feministhemes.com

A friend of mine has been keeping me up to my ears in links, and they’re of quality material so I figured, why not share the wealth?  However, all of this information can be pretty overwhelming, so what can you do?  First, share this information with other people in your lives – and not just the feminists: we know this and how important it is, so pass it on to someone who might not otherwise be thinking about these issues, too.  Secondly, get involved. College campuses usually have student advocacy groups, and communities often have sexual assault and domestic violence shelters that can always use free help.  You can volunteer as a crisis call advocate or get involved in educating the community about rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and healthy relationships.  You can also contact your local congresspeople and senators and advocate for more attention to be paid to the rape culture that extends to the military.  But most importantly, don’t forget about this a few days after you read the articles.  Empower yourself and others by facing the facts and working towards change.

56% believe some rape victims partly to blame for attack [the independent]

Dr Jan Welch, clinical director at the Haven in Camberwell, south-east London, said: “Unfortunately, women have bought into the idea that sometimes the rape victim is to blame. Under no circumstances is a woman at fault for being raped.  Coping with the emotional trauma of rape or sexual assault is made even harder when the victim is made to feel responsible for what’s happened.”

Violence against women is justified, says pupil study [bbc news]

A study of schoolchildren has found that most of those questioned thought violence towards women was acceptable if there was a reason behind it.  The majority of the pupils said it was justified if the woman had an affair, or if she was late in making the tea.

Myths That Make It Hard To Stop Campus Rape [NPR]

What Lisak found was that students who commit rape on a college campus are pretty much like those rapists in prison. In both groups, many are serial rapists. On college campuses, repeat predators account for 9 out of every 10 rapes.

Women at war: How roles are changing [bbc news]

“You’re supposed to carry your weapon at all times in a combat zone,” she said.  “But I put my weapon down and walked away to smoke a cigarette and that was when I was attacked.”  She was then dragged behind some power generators and raped.  “If I had kept my weapon maybe I would have been able to prevent it,” she says.  “But if I had used it I would probably have ended up in jail.”

Utah has a chance to pull its head out of its arches, and at least this bill has been slowed down, but we’re not out of the water yet, folks.  Keep spreading the word about how the Utah House and Senate hope to target women with their proposed anti-miscarriage law.

Utah Anti-Abortion Bill Citing ‘Reckless Act’ Is Withdrawn [The New York Times]

The original bill, which was sent to Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, for his consideration — and set off a firestorm of anxiety and criticism from abortion rights and women’s advocacy groups around the country — now goes back to the Legislature, neither signed nor vetoed.  The sponsor, Representative Carl D. Wimmer, a Republican, said he had removed a key clause that would have allowed prosecution under Utah’s criminal homicide laws for a “reckless act of the woman” that resulted in death to a fetus. Language will remain, he said, that makes a woman’s “intentional” actions, if resulting in the death of her fetus in an illegal abortion, a felony.

Quick Hit Update: Utah miscarriage criminalization bill withdrawn [feministing]

But don’t be fooled: the new legislation they create could still potentially criminalize women who have miscarriages or illegal abortions, and we can’t let that happen.

Good News: Utah Tones Down Miscarriage Bill. Bad News: It’s Still Murder [jezebel]

All this is in response to a 17-year-old girl who paid someone to beat her into miscarrying — the solution to which, clearly, is to throw her in jail. It apparently hasn’t crossed the legislators’ minds that improving access to safe, legal abortions — by, for instance, removing Utah’s parental-notification law — might prevent girls and women from resorting to such horrific tactics. Or, more likely, Utah still cares more about controlling women than about helping them.

I’m going to put it right out there – I don’t care about sports. When they (okay, more like their cultural followings) aren’t irritating and enraging me, they are just plain boring me. I didn’t watch a minute of the Olympics (but, like my qualms about the SuperBowl, my qualms about the Olympics are fodder for another post). However, the interwebs inform me that I have been missing out on Johnny Weir, a fantastic, controversial, sh*t stirring figure skater who is threatening the masculinity of male professional athletes, commentators, and spectators everywhere. Also, he reminds people of Lady Gaga (another recent pop figure to make everyone feel uncomfortable about sexuality). Apparently that’s funny.

Of course, Johnny Weir is actually friends with Lady Gaga, so he’s probably not too offended here.  He also has a sweet exhibition routine to Poker Face.  But I wouldn’t expect these late night talk show guys to know much of anything about figure skating outside of the Olympics, Lady Gaga, or what is cool anyway.

From Feministing:

You can understand why Johnny Weir makes commentators, even figure skating commentators, so very uncomfortable. He’s an especially elegant skater who wears formfitting and sparkly costumes (yes, even more formfitting and more sparkly than one usually sees in figure skating) and who really emotes on the ice.

