June 2008 – Page 4

Trans Day of Action – Friday, June 27, NYC

When: Friday, June 27, 2008 – 3:00pm
Where: Starting rally at City Hall Park, Manhattan, NY

Tomorrow is the fourth annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice, organized by the TransJustice working group of the Audre Lorde Project. It’s the fourth year that I’ll be going and every year has been exciting, inspirational, and powerful. (You can read about the 2006 march here.) The Trans Day of Action is my favorite NYC Pride rally/march type event, because it’s both a powerful political demonstration and a strong celebration of our communities. It’s way more inclusive than the Dyke March in both the people it gathers together and the issues it addresses, and it’s obviously way more political than the very commercial and more mainstream big Pride march on Sunday. From the ALP website:

We call on our Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) community and on all of our allies from many movements to join us for the 4th Annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice. We as TGNC People of Color (POC) recognize the importance of working together alongside other movements to change the world we want to see. We live in a time when people of color, immigrants and poor people are disproportionately underserved, face higher levels of discrimination, heightened surveillance and experience increased violence at the hands of the state. It is critical that we unite and work together towards dismantling the transphobia, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia and xenophobia that permeates throughout our movements for social justice. Let’s come together to let the world know that TGNC rights will not be undermined and together we will not be silenced!

I strongly encourage folks in the NYC area to come out and march with us. It’s open to all allies, so anyone can (and should) come.

cross-posted at AngryBrownButch

Yep, There’s Slave In Me

You ever wish some people came with a mute button? Charles Steele Jr., president and CEO, of SCLC announced in a speech that Michelle is getting rougher treatment in the media than Barack because she has slave roots, and he does not. Right, the issue is that she is blacker than him. When will black men begin to acknowledge the roll that gender plays in the lives of women of color? Yes, we are both black but women must deal with sexism, and to always make race the center of the debate is to diminish the experiences of WOC.

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Attention Pro-Choice Canadians

From reader Bushfire:

The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, a group of pro-choice organizations across the country, needs your help in fighting Bill C-484, the “Unborn Victims of Crime Act”. This bill seeks to give a second conviction to anyone who would harm a pregnant woman, making it seem that two separate people were harmed. This is a thinly veiled attempt to make a fetus a legal person and recriminalize abortion in Canada. The ARCC has an online petition you can sign here. They are also running out of money fighting this bill, which has passed a second reading in Parliament. If you are able to donate money, you can go here. For more information about Bill C-484 and the ARCC go to their website.

Head over there if you’re a pro-choice Canadian or a supporter of abortion rights around the world.

Dear Myles Brand: Title IX is HOW old?

Thrilled to be guest-blogging here. I write about girls and media. Girls as in under 18 years old (just to be clear!). As the founder of New Moon Girl Media, I’ve worked with girls ages 8-15 creating media since 1992 when my daughters Mavis & Nia and I and my husband Joe Kelly started New Moon Magazine. In Sept. we’re launching a brand-new online community for girls ages 8-12. More about that another time. This post is about how things have changed and not changed since I was a girl.

As a girl in the 1960’s, I was a huge baseball fan, falling asleep on muggy summer nights listening to the Yankees on the radio. Mickey Mantle was the undisputed star but my favorite was the shortstop Tony Kubek. To this day, listening to a baseball game on the radio is guaranteed to relax and entertain me at the same time.

I loved playing catch with my dad, brother and cousins. Once I even manged to break my cousin Rich’s nose with a hard throw! (I don’t remember ever playing catch with another girl or a woman.) But I never thought of myself as an athlete and instead put my physical energy into modern dance, which I also loved.

When I was 18, Title IX – the federal law that illegalized gender discrimination in any educational instituition that receives federal funds – was born. I didn’t hear anything about it at the time. But today I’m telling Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association it’s time for his support of Title IX to be demonstrated in their PSAs.

Well-known now for its dramatic effect on equalizing athletic opportunities for girls and young women, Title IX stayed totally off my radar screen until a good 20 years later when my friend Emily, a rabid hockey player who took up the sport in her twenties, started fighting for the creation of girls’ hockey teams in Minnesota high schools. She and an equally passionate group of women made it happen, against many odds. And Title IX was the key they used to open the door of ice arenas all over the state to girls. Emily’s daughter Laurel went on to play Division I hockey at Boston University, a great testament to her mom’s vision.

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Police Officer Promoted for Breastfeeding Quake Victims

Apparently some people have protested the promotion of this police officer for her decision to breastfeed nine orphaned victims of the earthquake in China.

Holy moly. Nine kids? She deserves a freakin’ medal for the chafing alone.

