F.Y.I.

Moving this weekend. Probably will be behind until Tuesday. Leave me a comment so I know you love me. :)

Chicago Abortion Fund's August Call-In Show

Here's a taste, part 1 of 3. This month, Shay is joined by Ronnie from F.R.I.D.A- Feminist Response In Disability Activism.

Masturbation is fun!

Just thought I'd point that out.



From Take Care Down There, a project of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. There's more videos on their page- I love the awkward guy! It's almost funny, almost not. I can't decide.

"If voting changed anything, they'd outlaw it." Or just rig the elections.

From an Uprising Radio segment:

A prominent data security expert and self-described life-long Republican has said that Diebold voting machines can never be trusted. In a 2006 interview, Steven Spoonamore says that the 2004 election was stolen and that Diebold voting machines are designed to steal elections. Spoonamore is a renowned expert having worked with the US Army and the Department of Homeland Security on cyber-security and other processes. He has worked extensively in private industry as well, and has testified in front of both houses of Congress about secure communications and emergency systems used in communications. His analysis of Diebold machines is a damning blow to a civil suit pending in Ohio relating to the 2004 elections. In fact Spoonamore is an expert witness in the case. What does this mean for the 2008 elections? How can voting irregularities that marred both the last Presidential elections be avoided in this coming election?

GUEST: Cliff Arnebeck, expert in election politics, and attorney with election-related civil suit in Ohio

What organic fruits and veggies should you buy?

Who can afford to buy 100% organic? An unfortunate truth is, what's healthy is kept out of the range of poor and middle class folk. Luckily, Food News has created a list of the top 12 most pesticide-contaminated fruits and veggies. If you can afford to buy these organic, you are significantly lowering your health risks, farm workers' health risks and, hopefully, the planet's!

THE DIRTY DOZEN

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes - Imported
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to about 14 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. Less dramatic comparisons will produce less dramatic reductions, but without doubt using the Guide provides people with a way to make choices that lower pesticide exposure in the diet.


*Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.


*Will Washing and Peeling Help?

Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

First off, wow, what a horrible name! :)

Has anybody else been following this show on ABC Family? I don't have cable, but they stream the video online the day after it's been shown on TV, so I've been eagerly watching it whenever I get a chance.

You've gotta hand it to Brenda Hampton (creator of the show), after skirting around abortion and whitewashing a lot of issues on Seventh Heaven, she's actually diving into some serious issues that are hard to mention and discuss, especially when the adults in the picture are very rarely moral authorities to guide the kids.

The abortion episode ("Love for Sale") was... frustrating. Decent, but frustrating. First off, most clinics would NOT allow such a scene to be had in the lobby room. It was built up during the episode to be some big, scary thing (complete with Amy- the 15 and pregnant main character- crying when she was "rescued" off the exam table- why wasn't there a doctor or nurse with her?!) when in reality, I feel like a 15 year old giving birth is a much bigger, much scarier thing.

The preview before that episode had Molly Ringwald (Amy's mom) "confessing" to having been in a similar situation. I was really hoping she would 'fess up to having an abortion! The fact that her marriage is falling apart because she married her baby's dad due to being pregnant so young is interesting, though....

Ultimately, for TV, the episode was somewhat supportive of Amy's choice (she ended up deciding against abortion at the clinic). But the drama that was happening around her while she was changing her mind- and the show's insistence that she give up her baby for adoption- is a bit maddening. At an abortion clinic, there would have been counseling to make sure she wanted to have the abortion, and discuss adoption or parenting if not. Now, how many OB/GYNS are going to have counselors on sight to make sure giving birth is something you want to do?

There's so much more I want to say about the show, but two quicks things: one- it's great that they're working with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy but- I'm frustrated with the details. Most teen pregnancies do not involve 2 teenagers. Often, the male in the situation is at least 5 years older, often in their twenties. But a show about predatory men and victimized girls- that'd be a bit hard to make a romantic-funny-family sitcom about, no?.,

The Conquest by Presidentialism

You have to hand it to John McCain—his campaign ads are (inadvertently) the most incisive commentary on the death of Jeffersonian democracy ever broadcast.

Superficially, they lambaste Barack Obama’s worshipful crowds and messianic promises that a heavenly “light will shine down” on his candidacy. But what the ads really lampoon is what Vanderbilt professor Dana Nelson calls presidentialism: our paternalistic view that presidents are godlike saviors—and therefore democracy’s only important figures.

