right and with support it can work really well. But then I started to realize one of the main reasons I was doing it was because it was keeping my weight down in a really extreme way (read: eating disorder) but I could cover it up in the guise of a political identity. So when young women tell me they are vegan, I am always inquisitive as to the method of their veganism. It is a very extreme diet that needs supplements to make sure you are not deficient in nutrients. It is frustrating, the lack of real nutritional information available to young women to teach us how to eat properly in a way that is healthy, maintains a healthy weight and keeps us happy. I certainly continue to struggle with it and I am almost 30!

Even feminist cats are humorless.

Pic from Jenny.

Turkey's first feminist bookstore, founded the Amargi Woman Academy, has just opened in Istanbul. Hotness.

Ahem, CNN gets the memo real late. This has been a trend for a long time, women have been choosing careers over relationships, since they were allowed into the world of careers outside the home. Partly because it makes sense and partly because there are much greater social consequences for women in the workplace to have relationships and make families. It only makes sense that for self preservation women would choose to advance themselves in their careers as opposed to potentially hurting it by starting a family.

But a family is not the only reason that women get in romantic relationships. Many women don't want children today and so it just happens they focus on their careers AND they date, when they have time. This only makes a headline when it is about women. It is assumed men choose career over relationships, setting up one of the most fuxored relationship power dynamics of all time.

Furthermore, many women still prefer to be in relationships as opposed to advancing in their careers. More than I would like to admit. Are they evil anti-feminists? Or is this from feminism's bad PR over the last few years?

Via.

I have to say, I was actually pretty touched by the clip above--Hillary responding to a woman in New Hampshire who asked, “How do you do it?...How do you keep up beat and so wonderful?�

I was equally grossed out by John Edwards' related attack: "I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business.�

Seriously?

From a ludicrous HuffPo feature, "The 7 Sexiest Green Celebs":

Emerging from the cesspool of Disney celebs comes Hayden Panettiere. Though best known for her kiddie-porn appeal and role on NBC's Heroes, Panettiere is raising praise and eyebrows as a young advocate.

WTF?

I tried to upload this cool video of Monty and his brother playing, but I can't get the sound through. Ugh. So, I present you with an old school cutie picture of Monty that makes me wish he was a fluffy puppy again. Then I remember all of the in-house peeing and the nostalgia fades. Happy Monday, folks.

Young women benefit from being well-informed, they don’t get knocked up from it. Read the full post at The Nation.

Utne Reader has a great excerpt from our gal Courtney's book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. If you haven't bought her book yet, it's a nice glimpse of what you're missing.

Apparently President Pervez Musharraf thinks that the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto' was her own fault. Seriously.

"For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone -- nobody else. Responsibility is hers," the former general told CBS' "60 Minutes."

Or, you know, the person who killed her. But I guess I'm just traditional like that.

Ann, Jessica, Vanessa, Samhita and Jen. Courtney and Celina were missed, but we were happy to drink their share of the vino.

This weekend, almost all of the Feministing gals got together (Celina couldn't make it, sad) to discuss the upcoming redesign and the future of the site. It was fantastic. Not only did we finally all get in the same room to dish, we also got a ton of work done. (Seriously, check out the super serious board and all.)

Thanks to your generous donations, we're well on our way to completing the redesign with an expected launch at the end of the month. (So exciting!) We'll be making more announcements about the site as we move forward, but the most important one that we wanted to share with our readers right now was that we're planning on becoming a nonprofit organization. We feel like becoming an organization will not only allow us to do our work more effectively, but that it will also help us expand our mission to provide a platform and community building tool for young women and feminist activists, and to maintain an accessible (and fun!) forum on feminism.

We also wanted to let folks know that as we go through this process, we'll be keeping you updated as to our progress every step of the way. We want to be as transparent as possible about our plans - you all have helped to build this community just as much as we have, so we want you to be involved along the way.

