Let's Do This!

Sarah Palin is back, the Stupak Amendment (and the Republican Party) may further limit abortion access for all women, and I just saw Pray the Devil Back to Hell and am fired up about collective action and the power that women have.

WSC revival?

Great Job Everyone!

this is.... absurd....

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Antiabortion Advocate Appointed to Senior Position at HHS

Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued the following statement today about the appointment of Alexia Kelley to be Director of Faith-based and Community Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Alexia Kelley, co-founder and former executive director of the antichoice organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), was today appointed to be Director of Faith-based and Community Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Kelley's appointment is a defeat for reason and logic and calls into question whether President Obama's administration is serious about reducing the need for abortion. And, while it may not gain many headlines, the impact and significance of this appointment should not go unnoticed.

"If Ms. Kelley had been appointed to another position in the administration, there might be less reason for concern. However, the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for providing and expanding access to key sexual and reproductive health services. As such, we need those working in HHS to rely on evidence-based methods to reduce the need for abortion. We need them to believe in men and women's capacity to make moral decisions about their own lives. Unfortunately, as seen from her work at CACG, Ms. Kelley does not fit the bill.

"A look into Alexia Kelley's leadership of CACG reveals a vehement antichoice stance that is focused on reducing the number of, not the need for, abortions. In voter's guides the organization Kelley led characterized abortion as akin to war or torture. You can learn more about Catholics in Alliance here .

"From the beginning, Alexia Kelley directed CACG to ignore the question of access to abortion and reframe the debate in terms of reducing the number of abortions-although polls consistently show that the majority of Catholics support abortion rights. This language around reducing the number of abortions should be a huge red flag to anyone who believes in and seeks to defend a woman's right to choose. While evidence-based prevention methods can go a long way towards reducing the need for abortion, some women will always need access to safe and legal abortion and we must recognize that and ensure public policies support that access.

"Alexia Kelley is on record with her support for restrictions on access to abortion, despite her organization's efforts to avoid the question of legalization at every turn. In an audio press conference prior to the 2008 election, Ms. Kelley agreed with other speakers who spoke out in favor of restrictions on abortion, saying, "Catholics in Alliance supports these restrictions as well."

"Under Kelley's leadership, CACG used flawed economic data to support anti-poverty measures as a means to reduce the number of abortions. While such measures are obviously beneficial for many reasons, poverty reduction will not by itself reduce the need for abortion. As Ms. Kelley's group opposed evidence-based prevention methods such as contraception and comprehensive sexuality education, its "abortion reduction" rhetoric is simply a newly packaged antiabortion message.

"Rhetoric around "finding common ground" (or common good, as Ms Kelley would have it) and "reducing the need for abortion" has framed the abortion debate for the past few months. While this rhetoric and subsequent efforts may indeed help to move us past the culture wars over abortion and contraception, it is dangerous when these efforts devolve into an abandonment of ideals. In appointing an antichoice advocate to a key position in HHS we are seeing crucial principles abandoned-principles upon which so many men and women rely to lead healthy lives."

This appointment raises a lot of questions about the role HHS will take in the future on relevant topics such as increasing the availability of Emergency Contraception. While Ms. Kelly's title seems to indicate that her role will be somewhat benign, I think the author is rightly concerned with her involvement in HHS and her ability to influence not only the message HHS sends but also the partnerships they enter into and the organizations they seeks guidance from.

Is this really Choice?

This touches on many topics from our last discussion:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Abortion Doctor Assasinated

photo of Dr. George Tiller, shot to death this morning at church
Read story here.

Sonia Sotomayor

Matthew Cavanaugh/European Pressphoto Agency

I was excited to hear that Obama's short list for Supreme Court nominees included only women (others included Elena Kagan, Janet Napolitano, and Diane P. Wood) ! Two out of nine is still not great- but a step in the right direction.
2 articles I found helpful on the nominee:
From RH Reality Check: Fair & Balanced:Weighing Sotomayor's Opinions
New York Times bio: Sotomayor, A Trailblazer and a Dreamer

Evidence suggests having daughters makes parents more feminist...

From FiveThirtyEight:

Having Daughters Rather Than Sons Makes You More Liberal

Interesting Excerpts:

The authors' key finding is that support for policies designed to address gender equity is greater among parents with daughters. This result emerges particularly strongly for fathers.