“The once-every-four-years hope for the lever pull sensation of democratic power blinds people to the opportunities for democratic representation, deliberation, activism and change that surrounds us in local elections,” she writes in her new book, “Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People.”

In a country whose anti-royalist founders constitutionally constrained executive authority, what explains the metastatic growth of presidentialism? The evisceration of journalism and social movements.

The media’s Watergate triumph sired the current Age of Stenography. With personal glory the new priority, correspondents figured out that transcribing White House prognostication is a far easier way to gain notoriety than Woodward and Bernstein’s shoe-leather investigations. The result is journalism run by grotesque sloth and vapid speculation—the kind exemplified by The New York Times’ top three political correspondents this week. As inflation hit crisis levels and the Russia-Georgia conflict inched the planet toward World War III, these “reporters” devoted a stunning 2,148 words to fact-free guesses about selections for vice president—a position with no power and zero impact on ordinary people’s lives.

Media consolidation and cost-cutting have sped up this decline, turning many local news outlets into collages of wire copy and presidential punditry from D.C. bureaus. Meanwhile, the 21st century’s most celebrated model of “grass-roots” movement-building is MoveOn.org—a top-down group whose primary function is to land stories about itself in Washington gossip rags and send e-mail spam about presidential candidates.

The resulting noise reiterates one message: The only thing that matters is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Why is this dangerous? First and foremost, by ignoring local elections and issue-based organizing in favor of presidential politics, activists make presidential progress less likely. “Even the best presidents need social movements to accomplish transformational change,” warns community activist Deepak Bhargava in The Nation magazine’s latest White House-centric edition. “FDR could not have succeeded without the agitation of the unemployed workers’ councils and the unions, and LBJ’s greatest accomplishments were made possible by the civil rights movement.”

Worse, presidentialism leads us to ignore the arenas where issues are already being sorted out.

For example, how many of the Democratic convention delegates incensed by the Obama-McCain energy brouhaha have any idea that just beyond Denver’s Rocky Mountain horizon, a battle over Colorado’s massive gas reserves will more immediately impact the national energy crisis than the inane presidential back-and-forth about offshore drilling? Better yet, how many Democratic enthusiasts donning Obama T-shirts know who their state representative or city council member is—or even what a state legislature or city council does?

In his upcoming book, “You Can’t Be President,” journalist John MacArthur ponders the depressing answers to these kinds of questions, reminding readers of Alexis de Tocqueville’s 19th-century writing.

“It is in vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power,” he observed. “This rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity.”

Published 168 years ago, the passage is a prescient warning as the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions toast presidentialism’s conquest of democracy in America.

From here.

New blogs and podcast links on the side, f.y.i.

Obama...

FOUR MINK FREED IN OPEN RESCUE

The Open Rescue Team of Igualdad Animal (Animal Equalty) have rescued four mink from a fur farm in northern Spain. This is the second open rescue by Igualdad Animal (in August 2007, six baby pigs were rescued from an intensive farm).

In late July, activists entered the fur farm and documented conditions inside. Four mink were carefully removed from cages and later released into a natural environment many miles away.

Igualdad Animal's website, www.IgualdadAnimal.org.


Excerpt from rescue report (translation):

"Although legally non-human animals, including mink, are considered property and therefore to remove them from cages is considered 'theft,' a criminal act, at Igualdad Animal we believe that no individual is the property of another and the moment has arrived to liberate our slaves. Just as in the past when some humans were considered property of others and this was an unjust situation, currently we are still involved with slavery. Animals are not property and to liberate them is not robbery but a legitimate act of justice.

With these open rescues we not only intend to rescue a few animals that were going to suffer and die, but we want to provoke a social debate that causes us to rethink the exploitation to which we subject the animals with whom we share the planet, and to bring about a change of mentality and habits of consumption in each one of us, because ultimately we are the ones who-- with our daily decisions of how we dress ourselves, feed ourselves, or entertain ourselves-- can put an end to the daily suffering and death of animals.

We also want to remember all of the victims who still remain in cages, to show our support for all those who rescue caged animals, and finally to dedicate this action to the Austrian prisoners Martin, Christian, Christof, Elmar, Felix, Jan, Jürgen, Kevin, Leo and Sabine, who at this moment are victims of an unjust judicial system."

