"I love feministing.com and always learn from it." Katha Pollitt, The Nation
"Many people need a morning "fix." For some, it's coffee. For others, it's "SportsCenter." For me, it's Feministing.com." Katie Stone, The Denver Post
"Feminism is fun again! Every bit as edifying as your women's studies books from college, but with a biting sense of humor that keeps things punchy, not preachy." Marie Claire, December 2006
Sister Outsider is the latest project of novelists, screenwriters, and entrepreneurs Elisha Miranda and Sofia Quintero who have been collaborating since 2000. They co-founded the nonprofit Chica Luna Productions and its project, The F-Word, that is working to train the next generation of women of color filmmakers.
Julia Carias is an actor, educator, filmmaker, and Sister Outsider's Director of Operations and Productions.
Among her list of works and activism, Julia co-wrote, produced and directed her first play in 2002, "Roots," a production by La Casa Latina, an organization dedicated to promoting Latino culture throughout the college community.
Reader Deanna sent us a copy of this letter she wrote to Safeway about her experience buying groceries there with WIC (Women, Infants and Children) checks. I'll let her speak for herself:
I am a mother of two children, a full time student and full supporter of my family and because of that I have been on WIC to help with groceries. I have been on WIC for about 5 years now and have always gone to Safeway to purchase my items. I have run into amazing checkers that have been courteous and kind every time, but I have also had my share of checkers that seem outright annoyed with me due to having WIC and because it takes a little longer process to go through with my checks.
I have dealt with these rude people and have talked to managers, but I have never felt so hurt and embarrassed to be on WIC as I had on the day I showed up to your California store Wednesday, November 7, 2007. I had picked up my items and went to check out. I first noticed the bagger that just finished the person ahead of me and as soon as he saw me pull out my WIC checks, he left. I let it go until I approached the checker let him know that I had WIC. Keep in mind that because I know it is a longer process to go through, I make sure that all my items are in order and just try to do my best to speed up the process for you guys and the people in line behind me.
We should be excited that there's a new book coming out specifically reaching out to young female gamers, but not with this cover and pitch:
Do you want to take on the boy's at their own game and beat them every single time? You want to prove that games AREN'T just for the guys anymore! Are you, your daughter, your niece or your best friend a Nintendo DS or DS Lite girl gamer? Tired of other gaming publications ignoring all your favourite games in favour of the latest big boy's toys? So you want all the latest gaming gossip and the hottest hints and tips especially written for you? So do we, and its about time. The Girl's Guide To Gaming! is the must have accessory for all Nintendo DS and DS Lite gaming girls, just like you. (Emphasis mine.)
Quick Hit: Columbia University Students Go on Hunger Strike
I was hanging out at my old stomping grounds yesterday (I went to Barnard College, the all-women's school of Columbia University) and discovered a feisty little encampment of hunger strikers on the college lawn. I thought it was especially interesting given the characterization of our generation in mainstream media as totally apolitical and self-focused. I would have to argue that starving yourself in solidarity with those in the surrounding community who are being displaced by your university is the opposite of selfish. Check out the full write up at HuffPo.
Editor's Note: When I got an email from Jaclyn yesterday with the subject line: "the antidote to the chubby-bashing asshole," I knew I was in for some good shit. So instead of me posting about her work at Big Moves, I asked Jaclyn to write about it herself...
Contributed by Jaclyn Friedman
I created the Big Moves calendar not just as a much-needed fundraiser for our tiny, broke-ass, volunteer-run organization, but also as an antidote to the narrow (pun-intended) images of beauty I'm bombarded with every day. In a world where Glamour sees fit to photoshop America Ferrara down to a size-nothing (and has the nerve to run the headline "1st Annual Figure Flattery Issue" right next to it), where images of "fat" women are used as sure-thing motivation to get you to buy whatever it is that will make you Not LikeThat, I wanted to reclaim the glamor of the Calendar Girl and make it something new and powerful. I wanted to glamorize the kind of real beauty that has nothing to do with what you weigh.
That's not just a cliche -- the women in this calendar are beautiful because they're confident, because they're brave enough to insist on being artists and performers against all social messages, because that's what makes them feel alive. It's an honor to perform with them, and it was a true privilege to shoot them for the calendar. These are my compatriots onstage and off -- my fatties, as we've taken to calling each other with pride, no matter what our size.
We are women mending what's broken in our lives, and my hope is that this calendar will mend some of what's broken in all of our lives. I can't wait to spend every day next year with this kind of beauty, and I hope that you will, too.
