2010 November Archive

Beverly Guy Sheftall calls all the single and childless ladies to the floor

While you were out carving turkeys or doing the Black Friday shopping, you might have missed Black feminist wonder Beverly Guy-Sheftall. She has an interview up at The Root and of course she blessed the blog with witty, insightful insights on Black feminism; but check out what she had to say about the single, childless life:

BGS: I am a magazine addict, and if I pick up one more magazine that reads “So-and-so is pregnant,” or “So-and-so was the happiest she’s ever been during the nine months of her pregnancy,” I am going to scream! So, in some ways, young women may be more connected to these gender scripts than we were, because marriage and motherhood is at ...

By Winter Trabex • 13 years ago

Squeaky Wheel Syndrome

Whoever invented the saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” probably wasn’t referring to the way colleges across America operate, but nonetheless, the saying has become very apt in terms of civil rights for student on campus. There are numerous examples; the most recent one that comes to mind is the instance where George Washington University created a female-only swim hour after lobbying on the part of that university’s Muslim Students’ Association.

Other than the implication that the university might appear to be making an accommodation for one religion, the thing that stands out the most to me is how much official policy is created according to how much (and possibly how often) people speak up. Unfortunately, this situation is ...

By Rose • 13 years ago

Moms and media spokeswomen rep their natural hair

Love this video. It has been making it’s rounds on Facebook racking up quite a few likes and YouTube views. I enjoyed the video so much because it is straight forward about the harms of adhering to the straight, long-haired standard of beauty and reminds me of one of the things that was so rewarding about interning at the White House.

The video makes no bones about discussing the health harms of straightening chemicals, extensions and weaves, connecting these practices to permanent hair loss and traction alopecia. Additionally, the video discusses that young black girls are harmed too, developing insecurities about their hair. One mother even transitions into a natural hair style to give her daughter a sense of pride about ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

Dr. Laura finds a new home o’ hate with Sirius XM

Ain’t that a peach. As I predicted, just three months after Dr. Laura Schlessinger ended her show after saying the n-word multiple times on air (and being a racist asshole in general), she’s found a new home on Sirius XM satellite radio. This isn’t too surprising considering this is a venue that also allows the gem personalities of Glenn Beck and Howard Stern.

As AP (apparently prematurely) reported,Schlessinger says she’s looking forward to spewing more racist bullshit under her right to free speech:

“The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love ...

Ain’t that a peach. As I predicted, just three months after Dr. Laura Schlessinger ended her show after saying the n-word multiple times on air (and being a racist asshole in general), she’s ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

New study: Over one in three men in South Africa admit to rape

This is startling:

A 2010 study led by the government-funded Medical Research Foundation says that in Gauteng province, home to South Africa’s most populous city of Johannesburg, more than 37 percent of men said they had raped a woman. Nearly 7 percent of the 487 men surveyed said they had participated in a gang rape.

More than 51 percent of the 511 women interviewed said they’d experienced violence from men, and 78 percent of men said they’d committed violence against women.

A quarter of the women interviewed said they’d been raped, but the study says only one in 25 rapes are reported to police.

While the numbers behind this study are devastating, hopefully it will ...

This is startling:

A 2010 study led by the government-funded Medical Research Foundation says that in Gauteng province, home to South Africa’s most populous city of Johannesburg, more than 37 percent of men ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

PETA’s latest sexism: “Be Proud of your Body Scan: Go Vegan”

Only PETA can try to profit off of the invasive TSA screenings by pushing objectifying and body image bullshit with their latest ad. Thankfully, it was rejected by several major airports this past holiday weekend:

The ads from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals features a scan of a curvaceous woman in lacy underwear with the message: “Be Proud of Your Body Scan: Go Vegan.”

Major airports in Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., and New York City refused to display the ads designed to entice holiday travelers waiting in security lines.

Officials with McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas say its policy prohibits political ads.

PETA Vice President Dan Matthews says the ads were meant to be humorous. He says PETA ...

By Sarah • 13 years ago

Pre-Thanksgiving Linkstravaganza

While I don’t necessarily recommend folks spend their holiday reading stories about sexual assault on campus (I for one will be stepping away from the computer for a few days), here is the latest from the internet about what’s happening on campus:

Where Is Your Line has a hard-to-read (triggering!) but very striking story about frat culture (or at least one particular frat culture) and sexual violence. Written by a frat member, in fact.

A lot of people have written about the St. Mary’s College student who killed herself shortly after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual assault (see Jezebel and Care2 for more). An insanely sad story. Also sad is that no one at Notre Dame ...

By Courtney • 13 years ago

A feminist thanksgiving

Feministing will be taking tomorrow through the weekend off for the holidays. As we all head off to our (chosen and biological) family gatherings, I thought I’d do a lil’ random gratitude shout out to some of the wonderful people and projects in our own little Feministing family and beyond that have been doing such good work this fall…

Thank you to the gods and the erfs, the goddess, and/or the doctors who delivered Jess and Andrew’s little Layla to us safe, sound, and destined for a lot of hilarious holidays with the Valentis.

Thank you to Hollaback, for doing such amazing work to make girls and women feel safer on their streets.

Thank you to Gloria Steinem, for constantly demonstrating that ...