This Is What Happened to CeCe
Cece McDonald stood up to bigots and survived a hate crime. Now she’s in the county jail waiting to be tried for second degree murder.
This is a story about intersectionality – what happens when a young trans woman of color goes up against white supremacy, misogyny and transphobia. It’s a story about what happens when you have to fight for your life.
...read moreWhat Komen Reveals About the Ugly Truth of American Politics
A must-read by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker:
...read moreThe people who have urged Komen to stop supporting Planned Parenthood aren’t opposed to breast-cancer screenings; they’re opposed to other services Planned Parenthood provides, which include contraception and abortion. But a campaign to sever the ties between a foundation that’s raising money to find a cure for breast cancer and a health-care provider that advocates for reproductive rights exposes more than a division over contraception and abortion. It exposes a gruesome truth about politics in this country.
Five Ways to Support Health for All Women
As Caperton covered yesterday, the Komen Foundation recently pulled $600,000 in annual funding for Planned Parenthood, making it even more difficult for low-income women to get necessary cancer screenings. Nona over at GOOD offers a list of five other ways to support women’s health, and offers organizations to support that don’t put so-called “pro-life” values ahead of actual women’s lives. If you’ve got some extra cash, consider putting it toward actual health care.
...read moreCome Talk about Women and the 2012 Election
On Monday Feb. 6th, I’ll be speaking at NYU Law with former President of Planned Parenthood Faye Wattleton, Director of MergerWatch Lois Uttley, and conservative scholar Christina Hoff Sommers about women and the 2012 election. It should be an interesting discussion — if you’re in New York, drop by! Just make sure you RSVP to ssb363@nyu.edu.
...read moreLady of the Hour: Janet Howell
Since anti-choice legislators are forcing women to undergo invasive and unnecessary ultrasounds before obtaining abortions — yes, that is a legal requirement that women be vaginally penetrated for no medical purpose other than to humiliate and emotionally manipulate them — Virginia State Senator Janet Howell has decided that maybe men should also be subjected to some less-than-necessary medical examinations for the privilege of being sexual creatures:
...read moreBirth Control: Kind of Like Pork Chops
“Pro-life” Catholic colleges are all salty about a new law requiring insurance plans to cover birth control. Because even though 98% of Catholic women will use contraception at some point in their lives, male Catholic leaders have decided that a baby is a gift from God and expecting insurance providers to cover birth control is like expecting pork to be served at a Jewish barbeque:
...read moreThe Power of Female Friendship
A truly excellent piece over at The Rumpus about female friends:
...read moreI was reminded of the Wrinklies, of my friends, of the ways in which they carry me, when I read A Train in Winter by Caroline Morehead, a remarkable book that tells the story of women French resistance fighters who were sent to Auschwitz and who survived by doing what women do: supporting, finding a way to love and nurture in situations marked by the absence of love, tenderness, sense, sanity, or even humanity. In a concentration camp they managed to make Christmas gifts out of string and sticks; they put on plays in their barracks; they supported the weaker women, often hiding them for roll call. They were “a team.”
The Invisible Mother
These images of mothers entirely covered in cloth so that their children are the focal point of the photograph are incredibly fascinating.
...read moreSorry, we’re all from the same planet.
People are from earth, regardless of gender:
...read moreFinally, when talking about evolved differences in behavior between males and females one cannot make statements like “when it comes to personality men and women belong to two different species” without noting the biological reality that we are, indeed, the same species. There are no consistent brain differences between the sexes [iii], there is incredible overlap in our physiological function [iv], we engage in sexual activity in more or less the same patterns [v], and we overlap extensively in most other behavior as well. There are some interesting re-occurring differences, particularly in patterns of aggression and certain physiological correlates of reproduction, muscle density, and body size. However, anthropological datasets show enormous complexity in how and why men and women behave the ways that they do [vi]. Studies in human biology and anthropology regularly demonstrate a dynamic flexibility and complex biocultural context for all human behavior, and this is especially true for gender.
Religion and Modesty
Some excellent thoughts from an Orthodox rabbi:
...read moreThe ultra-Orthodox men in Israel who are exerting control over women claim that they are honoring women. In effect they are saying: We do not treat women as sex objects as you in Western society do. Our women are about more than their bodies, and that is why their bodies must be fully covered.
Wax On, Wax Off
Heads up, ladies: We’re now not only supposed to wax off all of our pubic hair, but we’re supposed to re-attach a pubic hair wig to our freshly-waxed bits. But only a wig of real fox hair, of course. Anything less is just not luxury.
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