Rescate abierto de Igualdad Animal de cuatro visones from Igualdad Animal on Vimeo.

It's heartbreaking to watch the little mink, so hesitant about leaving its' conatiner, hopping in and out while it gets used to the sun, air, water- it's outside and free for the first time in its' life and it's really scared.

"I am just a lady... with a simply lady mind."

Talking about abortion.

Well, I am officially back from the East Coast- and I've written a blog post for my work. If you want to leave a comment about it, please leave it at my entry on that blog. Thanks!

---------------------------

Here’s a scene you’ll never see in a movie, play or TV show:

OB/GYN Doctor: (taking random medical history) Any previous pregnancies?

Woman: Two abortions.

Doctor: No full term pregnancies?

Woman: No. It wasn’t the right time.

Doctor: And this time? It’s the right time?

Woman: Yep.

Doctor: I’ve always been a bit confused as to why clinics have to do all this counseling to make sure you’re ready for an relatively quick abortion procedure while doctors like me are made to just assume that every woman and family is ready for this 18+ year; financially, physically and emotionally draining commitment.

But no. Abortion is used as a dramatic element- to create a death (backalley abortion); to create emotional distress (forced abortions, or women who shouldn’t have had an abortion in the first place and probably would have been told no by a reputable clinic); to add a heroine element (usually about doctors)...

Yet, in the USA 1 in 4 women will have an abortion by the time she is in her 40’s. If you bring that to a world wide statistic, it averages out to 1 abortion per women. One abortion per woman!!

I seriously don’t understand why people don’t talk about it more. Sure, it’s easier to see the effects of actually having children- there are children you are taking care of for quite a while. But I’ve been part of many a conversation where the gory details of a surgery, accident, or illness has been discussed; people talk about going to the doctor weeks before and after going, even for a mundane checkup. It’s maddening, the silence around this issue.

Reports of violence against queer and trans people in the last two months

In a two-month span, from June to July of this year, the following reported incidents have been documented:

June 18, Memphis, TN. Police security camera footage is obtained and released by the attorney for a transgender woman, Ms. Duanna Johnson. The video shows Memphis Police officers beating Duanna Johnson in the booking area of a local jail. The beating took place February after Ms. Johnson refused to respond when officers called her "faggot" and "he-she." One officer punched her with handcuffs wrapped around his knuckles, splitting her skull open. He then maced her.

· June 28, New York, NY. Gay man harassed on subway platform and beaten on Subway after boarding at Christopher Street.

· July 1, Memphis, TN. The body of transgender, African American woman, Ms. Whitaker, is found near a daycare center.

· July 2, Greeley CO. Police Sergeant Kell Hulsey and his son Dan Hulsey are accused of attacking a man they perceived to be gay, beating him bloody with a bottle. A witness to the attack said: "I heard him say 'I'm a Greeley cop and I'm a mean (expletive),' and then he hit him." Kell then allegedly fled the scene. He was put on administrative leave but as of July 9, no charges had been filed.

· July 7, Queens, NY. Father Braxton is beaten while protecting a group of LGBT youth living at Carmen's Place, a shelter for homeless youth that he coordinates.

· July 12, Central New York. A man who is a self-described neo-Nazi is arrested for allegedly breaking into the home of 65 a year-old gay man at midnight while he slept. The victim was able to flee his home before it was torched and completely destroyed by the assailant.

· July 17, Greeley, CO. The body of Angie Zapata, an 18 year-old transgender, Latina is found. She was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. 31 year-old suspect Allen Andrade was arrested on July 31 and charged with 1st degree murder as a hate crime.

· July 17, Dallas TX. Jimmy Lee Dean is beaten in a severe anti-gay assault by two men not far from his home. His injuries were so severe that he was in intensive care and could not be interviewed or identified until July 22. The suspect is not currently being charged with a hate crime.

· July 25, upstate NY. A man from out-of-state was visiting family and was severely beaten by two men who shouted anti-gay slurs while kicking him, breaking 10 bones in his face.

· July 25, St. Helens in the UK. Two men attack 18 year old Michael Causer in St. Helens as he was walking along a road. He died on August 2nd after a week in intensive care.

· July 27, Knoxville, TN. Two people killed and seven wounded in a shooting that took place at a Unitarian church. Shooting appears to be at least partially anti-gay motivated.

