Dammit. Why did I go look at that NYTimes article? The small photo on the first page did me in. Photos of women torturing screaming young girls. WTF. Dammit. Now my day is fucking ruined.

I don't understand how a photographer can document some things without intervening, but I confess I couldn't stay there long enough to read any of the background, so I don't know anything about where it was taking place.

horrible. sad.

Despite what her mother thinks, the issue with Juashaunna Kelly was the color of her modified uniform, not the length, shape or religious purpose. The rules for the meet demanded a solid color uniform. Her blue and orange outfit was not. Officials offered her solution, such as covering up the orange parts of the suit with a blue long sleeve tee-shirt, but she refused. When did being held to the same rules as everyone else become a feminist issue?

Tommorrow morning (would do it today but it is a holiday) I will be mailing a wire coathanger to:

Wisconsin Right to Life
10625 W. North Avenue, Suite LL, Milwaukee, WI 53226-2331

When I read the Juashaunna Kelly story to my husband, he said, "Well, the silver lining may be that any college recruiter who reads the Post knows about her now."

I hope she gets a big scholarship somewhere - she is a fantastic athlete!!

I enjoyed Susie Bright's essay on the smushmortion cinema. I hadn't seen some of the other films but I found myself rolling my eyes at the end of Waitress, where *spoilers* she ended up getting the perfect life for herself by having an old guy give her millions of dollars. I know those kinds of movies can't end with women in hard core custody battles (like she probably would have been with her abusive husband) and you can't have her lose her dream business and end up in poverty but it just seemed way too perfect. And the fact that she had been having an affair with a married man was totally glossed over.

Filmmakers have to show the sugary sweet side to these kinds of situations, partly because movies are people's wish fulfillment and partly because if they did show how hard a pregnancy can be for a women they'd probably be branded anti-baby or something. The filmmakers themselves want these happy endings but they also know they have to toe the line.

Janet:

Because, as I understand it, the rules were effectively changed on her at the last minute. That same uniform had been allowed all the way up to that meet for the last year.

I tend to agree that it had nothing to do with her religion, however: as far as I can tell from the details available, what happened was that once she started outperforming everyone else on the track, an opposing coach realized he could get her disqualified on a technicality, complained, and then once the books were checked the machinery was unstoppable.

None of this precludes bashing the high school track meet rules for being silly, though.

"None of this precludes bashing the high school track meet rules for being silly, though."

I suspect you have not run track, or else you would understand the reasons for the rules. Track requires strategies beyond "run as fast as you can." Uniform requirements are there so that, at a peripheral glance, you can identify the person coming over your shoulder and decide how to respond. The flash of color you see, combined with what you know about your opposition ("who on that team would be going that fast?"). This is especially important for runners like me, who wear glasses and pretty much rely on color when seeing peripherally.

Uniforms also help timers identify who crossed the finish line when, especially if the refs are not very familiar with the local runners (for example coaches from outside the district).

From my understanding, coaches, runners and parents complained after Kelly was the only runner allowed to break the well-known rules last year. There were a lot of "if she can wear that, why can't I wear my lucky whatever?" types of complaints. My understanding is that she was given a pass last year and the year before by pleading that she didn't know the rules. She cried and it worked. There are only so many times you can claim that before you get a ref that has already given you a warning. knows that you are aware of the rules and doesn't believe that girls should get away with anything just because they cry.

Runners get a copy of the rules before the meet. Whether they choose to obey them, or take their chances by breaking them is their decision.

"Tommorrow morning (would do it today but it is a holiday) I will be mailing a wire coathanger to:"

Great idea! I think that I will and everyone else should as well.

"The fact is there is absolutely no medical value in circumcising girls," she says. "It is 100 percent the wrong thing to be doing." The circumcision of boys, she adds, has demonstrated health benefits, namely reduced risk of infection and some protection against H.I.V."

Oh, yes, male circumcision is COMPLETELY different because we do it here in America so that makes it ok! I don't buy any of the "health benefits" garbage as far as male circumcisions go. Taking a shower and wearing a condom also protect against infection and H.I.V. People just need to stop cutting up their baby's bits.

