The FemmoStroppo awards for 2007 are up on Hoyden About Town, and a lot of the blog links are fab-u-lous.

And - I'm pleased to see! - brownfemipower's blog is back up! At least, I can see it!

I particularly liked:

feeling like a macho man by brownfemipower at La Chola

This Promotes Rape by Cara at The Curvature

Anal is the New Third Base by Twisty Faster at I Blame the Patriarchy


Do any of you lot here at feminist have off-lj blogs? I'd love to see them. I'm in the process of getting one of my own off the ground right now, and it feels good to start contributing to the growing(!) feminist blogosphere.

In Carol Gilligan's essay, In a Different Voice, she describes her research on the moral development of women and men. Traditional scales, particularly Kohlberg's, have been created around the way males make moral decisions, and women assessed by these scales are often said to be somewhere in the middle - in other words, not morally mature. Gilligan responds by creating separate tracks of moral development for men and women. Marilyn Friedman then wrote a criticism of her work, giving her input on the subject.
( Summary of Gilligan and Friedman's thoughts. )
What are your thoughts on moral development and gender?

A question for the Desi folks in this community--

I found a dress at a thrift store a while ago with Sri Lakshmi screen-printed across it. I really like Lakshmi, but I haven't worn the dress because I wasn't certain if it would be offensive or not to wear an image of a deity. There's a picture of it below the cut. Would you find it offensive if you saw a white person wearing it? Should I just get rid of it? Thanks in advance.

Mods: can we have a "cultural appropriation" tag?

( Read more... )

I have an unusual abuse/harassment story. An art critic wrote a viciously and sexually explicit 'review' of my show a year ago.
I'm sorry and I hope this isn't triggering for anyone. I'm sorry these questions have been asked a million times. Do delete this if it is inappropriate. I just needed somewhere to put this down.

This is fantastic news!

SAN FRANCISCO - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in .

Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision....

article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080515/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage

There is a far better way – and it is something we should be pursuing anyway. It is called feminism. Where women have control over their own bodies – through contraception, abortion and general independence – they choose not to be perpetually pregnant. The UN Fund For Population Activities has calculated that 350 million women in the poorest countries didn't want their last child, but didn't have the means to prevent it. We should be helping them by building a global anti-Vatican, distributing the pill and the words of Mary Wollstonecraft.

I'd be interested in what people this of this article.  I'm a science fiction fan, and a lot of books contain population-restraint policies, like both parties having to get permission before they have children.  Then China's one-child policy has been pretty awful for women's rights over their own bodies-forced abortions etc.  So fairly often I daydream about how the situation is going to be tackled in real life-and I'd like it to be done without violating anybody's rights to their own reproduction system.  Or should we concentrate our efforts into getting into space?!

A COUPLE who sold their daughter into prostitution using the internet to advertise her services should spend twice as long in jail, a court has heard.

In what was described as the "most horrific case of child prostitution in Australian history'', the girl's mother was jailed for 13 years and her father for 10 years.

( Read more... )

Listen up, UK feminists! And others, obviously...

This is cut and pasted verbatim from the London Feminist Network postings, repeating it here for good measure...

Key vote on abortion time limit this Tuesday 20th May - last chance to email or phone your MP!

'The Second Reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill took place on Monday night in the House of Commons [the UK first debating chamber in Parliament]. Already, the anti-abortionists have tabled a number of amendments to restrict women's access to safe, legal abortion. These include amendments to lower the abortion time limit to 12,14,16,18 and 20 weeks; introduce delays and impose US-style compulsory briefings for women about foetal development; and to restrict the grounds for abortion. Further amendments are expected. ... LJ-cut for length



Ok, I did this earlier today. I already wrote to my MP in January, and got a letter back saying she supports no change in the law, which is excellent. So I decided to take the telephone route (I had no idea you can just call 'em up at Parliament!) and got to speak to her secretary. Obvously as my MP is already supporting women's right to choose, so I used it more as an opportunity to impress the value of the situation to her constituents rather than to persuade anyone of anything. If you ask them to make a note of your call, they'll put it on a database, which at least puts numeric and documented evidence of the importance of the issue to voters.