This is very interesting:

By collecting data on the voting records of US congressmen, Washington (2004) is able to go beyond this. She provides persuasive evidence that congressmen with female children tend to vote liberally on reproductive rights issues such as teen access to contraceptives. In a revision, Washington (2008) argues for a wider result, namely, that the congressmen vote more liberally on a range of issues such as working families flexibility and tax-free education.

URBAN BICYCLE ADVENTURE!!!!

Join Us
Help women in disaster areas. Cruise Philly on a 2-wheeled adventure.
All levels of riders welcome.

Sign Up/Get Started:
Email womenssocialcollaborative@gmail.com to sign up to be a rider in a fundraiser for Circle of Health International.

Defining Male and Female

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Jennifer Finney Boylan writes of switching from being a man to being a woman after marrying a woman. She asks:

Is My Marriage Gay?

Legal scholars can (and have) devoted themselves to the ultimately frustrating task of defining “male” and “female” as entities fixed and unmoving. A better use of their time, however, might be to focus on accepting the elusiveness of gender — and to celebrate it. Whether a marriage like mine is a same-sex marriage or some other kind is hardly the point. What matters is that my spouse and I love each other, and that our legal union has been a good thing — for us, for our children and for our community.

Look how confusing it can get!

A lawyer for the transgendered plaintiff in the Littleton case noted the absurdity of the country’s gender laws as they pertain to marriage: “Taking this situation to its logical conclusion, Mrs. Littleton, while in San Antonio, Tex., is a male and has a void marriage; as she travels to Houston, Tex., and enters federal property, she is female and a widow; upon traveling to Kentucky she is female and a widow; but, upon entering Ohio, she is once again male and prohibited from marriage; entering Connecticut, she is again female and may marry; if her travel takes her north to Vermont, she is male and may marry a female; if instead she travels south to New Jersey, she may marry a male.”

don't ask don't tell

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Feminist Novelist Marilyn French Dies

Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Salon remembers French:

On May 2, feminist writer and theorist Marilyn French died at the age of 79. Not someone to shy away from a challenge, French once declared, "My goal in life is to change the entire social and economic structure of Western civilization, to make it a feminist world."

French, who was born in Brooklyn, NY, first gained notoriety with her 1977 debut novel, "The Women's Room," which follows the character, Mira Ward, an American housewife in the 1950s, on her path to feminist awakening. Although a single line has lingered longest, "All men are rapists, and that's all they are" -- spoken by a character whose daughter has been gang-raped (not by French herself, though it has often been falsely attributed as such) -- The Guardian describes the book's deeper impact: "The novel spoke not just to French's contemporaries but also their daughters, who passed it hand to hand with the same enthusiasm they had shown four years earlier for Erica Jong's upbeat feminist novel, 'Fear of Flying.'"

continue reading

Gloria Steinem talks to the New York Times about "The Women's Room", written by French in 1977:

Gloria Steinem, a close friend, compared the impact of the book on the discussion surrounding women’s rights to the one that Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” had had on racial equality 25 years earlier.

“It was about the lives of women who were supposed to live the lives of their husbands, supposed to marry an identity rather than become one themselves, to live secondary lives,” Ms. Steinem said in an interview Sunday. “It expressed the experience of a huge number of women and let them know that they were not alone and not crazy.”

continue reading

The Rape Kit Problem

From Kristof's Op-Ed today in the NYT:

Stunningly often, the rape kit isn’t tested at all because it’s not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week).

So while we have breakthrough DNA technologies to find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren’t using them properly — and those who work in this field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn’t justice; it’s indifference.

continue reading...

Protest

Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images, for the New York Times

This is very inspiring and moving to see women speak out, even with so much against them:

Afghan Women Protest New Law on Home Life

Nicole Richie...

...has a message about the Congo!

Anyone else wish Seth Rogan would go away?

After cringing and not laughing my way through "Knocked Up," this certainly doesn't surprise me:

Seth Rogan's date (rape) movie

(I realize Seth Rogan doesn't make these movies, but he certainly likes to place himself in the roles).