· July 29, Staten Island, NY. A large group of men verbally and physically assaulted, and then stabbed, a man they perceived to be gay.

· Ongoing, Cleveland, OH. Escalating harassment (for nearly 8 years) of a gay male couple by anti-gay neighbors.

· Ongoing, PA. Escalating, harassment (for nearly 20 years), of gay male couple in rural PA town, including gunfire, vandalism, stalking, acts of intimidation and indifference from local police.

Air Freshners: Not so good for you.

A friend asked me to send this article to her... Thought I'd post it here, too.

p.s. if you ever get a chance to see Spring Awakening, for the love of god, see it! It's an amazing musical based on a banned late 1800's play about what happens when sexuality, curiosity, and free will are repressed, especially with teenagers... It's amazing, I really can't say enough about it.
-----------------------------


There’s always been a something a little unsettling about the idea of revitalizing the air inside our homes by spraying things with names like “Meadow Mist” and “Mountain Breeze” all over the place, especially when such products hardly smell like either. Now two new studies have found that our suspicions were correct: synthetic air fresheners are coating our homes and filling our air with unsafe chemicals.

Used in 75% of American households, air fresheners are a huge industry that generates sales of $1.72 billion a year. Found in everything from plug-in disposable appliances and fake candles to sprays and peel-and-stick evaporative disks, these products don’t actually eliminate odors but merely use one of several strategies to make you think they’ve vanished. Some products simply cover up bad smells with stronger chemicals. Some use a nerve-deadening agent to reduce your ability to smell in the first place; while others coat the inside of your nasal passages with a film that stops smells from getting through. Now a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) finds they’re doing something else as well: polluting our indoor air whenever we use them.

The NRDC tested 14 different air fresheners, including those labeled “all-natural,” and found that all but two contained measurable levels of phthalates, synthetic chemicals linked to asthma, endocrine disruption, and other serious health problems. (For more about phthalates see the February 2006 issue of the Non-Toxic Times at Seventh Generation) The amounts of phthalates found ranged from 0.12 parts per million (ppm) to an extraordinary 7,300 ppm. Only two of the tested products contained no phthalates at all.

Researchers said that though the number of products tested was small and couldn’t be said to form a representative sampling, the study’s results clearly indicate the need for more comprehensive testing of these common consumer products, especially in light of the fact that the federal government neither tests air fresheners nor requires their manufacturers to list product ingredients or adhere to any specific safety standards.

In response to the study, Walgreens stores, whose private label air fresheners contained the highest levels of phthalates reported by the study, removed the offending products from their shelves in a commendable example of a company taking swift action to right a toxicological wrong.

Hot on the heels of that decision came news of a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which found that the use of spray cleaners in general greatly increases the risk of contracting asthma. Researchers in Barcelona, Spain found that test subjects who used spray cleaners at least once a week had a 30-50% greater chance of developing this respiratory disease and concluded that as many as one in seven cases of adult asthma could be blamed on exposure to spray cleaners. The study singled out conventional glass cleaners, furniture sprays, and air fresheners as particularly likely to trigger the ailment.

Clearly, conventional air fresheners have no place in a healthy home. In addition to phthalates, air freshener toxins can include naphthalene, phenol, cresol, dichlorobenzene, and xylene among many others. These chemicals have been implicated in cancer, neurological damage, reproductive and developmental disorders and other conditions.

For these reasons, indoor air quality experts recommend against using air fresheners or room deodorizes of any kind. Instead, try these safe methods to freshen the air in your home:

• Locate sources of odors and eliminate them when and wherever possible. Since many odors are the result of microbial action, spraying trouble spots and potentially problematic areas (like trash cans, compost containers, etc.) with an undiluted 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide (the concentration typically available in stores) will remove many odors.

• Use natural minerals like baking soda and borax to control common odor sources and to deodorize when you clean.

• Keep windows open as much as possible to let bad air out and good air in. If odors are still troubling, invest in an air purifier with activated carbon filtration, a strategy that can remove odors.

• To scent indoor air, place a drop of a natural essential oil like lavender or mint on a cold light bulb, or add a dozen drops to a bowl of water placed on a radiator or wood stove. You can also boil fragrant dried herbs in a pot of water to release a fresh smell.

• A natural mineral called zeolite is available in packets that will absorb odors when hung in problem areas like musty basements and closets.