Note about the calendars: The slides how has lo-res versions of the pictures for quick-loading purposes. The actual pics are gorgeous high res and color saturated.
Not Oprah's Book Club (Film Version): The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival
Anyone who knows me, or my writing, is familiar with how proud I am of my mom. Well, it’s hard to remember a moment when I have ever been more proud than last weekend when I attended the 20th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival—a shindig she started from scratch along with lady friends that is now the longest running film festival in the world.
First a word on its founding, because the story is just so damn cool. Basically my mom and her friend, Donna Guthrie, were headed home to culturally starving Colorado Springs from the Telluride Film Festival one year and said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could bring films made by women, films that showed varied perspective and dealt with all kinds of social justice issues to Colorado Springs?” And then the other was like, “Hey, that would be cool. Let’s do it.” (Or something like that. I’m taking artistic daughter liberty, obviously.) Keep in mind that neither of these women knew a lick about film, film production, festival coordination, or the industry. They were skilled in all kinds of amazing ways—Donna is an award winning author and my mom is a badass clinical psychiatric social worker—but none directly related to film or festivals.
And they just did it.
Who knew that Australia's toy of the year would contain gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB), a drug commonly used to sedate rape victims. Crazy.
Since a number of children were recently hospitalized after eating beads from Aqua Dots, or Bindeez as they're called in Australia, their products are now frantically being pulled off of all store shelves internationally. The chemical can cause seizures, a coma and even death, if enough is ingested.
I've admittedly seen others take GHB for "recreational" purposes back in the day and to be frank, that shit was terrifying. The fact that it was being sold not only in a toy product, but in beads out of all things (probably the most ingested inedible material out there), is pretty unbelievable.
Back Off Our Birth Control:
Rally for Affordable Prescription Birth Control
Monday, November 12, 2007 - 5:00 PM
Washington Square Park
(between Kimmel and the fountain)
New York, NY
Because assaulting "chubbies" makes for a great commercial
Via Jezebel, we find out about perhaps the world's biggest asshole, Michael Karolchyk.
Karolchyk owns a gym in Denver that he calls an "anti-gym.
It has numerous slogans, from "Too chubby; Never find a hubby," to "Have Sex With The Lights On" to "Save The Chubbitos" to "No Chubbies." It also has numerous amenities, including "live DJs, cage dancers, and our elite co-ed Ravish Room." The Ravish Room turns out to be a sauna that admits only members who have reached a sufficiently low body mass index, but you also have to be screened to so much as join his gym, where motivational techniques include having cupcakes hurled at you on the treadmill...
Charming. But nothing, nothing, beats this horrific commercial, "Hottie" in which Karolchyk physically assaults a "chubby" crying woman by pushing her onto a couch (so that her cake smashes up against her full humiliation style) while yelling "Moo!" at her. And that's just the tip of the asshole iceberg. If you can't watch the full commercial, a breakdown is after the jump.
It's stuff like this that makes me just fucking hate people.
Oh, and by the way, if you have the audacity to contact the "Anti-Gym" about their disgusting ads and vile owner, you are a "bearded lady."
For those who think that only rap videos contain sexist content.
While this is more or less a rock video version of Vogue Italia's spread, we can use this as a reminder of how sickly obsessed (no pun intended) pop culture has become with glorifying (and in this case, sexualizing) mental illness, addiction and general life failure among the young women of Hollywood.
A new study by a Belgium researcher finds that the birth control pill may cause atherosclerosis, or a buildup of plaque in the arteries. We already knew that blood clots and high blood pressure were two potential effects from the pill that carry similar risks, such heart disease, stroke, etc. But apparently this new research shows that plaque buildup in the arteries can also potentially advance even after discontinuing birth control use.
While the actual researcher, Ernst Rietzschel, MD of Ghent University in Belgium, doesn't seem like your run-of-the-mill anti-choice "scientist" that we often find doing these studies - he makes sure to state that there is no cause for alarm and that an association between the two doesn't prove the pill caused the condition - what exactly should we take from this study? Aren't there other factors that could have contributed to an increase in atherosclerosis for the women in the study over the course of a decade, like smoking, unhealthy diet, and so on? This is not to say we shouldn't be concerned as to what the long-term effects of birth control may or may not be, but it sounds like no sirens should be going off.
The House approved the Employment Nondiscrimination Act last night, legislation that would ban discrimination against individuals in the workplace based on their sexual orientation, but with gender identity left in the dust.
