In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: October 2006

Do You Have To Be So Mean?

(Note: Update below the fold.)

Nubian falls out of love with the BBC over an article that–well, I mean, let’s just take it from the title through the subtitle on down. Just to clarify something up front: Normally, portions of a blockquote appearing in bold indicate emphasis I’ve added; here, however, I am keeping the bolded text from the original:

Black women ‘also cause splits’

Black women are “hugely responsible” for the family breakdown which fuels crime, MPs have been told.

Camila Batmanghelidjh, of the charity Kid’s Company, said men were usually seen as the “irresponsible” ones who got girls pregnant and “walked off”.

But black women were also to blame as they had a culture of rejecting men and being “cruel” towards them, she said.

Nubian’s commenters pick right up on the racism and do an excellent job of tearing it apart. As Kevin points out, “If women would just be nicer” is one of the oldest MRA arguments in the book. Here, it’s just been married to “Sisters are a little too strong and sassy,” for a fun, new, racist twist. Gag.

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First U.S. Female Genital Cutting* Trial

A father in Georgia is accused of cutting his two-year-old daughter’s clitoris with a pair of scissors. The article isn’t specific about what exactly he cut or cut off, but Type II genital cutting (clitoridectomy, wherein the entire clitoris and sometimes part of the labia are cut off) is the most common form practiced in Ethiopia, where the man is from.

The father denies that he did the cutting, but the fact remains that someone either cut or cut off a two-year-old girl’s clitoris with a pair of scissors. This is horrifying, and keep in mind that this procedure has been performed on some 140 million women and girls world-wide. More than 90 percent of women in countries like Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia have undergone it.

While we’re prepared (rightly) to prosecute people who cut the genitals of girls in this country, we’re also fully prepared to send at-risk girls back to their home countries to face abuse there. We aren’t doing enough to support organizations abroad that combat FGC in their own communities. And we’re too busy imparting our own anti-woman policies abroad, which kill and maim tens of thousands of women, to really take much of a moral high ground on this one.

If this man did indeed cut his daughter’s clitoris, he deserves to be punished for it (and this is a pretty good example of the idea that feminism/human rights ideology and cultural relativism become incompatible at some point). But we shouldn’t assume that this is an isolated case. Nor should we ignore the experiences of the hundreds of millions of women and girls who have had their genitals cut, and the 2 million girls who are at risk for genital cutting this year alone.

Thanks to Raging Red for the link.

*The article refers to it as “female circumcision.” I don’t believe that this term is at all accurate to the facts of this case, and I will not use it.

Michael J. Fox: 1, B-List Godbag Celebrities: 0

The Republicans are bringing out the big guns to respond to Michael J. Fox’s incredibly moving ad promoting candidates who support stem cell research: James “Movie Jesus” Caviezel, Patricia “Feminist For Life” Heaton, and a couple of Missouri football players.

Let’s get this straight: Because there won’t be cures for 15 years, stem cell research is useless. Because fertility clinics can pay women for eggs (which they already do), stem cell research is bad. Because proponents of stem cell research spend a lot of money on ads, it’s a lie. Because Movie Jesus tells you in a foreboding tone that “You know now. Don’t do it,” you shouldn’t.

Strong arguments you’re presenting there, guys. Maybe next time you should just invite Rush over to give his two cents, and perhaps hear a little bit from Dr. O’Reilly.

(Anyone here speak Aramaic? What the hell is James Caviezel saying at the beginning of the video?)

Friday Random Ten

The “Clearly, My Humps is the winner” edition.

1. Nina Simone – Love Me or Leave Me Alone
2. Jackson Five – Stop! The Love You Save
3. George Gershwin & Lena Horne – Summertime
4. Portishead – All Mine
5. Des Ark – Yes Sir, Yes Way
6. Elvis Costello – (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
7. Liars – 4 ft Wide
8. Robert Johnson – 32-20 Blues
9. Tom Waits – Down, Down Down
10. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Sugar Sugar Sugar

Posted in Uncategorized

While You Were Sleeping

I’m only categorizing this under “Health” because CNN did: “‘Sexsomniacs’ Puzzle Researchers:”

Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.

Research into sexsomnia — making sexual advances towards another person while asleep — has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it.

As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships.

You don’t say!

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How I turned into a screaming maniac…

For the past few days the group Justice For All (who I won’t link to, Google them if you’re really curious), an anti-choice, forced pregnancy organization has been on campus at UNM, invited by some on-campus group consisting of a mere 14 members. I don’t know whether anyone has ever seen one of these exhibits, but it consists of two-story high billboards plastered with pictures of mangled embryos and fetuses labeled as older than they are, with lots of vague and incorrect “facts” about abortion causing breast cancer and cervical cancer and whatnot.

Not only is it disturbing because of the massive misinformation, but also the images are highly insensitive to anyone who might have had a miscarriage (and don’t get me started on the way our culture treats miscarriage).

They put this exhibit in a completely centralized place, where you can’t help but walk by it if you want to get to class on time. I, however, was determined to walk by without paying it any notice, nobly proclaiming myself above reacting to such shock-value, trollish tactics.

Needless to say, less than half an hour later I was waving a coat hanger in the air leading several women in chanting “NEVER AGAIN!!!” at the top of our lungs. So much for nobility.

Luckily, the next day (what I’m assuming was) an impromptu “Women’s Health Fair” had sprung up on the other side of the plaza, with tables set up by doctors, Planned Parenthood, a group of midwives, and other such organizations handing out condoms, pamphlets giving the true facts about abortion, and the like. It was nice to see people combating deliberately provocative lies with helpful, simple, open truth. I stopped to snap a few photos with my cameraphone (below the fold).

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