2013 May Archive | Feministing

Guest post: #femfuture: Learning in pursuit of sustainability

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Editors Emeriti Courtney Martin and Vanessa Valenti on their thoughts and learnings since the release of their paper #femfuture: Online Revolution.

We’re nearly 2 months out from the release of #femfuture: Online Revolution, a paper we wrote on the impact and sustainability of online feminism, hosted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women, and in collaboration with 19 other online activists we engaged at a convening in New York last June. (You can get deets about the paper here, and read FAQs here.)

Our goals of the paper varied, but primarily we wanted to engage online and offline feminist communities, philanthropic movements and the larger public about the impact ...

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Editors Emeriti Courtney Martin and Vanessa Valenti on their thoughts and learnings since the release of their paper #femfuture: Online Revolution.

We’re nearly 2 months out from the release of ...

By Katie Halper • 10 years ago

Quick Hit: Beyonce, Madonna, Gloria Steinem Chime for Change

Beyonce, Madonna, Gloria Steinem, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Florence + the Machine and Jennifer Lopez are headlining a London concert that will raise money for projects helping girls and women on Saturday, June 2nd in London. The show, “Sound of Change Live,” will be broadcast live from Twickenham sports stadium to 150 countries, and on primetime TV in the U.S. on Sunday.

The four-hour long concert is part of the Chime for Change campaign, founded by Gucci, which “serves to convene, unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world.” With a focus on justice, health and education, Chime for Change is powered by Catapult, the first ever crowd-funding platform dedicated to girls ...

By Katie Halper • 10 years ago

El Salvador denies woman a life-saving abortion

Update: you can donate to Beatriz’s cause and help her pay her legal and medical fees here.

In terrible news, the Supreme Court of El Salvador denied a 22-year old woman the abortion that could save her life on Wednesday. “Beatriz,” the pseudonym for the 26-week pregnant woman, is 22 years-old, and has lupus and kidney problems that doctors say will get worse and possibly lead to serious illness or death. Her doctors want to abort her fetus, which has anencephaly, a severe birth defect in which parts of the brain and skull are missing, and has almost no chance of surviving after birth. If it does survive, it will survive for days at the most. Surely, ...

Update: you can donate to Beatriz’s cause and help her pay her legal and medical fees here.

In terrible news, the Supreme Court of El Salvador denied a 22-year old woman the abortion that could ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

Founding father pin-ups!

Michele Bachman isn’t seeking re-election. Hallelujah!

El Salvador’s Supreme Court has still not granted Beatriz the abortion she needs.

The California legislature is expected to vote on a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. You’ll recall that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed this bill last year.

Tyler Perry hates black women.

Founding father pin-ups!

Michele Bachman isn’t seeking re-election. Hallelujah!

El Salvador’s Supreme Court has still not granted Beatriz the abortion she needs.

The California legislature is expected to vote on a

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Chart of the Day: Mothers are the sole or primary breadwinner in 40 percent of US households

According to a new Pew Research Center report, a record 40 percent of households now have a mother who is the sole or primary source of income for their families.

This figure includes two very different groups of women: 63 percent are single mothers and 37 percent are women who are married and have a higher income than their spouses. As Bryce Covert notes at Think Progress, the former group is sitting pretty–at nearly $80,000 in 2011, their family income tends to be much higher than the national median. The single mothers, on the other hand, are earning just $23,000.

And, as a recent Legal Momentum report shows, the US is the worst place–no really, the actual worst ...

According to a new Pew Research Center report, a record 40 percent of households now have a mother who is the sole or primary source of income for their families.

This figure includes two very ...

By Alexandra Brodsky • 10 years ago

Watch: Feminist Frequency’s Damsel in Distress episode, Part 2

Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency has debuted the second part of her “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” episode on damsels in distress.

The script’s use of repetitive language is particularly powerful, exposing the unoriginality of misogynistic plots. Sarkeesian also does a good job of explaining how this violence affects our analog world for those disinclined to believe any connection. It’s disappointingly easy to recognize what points she makes in response to sexist critics, promising them they can still enjoy their games and professing confidence in designers’ motives, and I hate that Sarkeesian has to soothe them to get her point across: even if game creators just haven’t put a lot of thought into gender, as she ...

Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency has debuted the second part of her “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” episode on damsels in distress.

The script’s use of repetitive language is particularly powerful, exposing the ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Facebook promises to take action on gender-based hate

Success!

Facebook on Tuesday acknowledged that its systems to identify and remove hate speech had not worked effectively, as it faced pressure from feminist groups that want the site to ban pages that glorify violence against women.

The activists, who sent more than 5,000 e-mails to Facebook’s advertisers and elicited more than 60,000 posts on Twitter, also prompted Nissan and more than a dozen smaller companies to say that they would withdraw advertising from the site.

In a blog post, Facebook said its “systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate.” The company said it would review ...

Success!

Facebook on Tuesday acknowledged that its systems to identify and remove hate speech had not worked effectively, as it faced pressure from feminist groups that want the site to ...

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

Young mamas push back against the Candie’s Foundation teen pregnancy ads

Remember these awful ads from the Candies Foundation? Well young mamas are pushing back, and are demanding that Candie’s stop shaming young parents:

When the Candie’s Foundation launched a teen pregnancy prevention campaign with the tagline, “You’re supposed to be changing the world… not diapers,” I was outraged by their attempts to shame young parents, people like me. Although I was changing diapers at age 17, I am changing the world — and so are Lisette, Consuela, Jasmin, Gloria, Marylouise, Christina, and so many other young parents like us across the country. We’re working to make our communities better, and we’re not doing this work in spite of being young parents. Our activism has been shaped ...

Remember these awful ads from the Candies Foundation? Well young mamas are pushing back, and are demanding that Candie’s stop shaming young parents:

When the Candie’s Foundation launched a teen pregnancy prevention campaign ...