You all know I have complex feelings about my girl Oprah (evidenced by the title of my book review column), but right now she is doing a great service. I'm watching her show on marital rape and it is both horrifying and such a relief that more national airtime is being devoted to this critical and neglected issue. She just told viewers that 1.5 million American women are raped or sexually abused every year by an intimate partner. Check it out if you are a lazy bon-bon eating freelance consultant like me or just see clips on the website.
"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded.
The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
In other words? Abstinence education is a big fat waste of money.
The report also debunked myths about comprehensive sex-ed that the abstinence crowd like to spout--that it promotes promiscuity and so forth. Douglas Kirby, one of the researchers, said that instead comprehensive sex ed improves teens' knowledge about pregnancy and STDs and gives them "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."
I can't wait to see what the pro-abstinence folks will say about this.
After Smeal remarked that we should be embarrassed that the U.S. is so far behind in terms of representation of women in politics, Carlson replied, "I'm actually not embarrassed by it at all." He continued, and here's the doozy, "I don't know why that's embarrassing. You could make the counter case that most women are so sensible, they don't want to get involved in something as stupid as politics. ...They've got real things to do." You know, like cook his dinner.
What's hilarious is that this sentiment is actually very similar to the anti-suffragist arguments from back in the day: that women shouldn't want to get involved in politics--they're too good for it! There's the famous quote, for example, from Rep. Thomas Girling who said that "women shouldn't be dragged into the dirty pool of politics."
Eight teen rapists go free after taping their crime
Eight teen boys in Australia were given a slap on the wrist after sexually assaulting a 17 year-old girl, taping the assault, and distributing it as a porn movie.
The girl was filmed performing oral sex on two boys, had her hair set alight, was spat at and urinated on during the incident at a park at Werribee, in Melbourne's outer-west, in June last year.
...A DVD of the attack - which was titled 'C**t the Movie' - was distributed throughout the community, the court heard.
This seriously makes me want to cry. Instead of sending the boys--who were between 15 and 17 years-old--to a juvenile detention center, the judge let them walk so long as they participated in "rehabilitation program for male adolescents about positive sexuality." Now, I'm not a fan of incarceration, especially for young people. But what these young men did deserves more than a fucking therapy session or two.
I can't decide if I should be horrified or reassured by this video. Probably both. But tell me what you think.
It's from the Tyra Banks show, and features "Dr. Debbie" and a vulva puppet. I'm right with them so far. Unfortunately, since it's her show, Tyra talks too, which is where everything always goes wrong. Watch until the end and you can hear a story About Tyra's mom making her examine herself with a hand mirror before going off to college. And Dr. Debbie telling the audience that women don't pee out of their clits or vaginas.
Obviously I'm not the target demographic for this, but, really? Do women actually think we pee out of the vagina? How would that work? Is urine stored in the uterus? I don't get it. If they exist, then wow, I hope they watched this show. And considering how uh... interesting Tyra's history with talking to women about sex on her show, I guess this is better than nothing. Right?
I have been graciously, GRACIOUSLY, asked to read at Writers with Drinks, in the San Francisco area this coming Saturday. I am really nervous and I will actually be reading blog entries, so that should be muy interesting. Anyway, please check out the deets and if in the Bay, roll through and come up and say hi to me!
At this month's Writers With Drinks, there will be ice buckets located at strategic points all around the Make Out Room. That's because it's severed limb month! Whose limb will be severed? It could be yours! After years of hearing about our "incisive prose" and "razor-sharp wit," we've decided to live up to our billing at last. Each one of our writers will receive one package of surgical scalpels, which they will hurl at the audience at dramatic moments in their readings. Your bloody mary could wind up being a little more bloody than you bargained for!
When: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007, 7:30 to 9:30 PM
Who: Kage Baker, Inga Muscio, Jessy Randall, James Calder, Ellery Urquhart and Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St. between Mission and Valencia, San Francisco
How much: $3 to $5 sliding scale.
If you read the news you already know about the housing crisis and the subprime lending bubble that is threatening to burst. You know the whole lending money that doesn't exist to people that can't afford to buy a house. The MSM is all over this issue, but has overlooked one aspect of it, which is that the highest concentration of these loans goes to low-income, working class, communities of color, and thusly continuing a resource disparity.
According to the NYT and common sense, subprime lending occurs at a higher rate in the black and Latino community.
Lenders say that in general higher rates are justified to account for the bigger risks posed by borrowers who have a poor record at paying bills on time and defaulting on debts. And a recent Federal Reserve study noted that neighborhoods where people tend to have lower credit scores also tend to a greater concentration of high-cost loans.
