January 2012
13 posts
5 tags
What We Left Behind: Girdles, Silence and Illegal... →
When I went to work at Ms. in 1972, I wore a matching pink skirt and blouse—and a girdle. I had just gotten married and was, therefore, not able to get a bank loan without my husband’s approval. I had given up playing basketball (half-court for girls) in college because no coach or court could be found. And I had had an illegal abortion.
Actually it was having had that abortion that was my...
9 tags
“It is illegal for women to go topless in most cities, yet you can buy a magazine...”
– Violet Rose, in Three Steps to Better Sex (via muffdiver)
This reminds me of the post going around which contrasted the pathologizing of public breastfeeding with the gratuitous, objectifying images of women’s breasts that can be found in advertising.
The legal and social message is that our...
7 tags
Mentally Ill Woman Nearly Undergoes Unwanted... →
Just as we will condemn those who force women to continue pregnancies against their will, we condemn those who would take away any woman’s right to continue a pregnacny. Even a judge.
According to ABC News, a Massachusetts judge ordered a mentally ill woman who discovered she was pregnant to have an unwanted abortion, and to be sterilized against her will, as well.
[Family and...
7 tags
Facebook removes photos of Vancouver mom... →
VANCOUVER—A Vancouver woman is furious at Facebook after the company removed breastfeeding photos she posted on the social networking site.
Emma Kwasnica, 33, said since she joined Facebook in 2008, nearly 30 of her breastfeeding photos have been taken down and her account has been temporarily frozen in four separate incidents.
The latest incident occurred this past Saturday when she...
5 tags
Selective abortions prompt call for ultrasound... →
A fetus’s gender should not be revealed until after 30 weeks of pregnancy, says an editorial in the Canadian Medical Journal.
This change in procedure for a fetal ultrasound, where the sex is usually disclosed to parents at 20 weeks, would help prevent female feticide, says Rajendra Kale, editor-in-chief of the CMAJ.
In Canada, doctors rarely perform abortions after 22 weeks of ...
9 tags
Canada: Article On Concealing Fetus Gender Sparks... →
MONTREAL - Does a pregnant woman have a right to medical information that may not be considered pertinent to her health or her baby’s? Should a physician limit the information he provides a patient if there is an even remote possibility that information could be used to abort an unwanted female fetus – a practice rampant in China and India but reviled here?
By Karen Seidman
An editorial...
7 tags
Brazil’s Insidious New Pregnancy Registration Law... →
On December 27, while most Brazilians prepared for the New Year by bleaching their whites and gathering flowers to toss into the Atlantic for the goddess Iemanjá, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, was gathering a group a conservative legislators to stealthily assist in drafting and enacting a Ceauşescu-like law requiring all pregnant women to register their pregnancies with...
2 tags
“Think you might be into reading comic books? Many women will never find out,...”
– pandagon.net - it’s the eye of the panda, it’s the thrill of the bite (via how-to-kiss-distinctly-american)
Adding video games to the above list… (if you don’t know Fat Ugly or Slutty, you should - it’s about being a woman in video game spaces)
2 tags
“Feminism is the idea that we can make both sexes equal by focussing solely on...”
– TJ (via baronjamie)
This guy calls himself “The Amazing Atheist”, but it seems he’s not amazing enough to understand that it’s not the responsibility of historically and currently oppressed groups to fight equally for the rights of those in power in order to call themselves an equality movement. I...
2 tags
STFU Fauxminists!: Female privilege? →
brightblackdaylight:
As feminists, we tend to think a lot about male privilege (stuff like the fact that men are more likely to be bosses and CEOs and less likely to get raped), but not very much about female privilege. I stumbled across this, a list of female privileges:
As a woman …
1. I have a much lower chance of being murdered than a man. 2. I have a much lower chance of being driven...
5 tags
“This doesn’t mean that a “good man” is always in the wrong when he’s arguing...”
– - Hugo Schwyzer, in a blog post regarding his resignation from the Good Men Project following founder Tom Matlack’s revelation that he’s not so good.
This is just one part of a very good article. I recommend reading it, and if you can stomach the defensiveness of a fauxminist dude, the entire...
4 tags
A Brief List of Films in Which People of Colour... →
iamabutchsolo:
We all know the trope: The person(s) of color (overwhelmingly the black guy) gets killed off first, especially in a horror film. Well here is a brief list of such films, many of which not only feature the person of color dying first, but feature the main white characters ultimately saving the day:
Night of the Living Dead
X-Men: First Class
King Kong
Scream 2
Predator (1...
6 tags
““Empowered” and “sexy” are not universally synonymous. That a woman is not a sex...”
– Rachel Edidin talks about portraying female superhero characters at Comic Alliance (via georgethecat) (via sparrowqueen)
December 2011
18 posts
5 tags
Yet Another Huge, Comprehensive Study Finds that... →
Last week, the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC), published the world’s largest, most comprehensive and systematic review of mental health outcomes and abortion care. The review included 44 high-quality studies done in developed countries and published between 1990 and 2011.
The conclusion? Having an abortion does not increase the risk of mental health problems. “The best current...