Please note that the independent medical studies this vote will respond to found NO - that means NO - medical, ethical or other reason to limit current levels of access to abortion. None.

Anyone in the UK, do it! Anyone who used to be in the UK, do it! Anyone who knows someone in the UK, forward this link: http://www.abortionrights.org.uk/

Thanks feminists and pro-feminists.

Via Feministe: The Supreme Court of South Caroline overturned Regina McKnight's conviction this week She was convicted of homicide by child abuse after her stillborn baby tested positive for cocaine.

Here's a link to The National Organization for Pregnant Women's press release on the ruling. Lynn Paltrow, who is one of my persaonl heroines, said about this, ""Justice is a constant struggle, and low-income pregnant women of color who have drug problems are always going to be an easy political target. We hope that this puts her case and other cases like it to rest so we can focus on recovery." Which, for me at least, pretty much sums up all the reasons this is such an important victory for reproductive justice.
Ms. McKnight still lives in a state where the infant mortality rate for people of color is double that of white people. She still lives in a country where addiction treatment for low-income people is nearly impossible to find. She still lives in a country where women of color have consistently poor access to pre-natal care (and healthcare in general). She's just no longer the official, state-sanctioned scapegoat for this horrible state of affairs.

NARAL Pro-Choice endorsed Barack Obama today, what are your thoughts?

Clinton and Obama both reflect my pro-choice and pro-woman views, and lastly, to me, they are both feminists.

Some friends of mine will not vote for Senator Obama in the fall (he's pretty much the nominee now) because they feel voting for a man is setting women back. I don't think that is the case. I think that voting for Barack Obama and having him for President is a step forward for women because of his policies, and his commitment to equality for all people.

Recently I switched my support to Barack Obama because of Clinton's comments about how she can get "white voters" and also because she has no viable chance to win the nomination without damaging the Democratic party. It was not an easy switch because I've idolized, admired and respected Senator Clinton for a long time now, especially when I was growing up. However, a lot of the campaign's racial comments did not sit well with me, and it became evident that Obama was the nominee to back because of the way he has run his campaign and his ability to bring new voters in, and to transform the Democratic Party for the better.

Here is the link to the NARAL Pro-Choice press release Barack Obama endorsement

I get annoyed when people refer to women as "our women." As in "we should honor our women" or "we treat our women well."

It makes me angry, too, when people say, "Look at how those uncivilzed Iraqis treat their women."

Look, obviously, I'm all for women's rights. (Fucking DUH!) But since when did women BELONG to anyone? Do you ever hear people refer to men as "our men?" As in "we should honor our men" or "we treat our men well?" Only in rare, RARE cases.

This is a trivial complaint, given the horrible treatment of women happening here in the US and around the world today. Still, I think that language is important (other people don't, they would say, "words are words...don't read too much into them") and it is not above criticism.

What do the rest of you think? For those of us who live in the U.S., does it ever bother you to be thought of as belonging to the men in the US? Are we "their women?" Is it appropriate to discuss the treatment of women in other nations by referring to them as the possessions of the men there (again, as in, "look how Nation X or Culture Y or Religion Z treats their women")?

X-posted to my personal journal.

I found this while browsing other communities, and it rendered me absolutely speechless.

http://friendlyatheist.com/2008/04/06/man-watching-porn-gets-caught-by-jesus/

It's basically an anti-porn Christian video - Jesus catches a guy watching porn, the guy starts making excuses, Jesus debunks his excuses, yadda yadda etc. It's basically your standard religious anti-porn rhetoric, but at around 6:26 minutes into the video, it gets a lot more interesting.

