feminist blogs

The New York Times had a piece yesterday about the "Mad Pride" movement, featuring writer Liz Spikol, who discusses and writes about mental health issues and her experiences with bipolar disorder on YouTube and her blog, The Trouble with Spikol. Here's one of Spikol's videos:

Anyone have more to weigh in and/or experience with the movement?

Facebook is on a roll today. Reader Adrienne alerted us to an ad for a crisis pregnancy center on Facebook, so I decided to do a little more research on the site’s advertisements.

Sure, there’s a range from shoe brands to social justice organizations, but pretty offensive weight loss ads are more common. And then we find the ad for “A Woman’s Concern,” a center that, according to their website, provides a variety of services including “pregnancy testing, ultrasound testing, information on abortion procedures, mentoring…” You can guess what the "information" on abortion is.

Another ad I found was a pitch to recruit egg donors. Not to say that egg donation is necessarily a bad thing, but the egg business has become one of many ethical and political questions. The Center for Genetic and Society, Choice USA and the Pro-Choice Public Education Project have been conducting research on egg donation and reproductive justice, make sure to check it out.

These should serve as a reminder that we need to pay attention to what's being marketed to young women online. In the meantime, Facebook may not strictly moderate their ads, but you can; report an ad you think is offensive. And as a first step, let’s get deceptive CPC advertising off of Facebook.

(And join our Feministing group!)

Back in the day, colors were stereotyped the actual opposite of our current pink/girl and blue/boy bullshit:

In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s. From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because it was the more masculine and decided color while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color. Since the 1940s, the societal norm apparently inverted so that pink became appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century. (Emphasis mine)

Too bad that before the switcheroo, the colors were just as stereotypical as the current gendering of blue/pink. And it still sort of shocks me that this still exists; I went to a friend’s baby shower the other day and literally 95% of the gifts were blue. You can guess what the gender is anticipated to be.

Thanks to Lydia for the link.

The New York Times' Board blog covered this ad last week aiming to engage voters. It comes from this awesome new campaign that I've been honored to be a part of. After last night's primaries, I think we should get back to focusing on what's at stake if McCain is elected.

Bloomberg LP, the news and financial data corporation founded by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is being charged with 58 cases of pregnancy discrimination. So far.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the charges in September when they had 3 cases, in which they now have 58 women who say their duties were reduced, or that they had been excluded from employment opportunities because they were pregnant:

The EEOC lawsuit claims the company discriminated against pregnant employees by cutting their pay and demoting them. It also claims the women were paid less when they returned from maternity leave and were demoted and replaced by 'junior' male employees.

The sad part is that I'm not surprised. At all.

This is from the Safe and Legal (in Ireland) Abortion Rights Campaign's new online efforts to spread awareness about the current status of reproductive rights in Ireland. Here the first of a three-part video they're featuring on their youtube channel, where you can check out the others.

Thanks to Alisa for the link!

This one is a keeper.

Thanks to Becca for the link.

This has got to be a joke.

When the warm weather comes, I always dread to go outside when I wear a dress for the first time and find men cat-call, whistle and - what's worst for me - stare me down as I walk past them. While I should be happy that the sun is finally out and I can wear lighter clothes again, the spring seems to bring the neighborhood sleazies out of hibernation.

The New York Times published this gem yesterday about how dresses are becoming out-of-date, in which the author makes a plea for the survival of dresses, not for the comfort or convenience for women, but for all leering men's sakes:

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.

That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become 'a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.' Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is "gender play"? I didn't realize trousers were still a "man's" piece of clothing.

And it doesn't end there, not by a long shot. He proceeds to refer to the "classic story" by Irwin Shaw, “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” not surprisingly an unbelievably sexist story about a man who is explaining to his wife that he just loves to look at beautiful women while she begs him not to leave her for someone else. Here are a couple of other lovely references to why women should wear dresses:

The summer dress, in all shapes and styles, is preferred by many women, and by men who like watching them. (Photo caption)

From a 'retro' and 'Mad Men' garment, the dress was transformed into a wardrobe staple, to the benefit of women and those who get pleasure from gazing at them. . .

The dress, Jennifer Emory, another midday shopper, said: 'is very easy and very flattering — a no-brainer, really. It’s comfortable, and you can easily go from day to night. And guys like it because it’s so feminine.'

. . . And so, for those of us who take pleasure in the sight of a woman in a summer dress walking along Fifth Avenue, her dress caught in a faint breeze, a vision that calls to mind a Guy Wiggins painting or the famous bit of dialogue spoken by the actor Everett Sloane in 'Citizen Kane,' there is still time. (Emphasis mine)

In short, dresses are still the hot thing this summer so men can have their daily dose of voyeurism.

The sad thing about this piece is that it won't do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women's love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn't get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else's fancy.

Thanks to the readers who alerted us to this!

It looks like the University of Portland not only is denying justice to an alleged rape victim, but is ignoring the existence of sexual assault on their campus altogether, reports the Willamette Week.

The private Catholic university and police have not yet taken action since Amy Kerns reported it a year ago, and when she contacted the school to inquire why there were no charges, she was basically told she was lucky she wasn't reprimanded for underage drinking. UP judicial coordinator Natalie Shank responded to Kerns:

“Based upon my findings in my investigation, I am unable to determine if a sexual assault occurred. . . I have reason to believe that intercourse occurred, but both parties admit to drinking and therefore, consent—or lack of consent—is difficult to determine. Given these facts, there are possible violations for which you could be charged.” (Emphasis mine)

Yeah, threats of penalties when a woman is seeking help for sexual assault is a really fucking responsible thing to do. Not to mention that UP's policies say that premarital sex is “considered antithetical to the community of the University of Portland.” Premarital sex? Absolutely not! Rape? Well, it depends on the case...

In fact, the university reported not one case of sexual assault to federal authorities in 2006. Kerns, who is currently taking time off from school, said:

“[Shank] decided since we were both drinking, rape couldn’t have occurred. . . It was like she was the one deciding consent—not me.”

Email Natalie Shank and demand that the University of Portland take action on Amy Kern's case and change their sexual assault policies.

Thanks to Malori and Devon for the heads up.

Actress and Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman is at the UN today advocating for UNIFEM's Say No to Violence against Women campaign. As Mark at the UN Dispatch says, "Most coverage of this visit, though, seems to focus on the fact that Kidman is six months pregnant--and shockingly is showing a 'baby bump.' Amazing how that works."

Read the whole post here.