Not News: The War on Women Hasn’t Stopped. Every week, I look for signs of hope that the constant pressure against women living their lives on their own terms has abated. It hasn’t, but I’ll keep hoping. This week’s news ranged from the continuing political attacks on abortion and women’s health issues, such as the new app by Copley Advertising that allows anti-abortion groups to send smartphone messages to women sitting in or being treated in abortion clinics, to Slate’s analysis of network reporting on abortion and it will be not surprise to find that FOX News had the most inaccurate information usually delivered by a man. In international news, a Pakistani photographer took twitter photos of women objecting to a recent pronouncement by an iman who said that Pakistani law should allow men to beat women lightly. In Africa, young girls miss school because they lack access to menstrual pads. In Egypt, a seventeen year old died after FGM. And there is much much more over the orange filigree. Even some good news here and there, like the U.S. Senate approving Senator Patty Murray’s resolution for equal pay for the Women’s Soccer Team. And I have also included a URL for this month’s free academic journal related to women’s studies.
As always, this diary is a collective enterprise. Thanks for story leads to Besame, ramara, 2thanks, eyesbright, elenacarlena, and Tara the AntiSocial Social Worker and in several cases their introduction to the articles.
Reproductive Health
Amanda Marcotte on Salon on the app developed to track abortion patients:
www.salon.com/…
and another article on this app by Sharona Coutts.
rewire.news/…
No surprises here: FOX News provides the most inaccurate information on abortion and typically delivered by a man, such as Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity:
www.slate.com/…
The Zika virus already present in the U.S. needs more attention. As Guardian writer Susana T. Friend discusses, just not getting pregnant presents some challenges to conservative religions:
www.theguardian.com/…
Arizona’s former House Speaker, Russell Pearce, of anti-bilingual anti-bi-cultural fame, misfires again, this time wanting to require forced sterilization of women on welfare:
www.msnbc.com/…
International News
nymag.com/...
Susan Rinkunas writes in NY Magazine about 17 year old female dead after FGM.
www.nytimes.com/...
Letter to Editor NYT Women’s Rights in Brazil
jezebel.com/...
Jezebel story by Shannon Sims on gang rape of woman in Brazil and official (non)response
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Reuters article by Ece Toksabay on Miss Turkey being arrested and jailed for poem against Turkey’s President
www.theguardian.com/...
Guardian story by Sam Jones on study from UN Population Fund on continuing denials of health and education of women in poorest countries
Girls were given cameras to document their time in isolation (Chhaupadi) during menstruation in Nepal as a means of opening up conversations about this taboo. It was banned by the government in 2005, but persists. No meat, dairy, vegetables or fruits. No contact with others. No school. No toilet. no no no no
www.viralwomen.com/...
www.ipsnews.net/...
Article from Inter Press Service by Tharanga Yakupitiyage on lack of menstrual pads keeping girls from school
Also tweet from the news service.
From global issues.org:
Menstrual Hygiene Gaps Continue to Keep Girls from School
Around the world girls are struggling to stay in school when their menstrual hygiene needs are forgotten or ignored, yet the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and education sectors have remained reluctant to address the issue.
Menstrual Hygiene Day, celebrated on May 28, aims to raise awareness of the fundamental role that MHM plays in enabling women and girls to reach their full potential in areas such as education.
www.globalissues.org/...
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Pakistani photographer’s twitter photos with hashtag #trybeatingmelightly women responding to suggestion of how men should beat women in Pakistan Proposed Pakistani law permitting men to lightly beat their wives sparks a new Twitter hashtag #TryBeatingMeLightly (Besame)
Article by Ferdous Begum on Help Age International on issues about aging women in developing countries, easily fixed such as cataract surgery.
http://www.helpage.org/blogs/ferdoushi-begum-180/we-must-learn-from-older-womens-experiences-to-make-development-inclusive-153/
More on the Patel Prosecution and Appeal in Indiana
Huffington Post article by Lynn M. Paltrow
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Purvi Patel, an Indiana woman who sought to have a safe home abortion with medication, has already spent more than a year behind bars. Indiana does not have a law that criminalizes people who have or seek to have an abortion. What Indiana does have is a feticide law. No one should be surprised that this law, passed under the guise of protecting pregnant women from violence, is now being used to punish pregnant women.
rewire.news/...
ReWire article summing up the appellate argument in Patel prosecution appeal in Indiana. Article by Jessica Mason Pietko. (ramara)
More Crimes against Women
www.viralwomen.com/...
Viral Women article on near-rape by Bridget Brown--When the rapist looks like the good guy (Besame)
www.nbcmontana.com/...
AP Story Montana. Idaho father took pregnant daughter to marry her rapist. Father 4 months in jail; rapist 15 years in jail.
boingboing.net/...
BoingBoing story by Rob Beschizza on Stanford U student give light sentence so as to not be unnecessarily harsh.
Odds and Ends
feministing.com/...
From Feministing; article by Reina Gattuso on Levi’s Pride Line
feministing.com/...
Zoe Lufgren’s response to anti-trans testimony; story by Dana Bolger
rewire.news/...
Christine Grimaldi article on Rep Marsha Blackburn of TN who revealed researcher information on those who worked with fetal tissue. You may remember her as the Rep whose aide sent around racist pics of President Obama.
Gender and Language
journals.equinoxpub.com/...
Available issue of the journal Gender and Language, an international journal. The available issue is about quantitative approaches to studying gender and language.
Men think women are speaking equally when they have 15% of the conversational floor and women talk too much at 30%
More reading on women and men in conversation:
The researcher who found this ratio can be seen here
en.wikipedia.org/...
and here
dalespender.com.au
Good News/Better Information
From Huffington Post:
Hey! The U.S. Senate did something positive for women! Too bad it's non-binding.
They passed a resolution introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in support of giving the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team equal pay with the Men's Team.
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
www.parsemusfoundation.org/...
Male contraceptive in the works; human clinical trials in India.
www.sciencedaily.com/...
Variety of news about medicine and research on women’s health. Free online subscription.
www.onbeing.org/...
Interview with Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK and author of A Nun on the Bus.
Worthy reading even if older. She keeps on working despite the Vatican’s condemnation of her group.
www.vox.com/...
An interesting look at women's benefit from and opposition to affirmative action. It was shared by Shaun King.
www.glamour.com/...
Article in Glamor by Gabby Weiss, brought up in Quiverful family, now actively pro-choice.
Gorilla Death/Cincinnati Zoo
Questions about parenting, well, really, mothering, when an active toddler escaped his mother’s grasp and climbed into the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. Many reactions to this as the zoo decided to shoot the gorilla when he seemed to be ready to hurt the toddler. As the parent of an ADHD child, I can imagine this horrible incident.
www.theguardian.com/...
Guardian article by Ijeoma Oluo
www.nydailynews.com/...
Another aspect of Gorilla death
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Huffington Post on family asking for donations to zoo after silverback gorilla killed
well.blogs.nytimes.com/...
NYT blog on gorilla incident
And I’ll leave us with an article on one group’s means of responding to harassment.
Fighting Back
remezcla.com/...
Confetti and punk rock as weapons to fight back against sexual harrassment in Mexico City.