Or, should I say, rather repulsive. The porn watching guy comes up with another excuse:

"Jesus, there is a woman at work... she wears these short, short skirts and these low cut blouses, and she's always bending over (...) she's always around me, flirting with me, hitting on me, all this stuff, Lord. She's just such a temptress, Lord, I come home at night and I think about her, she's in my thoughts, she's in my dreams, she's under my skin, she just... it's her fault, if she wasn't such a temptress at work, Lord, I wouldn't be drawn to this stuff"

Now, one would assume the answer to that would be "it's not your coworker's fault that you're a leering horny pig", and that a divine being would recognize the situation as such, but what does Jesus say? Wait for it..."Yes, there are many Jezebels in the world". Jezebels? JEZEBELS? Oh yes, she must be a wicked temptress and the whore of Babylon because some drooling asshole can't stop staring at her as she bends over. Blame the woman for your own shortcomings, why don't you? After all, if she didn't want sexual attention from you, she would wear a potato sack and tape down her breasts... right?

Hola, hei, hello,

I’m a Seattle-based freelance writer, and I’m currently working on a feature-length piece for Bitch magazine about female metal musicians and fans. The article will discuss women’s history of influence in metal music across subtypes and scenes – from black metal to thrash and beyond – along with an analysis of critique in rock journalism, academic writing and fanzines. But, to make all of my analysis and history interesting and compelling, I really want to talk with musicians and fans. I want to know why you play or listen to metal, what it means to you and how it interplays with your experiences as a feminist. Maybe you have an anecdote that you’d love to share. Really, I’m open to most anything feminist metal musicians and fans would like to give voice to.

If you’re interested, drop me a line at jennyroseryan at gmail dot com and tell me a little about yourself: name, hometown, age, what bands you’re into and scenes you follow and what sort of experiences you’ve had where your fandom and musicianship mixed with your feminism. We'll go from there.

Thanks so much!

Catcalling-- creepy or a compliment? You know I have yet to experience catcalling that felt the least bit complimentary. In fact I generally find myself wondering what possessed the guy to think the comments would net good results, or I get annoyed enough to tell the guy off for being disgusting. On occasion (like when they say this nasty shit while I'm walking with my kids) I contemplate violence as a response. I'm having a hard time buying the idea that these guys don't know catcalling is a bad thing. They know it, they just don't want to stop acting this way because they enjoy making women uncomfortable. I'm also a little perplexed by the women that feel the catcalls let them know they're attractive. Is that low self-esteem, lack of functional men in their lives, or something I'm missing completely? Talk to me about catcalls and how they make you feel. How do you respond? If you're a guy, do you catcall? Why?

Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.

The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples.

Here is the whole article:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3sHL9tK9gLLO7Z4r6P4csSPjirAD90KU7180

I am cheered by this news, which I hope means that more rapists end up getting prosecuted and punished. The process is still going to be hard on the women who press charges, but I hope this makes it a little better. More options are good. More time to think is good.
The article says a rape kit costs 800 US dollars. Why do some slides and swabs cost so much, I wonder? Are they figuring in the cost of the lab work to process the samples? The salary of the specially-trained nurse? Hmm.

Edit for typo: A rape kit actually costs 800 US dollars, not 80.

Edit #2, for clarification: $800.00 is the cost to the state, not the victim. Before this, only a few states would spring for the cost of a "Jane Doe" rape kit; most would only pay if the victim was reporting the rape to the police immediately. Now the states are required to pay for both kinds of kits.

I didn't see anything else about this, going back through recent posts, so I thought I would pop something up. It seems like something some of you might be interested in.

Oxfam are calling for knitters/crocheters to make squares for a giant baby blanket to be presented at Downing Street in September. Every square will represent a mother who has not survived her pregnancy because she could not get access to adequate medical care. They need 250,000 squares. 

Anyway, if you are interested in helping out, or you know of any knitters or crocheters who would like to lend a hand, all the details you need are on these two sites.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/campaigners/2008/03/wanted_knitting_activists_to_d_1.html 

http://stitchandbitchlondon.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/oxfam-needs-your-help-knitters/ 


This will be posted elsewhere.

What do you think of Suicide Girls?

