Feministing

What We Missed

2009-07-09T21:00:00Z

Apparently women play better when they don't know their opponents are men in chess.

The Nation calls Gretchen Morgenson, reporter, columnist and senior editor of the New York Times, the most important financial journalist of her generation.

Kristoff asks why France and Italy -- the host of the G-8 summit this year -- among other nations are so disastrously far behind on meeting aid targets for 2010 that they set in 2005.

Could you date a person that isn't down with feminism?

AIDS activists shut down US Capitol rotunda over Obama reversal on AIDS policy.

Strides in the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Girls

2009-07-09T18:52:26Z

I've written about GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) before. Basically, I think they are the shit. In more official terms, they are "the nation's largest survivor-led organization serving American girls and young women who have experienced sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation." You may remember the amazing documentary on their work called Very Young Girls, which is now available via Netflix.

Well GEMS is at it again. This time they're joining forces with Beyoncé Knowles, Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Sinead O'Connor, Mary J Blige, Katie Ford and women across America for their Girls Are Not for Sale campaign. According to GEMS:

The campaign will use e-activism, live events, all-star artist collaborations and other initiatives to promote girls empowerment and education as critical tools in the fight against child traffickers and pimps who victimize between 100,000 and 300,000 American children and teens each year.

After seeing the film, Beyonce said, "I don't know how anyone could see that documentary and not want to help those young women. I didn't want to just donate money, I wanted them to know that someone really cared about them. My time, my heart, my ears, and my voice are the biggest gifts I could think to give." She hung out with the girls featured in the film and others who are now working with GEMS, and reflected: "I wanted to listen to every girl's story and the stories were all so different. I watched them dance. I heard them sing. I asked lots of questions. They were so open and so brave."

You go Ms. Fierce. Want to get involved? Join the Council of Daughters:

GEMS hopes many more women will join Knowles and other artists in spreading the girls' message. The organization has launched a national social network, The Council of Daughters, to empower women and girls to bring the needs of young survivors into local communities. Through its online hub - http://www.councilofdaughters.ning.com - Council members can meet, share news and ideas, plan campaign events, raise funds and introduce the needs of girls to their friends through a variety of social media tools. Council members across the country, in conjunction with Netflix, the world's largest online movie rental service, will host National Viewing Nights to celebrate the online and DVD premiere of 'Very Young Girls'.

We'd love to hear about your viewing night experience on our community site, so get registered, get watching, get reflecting, and make the world a better place for this country's most vulnerable girls.

How to Say Deeply Sexist Things about Women and Get Away With It.

2009-07-09T18:10:57Z

I think that Askmen.com wouldn't be so offensive if it didn't come from such a place of venom and woman hate. Every time a reader sends in another awful thing they have wrote, I appalled at not only the male anxiety displayed in the advice but also the straight up hatred of women. If these guys hate women so much why do they work to figure out ways to be with them, I seriously don't get it. Today's spectacle of sexist male anxiety is about how to make your woman "hotter," or rather "how to upgrade your woman." Cuz you know, women are like cars, phones and computers or something.

For many guys, it can seem as though the quest to find the perfect girl is never ending. When you finally do get your ideal lady it can be a bit disheartening to think that while she is a pretty young thing now, she might not be so appealing in a few years. As time passes your love for her might grow, but so will her love handles. She might be perfect for you in most ways but some things are just a little off, and even though you might not appreciate those imperfections, you would still struggle to think you would end up with anyone else.

It is perfectly acceptable for men to age, get "love handles" and be imperfect. It is women that must always look like caricatures of femininity, forever young, forever thin, forever wrinkle free. The list is ten ways you can make her stay hot including taking cooking classes, or explore culture (racist!) or "take her to a spa," which all seem like the normal fare for sexist, classist and racist examples of things middle class, straight, white couples can do to enjoy themselves. It goes into super crazy-ville when you get to number one and the advice is to "put her under the knife."

