Nov

30

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell a Republican About Gay Rights

Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, LGBTQ issues, Republicans, assholes, bigotry, discrimination, homophobia and transphobia, patriarchy, politics | 6 Comments

For those of us liberals who watched the Republican YouTube debate on Wednesday — which, for the record, was probably hands down the most watchable Republican debate to date — there were a few standout moments. There was Romney and Giuliani looking like they were going to punch each other out over immigration. There was Anderson Cooper turning to Fred Thompson after airing his “YouTube” campaign video that was just an attack on the other candidates and asking “What’s up with that?” (for the record, the Giuliani campaign seemed to be the only one that “got” the nature of YouTube).

And then there was the man above, Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, who asked a question about gays and military service. Kerr explained that he is a gay man, and said “I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” The candidates who got to answer danced around the question, except for Duncan Hunter who seemed to say “because our military men and women are bigoted.” I’m sure that they expected that to be the end, except that Kerr was in the audience and Anderson Cooper asked him if his question had been answered. Kerr said that it had been not, and proceeded to go into a speech about why they were wrong, leaving the Republicans absolutely dumbfounded. Which they should have been. It’s much easier to throw around hate speech when the oppressed isn’t standing in front of you demanding his rights. You can watch a partial and edited video of the exchange here.

But there has been a complication. It turns out that Kerr has been on advisory committees for Hillary Clinton. Of course, the conservatives have seized the moment to claim that Sen. Clinton’s campaign planted the question. Both they and Kerr deny it, and their claim only makes sense — though Senator Clinton wants to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, she supports her husband’s decision to implement the ridiculous, prejudiced policy in the first place. But that hasn’t stopped CNN from begging for forgiveness and removing the segment from rebroadcasts of the debate without disclosure.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Nov

30

Police Taser Pregnant Woman

Filed Under WOC issues, assholes, class and economics, human rights, race and racism, violence against women and girls, women’s health | 12 Comments

A police officer in Trotwood, Ohio recently used a Taser gun on a pregnant woman because she tried to leave their police station with her own child. You can view a partial video of the incident at the link provided.

Trotwood Public Safety Director Michael Etter said the incident happened on Nov. 18. He said the woman arrived at the police department asking to give up custody of her 1-year-old son, WHIO-TV in Dayton reported.

Etter said an officer spoke with the woman as she held onto the child outside the police department.

“(He) attempted to obtain information on both the mother and the child, at which time the mother refused to give any information and became very agitated,” Etter said.

Surveillance video from the police department shows the woman trying to leave with the child. The officer then grabs her coat in an effort to get her to stop.

Etter said the officer was doing what he thought was in the best interest of the boy.

The video shows the woman struggling with the officer, who then takes the child from her and gives the boy to another officer. The first officer then forces the woman down on her stomach, and he then uses a Taser on her neck.

It’s an interesting incident. And since the video is grainy and there is no sound, it’s difficult to know exactly how it went down. But most people seem to know that the police’s version of “asking questions” is often a lot different than the average person’s version of “asking questions.” The way that police “ask questions” is generally intended to scare the shit out of you. And clearly when you’re dealing with a woman who is trying to give up custody of her child in this way, it would generally be safe to assume that she is not going to be in either the best or most rational frame of mind.

In this article, Etter claims that if she cooperated, the police probably “would have called her a minister, called a crisis counselor.” And she was supposed to know this . . . how? Did they tell her? Etter gives no indication that they did, nor did the police report that I dug up. None of the articles mention it, but for several reasons I do think that it’s important to note that the woman is black. The most important of those reasons are that police have a strong record of brutality towards women of color and that the black community tends to have a strong distrust for law enforcement. Why? Well, because police have a strong record of brutality against people of color. And because in those communities, police officers who say that they “just want to ask questions” often mean that they want to make some arrests. How exactly a person with this relationship to the police is supposed to know when “we want to ask questions” means “we’re going to call your minister” instead of “we’re going to arrest you,” I’m entirely sure. Especially since in this case, you know, they did arrest her. And used a Taser on her neck.

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Popularity: 17% [?]

