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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Jul
31
What should the punishment be for women who have abortions?
Filed Under abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, legislation, politics, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, sexism, social conservatives, women’s health | 5 Comments
You can find this video on Feministing and elsewhere, but it’s really too amazing and horrifying to not share again:
[Edit: Due to copyright claim, the video can no longer be embedded. It can, however, be viewed here.]
Jul
31
Jul
30
Sexual Harassment Runs Rampant on NYC Subways
Filed Under misogyny, objectification, rape and sexual assault, sexism, sexual exploitation and harassment, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments
This may not come to a shock to those of you who live in NYC, but it sure as hell came as a shock to me. A new study conducted in NYC showed that sixty three percent of respondents had been sexually harassed on the subway, and ten percent had been sexually assaulted. Women comprised two-thirds of respondents, two-third of those who reported being sexually harassed, and 99% of those who reported being sexually assaulted. Very few ever reported the harassment or attack.
Politicians are now calling for more police on the subway system. And while I think that’s a very important start, I certainly don’t think that it’s the whole story. It simply creates a system of “behaving” when police are around, and continuing to harass and assault when they are not.
I think that a two-fold education campaign is also in order. Firstly, a campaign is needed to discourage would-be harassers, most of whom probably see their behavior, bizarrely, as benign. It’s fucked up, but it’s true. Or it wouldn’t keep happening, and it wouldn’t keep going ignored. So we need to explain, very carefully, that this behavior is not appreciated, not cute, not benign and potentially criminal. The second campaign should be to educate victims about how to report their harassers, sending a clear message that what is happening is wrong and something should be done about it.
And, it’s a consolation, but when the offender’s behavior doesn’t technically constitute anything criminal, you can– and should– always holla back.
Jul
30
Extreme Sexual Violence Against Congolese Women Continues
Filed Under Africa, International, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, rape and sexual assault, sexual exploitation and harassment, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments
A U.N. investigator has just reported that extreme sexual violence against women is still rampant and pervasive in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I think that it is a part of human nature, an instinct, to want to turn away from such atrocities when we hear of them, because they are so awful and because we feel so powerless to help. I know that it is my knee-jerk reaction, and when I read about such large-scale epidemics, I want to find something else to write about. Something simpler. And that is precisely why I force myself to pass along this kind of information. I once heard Oprah (yes, I know, Oprah) say something that stuck with me: when it comes to these kinds of horrors, we all like to say that “we didn’t know.” But once you do know, you no longer have an excuse. You can’t un-know.
A warning: the below quote is not for the faint of heart.
Erturk, special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women, said the situation in South Kivu province, where rebels from neighboring Rwanda operate, was the worst she had ever encountered.
The atrocities perpetrated there by armed groups, some of whom seemed to have been involved in the 1994 Rwandan massacres in which 800,000 people were killed, “are of an unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond rape,” she said.
“Women are gang raped, often in front of their families and communities. In numerous cases, male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters,” she said.
After rape, many women were shot or stabbed in the genital area, and survivors told Erturk that while held as slaves by the gangs they had been forced to eat excrement or the flesh of their murdered relatives.
Widespread sexual abuse in the various conflicts racking the republic — which last year held elections hailed as marking a new era — “seems to have become a generalized aspect of the overall oppression of women,” Erturk said.
And of course, like with Darfur, the larger question that looms is why we allow this to continue.
Jul
29
Native American Rape Victims Go Ignored by Authorities
Filed Under discrimination, human rights, misogyny, race and racism, rape and sexual assault, sexism, violence against women and girls, women’s health | 2 Comments
NPR has an excellent and horrifying story about how rape cases on Native American lands go all but ignored by authorities.
On Standing Rock, getting an officer to respond to a call for help can mean waiting for days or even months. The reservation’s only women’s shelter is still waiting for police to come after someone cut all of their phone lines two months ago.
The shelter’s director, Georgia Littleshield, can attest firsthand to the lack of police response. When her daughter’s boyfriend, a non-native, broke her daughter’s nose, her daughter filed a report and attached statements and photos from the doctors. But when Littlefield called special investigators the next morning, an officer told her that her injury was not considered a broken bone, but broken cartilage and that the case would not be prosecuted. [. . .]
A study from the Justice Department found that Native American women are two and half times more likely to be raped than other women. The majority of victims said they were raped by men from outside the reservation, according to a victimization survey. [. . .]
The health center does not have rape kits to collect the vital DNA evidence needed to prosecute attackers. They are also inadequately staffed and cannot spare an exam room for the hour it takes to complete the rape examination.
You really should read the whole thing. It’s heartbreaking, but you should read it.
We’ve all heard the stories about rape not being taken seriously by police forces. We’ve all heard about police not responding to cases of male violence against women. We’ve all heard stories about police ignoring male violence specifically against women of color. This is all of those stories, and several times worse. This is systematic, government sanctioned discrimination against a certain group of minority women. This is a free pass being given to men to keep raping and abusing women, so long as they are Native American.
I don’t know what else to say to someone who would deny that this is anything less than blatant racism and misogyny. In fact, I don’t really know what else there is to say, at all.
