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By inesv • 14 years ago

Act now to stop hate!

I am writing to tell you about Columbus’ mayor Michael Coleman brave response to Arizona Law SB1070 and the backlash that he has faced from certain groups in Ohio.
Mayor Coleman condemned Arizona law and banned all city-funded travel to Arizona. In response, a local radio station launched a xenophobic contest to win a trip to Phoenix Arizona where they claim “Americans are proud” and “illegals are scared.”

The add encourages people to go to Arizona and spend time “chasing aliens” and also shows Mayor Coleman as the holder of a Green Card. The references are aggressive and reminiscent of the vigilante tradition of anti-immigration right-wing groups. Please take a minute to sign an online petition put together by a local community group in Columbs and addressed to the manager of the radio. And spread the word!
By inesv • 14 years ago

Feminista of the Week

Bad Ass Feminista of the Week

You may have heard of the second grade girl that confronted Michelle Obama about her husband’s immigration enforcement practices. I say she’s a feminist because she was fearless in confronting power, and she clearly knew that what is a personal and painful issue for her is also political. A deeply feminist insight. The Transcript:
“My mom said, I think, she says that Barack Obama’s taking everybody away that doesn’t has papers.” After Mrs. Obama replied, “Yeah, well, that’s something we have to work on, right, to make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right?” the girl said “But my mom doesn’t have [papers].”

Michelle Obama’s response was insufficient, ...

Bad Ass Feminista of the Week

You may have heard of the second grade girl that confronted Michelle Obama about her husband’s immigration enforcement practices. I say she’s a feminist because she was fearless in confronting ...
By inesv • 15 years ago

Asylum and Domestic Violence: One Step Forward with a Rhetorical Question Mark

Some of you may have seen this
article in the NYTimes. As it notes, “[t]he Obama administration has recommended political asylum for a Guatemalan woman fleeing horrific abuse by her husband,” a recommendation that is expected to set precedent and influence future cases of asylum request.

Good news, right? I have to say, first, yes, and second, but…

On the “but” part, it strikes me as problematic that the United States presents itself–through its refugee policy–as a safe haven of domestic violence. This legal/symbolic maneuver obscures the disregard that this country has for domestic violence within its borders and particularly, the women who are victims of domestic violence. Further, it suggests domestic violence is “cultural,” that is, a practice of ...

Some of you may have seen this
article in the NYTimes. As it notes, “[t]he Obama administration has recommended political asylum for a Guatemalan woman fleeing horrific abuse by her husband,” a recommendation that is ...
By inesv • 15 years ago

Without Models

That’s the announcement on the opening page of the site of Brigitte, Germany’s best selling women’s magazine. The editor announced recently that, from now on, the publication would only feature normal sized women. This came after complains from readers that there were too many models with “protruding bones” portrayed in their pages.
I say this is good news! Not that everyone agrees, the owner of a modelling agency in Munich, claimed: “The fact is that women want to see clothes on beautiful, aesthetically pleasing people,” she said.
Right, that’s what they want the most, right after wanting to develop low self esteem and impossible body standards to hunt them their whole lives…
I think it’s remarkable that this ...

That’s the announcement on the opening page of the site of Brigitte, Germany’s best selling women’s magazine. The editor announced recently that, from now on, the publication would only feature normal sized women. This came ...
By inesv • 15 years ago

“When it comes to shoes, men make much better choices”

That is the conclusion that journalist Roni Caryn Rabin extracts from a study that found that 60% of women wear or wore in the past shoes that put them at increased risk of chronic foot pain (you guessed it: “high heels, pumps, sandals and slippers”).

The whole tone of the article and the verbal quotes from one of the female researchers border on the paternalistic/ridiculous: “It’s important to pay attention to size and width, and not just buy it because it’s cute.”

One would wish that someone writing in the NYTimes or doing research on the health sciences would be aware of the role of societal expectations and fashion in shaping agency and choice (as well as the pervasive differential ...

That is the conclusion that journalist Roni Caryn Rabin extracts from a study that found that 60% of women wear or wore in the past shoes that put them at increased risk of chronic foot pain (you ...
By inesv • 15 years ago

Motherhood, race, and immigration status

Some of you may have seen this piece in the New York Times yesterday, telling the story of Encarnación Bail Romero, a Guatemalan woman who had the custody rights to her son, Carlos, removed by Judge David C. Dally of Circuit Court in Jasper County.

The reason: abandonment.

The catch (from hell): Ms. Bail had been detained in an immigration raid at a poultry processing plant Carthage, MO two years ago and has been in jail ever since, awaiting to be deported when her time in jail is over.

Carlos was given to a couple, about which the Judge said:

"the couple made a comfortable living, had rearranged their lives and work schedules to provide Carlos a stable home, and had support from ...

Some of you may have seen this piece in the New York Times yesterday, telling the story of Encarnación Bail Romero, a Guatemalan woman who had the custody rights to her son, Carlos, removed by Judge ...
By inesv • 15 years ago

Sexist Product of the day (Oxford, UK edition)

A ‘quickie’ for 99 cents? One more genius in marketing hoping half-naked women would do the work for him (yes, I bet it was a him), and sell shoe polish!! And then they say Mad Men is about the 1950s…

(sorry for bad quality of picture, it says ‘shoe shine care’)

A ‘quickie’ for 99 cents? One more genius in marketing hoping half-naked women would do the work for him (yes, I bet it was a him), and sell shoe polish!! And then they say Mad Men is ...
By inesv • 16 years ago

Women as animals? (check) Blondes as stupid? (check) Black women serving her? (check!)

As the title says, this add has it all… all wrong! and their Nando companions in YouTube are not any better, they include a woman dressed in a suit that turns out to be a pole dancer, and a so-called Kareem Ramadan craving for Nando’s chicken! Not funny at all!

As the title says, this add has it all… all wrong! and their Nando companions in YouTube are not any better, they include a woman dressed in a suit that turns out to be a pole dancer, ...