Nov

29

Fatwa Proclaims Right To Self-Defense Against Spousal Abuse

Filed Under International, WOC issues, misogyny, patriarchy, religious fanaticism, violence against women and girls | 1 Comment

A Shi‘ite Muslim cleric in Lebanon has issued a religions edict stating that women facing spousal abuse have the right to self-defense.

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah issued the fatwa, or religious edict, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

“We consider that if a man used physical violence against a woman and she could not defend herself except by retaliating with similar violence, she can do so out of self-defence,” Fadlallah said in his fatwa. A statement by his office said Fadlallah stressed that Islam “does not approve of a man using any sort of violence against a woman, even in the form of insults and harsh words.”

Obviously all of this should be considered self-evident. But considering the fact that Islam is falsely represented by both religious extremists and racists as a religion that condones violent patriarchal control over women, it’s a vital ruling. It is particularly so in that it not only guarantees women the right to self-defense, but also condemns any sort of spousal abuse, including verbal abuse. That the Ayatollah chose to declare the fatwa on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is also a great sign and a powerful statement. And it’s extremely important to promote the fact that how a religion is abused and practiced by some is not a fair representation of the character of its followers or of the religion itself.

How widely this fatwa will be enforced is another question and one that I don’t have an answer to (any info?). But it’s still a great (and long over-due) step.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Nov

29

Guess Who Died

Filed Under Republicans, abortion, assholes, class and economics, legislation, politics, reproductive justice | 2 Comments

Because I am a morbid (some might say “bad”) person, “guess who died” is a game that I play a lot with my husband. As in, I’m reading the news and say “Holy shit! Guess who died . . . no, seriously, guess.” Today, it’s an interesting one: Henry Hyde.

The aptly named Mr. Hyde is the man responsible for the infamous Hyde Amendment, the law that bars federal money from going towards funding for abortion — effectively taking away the right of poor women to choose to terminate a pregnancy.

He also led the House Impeachment process of President Clinton. Though, for the record, the Catholic representative and supposed moral crusader was revealed to have had an extra-marital affair of his own.

Rest in peace there, Hyde. And say “hi” to Reagan and Falwell to me. If there were indeed any justice in this world, and therefore an afterlife, I can confidently say that you would all be in the same place.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Nov

28

2008: Questions, Vindication, Amusement

Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, media, politics | 10 Comments

So, Emily’s List is a pretty cool organization. They draft, run and support pro-choice, female candidates for political office. But apparently they have come out with an ad campaign in Iowa pushing women to vote for Clinton in the primary. And, of course, we can’t expect otherwise. It’s what they do.

But as someone who’s still praying like hell to a god that she doesn’t believe in that Edwards somehow manages to pull of the Iowa Primary and we won’t get stuck with such a fucking centrist (and instead get a kind of liberal liberal). . . I really can’t help but want to scream NOOOOOOO!!!! at the top of my lungs.

I know that I’m not the only one who’s not supporting Clinton for the nomination out there, so I ask: how are we meant to feel about this?

And speaking of those of you backing another candidate, it seems that we can officially declare Kucinich to be made of FAIL. Why? Dude was asked who he would have as a running mate, and what did he say? Ron Paul. You know, Ron fucking Paul, the white-supremacist, anti-choice wacknut who wants to get rid of the IRS and have a gold-backed currency? Yeah, him.

So, though I feel the pain for those of you who had faith in the weird, earnest man, I have to say that I feel officially vindicated. I always knew that there was something about the guy that I didn’t like. Was it the anti-choice past, the creepy demeanor? I don’t know. I agree with the guy on paper and yet, there was something about him. Something that made me shake my head no and get disapproving looks from the super-liberals. It sucked. But my position has been redeemed. And now, I no longer have to feel guilty about not liking/backing the guy, because it has been proven: he’s fucked in the head.

And lastly in election news, break out the popcorn, folks, in a little over an hour, it will finally be time for the Republican YouTube Debate!  Remember how it got canceled because Mitt Romney threw a fit that the Dems were asked a question about global warming by a snow man, and then all of the other Republicans followed suit because they were scared to actually answer to the public? Well, they always claimed that they would reschedule, and to my great surprise, they did.