I was absolutely STUNNED by the Starbucks blog, and my reaction had nothing to do with the "skinny" platform. Potbelly's been calling it's lighter sandwiches that for years, and it's never bothered me (or anyone else, as far as I know). What struck me was the extreme combination of objectification and stereotyping in which this idiot indulged.
First things first:"instead of worrying about stupid words, worry about making your drink somewhat consistent." Apparently, it is a sin for a woman to think about her own feelings before she concerns herself with giving imbeciles their morning caffeine fix (by the by, if this guy visits Starbucks so often, surely he's aware of the health costs of ODing on caffeine...). No one exists to serve you! His/her job may be to fix you your morning latte, but, astonishingly, he or she has thoughts and feelings UNRELATED to the job. To speak of this woman as if she were a defective robot is sick, sick, sick.
Furthermore, this poor excuse for a human needs to take his rose-colored glasses-wearing face out of his ass. Maybe then he (or she, but God I hope not) would actually, you know, SEE people before presuming to know everything about them. Unless he's got some magical powers that he's not sharing, how the hell does he know this girls weight, economic status, living situation, educational background, etc.? Oh right, he has been given supreme knowledge by the almighty deity, Easy Stereotypes. That's how he knows that this woman is poor, and therefore obviously lazy. I have to wonder if this fool has ever even met one of these "low-wage drones" or had financial difficulty himself. You want to talk about "entitlement in education?" Yeah, that's what makes "whinging [sic] brats" like him assume they earned a touchdown when the game started on the 20-yard line and the field was on a hill. That's what makes him assume he has the right to make judgments about people's bodies when HE'S NEVER SEEN THEM! Hell, as far as we know, this woman is a size 0. Would he respect her opinion then?
In conclusion, since this guy seems so concerned about the price he has to pay for other people's health issues, I would just like to say, as someone who has been struggling with eating disorders for a long time and probably cost the healthcare system a pretty penny....may he burn in a vat of scalding lard for all eternity.

may he burn in a vat of scalding lard for all eternity.

Haaaahahaha!!!!

The rules for the meet demanded a solid color uniform.

Have you seen the pictures? Her fellow teamates didn't even have solid-color uniforms; they were blue with a white stripe and orange trim. As a matter of fact, another girl can be seen wearing orange knee-highs.

From the article:
"[meet director Tom Rogers] said: "We run over 2,000 athletes in this meet. Most likely an official missed her uniform [last year] and a call wasn't made."

Appearently, they also missed the call the year before that and the year before that? Bull. A runner with head and leg coverings will stand out in a group wearing tank tops and shorts.

When did being held to the same rules as everyone else become a feminist issue?

When it's blatant discrimination against a woman for following her religious beliefs.

That Starbucks article...

literally makes my stomach turn.

Along with some of the other articles that I have to literally block out of my thoughts currently in order to preserve my sanity for the night. I'll revisit them tomorrow when I'm feeling slightly less defeated.

The Starbucks skinny menu has made at least one of their male baristas in my town really obnoxious. I went in to order my usual (cinammon dolce latte, no sugar, no whip, with soy milk) and he took the time to ask me if I was concerned about sugar, because the soy actually had quite a few calories.

I was like, "Hey, I can read nutritional information just as well as you can. Make me my sugar-free soy latte and stop patronizing your customers."

Christ! I know that soy adds about 50 calories. It also tastes better. I'm a grown-up and I did the math myself. If Starbucks employees are suddenly going to turn into roving nutritionists I'll make my own damned coffee.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is the actual Starbucks interaction:

Barista: (while making drink) Are you concerned about sugar?

Me: (realizing he's talking to me) Huh?

Barista: Are you sensitive about sugar? Are you concerned?

Me: (pause) No.

Barista: (soldiering on with his point) Because soy has a lot of sugar in it.

Me: (no response)

Barista: You know? Soy has a lot of sugar. And calories.

Me: Yes. That's great.

Barista: (finishing making drink, not connecting with what I've said) Great.

Me: (leaving) You know, you publish your nutritional information. I can read it for myself.

Barista: Oh.

And then I didn't think about the patronizing part until I was driving away. Now, even though there is a Starbucks every twenty feet around here, I make sure to go in and order my soy drink there every morning. Just so my nutritionist can make it for me.

Funny, just last night was was debating the "What's the point of marriage?" question with my boyfriend who is traditional on certain things. I'm glad the woman in the article was able to get some family together to celebrate. Being able to celebrate your love with family and friends is something I agreed is hard to do without legally declaring your relationship. I can see people saying, "What is the party for? You vowed to each other to stay together forever? Did you get married? No? I don't get it..."

In Sweden so many people have children without marrying. The person you are common law with is called your 'sambo' which is different from husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend. I guess it's like partner in English but it actually means something to everyone.

sgzax, it just occurred to me that maybe the barista was trying to say that soy milk itself is sweetened (the kind SB uses is, anyway), which quote a few people don't realize. Or maybe he was just being a butthole.

Thought this story might be niteresting for next week's round-up - it's on the rise in the number of Bedouin women attending university and the social impact (whihc has been positive, it seems). http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2244468,00.html

Thanks for this blog - it always gives me food for thought.

sgzax, that exchange didn't really sound patronizing to me. It sounded like the guy went through life thinking soy milk was better until someone made him read the nutritional info, and then he just had to share it with everyone, because if he didn't know, no one knew! (I didn't know.)

