A few weeks ago I posted about abortion access in Brazil, and since then I have read several pieces about abortion access in other countries. Last week the New York Times published an article about abortion providers in the United States. (Lest anyone feels inclined to step up on an America-is-better pedestal, 87% of counties [...]
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I'm going to start off this post with a feature on NPR, called "
Hey Ladies: Being a Woman Musician Today." NPR says "We asked hundreds of women working as musicians today to tell us what it's like right now: the good, the bad and the same as it ever was. Read their responses, find new music and join the discussion." No doubt many of you have come across this already, but if you haven't, do spend some time reading the many parts of this piece. Much of it comes straight from the musicians, and it's really interesting. And, to be honest, I haven't heard of a number of these women, and I can't wait to look further into their music. (Pictured: Kelly Ogden of the
Dollyrots.)
International news:
- Huffington Post: "Spain Burqa Ban: Spanish Parliament To Consider Banning Islamic Veils In Public." Following France's example, I suppose.
- CNN: "Afghanistan's 'Oprah' helps heal country's wounds."
- The Independent: "'Leave your job or we will cut your head off your body...'" This is about Afghanistan. The secondary headline says "With violence on the rise, Afghan women are terrified at the prospect of a deal between President Karzai and the Taliban."
- Illume: "Hillary Clinton Advocates for Women's Rights in Afghanistan."
- Color Lines: "MAC, Rodarte Say Sorry for Juarez-Inspired Makeup." I don't know how these companies get to plead ignorance.
- RH Reality Check: "Ending Child Marriage: It's a Smart Investment."
- New York Times: "African Studies Give Women Hope in H.I.V. Fight."
- Salon: "Women: The missing weapon against AIDS."
- Change.org: "Cambodian Sex Workers Raped, Beaten, and Electrocuted by Police."
Abortion:
- New York Times Magazine: "The New Abortion Providers." This is a lengthy article, and one worth reading.
- Chicago Breaking News: "Dead animals left at 2 clinics that perform abortions." I don't know about you, but I've always understood that leaving a dead animal somewhere is a threat of more violence to come. Here's another story about this.
- LifeSite News: "Rep. Chris Smith to Introduce 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.'" We already have this legislation; it's called the Hyde Amendment.
- Change.org: "A Woman's Body: Neither an Incubator, a House, Nor a Meth Lab."
Other news:
- Jezebel: "Jury Decides Consent Is Not Required For Girls Gone Wild." I've already posted this story on every social networking site that I'm on, but I still cannot believe this happened.
- Mashable: "For Women, Social Media is More Than 'Girl Talk.'" I think most women I know would agree with this.
- The Guardian: "Women are happy to let feminists get bashed."
- Ms. blog: "Serial Killers and "Nappy-Headed Hos.'"
- Huffington Post: "Club Monaco Mannequins Emaciated, Collarbones And Spines Show." This, to me, is really disheartening.
- New York Times: "Prone to Error: Earliest Steps to Find Cancer." This is about early stage breast cancer, and every woman should read it to learn about how often it is misdiagnosed.
- Have you heard about the blog "My Fault, I'm Female"? I highly recommend it. It's submission-based, and gives women the chance to share their stories of sexism and other related life situations they encounter. Check it out.
- Incite blog: "Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements."
- Gender Across Borders: "Denial of Service: Sex Workers Confront U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Protest the Anti-Prostitution Pledge."
Pop culture:
- Ms. blog: "Is Lilith Fair Feminist? Sarah McLachlan's Not Sure." What do you think?
- io9: "How Angelina Jolie fought to keep Salt from becoming "pretty.'"
- Gender Across Borders: "Are Gay Parents 'Better' Than Straight Parents?" Thoughts after seeing the movie "The Kids Are All Right."
- Feministing: "Degrassi to feature transgender character."
- io9: "Janelle Monae turns rhythm and blues into science fiction."
- The Washington Post: "On 'Friday Night Lights,' a brave and honest abortion story." This is one of my most favorite TV shows of the last 10 years or so, and I thought the way they handled this was excellent. But, the fallout for Connie Britton's character (Tami Taylor), is nothing short of infuriating. (I think that might be still to come in the series; I've already seen this season.)
- The Consumerist: "Barbie Can Now Spy On Your Enemies For You."
- And finally, this has nothing to do with anything except my own interests, but I love this story: "100 year-old whiskey frozen in Antarctic being thawed out." If you have any interest whatsoever in the early explorers of Antarctica, I can't recommend Ernest Shackleton's books enough. They are nonfiction and you will hardly believe all the trials he and his crew went through trying to reach the South Pole.
As much as I love celebrating Spain's impressive achievements in the area of women's rights, I have to recognize that the country has its fair share of anti-abortion crazies:
Hundreds of people on Saturday staged a protest outside Spain's highest court to demand the suspension of a new more liberal abortion law, two days before it was to take effect.The protesters, carrying placards reading "No
The amazing David Villa scores against Portugal:
I am beyond disappointed and sad over Spain's silly loss to Switzerland (of all God forsaken places!) in Spain's first game of this World Cup. Since Ukraine is not playing in the 2010 World Cup, I have been rooting for Spain with all my heart. There are many non-sport-related reasons why Spain needs to win this year. The economic crisis hit Spain extremely hard. The unemployment level is at 20%, and this number is not expected to go down at the very least until 2012. Both main political parties are torn apart by endless corruption scandals. People are losing heart, and a win in the World Cup would help a country that adores football* recover its spirits.
