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I’m very sorry that I missed Blogging Against Disablism Day, yesterday. I’m even more sorry that I don’t have much of anything to say on the subject right now.

I would like to note that less than a year ago, I didn’t know a damn thing about the disability rights movement. I was only vaguely aware of its existence. Blogs — and this is perhaps the thing that I love most about the blogosphere and what it can do when at its best — opened my eyes. I’m exceedingly far from being an expert on disability rights now. But I have done some research. I read more than one disability rights blog regularly. I’ve struggled to overcome a lot of my own prejudices in that time. Which is precisely why it amazes me that I wrote this post last year — Disability Rights Are a Feminist Issue — and still agree with it now. I’m glad and a bit relieved to say that I can recommend your reading it.

A few things I didn’t note in that post that I would like to note now:

If feminists believe in reproductive justice, disabled or not, we must be particularly concerned for the rights of people with disabilities. Their reproductive rights are in some of the greatest danger, and we really need to work to overcome our own prejudices on that matter and recognize that reproductive justice is for everyone, not just some. The problems with the pro-choice movement are precisely why the term reproductive justice was coined, and if we’re going to use it in a way that is more than mere appropriation, we need to recognize that attitudes towards the reproductive rights of those with disabilities was and still is one of those problems.

We also must be particularly concerned for the rights of people with disabilities if we care about violence against women. Women with disabilities are much more likely than women without disabilities to be sexually assaulted. Women with disabilities also have a much higher rate of being victims of intimate partner violence.

And really, if we just care about women, if we care about feminism, we should care about the rights of those with disabilities. Women are a large part of the disabled community, and they face discrimination on a daily basis in terms of medical care, housing, employment, the right to make personal decisions and much more. Women with disabilities are women. We are feminists, and may have disabilities ourselves. It is our job to fight legal and social systems that prevent women from the opportunity to live happy, safe and free lives. The argument for why disability rights are a feminist issue really is that simple.

Diary of a Goldfish has the roundup from the blogswarm. It’s holds a huge amount of posts and is full of great bloggers, so I strongly encourage you to read through it. For more on the intersection of feminism and disability activism, I couldn’t more strongly recommend F.R.I.D.A. as a source to add to your blog readers.

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Yesterday was the day to blog about the Congo rape epidemic. As Sunday is my day off from blogging, I missed it — but as I always say when I come in late to these things (a specialty of mine), it’s better late than never, and it’s not too late for you to participate either.

I was unfortunately not able to watch the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, since I don’t have HBO, and I hope that it will be soon available through another outlets for those of us who don’t have access. But I’m happy that it has been made and that it has inspired bloggers to engage on this difficult topic.

It’s human nature to want to ask “who is responsible?” And the obvious answer is “the rapists.” This is absolutely true; of course they are responsible. But this type of epidemic does not materialize from nothingness. When rape is allowed to exist this rampantly and for so long, when weapons and funding do not appear out of thin air, when the world’s richest and most powerful nations turn away or ask simply and disinterestedly “what can we do?”, we must hold others accountable. And as Anxious Black Woman notes, among them are the Corporate Rapists, those who benefit financially from the conflict through their pillaging of the land’s natural resources. She prints a partial list of those corporations that absolutely must be disseminated as far and wide as we can manage:

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You may have heard that two days ago, a British politician was revealed to be behind a far-right blog that spews prejudice at every turn. Among Nick Eriksen’s most offensive comments were those regarding rape (trigger warning).

The Standard can reveal that Nick Eriksen, the BNP’s London organiser and the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly, is the author of “Sir John Bull,” a notorious far-Right blog which has regularly advocated hatred and abuse against women. The disclosure will be a serious blow to the BNP’s hopes of London electoral success.

On 24 August 2005, Mr Eriksen wrote: “I’ve never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime … Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

“To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that forcefeeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.

“The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors.”

As far as conservative nutjobs go, Eriksen is extreme. Based on his other blog posts, I honestly don’t think it’s possible for him to look at a woman with anything but vile contempt. And the British National Party? They’re terrifying, and run almost entirely on a platform of making racism acceptable. There’s also the fun irony of the fact that they are “tough on crime” and support “the rights of victims” — no, really, they support corporal punishment for vandals and petty thieves. Which can only mean Eriksen thinks that spray painting graffiti on a wall is worse than raping your girlfriend.

We’re not dealing with your average misogynist, but once the shock wears off, I find Eriksen’s comments to be absolutely fascinating. And significant.

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I just wanted to drop a quick note to acknowledge that today kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Click the link for more ways to get involved. Here’s one suggestion: if you haven’t noticed the badge in the sidebar, April 3rd is Blog Against Sexual Violence day, scheduled to coincide with A Day to End Sexual Violence. The theme this year for both the awareness month and the blogswarm is sexual violence in the workplace.

I, of course, will be participating. I urge you to get involved, too, particularly if you write for a blog that doesn’t generally deal with sexual violence issues. I can keep hammering away about rape until I get carpal tunnel, but at the end of the day I still write for a feminist blog. And the people it is most important to reach are the kind who wouldn’t be caught dead with the URL of a feminist blog in their browser history.

