Jan

31

Manila Women Fight for Birth Control

Filed Under International, WOC issues, abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, class and economics, discrimination, legislation, patriarchy, pregnancy, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, social conservatives, women’s health | 1 Comment

Female activists from poor communities in Manila are demanding access to contraceptive services:

Women from three slum communities in Manila asked the appeals court on Wednesday to allow them access to contraceptives in public clinics, revoking a local law that bans condoms and pills.

In 2000, the capital’s mayor issued an order stopping doctors, nurses and other health workers from promoting and distributing contraceptives, instructing them to teach only the natural method of family planning.

“We want to decide for ourselves how many children we would have, and not the government to tell us how to do it,” Lourdes Osil, a mother of six, told reporters after her lawyers asked the court to declare the seven-year-old local law unconstitutional.

“We were denied not only access to contraceptives, but even our rights guaranteed in the constitution to make a free choice were also ignored and violated.”

Home to an estimated 89 million people, the largely Catholic Philippines has one of the fastest-growing populations in Asia with around 2 million babies born every year.

Under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a devout Catholic who relies on the support of politically powerful bishops, the central government promotes natural family planning methods such as abstinence when the woman is ovulating.

Emma Monzaga, one of the petitioners, said she was getting injections once every three months to prevent her from becoming pregnant, but was told on her third visit to a public clinic that the treatment was no longer available.

“I was asked to go somewhere else to get the shots because the city hall has stopped funding the family planning program,” Monzaga said, adding her family could not afford to spend extra for contraceptives.

“We used to get it for free. It’s becoming a burden because we have to eat and send our six children to school.”

I’m sure that Monzaga is far from being the only one who cannot afford to spend money on birth control in an area where many struggle to put food on the table. And as important as the right to personal autonomy and reproductive choice is, this situation goes far beyond those kinds of concerns. We’re literally talking about life and death:

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Jan

31

Only One Question

Filed Under media, misogyny, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments

Why the fuck do people still keep referring to the practice of selling a child’s body to men as “forced prostitution” instead of what it is: holding a child hostage and allowing men to rape her for a set fee?

Selling rape is not “forced prostitution.” It’s selling rape. The rape of a child is not sex. You cannot “have sex” with a child.” Rape is not sex. It is violence.

This isn’t difficult . . . unless it’s one’s goal to defend rape as some kind of fucked up, inalienable male “right.” Oh, there you go. I just answered my own question.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Jan

30

Burmese Refugees Held Prisoner in Thai “Human Zoo”

Filed Under Asia, International, WOC issues, bigotry, class and economics, discrimination, human rights, misogyny, objectification, race and racism | Leave a Comment

No, really, I swear this time: I have no idea what to say.

*sputters something incoherent about racism, colonialism & sexism*

. . .

Popularity: 15% [?]

Jan

30

Offensive Remark of the Week: Sometimes You Gotta Smack Up the Bitches Edition

Filed Under assholes, gender, media, misogyny, sexism, violence against women and girls | 5 Comments

There’s apparently some MSNBC show called Morning Joe. I’ve never seen it — I almost never watch TV news unless I’m waiting for election results or a debate. But Media Matters apparently watches, and check out what they caught this morning: Joe Scarborough warned his female co-host Mika Brzezinski that if she didn’t respect his authority(!), he’d have to give her a smack:

HARWOOD: I think, Joe — I know you were holding back, but I think that [Florida Gov.] Charlie Crist [R] endorsement might have had even more juice than a Scarborough endorsement. What do you think?

BRZEZINSKI: I think so.

SCARBOROUGH: I, actually — I don’t endorse anybody because, as you know, I’m a journalist. However, there’s no doubt, there are two things –

BRZEZINSKI: [laughing]

HARWOOD: I get it.

SCARBOROUGH: –that hurt — Mika, don’t make me backhand you . . .

Ha! I see! Because she was being uppity, right? She laughed at you inappropriately in front of other people, bruised your fragile male ego and so you had to put her back in her place. With a backhand! Get it? Not just violence, but gendered violence! You know, like how a man gives his wife a good, harmless smack because she overcooked his chicken, just so she remembers who’s boss.

Damn, Scarborough, that was a close one. You could have almost looked like a guy who maybe didn’t hate women openly and randomly. Way to dodge the bullet.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Jan

29

So you’re saying that women don’t get pregnant on their own?

Filed Under Europe, International, education and schools, pregnancy, sex and sexuality, women’s health | 3 Comments

Despite all the talk of unexpected pregnancy and abortion centering around a woman’s “responsibility,” men do actually play a role in conception. In fact, it’s a pretty important one (the guy doesn’t have to be there, but at some point a penis will be required). Taking the huge leap that defies all social conditioning, men therefore also play a role in preventing unwanted pregnancies. And finally, this is being loudly and publicly acknowledged.

