Her campaign has already propelled her to Kazakhstan, where she is headed later this month for the liftoff of the International Space Station’s next crew. Her mentor and “orbital pen pal,” Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, is part of the crew. According to MSNBC, Abby will serve as Parmitano’s “Earth Liaison” during his mission:

Harrison will be attending the Soyuz launch at Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as Parmitano’s guest, and she plans to send back dispatches about her travels. During Parmitano’s six-month mission on the space station, Astronaut Abby will be checking in on a daily basis as the astronaut’s “Earth Liaison.” She’ll pass along what she finds out via email blasts, blog items, Facebook updates, Twitter tweets and maybe even the occasional Google+ Hangout.

In addition to her amazing campaign, Abby is also juggling high school. Talk about a go-getter! She is an inspiration to young girls and women everywhere. Whether she realizes it or not, she’s quite literally dispelling the myth that girls are neither interested in nor good at S.T.E.M. Let’s get a “woot woot” for Abby, and help her get to Mars one day!

I’m always a fan of powerful, thought-provoking ads (except those that are all rape-y). The first ad of the King Khalid Foundation’s No More Abuse campaign in Saudi Arabia is a great example. The ad (pictured above) features a visibly battered woman in a burqa with the caption, “Some things can’t be covered. Fighting women’s abuse together.” It really packs a punch (bad pun intended), as well it should: the country ranks number 131 out of 148 in terms of gender parity, according to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report.

Saudi Arabia — where women must have a male guardian — is plagued by domestic violence, which often goes unreported. This isn’t surprising, given the country’s political, economic and social institutions that systematically deny women rights (ahem, voting, driving cars, inheritance…the list goes on. And on.). It stands to reason that when one is barred from participating in political life and is greatly restrained in the public sphere, empowerment within the home is nearly impossible to realize.

Hopefully this campaign will continue to draw attention to the issue and help make a positive impact for the women of Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that there are other rays of hope on the horizon; in 2011, King Abdullah declared that women can vote in 2015 (hopefully rhetoric will translate to action), and the kingdom’s religious police recently lifted a ban preventing women from riding bikes (although they still must be covered from head-to-toe and be accompanied by a male). The latter may sound silly to Western feminists, but in a country where women must obtain the permission of a male relative to so much as open a bank account or travel, each and every baby step counts.

That said, the global community should not heave a sigh of relief over these baby steps; there are serious leaps and bounds to be made. It is incumbent upon the international community to pressure the Saudi patriarchy to abandon its medieval view of women and discriminatory practices. Saudi women deserve freedom — freedom to and freedom from. 

A judge in North Dakota plans to issue a ruling permanently blocking the state’s restrictions on medication abortion as unconstitutional. See RH Reality Check.

New Zealand Parliament approves same-sex marriage. See Ms. Magazine.

FGM in Somalia is on the decline. See Associated Press.

In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed to death in an apartment complex in Queens.  After the incident, the public was outraged to hear that there were 38 people who did nothing to help her despite hearing her cries for help.  Although the number of bystanders that actually heard her cries has been refuted, her death inspired decades of research on why people do not intervene to help someone in need.  More than forty years after Genovese’s death we still struggle to understand the multitude of reasons why people do not intervene (see Sandusky. Lululemon. Yeardley Love.  Clementi.).  After a tragedy occurs, people admonish those who were aware of the abusive or violent behavior for not doing anything or not doing enough.

There are two problems with this form of public scorn.  First, the criticism often overemphasizes the role of the bystander and inappropriately shifts the blame from the offender who committed the violence to the bystander who did not stop it.  A few years ago, I attended a workshop where a convicted sex offender and his wife spoke about the years he was abusing his grandchildren.  At the end of their presentations, the workshop facilitator asked if anyone had any questions for the panelists, and a few people raised their hands.  Each of their questions asked his wife in one way or another: “how did you not know what was going on?”  No one could look at the offender in the eyes and say: “how could you?”