3 tags
STFU Fauxminists!: Reverse sexism. →
Reverse sexism.
get-down-ladies:
Yes, it exists.
sex·ism
noun
1.
attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.
2.
discrimination or devaluation based on a person’s sex, as in restricted job opportunities; especially, such discrimination directed against women.
By claiming that men as a whole are to blame for rape, or that men cannot be feminists, you are...
3 tags
5 tags
2011: The War on Contraception (via RH Reality... →
The year 2011will be remembered by reproductive rights supporters as the year that the anti-choice movement really turned up the aggression, destroying the objections of moderate liberals who thought that pro-choice activists were being hysterical little ladies with our constant warnings about anti-choicers.
Up until late 2010, you could still find many a liberal who would argue that...
6 tags
UN Will Conduct Inquiry into Missing and Murdered... →
Tue, 13 Dec 2011
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has decided to conduct an inquiry into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls across Canada. The Committee, composed of 23 independent experts from around the world, is the UN’s main authority on women’s human rights. The Committee’s decision was announced today by Jeannette...
7 tags
U.S.: Woman Jailed, Ostracized After Resorting To... →
When we deprive women of access to abortion, shun them, and even throw them in jail, we as a society become weaker.
By Amanda Marcotte
Jennie McCormack, a resident of Idaho and a mother of three, has spent the past few months of her life in a legal and social situation that calls to mind the trials of Hester Pyrnne, the heroine of The Scarlet Letter. As reported by Nancy Hass of Newsweek,...
6 tags
Plan ‘Oh No They Didn’t': Roundup of Responses to... →
We at Ms., along with feminists nationwide, were forced to dump our celebratory Korbel down the toilet last week when HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius threw women under the bus reversed the FDA’s decision to grant over-the-counter status to “morning-after” pill Plan B without an age restriction. As we reported last week, we had good reason to preliminarily pop the cork:
Countless doctors,...
“Researchers gave a group of men and women quotes from the British lad mags FHM,...”
– Can you tell the difference between a men’s magazine and a rapist? | Jezebel
The full story includes quotes used in the study, and they are profoundly disturbing. We couldn’t read the whole list.
(via sparkamovement)
this fucking list, i just can’t. ugh.
(via conjuringseed)
7 tags
In case anyone wanted to read some... →
littlecitywitch:runehermit:lindentea:loveoflopt:
Because I TOTALLY DID. Trying to find trans people talk about their experiences in Asatru, yes, this is what I wanted. Being told that having birth was Loki’s “punishment” for changing his gender and sleeping with a dude-horse. That is what I wanted.
Some icky stuff at that link. Folks talking about keeping their religion racially pure,...
3 tags
Women bloggers call for a stop to 'hateful'...
stfufauxminists:stfusexists:
Women bloggers call for a stop to ‘hateful’ trolling by misogynist men
I can definitely relate to this. It is not easy being a woman on the internet.
Yeah, I can definitely relate to this, too. I mean, shit, I’ve had videos posted on Youtube about how terrible I am - none of it actually relating to what I wrote.
4 tags
Afghan Woman Jailed for Her Rape Has Been... →
It’s a scene straight out of Old Testament: A 20-year-old woman who was raped by her cousin’s husband may now marry her rapist. The woman, known only as Gulnaz, reported the rape to local authorities more than two years ago, but instead of finding justice, she found herself in a prison cell, sentenced to 12 years for adultery. Behind bars, she bore the daughter of her rapist, and she has been...
8 tags
6 tags
"Pray for Credit" Principal No Longer With School... →
David Hood, the controversial principal who proposed giving students school credit for praying outside the city’s women’s health clinic, has suddenly disappeared from his school.
Via the Winnipeg Free Press:
Catholic education officials said this morning that Paula Morrison is now principal of Christ the King School, but will not discuss what has happened to former principal...
5 tags
Mother of Fetus Found in Alley Charged with... →
MANHATTAN — A Washington Heights mother whose miscarried fetus was found dead and wrapped in plastic bags inside a trash can in an alley next to her home has been arrested and charged with self-induced abortion, police said Thursday.
Yaribely Almonte, 20, faces first degree self-abortion, a class A misdemeanor, for the death of her female fetus, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters...
7 tags
Behind the "Perfect" Body: Models and Bodybuilders... →
by Lisa Wade
In a link sent in by Anjan G., Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima explains what she does in the months prior to walking the catwalk (source). Here’s a summary:
For months before the show, she works out every day with a personal trainer; for the three weeks before, she works out twice a day.
A nutritionist gives her protein shakes, vitamins and supplements to help her body...
4 tags
Pickton inquiry won't protect former prostitute... →
A former prostitute described as the only one who got away from serial killer Robert Pickton won’t get the same protections as other witnesses during the missing women’s inquiry.
Commissioner Wally Oppal ruled in a written statement this week that the woman’s anonymity will be protected, but other provisions of the inquiry’s vulnerable witness protection protocol...
5 tags
Barriers to abortion on P.E.I. (via CBC) →
It’s been 23 years since the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law that made most abortions illegal in Canada, and nearly 30 years since the last legal abortion was performed on Prince Edward Island.
