Category Archives: Feminism and Politics

Biden’s Plan to Fight Domestic Violence

Women’s eNews reports that Senator and Presidential-hopeful Joseph Biden plans to introduce bills in the spring to continue his work against domestic violence. (Biden was the author of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.) Two key parts of his … Continue reading

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“There is widespread poverty. We have to sell off our children to survive. We are not proud of it, but we have to do it.”

Those are the final sentences of this article, entitled “Starving Afghans sell girls of eight as brides.” Below is an excerpt: Azizgul is 10 years old, from the village of Houscha in western Afghanistan. This year the wheat crop failed … Continue reading

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“Today at The Women’s Media Center: Progressive Women and the Pelosi Strategy”

From an e-mail: “When the House reconvenes tomorrow, legislators will turn their attention to a critical part of the new Speaker’s 100 hours agenda: implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. But in her on scene commentary from the Hill, … Continue reading

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Despite the Party Shift, The Plurality Religion of Congress Remains Catholicism

According to this article: The new Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history.Roman Catholics remain the largest single faith group in Congress, accounting for 29 … Continue reading

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Will “Macho Dems” Protect Reproductive Freedoms?

The NYT’s latest “week in review” column is entitled “The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat.” Here is one chilling excerpt: “Presidential politics, but also the rest of national political leadership, has a lot to do with the understandable desire … Continue reading

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Firsts!

Columbia, SC got its first female fire marshal in Carmen Floyd, and oh yeah, Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Bittersweet Change of Position

Recalling Justice Powell’s famous recantation of his vote in Bowers v. Hardwick, former chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs under President Clinton John M. Shalikashvili has changed his position on gays and lesbians in the military. He now says … Continue reading

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Top Five Women’s Health Stories of 2006

The top women’s health stories of 2006 as determined by the Society for Women’s Health Research are: 1. FDA Approves a Vaccine to Prevent Cervical Cancer 2. Emergency Contraceptive Gains Over the Counter Approval 3. Mounting Evidence about the Dangers … Continue reading

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If You Missed The NYT’s Gender Pay Gap article…

Read it here or here. Some related commentary by Echidne of the Snakes here.

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Sign a Card for Nancy Pelosi!

Here, via NOW. Information about other NOW “Action Alerts” here.

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“Elizabeth Edwards, Online and For Real”

Elizabeth Edwards talks about blogging here. Via Discourse.net.

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Let’s Hear It for Abstinence-Only Education!

Because it’s really such wonderful public policy in a country in which more than 90% of the people have premarital sex . . . and that number hasn’t really changed in more than five decades. – David S. Cohen

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Difference and Sameness

Below are newspaper articles I have re-typed exactly from stories that appear in today’s issue of “The Hindu”: Woman drinks acid, dies HYDERABAD: A woman, T. Vidya, 45 years, committed suicide at Malkajgiri on Monday allegedly unable to cope with … Continue reading

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Film Categorization and Censorship in the UK

While doing some research on censorship I came across a 2002 essay by Jan Chambers, someone who resigned from the British Board of Film Categorization. Below is an excerpt: I resigned as an examiner in June after six months, wearied … Continue reading

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Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Congratulations to Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are expecting a child in late spring. While of course it’s wonderful that they are, presumably, happy and excited to build … Continue reading

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And the Male Equivalent of “Diplomatic Debutante” Is?

From the NYT’s caption for this photo: “Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate for French president, learned that the Middle East can be dangerous for a diplomatic debutante.” And the first sentence of the associated article, entitled “A Candidate Abroad, or … Continue reading

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The Plight of Soldier Suzanne Swift

Army Spec. Suzanne Swift went AWOL and refused a second deployment to Iraq last June after a seargent in her chain of command coerced her into having sex with him. Swift says several of his colleagues also sexually harrassed her. … Continue reading

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NARAL Poll: “Choice is a Winning Issue”

According to NARAL: NARAL Pro-Choice America ran independent-expenditure campaigns aimed at persuading and motivating pro-choice women voters in six targeted congressional districts – Arizona’s 1st, Arizona’s 5th, Arizona’s 8th, Iowa’s 1st, Pennsylvania’s 7th, and Pennsylvania’s 8th.   Five of these … Continue reading

