2007: The Year in Feministing

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.” <Eric Keroack to oversee repro rights funding… then Keroack resigned.
We marked the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
Despite what Laura Sessions Stepp (and a few months later, Jezebel) claims, we pointed out that there is no such thing as “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 banning dilation and extraction abortions. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 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 when you’re young,” he said. “There’s a considerable amount of lag time.”
–Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, after being asked why the Court has just one female justice.
“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.”
–Anti-feminist Phyllis Shlafly
“I like lesbians, but they shouldn’t be allowed to run for king.”
— Erich Logan, 18, on the first transgender high school student to run for prom king.
“I think ‘rape and incest’ is a buzzword.”
— South Dakota state Rep. Joel Dykstra
“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
— Right-wing hack Ann Coulter
“If you believe abortion, if you believe that doesn’t affect you… I contend it affects you in immigration. If we had those 40 million children that were killed over the last 40 years, we wouldn’t need the illegal immigrants to fill the jobs that they are doing today. Think about it.”
— Disgraced former Rep. Tom DeLay, speaking to college Republicans.
“I’m not, like, a crazy feminist. I think women definitely need men. Like, I couldn’t imagine having a girlfriend!”
— Hilary Duff
“Do you find it difficult to debate a woman?”
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, to Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd
“I love when my laundry gets so clean/ Taking care of my home is a dream, dream, dream!”
— The Rose Petal Cottage advertising jingle