Second, we are not superheroes that can swoop in to save the proverbial “damsel in distress.”  Witnessing a violent crime can be shocking if not traumatic for a bystander.  Your brain tries to convince you that what you are seeing is not actually happening.  Denial and minimization are easier roads than admitting the horror that people perpetrate.  Many people, especially those who have been fortunate enough to be unaffected by violent crime, prefer to believe that we live in a “just world” where violence does not happen to people unless they deserve it.  If the person brought the violence upon himself or herself, we are somehow absolved of our responsibility to try to help.

In my research in this area, I find that victim blaming becomes a convenient excuse for inaction.  This is particularly true in situations of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.  When we are not focusing on the bystanders’ inaction, we focus on the victim’s behavior.  We ask “what was she doing wearing THAT?” or “why did she let herself get so intoxicated?” or “she should have known better than to date someone like that.”  The persistence of these attitudes has dangerous consequences: we do not try to help, victims do not seek help and offenders are not held accountable and re-offend (pdf).  In addition, my research has found that women internalize these messages and consider themselves safe from harm if they, say, wear pants instead of a skirt to the club, don’t hang out with the “wrong people” or drink before going to a party so they don’t get drugged.

I’m going to assume that the readers of this blog are less likely to victim blame and more likely to try to help survivors than the general population.  So I ask you: what would it take to create a world where bystanders felt they could stand up to or speak up for someone in need of third party assistance?  Each of us has a different threshold and tolerance for when or why we might try to stand up to or for someone in our lives.  We have to reframe our understanding of the breadth of roles bystanders can play.  The early bystander intervention research in the 1970s primarily focused on the role bystanders could play during an incident.  However, in cases of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, potential interveners are not necessarily present during the incident.  According to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (1993-1999),  bystanders were not present in 71% of rapes or sexual assaults and in 64% of violent crimes perpetrated by intimate partners (Planty, 2002).

Therefore, we have to take a step back and consider each level of prevention within a socioecological framework (pdf).  Often, in situations of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, friends and peers of the victim or perpetrators are most likely to witness, if not the actual act of violence, the precursors or the aftermath, therefore we must expand our understanding of when bystanders can intervene – not just during an incident but also before or after.  This is important because, frankly, no matter how tough I am or how important these issues are to me, I am not ever going to physically interrupt a potentially violent situation.  I have other skills to offer, however, as a friend or a stranger to someone.  So do you.  Each one of us can play a role in addressing violence against women – whether it is interrupting a rape joke or lobbying for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  To end sexual assault, intimate partner violence and stalking, we need to not only challenge offenders and support survivors but we need to challenge the culture of silence surrounding these crimes.  Each one of can play a role – no matter how small – as bystanders.  As Marian Wright Edelman once said: “we must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Yes. You read that right.

Normally, these anti-choice politicos like to make themselves appear less nut-so by including rape exceptions in their attempts to curb abortion access. But not Rep. Cathrynn Brown (yes, a WOMAN!). If she has her way, a rape victim who ends her pregnancy would be charged with a third-degree felony for “tampering with evidence.”

According to the Huffington Post, the bill stipulates:

“Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime.”

Third-degree felonies in New Mexico carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Because further victimizing and criminalizing pregnant rape survivors is clearly the way to reduce abortion. Never mind things like contraception, free childcare and comprehensive sexual education. And let’s not overlook the fact that this places the burden of proof on the victim, not the perpetrator, which is completely ass backwards.

Sound off and let Rep. Brown know this is unacceptable and cruel. Email her at cath@cathrynnbrown.com.

Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women in nearly all industries. This is despite the fact that women receive the same education, with the same tuition price tags and levels of debt upon graduation. The only major differences are that there are more ladies in college and they have better average GPAs to boot. The benefits of paying women their fair share include increasing the GDP while reducing the poverty rates for families.

