2011 July Archive | Feministing

By Miriam • 12 years ago

What We Missed

Senator Al Franken takes on Focus on the Family’s skewed interpretation of a study on nuclear families.

Mother Jones profiles the man behind the new surge in anti-choice legislation.

A straight man is turned away from a blood donation facility for “looking gay.”

A massive hunger strike on behalf of California prisoners enters it’s third week.

Senator Al Franken takes on Focus on the Family’s skewed interpretation of a study on nuclear families.

Mother Jones profiles the man behind the new surge in anti-choice legislation.

A straight man is turned away from ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

Wednesday Weigh-in: What is the least “lady-like” thing you’ve done?

This week’s Wednesday Weigh-in is inspired by Rep. Wasserman Schultz and the offensive email she received from Rep. West.

Being told you are not “acting like a lady” is a common insult thrown at women, often in an attempt to berate us or tell us we are not acting as women should act. These gender norms are very often ways to control and subjugate women.

So when we’re un-ladylike, we’re also acting defiantly, standing up to oppression, or just simply doing the right thing. We’re refusing to submit to narrow ideas of what it means to be a woman, in many respects. We’re talking back.

So in honor of Rep. Wasserman Schultz, what is the least “lady-like” thing you’ve ever done?

This week’s Wednesday Weigh-in is inspired by Rep. Wasserman Schultz and the offensive email she received from Rep. West.

Being told you are not “acting like a lady” is a common insult thrown at women, often in ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

First Lady Michelle Obama funds initiative to bring fresh food to low-income communities

Today, First Lady Michelle Obama will announce a program to fund a healthful food financing initiative with the goal of attracting grocery stores to low-income communities in California. The California FreshWorks Fund is a $200 million program made up of money from the California Endowment and even some Wall Street banks.

Similar programs exist in New York City and Pennsylvania to ensure that people who live in low-income communities have access to healthy food options. Without these kinds of programs, many in those communities have very little access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. In so-called “food deserts,” grocery stores are far away and the only options for food purchasing are often bodegas and corner stores that sell ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

Rupert Murdoch’s wife punches pie-throwing protester

Yesterday, during his testimony before parliament, Rupert Murdoch was attacked with a pie made of shaving cream. Seated behind him, his wife Wendi Deng Murdoch immediately leapt out of her chair to punch the pie-throwing culprit. Deng sat behind her husband in a neatly tailored pink jacket and appeared aggravated by the questioning from News of the World‘s former editor Rebekah Brooks of her husband and his son James. The British parliament is conducting an investigation of phone hacking by Murdoch’s now closed News of the World tabloid.

Ms. Murdoch’s actions towards the protestor were labeled “fighting back” by Fox News, who applauded a wife standing by her man in a situation other than a political ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

Woman convicted of vehicular homicide for crossing the street to get home from bus stop

Some news stories just make you lose all faith in humanity.

According to the office of Cobb County prosecutor Barry Morgan, Nelson – who had no car at the time – committed vehicular homicide by attempting to cross a five-lane highway with her three kids to get to her apartment, after being let off the bus.

An Atlanta-area mother who lost her four-year-old son to a hit and run while crossing the street has been charged and convicted of vehicular homicide.

Perhaps this is not surprising:

Nelson, 30 and African-American, was convicted on the charge this week by six jurors who were not her peers: All were middle-class whites, and none had ever taken a bus in metro ...

Some news stories just make you lose all faith in humanity.

According to the office of Cobb County prosecutor Barry Morgan, Nelson – who had no car at the time – committed vehicular homicide by attempting ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Hate crime victim works to save perpetrator from death row

These side-by-side interviews, with a hate crime victim who was shot in the face and the death row inmate who shot him, are simply breathtaking.

Ten days after the attacks of September 11, in Texas, Mark Anthony Stroman shot three people, killing two of them. The third, a man named Rais Bhuiyan, survived, but with grave injuries. Now, Stroman is on death row and his execution is just weeks away, and Bhuiyan is working to secure his reprieve from the death penalty.

The New York Times interviewed Bhuiyan by phone, and Stroman by letter. The result is some of the most heart-wrenching description of violence and forgiveness I’ve ever come across.

When asked why he is trying to save the life of ...

These side-by-side interviews, with a hate crime victim who was shot in the face and the death row inmate who shot him, are simply breathtaking.

Ten days after the attacks of September 11, in Texas, Mark Anthony ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

Rep. Allen West Attacks Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for being ‘vile’ and ‘not a Lady’

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is a perplexing figure. The tea party hero has some of the most conservative political positions of anyone in Congress. West is among those in the House of Representatives who is against raising the debt ceiling as the August 2nd deadline approaches.

Yesterday, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) took her fellow Florida congressperson to task for his opposition to raising the debt ceiling and his support for the House’s disastrous “Cut, Cap and Balance” symbolic vote.

“The gentleman from Florida, who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable from a Member from South Florida,” Wasserman Schultz said, ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

What We Missed

The cover of this week’s New Yorker is awesome.

An in-depth analysis of the Institute of Medicine’s report recommending birth control coverage for all insured Americans.

Elizabeth Warren will not be heading up the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, but she is still a total BAMF.

Russia is moving ever closer to banning abortion.

The Consensual Project interviews Hugo Schwyzer about the connection between consent and self-esteem.

Same sex marriage will become available in New York City this weekend – and these three couples are pretty damn excited about it.

This one’s for Sydneysiders: do you know a stand up guy? The Somaly Mam Foundation is running its first ever Stella Fella competition, and nominations are now ...

The cover of this week’s New Yorker is awesome.

An in-depth analysis of the Institute of Medicine’s report recommending birth control coverage for all insured Americans.

Elizabeth Warren will not be heading up the new Consumer ...