Spain is a truly admirable country, and I'm not only saying this because it's my job to say this. :-) Not only is it incredibly vibrant artistically, it has preserved its art and culture against enormous odds. Victim of the longest surviving European fascist dictatorship, Spain only became fascism-free in 1975. Since then, it has progressed at an incredibly fast pace. A country that was plagued with blatant gender inequalities and truly disgusting degree of homophobia is today light years ahead of the US in what concerns
gender equality and gay rights**. It also established
a far more civilized relationship between state and religion than anything we can imagine in this country.
I truly hope that in spite of today's silly defeat Spain will be able to get it together and win the World Cup. In terms of its capacity for to fight for feminist ideals, there is no other country who deserves the win more.
A por ellos oe
A por ellos oe
A por ellos oe
A por ellos oe oe*I'm from Europe, so football is football and American football is non-existent. :-)
**Same-sex marriage in Spain was legalized in 2005.
More great news from Spain: after centuries of fettering the country's progress, running state affairs, and imposing all kinds of anti-women, anti-gay, anti-semitic, anti-science, and anti-basic human rights policies, religion in Spain will finally be put in its place. The new law of Religious Freedom that is currently being prepared by Spain's Socialist government is aimed at advancing "a secular state." Crucifixes and other religious symbols will be banned from schools, hospitals, and public organizations. State functions will not "integrate ceremonies of religious nature." This is a great and hugely important step for Spain.
Today, there are 1,4 million Muslims, 1 million Protestants and 600,000 Orthodox Christians in Spain. When this new law is passed, these groups will feel less discriminated against because of not being Catholic.Never again will the shameful events that followed the 11-M terror attacks be repeated, when all victims were buried in a Catholic funeral, even though some of the victims were Muslim and Orthodox Christian.
When will the US finally remember its foundational belief in the separation of Church and State and give up on silly stuff such as the National Prayer Day, dependence of public policy on religion, the religious fundamentalists' influence on politics, or interrogating presidential candidates on how often they go to church?
Those who have no objection to the Spanish language,
read more about this law here.
Spain is making great strides in defending the rights of women.
Recently, I wrote about the new statute adopted by the Aragonese court that will automatically grant shared custody in case of divorce.
Today,
the leading Spanish newspaper El Pais reported the case of a 30-year-old man who locked his wife in their apartment against her will for two hours and a half. The couple's neighbors heard the woman's pleas for help and called the police.
Now, the Moroccan immigrant who abused his wife in this egregious way will spend five years and one day in jail.
I can only reiterate that Spain has to be admired for the way it is overcoming the anti-women legacy of the fascist Catholic dictatorship that ruled the country between 1939 and 1975. If only North American countries were as willing to defend women's rights as Spain is.
In spite of a fiercely patriarchal fascist dictatorship that lasted for 36 years and only ended in 1975, Spain is far ahead of the US in what concerns gender equality. It's simply fenomenal to observe how successful Spain is in its quest to eradicate the last vestiges of the patriarchy left behind by its anti-women regimes.
Recently, for example, Aragon took a huge step forward
by rehauling its custody laws (I have to warn you that the link is in Spanish.) Before this new law, in cases of divorce the custody of children was given to women in over 90% of cases (more or less the same as it is everywhere.) Now, however, 90% of custody cases in Aragon will automatically be resolved in terms of shared custody. Divorced parents will thus continue to bring up their children together.
Kudos to Aragon for fighting against the stereotype that parenthood is somehow more of a female chore. From now on, people who have decided to have children together will have to keep bringing them up together in spite of getting divorced.
You really have to admire the people of Spain for their dedication to the cause of gender equality. I wish more countries followed in its footsteps. The US could definitely benefit from following Spain's example.
In the aftermath of the news about the fundamentalist Christian militia leaders who were arrested this week in Michigan, it is especially fitting that tomorrow I will be discussing with my students the lessons of the Spanish Civil War.
In 1936, Spanish society was deeply divided ideologically, culturally, and politically. These divisions ran pretty much along the same lines at the ideological split in the US today. Religious fanatics who did not want to accept the demands of the changing world opposed women's rights, the separation of Church and State, social programs aimed at alleviating the lot of the dispossessed members of society, gay rights, secular education, and parliamentary democracy.
Spanish religious fanatics were profoundly racist, xenophobic, sexist, and homophobic. They could not accept the democratically elected Republican government of their country and organized a military uprising to remove the legitimately elected leaders from power. This deep ideological division had been growing in Spain for a very long time, until the breach became irreparable and erupted in a bloody Civil War.
Doesn't all of this sound eerily familiar to you? It does to me. Unless we want to see a fascist dictatorship firmly established in this country, we need to look closely and attentively at the lessons of the Spanish Civil War. This dangerous trend of not taking the growing numbers of American fascists seriously can lead us all to a very dark place. We keep fearing fundamentalist terrorists from overseas and often forget about our homegrown variety of religious extremism that is just as dangerous.