Interested in what exactly this pay gap effects? Check out this nifty infographic and prepare to get angry:

http://www.learnstuff.com/equal-education-unequal-pay/

What was all this nonsense about childbirth “being totally worth it”?! I’m kidding. Sort of.

After those first grueling weeks, which I endured like a champ, I was hit with postpartum depression seemingly out of nowhere. Right as I was sliding into a comfort zone as a new mother and gaining confidence that one day soon I’d be able to hold an adult conversation again, the proverbial rug was yanked out from underneath me.  I spent countless hours sobbing, couldn’t eat, suffered from insomnia, and was convinced my life was over.  I felt like a terrible mother – I have this gorgeous, happy and healthy little human and I couldn’t stop crying or screaming at my husband long enough to appreciate my good fortune. I was crumbling on the inside and, like an out of body experience, was watching myself push loved ones away in the midst of uncontrollable outbursts.

It took weeks of urging from my husband, parents and friends before I relented and sought professional help. Today, I question why I waited. It boils down to one word: stigma. Women are supposed to love motherhood and embrace it with an almost unspeakable enthusiasm. So what was wrong with me?

I’ve spent way too much time pulling at that thread, and while doing so, realized that the stigma associated with postpartum depression is not unlike that of other “women’s” issues: rape, abortion, domestic violence.  Each of these involves complex emotions and they are, statistically speaking, widely shared experiences. However, they are also largely shrouded in silence, with expectations of guilt and shame. The feminist community has rallied around rape and domestic violence victims and has worked tirelessly to eliminate stigma surrounding abortion. And while postpartum depression is a complicated multi-layered issue, its feminist component is coming into sharper focus by the day.

By definition, postpartum depression is entwined with motherhood, which itself is extremely politicized and scrutinized: from how and where a woman gives birth, to whether and how long she breastfeeds, to her decision to stay at home or work, etc. It’s an issue that the feminist community has become increasingly vocal about. So why the silence around postpartum depression?

Postpartum depression is deserving of attention and action from multiple communities, including the feminist community. We need to raise our voices to increase public awareness of the issue, so that women do not feel stigmatized, and demand availability and access to support services. While it is experienced exclusively by women, postpartum depression has a ripple effect; and unless it’s addressed on a large scale, women and their families will continue to suffer in silence.

I firmly believe that speaking out about an issue is the first step in erasing its stigma. So this is me, speaking out and sharing my story, albeit a very abbreviated version.

Have you had experience with postpartum depression?

What does birth control mean to you? Please add your thoughts in the comments section below, and hop on over to Population Council’s website to contribute to their word cloud.

Also be sure to check out these great posts in honor of World Contraception Day:

• World Contraception Day: Myths, Rumors and Rubbish
• Crazy About Contraception (One Way or Another)
• Uncomfortable Conversations in Tanzania
• The Challenges Facing Sierra Leone’s Youth
• Educating Young People About Their Health and Rights
• Family Planning Around a Campfire
• A Few Questions & Answers for World Contraception Day

This Bowlmor Lanes advertisement is currently posted throughout New York City subways and reads, “Getting jumped in an alley has never been this much fun.”

Really?! Not that it needs to be said, but ENOUGH WITH THE RAPE CULTURE, ALREADY! And frankly, not only is it offensive as a woman and a rape survivor, it’s offensive as a consumer. Do the asshats at Bowlmor think so little of New Yorkers that they believe this rape-y campaign will draw us to their over-priced lanes like moths to a flame?

Bowlmor Lanes and NYC’s Metro Transit Authority (MTA) need to hear from us. They need to know that perpetuating rape culture and making light of sexual assault is unacceptable. Take action! Tell the MTA to remove the ad and call out Bowlmor CEO Tom Shannon on this disgrace: tshannon@bowlmor.com, 212-777-2214.

UPDATE: Tom Shannon responded to NOW-NYC’s call to remove the ad with the following:

“Our ad has nothing to do with rape and no reasonable person could interpret it in that way. No woman in this city of 15 million people has registered any problem with the ad except for the leadership of your organization. The ad is humorous and flirtatious and was conceptualized and written by two young women to whom it never occurred that the ad could be interpreted in such a twisted way.”