I’m holding no great hopes: CNN has already promised to not air the exact same kinds of questions that they did air for the Democratic debate. But Anderson Cooper is going to be moderating, and for those of you who don’t remember him doing the Democratic debate, he is the only moderator so far to actually bother to keep the candidates in line, hold them to their time restritions and make them answer the damn questions. Don’t let me down, Silver Fox. Oh, and the snow man has submitted a question. If it makes it to air, and particularly if it goes to Romney, it will all be worth it.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Nov

28

I love the smell of racism in the morning

Filed Under WOC issues, assholes, bigotry, class and economics, discrimination, race and racism | 7 Comments

When I saw the title to this Salon article — Is Race Dying? — I had some pretty damn low hopes. It was worse than I expected. Writer Gary Kamiya manages to spend two pages saying some pretty damn  ignorant and racist crap . So, let’s take a look at it, piece by piece.

Ever since 9/11 and President Bush’s response to it, all other issues in the United States have faded into insignificance. When jets were smashing into skyscrapers and U.S. troops were invading an Arab country, it was hard to care about anything else. And one of the things that America stopped paying attention to was race.

Oh really? So all of the brown people — of varying ethnicities, mind you, but all lumped together through the lenses of ignorance and prejudice — who had shit thrown through their store windows and their houses defaced and lives threatened . . . don’t count? How about the fact that we invaded Iraq based on the premise that the American public is too fucking stupid and racist to tell the difference between “Arab terrorists” and “Iraqis?” No one was paying attention to race there?

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, issues of black vs. white dominated the national discourse. The Rodney King riots and the O.J. Simpson case inspired endless discussions and reams of editorial soul-searching. Affirmative action and racial preferences, multiculturalism, and political correctness were fraught topics. Then the twin towers fell, and suddenly we had a completely new enemy to worry about.

During the Katrina debacle, images of thousands of impoverished blacks jammed into the New Orleans Superdome brought the scandalous reality of black poverty back into view. But the moment passed. Today’s most charged racial issue, immigration, doesn’t involve blacks at all, but Latinos. The painful legacy of slavery — which, along with our de facto genocidal campaign against its native inhabitants, is America’s primordial racial trauma — is no longer at the center of the national consciousness.

Okay, got it. Only black people are victims of racism. And maybe Latinos, too. Good to know.

And yet, I’m still confused. The number of hate groups in America has jumped 40% since 2000. And though the percentage of hate crimes that are motivated by race has dropped by a couple of percentage points, the overall number of hate crime has increased by twice that amount. There have apparently been 50 to 60 noose incidents in the past few months, which would not be included in those statistics.

But hey, maybe Kamiya has something else intelligent to say. Jumping ahead . . .

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Popularity: 20% [?]

Nov

27

This Promotes Rape

Filed Under assholes, human rights, misogyny, objectification, patriarchy, products, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 39 Comments

I don’t know where Melissa keep finding these things, and I probably don’t want to know. Yesterday, it was this pencil sharpener.

And I was naively convinced that when it comes to “joke toys” that promote rape, a headless woman bent over with her hands and feet nailed to the floor while having phallic items shoved in at least one orifice is about as bad as it gets.

But, sadly, it’s not. Because today (and this makes it a sad, sad day), I learned about Lusty Linda.

Now, at first glance, Lusty Linda doesn’t look any worse than the pencil sharpener. But that’s because you don’t know that she talks, yet. From the one of the sites selling it:

Let Lusty Linda the pen holder sun-bath on your desk. When you stick in a pen, she will moan, groan or say any of 10 different things. A switch on the bottom lets you set Linda’s mood, from good or bad. (too bad all women did not have such a switch).

Lusty Linda The Pen Holder Says 10 Different Things including:

* ooow (ouch)!
* Get out you, you dirty old man!
* What are you looking at?
* Help! Help!
* Oh ooh (excited)

That’s right. This “toy” is a plastic object that looks like a woman with a gaping hole in her crotch that symbolizes her vagina, and you’re supposed to shove pens into said hole while she screams for help or moans in pain. But hey, that’s only when she’s in a “bad mood.” When she’s not being a massive bitch, she totally loves it. Like all women, of course. Except that — haha — you can’t turn most of the stupid whores on and off at your leisure for your fucking/raping pleasure.