If things are really desperate, it might be time for your other half to go under the knife. With the advances in medical science and the current obsession with celebrity culture, cosmetic surgery is becoming more and more common. While it isn't something to be rushed into, nor something to persuade someone to do, surgery can do wonders for the confidence of someone who is less than a sight for sore eyes. And you'll have the bonus of a parading around town with a stunner on your arm.

I wouldn't be so disgusted by this if the rest of society didn't put similar pressure on women to stay thin and attractive as they age, but to also push the idea on men is not OK. I realize Askmen.com is a place for men to feel good about hating women, but ultimately it is just sexist crap that is peddled as advice for the modern day anxious man. I am deeply saddened for the kind of people that buy into this type of thing.

Thank You Thursdays: Gertrude Berg

2009-07-09T17:00:23Z

If you're a television junkie or history buff, don't miss a new documentary on a too often forgotten pioneer in the industry. According to the film's site, Gertrude Berg, was the creator, principal writer, and star of The Goldbergs, a popular radio show for 17 years, which became television's very first character-driven domestic sitcom in 1949. Berg received the first Best Actress Emmy in history, and paved the way for women in the entertainment industry.

I thought this excerpt from the director's statement was really interesting:

In Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg I'm delighted to document the amazing accomplishments of the talented Gertrude Berg. I am in awe of how this woman would wake up at six in the morning, write her shows, and then go off to the studio to produce. Without missing a beat she seamlessly performed Molly to perfection. Here is a woman who wrote the most positive portrayal of a Jewish mother and her family during the decades that severely threatened American and European Jewry. It is more amazing still that she crafted such a warm maternal figure in spite of her own mother's mental illness. Berg created the "perfect mother" she never experienced in her own life.

Thanks to Melissa Silverstein for the heads up.

NYC Gender Equality Festival on Saturday!

2009-07-09T16:20:37Z

The very first non-profit I worked for, Girls for Gender Equity, is having their 4th Annual Gender Equality Festival in Brooklyn on Saturday. And it's going to be quite the event.

"Brooklyn We Go Hard":
A Celebration of Arts, Activism and Community Resilience

Saturday July 11, 2009
10 am - 4 pm, FREE!
Cuyler Gore Park
at the corner of Greene Ave and Fulton St
Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Including:
Live music, dance, spoken word, and theater performances
Youth Forum to highlight young activists working for equality and health across the city
Resource fair with 30 community and youth organizations providing
health services, testing, and education
Food, prizes and games!

So come network, enjoy some free entertainment, or just chill at the park on a Saturday afternoon with a kick-ass organization. Hope you New Yorkers can make it!

@Campus Progress Conference: Kathleen Sebelius

2009-07-09T15:00:23Z

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services

What America is going to do about climate change and what we're going to do about our health care system--the two main challenges facing US today.
Our health outcomes are consistently behind so many other countries. If we don't do something, this new generation will be the first to have a life expectancy less than that of their parents.

We have 12,000 people every year losing their health benefits. We have about 46 million Americans without health coverage at all.

As a parent it was pretty scary to watch my kids, in their twenties, go beyond their college plans and they were in a situation where there was no employer provided health plan. For a lot of folks, they take a chance, and they say they're going to go without coverage. You are an accident away, or a step away from debt that will follow you for the rest of your life.

The current financial situation we know is unsustainable. Our businesses are less sustainable because they are competing with products that don't bear the burden of health care coverage.

In the last attempt at health care, doing nothing was seen as less scary than doing something. I don't hear anybody saying that what we're doing now is a really good strategy moving forward. It will bankrupt governments, families, business. And we don't get good results.

The good news is I think Congress is truly engaged. When the President determined that this will be the year for health care, he took a bold risk. What he determined was you can't fix the economy without fixing health care. It's about 16% of the overall GDP right now but it's on the rise.

Sexism So Not Funny in Comedy

2009-07-09T14:00:00Z

We often celebrate the brilliance of Sarah Haskins on this blog. Her Target Women series on Current TV is just one more example of how women are, indeed, funny. I feel stupid even writing that sentence, but apparently the mainstream media has some doubts--evidenced most obviously by Christopher Hitchens' January 2007 Vanity Fair piece Why Women Aren't Funny.

