2009 October Archive | Feministing

What We Missed

Mary Cuddehe Jennie Rothenberg Gritz of The Atlantic writes about the backlash from a Mexico City decision to decriminalize first-trimester abortion within the city.
Various parties weigh in on Rhode Island’s unique approach to indoor vs. outdoor prostitution.
17-year-old star Taylor Lautner, star of the new Twilight movie, is posing all over the place with his pecs on display. Hollywood, with a double standard? Naw, couldn’t be.
The brilliant Alaa Al-Aswany on why religious extremism is the other face of political despotism.

By Ann • 14 years ago

Inupiaq woman wins major writing award

Poet Joan Kane, an Inupiaq Eskimo woman, received the prestigious Whiting Writers’ Award. (It comes with $50,000!)

“My husband jokes that he’s probably the only start-up lawyer whose practice is being kept afloat by his poet wife,” she said.
Some of the money will buy health insurance, she said.
She’d also like to take her children and her mother to King Island, an expensive and difficult proposition.
The remote settlement in the Bering Sea was abandoned under pressure from the government in the 1950s. Memories of the deserted village contribute to overtones of loss and change that haunt Kane’s poems. King Islanders retain a strong sense of identity with the place, though members of the younger generation — including ...

Poet Joan Kane, an Inupiaq Eskimo woman, received the prestigious Whiting Writers’ Award. (It comes with $50,000!)

“My husband jokes that he’s probably the only start-up lawyer whose practice is being kept afloat by his poet ...

By Samhita • 14 years ago

Ann on Violence Against Women and the Legal System.

Check out Ann’s newest column at Tapped, titled The Polanksi Paradox, on some of the drawbacks to taking legal action with respect to violence against women.

It’s understandable, given the prevalence of violence against women in this country, to want to push for big, systemic solutions to the problem. That is the premise on which VAWA was based. But the deeply personal nature of this crime is what makes such a broad response inherently problematic. Many observers were shocked when Rihanna chose not to press charges against Brown. The woman who, as a child, was raped by Polanski later said that she wished prosecutors would drop the case. This may be hard to accept for those of us who saw ...

Check out Ann’s newest column at Tapped, titled The Polanksi Paradox, on some of the drawbacks to taking legal action with respect to violence against women.

It’s understandable, given the prevalence of violence against women in this ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Personal is Political: Crying While Arguing

Last night at our panel, Roxie bravely talked about a moment when she got into a big argument with her uncle about whether a woman had the capacity to be president. He was arguing that women were too emotional. She was arguing, of course, that emotion could be a fundamental tool in leadership positions. In the midst of this whole thing, of course, Roxie felt like she was going to burst into tears (she held it in until later).
Her brave admission reminded me of my own struggle within intellectual arguments, especially in my early 20s at Barnard and Columbia Colleges, to manage my own emotions. I remember one class, in particular, in which a classmate and I got into ...

Last night at our panel, Roxie bravely talked about a moment when she got into a big argument with her uncle about whether a woman had the capacity to be president. He was arguing that women were ...

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Feministing Fall Tour: Wheaton

My mom says I’m setting the movement back ten years when I am sexually assertive. What should I tell her?
Why do you think there aren’t more men at this lecture?
Why and how did you get into blogging?
I feel like I have to be the spokesperson for both feminists and feminists of color all the time. What should I do about it?

These were just some of the questions that Samhita, Miriam, and I answered last evening at Wheaton College as part of our Feministing Fall Tour. It was a great event, kicked off with a talk in a lively Intro to Women’s Studies class, where we discussed quite a bit about the blogging life–both its highs and lows, ...

My mom says I’m setting the movement back ten years when I am sexually assertive. What should I tell her?
Why do you think there aren’t more men at this lecture?
Why and how did you get ...

By Vanessa • 14 years ago

What We Missed

Still don’t know what to be for Halloween? Planned Parenthood of NYC has a list of some awesome and hilarious pro-choice costumes.
A Guam Archbishop says suicide bombers are better than gay people.
Models promise to get naked for you if you talk to your politicians about climate change.
A new bill was proposed in Baltimore that would force crisis pregnancy centers to post signs disclosing they don’t provide all reproductive health services.
What’s wrong with how “romance” is portrayed in video games.

By Courtney • 14 years ago

Follow Up on Disability Rights Dialogue

As many of you know, a group of disability rights activists organized to call us out on our lack of coverage on disability issues and ongoing problem with ableist language at Feministing (sometimes on the part of editors, but mostly popping up in the comments sections). Some ableist language that I used in this post was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I apologized, pointing out that I really don’t know enough about the field of disability rights and activism and want to learn more. And Miriam jumped on board to serve as another representative of Feministing who was interested in forwarding the dialogue about this intersection and it’s presence or lack there of on our ...

By ariel • 14 years ago

Landmark Study on Curvy Women Proves Nothing

Perception, a British scholarly journal, has conducted a new study suggesting that heterosexual men are more attracted to curvier women than to thin women.
The study asked a gaggle of male students from St Andrews University to look at photos of women’s faces and rate them by health and attractiveness. These young, virile men found women with more facial adiposity, or with curvier, rounder faces, were more healthy and more attractive. Then, Telegraph.co.uk and The Daily Mail then took this study to prove that all men find curvier women more attractive than thinner women.
Better bust out the champagne now! But wait–
This neglects certain facts. First, the polling sample was a group of ...