Obviously, this depends on what his tone actually was, and you're the one who knows that, so YMMV.

On a completely different note, something in the teen prostitution ring article really scared me. The emphasis seemed to be on the fact that the victims were so young. Granted, it is horrible/sick/disgusting/insert synonym here that anyone would do this to preteens, but thousands of women are forced into prostitution every year without anyone noticing. The issue here is not destroying the purity and innocence of young girls, it's turning women into disposable commodities. While I give major props to Lt. Dean for cracking the ring, his attitude (SOMEWHAT alarming??)seems to disregard the bigger problem of sex trafficking.

If you do not feel the need for any of the *considerable* legal benefits of marriage*, I do not see the act or state of marriage adding to the value or permanence of a committed relationship. You can find a number of sites similar to those below through an online search.

* Marriage Rights and Benefits
http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/E0366844-7992-4018-B581C6AE9BF8B045/catID/F896EE61-B80C-4FE1-B1687AC0F07903BA/118/304/ART/

Legal and economic benefits of marriage
http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bene.htm

"On the order of 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits."

" . . . Most of these legal and economic benefits cannot be privately arranged or contracted for."

Never even thought about it. I got married to stick with the wife.

I suppose the disconnect for the barista is in someone ordering something that is sugar free, but not entirely sugar free. Like, for him, something can only be all good or all bad... if I'm going to have the sugar-y soy I might as well have the whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles too, but if I want to reduce the calories I need to go all the way with the water-y, flavorless option. But I advocate for the middle option.

And it isn't his job to educate people on their drink choices. The only time I want to hear about drink content from the barista is if he really loves a particular drink and wants to tell the world or if he thinks there might be rat droppings in the coffee. Then, and only then, he can speak up.

Thanx for the link to Susie Bright's blog- she always has something interesting going on.---Along with you folks of course.

My favorite comment (mentioned in the Starbucks article):

"To all the sensitive Fatties out there, all you gotta do is eat less (eliminate the obvious fatty food) and exercise more. Some overweight is excused for those who just happen to be thick, but those who are obese, you guys have no excuse, and Skinny is not the only synonym out there for thin."

Not true, you fucking sizeist fatphobic bigot. Anyone who's ever had weight issues can tell you it's just not that fucking simple.

I seriously wish I had a torch and pitchfork so I could go agrarian revolt on people when they act like douches. I say if your logic can resemble the Dark Ages, so can my method of rioting at your douchebaggery.

Also, the Newsweek article? About saying no to marriage? Awesome. My brother and his girlfriend are pretty much in that boat. My family's cool with it (my mom has actually told me if I ever decide to get married, I should go to Vegas or the courthouse, because weddings are a waste of money - which I totally agree with), but I'm not sure hers is. Her mom has dropped many hints about weddings, and my mom actually said something to shut her up about it once (I had to get my big mouth somewhere).

I'm pretty sure the only reason they'd get married was if someone needed the benefits from a job the other had.

am i crazy or are the comments on the teen pregnancy thread a bit heartless?

they don't teach proper sex, so teens don't protect themselves...
girl gets pregnant, keeps baby (shouldn't anti choicers rejoice here?), delivers baby and wants time to heal...

you are hard pressed to find a doc who will let you go back to work before six weeks is up...why should school be different? child birth is an incredible athletic feat for a body...it needs time to heal and recuperate. yes...make up the hours or do the work from home...but don't punish them like this...it is hard enough to get a teen mom to finish high school...give her a fighting chance!

I am pleasantly surprised by that Newsweek article. I have been quite solidly against marriage for years now, because the institution is still mostly closed to the LGBTQ community. But also I feel it ends up injuring straight women with the inevitable pressure it places, funneling us right on down to the mommy track (strict gender roles may apply). From first love, to white wedding, right on to a baby carriage. Sure, these days it is not *necessary* to have that style of marriage, but the expectation is still there.

"On a completely different note, something in the teen prostitution ring article really scared me. The emphasis seemed to be on the fact that the victims were so young."

Last night, while I continued reading the No Porn Northhampton site, I came across a link to abc news, where a story claimed "The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 100,000 and 3 million American kids under age 18 are involved in prostitution and they're often targeted by sexual predators." Also, "The average age of a child when he or she is first sexually exploited is 11, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Both the ages of the children (assumed to be female) and the total number involved surprised me.

