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By Casey Quinlan • 10 years ago

Working Mothers Still Struggle to Find Pumping Space

Every time Meagan Cavanaugh tries to pump breast milk, she braces herself for the sound of a coworker’s knock on the door. Her breastfeeding room is the same as the conference room at the national non-profit she works for. She has to sign up for a time slot to use the room, like everyone else in the office, to reserve pumping breaks for the next day.

“Two of three times I’m there, people are trying to get in, completely disregarding that it’s reserved,” Cavanaugh said. “To pump successfully you need to be mentally relaxed and it’s challenging when people are always knocking.”

The Federal health care law, or Obamacare, includes a provision that will allow women in Cavanaugh’s position to have access to private pumping rooms. The legislation requires employers to provide a room other than a bathroom for women to pump milk and ample break times to use the room.

Instead of forcing employers to recognize the health needs of mothers and babies, the law has had little effect on labor practices. Employers are either unaware of the law or fail to meet minimal standards, such as privacy and cleanliness. The federal government has offered state breastfeeding coalitions the funding needed to reach out to businesses and inform them of the new law’s requirements.

Breastfeeding became important to the health care law when it became labeled a preventative health measure for both the mother and baby. Marsha Walker, lactation consultant and registered nurse, said breastfeeding is vital ...
By Casey Quinlan • 10 years ago

Stop Telling Me To Make Things For Women If I Want Them

I was having a conversation with someone about sexualized images of women, i.e. posters of half naked women in office environments. I pointed out that the problem is not with partial nudity in itself but the context behind having a sexualized image of a woman hanging in an office in a field that is dominated by men. I said it would have been another matter if there was a poster of sexualized, half-naked man on the wall, and proceeded to point out that the female gaze is usually ignored if not considered nonexistent by advertisers.

He essentially responded, “If you want your own images of half-naked men, make them.”

His argument was that I should become a photographer and ...

I was having a conversation with someone about sexualized images of women, i.e. posters of half naked women in office environments. I pointed out that the problem is not with partial nudity in itself but the ...
By Casey Quinlan • 10 years ago

RadioShack sells sex in new dreadfully banal ad

I’m not sure what’s more sad and predictable: That RadioShack is telling its remaining female customers to talk a long walk on a short pier or that the rest of their customers have bought into it.

RadioShack, a company that is in serious trouble, has become exceedingly desperate and decided that the very real problems their company faces can be solved with a large serving of t&a. I think RadioShack could take a more honest approach, however. They could simply play this great classic by DJ Assault and gather a few models together for a car wash scene. Maybe the car would be covered in RadioShack logos. They could try to incorporate the image of electronics in there somehow, ...

I’m not sure what’s more sad and predictable: That RadioShack is telling its remaining female customers to talk a long walk on a short pier or that the rest of their customers have bought into it.

RadioShack, ...
By Casey Quinlan • 10 years ago

The anti-feminist argument I’m most tired of hearing

I can rehearse statistics on rape or explain why feminism is not a zero-sum game, listing how its ideals benefit men, or deconstruct why something is sexist but all of these well-reasoned arguments, all of these facts and experiences mean absolutely nothing the minute the guy in front of me says:

“Oh, come on.”

In three words, everything I said has been destroyed, obliterated; become null and void. Those words are death in any argument about feminism despite the fact that they mean absolutely nothing. There isn’t a single rational argument in those words, and yet, it works. It works the way that “calm down” and “chill out” does. It makes the person you’re arguing against angry as hell, but also confused ...

I can rehearse statistics on rape or explain why feminism is not a zero-sum game, listing how its ideals benefit men, or deconstruct why something is sexist but all of these well-reasoned arguments, all of these facts ...
By Casey Quinlan • 10 years ago

Dear ‘Gentleman Scholar': Shaking hands with a woman is easy

You see a business associate at a conference. You meet a new co-worker at the plant. Your boss wants to meet with you for a second.

But there’s a complication! The person in question is a woman. Tricky stuff. What do you do?

Hold out your hand. Shake it two to three times firmly whilst making eye contact. All fingers, yes. Smile and continue with business.

Shaking hands with a member of the opposite sex should be that simple, but unfortunately others don’t see it that way. Gentleman Scholar (yes, that is the name of his advice column) Troy Patterson offered up some advice to a befuddled fellow gentleman. The man wrote to Patterson after he shook hands with one woman, ...

You see a business associate at a conference. You meet a new co-worker at the plant. Your boss wants to meet with you for a second.

But there’s a complication! The person in question is a woman. Tricky ...