The British contraception advocacy group Family Planning Association is running a Contraceptive Awareness Week in February. This year’s focus? Men.

From the site:

To get the full picture, for this year, fpa will be focusing on the male element of contraceptive use. Our Valentine’s campaign – The New Man – will examine men’s attitudes to contraception, get some of the basics about contraception out there and encourage men to get more involved in their own reproductive decision making.

We know that men are interested in contraception. Since 1996 an extra 48 per cent of you have gone to a contraceptive clinic.

But men have their own set of issues when it comes to sexual health. Men don’t have as many methods to choose from as women (at the moment there are two male methods – condoms and sterilisation). Some men might think contraception is a bit of a ‘girly’ subject, putting them off it. We also know from men who call fpa’s helpline that they just don’t know enough about contraception and how the different methods work.

Some may say there’s no point including men. Contraception is a woman’s issue.

Of course it is! But there’s more to it than just focusing on the ladies. If men don’t know about contraception, how can they understand the options and make decisions about preventing pregnancy? And besides, how can they impress women with their encyclopaedic knowledge of all things contraceptive if they don’t know their patch from their pill?

Research also shows that men and women who don’t communicate about contraception are less likely to use it.

Personally, I think that it’s a great thing. Contraception distribution and education is generally focused on women, and there are damn good reasons for this that I’m not going to criticize. With the exception of sterilization, the most effective means of birth control are and must be controlled by women. And yes, they do have more at stake. If a pregnancy occurs, it’s going to be their body bringing a fetus to term and giving birth, or their body going through an abortion procedure.

But of course, that doesn’t mean that men shouldn’t be involved.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Jan

29

For the Love of the Game: Covering Up Rape to Win the Rose Bowl

Filed Under assholes, courts gone crazy, education and schools, misogyny, patriarchy, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 13 Comments

Via SAFER comes this stomach-turning story from the Seattle Times about the violent history of the University of Washington football team and the way that UW has worked to cover up their crimes for the sake of winning games. In 2000, the year that team won the Rose Bowl, a dozen of its players had been arrested or charged with a crime within the past year, and at least a dozen others had been arrested or charged with a crime during previous years that they were on the team. Those crimes include a robbery and shooting, domestic violence that ended in a broken nose, a broken arm and lacerated face by a player who had previously served jail time for choking his wife to unconsciousness, and sexual assault.

This article tells the story of a sexual assault, how the drugging and raping of a fellow student was covered up by everyone who could have possibly helped cover it up and dropped by prosecutors despite a victim that wanted to go forward, DNA evidence, an eye witness to part of the rape (he called the police) and several other witnesses willing to testify that the victim was either drunk or drugged out of her mind (trigger warning for the article and the rest of the post).

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Popularity: 35% [?]

Jan

28

You know who I fucking hate?

Filed Under Republicans, assholes, politics | 11 Comments

Bush.

I know, I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I?

Take the unimpressed face of Barack Obama, multiply it by the unimpressed face of Hillary Clinton and throw in a pinch of the unimpressed faces of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi, and you’ll get an idea of what my unimpressed face looks like right about now.

Also, can someone please get the Democrats some super glue to help them keep their asses in their damn seats? Christ.

*deep breaths*



Popularity: 12% [?]

Jan

28

On “Pro-Choice Republicans”

Filed Under 2008 election, Democrats, Republicans, WOC issues, abortion, class and economics, human rights, politics, pregnancy, reproductive justice, social conservatives, women’s health | 6 Comments

This RH Reality Check article on pro-choice Republicans has intrigued me and got my brain whirling. To someone like me, “pro-choice Republican” is quite the oxymoron. Yeah, I’ve heard of them existing (though I don’t recall every knowingly meeting one in person). But every time I hear the concept, my head just about explodes.

The basic premise for pro-choice Republicans, which I accept, is that traditional Republican values of personal freedom and lack of government intrusion are perfectly in line with legal abortion and medical privacy. But there are two very significant problems here. The first is that the Republican Party has seemingly not stood for these principles in some time, and certainly not in my time. In my 23 years, Republicans have always been anti-gay rights, anti-abortion, anti-black civil rights and in favor of abandoning the most basic principles of the capitalism they so adore by artificially propping up big business. The second problem is that merely being in favor of legal abortion doesn’t make one pro-choice.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Jan

28

Bad Ass Women’s Activist of the Week: 20 Years of Legal Abortion in Canada Edition

Filed Under International, abortion, anti-choice extremism, bad ass women’s activist of the week, legislation, reproductive justice, social conservatives, women’s health | 5 Comments

Today is the 20th anniversary of the R. vs. Morgentaler decision that legalized abortion in Canada — more or less, a Canadian version of Roe. Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the doctor whose arrest for performing abortions illegally was the basis of the case, is quite the hero to all who believe in medical privacy and the right of women to control their reproductive capacity:

The Polish-born physician, a survivor of the infamous Dachau concentration camp, quit his family practice in Montreal in 1968 to open his first abortion clinic in defiance of the laws of the day.