I just took a look at the Facebook page (linked from a friend's profile) and all the comments to the photos are along the lines of 'sexy', 'hot', 'i would love her to be my girlfriend'. Comments that wouldn't seem out of place on a similar fan page of FHM Magazine.

The idea is that these women embody what we don't see in the media - tattooed and pierced girls, rock chicks, goths, etc. The website says:

We are an army of 1,781 unconventionally gorgeous pin-up girls devoted to changing your idea of what makes women beautiful.

But isn't this just furthering the objectification of women? Is this really empowerment? And are these images really all that subversive?

I am undecided. Positive things to note include the fact that in most images the girl is looking at the camera, looking happy or coy, in contrast to many advertising images in which women either don't make eye contact with the camera or their face isn't even shown at all while their body language makes them appear passive and vulnerable. In addition, a lot of the content on SuicideGirls is user uploaded and updated, so the girls decide how to represent themselves. Negatives? Correct me if I'm wrong (I admit to only skimming the website), but most of these girls fit conventional standards of what makes a body beautiful - they don't have any 'excess' fat, they are mostly white, they are mostly hairless. And, perhaps more importantly, these are still images of women as sexual objects, first and foremost. Is there a SuicideBoys? Would a SuicideBoys site have the same appeal?

Apologies if this has been brought up before, I would just be interested to hear people's opinions and experiences.

In honor of Mother's Day, my partner and I have been working on a multimedia project. I'm hoping that it can really grow and expand, and that lots of people will participate. Here are the basics:

While I was out for a run recently, I saw a new ad for Canadian Club Whisky. The campaign is called "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It," and features photos of white men doing manly things circa the Seventies. There are several of these ads. One reads "Your Dad Wasn't A Metrosexual," another reads "Your Mom Wasn't Your Dad's First." The one that really annoyed me was "Your Dad Had Groupies."

( Here are the ads, click on the thumbnails to enlarge: )
I find this campaign offensive on so many levels. First of all, if Canadian Club is attempting to change their image to increase sales, I find it odd that they are being so exclusionary with their re-branding. Apparently, the only people invited to the Canadian Club Club are White Males, Ages 18-30, women and people of color need not apply. It's not that surprising to me that a company is aiming at that small demographic, but the way they're doing it is truly offensive. Basically, they are appealing to men who miss the days (whether or not they were born yet) of grabbing the asses of their secretaries, playing a few rounds at the all-white private golf club, and then going home to their wives, the happy homemakers who would mix them drinks, cook them dinner, and wait on them hand and foot. None of this women's lib, civil rights, limp-wristed liberal bullshit that men are expected to follow these days. No, let's go back to the days of rampant sexual harassment, before women could expect to be seen as equals and before the gays turned all those masculine men into pansies with waxed eyebrows. Let's return to the days when men were men. Please.

Adding insult to injury, visitors to the site are invited to "Put your own dad (or yourself or your friends) into one of our Damn Right ads. It's downright easy to do, and when you're done you can download your ad and send it to your friends." This Ad Maker is where I got the idea for the following project: I was going to remake the ads, but with women. Women who were old enough to be my mom or my grandmother, and with tag lines like "Your Mom Didn't Shave Her Legs" or "Your Grandma Built Fighter Jets." The first one I made was "Your Mom Had Groupies." I included a selection of female musicians that I love, some that were well known, others that were not. ( Here is my version of the Canadian Club Damn Right ad (click the image to see a larger version): )

For New Yorkers:

I wanted to spread the word about this beautiful organization called Haven Coalition.

"The Haven Coalition is a network of volunteers who provide a meal and a safe place to sleep for women who are forced to travel to New York City for late-term abortions. Since our inception in June of 2001, Haven has hosted close to 700 women for over 800 nights."

Haven volunteers work as hosts, sometimes as escorts helping women navigate the subway and get where they need to go. It's an amazing way to profoundly help someone and I wanted to let you know about a really interesting way to get involved. (I, however, am not affiliated with them because I am not located in the city.)