The study suggests that the concentration of high-cost loans is not caused by an area’s racial makeup, though there is a correlation, said Jay Brinkmann, vice president for research and economics at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
But the Fed study also suggests that a big part of the reason may have to do with the lenders that minority borrowers do business with. The biggest home lenders in minority neighborhoods are mortgage companies that provide only subprime loans, not full-service banks that do a range of lending.
Ultimately, if you are poor or have bad credit, a subprime loan looks good to you. You sign at an interest rate that is too low to beat and then within months your interest rate goes up, sometimes 3-fold. This has led to forbearance or delinquency on loans and an increase in forclosures on homes. This is not only bad for the economy, but critical in maintaining an economic divide along racial lines. The folks impacted the most are the ones rarely discussed in the coverage of this issue. People of color, women of color and poor people are among the most affected by the inadequacy of subprime lending. It also makes their credit that much worse than it already was before.
If you are interested in the lack of media coverage of race and it's relationship to development, housing and gentrification, check out my co-worker Karlos's blogs and the current campaign my organization is working on around the media rights of communities being displaced by unjust economic policies. We have also put out a content analysis looking at the lack of coverage around displacement in Bay Area news outlets.
Sexual autonomy verse reproduction in the case of granting asylee status.
FGM is a controversial topic that Western feminists have had a hard time figuring out how to address. The reality is, we have to listen to the voices, experiences, concerns and wants from the women in these particular societies and to follow their leadership in any kind of action taken. When someone from another country, comes to the US (the supposed land of liberated woman) asking for asylum status because of crimes they feel have been done to themselves due to cultural practices that have taken away their sense of self and sexuality, we should grant it. Don't you think?
Well according to the NYT, the Board of Immigration Appeals doesn't agree with this sentiment.
In September, the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected Ms. Traore’s plea for asylum and ordered her sent back to Mali. It ruled that she did not face persecution there, because the cutting, while “reprehensible,” could not be repeated. “The loss of a limb also gives rise to enduring harm,” the board said, but it would not be a good enough reason to grant asylum.
The board also said that Ms. Traore’s fear that any daughters she might have would be subjected to similar barbarity was of no moment. Nor did it matter that Ms. Traore’s father has said he will force her to marry a first cousin — his sister’s son.
What exactly does persecution look like? Interestingly enough, the Board has given asylum status to victims of forced sterilization and has ruled that FGM and sterilization be treated differently. But what Karen Musalo, the director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at Hastings College of the Law, clearly points out is that this clearly hinges on the belief that reproduction is somehow more valuable than sexual autonomy.
Professor Musalo had a theory about why the board treated forced sterilization differently from genital cutting. Sterilization affects procreation and motherhood, which are valued by men. Genital cutting, by contrast, affects only women’s sexual pleasure and autonomy.
And perhaps some internalized subconscious xenophobic belief that sterilized women cannot reproduce more unwanted brown babies in the US.
So I guess it doesn't matter how openly racist or sexist you are, or that you got fired because of how openly racist and sexist you are, someone will hire you. Don Imus has been picked up by Citadel Broadcasting where he will be on in the morning on WABC-AM.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry observers believe his new contract is worth somewhere between $5 million and $8 million a year. Imus replaces Ron Kuby and Curtis Sliwa, who have hosted a popular show on WABC for eight years. Kuby didn't hide his dissatisfaction during his final broadcast, taking a swipe at Citadel Broadcasting, which bought WABC last year: "Our show has enjoyed the best audience: intelligent, compassionate, decent and kind. The new owners don't want that kind of show."
As before, Imus will be accompanied by Charles McCord and other sidekicks. However, there was no word whether Imus producer Bernard McGuirk will be returning as well. In their previous CBS show, McGuirk prompted Imus to make the racist and sexist remark that stirred controversy and eventually got them both fired. After McGuirk called the Rutgers' female basketball players "some hard-core hos," Imus elaborated on the description, calling them "nappy-headed hos."
I can't believe they are bumping Curtis and Kuby for Imus. Even though Curtis is a rabid conservative and I haven't listened to their show in years. But still, hiring Don Imus, who was fired because of his inability to keep in check his shock jock sensibilities, sends the message loud and clear that it is OK to publicly humiliate young black women and still get a job.
Please put any actions you know about this in comments.
Because there's nothing like a manufactured "catfight," complete with vile accompanying images. (Can you imagine a disagreement between male politicians being shown as a head-to-head with a male symbol in between them?!)