This Week in The Nation

Zina Saunders for The Nation

The Nation had several articles this week that may interest:

When Culture Trumps Law
More on Brazil and abortion laws and culture

Mad About Michelle
a feminist response to common perceptions of the First Lady (past & present)

Warlord Politics
More information on the ever-complicated conflict(s) in the Dem. Rep. of Congo & Rwanda

Legalized Rape in Afghanistan

AP (Afghan women pray for justice and security of the country during a gathering to mark the International Women's Day in Kabul)

Critics Assail Law that "Legalizes Rape"
from Yahoo News

from the article:

"As long as the husband is not traveling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night," Article 132 of the law says. "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

Guilty Pleasures

In addition to Perez Hilton and Philebrity (and a few 'real news' sources, like NYT and Morning News), I have Jezebel chiseled into the list of blogs I read daily via Google Reader. Today they posted about femicide in the Congo and the link between Western cell-phone addiction and the continuing crisis the nation faces. Though I felt moved and incredibly enriched following the recent WSC Congo teach-in, I also felt positively helpless. So, I'm relieved to see a news outlet with such an expansive and active readership spread the message about the crisis. Hopefully there's more of this to come!

Male Presence in the Feminist Movement

Perspective from a man:

Men, masculinity, porn, and feminism

Supreme Court Case: Strip Searching in Schools

I think this is probably more of a prevalent practice than we think. I've been told that this happened at my high school as well.

Strip Search of Girl Tests Limit of School Policy

OTC EC Age Restriction Lowered, But What About The Price?

A court decision truly worth celebrating! Emergency contraception will be made available over/behind-the-counter to 17 year olds, following a court order that gives the FDA 30 days to change current restrictions that prohibit people younger than 18 from purchasing the medication. [NYT]

While I find some relief in the court's move to overturn the contentious Bush-era regulation, I take issue with the prohibitive cost of the medication ($30-$60/pill)and hope that the ruling will provide space for conversations about issues of accessibility beyond age restrictions.

Tonight! Congo Teach In Presented by the WSC

img: nytimes.com

Please join us TONIGHT! March 24th at 7:30 in the South American Room (2nd floor) of the International House for a very special event about war in the Congo and the tragic effect it has on women in the area, sponsored by the Women's Social Collaborative.

The night will feature a teach in (so if you don't know much about the topic, don't worry!) and a short talk by Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey. She is a historian of modern colonialism, human rights and genocide, specializing in gender and genocide.

I really hope you can make it! It is our goal to sponsor one or two women through Women for Women International, an incredible organization that works with women who have been affected by trauma.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We're really excited! I know this is a heady and daunting topic, but please come to learn what we can do to spread awareness and create positive change.

Please spread the word to anyone or any organizations who might be interested!!!

A Funny "Apology"

Is Michelle a tool of distraction?

Fashion, gardening, cooking, community service, and family.

Michelle Obama is playing it safe, engaging in the most domestic and traditional of stereotypical female activities. Luckily, she is accomplishing her agenda with mindful intelligence, and aside from the 'Fashion' part, the rest of these issues really are important for Americans.

She is glamourous and fascinating, and I'm starting to wonder if the president relies on her as an unintended distraction. The country is in serious trouble right now (see Has A Katrina Moment Arrived?), yet it seems like every time I turn to a serious news website, I find myself drawn to a new fashion slideshow of Michelle.

The first lady is now an icon like her husband, and I fear that her likability will soften our criticism of the president. Is she being used to distract?

I could be wrong... but I think she is.

Quiverfull

I came across this article in Newsweek. It is about the Dugger family, who apparently had their own reality TV show. The Duggers are part of the Quiverfull Movement, a pro-life, purist lifestyle movement that believes that gender equality is contrary to God's law and abstain from using any form of birth control.

From the article:

"At the heart of this reality-show depiction of "extreme motherhood" is a growing conservative Christian emphasis on the importance of women submitting to their husbands and fathers, an antifeminist backlash that holds that gender equality is contrary to God's law and that women's highest calling is as wives and "prolific" mothers."

check out the rest of the article here

The Pope

(Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)

Pope Benedict XVI on AIDS in Africa:

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem."

read more from Yahoo News and BBC

Domestic violence....

Now THIS is alarming.