Their website with their contact information is here: http://havencoalition.org/

I just finished reading Richard Dawkin's chapter on sexual selection in The Ancestor's Tale. It seems to me that sexual selection is a means for implementing social trends and tastes biologically; i.e., human hairlessness is passed down because mates choose those with less hair, due to, at its heart, personal tastes (the utilitarian purpose being that less hair = less lice/parasites).

But I think the feminist has a hard time choking all this down because it's easiest to approach evolution and the idea of sexual selection in a sexist way. For instance, in this chapter, all of the other scientists/psychologists/philosophers referenced except for Susan Blackmore (in association with the idea of memes which is an idea that favors evolution as social rather than biological) and her theory was described as "audacious" and "radical," which it may very well be, but it still seemed a little biased.

So I'm wondering, you feminists, what you think and how you feel about evolution and the way it is addressed today. It's no secret that a lot of sexism today is justified by the "biological differences between males and females," citing evolution, despite the fact that it's mostly social. Further, in the question of evolution, where do those who transcend the traditional notion of gender come in? Is it possible to approach evolution in a egalitarian way?

x-posted furiously.

What we're trying to do

The Queer Web Project aims to make a friendly, welcoming community, enabling communication and information sharing across a global community of queers, building bridges between disparate queer communities. We aim to tie together a number of unsatisfactory, unrelated web technologies the queer community currently uses in the absence of something specifically for us. We aim to raise awareness and provide good information as to what queer means for different people to individuals, media, organisations and governments.

We aim to create a safe, non-commercial online space, by queers for queers. We will create a bespoke site using the latest web technology; combining (amongst other things) social networking, multimedia hosting, email and blog hosting as well as facilities for small groups to set up their own web presence painlessly and easily.

( Read more about what we need... )

"Lady, why are you calling here? Your daughter is 21. These officers should not have taken the report in the first place." Detective to Romona Moore's Mother upon reporting her missing.Romana Moore was a young and missing black woman


( TRIGGERING FOR RAPE, TORTURE  )


What about our daughters alerted me to this story and their editorial is definitely worth the reading. And my feelings on this? Sickened. Stunned. And wondering why should I ever believe in teh police "protect and serve" motto. Cause obvs, that only applies to young white women.

I admit that Phyllis Schlafly is someone who I didn't pay much attention to over the years. She is the previous generation of ones like Anne Coulter, and as such, didn't cause me to think very much about her - except as a kind of "historical" influence.

When the issue of the honorary degree from Washington University in St. Louis came up, I scoured my book shelves and filing cabinets for information on her. To be fair, Schlafly has made many accomplishments in her career - ones that I would not personally be proud of, but they obviously made her happy. A common thread in her career has been an attitude that demands women do as she says, not as she does. She continually worked away from her home, while encouraging women to be housewives.

Honorary degrees are meant to be given to people who have made great accomplishments in their lives. In Schlafly's case, there are institutions out there that would be appropriate for granting this honor - private conservative or religious universities - because their missions would most likely agree with her philosophies. Washington University is not this sort of institution, and their decision to give her an honorary degree is at best inappropriate, at worst, an egregious insult to the students and faculty.

Schlafly's Eagle Forum is a succinct summary of her philosophies, and illustrates clearly why a large, liberal arts institution should hesitate before considering conferring honors on her. Beyond her stands on various women's issues (her contention that there is no such thing as marital rape is just one of many ghastly assertions), Schlafly's thoughts on parental rights and education should be worrisome to any institution that places scientific proof above philosophical or religious beliefs.

Since it appears that Washington University is remaining steadfast in their decision to give Schlafly an honorary degree - in spite of objections from their students, faculty, and many others outside their community - perhaps the best course of action now is to encourage current and future students to think carefully about choosing the University. That might be considered "too little, too late," but honorary degrees can also be withdrawn.