Jul
28
Democrats are having a crisis of faith on abortion
Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, abortion, anti-choice extremism, human rights, legislation, parenthood, politics, pregnancy, race and racism, reproductive justice, slut-shaming, social conservatives, women’s health | 7 Comments
The LA Times has a really frightening article about the shifting Democratic stance on abortion.
For years, the liberal response to abortion has been to promote more accessible and affordable birth control as well as detailed sex education in public schools.
That’s still the foundation of Democratic policies. But in a striking shift, Democrats in the House last week promoted a grab bag of programs designed not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but also to encourage women who do conceive to carry to term.
The new approach embraces some measures long sought by antiabortion activists. It’s designed to appeal to the broad centrist bloc of voters who don’t want to criminalize every abortion — yet are troubled by a culture that accepts 1.3 million terminations a year.
Jul
28
15th Erase Racism Carnival
Filed Under blogging, personal and self-promotion, race and racism | 2 Comments
The 15th Erase Racism Carnival is now up at Race Wire.
I have a post included in the carnival, which is both humbling and an honor, since I still consider myself to be a student ally for racial justice.
Anyway, check out all the great posts and spread the word!
Jul
27
The War on Birth Control Continues . . .
Filed Under discrimination, legislation, media, misogyny, patriarchy, politics, reproductive justice, sex and sexuality, social conservatives, women’s health | 2 Comments
Here’s a reason to be really pissed off– and really worried, if you’re a college student: contraceptive prices on campus are skyrocketing.
For years, drug companies sold birth-control pills and other contraceptives to university health services at a big discount. This has served as an entree to young consumers for the drug companies, and a profit center for the schools, which sell them to students at a moderate markup. Students pay perhaps $15 a month for contraceptives that otherwise can retail for $50 or more.
But colleges and universities say the drug companies have stopped offering the discounts, and are now charging the schools much more. The change has an unlikely origin: the Deficit Reduction Act signed by President Bush last year. The legislation aimed to pare $39 billion in spending on federal programs, from subsidized student loans to Medicaid. And among the changes was one that, through an arcane set of circumstances, created a disincentive for drug makers to offer school discounts.
The contraceptive prices offered to schools are now included in a complex calculation that determines certain Medicaid-related rebates that drug makers must pay to states. In this calculation, deep discount prices would have the effect of increasing drug makers’ payments.
Wait, birth control is now more difficult to get for young women, pharmaceutical companies are benefiting from this lack of access, and the fact that it came from a Bush initiative is considered unlikey? Really? Oh. The article is from the Wall Street Journal. Of course. Never mind.
Jul
27
Pharmacists, unable to discriminate, claim discrimination
Filed Under courts, discrimination, legislation, misogyny, products, rape and sexual assault, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, sexism, social conservatives, women’s health | 2 Comments
Pharmacists in Washington state have sued over a new regulation that requires them to dispense emergency contraception.
My first reaction to this news is to start cursing. But in all honesty, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Over-zealous religious pharmacists have long threatened to sue in the face of such a law. And the claim that one’s inability to discriminate against a set group of people is discriminating against their religious beliefs is ludicrous but hardly original.
And that’s what really scares me, here. Courts have a history of siding with the right to practice one’s crazy religious beliefs over the other human rights that might violated in the process. And for some blind reason, many people don’t recognize as discriminatory the refusal to dispense a drug that only the female portion of the population could ever need.
We can only hope that Washington judges are both liberal and intelligent enough to recognize that a pharmacist who refuses to do his or her job, a job that is a public service that the health of individuals relies upon, has relinquished the right to make his or her own rules. But these days, it seems a lot to ask. I, along with pharmacists and lawmakers all over the country, I presume, will be watching this case.
Jul
26
When Domestic Abuse Victims Fight Back
Filed Under discrimination, legislation, misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, violence against women and girls, women’s health, work | 3 Comments
Women’s enews reports that a New York woman is suing after she was fired from her job for being a victim of domestic abuse.
A flowerpot to the face from her ex-husband left Adriana Becerril a pulverized mess of blood, bruises and bumps while their four children screamed.
Injured and unable to report to her first day of work as the director at a Bronx preschool in September 2006, she sought four days of recommended medical leave and, after speaking to employees, thought she would begin the following week instead. She said she didn’t want to start work with the children while her face was bruised and swollen.
Four days later, she received a letter by FedEx informing her that she was fired.
Becerril is suing the nonprofit New York child-care agency Graham Windham and one of the day-care centers it runs, Grow With Us Preschool in the South Bronx. Her lawsuit invokes a 2003 amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law that requires employers to reasonably accommodate the needs of domestic violence victims. Becerril, who now works at a different Bronx day care, is suing for lost wages, compensation and benefits along with compensatory damages for injury to her reputation and emotional and mental distress.
“I wasn’t going to do anything in the beginning,” said Becerril, who was initially unaware of the law and is only the second person to invoke it in a legal proceeding. “But then I thought about it, and I thought, ‘If I don’t do anything about it, they’re going to do it to somebody else.’”
Damn right, they would. It looks like we’ve got another bad-ass woman’s activist on our hands!
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