 

“NOW’s position on this is extreme and laughable…”

Q: As the Action Vice President for the National Organization of Women (NOW), your hands must be very full! Since the start of 2012, what, in your opinion, have been the biggest success(es) and the biggest defeat(s) for women in this country?

EM: I see the Affordable Care Act as the greatest piece of progressive legislation in my lifetime. It represents incredible advancement for women. Not just coverage of contraception (which is huge!), but ending what had been an epidemic of discrimination against women in the private insurance industry. The Supreme Court upholding it is the feminist story of 2012. A majority of the majority were women – Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan. And as the first woman Speaker of the House (at the time it was passed), Rep. Nancy Pelosi made it happen.

It’s over-the-moon exciting to see so many younger women rising online and in the streets. It’s audacious, it is creative, it is producing results. Susan G. Komen partially backtracking after cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell partially backtracking from an invasive ultrasound requirement for women seeking abortion care are two examples of the results. SlutWalks the year before were a sneak preview — I see 2012 as the year that younger women are indisputably seen by the media and the progressive community as holding the reins of the modern women’s movement.

Defeats, retch. Where to begin? Since the 2010 election cycle we have seen a record volume of attacks on reproductive rights at the federal and state levels. Ultrasound requirements, closing down clinics with unnecessary regulations, reopening contraception as a point of controversy for the first time in decades, relentless attacks on Planned Parenthood and family planning services for low-income women, abortion funding restrictions, race- and sex- selection bills targeting women of color, the Michigan representative barred from speaking after saying the word “vagina” in reference to a bill restrictive to a woman’s health, the list goes on and on. Then you have things like what happened with the Paycheck Fairness Act, with every Republican standing on the Senate floor voting to block debate – just debate, gang –of the bill when the vast majority in this country support the idea of a new law to ensure equal pay. And then you have the 18-year bipartisan tradition of supporting the Violence Against Women Act thrown into controversy for the first time, with radical right-wing ideologues leading a drive to actually roll back portions of the law that have saved the lives of countless women and children. There is a War on Women in the United States this year. It is real. It must end. The elections this fall are critical.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for feminist activists right now?

EM: The Internet is changing the dynamics of power in a really, really positive way. Hierarchies are flattening. It’s now possible for individuals to link up with a global movement and make it hyper-local without passing through gatekeepers. It’s possible for a small group of teenagers to improve a publication that has been promoting unrealistic beauty ideals for decades. This is an exciting, creative time for the feminist movement and specifically for the activists within it.

If President Obama is re-elected, which I know many fellow feminists are working with me to do, I think we’ll have opportunities to push for more progress. I’d love to see a push to get CEDAW, the United Nation women’s treaty, ratified by the end of a second Obama term. We are the only industrialized country yet to ratify, and come on, President Carter signed it and it has been waiting for Senate ratification since a time before I was born!

Q: Thankfully, there are many organizations dedicated to women’s rights activism. What separates NOW from the pack?

EM: The National Organization for Women covers all the issues that effects women’s lives, and we have a huge, independent chapter network around the country that is doing wonderful work every day.

Q: It’s very easy to read about issues and become incensed, but sometimes it seems daunting to actually move from “armchair” activism to active participation. For those interested in becoming more active in women’s rights issues, but don’t quite know where to start, what advice would you give them?

EM: Give yourself permission to try multiple ways into the movement, and see what works best. Sure, attend a NOW meeting, but also try linking up with other feminists online through some of the major blogs, like Feministing. Get on Twitter! Hook up with other local groups in your community. Check out a variety of ways to get involved. Sooner or later something will feel like the right place for you.

Q: Who are your feminist role models?

EM: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a model of grace, perseverance and possibility. And the next generation of outspoken, unapologetic feminist activists lights my fire!