• Make your own sprays from essential oils and other natural ingredients. For recipes and more information, we recommend the book Better Basics for the Home, by Annie Berthold Bond.

To learn more about the NRDC study, visit this link. For more information about the research published by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,click here.

FYI

I'll be on the East Coast for a week. Probably won't be updating.

"[We] must make fun things (sex, drugs) safe, instead of trying to make safe things (abstinence, monogamy) fun."

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani has worked on the front lines of HIV/AIDS research for more than a decade, talking to sex workers, drug users, health officials and bureaucrats alike in an effort to determine why 40 million people are living with HIV — and what can be done to curb the epidemic.

Pisani's new book, The Wisdom of Whores, looks at the bureaucracy surrounding AIDS research and treatment, and offers an alternative for the future.

"It would mean spending lots more of the available money on prostitutes, addicts and gay guys, and lots less on school kids, pregnant women and church groups," Pisani writes. "It would mean making fun things (sex, drugs) safe, instead of trying to make safe things (abstinence, monogamy) fun.

Interesting NPR interview from June- thanks, Christine, for sending it to me. Listen to it here.

The interview talks a lot about harm reduction without ever saying the phrase. While harm reduction is often spoken about in relation to drug use, it can apply to all of real life- it's about meeting people where they are, making their "bad" habits as safe as possible and offering alternatives for them if they so choose. Now this philosphy is not very popluar in our puritanical, repression and denial obsessed society, but it is the only humane way to treat others, in my opinion.

Everyday Anarchism...

Part 1.


Part 2.

"Her new role is fighting old label"

Her new role is fighting old label
By JEMIMAH NOONOO

Michelle Colvard, 32, was recently crowned Ms. Wheelchair America, a position that will have her touring the nation to challenge stereotypes about women with disabilities. She's also executive director of the mayor's office for people with disabilities in Houston. Chronicle reporter Jemimah Noonoo spoke with Colvard about her new title and her work with the city.


Q: What is Ms. Wheelchair America?

A: It's a nonprofit organization set up to promote and challenge stereotypes of women who use wheelchairs or people with disabilities in general. It's not a beauty pageant. And, fortunately, there is no talent contest, because I would be hurting. (Laughs).

Q: How did you hear about the competition?

A: My husband, Brian, brought me a brochure. I guess someone had told him about it. My husband e-mailed the coordinator behind my back and got all my friends to bug me about it.

Q: What are some misconceptions about women with disabilities?

A: They're two main ways that the media portray women who have disabilities. It's either kind of passive, needing help, victim, suffering. You hear a lot of those words, wheelchair-bound, these negative-word connotations. ... On the other hand, women with disabilities who have done pretty well for themselves are put up on a pedestal. I think sometimes that's a bad thing, too.

Q: How do stereotypes translate to how the public treats people with disabilities?

A: I think people have good intentions and want to help. I will be in a Wal-Mart and somebody will come up behind me and start pushing me. And I'll say, "No, I've really got it." And they'll argue with you about it. But on the other hand, if you see somebody who looks like they clearly need some help, like they're struggling, you should help them.

Q: You were born with spina bifida. What is that?

A: In the first trimester of pregnancy, the base of the spine fails to fully finish developing.

When I was born, my mom kept saying to the doctor I couldn't move my legs as much. He kept saying, "You are just being a new mother."

She got a second opinion, and I was diagnosed. I could walk with braces and crutches until I was in the fifth grade.

Q: What was your childhood like?

A: My mom taught me to read when I was 3, because she wanted to make sure I had an extra advantage in life. My parents tried their hardest to make sure I wasn't treated differently.

When I was a kid, I just felt like I was always set apart. I really attribute the school system for that. At one point, they put me in the "special class" because I had a physical disability. I remember they had words on the spelling board misspelled.

The country Chile was spelled like it was cold outside, the word magic with a "J." When kids see teachers or the school system treating you differently, they, of course, are going to treat you differently, too.

Q: How did you begin working with the mayor's office?

A: When I went into public health and started working on my master's, it occurred to me that there wasn't a lot of recognition about the importance of public health for people with disabilities, and that disturbed me.

While in graduate school, I volunteered for and chaired the Houston Commission for Disabilities and was appointed to the Mayor's Wellness Council. ... When the position with the mayor's office became open in 2006, I applied. I began working for the mayor's office last year.

Q: Do you have time for recreation?