Thanks again for all of your continued support, it means the world to us. (In fact, our first official order of business for the retreat was to read aloud some of the amazing emails you send us about Feministing and what it means to you. Those words of support make it all worthwhile, seriously.)

So happy Monday, and we're all looking forward to a bright, new Feministing future!

We've received a ton of responses to our call for submissions for Yes Means Yes, and we're so psyched that everyone is so invested in the project. Some of the feedback has been encouraging and some of it has been critical, and we've been grateful for both sorts of responses. We've also taken some of the criticisms to heart and have integrated them into a new, Version 2.0 Call for Submissions which says more of what we meant and (hopefully) less of what we didn't, and fills in a few blind spots that were rightfully pointed out.

Here she is in all her glory after the jump-- hope she makes you even more excited about submitting something!

~Jaclyn and Jessica

UPDATE: Ravenmn has asked us to unlink to her roundup of the critical discussion, so we have. You can follow that conversation at the following folks' blogs: Tekanji, Magniloquence, Sylvia, Sudy, Fire fly, Veronica, Theriomorph, I'm falling up. As the conversation was wide-ranging, we know we didn't get a chance to read all of it -- we apologize if we've missed yours. Feel free to link to it in the comments.

Sandy Shin is program coordinator at Breakthrough USA. Breakthrough is an international human rights organization that uses media, education and pop culture to promote values of dignity, equality and justice. It has two offices, one in NYC and one in New Delhi, India.

Sandy Shin has a Masters in Human Rights from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology from the University of Albany. She was the Legal Advocate Project Director at the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault where she coordinated statewide trainings and provided constituents and the general public with services. Sandy has also been involved with community-driven social movements led by local activists employing anti-racism, anti-war ideologies.

Here's Sandy...

Sorry for the lack pf posting today, folks. All the Feministing ladies are gathering in New York this weekend for some planning. Keep an eye out for more information next week. We'll be keeping you updated on the site upgrades, events, and lots more.

Right now I'm sitting in Jessica's living room trying to bribe Monty into liking me. I'm confident by Sunday he'll want to go back to DC with me.

Did everyone see the speeches from the top 3 democratic presidential candidates after the Iowa caucus results? What do we think?

Clinton

Edwards

Obama

Yes, that's a child's size. A toddler size. And then I die.

Via Feministe.

Frederick at Daily Kos reports that anti-choice organization Army of God is promoting a video of a celebratory reenactment of the 1994 murder of Dr. John Britton and James Barrett (the doctor's escort) in Florida.

I couldn't bring myself to post the video on the site, but if you want to watch it, it's here. Just disgusting.

And so should you.

It's that time of year again - Blog for Choice Day!

The past two years, pro-choice bloggers have come together on January 22nd - the anniversary of Roe v Wade - to write about reproductive health and justice and to keep choice in the national spotlight. And it's been amazingly successful.

So I hope you'll join NARAL Pro-Choice America and hundreds of other bloggers again this year for the 35th anniversary of Roe to Blog for Choice. (This year, they're asking people to write about why they vote pro-choice.)

You can sign up here, and download a Blog for Choice Day graphic here to let your readers know that you're participating.

And don't worry, NARAL will send you a reminder about the date and a link to your post will appear on the main Blog for Choice page. Hotness.

Together we can ensure that on January 22, the blogosphere is flooded with pro-choice blogposts.

I'm sorry, but didn't we cover this bullshit story already?

It seems that the Telegraph and the Daily Mail have regurgitated a story about "office piranhas"--women who only want good jobs so they can meet and marry rich men--that ran last year in the Financial Times in Germany.

From the FT story:

They are single women who, stuck in their search for a personal partner, are ready to give their all to a professional one. What they want is a high-earning, high-flying, high-virility man - and one who they can drag to the altar. Welcome to the world of the "office piranha".

From the Telegraph:

A piranha will hang on for the kill and will rip any man to shreds,� said Miss Benussi, adding that she will look for “a high-earning, high-flying, high-virility man who will place a ring on their finger�.

