Archive | March, 2011

Back Up Your Birth Control!

30 Mar EC

Happy Back Up Your Birth Control day of action!! Today marks the 10th anniversary of the campaign, which aims to raise awareness of and expand access to Emergency Contraception (EC).

Before I began expounding on why you should back up your birth control, let me first address a couple of misconceptions about EC. First and foremost, THIS IS NOT THE ABORTION PILL. EC does not interfere with established pregnancies. Rather, it helps prevent pregnancy if taken up to 120 hours after birth control failure or unprotected sex (the sooner the better, of course).

Second, it is not dangerous or harmful to your health. As Planned Parenthood explains,

Emergency contraception is safe. Even though it’s made of the same hormone as the birth control pill, the morning-after pill does not have the same risks as taking the pill or other hormonal birth control methods continuously. That’s because the hormone in the morning-after pill is not in your body as long as it is with ongoing birth control.

Millions of women have used emergency contraception. It has been used for more than 30 years. There have been no reports of serious complications.

So, why back up your birth control with EC? Simply put, because accidents happen. You can be responsible and use a condom and suddenly find yourself on the receiving end of a “holy shit, the condom broke!” moment. Which, trust me, is no fun. It’s my personal version of hell.

And you know what? Even if you choose not to use birth control and engage in unprotected sex, it’s still your right to obtain EC. (Although there are plenty of folks out there who would love to judge and accordingly dispense EC only to “responsible” women whose birth control failed — or not at all, for that matter.)

And lest we not forget, rape also happens. Unwanted, unprotected sex happens every single day and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of EC than a rape victim.

The bottom line here is that you can’t control your destiny without control over your fertility. I firmly believe that the ability to choose if and when to become a parent is one of the most determining factors in one’s future success. So back up your birth control, ladies! EC is a friend, not a foe :)

To learn more about EC, go here. And for a chuckle, check out EC e-cards!

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Wal-Mart v. Women

29 Mar anti-walmart1

One of the ways I try to be a good feminist is to put my money where my ever-blabbing mouth is. This means no shopping at Wal-Mart, amongst other places. Yes, I love a good deal as much as the next person and try to save money wherever I can. But I refuse to do so at the expense of women.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, Wal-Mart’s legendary discrimination against women, of course. For example, the discount giant has been accused of:

women earning nearly a quarter less, on average, than men, despite greater average seniority and higher performance ratings; women concentrated in lower-paying hourly jobs and being paid less even when they held the same jobs as men; women receiving raises at a slower rate than men, thus expanding the pay gap; women waiting longer for promotions and serving in management in proportions dramatically lower than the retailer’s competitors. (Courtesty of the National Organization for Women)

Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the largest employment class action suit in history, representing 1.5 million women against Wal-Mart.

It’s taken a long time for this case to get to the SCOTUS; it’s gone through the  9th Circuit Court of Appeals three times already (each time it has upheld certification of the class-action suit).

And yet, as NOW points out in its most recent action alert, Wal-Mart argues that each employee should be forced to file their complaints on an individual basis because a group this large couldn’t possibly have enough in common to constitute a class.

OH REALLY?!

In response, NOW President Terry O’Neill has said:

The reason there are so many women in the suit is because Wal-Mart’s discrimination has been widespread and persistent. And now the captains of this ship want to be let off the hook because so many women were affected? Well, guess what: When you’re the biggest employer in the nation and the richest company in the world, and you get that way by paying unfair wages, you should expect to find yourself on the wrong end of a massive lawsuit one day. It comes with the territory, so Wal-Mart should stop trying to con its way out of court.

Amen.

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Links We Love

27 Mar extra-extra-paper

Happy reading…

She Ended the Men’s Club of National Politics, New York Times

Women Seeking Abortions in South Dakota to Get Anti-Abortion Advice, New York Times

Period Dolls and Other Educational Toys We’d Like to See, Jezebel

Colleges’ Rape Secret, The Daily

Shirtwaist Fire Leaves Work Hazards Smoldering, Women’s eNews

Anti-Abortion Bill Passes Idaho Senate, Feminist Wire Daily Newsbriefs

Libyan Rape Victim Silenced

26 Mar 27tripoli2-span-articleLarge-v2

My stomach is churning from the latest news out of Libya.