Salon's Broadsheet

I really enjoy Salon's Broadsheet. Here are two posts from today:

Attack of the feminist bridezilla!
Complimentary compliments can be confusing

We're Hosting an Event March 24th! Be sure to come!

Affordable Birth Control Restored

Read about it here.

Nine-year old Brazilian rape victim receives abortion care

A nine-year old girl, pregnant with twins after being raped by her father, underwent an abortion yesterday in Brazil where abortion is illegal. [MSNBC]

Philadelphia filmmakers Janet Goldwater and Barbara Attie made a film that documents a story, synonymous to the one being reported today, that unfolded in Nicaragua a few years ago. Janet is always willing to talk about the film - maybe we could host her for a talk some time in the future. Information about Rosita here.

A slow progress...

Lynsey Addario for the New York Times

Women in Afghanistan are very slowly gaining access to protection and resources against abuse after the fall of the Taliban. This article offers some hope, although traditions and systematic oppression continue to block progress.

Afghan Women Slowly Gaining Protection
by Kirk Semple

And the winner goes to....

"A Jury of Her Peers" cover

Recognizing women for excellence in literature and the arts is not exactly popular, to put it mildly.

• No woman has ever won Best Director at the Academy Awards. In fact, not even one was nominated this year. In FACT only THREE have been nominated EVER. Men beat that number in 2008 alone. I'm not making this up.
• The Guerrilla Girls also lamented with a recent poster: "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female."

Laura Miller writes about Elaine Showalter's new book A Jury of Her Peers: Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx in Salon and the prejudices surrounding women in writing:

Every few years, someone counts up the titles covered in the New York Times Book Review and the short fiction published in the New Yorker, as well as the bylines and literary works reviewed in such highbrow journals as Harper's and the New York Review of Books, and observes that the male names outnumber the female by about 2 to 1. This situation is lamentable, as everyone but a handful of embittered cranks seems to agree, but it's not clear that anyone ever does anything about it. The bestseller lists, though less intellectually exalted, tend to break down more evenly along gender lines; between J.K. Rowling & Stephanie Meyer alone, the distaff side is more than holding its own in terms of revenue. But when it comes to respect, are women writers getting short shrift?

Read the whole article:
Why can't a woman write the Great American Novel?

Abortion Law

A few sad developments in the US abortion law:
- Arkansas has made the performance of so-called "partial birth" abortion services a felony. [NYT]
- North Dakota now requires the following sign to be posted at abortion clinics:

Notice: No one can force you to have an abortion. It is against the law for a spouse, a boyfriend, a parent, a friend, a medical care provider, or any other person to in any way force you to have an abortion.[MSNBC]

The Spanish government is expected to legalize abortion soon. [AP, RH Reality Check]

Also, while taking some time out from class to check up on the news, I came across an article that mentioned a bill going before the Massachusetts house that would remove the parental permission requirement for women under 18 who are seeking abortion care in the state, [WickedLocal] and an article about the various "personhood" initiatives gaining momentum in an number of different states. [Denver Daily News]

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW?

Click here to read the story about a group of thirteen Grandmothers who, being compelled by individual revelations, came together in 2004 to work against oppression of women and indigenous people the world over.

Very strange, and beautiful.

Salma Hayek on Breastfeeding

This now viral video from Nightline of Salma Hayek breastfeeding an infant in Sierra Leone is quite touching, as she reaches out in an incredibly intimate way to a child in need while also offering the US a version of motherhood that is stripped of the sterility and artifice so often associated with raising/feeding children in this country.

Of course it's disheartening to read comments that continue to sexualize her and her breasts, even when she is offering such a pure gesture of outreach to a tiny, starving body. so weird!

The Greatest Silence

Wednesday, February 11 at 7pm
International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut Street
$7 admission, $5 students
Introduced by Dr. Arancha Garcia del Soto

Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this extraordinary film sensitively yet unflinchingly shows the plight of women and girls caught in that country’s intractable conflicts. Herself a survivor of rape, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Jackson travels through the DRC to understand why this is happening, interviewing activists, peacekeepers, physicians and the indifferent perpetrators. The most remarkable moments of the film come as survivors recount inspiring examples of resilience, resistance, courage and grace. Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2008.

from International House's website

from Salon

Salon's article is worth the read:

The great girl gross-out

Female writers are getting more graphic than ever about the messy realities of their bodies. Is it too much information, or enlightened honesty?

