By aclu • 12 years ago

Class-action discrimination lawsuits after Wal-Mart

By Amanda Dysart & Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women’s Rights Project

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit hears oral argument in Davis v. Cintas, one of the first nationwide class action discrimination cases to be argued since the Supreme Court issued its decision in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes last June. The court will decide whether women around the country who applied to be sales representatives at Cintas — a company that rents uniforms and supplies to businesses — can bring a class action to challenge what they claim are Cintas’s discriminatory hiring practices.

The women point to the fact that more than ...

By Amanda Dysart & Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women’s Rights Project

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit hears oral argument in Davis v. Cintas, one of the ...
By Miriam • 12 years ago

Sins Invalid: The film

I’ve followed Sins Invalid for a few years now, and always lamented that I haven’t been in Bay Area during their yearly performance. They are:

Sins Invalid is a San Francisco/Bay Area based performance project that celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists. Since 2006, our performances have explored themes of sexuality, embodiment, and the disabled body, impacting thousands through live performance.

Now Sins is working to turn their show into a documentary, so that people far and wide can experience their work.

I’m excited.

Like many groups, they are turning to kickstarter to get some funding going. Check out their page and see if you want to support. A donation of $35 ...

I’ve followed Sins Invalid for a few years now, and always lamented that I haven’t been in Bay Area during their yearly performance. They are:

Sins Invalid is a San Francisco/Bay Area based performance project ...
By Miriam • 12 years ago

Why “I’ll Make Love To You” makes me miss the 90s

I was ten when this song came out. I remember it clearly, and how even at that age such a sexual song seeped into our elementary school lives. I still know all of the lyrics, basically by heart, and am compelled to belt out to it every time it happens to play (aka every time I dig out my old CDs and put it on).

The last time this happened, in the serendipitous company of Vanessa and Chloe, I was struck by just how goddamn sweet, and dare I say feminist, these lyrics actually are. Compared to the song lyrics of today, these almost seem like a farce they are so damn sweet.

Take for example:

Pour the wine, light the fire

I was ten when this song came out. I remember it clearly, and how even at that age such a sexual song seeped into our elementary school lives. I still know all of the lyrics, basically by ...
By Samhita • 12 years ago

Occupy Valentine’s Day

You probably didn’t notice, because like me, you probably don’t care that much, but Valentine’s Day is around the corner. My position on Valentine’s Day has always been pretty mixed–it bothers my cool sensibilities because I think it is corny, but i’m also a little corny and I like celebrating and expressing love and the politics it represents leave a lot to be desired. Being a single lady on the holiday that commemorates heteronormativity in it’s purest form, has not always been easy. It’s hard to feel OK about a holiday that is so limiting in it’s purview of the appropriate and authentic ways to express love.

So this year in an effort to push the bounds of that exclusivity ...

You probably didn’t notice, because like me, you probably don’t care that much, but Valentine’s Day is around the corner. My position on Valentine’s Day has always been pretty mixed–it bothers my cool sensibilities because I ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

The power of women’s friendships: Do people really still devalue it?

This weekend, it seemed all of my lady friends on Facebook were linking to this piece by Emily Rapp. It’s a lovingly-rendered tribute to the older mentors who’ve shaped her and the current friends who’ve saved her–and a beautiful articulation of the power of female friendship.

Recently I overheard a man say at a yoga class, “Yeah, well, you get two women together and it’s like bitch central.” I could have told him he only needed one, in fact, and that would be me, but it also made me realize how much people diminish and poo-poo the real power and strength of female friendship, especially between women, which is either supposed to descend into some kind of male lesbian love ...

This weekend, it seemed all of my lady friends on Facebook were linking to this piece by Emily Rapp. It’s a lovingly-rendered tribute to the older mentors who’ve shaped her and the current friends who’ve saved ...
By zerlina • 12 years ago

Just how bad is the movie Red Tails?

Red Tails is a new movie about the Tuskegee airmen that the legendary George Lucas financed himself after years of the movie being rejected for Hollywood financing. It was #2 at the box office this weekend. This second place finish was largely based on black people flocking to the theater – myself included.

Jozen Cummings over at The Root put it best, when he said that Lucas played the race card to get people to the box office,

Media outlets like Entertainment Weekly are already spinning how George Lucas’ $58 million passion project, based on the true story of the African-American World War II fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, did far better than anyone thought it would.

But don’t ...

Red Tails is a new movie about the Tuskegee airmen that the legendary George Lucas financed himself after years of the movie being rejected for Hollywood financing. It was #2 at the box office this weekend. ...
By Miriam • 12 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Straight

So I’m kind of cheating on this one, because I haven’t actually read Hanne Blank‘s new book, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality. But I know her work, and I know how fabulously important this topic is, so I’m endorsing it sight unseen.

A recent interview with Hanne in Salon gives a flavor of what the book covers:

Men and woman have been having sex for as long as there have been humans. So how can we talk about there being a “history” of heterosexuality?

We can talk about there being a history of heterosexuality in the same way that we can talk about there being a history of religions. People have been praying to God for a really ...

So I’m kind of cheating on this one, because I haven’t actually read Hanne Blank‘s new book, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality. But I know her work, and I know how fabulously important ...

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