How sad is it that this is undeniably true?  Johnny is clearly comfortable with his sexuality, stating “I don’t feel the need to express my sexual being because it’s not part of my sport and it’s private. I can sleep with whomever I choose and it doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the ice, so speculation is speculation.”  The fact that he is not a typical heterosexual male and that he won’t give nervous and bigoted people the excuse to write him off as gay means that he can’t be neatly compartmentalized, and that means he might be like them – or worse, they might be like him.

From Bitch:

In response to two Quebecois commentators who spoke derogatorily of Weir and said he should take a gender test, Weir responded by issuing an awesome statement that touched on identity, free speech, life in the public eye, and the changing acceptance of gender.

You can find the whole clip of Weir’s statement at the Bitch post.  Some highlights from his response: “I’m not somebody to cry about something or to feel weak about something. I felt very defiant when I saw these comments. I felt that it wasn’t… these two men criticizing my skating, it wasn’t them criticizing my… anything. It was them criticizing me as a person. And that was something that really frankly pissed me off more than anything. So I felt like I had to make a comment and statement that I hope more kids cans grow up the same way that I did. That more kids feel the freedom that I feel to be themselves and to express themselves.”

Also, this:  “I think masculinity is what you believe it to be. To me, masculinity…it’s all my perception. And I think I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and that’s the most important things.”

Right on, dude.  We need more Weirs and Gagas in the world.  Maybe 25 years from now gender roles will be nostalgic and obsolete, and we can see all people for who they are instead of where they fall on the masculinity/femininity spectrum and how well that does or does not align with their physiology and sexuality.  I think Weir and Gaga are just ahead of the times.

In case you haven’t heard, the Utah House and Senate have passed a bill that aims to criminalize miscarriage.  This is discriminatory, sexist, hateful, repugnant bullsh*t, and a (very likely) signature away from becoming law.  The blogs have done a great job of raising consciousness about this issue, but I’m sadly not holding my breath for Utahns to riot enough to prevent this from happening.  Anyway, check out the posts because I can’t bring myself to come up with my own response to this crap.

I recommend starting out at RH Reality Check for the scoop.

From Jezebel

Utah’s new bill would apply throughout pregnancy. Given that 15-20% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, 80% of those in the first trimester, Utah could have a lot of work ahead.

From Feministing

It [the bill] could create cases where women are prosecuted for having an unintentional miscarriage if there is any indication of “reckless behavior,” like drink alcohol and miscarry, or do any number of other things that could be deemed “reckless.”

From Amplify

Women in physically abusive relationships could be criminally liable for not leaving their partner, regardless of their ability to do so safely or securely. Women seeking lawful abortion may be guilty of criminal homicide if her physician failed to follow exact procedures set forth in the law.

From Feministe

The concern here isn’t really about fetuses or life or any of that. It’s about punishing women.

When I was a little girl I loved Bill Nye the Science Guy.  I am only slightly ashamed to admit that he was quite possibly my first celebrity crush until I was old enough to realize how old he was in comparison to me.  I am far less ashamed to admit my current celebrity crush on the intelligent, charismatic, and generally awesome Rachel Maddow.  So when Rachel invites Bill to explain science-y things on her show, it’s a match made in Wizzle heaven. In the clip below (5:45 mark), Bill explains why excess snow in places that don’t usually get snow does not disprove global warming.

If there are two things the world could use more of they’re easy to understand scientists and level-headed fact-presenting news providers.  It’s a beautiful thing.

I did not watch the SuperBowl.  Proudly.  But my stance on professional sports is a topic for another discussion.  Anyway, if there’s one thing that the SuperBowl is known for (besides hypermasculinity and large men in spandex trying to kill each other in addition to rubbing up against one another and grunting in a totally non-sexual way – wait, another post, right) it’s envelope pushing advertisements.  These are being covered all over the place today, so here are some links to get you thinking about the fallout.

Woes Of Bros: Super Bowl Ads Star Pathetic Men — And The Women Who Ruined Them [Jezebel]

Knowing that Super Bowl Sunday is the only day of the year in which TV viewers actually care about commercials, you’d think ad agencies would have tried to reach the men and the women watching at home, right? Wrong.

Superbowl Sexism: Spineless, skirtless edition [feministing]

I’m sensing an anxious masculinity theme for the Superbowl commercials this year. I mean, we get it, dudes: You’re worried about being castrated by lavender scented candles and shopping with your lady friend. Go kill something, quick! And for the love of god, stop being nice to your girlfriend.

The Super Bowl and Madison Avenue Misogyny [feministe]

Superbowl ads are sexist. This is well trod ground: Marketers objectify women and play up stereotypes in order to sell things to (heterosexual) men. But we knew this year was going to be special. This year there was going to be some extra anti-feminist flavor… There were fewer half-naked women and dick jokes this year. Instead, the 2010 Superbowl Ad Mantra seemed to have one common theme: “Feeling castrated? . . . by women? Man up.”