Teen Sex Slave Trade Hits Home: Sexual Predators Are Selling Young American Women Into Prostitution
By Ann Pleshette Murphy and Jennifer Allen
Jan. 30, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2834852&page=1

Realities of Teen Prostitution Mock Notions of 'Sex Work', 'Sex-Positive', 'Freedom' and 'Empowerment'; Media Glamorizes Pimps
Posted by NPNAdmin at 4/20/2007
http://nopornnorthampton.org/2007/04/20/realities-of-teen-prostitution-mock-notions-of-sex-work-empowerment-media-glamorizes-pimps.aspx

In regards to the article about caffeine causing miscarriages:

Caffeine is, technically, a toxin. I once took this one science class and one day we were doing an activity that involved a list of toxic agents and figuring out the amounts of things that would be enough to kill people of various weights. According to the information we were using, if a shot of espresso has 80 mg of caffeine (this is the approx. amount in the shots at Caribou Coffee), a 180-lb man would have to drink 8.5- 20 ounce cups full of espresso in a 24-hour period to have consumed enough caffeine to kill him. It is highly unlikely that this would ever happen. However, with an early-term fetus, with a much lower weight, the amount of caffeine necessary to actually hurt it is much smaller. Obviously.

So, my point here is, if I knew this from a seminar course I took when I was a freshman in college, how is it that the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and The New York Times are surprised by the fact that caffeine increases chances of miscarriage?

A Male: "Last night, while I continued reading the No Porn Northhampton site..."
As a college student in that immediate area, I extend my heartfelt thanks.

Also, related to the teens involved in the prostitution ring: this article, published the same day as the article linked to here, mentions something else disturbing. http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080115_mo_prostitutionring.26aceba5.html
It's apparently unclear whether all of those involved will be charged as adults. I'm sorry, but the dude at the end of the article had it right-- this type of crime requires allllllllll sorts of mens rea. Can we really claim this is just "kids being kids" who didn't understand the consequences of their actions? It was PRE-MEDITATED, cruel, blatant violation of the law. By kids of those ages... who I presume realize that prostitution is a crime. They've tried younger people as adults with less reason than this.
/rant

Holy crap the photos in the NY times FGM article are brutal! And according to the article 96% of families do that and 82% of those involve "cutting???" Terrifying figures!

More articles:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/21/wsaudi121.xml

"Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.

"Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year..."

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2008/01/21/girlscout_0120ns.html

"Roswell Girl Scout earns every badge available

"THIS Scout didn't just want to earn a FEW BADGES. She wanted to earn ALL OF THEM. And she DID IT..."

Personally, I have wasted about 17 minutes of my cumulative life in the following fashion:

Me: Grande non-fat vanilla latte please?

Barista: do you want whip cream?

Me (in my head): Fragging A, gee, I ask for a non-fat latte, and you want to crap a 10 cubic cm turd of pure fat on top of it? Hmm, I dunno. And I know you beastards want me to learn to say non-fat no-whip, but the department of redundancy department called, and they obviously pointed out the obvious.

Me (out loud): No, thank you.

Grrrr.

^ Well it's always best to clarify. I'm sure they get 10 million customers a day who would order the same thing and then flip out when there's no whipped cream on it.

Anyway, I have something minor to nitpick about. It's just been bugging me. The Susie Bright piece said that according the the movie Juno, "Your first high school lover ends up being the most perfect love you will ever know" which glosses over everything. So what? Isn't the character like, 16? I felt that way with my first love too.

"Caffeine is, technically, a toxin."

The National Geographic issue (Jan. 2005) on caffeine also notes that caffeine is not only a drug, but the world's most popular psychoactive drug, with all the implications of the word. Doctors consider a caffeine addiction to be a "mental disorder."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0119_050119_ngm_caffeine.html

But then, any addiction, like an Internet addiction, is a mental disorder. I believe caffeine, like tobacco and alcohol, merely benefit from society's tradition with them, to avoid being denied approval by the FDA or regulated like better known and more widely accepted as so identified drugs of abuse like cocaine or heroin.

Even marijuana, despite its effects and known toxins, unlike caffeine (caffeine death is rare), alcohol or nicotine, has not been documented to kill by overdose (nor cause cancer). I consider the recent PSAs typifying users as middle aged slackers living in their mom's basements to be amusing, against documented findings. Also, as a nurse, we were taught about marijuana as an accepted medical treatment. For one, it improves appetite and reduces nausea in chemotherapy patients. Recreational users would recognize this as "the munchies." :)

Disclaimer: I am not promoting non medical use of marijuana, and the only drug I use is caffeine in diet cola, or twice a month Starbucks tall frappucino.

I first heard about FGM (in Africa) as a high school student about 23 years ago while overhearing a (male) guest speaker at the weekly teacher's meeting in the school library. After the presentation, I also heard teachers complaining it was scandalous (as in they did not want to hear about it (what do rural Hawaii schoolteachers in the early 80s care about the plight of Africans)) and completely inappropriate as a topic of conversation. It is a despicable cultural practice which mutilates and abuses women. The "after" photo of the 9 month old girl is haunting, like the iconic NatGeo cover of the Afghan refugee girl.