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

Month: March 2009

New report demonstrates – yes, again – that ab-only programs don’t work

But we’ll keep cranking them out until these ineffective, disproven, misleading programs go away – or at least no longer receive federal funding.

This week’s report is from SEICUS and focuses on Florida specifically. I never forgot this article I read year – although I can’t for the life of me find it right now – citing a report that found teens in Florida, a state which relies heavily on federal ab-only funding, who believed drinking a can of Mt. Dew would prevent unintended pregnancy, or drinking a capful of bleach would prevent HIV/AIDS.

SEICUS found programs like those Sumter County Public Schools, which allows Christian Care Center to lead its ab-only programs, teaching from a curriculum that does not believe in contraception and says that “no contraceptive device is guaranteed to prevent teen pregnancy. Besides, students who do not exercise self-control to remain abstinent are not likely to exercise self-control in the use of a contraceptive device.”

And how’s that working out for you, Florida?

The most recent data available shows Florida has the third highest rate in the nation of new AIDS diagnoses, the fifth highest rate of new HIV infections; teen pregnancy rates that are the sixth highest in the nation; nearly two-thirds of all new sexually transmitted diseases in the state were among young people; and 15% of new HIV infections occurred among those under the age of 25. In sum, Florida has some of the worst health outcomes on these key indicators of reproductive and sexual health nationwide.

Here are highlights from the report – the full report can be found here.

NYPD accused of raping intoxicated woman

Following in the wake of the beating of a 15-year-old girl by county cops in Washington state, and adding to the growing mountain of police brutality against women I am even more disheartened to hear about another set of accusations of police violence. This time, two male cops escorted a drunk woman to her home in the East Village, then returned to her apartment twice in the early hours of the morning. On their third visit, something happened. The cops are calling it sex; the investigators are dubious; the woman reported it later that day as a rape.

The thought of two police officers, supposedly entrusted with the safety of the people, taking advantage of an intoxicated woman makes me want to puke. This story has unfolded in the city’s media over the last few days. First the accusation and investigation, including a discovery of heroin and the “personal information” of other neighborhood women in the accused rapist’s locker. I don’t know what “personal information” means. A little black book of women he could go have sex with while on duty? Photos? Stalking notes? Who the hell knows. (The guy is married with two kids, incidentally.)

Yesterday, it came to light that multiple surveillance cameras had caught the officers’ comings and goings throughout the night, even though they appeared to be trying to stay out of sight of the building’s main security camera. Once again, I have perturbed and mixed feelings that the constant surveillance we live under around here (and in so many other cities) actually helps document abuses of power and violence against women. In this case, friends of the woman went to a nearby bar later the same day to ask the owner for surveillance footage.

Today, the younger cop told investigators that his senior partner did have sex with the woman they helped home. He claimed it was consensual. According to the NY Post, investigators are not buying that story. She was too drunk to walk by herself less than two hours before the time of the alleged rape, according to witnesses and cameras. And she certainly didn’t think it was consensual: the next day, she told the district attorney’s office it was rape.

UPDATE 3/4: Today the New York Post is reporting that the junior officer is now saying that his partner raped the woman while he stood by, and that he will testify against the accused.

Read More…Read More…

Who Gets to Say What, Part 3: Whiteness, Leetness

(This is the second part of our series of reflections on Feministe and its place in the bewildering and sometimes nauseating constellation known as “the feminist blogosophere.” You can read part one here and you can read part two here.)

Oh yeah. It’s time to talk about race some more. Ready?

Is Feministe one of the White Feminist Elite blogs? Where do we see Feministe sitting along the racial fault lines that fracture the blogosphere, or in the division between “big elite” and “small individual” blogs?

Read More…Read More…

Who’s apologizing to who now?

This headline leaves me confused: “R.N.C. Chairman Apologizes to Limbaugh in Flap Over His Role.”

Here are some choice quotes from Rush Limbaugh. Just one example:

I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.

Limbaugh is a celebrated right-wing leader, whose appearance at CPAC was met with huge applause, and who got himself a giant article in the New York Times Magazine. The other day, RNC chair Michael Steele said this about Rush:

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” he said. “Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”

Rush is an entertainer; he’s a radio talk show host for pete’s sake. While I have no love lost for Michael Steele, he’s not the one who was offensive here. But:

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Mr. Steele told The Politico. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

Rush Limbaugh is the guy who said James Earl Ray (Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin) deserves a posthumous medal of honor. He’s the guy who told an African-American caller to “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” He’s the guy who said, “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

No “enormous respect” there. And it’s Rush who should be apologizing.