The Critics On The Super Bowl Ads: Boring, Misogynistic [Jezebel]

• From Time’s James Poniewozik:

Wow, Super Bowl ad men really hate Super Bowl ad women this year, don’t they? …. Why would CBS turn down a Super Bowl ad from a gay-dating service, then run a bunch of ads with the message that men can’t stand to be around women?

• From  Slate’s Seth Stevenson:

Is it me, or was this year’s dose of casual misogyny a little rawer and angrier than usual?

• From The Washington Post’s Tom Shales:

An oddly recurring theme had to do with men asserting their masculinity, or attempting to assert it, as well as the perpetual male fear of emasculation.

• NOW via the Los Angeles Times:

NOW president Terry O’Neill said it glorified violence against women. “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” she said.

Looks like a big mess.  Did I miss any good critiques of last night’s ads?  Feel free to leave your own responses as well as links to more posts in the comments.

CBS doesn’t want America to think about Choice, so we have to do it virally.  Here are some awesome counterpoints to the anti-choice rhetoric that is being crammed down our throats with Doritos and beer this SuperBowl Sunday, starting with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards explanation of the meaning of Choice:

For a multitude of reasons I will not be watching the SuperBowl today, but welcome any tips on who the winners and losers in advertising are this year.

Special note: Happy 200th post to us!  It’s been a fantastic (and challenging) exercise to develop and maintain my own little feminist scrapbook here and it’s been a pleasure to share it with you.  Here’s to 200 more!

“We call on opponents of a woman’s right to choose to end the practice of inflammatory rhetoric and tactics that inspire this kind of violent action from the most extreme factions of the anti-choice movement. No other abortion provider’s family should have to endure the tragedy of seeing their loved one killed for providing an essential and legal health service to women.”

- Nancy Keenan

The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America in response to to a jury’s conviction of Scott Roeder as guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Dr. George Tiller.  From here.

Always ready to piggyback on social events, PETA was on top of things this week with their 2010 “State of the Union Undress.”  It’s offensive, objectifying, and irritating so I’m not embedding, and I’m not even linking.  If you really want to see it, you’ll find it, but the screencap should give you a clear enough idea of their theme:

Choice lines include (emphasis theirs):

“A hopeful country looks on while a new leader strives to arouse in us our passion for a better future.”

“As the health care debate rages in Congress, we have urged Americans to take matters into their own hands [actress caresses own breasts] with a healthy vegan diet.”

“While the deficit goes up, our fight for animals goes on … and when necessary, our shirts come off.”

“It has always been our policy to show people as much as they need to see in order to make them … stand at attention.”

Yeah, this goes on for a while.  PETA has used innumerable tasteless and despicable tactics in the past to make their points (badum-cha – you activists aren’t the only ones who can manipulate the double-entendre), so I can’t say I’m surprised. The site includes both a safe-for-work and uncensored version of their “speech.”

It also includes links to the 2008 speech, which featured a white model, presumably because we had a white president at the time, and a link to their Slideshow of Naked Campaigns Worldwide.  Classy.

‘Cause you know, nothing says “I believe in the equal status of all creatures” like objectifying women in the name of animal rights.  Pathetic.

Shoutouts to Emily of Jukebox Heroines for the tip!

A number of hopeful stories in the news this week:

Human Rights Campaign Announces Comprehensive Campaign to End Failed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Law
From HRC:

“The Commander in Chief sent a clear message tonight that in a time of war, what matters is that our men and women get the job done – not whether they’re gay or straight,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Our ‘Voices of Honor’ campaign will bring about much needed action to end this law that the vast majority of Americans oppose.”

Research Shows Two Gay Parents Are Better Than A Single Straight One
From io9, Full scientific article available via Journal of Marriage And Family.

Anti-gay marriage activists have argued vigorously that children need a mother and father. Now a new research study shows that kids do need two parents — but that gender doesn’t matter… finding that it’s ideal if a child is raised by two parents who are “responsible, committed, stable,” but that the gender doesn’t cause radical differences.

Florida allows third gay adoption
From UPI.com via Jezebel.

A Florida judge allowed a lesbian to adopt a child while an appeals court decides whether the state’s ban on gay adoptions is unconstitutional, records show.

Huge LGBT Family Law Victory in PA
From Feminist Law Professors via Jezebel.

For some time now, the Pennsylvania courts have been relatively good at handling legal issues involving lesbian and gay families. For example, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has interpreted state adoption law to permit second-parent adoptions, and it has applied the in loco parentis doctrine to allow a former same-sex partner with no legal connection (e.g., through birth or adoption) to a child of the relationship to nonetheless obtain custody or visitation.

This is all great news, and shows that even though a lot of battles haven’t gone so well, some are still being won.  The war to extend equal rights to all U.S. citizens rages on.

Keep fighting the good fight, everyone.

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