According to the New York Times, a woman who tried to report being gang raped by 15 members of Qaddafi’s militia was dragged away screaming:

A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli on Saturday morning in an attempt to tell journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia. After struggling for nearly an hour to resist removal by Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces, she was dragged away from the hotel screaming.

“They say that we are all Libyans and we are one people,” said the woman, who gave her name as Eman al-Obeidy, barging in during breakfast at the hotel dining room. “But look at what the Qaddafi men did to me.” She displayed a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to come from binding around her hands and feet.

She said she had been raped by 15 men. “I was tied up, and they defecated and urinated on me,” she said. “They violated my honor.”

[...]

There was a prolonged standoff behind the hotel as the security officials apparently restrained themselves because of the presence of so many journalists, but Ms. Obeidy was ultimately forced into a white car and taken away.

I have to applaud al-Obeidy for risking her life to speak out against the injustices committed against her, and likely against many others. And while I am pleased that her awful plight is being reported, her story highlights what so often baffles me: why are media reports of stories like these so interspersed? Gang rape, mass rape, politically motivated rapes happen EVERY DAY with mind-boggling frequency. And yet, it’s rarely explored by mainstream media outside of sensational one-off stories.

When will the media — and general public, for that matter — understand that widespread sexual violence against women is a matter of international security? When women are raped and violated, their families and communities also suffer, and regional safety and security become destabilized and threatened.

It’s very much a domino effect, especially when you consider the nauseating scale on which rape occurs in conflict-affected areas:

A woman is raped –>her honor and that of her family is decimated –> as a result, she is often ousted from her community –> the community then must absorb the loss of her contributions (i.e., economic, household, etc.) –> resources become stretched –> a community with reduced resources and members is more easily targeted.

Sigh.

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Even Blogs Need Vacation

11 Mar vacay

Hello sherights reader! This is just a quick note to let you know there won’t be any posts for the next couple of weeks, as I’ll be on vacation.

In my absence, please feel free to post in the comment section any links to stories you think are of interest. When I’m back, I’ll take a look and get back to blogging!

 

NYT: 11-Year-Old Gang Rape Victim To Blame

9 Mar victim blaming

That’s more or less the message behind yesterday’s New York Times article about an 11-year-old girl who was gang raped in Texas.

The girl was gang raped by 18 men and teenaged boys in an abandoned trailer home shortly after Thanksgiving. And yet, a central theme of the article is that somehow, the victim — a mere child — is at fault.

Exhibit A:

The case has rocked this East Texas community to its core and left many residents in the working-class neighborhood where the attack took place with unanswered questions. Among them is, if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?

How could the men have been drawn into rape?! As in, they were victims of some uncontrollable, outside force or influence that made them do it, and thus are less responsible for their actions?

Exhibit B:

Residents in the neighborhood…said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

When are people going to realize that what a girl wears does not in any way, shape or form, excuse the incredibly violent, humiliating act of rape?!

Exhibit C:

“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record. “How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?”

Right. Clearly it’s the victim’s and her mother’s fault, and not the rapists’ fault.

Exhibit C:

“It’s just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”

Oh yes, those poor, poor members of the community. You know, the ones who apparently think its acceptable to blame the victim for her attack because she wore makeup, and are concerned that these “boys” have to live with what they did. I’m sorry to ruin your day, Sheila, but those “boys” are violent, misogynistic rapists. What about the victim and what she has to deal with for the rest of her life?

This article is sloppy and dangerously irresponsible. By choosing to only include quotes that direct blame towards everyone BUT the rapists, the journalist comes across as a rape apologist. The effect? It reaffirms the victim-blaming attitude that plagues our society and perpetuates a culture that accepts violence against women.

This is a well-respected national newspaper with wide reach, and there is NO excuse for this. Let the New York Times know that this article is completely unacceptable by signing this petition and writing the Public Editor at public@nytimes.com.

Senate Rejects House’s Attempt to Defund PPFA!