ABC News' headline screams Pelosi: Clinton Camp Played Gender Card, yet the content of the article and Pelosi's quotes say nothing of the sort:
Pelosi, the nation's first female House speaker, told ABCNEWS.com in an interview that she didn't agree with observers who thought Clinton was drawing particular heat because she's a woman.
"[Sen. Clinton] said it best: They're 'piling on' -- or whatever the words were -- 'because I'm the front-runner.' That's why they're piling on," said Pelosi. "If she was in third place, they wouldn't say, 'Let's go attack a woman.'"
"I think the campaign is trying to take advantage of another -- probably people who didn't even watch the debate, to say, 'Oh, they were really rude,' or something like that, and that has some salience," said Pelosi...
So let me get this straight. Pelosi said she didn't think Clinton was "piled on" because she was a woman and that her campaign is trying to paint the opposition as "rude," and somehow that translates into her accusing Clinton of playing the gender card?!
Contact ABC News here. (And if anyone can find reporter Rick Klein's email, leave it in comments.)
A call to male politicians: Stop playing the gender card!
Dear American male politicians,
We've got some advice for you: It's time to stop playing the gender card. I mean, really -- it's unprofessional.
It's just wrong to expect men to vote for you because you smell like Aqua Velva and cigar smoke, because you own a huge ranch and the Western wear to prove it, because you think America needs a "commanding Daddy" to torture the bad guys. Fine, go ahead accentuate your masculinity by tossing a football around on the tarmac. Puff your barrel chest proudly. Reference the rugged wilderness. Even wear your pants a little tight in the crotch area. But does that telling bulge mean you're going to be the best president? We don't think so.
Elections should be about the issues, not about who has the biggest... uh, lead in the polls.
We get it. You're dudes. You don't have to keep trying to prove that you're man enough by saying your opponents are wimpy "girlie men" who get fancy haircuts. After all, this isn't about gender, remember? Stop playing identity politics.
And please guys, enough with the contradictions. Don't try to emphasize your soft, "fatherly" side and then talk about your "sledgehammer approach" to politics. You can't have it both ways, boys.
Politics is a genderless sport, obviously. Which is why you need to run on your qualifications, not your ability to appeal to the "cock vote." Trust us.
Sincerely,
Ann and Jessica
P.S. It wouldn't be right not to mention the media's role in all of this. So in tribute to Chris Matthew's continued and unwavering support of the manliest of male politicians -- whether it's being amazed by a man's ability to actually debate a woman, pondering which politician would win in a street fight, or waxing poetic about Al Gore's "sublime masculinity" -- we're awarding him the first ever Feministing Golden Cigar Award for Excellence in Journalistic Man-preciation.
I think Monty looks kinda drunk in this picture, which makes me laugh. But not as hard as I laughed when I saw the picture below the fold, in which he's giving me the "crazy eye."
You really have to love headlines like these, because the article is sure to be a doozy. In this Times Online piece, "sex expert" Dr. Pam Spurr says that women need to start having sex with their partners whether they feel like it or not.
Having researched my new book, as well as talked to thousands of men and women over the years, I now firmly believe that too many women see the sexual side of their lives as something to be claimed completely and utterly as their own. That’s fine for single women flexing their sexual muscles.
But once they settle into a relationship, many will continue to do so. This doesn’t make sense to me at all – and unfortunately I’m privy to the heartbreak and distress that goes along with this view.
Imagine the nerve of thinking that one's sexuality belongs to themselves! Spurr is right to note that a sexless marriage can be a problem, but her solution is a bit...well, ick.
At the risk of being called old-fashioned (though I don’t think that old-fashioned should always have negative connotations) and antifeminist, I’d go so far as to say that for both partners sex could be considered a duty, if it is something that one partner knows would make the other happy. Does he really want to go up on the roof to repair a leak on a Sunday afternoon? Does she really want to take out the rubbish in the pouring rain? No, but partners in relationships do such things because they know that it makes the other happy. Sex should be seen in the same light.
Forget working out whatever issues are making you not want to have sex in the first place. Better that you just shut up and put out as to not piss off your hubby. After all, what's more romantic than thinking of sex as a duty? So hot....
Make sure to read the whole piece, seriously--it's a classic.
This is some horrible stuff: "Two California women were killed in a freak train accident. Police believe the high heel shoes they were wearing may have hindered their escape from a car stuck on the tracks, the Los Angeles Times reports."