And the Daily Mail:

The company is dealing with an increasing number of cases involving single women chasing the fathers of their children for financial support - and office parties offer the ideal environment to trigger such relationships...She said piranhas "want a highearning, high-flying, high-virility man" who will place a ring on their finger.

Way to be original. I guess if a misogynist media creation about a ruthless business woman out to steal your man doesn't catch on, just wait a year and try it again.

Obama and Huckabee are projected to win. Thoughts?

Yesterday, women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia kicked off 2008 with a petition which they handed in to King Abdullah, calling for him to take off the ban restricting women from driving. Over 1,100 names were signed.

They gave in a similar petition in September with over 1,000 signatures, and intend on continuing to hand in a new petition for 1,000 signatures they receive. The statement on the petition states that the people who sign the document "hope that 2008 will be the year in which Saudi women obtain their natural right to drive a car."

Let's hope this becomes a reality.

This is an actual fucking poll taking from celebrity trash site TMZ. There are no words. Oh wait, yeah there are: Fuck. You.

Thanks to Rose for the link.

Just so you know, I don't kiss on the mouth.

I've been trying to stay away from these random studies that the media loves to use as a means of promoting bullshit sexist theories, but this is too ridiculous to not point out:

Selling sex is said to be humankind's oldest profession but it may have deep evolutionary roots, according to a study into our primate cousins which found that male macaques pay for intercourse by using grooming as a currency.

According to the research, female macaques are more likely to want to have sex immediately after getting groomed. This, according to the researchers, is a method of payment, although the females don't necessarily even have sex with the macaque who grooms them. So are those just "freebies"? What about the possibility that the females might actually get aroused by being groomed? (I sure as hell do.) The article continues:

The work supports the theory that biological market forces can explain social behaviour, the British weekly says.

'There is a very well-known mix of economic and mating markets in the human species itself,' said Ronald Noe of France's University of Strasbourg.

'There are many examples of rich old men getting young attractive ladies.'

You would think this could be in The Onion. For real.

Over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee stated that not only should there be criminal penalties for doctors who provide abortions, but that women can't understand their own decisions.

Today, we find out that Huckabee accepted $52,000 in speaking fees from groups that conduct embryonic stem cell research and help expand access of emergency contraception.

How about that.

I'm super pleased to be the inaugural guest blogger at The Nation's Passing Through - a new blog that will feature a different guest writer every month. So go check me out (and some of the funny anti-feminist commenters!)

I’ve been following these Two Girls Working, as Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki call themselves, for awhile. They are just so damn interesting and original—think fraternal twin Miranda Julys with an overtly feminist bent. For years they’ve been traveling the country, having little parties (which they liken to community models like Mary Kay and Tupperware, but with 70s-style consciousness raising thrown in) and asking women one seemingly simple (but obviously complicated) question:

What do you wear that makes you feel powerful?

As they make clear in the introduction to their new book, Trappings: “This book is not about fashion and to a large extent not even about clothing.� Instead it is about power, gender, class, race, color, sensuality, sexuality, globalization—you know, the whole gamut of what we express through our aesthetic choices. Clothing was just the way in.

The book has 61 women’s stories and pictures. There are eight year old girls in track suits and old women in ruffled blouses and police uniforms and lots of black and hats and dashikis and ponchos and hockey uniforms and…and…and…

While misogynist pencil sharpening products are all the rage now, we can't be too surprised about a "moaning" beer bottle opener. Either way, it's just as heinous.

Via Nerve.

My distaste for Real Dolls is no secret. But this kind of goes above and beyond.

