2012 March Archive | Feministing

The Feministing Five: Dregs One

Dregs One is a rapper, activist, and community worker born and raised in San Francisco, CA. Dregs has been rapping since he was 14, and his music has always been deep. After studying ethnic studies at UC Riverside, however, his music took a turn for the political.

His latest album, The Wake Up Call, is a jolting, metaphorical alarm clock, meant to stir the apathetic masses into action. With tracks like “Letter to the President,” “Feels So Good,” and “Individuality Pt. II,” Dregs’ hip-hop poetically addresses hard-hitting issues such as Obama’s continuance of the war in Afghanistan, the beauty industrial complex perpetuated by the narrow standards of beauty facing women, and capitalism’s entrenched hold on our individuality. In ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: Big DREAMers take to the streets

I am constantly amazed and inspired by the courage of the DREAM Activists, and today’s Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah is in honor of all of those brilliant and beautiful young people who refuse to be made invisible.

Yesterday, three DREAMers pictured above, Janet Perez, Rosario Quiroz and Sara Martinez, staged a peaceful protest in front of NY Governer Andrew Cuomo’s office to encourage him to stand up for undocumented youth by adding the NY Dream Act into the State Budget. The NY Dream Act would allow these three women and thousands of other young people to get state financial aid to achieve their educational goals.

Rosario, Sara and Janet are my heros. They’ve taken a huge risk in order to raise the voices ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Men Who Trust Women brings out the best in people

This is probably my favourite submission yet to Men Who Trust Women. It’s from Channing Kennedy, who writes at Colorlines. Channing has kindly consented to let me re-post it here, so that you can all see it.

This is a photo of one of my family’s happiest days: the day I met my sister, when she was 31 and I was 16. (Yes, I was way into Everclear and posing funny in photos. It was 1996.) My mom got pregnant with my sister when she was still in high school; she was made to turn in her National Honor Society pin, and she had to put her baby up for adoption.

When I was ten, my mother told me I had ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

Quick hit: Four fictional heroines walk into a bar…

… Actually, they walk into Buffy Summers’ house. And have a girls’ night! Imagine Bella Swan, Katniss Everdeen, Hermione Granger and Buffy, in a room together. This is probably how it would go down.

Bella: But boys are obviously the emotional crux of our lives! Edward practically looks at me the wrong way and I go into a helpless, emotional coma for eight days! He is my absolute everything and I can’t be a functional human being without his existence! What else could be more important in your lives than your man?!?!? What the hell else could ever be harder in your lives?!?

Katniss: I’ve been kind of tied up dealing with this whole reality TV death match I’ve been ...

Bella: But boys ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

GOP: Preventing violence against women in detention centers is a “luxury”

From the Friday indignation files. When faced with report after report that recounts the inhumane conditions at ICE detention centers, some Republican lawmakers are arguing that remedying these horrific conditions is unnecessary.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary convened a hearing on the conditions at the Department of Homeland Security’s immigrant detention centers.

Making perhaps the least funny joke I’ve ever heard, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) , chairman of the Judiciary Committee called the hearing, “Holiday on ICE.”

The hearing was held in response to the Obama administration rules intended to prevent sexual abuse and inhumane conditions at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facilities. According to Rep. Smith, the rules which were released in February, make ICE detention centers akin to luxury resorts ...

On Wednesday, the House Committee on the ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Rep. Gwen Moore on VAWA, shares experience of sexual assault

**Trigger warning**

The House has been hearing testimony and discussing reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In perhaps one of the most powerful moments during the floor speeches, on Wednesday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI.) spoke about her personal story of being sexually assaulted during her childhood and raped as a young woman.

Rep Moore made the politics personal. As we mentioned in Wendesday’s WWM, she spoke on the House floor about her experience of date-rape:

I don’t have enough time to share all these experiences with you but I can tell you that when this bill came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with all the Republican Senators, all of the guys voting no, it brought up some terrible memories ...

**Trigger warning**

By Samhita • 12 years ago

What we missed

The mandatory ultrasound law passed in Oklahoma has been ruled unconstitutional. That’s probably because it is!

Relieved to find out broke feminist blogger is not on this list of unhappiest jobs–sad to see which important, often women dominated, professions are on the list.

An op-ed in the SFBG about broadening how we think about anti-violence work.

The only organization that makes me want to eat meat just to protest them.

Amanda on why this heavily forwarded list actually sucks.

Awkward Black Girl on racism on the internet.

Limbaugh doesn’t think our outrage over Trayvon Martin’s death is real. I’ll give him one thing–his commitment to never have advertising dollars does seem more real.

White supremicists are so committed to smearing Trayvon Martin ...

The mandatory ultrasound law passed in Oklahoma has been ruled unconstitutional. That’s probably because it is!

Relieved to find out broke feminist blogger is not on this list of unhappiest jobs–sad to see which important, often women ...

By Samhita • 12 years ago

Their Eyes Were Watching God turns 75

This March marked the 75th anniversary of the very important book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Last night I had the pleasure of attending a discussion hosted by WNYC about the book led by Hurston’s niece, Lucy Anne Hurston and featured Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez and Ruby Dee. Lucy Anne Hurston astutely opened the discussion explaining she was sitting at the feet of the masters. The audience included musicians, poets, writers and, well, Gloria Steinem–they all gasped together the power of this moment.

I have written about Their Eyes before. I read this book when I was in high school and found it important then–I reread it as an adult and ...