I want to make it explicitly clear right now: this post is a part of my 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence series.

And I want to make something else, clear, too, and it’s something that could be highly unpopular:

This promotes rape.

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Popularity: 44% [?]

Nov

27

Hilarious Remark of the Week

Filed Under assholes, media, offensive remark of the week, politics | Leave a Comment

Maybe the fact that I find this so damn funny is mere proof that I have a fucked up sense of humor. Or maybe it’s just a sign of how very gone the chance of hope in our political process is. Regardless, I read this last night and literally laughed so hard that I cried.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Gore was at the White House, yesterday. In this article, the Times goes through a lot of effort trying to make Bush look gracious by inviting Gore to an annual event for Nobel Prize winners that he really didn’t have a choice in inviting him to, and then giving him a whole whopping 30 minutes of his time. In any case, it was the first time that Gore has been to the White House since Clinton left office, and the first time since the 2000 election that the two men have been alone together. Let the funny begin.

Aides say the two have had little contact in the years since, meeting only occasionally at public events like Mr. Bush’s first inauguration and the dedication of President Bill Clinton’s presidential library. Mr. Bush made no comment when the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, and on Monday, the two men stood silently, and a bit awkwardly, during the photo opportunity.

But the president did personally telephone Mr. Gore to extend the invitation, and the White House changed the date of the event so Mr. Gore could attend. Mr. Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, told reporters there was no bad blood between them.

“This president does not harbor any resentments,” Ms. Perino said. “He never has.”

And I think that’s mighty big of him, don’t you? To be able to look at the guy who he publicly lied about and humiliated, blatantly and unapologetically stole an election from with the help of a corrupt court made up and appointed by friends of his daddy and say “I don’t hold it against you” . . . wow. What a guy.

You know, I’m well aware that this administration has no sense of irony — if they did, the Daily Show’s job would be much harder. But I think this takes it to a new low. And for thinking the American public is so stupid, for in fact being an administration so stupid, I think this qualifies as the offensive remark of the week, too. Or it will, when I stop laughing.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Nov

26

Where They Stand

Filed Under WOC issues, media, race and racism | 1 Comment

All this week, NBC Nightly News is apparently airing a several-part series called African-American Women and Where They Stand. The link provides a full summary of topics for each show. It sounds . . . interesting. Some of the topics they didn’t choose for discussion are telling, as are the topics they did choose. And anytime the mainstream media tries to cover any issues affecting a specific demographic, particularly not a white middle-class straight demographic, you know that it’s going to be show. Quite potentially an offensive show — though I genuinely hope that it’s not.

So, for those of you in the U.S., it seems like NBC Nightly News airs at 6:30 (though it may be different depending on time zone?). I’ll be trying to watch as much of it as possible and I might be blogging about it. Thought you might want to know!

——

UPDATE: Okay, so now I’m pissed off. First of all the segment could not have possibly been more than 3 whole minutes. I’d give it two. Tonight’s theme was education, and how black women are succeeding disproportionately to black men. Which struck me as a strange concept anyway for a piece that is supposedly about black women. I mean, by all means, run these stories and ask the questions. That needs to be done. But if you’re going to do a story on black women and education, don’t you think that it should maybe be more about why these achievements are happening, the benefits to community, to children, etc.? And not about how black men are lagging behind?

And yeah, I have to admit that when they scream statistics in these frightened voices about how 62% of black spending power is controlled by women!!! We need to fix it!!! I can’t do much more than roll my eyes. Not because I don’t care about black men. Not because I want women to be at an advantage over men. But because whenever you show statistics about women lagging behind, or how we still make somewhere around 75% of what men do, there’s also an immediate follow-up about how that’s actually our own fault. I don’t say that black men should be getting that kind of treatment, but I am pissed that the media gets themselves into a tizzy when men lag behind and just yawn when it’s women. Of any color.