The concern of the protesters, apparently, is that police should not be promoted for “good deeds,” but only for “merit.”

The last time I checked, the job description of a police officer (assuming they do it correctly—a big assumption, I know) is pretty much supposed to be that they do “good deeds.” Kind of like firefighters, or plumbers, or pretty much anyone who does something that’s useful to others. So I don’t really see any reason to object to her promotion. I can’t help but think that the real issue for people is probably that she has boobies and she used them, and well, that just makes people uncomfortable.

And I thought I hated him after 2000…

Why doesn’t Ralph Nader just go away? According to ABC News:

Nader earlier today told the Rocky Mountain News Obama is trying to “talk white”… He also said Obama wants to show he’s not “another politically threatening African-American politician. He wants to appeal to white guilt.”

Hey, Ralph Nader. You know who doesn’t have the right to tell a black guy how black people are supposed to talk? You.

(Obama camp’s response is here.)

Cover up, woman!

natalia eats her shoe

Author devours offending high-heeled shoe. Crowd cheers. David Blaine is super-jealous.

Recently, I had a conversation that went something like this:

Guy: Hey Natalia! Glad to see you!… Nice dress!
Natalia: Thanks, man!
Guy: A bit on the short side, huh?… And wow, those heels…
Natalia: Yeah, I figured it’s the weekend, you know?
Guy: I hope you don’t get offended, but since you’re a feminist, don’t you think that dressing like that can be seen as a sign of insecurity?
Natalia: I suppose it can. But I’m sure that if I wore an ankle-length skirt that could be construed as a sign of insecurity too. I’m just not going to let that be my problem. Being a feminist and all. And hey, I like the way my legs look.
Guy: But if you like your legs… why try to prove to others that they look good? That seems like insecurity to me.
Natalia: I’m necessarily not trying to prove anything, I’m just enjoying them. *points to shirtless guy by pool* Check those biceps out! I bet he likes those! Is he also insecure? Or does this only apply to women?
Guy: But women are different! They’re seen as sex objects!
Natalia: Ah yes. You are different, woman. Cover up now, cover up!

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Lipstick and High Heels Will Get You Raped

Oh for the love of…

Kota Baru (Malaysia): In a bid to prevent incidents like rape and illicit sex in shops and other business premises, the Kota Bura Municipal Council in Malaysia has reportedly issued a circular directing the fairer sex, particularly Muslim women, not to sport bright-coloured lipstick or wear high-heeled shoes to work.

Dated May 25 and signed by Municipal Council President Shafie Ismail, the circular said the directive was targeted at Muslim women employees working in food outlets and other business premises.

Those who insisted on wearing high-heeled shoes should choose those with rubber soles, staronline.com quoted it as saying.

The directive on the wearing of lipstick and high-heeled shoes is in addition to the wearing of scarves covering the chest, and that the scarf should not be of any transparent material, and blouses should be with long sleeves having long and loose, as well as socks.

Those who do not adhere to the regulation can be fined up to 500 Ringgits, added the directive.

So not only are women supposed to prevent their own rapes by not wearing high heels or lipstick — which are apparently irresistible invitations to assault, or something — they’re fined if they don’t buy into it. If the Kota Bura Municipal Council is actually interested in preventing rape, perhaps they should focus on the rapists.

Thanks to Mandy for the link.

Albanian Sworn Virgins

There’s an interesting article about in the Times about the decline of Albanian sworn virgins. Sworn virgins are people who were born as women but take an oath of virginity and live as men. The article theorizes that they’re declining because of increased gender equality; it’s no longer shameful to have a woman-headed household, and the lines between “man” and “woman” are not as rigid as they used to be — meaning that women can do things that were traditionally in the male sphere while still living as women. It’s an interesting look at the fluidity of gender butting up against the rigidness of gender roles — while it’s possible for people born as women to “cross over” and live as men (and be totally socially accepted and understood as men), the only way they can do that is to fully embrace traditional gender roles. Further, only women can cross over — there aren’t men who can acceptably choose to live as women.

It’s an interesting piece. Thoughts?

Surrogate Exploitation

As the mother of two wonderful boys (mayhem and destruction), I can understand the desire to have a child, yet this desire to reproduce should not obscure the ability of some potential mothers to exploit others. Some women have turned to surrogacy to become mothers, and in the process have ignored the system of exchange, and the potential it has to reduce womens bodies to their wombs. Womens ENews has an article detailing the exorbitant cost of surrogacy. It seeks to draw attention to the fact that with a declining economy, surrogacy as an option is becoming, more and more difficult to utilize as an option. We are meant to feel saddened that one group of women are having difficulty exploiting another group of women, for the purposes of projecting their genes into the future.

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