International Sex Workers Rights Day

Via Amber, today March 3rd is International Sex Workers Rights Day.  SWOP-USA provides some history:

The 3rd of March is International Sex Worker Rights Day. The day originated in 2001 when over 25,000 sex workers gathered in India for a sex worker festival. The organizers, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a Calcutta based group whose membership consists of somewhere upwards of 50,000 sex workers and members of their communities. Sex worker groups across the world have subsequently celebrated 3 March as International Sex Workers’ Rights Day.

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (2002): “We felt strongly that that we should have a day what need to be observed by the sex workers community globally. Keeping in view the large mobilization of all types of global sexworkers [Female,Male,Transgender], we proposed to observe 3rd March as THE SEX WORKERS RIGHTS DAY.

Knowing the usual response of international bodies and views of academicians and intellectuals of the 1st world [many of them consider that sex workers of third world are different from 1st world and can’t take their decision] a call coming from a third world country would be more appropriate at this juncture, we believe. It will be a great pleasure to us if all of you observe the day in your own countries too…We need your inspiration and support to turn our dreams into reality.

Check out SWOP-USA for more information on events taking place today, namely a potluck dinner in NYC. They also have information on the specific and most pressing issues affecting sex workers.  In addition to racism/transphobia/sexism/homophobia/poverty, they are: ending violence against sex workers, involving sex workers in the fight against human trafficking, ending stigmatization and discrimination against sex workers, fighting HIV/AIDs, ending the raids/stings against prostitutes and decriminalizing prostitution overall.

If you have more information on events taking place today (or in the near future), also make sure to leave them in the comments!

Posted in Sex

A few things which I hope to write about later

But I figure I’ll direct your attention to now.

1. Is Food the New Sex? I was pretty excited to read the title of this article, since food policy is one of my pet interests, and the social constructions of food and sex (and how they overlap and relate) is something I’m perpetually fascinated by. I mean, it’s food and sex — do I need to explain further? Unfortunately, the Hoover Institution (a right-wing think tank at Stanford) managed to make the most interesting of topics overly-moralizing and boring, complete with cookie-cutter caricatures to illustrate a very tired point. However, kudos for this line, which made me laugh, even though my juvenile take on it is probably not what the article was going for: “The mindful vegetarian slogan, “you are what you eat,” has no counterpart in the popular culture today when it comes to sex.” Heh.

2. Designers and retailers ignore the average American woman, who is a size 14 and 163 pounds. It’s an interesting article. But why the classist commentary? For example: “I don’t want any more polyester, hip-hop gear, frumpy jeans and themed capris! I want the designers not to assume that I am a frumpy 55-year-old, middle-management employee. . . . Is anyone listening to us?” via Knit Me a Pony‘s Twitter.

3. All the major players on Obama’s health care team are women. via Baratunde on facebook.

Red State Special

(Totally stealing Jezebel’s title for this post).

So whaddaya know: Red state citizens consume the most online porn in the United States. Utah is the biggest porn customer in the U.S., and eight of the top-ten highest porn-consuming states went for John McCain in the last election. But don’t get too worried yet: Porn consumption decreases on Sundays, when more people are ostensibly in church. And states that have banned same-sex marriage in order to maintain traditional values consume 11% more pornography than states without marriage bans.

States where a majority of residents agreed with the statement “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage,” bought 3.6 more subscriptions per thousand people than states where a majority disagreed. A similar difference emerged for the statement “AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behaviour.”

Here’s the paper (PDF).

Targeted Anti-Natalism from Kaiser Permanente

Sociological Images has two versions of a Kaiser pamphlet for pregnant women. The English-language version congratulates the woman on her pregnancy, and lists a series of options (six different classes). The Spanish-language version says “You’re going to have a baby!” and invites the reader to three of the six classes offered to English-speakers: A series of pre-natal care classes, a hospital tour, and a class on sterilization. The English-language pamphlet mentions sterilization as one option among six; the Spanish-language pamphlet highlights it.

It’s a noteworthy addition to the conversations already happening in this thread.