He was moved, he has often said, by the suffering of women at the hands of backstreet quacks whose amateur abortions left them in pain at best or dead at worst.

Morgentaler soon found himself before the courts, where he was acquitted by a jury that accepted his defence of medical necessity for the abortions he performed. But the verdict was overturned on appeal and he went to jail.

It took three more trials and three more acquittals - two in Quebec, one in Ontario - before he carried the day at the Supreme Court.

Looking back, in semi-retirement and two months short of his 84th birthday, Morgentaler is philosophical about the personal toll.

“I had to accept the fact that a certain amount of sacrifice was required of me,” he says. “I have no regrets.

“Women in Canada now have access to good abortions done by doctors in clinics or hospitals where their life is not in danger.”

We in America, often seen as the home of bitter contention over abortion, had things relatively easy. Amazingly enough, we managed to secure abortion rights fifteen years earlier and with far less personal sacrifice asked of any one individual (”Roe” never did receive her abortion; since converting to Christianity she has claimed that she never really wanted one and has unsuccessfully tried to overturn the decision on this basis).

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Jan

27

Sexual Violence Escalates in Kenya

Filed Under Africa, International, WOC issues, human rights, misogyny, patriarchy, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments

I’m a bit late on this story, though I unfortunately have a feeling that it’s going to be relevant for some time. Unsurprisingly, reports of rape in Kenya have skyrocketed in the past few weeks — more than doubled, though those figures don’t count the majority of rapes that go unreported, since they are obviously difficult to determine (trigger warning for all of these articles). Since the December 27th corrupt elections, violence throughout Kenya has reached epidemic proportions (the BBC has lots of helpful background on the different aspects that have been fueling the violence). And more than just your standard brutal rapes, both child rapes and gang rapes make up huge proportions of the sexual assaults. From the BBC:

Staff in the Nairobi Women’s Hospital - one of Kenya’s leading centres for the treatment of rape and sexual violence - say they have seen double the number of cases affecting women, teenagers and girls since January.

“Since the beginning of the month, we have had 140 cases of rape and defilement,” said Rahab Ngugi, patient services manager at the hospital.

“We were used to seeing an average of about four cases a day, now there is an average of between eight and 10.”

Almost half of the cases at the hospital’s specialised clinic are girls under the age of 18, Ms Ngugi said. One case was a two-year-old baby girl.

She knows that such a dramatic rise in numbers presenting at the clinic indicates that the reality beyond is far worse.

Only a small percentage of women actually come to receive medical treatment and counselling in the immediate aftermath of a sexual attack, she said. It means they do not get access to the drugs which might prevent the onset of HIV.

“It is the tip of the iceberg,” Ms Ngugi said. “At any time of unrest, of violence, or rioting, women and children are targeted. It is revenge, it is war. People are fighting and the weakest ones get abused.”

Due in part to the political unrest and the current lack of government control, those committing these atrocities are more or less raping with impunity. Estimates say that at least 250,000 people have been displaced, in addition to at least 600 people who have been killed, and around 85% of those who have been displaced are women and children.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Jan

26

Who says feminists are humorless?

Filed Under 2008 election, Republicans, abortion, action alert, anti-choice extremism, assholes, politics, reproductive justice | 3 Comments

I just got a fund raising email from NARAL, and I have to say that it’s pretty fucking awesome. The hook? Three anti-choice Republicans for the price of one. Here is the candidate we need to fear:

The McRomabee.

Eek!

I have to say that when I saw the email subject, my first thought was “that needs an artistic rendering,” only to find out that NARAL had already gone that extra mile. And I find it to be infinitely amusing. A cartoon would still great, though. Artists?

If you feel inclined to donate to NARAL — whether because they do great work, because they’re hilarious, or because The McRomabee is indeed terrifying — you can do so here.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Jan

26

Everything I Need to Know About Love, I Learned From Time Magazine

Filed Under LGBTQ issues, gender, media, patriarchy, sexism, stereotypes, violence against women and girls | 20 Comments

This being one of those weeks when I wonder why the fuck I get Time magazine (answer: because it often gets me to read about important things I otherwise wouldn’t read about), their cover story last week was “The Science of Romance.” And it’s more than just a “story,” but an entire section tallying almost 50 pages. For a magazine that usually runs between 80 and 110 pages total, that’s quite a feat.

I had a feeling from looking at the cover that I was going to “learn” an awful lot. And Time surely didn’t disappoint. Below the jump, my newfound knowledge. But break out your Evolutionary Psychologist Bingo Cards first.

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Popularity: 20% [?]

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