X-posted from personal journal

----------------
Now playing: Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians - A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall
http://foxytunes.com/artist/edie+brickell+%26+the+new+bohemians/track/a+hard+rains+a+gonna+fall

Like probably many of you, I have been following the story about the FLDS and the children seized in the raid it interest. Yesterday, in the NY Times, there was an article that talked about the effect the raid has had on other polygamous groups in the region (the article is here).
I read the article, and a quote jumped out at me:
“Polygamy is not the problem,” said Marlyne Hammon, who belongs to a group called The Work of Jesus Christ, which practices polygamy in a town just a few miles from here. Ms. Hammon, of Centennial Park, Ariz., said child brides had no place in her group’s faith or practice. "This is about human error, not polygamy," she said.
What does everyone here think of that quote and what Ms. Hammon is saying?
While I'm uneasy categorizing the forced marriage and rape of children as "human error," I agree that the real issue here with the FLDS and groups like them is the abuse of women and children, not the polygamy (yes, they are closely related, but they are separate issues). If all of the people involved are adults who truly consented without pressure, then I really don't care what they do. I will remain suspicious of polygamy because of the high potential and its track record for abuse, but the magic words for me are "consenting adults."
Thoughts?

Edit: When I posted this, I should have noted that the polygamy I am suspicious of is religiously-inspired polygyny (one man, many women), as this implies strongly the inferiority of women. I do not have a problem with religiously-neutral polygamy, which is comprised of both polygyny and polyandry (one woman, many men), so long, of course, that everyone is a consenting adult. Sorry for any confusion.

(hat tip: Aaminah for linking and transcribing the video)

Sunni Sister posts an expose of Grameen Bank, whose founder won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The comments also link to an article in the Left Business Review.

I'm very skeptical about Grameen Bank and microcredit anyway, if only because it is so popular amoung people and organizations that have spent their entire existence creating the developing world proverty that they are now suddenly devoted to ending. It also is lets international organizations and governments off the hook as far as providing the kind of basic public services that are expected in the developed world.
The LBR article says: "
What the microrevolution has failed to address in its manifestos for credit to be considered a human right is that more people in the U.S. are having to work at more than one job to stay above the poverty line. Rather than working to increase wages, the microliberals are clamoring to cut job training for the poor because that's what has allegedly worked in Bangladesh. Turning peasant women into mini-capitalists is just furthering the reach of finance capital and shifting the burden of risk to a class who already bear the brunt of poverty without safety nets. And playing cheerleader to dead-end consumerism and self-exploitation strengthens the arguments of the slash-and-burn policy crowd as they cut public programs and replace them with the rhetoric of credit-fueled self-empowerment.

Since some individuals have been helped by microloans, their individual cases form a powerful body of rhetoric that plays into the myth of America itself - work hard and make it. Now the microlenders promise the destitute they can "borrow our money and be your own boss." Sounds like a late-night TV pitch for instant wealth through no-money-down real estate - and just about as believable.

There's a lot in both the video and the article about how Grameen (and microcredit in general) use a rhetoric of women's empowerment that isn't backed up by results and that relies on sexist stereotypes about women's inate honesty and potentially on women's greater social vulnerability.

I see this as another example of how the supposed economic empowerment of women is used to justify coercing women into the global capitalist system. Jeffery Sachs does the same thing with his charcterization of sweatshop labor as liberating to women and how writings about the new female face of immigration have sometimes ignored the broader social and economic context to simply talk about how empowering it is for women to make money by working abroad as nannies or domestic workers.

Clinton touts support from 'white Americans' So...she's decided that if she's going down she's taking the party with her? I mean there's no other reason I can come up with for her to essentially say that white votes are the only votes that really matter. Or to intimate that hard working American = whites with no college education. I wonder though (since this isn't a supporter saying these things, but Hillary herself) how long it'll take her to claim her words were twisted or to insist that the race card is being played against her when people start to speak up about this interview. I'm also curious as to whether or not any of her famous feminist backers will try to distance themselves after her words. If you're a Hillary supporter what do you think of her comments? Did they change your opinion of her at all?

Hello!

Can anyone recommend female cont