You don’t have to blog about the theme topic — any subject matter regarding sexual violence will do. I don’t think that my post will be on sexual violence in the workplace, though I haven’t yet picked a topic (suggestions are welcome!). Though I blog about sexual assault rather regularly, I will make a special effort this month to cover those issues even more, as much as the rest of the crazy misogynist news will allow. I’d particularly like to highlight activist groups that are working to combat sexual violence, and I’m especially interested in community-based work and innovative approaches. If you know something that fits that bill, please do let me know!

For a real post highlighting the importance of this month, check out Marcella. And then, while you’re there, sign up to blog against sexual violence on the 3rd and grab yourself a blog badge.

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As I briefly mentioned earlier, yesterday was International Sex Workers Rights Day. I missed it; I didn’t know that it was going on until I’d already posted for the day, and I just didn’t have the time for a second post. So I planned to write about it today instead. I felt slightly guilty about that, but now that I’m well aware that the issue didn’t get nearly as much coverage as it should have, I feel really guilty. I tell you this not only by way of explanation, but also to say that if you blog, I know it’s easy to miss things and to not blog about something when you should. And it’s not too late to make it right.

That being said, to those who purposely avoided blogging on the topic, I understand why. Talking about sex work causes fighting, and not the feminist vs. troll kind, but the feminist vs. feminist kind. Positioning yourself in that argument isn’t a fun thing to do, particularly if you think that each side has at least a couple of good points, and it’s easy to avoid the question all together (this is of course, what we call “privilege”). But that doesn’t make avoiding it right. I’m fine with everyone voicing their opinions, but I do want to let everyone know up front that I will not allow things to get ugly, personal or insulting. And while I’m not going to insist that everyone post from a pro-decriminalization standpoint, I do insist that comments come from a perspective that promotes rights for sex workers — however you believe that those rights are best obtained. I’ve never had to ban a feminist before, or even ask one to stop posting; please don’t make me start today.

So. Why sex workers’ rights? Well, it’s pretty simple. Even those sex workers who enjoy their jobs get a hell of a raw deal. All around the world, sex workers are: investigated and arrested for making a living, deported even when there is evidence of non-consent, left without any form of job security, gang-raped and abused by their bosses but left without recourse for fear that they themselves will be arrested, and arrested for mere suspicion of prostitution, including carrying condoms (which only discourages safer sex).

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Today is the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. And that means it’s also Blog For Choice Day.

This year’s theme is about politics: why is it important to vote pro-choice? I looked at this question for a while and felt stumped. I vote for candidates who support reproductive health for the same reason that I vote for any issue: because I believe in it. That’s clear enough. But more specifically, we need to vote pro-choice because simply being pro-choice is not enough.

Those of us who have been paying attention know perfectly well that Roe is under attack. And 2007 was a particularly interesting year. The Roberts-led Supreme Court upheld the “partial-birth abortion” ban that has no exception for a woman’s health, despite its direct conflict with Roe. States have been tripping over themselves to pass “trigger laws” that would outlaw abortion immediately if Roe was overturned. State legislators have also been proposing an endless amount of misogynist bills that would restrict the right to an abortion: all out bans, “informed consent” laws that lie to women, laws requiring forced, medically unnecessary renovations to abortion clinics, laws requiring that women get permission from their fetus’ fathers before having an abortion, and laws granting legal rights to fetuses, or even to fertilized eggs.

Not all of the legislation, thank god, has been passed. Too much of it has. And some we’re still waiting on.

We’ve also faced attempts to shut down clinics, direct harassment doctors who perform abortions and outrageous abuse of the legal system. All of these attacks were politically motivated. And our elected officials were either a part of the problem or part of the solution.

We’ve also got the long-standing battles. There’s the Hyde Amendment, which basically rendered the Roe decision irrelevant for millions of low-income women. Internationally, we’ve got the Global Gag Rule to contend with. And though Congress has recently tried to repeal all or parts of this unjust law that has killed innumerable women overseas, it was a fruitless endeavor. Because we have an anti-choice president.

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[cross-posted from Feministe]

Via Laurelhel and BFP, today is the International Day of Action Against the Northern Territory Intervention. The Northern Territory is a territory in Australia that is sparsely populated and largely made up by Aboriginal people, whose ancestors were the original inhabitants of Australia and the victims of white colonization.

The Day of Action is based around a hugely racist and imperialistic “intervention” on behalf of the Australian government in Aboriginal communities, purportedly designed to combat child abuse, but instead resulting in gross human rights violations.

I wouldn’t expect most people who have not lived in Australia to be familiar with the history of Australian Aboriginals — many Australians themselves aren’t, and though I lived there three years I’m not nearly as knowledgeable as I should be. But I have put together a very brief, very simplified overview of the negative “highlights,” because the current actions cannot be divorced from historical oppression. I invite anyone who is more knowledgeable to fill in the blanks and, though I have taken care with accuracy, to correct me if and where I am wrong.

