The news from Somalia is often heartrending and horrible. The country is experiencing an  unprecedented famine  and a great deal of  instability and violence . But today, I bring you all some good news from Somalia. This year, for the first time, the Somali Athletics Federation will select one female runner from a field of 10 to compete in the [...]

It’s that time again! Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which passed through the  Senate Judiciary Committee  last month on a party-line vote. The full Senate vote is happening NOW Senate is discussing reauthorization of the act NOW, and you can watch the Senate floor proceedings on the bill S1925  here. At a time when the GOP is desperately [...]

Okay. I am not embroiled in the controversy around HBO’s new show, Girls. I haven’t watched it, to be frank. I saw that it was yet ANOTHER show about rich, white women in NYC and just decided against it. Commentary about the show is all over the internet, and we’ve discussed it here, too . This post [...]

The ongoing saga of racialized theatrics continues in the state of Arizona. As you might remember, Arizona introduced the anti-immigrant law SB1070 last year, and then the Mexican-American studies program (also called the Ethnic Studies program) was banned at Tucson Unified School District. Now there are rumblings that Mexican-American studies programs at the university level might be [...]

Good morning, Friday Feministing friends. To start the weekend, I bring you some news about feminist badassery and the taking on of corporate foolishness. Today, a few folks from our friends over at SPARK, including SPARK Executive Director Dana Edell and Jamia Wilson, Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Media Center and Co-Founder of SPARK, will be [...]

  At this year’s  Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program Conference, “From Abortion Rights to Social Justice” at Hampshire College   I attended a really engaging workshop that addressed the vital intersections created by the ongoing legacies of colonialism. The aim was to address the impacts of aggressive over-policing of communities of color and criminalization of poor people, [...]

He is a self-avowed racist . And also a sexist – both for a long while . And in the couple days following his racist screed , Derbyshire a longtime writer for the National Review, that age-old bastion of truth telling, was fired from the publication .  In the immediate aftermath, conservative commentators have been clutching their pearls and carrying on about how ” contemptible” [...]

The website,  therealgeorgezimmerman.com is set up to accept donations, in lieu of other sites that purport to be raising money for him. But it’s being reported that this one is legitimately his. It says:

“I am the real George Zimmerman, On Sunday February 26 th, I was involved in a life altering event which led me to become the subject of [...]

What are they asking for, you might wonder? ” An education. ” 50 students at the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detriot, MI were suspended yesterday for walking out of their classes. They claimed to be fed up with the quality of their education: absent teachers, shortages of textbooks, and a failure to be taken seriously when asking for their [...]

Yesterday, Myanmar’s government confirmed that dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party , the National League for Democracy, won a sweeping victory in the nation’s weekend by-elections . National state radio and television reported that Ms. Suu Kyi’s party won 43 of the 45 open parliamentary seats. Calling the results a “ a triumph of the people ” [...]

Previously disqualified contestant , Jenna Talakova, will be allowed back into the international pageant according to a statement released late last night by the Miss Universe Organization. In the statement, the Miss Universe Organization said  Ms. Talackova can compete, provided “she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions.” The statement, however, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

**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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZXfFRnuKnE&feature=player_embedded Rep [...]

**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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZXfFRnuKnE&feature=player_embedded Rep [...]

“Repeal and replace.” That has been the refrain of many conservatives who opposed the Obama Administration’s landmark health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed exactly two years ago today. Never mind that we haven’t seen much by way of exactly what the ACA will be replaced WITH . For now, in true [...]

*Trigger warning* Last week, Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi was found guilty of a hate crime and invasion of privacy in the case stemming from the suicide of his former roommate Tyler Clementi. The background: In September 2010, Ravi and fellow classmate Molly Wei used a webcam to record Clementi kissing another man. Ravi tweeted about [...]

This past Saturday was the 6-month anniversary of the protests of Occupy Wall Street in Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park. About 300 people had gathered, and were met by the NYPD who forcefully cleared the park. From Sarah Jaffe for Alternet :

It was a beautiful scene in Zuccotti Park–clearly Liberty Plaza again–on Saturday night around 11:00. Giant banners unfurled [...]

“This one shouldn’t be about politics. Protecting women against violence shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” – Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)

But of course, in this twilight of reason, even the issue of violence against women is charged with partisan politics. Originally passed in 1994, and up for renewal this year, the Violence Against Women Act , passed through the Senate [...]

Speaking to Soledad O’Brien this morning, Sanda Fluke reiterated the fact that she won’t be silenced by slurs. I wrote last week about the problem with talking about federal funding for contraception (and abortion) as something more controversial than private funding for those services. My aim was to bring attention to a dangerous slippery slope that [...]