While in the past there were obstacles set up to prevent doctors from performing the procedure on Island soil, Health PEI, the institution government created to run the...
11 tags
Corbella: Here's hoping cultural relativism gets a... →
As far as Homa Arjomand is concerned, official multiculturalism belongs in the prisoners’ box along with three Ontarians on trial for the honour killings of four female family members.
Mohammad Shafia, 58, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, and their 20-year-old son, Hamed, stand accused of four counts each of first degree murder. They have all pleaded not-guilty to killing...
November 2011
24 posts
4 tags
Chapstick Gets Cheeky (via Sociological Images) →
by Lisa Wade, Nov 18, 2011, at 12:01 pm
I’m having fun imagining the marketing meeting for this ad, sent in by Margot Magowan.
Chapstick Exec: “Okay, so the problem is that I can’t think of a way to get tits and ass into advertising for our product. Can you help me?”
Ad Exec: “Hmmmm… how can we get women bent over?”
Chapstick Exec: “I don’t want to be obvious-obvious, like that sexy...
8 tags
Life's Short, So You Better Start That Affair...
by Gwen Sharp, Nov 17, 2011, at 10:06 am
Two years ago we posted about the Ashley Madison Agency. Several readers brought our attention to a new ad campaign for the company, so we’re reposting it; scroll down for new material.
Lisa C. sent in a link to the Ashley Madison Agency, which she heard advertised on a talk radio station that generally targets a male audience. The site specializes in...
3 tags
Some more about porn from a feminist perspective. →
sanityscraps:
I really think all this bullshit about “objectification” of women in porn stems from our society’s anti-female sexuality stigma, especially against women having sex regardless of marriage or—EVEN WORSE—enjoying it. God forbid a woman genuinely like having hardcore sex on camera.
No one’s up in arms about men being “objectified” in porn because they’re simply not. And neither...
3 tags
8 tags
Petition: Tell Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly to eat... →
stfufauxminists:
From the petition:
“Ms. Kelly, on November 21, you told Bill O’Reilly that pepper spray (as used by Lt. John Pike to assault the UC Davis protestors) is “a food product, essentially.” That was, of course, ridiculous.
While you allowed that the spray was “abrasive and intrusive”, you wondered if it had been diluted (reportedly, it hadn’t).
To back up your claim that pepper...
3 tags
“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.”
– Lois Wyse (via ceedling)
5 tags
“But when a saga popular with pre-adolescent girls peaks romantically on a night...”
– NPR’s Linda Holmes reviews Twilight Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1 (via diandrabird)
Totally agree with this. Meyer doesn’t actually depict the sex scene itself, and can you imagine if she had? “Edward’s hands on my throat almost choked out my breath,” “his grip on my wrists almost made me cry as I looked...
3 tags
7 tags
4 tags
My Country ’tis of Thee, Bad Land of Police... →
sprackraptor:karethdreams:
More details on the image of the officer casually spraying student protestors at UC Davis from earlier. The full story is even worse.
Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the...
4 tags
5 tags
Women's Rights Organization Raided In Mexico (via... →
On 3 November, there was a raid on the office of Consorcio Oaxaca, a women’s rights organization in Oaxaca state, south west Mexico. There is fear for the safety of the staff and concerns that their human rights’ work for women could be put at risk.
In the morning of 3 November 2011, the staff of Consorcio Oaxaca (full name Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca...
4 tags
In Absence of Firm Policy, Facebook “Rape-Joke”... →
Several new rape-humor pages have already popped up on Facebook in the days since the original pages were removed. Several more were never taken down in the first place, reports the Huffington Post.
The newly created pages include such “jokes” as “you know she is playing hard to get when she resists the chloroform” and “you know she’s playing hard to get when you use another roll of tape.”
...
8 tags
Radical Anti-Choice Group Puts Out "All Points... →
“Have you seen the pregnant mom? The young pregnant woman, probably in her 20′s, had a darker complexion with dyed red hair and tattoos on her neck and right shoulder. She also had some facial piercings. The woman looked obviously pregnant….please let us know immediately if you have seen a woman with this description.”
After reading this plea you may grow worried – what could have ...
5 tags
“I mean, Jesus, who even gives a fuck about sex?! People act like it’s the most...”
– John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (via theytookmyluna) (via flowersforelephants)
3 tags
“There are the jokes about women, about wives, about mothers, about raising...”
– Melissa McEwan from the article: The Terrible Bargain We Have Regretfully Struck (via msandrogynous)
5 tags
Without Comment or Apology, Facebook Quietly... →
After more than three months of complaints from users, a grand total of over 200,000 petition signatures (186,000 of them on a single Change.org petition), a Twitter campaign, the withdrawal of several major advertisers and an outpouring of harsh criticism from a multitude of feminist activists and writers, Facebook has finally removed rape-humor pages from the site. Surfing Facebook, you will no...
4 tags
“Like most women, I currently live in a society where violence, harassment and...”
– Tiger Beatdown (via pnasty)
5 tags