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The World Economic Forum’s “Global Gender Gap Report 2006”

The report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women: 1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment 2. Educational attainment – outcomes … Continue reading

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Nancy Levit: “Theorizing the Connections Among Systems of Subordination”

Here is the abstract: Theorizing the Connections Among Systems of Subordination introduces a symposium that addresses issues on the leading edge of identity theory, race theory, and critical social theory. It explains the concepts of anti-essentialism, intersectionality, multiple consciousness, multi-dimensionality, … Continue reading

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Nobel Winner Shirin Ebadi on Bombs and Exploitive Sex Work

From Reuters via the WaPo: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said on Saturday nations with nuclear capabilities should spend money to stop exploitation of women instead of making bombs. The lawyer, in India to promote women’s rights, said … Continue reading

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Eric Keroack

Think the Bush Administration is going to tame its extremism in this lame duck period or over the next two years? Think again, at least with respect to its policies on women. Earlier this month, Bush appointed Eric Keroack to … Continue reading

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Women Sold Out For Political Gain in Nicaragua

Nicaragua Eliminates Last Exception to Strict Anti-Abortion Law: … Abortion has been illegal in Nicaragua for more than a century, and most women who decide to end unwanted pregnancies seek procedures at underground clinics. But the new law strikes out … Continue reading

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More About Pornography

Here’s the first paragraph of an essay Aura Bogado published at ZNet in June of 2005: In August of last year, just days before the Republican National Convention in New York, I received an email from a local (Los Angeles) … Continue reading

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Robert Jensen on Pornography

Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin who writes critically about pornography. To say that being anti-pornography is a culturally unpopular view is to put it lightly, and he doubtlessy spends a lot of … Continue reading

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Update From NARAL Pro-Choice America

Molly W. Jackson of NARAL Pro-Choice America writes:     I just wanted to pass along this report and share with you some of the misinformation that is floating around regarding, among other things,  how choice played in the ’06 … Continue reading

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“Progressives Set To Be Largest Democratic Congressional Caucus”

From the Feminist Daily News Wire: US Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), have announced that they expect at least seven new members of Congress to join the CPC and … Continue reading

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The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund: “Sixty-seven Victory-endorsed candidates were elected to federal, state and local offices, with some winning historic races that make them the first openly gay or lesbian candidates ever elected in their states or legislative bodies.”

Press release with more information here.

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So Now The U.S. Senate Will Be Lead By A Democrat Who Opposes Abortion

And via this NYT article we learn that upon hearing that Britney Spears had filed for divorce Harry Reid said: “She loses a little weight, and now she’s getting all cocky about things.”He added,”Britney has gotten her mojo back.”Ugh. Thanks … Continue reading

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So Much Good News: Deval Patrick New Massachusetts Gov!

The NYT reports: Democrat Deval Patrick, a former top U.S. civil-rights enforcer, was elected governor of Massachusetts on Tuesday, becoming the second black ever elected to lead a U.S. state. Breaking a 16-year Republican hold on the office in the … Continue reading

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“Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood” Before The Supreme Court Today

Good overview with links at Our Bodies, Our Blog. Background and legal documents are available here or here. In related and very happy news, y’all no doubt already know that that South Dakota voters voted to overturn that state’s abortion … Continue reading

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Madam Speaker

I have not always been in agreement with Nancy Pelosi‘s views and actions in the past, and I am sure I will have concerns about things she does or does not do in the future, but watching her ascend to … Continue reading

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Why I Hate Voting In South Carolina

It’s the lines. I’ve lived and voted in six states: New York, Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and South Carolina. I’ve never experienced long weights anywhere else like I do in SC. In November 2000 it took me four hours to … Continue reading

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One Weird Mobile Billboard

Stupidly, I thought it was a joke. It wasn’t: … No Democrat has won the district in more than 30 years, but Paccione is putting up such a challenge that Bush came to town to try and give Musgrave a … Continue reading

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The Lancet Has Posted Its Series On Sexual And Reproductive Health Online

The series homepage is here. Registration (free) enables online access to the six constituent articles. Here is the summary for the first article, entitled “Sexual and reproductive health: a matter of life and death“: Despite the call for universal access … Continue reading

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Sex Trafficking in Iraq and Syria

According to this Guardian Unlimited article: Um Ahmad, as she was known to the girls, had it all planned out. From Baghdad to the border and on to Damascus and a new life, Mona and her three Iraqi friends didn’t … Continue reading

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Female Virgina Voters are “Queens For A Day”?