Someone has thought of the genius idea of "renting out" their Real Doll. Here's the language that accompanies the picture of the doll (which looks kinda like Britney Spears):

Imagine love making for as long as you want and only in the ways that you want. I am Tracy and I will make your wishes come true. With me everything is at your pace. I never say “no� and it is super easy to rent some time with me. (Emphasis mine)

I'm not anti-sex toy. I am anti-treating plastic dolls as if they were real women and wishing real women were like plastic dolls. And pimping out your doll seems creepy to me in how similar it is to pimping out an actual woman. Also, sharing sex toys is just ick.

Via the Principles of Pleasure.

Okay, I'm well aware that this "PSA" was probably made for some class project, but I really think it shows how frigging bizarre (and dangerous) abstinence-only classes are. I mean, fucking duct tape? I also don't think it's a coincidence that of the many places the slutty piece of tape gets stuck, a garbage can is shown multiple times. (Just in case you didn't get the sex-is-dirty message clearly enough.) After all, there's nothing worse than trashy, whorey, adhesives.

A new New Hampshire law legalizes civil unions for same sex couples. Not quite marriage, but it's something.

''We've been together 20 years; we've been waiting for this moment for 20 years; finally the state will recognize us as we are,'' said Julie Bernier, who posed for photos on the Statehouse steps with partner Joan Andresen before the ceremony. Bernier and Andresen, who both work at Plymouth State University, never sought a commitment ceremony or other symbolic recognition of their relationship before Tuesday.

The new law gives same sex couples the same rights of marriage without calling it, you know...a marriage. (Gawd forbid.) New Hampshire is the fourth state in the U.S. to allow civil unions. The others are Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey; Massachusetts allows for gay marriage.

For more information on how to support same sex marriage, check out the Human Rights Campaign.

From the Associated Press: "A suburban Chicago man is accused of setting an apartment fire -- killing his pregnant daughter, her husband and their young child -- because the son-in-law didn't ask permission for the marriage, prosecutors said."

I really have nothing to add.

Thanks to Kathleen for the link.

The first pro-choice carnival is up at Abortion is a Woman’s Right. Check it.

Hey folks, hope everyone had a great New Years Eve! Me and the boy went to our favorite wine bar in Brooklyn and brought the New Year in drunk on good wine and stuffed with amazing food.

Random question of the day: What won't you miss about 2007?

This past weekend, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said, "I think if a doctor knowingly took the life of an unborn child for money, and that's why he was doing it, yeah, I think you would, you would find some way to sanction that doctor...I think you don't punish the woman, first of all, because it's not about ... I consider her a victim, not a criminal."

First of all, you have to love that Huckabee assumes abortion providers are men (I suppose that makes it easier to paint them as taking advantage of poor widdle women). But yet again, we have the women-don't-realize-they're-getting-abortions-when-they-get-abortions argument.

Whether it's patting Jamie Lynn Spears on the head for her "right" decision, or making condescending remarks about women's ability to understand their own decisions--Huckabee certainly is on one hell of a sexist roll.

January
We saw Nancy Pelosi sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House, and watched Hillary Rodham Clinton announce her candidacy for president. Predictably, rampant sexism ensued.

We learned about Purity Balls for dudes, where -- surprise! -- they don't tell boys their self-worth depends on virginity.

Rush Limbaugh and Tony Snow went all feminist police on our asses.

February
Drew Gilpin Faust was named the first woman president of Harvard.

After Camel introduced cigarettes marketed toward women, we wondered: Will the cancer be pink, too?

The Bush administration threatened to axe the budget of the Office on Violence Against Women.

A DePauw University sorority dismissed 23 sisters for being "socially awkward" -- aka overweight, black, Korean, or Vietnamese. Classy. (The sorority was ousted from campus shortly thereafter.)

A Florida town was so embarrassed by the actual name for the female anatomy that it performed the "Hoohah Monologues."

Texas Governor Rick Perry made HPV vaccination mandatory.

March
Bush appointed crazy anti-choicer "Dr." resigned.

We marked the gray rape".

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that businesses don't have to cover your pills.

We were disgusted by America's Next Top Dead Model. And Dolce and Gabbana pulled its offensive "fantasy rape" ads.

