2012 June Archive | Feministing

The Feministing Five: Katie Halper

Katie Halper is a comic, filmmaker, and one of the newest contributors here at Feministing. Her work has appeared in sites like Guernica, Alternet, the Huffington Post, the New York Times, Comedy Central and GritTV. When she’s not writing sharp and entertaining commentaries on politics, she’s doing stand-up comedy or working on her documentary called, “Got Camp.” Her comic routine encompasses everything from her Jewish heritage to sexism and homophobia. She’s performed at Town Hall, Symphony Space, The Culture Project, DC Comedy Festival, all five Netroots Nations, and The Nation Magazine Cruise. Her documentary tells the story of the summer camp Halper attended, which she calls “the opposite of Jesus camp,” where all religions and ideologies are encouraged. As ...

By Jos Truitt • 11 years ago

What We Missed: SCOTUS health care decision edition

Full transcript via the White House website after the jump.

Affordable Care Cat.

People who are moving to Canada because of the Obamacare decision. You know, I still prefer Canada’s approach to health care myself.

Rand Paul doesn’t understand how the Supreme Court works: “Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional.” This guy’s a Senator.

Did Chief Justice Roberts uphold the Affordable Care Act so he could gut the Commerce Clause?

When SCOTUS upheld Obamacare.

Full transcript via the White House website after the jump.

Affordable Care Cat.

People who are moving to Canada because of the Obamacare decision. You know, I still prefer Canada’s approach to health care ...

By Jos Truitt • 11 years ago

Enough with “I date women and trans men”

I’m traveling on the east coast right now, which has thrown me back into the kind of queer, mostly female assigned community that exists in the “I date women and trans men” frame (I’m not saying this doesn’t happen on the west coast – but I’ve found alternatives way more easily). This is a big part of what my Girl Talk piece was about, but I want to address this particular issue really directly.

“I date women and trans men” is the definition of cissexism. It’s basing your frame for sexuality on the gender coercively assigned to a person by their doctor at birth, not on that person’s actual identity. In this case, we’re talking about folks who were assigned ...

By Gwendolyn Beetham • 11 years ago

The Academic Feminist: Talking Feminism and Masculinities with Tristan Bridges

Welcome back, Academic Feminists! Today’s conversation features Tristan Bridges, Lecturer with the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia (recently appointed to The College at Brockport, SUNY). Tristan offers some fantastic insights into masculinities and men’s relationships to feminisms, while also dispelling some common myths about contemporary gender inequalities. You can find out more about Tristan’s work on his blog or follow him on twitter: @tristanbphd

1) Your dissertation examines the problematic way that men are divided into two groups: sexist and anti-sexist. Can you talk a bit about your main findings, and how you became interested in the topic?

Early research on the “Men’s Movement” (an umbrella term covering everything from the Promise Keepers, to the ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

South Carolina won’t give parents info on life-saving, cancer-preventing HPV vaccine

Bad news for people who want to prevent cancer--which, surprisingly enough, is not all of us.

The South Carolina House failed Tuesday to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of a bill intended to provide information on and access to a free vaccine that prevents a sexually transmitted, cancer-causing virus.

The House’s 54-47 vote killed the bill, which called for informational brochures on the vaccine for human papillomavirus, known as HPV, to be provided to parents of sixth-graders. Parents could choose to have their seventh-graders receive the vaccine. The bill specifies those provisions depend on funding.

As Rachel Maddow reported, Gov. Haley actually cosponsored a similar bill when she was in the legislature. But she now apparently thinks that “health agencies don’t ...

Bad news for people who want to prevent cancer--which, surprisingly enough, is not all of us.

The South Carolina House failed Tuesday to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of a bill intended to provide information on and ...

By Jos Truitt • 11 years ago

BREAKING: Health care law upheld!

The Supreme Court just delivered their decision on the American Care Act, and it’s mostly a huge win for supporters of the law. The individual mandate, requiring people to purchase health care, was upheld, but the mandate is a tax. Individuals could refuse to pay the tax and not comply, but the mandate falls under Congress’ power to impose taxes.

The Medicaid extension seems to be the most complicated part of the ruling. The majority also ruled that the extension is constitutional, but Congress cannot take away state’s Medicaid for refusing to participate in the new extensions.

One of the most exciting parts of this win is that Chief Justice Roberts was the swing vote. I don’t know exactly what that means ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Student journalist describes being sexually assaulted by mob in Egypt

*Trigger warning*

Another horrifying sexual assault against a woman journalist in Egypt is spotlighting the epidemic of harassment in the country–as well as the risks lady reporters regularly face across the globe. The attack against Natasha Smith, a British student journalist working on a documentary about women’s rights, during the post-election celebrations this past weekend closely echoes the attacks on Lara Logan and Mona Eltahawy last year.

She described the whole experience on her blog:

But in a split second, everything changed. Men had been groping me for a while, but suddenly, something shifted. I found myself being dragged from my male friend, groped all over, with increasing force and aggression. I screamed. I could see what was happening ...

*Trigger warning*

By Vanessa • 11 years ago

What We Missed

This. (Context here.)

I’m shocked — SHOCKED — that a Republican (and Rand Paul to boot!) would block legislation from getting passed in the name of “life.”

Texas seeks to repeal the Voting Rights Act so the state can reignite voter discrimination tactics. (And that’s just the beginning.)

It’s National HIV Testing Day. Do it.

Nothing like using Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez as examples of how warped Arizona’s immigration policy is. Thanks, Rep. Luis Gutierrez.

This. (Context here.)

I’m shocked — SHOCKED — that a Republican (and Rand Paul to boot!) would block legislation from getting passed in the name of “life.”

Texas seeks to repeal the Voting Rights ...