By Rebecca Traister

Feminism 101

For someone with some time on her hands...

To distract myself from getting too down about my current state of (f)unemployment, I am taking a Contemporary Feminist Thought course at Penn. I thought I might share some of the readings with whoever may be interested in revisiting some classic feminist writings. Later in the semester the readings will be more contemporary, but for now we're starting with the first wave.

My first assignment was to read Chapter II of Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Women, which argues that while ladies are just as smart and capable as men, they often appear to be stupid because they're uneducated and socialized for a life of vanity and caprice. From what I have read, she appears to address rich people exclusively, and her attitude towards the women that she writes about is overly patronizing, but I have to appreciate her good efforts. Particularly interesting is the conflict between the puritanical ideals she espouses in her writing with the tumult of her personal love life.

We also read the Declaration of Sentiments, drafted and signed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other prominent feminists in 1848 at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY. The convention was organized after Ms. Stanton and other women were turned away from a big Abolitionist meeting in England, which apparently only admitted men. Frederick Douglass, ever the gentle man, stood up for the ladies, but to no avail- they were not allowed in! The Declaration, miming the Declaration of Independence, asserts the rights of women in participation in the political, religious, civil, and social arenas, and is really gutsy for something called the Declaration of Sentiments...why did they call it that, anyhow?

Also, we read Sojourner Truth's amazing Ain't I a Woman speech. Ms. Truth, a freed slave, just walked unannounced into a church full of white Abolitionists and told 'em what's what, and then gave the speech again at a Women's Convention in 1851.

Enjoy!!

Not For Sale

After reading the recent post about sex trafficking and slavery it is hard not to feel upset. However, there are organizations working hard to end this awful practice. One of the organizations is Not For Sale. My brother works extensively with this organization and wanted to pass on some information about how we can all get involved in the movement to end sex trafficking.

Here is what he wrote:

There are 27 million slaves in this world today. That is more than ever before in history. The Not For Sale Campaign is a movement that is dedicated to ending modern day slavery.

Not For Sale aims to educate and mobilize an international abolitionist movement through the innovation and implementation of open-source activism. Inside the United States, the campaign identifies trafficking rings and collaborates with local law enforcement and community groups to shut them down and provide support for the victims. Internationally, the campaign partners with poorly resourced abolitionist groups to enhance their capacity.

To get involved please visit: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

On the path to equality.

AP photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari

Today, President Obama is expected to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, fulfilling one of his campaign promises...
Gail Collins' Op-ed:

Lilly's Big Day

Science of desire....

New York Times Magazine cover

Here's a New York Times Magazine article on some research that came up in a previous discussion... I have only had the chance to read half of it thus far (it's a longer one), but it seems interesting...

What do women want?

He gives me hope.

One day after the Roe v. Wade anniversary (Happy Anniversary!) Obama lifted the Global Gag Rule. More here.

Nicholas Kristof

If you haven't been reading Nicholas Kristof's op-eds in the past few weeks (New York Times) on sex slavery and trafficking, please check them out.
Warning- they are hard to handle at times.
Here are some links:
The Evil Behind the Smiles
If this isn't slavery, what is?
Striking the Brothels Bottom Line

And here's his blog on Clinton's reaction to some of these problems during her confirmation hearing and possible State Department involvement:
Hillary Clinton on women in foreign policy

Inauguration update

Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop to Deliver Invocation at Lincoln Memorial

Lily Ledbetter Bill Update

According to the New York Times:

Seizing on an issue that resonated in the 2008 campaign, the House is set to vote on the Lily Ledbetter bill, named for the Alabama woman whose pay discrimination complaint was rejected by the Supreme Court because it was not filed within six months of her being treated unfairly – even though she didn’t know it at the time.

The bill was stalled by Senate Republicans last year and Ms. Ledbetter set out on the campaign trail, working on behalf President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats. The bill passed the House easily last year and fell just three votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster. But with the changed makeup of the Senate, its approval is certain since some of its opponents have retired.

Obama and the black press

from AP

This article from the Politico is interesting, and I think it relates to women, especially since the readership of most of the magazines its speaks of is largely female.

Obama brings firsts for black press