We reminded everyone that it's not ok to make death threats toward feminist bloggers.

The Brooklyn Museum opened a wing dedicated to feminist art.

Texas officially put a price on motherhood: $500.

April
We noted that guys doing housework should be standard practice, not something dubbed "porn for women."

We watched the Duke rape case wind down.

Girls Gone Wild douchebag Joe Francis was ordered to do jail time.

Don Imus made his infamous "nappy-headed hos" comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

The Supreme Court upheld the federal law said it all. Leslee Unruh reveled in the shopping-spree-like ecstasy.

Jessica's Full Frontal Feminism hit bookstore shelves! So did Courtney Martin's Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.

We were honored by Choice USA!

We created a feminist "gang sign."

The Supreme Court said it's totally cool with gender discrimination at work.

May
We tackled patriarchy, violence, and honor killings.

We gently reminded the mainstream media that feminism is not to blame for girls "going wild."

We gently reminded the mainstream media that feminism is not to blame for girls "going wild."

Fashion mags found yet another body part for you to feel insecure about. And we decried the latest in "designer genitalia."

June
We got another reminder that street harassment and catcalls are in fact a big deal.

Jessica rocked the Colbert Report.

Israel partnered with Maxim to "improve" its image by publishing photos of half-naked former Israeli Defense Forces soldiers.

July
We were once again grossed out by Real Dolls, this time by a documentary. Even Ryan Gosling couldn't really take the creepy out of this trend.

Courtney launched her Not Oprah's Book Club feature.

We called out the modesty movement's appropriation of feminism.

Jane magazine went belly up. Luckily, Jezebel was there to take its place.

We pointed out that that dancing girls in bikinis do not equal compelling political discourse.

We noted how race and culture factor into the wedding-industrial complex.

Birth control prices kept going up and up and up.

August

Ohio told women they may have to ask the father's permission to have an abortion.

We recoiled in horror at the concept of "Christian Domestic Discipline."

New York City considered banning the word "bitch."

The Air Force charged a woman with her own rape.

We found out Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers a bachelor's degree in ladylike submission.

We celebrated the first anniversary of prescription-free Plan B.

Julia Serano railed against the sexualization of transpeople's motives.

September
We debunked the bullshit concept of a "reverse glass ceiling."

We posted (belatedly) on the Jena 6.

Security guards at a school in upstate New York pulled girls from class to ask if they're menstruating.

Southwest becomes the official airline of Dawn Eden and Wendy Shalit.

Lactivists in 30 states held protests at Applebee's restaurants.

We fought for the new Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Ill.

October
A teenage girl was beaten, expelled and arrested for dropping a piece of cake in the school lunchroom.

We laughed at the idea of hymens as bling.

November
We noted that 30 years of the Hyde Amendment is way, way too many.

We stopped avoiding the issue of porn.

We asked people to use grown-up terms for the female anatomy, not words like "vajayjay."

We demanded that male politicians stop playing the gender card.

Don Imus returned to the airwaves.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed Congress -- without gender identity protections.

We defended our logo

Jessica gave us a sneak peek of her second book.

Anti-choicers attempted to define a fertilized egg as a person.

We won a Bloggers' Choice Award for Best Political Blog!

December
Wal-Mart tells girls their honey pot is their money pot -- but later stops selling the offensive panties!

R.I.P.
We mourned the deaths of activist Yolanda King, writer Molly Ivins, Pakistani minister Zil-e-Huma Usman, Jamaican diplomat Angela King, author Madeleine L'Engle, The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, civil rights hero Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, feminist health pioneer Lorraine Rothman, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Offensive Quotes of the Year
“She got what she wanted. She’s an overtly sexual person.�
-- Defense attorney Al Stokke, whose client, a cop from Irvine, CA, ejaculated on a woman (who happened to work as a stripper) during a routine traffic stop.

"You don't get there whe