I can’t say that I’ll waste my time watching again. Three minutes of a story about black women that isn’t actually about black women, and even if it was would be almost completely useless do to time constraints? And don’t even get me started on how they put it in the puff piece spot. It didn’t have to go there; there are plenty of other “longer” news stories slots.

Did anyone else see it?

Popularity: 12% [?]

Nov

26

Brazilian Prisoner Raped by Her Cell Mates for a Month

Filed Under International, South America, WOC issues, gender, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 14 Comments

Let me just say that there’s absolutely no way to kick off 16 days of blogging about gender violence lightly or gently. I did, however, hope that I wouldn’t have to begin with something as horrific as this. But that’s what this is about: waking up and telling the nasty truth that no one wants to hear. So here we go.

A woman in Brazil has alleged that she was left in a police cell for almost a month with 20-30 men. I don’t think that it takes a huge leap of logic to guess what happened while she was there.

Authorities in Brazil are investigating reports that a young woman was left in a police cell with some 20 men for a month and repeatedly sexually abused.

The governor of the state of Para, where the reported case took place, has promised a full inquiry. [. . .]

Women’s rights groups in Brazil say it is not an isolated case.

According to reports in the Brazilian media, the number of men in the cell with the young woman ranged between 20 and more than 30.

Media reports suggested that the girl was placed in a police cell in the town of Abaetetuba on suspicion of theft.

But human-rights groups say there is uncertainty about what offence the girl was accused of and she was not formally charged.

They say that she was raped relentlessly and forced to have sex in order to obtain food.

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Popularity: 17% [?]

Nov

25

16 Days Of Activism Against Gender Violence

Filed Under LGBTQ issues, action alert, activism, cross-post, discrimination, feminism, gender, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, politics, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 6 Comments

[Cross-posted from Feministe]

Today kicks off the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (h/t).

The days of action start with The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women — which is today — and ends on December 10 with International Human Rights Day. I think that this is an absolutely amazing structure: beginning discussion relatively narrowly and then building up to a broader world view to remind people that gender issues are human rights issues.

This year’s theme is Demanding Implentation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women, and you should read more about it.

I very strongly recommend that you check out Sokari at Black Looks for more information about the 16 Days and for information about the Carnival Against Gender Violence, for which submission are due December 6th. Personally, I can’t wait to see it.

If you happen to be in NYC, check out these events. For everyone, here is a great resource for suggested actions (pdf).

And as a blogger, I encourage all others to blog on the topic as much as possible for the next 16 days (and thereafter). Of course, blogging is neither the only nor most effective method of activism, but I also think that it plays an important role. If you read liberal blogs that don’t normally cover “gender issues,” strongly encourage them to participate (and demand answers if they won’t). If you run a non-feminist blog, or read other non-feminist blogs by writers that you know care about women, let them know and encourage them to blog about the issue, too. The issue of gender violence is an absolutely massive one, considering the many forms that violence can and does take and all of the intersections of race, sexual orientation, age, nationality, class, religion, location, etc. It has more dimensions than I imagine the combined efforts of every feminist blogger working diligently for the entire 16 days could fully cover. And that’s why it’s so important to say as much as we can. I will be covering the issue of gender violence as much as possible on my own blog for the 16 Days.

You can also download the 16 Days logo, which I encourage you to put in any posts that you write, in your sidebars, on your myspace page, etc. And don’t hesitate to create a “16 Days” tag so that your posts will be easier to find. Please, participate and let people know that you’re participating.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Nov

24

The Joke That Never Gets Old

Filed Under assholes, cross-post, misogyny, pop culture, rape and sexual assault, videos, violence against women and girls | 4 Comments

Cross-posted from Feministe]

Via Melissa at Shakes comes this video from Will Ferrell and some of his moron “comedy” buddies (no, I’m not a fan) that is so bad I couldn’t bring myself to use the “humor” tag. The whole thing is ridiculously stupid, but if you can sit through the first two and a half minutes of non-jokes about people who are eco-friendly, you’ll be rewarded at the end with a completely random and blatant joke about gang rape, and who doesn’t love one of those? Enjoy:

I take back everything I’ve said. Will Ferrell could in fact get less classy.

Popularity: 18% [?]

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