A: I do weights. I do the stationary hand cycle for an hour three days a week. I only recently learned to play (wheelchair basketball). I am really horrible with the rules.

Q: What are some issues concerning people with disabilities that you feel need to be addressed?

A: Even though we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, the rate of employment has not really increased. It has pretty much stayed the same for the past 30 years. And there are a lot of other challenges related to housing and transportation. Employers have biases and are afraid to hire people with disabilities.

Q: How is Houston doing in meeting these issues?

A: Our city just won the Accessible America Award. We are not perfect, but I could give you lots of (good) examples. The Parks and Recreation Department now has programs that focus on services for people with disabilities. We have a volunteer enforcement parking task force, where people with disabilities can write tickets to people who are abusing the space in parking spaces.

Q: What is one of your most heartwarming moments as Ms. Wheelchair America?

A: I got to go on the ice for the Houston Aeros game as Ms. Wheelchair Texas. I had a little table during intermission to sign autographs. At one point, I went through this line of little girls, and they're like, "Ms. Wheelchair, I need your autograph." All of a sudden, I was mobbed.

I grew up with my peers treating me a certain way. Back then, if those kids would have been exposed to this kind of figure — an image that portrayed a strong, confident, attractive woman who just happened to have a disability — I don't think they would have treated someone who is in a wheelchair differently.

When I realized that, I started getting choked up.

Fighting the stigma around HIV/AIDS

"Keren [Gonzalez] has lived with HIV her entire life. Her family broke the news to her when she was five.

“My parents used drawings to explain it to me,” she said."

Read more on the UNICEF page and Yahoo News



Two new things I learned today about HIV/AIDS:

-Swaziland and Botswana are pretty much tied for the country with the most HIV/AIDS cases. Approximately 1/3rd of the country is living with the disease.

-The CDC understated number of new HIV infections in USA by 40%.

Progress! Alas, not for women.

From The Telegraph...

Sexual harassment okay as it ensures humans breed, Russian judge rules

The unnamed executive, a 22-year-old from St Petersburg, had been hoping to become only the third woman in Russia's history to bring a successful sexual harassment action against a male employer.

She alleged she had been locked out of her office after she refused to have intimate relations with her 47-year-old boss.

"He always demanded that female workers signalled to him with their eyes that they desperately wanted to be laid on the boardroom table as soon as he gave the word," she earlier told the court. "I didn't realise at first that he wasn't speaking metaphorically."

The judge said he threw out the case not through lack of evidence but because the employer had acted gallantly rather than criminally.

"If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled.

Since Soviet times, sexual harassment in Russia has become an accepted part of life in the office, work place and university lecture room.

According to a recent survey, 100 per cent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped.

Eighty per cent of those who participated in the survey said they did not believe it possible to win promotion without engaging in sexual relations with their male superiors.

Women also report that it is common to be browbeaten into sex during job interviews, while female students regularly complain that university professors trade high marks for sexual favours.

Only two women have won sexual harassment cases since the collapse of the Soviet Union, one in 1993 and the other in 1997.

Human rights activists say that Russian women remain second-class citizens and are subjected to some of the highest levels of domestic abuse in the world.

I'd be laughing if I wasn't so busy trying not to cry.

Remember people, the only way people have sex is through force. Nobody wants to have sex. Well, except for men, because, well... they're men. And women, because they have nerve endings. Oh, wait... does that mean you could find someone to engage in heterosexual sex with? You don't have to force them? Well, hot damn!

This essay (on Shakesville) was in response to a different article, but it's fucking awesome. It's about how, maybe, women aren't on Earth to please men. Maybe? And before you get any ideas- a MAN wrote it.

My sarcasm. It is subtle and witty, no?

Quote of the Day.

Walt Whitman

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men—go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers or families—re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

"Preventing" Rape.

This is a modified version I made of a bulletin I got on myspace several years ago. I made it more gender neutral, added situations that I thought should be added... it's still a work in progress.

I'm getting tired of the well-meaning bulletins and emails about what to do to "prevent" rape that basically blame the victim (long hair, short skirts, walking in alleys) with no real solution mentioned (um... educate people who think that might makes right and who think they can legitimately have power over another human being?); comments like "if someone tried that with me, I'd (insert whatever here)"- effectively silencing people in the room who have experienced sexual assault; and sensationalized reports of rapists "roaming" the city. Most survivors know their assailants!