9 Mar capitol-hill

Hats off to the Senate, which today rejected the House’s budget proposal that aimed to defund Planned Parenthood and family planning. WOO HOO!

According to an action alert I received from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the organization is planning a national lobby day as the War on Women continues:

Believe me, this is not over – not by a mile. We have to harness that energy to stop the entire anti-choice War on Women. That’s right – we still face extreme bills in Congress that could change women’s access to abortion and birth control forever. In fact, today a key House committee scheduled a third legislative hearing on H.R.3, the extreme “Stupak on Steroids” legislation, for next week.

Our next step is organizing a 5,000-person pro-choice lobby day in Washington, D.C. on April 7. We will be joined by our partners at Planned Parenthood and other major pro-choice organizations.

Great job — and many thanks — to all the pro-woman, pro-family planning activists who spoke out against the House’s attempt to defund Title X! Let’s keep it up!!!

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Women Get The Shaft in Economic Recovery

7 Mar unemployment

This past week, the National Women’s Law Center released data about the gender gap in the economy’s recovery. Unsurprisingly, it appears that women largely lost ground with regards to employment.

You can review all of the NWLC data here, but here are some highlights. Er, lowlights:

  • During the recovery, women lost 300,000 jobs, while men gained 622,000, a gap of 922,000 jobs
  • Over the course of the recovery, women’s overall unemployment rate increased from 7.7 percent to 8.0 percent while men’s dropped from 9.8 percent to 8.7 percent
  • Long-term unemployment worsened for women during the recovery

When you add this to the fact that women still only earn 75% of what their male counterparts earn, the outlook is pretty damn dismal.

It’s also worth noting that women are more concentrated in the public sector (think municipal jobs, education), which has faced particularly heavy cuts across the board. In other words, even if/when the GOP’s attention is diverted from reproductive rights issues, it’s still screwing women by taking away our work opportunities.

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Boehner Turns His Sights on Gay Marriage

4 Mar John Boehner

In the midst of  his myriad attacks on women, Boehner somehow has the time to also go after gay marriage.

According to the AP:

House Speaker John Boehner says he’s launching a legal defense of the federal law against gay marriage. The Ohio Republican announced Friday that he was convening a bipartisan legal advisory group to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. President Barack Obama has refused to defend the law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

I can’t say I’m surprised. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no.

In closing, I’d like to say: WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY, BOEHNER?! WHAT ABOUT JOBS?! While it’s great that you, as a wealthy, White male politician, have a job and are not suffering in this economy, I can’t say the same for many Americans. Stop worrying about my uterus and whether guys are holding hands and CREATE JOBS.

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House Advances Anti-Woman Agenda: HR3 Heads for Full Vote

3 Mar capitol-hill

Today, the House Judiciary Committee celebrated Women’s History Month by passing the vile piece of legislation known as HR3 out of committee. It will now proceed to the House for a full vote.

According to Talking Points Memo, 22 Republicans and one Democrat (Puerto Rico Del. Pedro Pierluisi) voted to approve HR3 in committee.

In case you aren’t familiar with the naming of legislation, HR3 literally means this is the third piece of legislation the Republican House has taken up. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t JOBS and the ECONOMY be in the top 3? And correct me if I’m wrong, but there aren’t any job openings in my uterus…so why do Republicans have to get all up in it?

In the event that you’ve forgotten all that HR3 encompasses, let’s refresh:

  • It manipulates the tax code to push forward an anti-choice — and anti-woman — agenda
  • It would make it virtually impossible for private insurance companies that participate in the new health system to offer abortion coverage to women
  • It denies pregnant women access to life-saving procedures via expanded conscience clauses

This bill is downright dangerous, especially when combined with its counterparts, HR358 and the recently passed Pence Bill (to de-fund Planned Parenthood).

Rep. John Conyers (D – Mich.) put it perfectly:

this bill seeks to expand restrictions in current law and to impose an unprecedented penalty — by use of the tax code — on privately funded healthcare choices made by women and their families. Its goal — and effect, if ever enacted — is to make abortion and coverage for abortion services completely unavailable.

What a way to honor women and all of our collective achievements! The very achievements that, incidentally, would not be possible without the opportunity to control our fertility. Just saying.

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