I have a few friends who work in the comedy business and I've had disturbing conversations as of late about the gender dynamic therein. For example, did you know that there is not one single female writer at The Daily Show? Not one. (Samantha Bee is a correspondent, and does some writing, but is not an official writer. Kristin Schall is only an occasional contributor.) When I think about how many women adore Jon Stewart, myself included, it makes me really sad to know that we're not also pushing him and Comedy Central, more broadly, to hire more women.

Another friend told me that she auditioned for a stand-up series on Comedy Central recently and they told her that they will only sign five women maximum. Not minimum. Maximum. And this was a show that needed something like 30 comedians total.

She also reports that some of the late night hosts, like Jimmy Kimmel, don't even audition women. If he's avoiding ladies because they remind him of his ex, Sarah Silverman, then that's just silly. What other reason could he possibly have?

This is beyond annoying. This is straight up, unfunny sexism. So what the hell are we going to do about it?

She Writes

2009-07-09T12:48:36Z

Check out this awesome new social network for writers that my good friend Deborah Siegel and new friend Kamy Wicoff just started using the Ning software. You can create your own profile, start groups and discussion threads about anything and everything literary, and find out about upcoming workshops. Already on the books: Twitter for Writers and Blogging for Writers. Groups include Memoir Enthusiasts, Changing the World, and the dangerous sounding, Writers on Fire.

It seems like one mighty solution to "the ambition condition," as Anna Clark dubbed it in an issue of Bitch Magazine a ways back. Clark wrote:

There's no simple gender indicator for the weird fusion of insecurity and ambition, of the feigned nonchalance and quiet competitiveness that's common in writers of all sorts. But these traits are complicated by the cultural caricatures of ambitious women and the uneven historical patterns that have dictated whose talent is rewarded and whose isn't.

Ambitious women unite at She Writes, unabashedly sharing their recent publications and reviews, unashamedly asking for help when they need it, and--here's hoping--creating a truly successful, collaborative community in the process. Can't wait to see how this story develops...

What We Missed Open Thread: Technical Difficulties Edition

2009-07-08T21:31:12Z

As in, technical problems...not the site. STAY DOWN!

Apologies, we had some technical difficulties today so some of you may have seen double posts in comments and a lag in posting content. We have taken care of the issue. But now I have to run and won't have a chance to put together the what we missed, so consider this an open thread. What did we miss Feministers?

What's the connection between midwives and health care reform?

2009-07-08T20:11:51Z

Shameless self-promotion time. My first article is up at The American Prospect, Delivering Affordable Healthcare, on the connection between midwives and health care reform.

Michelle Bartlett is not the typical Washington high-stakes health-care player. She's probably not on the radar of anyone in Congress or the Obama administration. Bartlett is a midwife in Idaho, but in the last few years, she's been trying her hand at lobbying. This came after a night spent in jail for using medication during a home birth she attended in 2000. Bartlett was the second midwife to be charged for this type of practice in Idaho, and thanks to her efforts, she will be the last in her state. "I've done a lot of hard things in my life, and giving birth was one of them," Bartlett says. "But giving birth to a law was really hard."
On April 1, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter of Idaho signed legislation allowing certified professional midwives (CPMs) like Bartlett to administer medication during births. Unlike certified nurse midwives who are able to practice in all 50 states and generally work in hospital settings alongside obstetricians, midwives like Bartlett are referred to as "direct entry" midwives, and practice exclusively outside of hospitals, mostly in homes or birth centers. These CPMs spend three to five years training and meet the standards for certification set by the North American Registry of Midwives.

...