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One might ask why a feminist blogger is writing about disability rights. I’ll be honest and say that until I heard of this blogswarm and read more about the Jerry Lewis Telethon, it was an issue that I had given incredibly little thought. But the answer is easy. I’m advocating for the disabled for the same reason that I advocate for people of color and the LGBTQ community, even though I am white and straight. Firstly, women are inexorably a part of these communities. Secondly, one cannot fight for the equal rights of herself honestly and in good conscience without demanding the same for others.

I’d like to try, for a moment, to filter the issue of Disability Rights through a feminist perspective.

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Via Miss Crip Chick:

Jerry Lewis is the host of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Annual Telethon, a telethon that occurs every Labor Day to raise funds for cures by using disabled people as posterchildren. Disabled people protest the telethon because of its outdated, negative portrayal of disabilities. These images that the telethon promotes sticks in people’s minds and continually serve as a barrier for disabled people. Disability is not the problem, but rather the attitudes and barriers that society places on us.

You can learn more about why Disability Rights Advocates protest the telethon and why anyone who fights for equal rights should care about this issue.

I will be participating in this blogswarm on Monday. More bloggers are needed. If you have a blog, and ever write about issues involving equal rights and/or discrimination, please consider taking part. You can sign up via Miss Crip Chick’s blog. This is a great opportunity to learn more about a movement that is almost entirely overlooked and to build alliances. I hope to see some of you there!

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the BlogHers Act Initiative, and suggested the issue of rape and sexual assault to be spotlighted. The suggestions have been collected, and the survey is up. Help choose what you think the issue should be– and also what you think the issue should not be.

Remember, the chosen issue is going to be spotlighted by women bloggers for a full year, so pick an issue that both really matters to you, and doesn’t get enough media attention. Anyone can vote– male, female, blogger or non-blogger. And it takes only about two minutes, so get your ass over there! Voting ends on July 8.

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I’m not going to lob a bunch of statistics at you. How many lives do we have to save, how many pregnancies do we have to prevent, anyway, to convince people that kids actually have the right to know about their own bodies?Yes, sex education does save lives (hell, I have a water bottle with that slogan on it). Sex education, though, is also an issue of human rights. The question is, do we believe that human being have a right to pleasure? Do we believe that they have a right to bodily autonomy? Do we believe that they have the right to love and understand their bodies? I do.

We live in a society that is both terrified of and obsessed by sex, and it is a society refusing to make things different for its children. Sex is dirty. Sex is forbidden. Sex is illicit. Sex is something that can’t really be respected, so why respect yourself and your partner in the process?

I volunteer with Planned Parenthood, so obviously this issue is one that’s close to my heart. The woman I work under in the Education and Outreach department has told me a story about the time that she tried running a seminar on how to talk to your children about sexuality. She started with a video about how children are sexual beings, that they will explore their bodies and touch their sexual organs, and this is completely natural. By the time the video was over, more than half of the parents had gotten up and left.

Parents don’t want their children to be sexual. But hell, children don’t want their parents to be sexual either. There’s nothing you can do in that regard but face it. And the longer we keep denying it, the worse our society and our society’s views towards what constitutes healthy sexuality are going to get.

Proper sex education not only includes instructions about how to use a condom, where to get birth control pills and what the symptoms of STDs are. It also includes lengthy discussions about sexual readiness and consent. I strongly believe that our society’s shameful views towards sex assist the patriarchy in perpetuating rape culture. If we don’t ever talk about sex, we don’t ever talk about consent. And if we don’t talk about consent, no one really “knows” what rape is, and that means it can just keep happening.

We need to talk to kids about the importance of sexuality in their lives, about the importance of knowing and enjoying their bodies, about the importance of masturbation, about the importance of reciprocal pleasure. We need to do that in a queer-friendly way. And yes, if we ever want women to truly control their own bodies, we need to talk to kids about affirmative consent and respectful, healthy sexual relationships. And then, and only then, can we talk about safer sex in a meaningful way. Only then can we say that we’re really providing “sex education” to our nation’s children.

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Some of the “conversations” we have in this country astound me. This is one of them.

It seems that history repeats itself in this country before the previous chapter is even closed. In the past century, there has been both the Civil Rights movement and the Women’s Rights movement. Though things have improved for both people of color and women, those battles are far from over. Most of the country, despite generally failing to see the more subtle and institutionalized inequities, agrees that outright discrimination against these groups is wrong.

And yet, here we are, with a movement for LGBTQ rights.

This is not, no matter which way you spin it, an issue of morality, religion or tradition. This is an issue of equity and justice. To disallow same-sex marriage is fundamentally discriminatory. It is also nothing more than discrimination to disallow those in same-sex relationships parenting rights equal to those of opposite-sex biological and adoptive parents.

So what, exactly, are we discussing? Our media likes to talk about “the sanctity of marriage” and the “immorality” of homosexuality. None of this, I have to stress, matters one bit. This is a very simple issue. The question is, do you believe that some humans deserve more rights than others? Do you believe that there are people who fundamentally lack the right to the same privileges that you have?

Unfortunately for all of us, too many Americans are still answering that question with a “yes.” And until we find a way to change their answers, I’m afraid that we’re going to be watching history on a loop.

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