According to the NYT: “In Virginia Race, Women Make the Difference” Here is an excerpt: In the final stretch before Election Day, both candidates have high-profile Virginia women campaigning on their behalf. Mary Matalin, the Republican strategist, is urging women … Continue reading

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Ellen Goodman Asks: “Have you noticed how much dress and undress matter? Even to prime ministers? Have you also noticed how many women believe they are making their own choices when they are actually caught in a cultural vise?”

Read her recent column, “Undressing for Halloween,” in which she observes: Here in America, our Halloween revelers have only the scantiest — and I do mean scantiest — idea of how the market has shaped the options that they regard … Continue reading

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The NYT Has A 2006 Elections Blog

Full sized version here. Notice anything all the bloggers have in commmon? Via Laura Quilter at Derivative Work.

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Linda DeRiviere, “A human capital methodology for estimating the lifelong personal costs of young women leaving the sex trade”

This article appeared in Feminist Economics (July 2006). Here is the abstract: This article combines case study interviews with the tools of economic cost-benefit analysis to estimate the lifelong effects for individuals in Manitoba, Canada, who began engaging in prostitution … Continue reading

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The Path To Marriage In New Jersey

A few days ago the NJ Supreme Court stopped short of ordering full marriage rights for same-sex couples.   Instead, the court ordered the legislature to institute a system of equal benefits and rights for them, whatever that system may … Continue reading

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Decision in NJ Same-Sex Marriage Case

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that denying same-sex couples the benefits that opposite-couples receive through marriage violates the New Jersey Constitution and that the state legislature should determine the appropriate remedial steps.   The Court reasoned: Denying committed … Continue reading

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Shabby

Over at Jurisdynamics, Jim Chen notes that Gerry Studds, America’s first openly gay member of Congress, died last week but his surviving spouse, Dean Hara, has become the first congressional spouse to be denied death benefits. He calls it “shabby” … Continue reading

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Women are “hos” in Republican PAC’s radio ads targeting African American voters

The excerpt below appears in an anti-abortion radio ad produced by a self-described black conservative who claims that “George Bush was re-elected president in 2004 because of an effective advertising campaign that brought our message to African American voters.” The … Continue reading

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Riverbend Has A New Post Up

After a long lapse, Baghdad Burning has been updated. Read Riverbend’s discussion of the Lancet Study concerning the number of Iraqi deaths since the war started, here. Among other observations, she writes: We literally do not know a single Iraqi … Continue reading

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“First woman wins Bahrain parliament seat”

According to this Yahoo News article: A British-educated civil servant has become the first-ever female to serve as an elected member of Bahrain’s parliament, the Gulf kingdom said Tuesday. Eighteen women are among 221 candidates vying for seats in the … Continue reading

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Flaming the Messenger

At the Blogher blog, Kim Pearson reported: When Alternet editor Laura Barcella used the word “femicide” in a blog item about a report from the Violence Policy Center that analyzed state-by-state statistics on the killing of women by men, she … Continue reading

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Feminists Can Too Be Funny

U.K. feminist blogger Witchy-woo wrote about a woman in England who was unable to obtain the “morning after” pill because her pharmacist declined to provide it, asserting that”it was against his religious beliefs.”Witchy-woo’s post is at her blog: Well I’ll … Continue reading

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Feminist Law Profs and Others Respond to NY Times Article on Voting Rights in Mississippi

A group of professors, led by Feminist Law Prof Kathleen Bergin (South Texas College of Law) and including Feminist Law Profs Margaret Montoya (University of New Mexico) and  Tracy McGaugh (South Texas College of Law), plans to submit the following … Continue reading

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The San Francisco Chronicle’s Series on Sex Trafficking

Part one Part two Part three Part four How the paper reported the series And…finding help: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Global Fund for Women, The Protection Project, Human Rights Watch Campaign Against the Trafficking of Women and Girls, Global … Continue reading

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