State licensing fights may be the first step for these midwives, but it's not their last. Now they're turning their attention to the federal health-care reform debate, and a look at the maternity-related health-care costs quickly explains why. Childbirth is among the top five causes for hospitalization, and the No. 1 cause for women. According to Childbirth Connection, Cesarean section is the most common operating-room procedure, and in 2009 the C-section rate hit an all-time high according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at 31.8 percent of all births. These rates account, in part, for the increasing cost of maternity care in the U.S. Maternal and newborn charges totaled $86 billion in 2006, 45 percent of which was paid for by Medicaid. The federal government is already footing a huge portion of the U.S.' maternity-care bill, and these midwives think they can help reduce costs significantly, and not just for low-income women.

Read the rest of the article here.

@Campus Progress Conf: Van Jones & Staceyann Chin

2009-07-08T19:03:17Z

Staceyann Chin rocked it like no other, reading from her new memoir, The Other Side of Paradise and really inspiring everyone. Check out her work on her website.

"Generation Obama" Your generation has already made history, has already changed the course of the country. You're the most diverse, technologically linked gen in history. We need to put money and resources into science because that's where the the future is, innovation is.
The consensus among scientists about climate change is unprecedented. They have no incentive to agree with one another. Yet there are people in this town who won't support Obama, who are afraid of the future. They are afraid of the next wave of energy technology.

This president needs your support to get through this door that has been closed for so long. This door is to innovation in energy technology. Every president running for office since Richard Nixon has talked about energy independence but none has been able to deliver. We have a wealth of solar power in America. We have a wealth of wind resouces. What we have never done is connection our clean energy centers to our population centers.

Let's put people to work, putting up solar panels, building wind turbines. We are relying on Barack Obama to get this revolution started, but he's relying on you to get it done. Get it done generation Obama!

Poor people are going to most affected by these climate/environment related problems, from the downsides of global warming.

Last Minute Bay-Area Feministing and NSRC Meet-up

2009-07-08T17:55:37Z

Don't forget this is tonight!!!

The summer class I have been teaching at the National Sexuality Resource Center Summer Institute is coming to a close and we want to celebrate! Join us today, Wednesday July 8th, 2009 in San Francisco for a Bay Area meet-up. Apologies for the last minute notice, but if you are around please stop by and say hello! We had a great time at the last one!

Wednesday, July 8th
6pm-9pm
Laszlo Bar
2526 Mission St
(between 21st St & 22nd St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 401-0810
www.laszlobar.com

Quick Hit: Ukraine Outlaws Porn

2009-07-08T17:10:52Z

Disappointing news: Porn is now illegal in the Ukraine.

Ever the optimist, I see a silver lining here. At least the whole "unless it's for medicinal purposes" clause unwittingly points to the health benefits of masturbation :-)

@Campus Progress National Conference

2009-07-08T16:18:59Z

I'm at the Campus Progress National Conference today, liveblogging. Campus Progress is the student activism arm of the Center for American Progress. There are over 1000 young people here from all over the country, gathering to talk about a broad agenda of social justice issues.

I'll be blogging a bit today and sharing some of the information from the speakers and plenaries (some high profile people are going to speaking later, including Van Jones, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Kathleen Sebelius.

I'll also be tweeting from the conference, so you can follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/miriamzperez or follow the hashtag #CPNC for other tweets from the conference!

Innovative HIV and AIDS Awareness Project

2009-07-08T15:21:32Z

Check out Project 1, a new two-part project. The site documents Jamila K. Gaskins' 12, 000 mile bicycle journey across America "facing her physical limitations, desolate stretches of road, miles of mountain climbs, hot asphalt, and cold winds which mirrors the situations in the lives of many HIV+ and HIV- women." She plans to make this journey into a documentary in honor of her uncle Tommy, who is HIV positive (pictured right). More on Jamila's motivation:

I want my actions and this production to engage the hearts and minds of girls and women across the country, and serve as a signal of empowerment, education and hope. I am creating this film and cycling for myself my niece, Kai, my sisters, Sidney, LaShonda, my best girlfriends, Michelle, Erin and Sofia, and the many other women I hold in my heart. We all have women we love; your wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, daughter, and best friend. It is vital that they are confident in their voice, secure with themselves and knowledgeable enough to make informed, healthy decisions in every aspect of their lives.