We must hold the people, especially the male-bodied and male-perceived, in our society accountable. This is the only way we can start making a change.

Please leave a comment to discuss it! More resources would be great, also...

p.s.- If this ends up printed out on sticker paper and added to the walls of your town, especially bathrooms, principally male bathrooms, it ain't my fault, yo.

-------------

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape.

Women should learn self-defense.
Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark.
Women shouldn't have long hair and women shouldn't wear short skirts.
Women shouldn't leave drinks unattended.
In fact, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at all.

But, if fact, rape is not just a female bodied concern. Men, male-bodied people, and other bodied/gender identified people should be concerned with rape. Most importantly, rape is not the responsibility of the survivor, it is the responsibility of the predator.

Instead of that sexist, victimizing idea, how about:

If a person is drunk, don't rape them.
If a person is walking alone at night, don't rape them.
If a person is drugged and unconscious, don't rape them.
If a person is wearing a short skirt or shorts, don't rape them.
If a person is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape them.
If a person looks like the ex you're still hung up on, don't rape them.
If a person is asleep in their bed, don't rape them.
If a person is asleep in your bed, don't rape them.
If a person is doing their laundry, don't rape them.
If a person is in a coma, don't rape them.
If a person changes their mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape them.
If a person has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape them.
If a person is not yet a adult, but a child, don't rape them.
If a person is "ugly" and you think they'll appreciate it in the long run, don't rape them.
If the person agrees to sex with a condom, but you want to take it off, don't rape them.
If your partner or significant other is not in the mood, don't rape them.
If your child or family member is watching tv, don't rape them.
If you break into a house and find a person there, don't rape them.

If your "friend" thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell them it's not, and that they're not your friend.
If your "friend" tells you they raped someone and got away with it, report them.
If your peer or another person at the party tells you there's an unconscious person upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape them, call the police and tell the peer they're a rapist.

If they moaned and got hot, you're still a rapist.
If they came, you're still a rapist.
If they were on top, but forced, you're still a rapist.
If you used a condom, you're still a rapist.
If there were no weapons involved, you're still a rapist.
If they were someone you had sex with before, you're still a rapist.

Tell family, friends, co-workers, neighbors it's not okay to rape someone.
Don't tell your friends how to be safe and avoid rape, or what they "should" have done.
Don't imply that they could have avoided it if they'd only done/not done x.
Don't imply that it's in any way their fault.
Don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you they "got some" with the drunk person.
Don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

Some great resources:
Can I Kiss You?
Scarleteen
Sexual Health

Pirates and Emperors

I'm going to try to import the articles I posted on my old blog here this weekend... will update when it's all done.

Until then...

August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month!

Breastfeeding is, unfortunately, a controversial issue in our society. In Illinois, there are laws to protect women so they are able to nurse in public- which seems utterly ridiculous to me, because why would you need to legislate such a basic action, need?

So, even though I'm not a mother, here's a few things I've been reading and listening to about breastfeeding lately:

The La Leche League is a great resource. They are an international, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization dedicated to providing education, information, support, and encouragement to women who want to breastfeed. I've been listening to their podcasts (available on iTunes), which are really informative, not only about breastfeeding but natural parenting.

Ban The Bags is a national campaign to stop formula company marketing in maternity hospitals.

Mommy Too! has a Black Breastfeeding Blog with a really great resource and blog roll page.


I have yet to find any Asian or Latina-specific breastfeeding resources, but this was something I was just browsing around a bit for. Unfortunately, most websites go on the assumption that you're white, middle class and that your family is heteronormative. If anyone has links for all of us outside those boxes, please share!


...I also found this great little writeup...

Human Milk is Green
Ecologically speaking...

It's a natural, renewable resource and is all the baby needs for the first six months of life.

It requires no resources for packaging, shipping or disposal.

No precious energy is wasted producing artificial baby milk and related products.

No land needs to be deforested for pasture or crop production.*

It does not create pollution from the manufacturing of human milk substitutes, bottles, nipples and cans.

It helps space babies by suppressing fertility in the mother.


*I'd also add, since there is no vegan formula available in the usa, no female cows are raped ("artificially inseminated") only to have their calves taken from them after birth. The male calves get turned into veal while the female cows suffer the same fate as their mothers until they are eventually killed to become hamburger meat. Go vegan!