Incite Needs Help Evacuating Women

I came across this call for help at WOC PHD.  Please do all you can to help these vulnerable women who still have not recovered from Katrina.

Dear INCITE! friends and supporters,

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent government criminal negligence and assaults on the low income people of color on the Gulf Coast, our sisters from INCITE! projects in New Orleans (including the local chapter, the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, and the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic) are bracing for the potential landfall of Hurricane Gustav, which is currently projected to hit the Louisiana coast on Monday or Tuesday at a category 4 or 5. Voluntary evacuation of New Orleans has already begun, and mandatory evacuation could be declared as early as today. INCITE! organizers in New Orleans have made over 700 phone calls to women of color and their families that make up the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic, working to prepare and implement evacuation and safety plans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help the low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina. Local organizers are using whatever resources and funds at their disposal to help women and their families evacuate, bond people being held in Orleans Parish Prison out, and support those who make the choice to stay in whatever way they can.

Your support is urgently needed: financial donations of any size are needed and would be greatly appreciated.

Donations online are preferred because we can more quickly send the funds to our folks in New Orleans .
You can send your donation to INCITE online by going to this website:
http://incite-national.org/index.php?s=137
Click the Donation button
Put New Orleans in the “Purpose” line

Or you can write a check directly to WHJI and send it to:
PO Box 51325
New Orleans , LA 70151

This money will go directly to supporting the hundreds of low income women of color that are the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic.

Once again, the particular vulnerability of low-income women of color and single female-headed households (including folks with disabilities, seniors, undocumented immigrant women, and incarcerated women) has been erased in the face of disaster and overlooked in the days leading up to the storm. With few resources, facing challenges and concerns for their families of their own, INCITE! New Orleans and WHJI have stepped in to fill the gap. Please send all your support, solidarity, sisterhood and strength their way, and join us in hoping for the safety and well-bein g of the people who are already suffering from Gustav in Cuba , Jamaica , and Haiti , and willing the storm to subside or veer off safely before it strikes the Gulf Coast .

We will keep you posted as things develop.

peace,
INCITE!

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RNC Raids: The Police Violate Rights

Police have been conducting raids in anticipation of civil disobedience at the RNC.  Theses incidents are being ignored by the mainstream media. Ask yourself who  these agents of socialization are there to protect and inform.

These are clearly gestapo like tactics.  It is particularly hypocritical that at an event that is meant to celebrate democracy and freedom such blatant authoritarian behaviour on the part of the government is occurring.  If it were not for the freedom of information that the internet allows such incidents would be occurring in isolation. 

These events are meant to inspire fear and stifle dissent in the population.  The ruling elite is well aware that an informed active populace is a threat to their minority control.  This is why the media is ignoring these stories, and this is why the police are taking so called preemptive action. Tyranny can only stand when none rise up to oppose it.

See Feministing for more.

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Sex Trade Workers Are Prey For Serial Killer In California

Let's share a nightmare together shall we.  Let's pretend that in our deepest of dreams there is a man roaming the streets randomly killing innocent white school girls for twenty-three years.  Let's imagine that this man is so violent he kills 11 of these suburban princesses.  Lets imagine that these young women are not only white but from a middle to upper class background.  How many eulogies do you believe would be written for them?  How many tears do you think would be shed for their loss?

Do you believe that the police would be besieged with demands to bring this murderer to justice?    Would they create a task force specifically designed to follow each and every lead regardless of how pointless it seemed?  Do you believe that the media would converge from all over the nation to make sure that everyone was aware of the tragedy that was occurring in California?  Perhaps Anderson Cooper would become the face of the investigation as Americans sat with baited breath hoping beyond hope, that this terror would be brought to an end.

In truth what I have described is completely plausible if  someone had been killing the daughters of bodies that matter in this society today.  Unfortunately the nightmare is real, woman are being killed but they are not members of the privileged class.  The women that are being murdered are African American sex trade workers.  Over the last twenty three years, eleven women and one man has met a gruesome fate at the hands of what police now believe to be a serial killer. 

As has been said on many occasions, sex trade workers constitute an extremely vulnerable group of people within our society, and when this is combined with racial discrimination it can lead to a permanent outsider status.  These people were devalued not only because they were sex trade workers but because they were African American as well. 

Daily  sex trade workers go missing and the police barely take the time to investigate.  It is more important to divert resources to finding the robber who stole a rich mans stereo, than it is to get justice for sex trade workers.  Millions of dollars are spent on the useless war on drugs yet the time and money to find an obvious predator cannot be found.  What does this tell us about which bodies matter in this society?

We can learn much about our social world from examining what we ignore, and why.  In a country that constantly preaches individualism over communal thought, is it any surprise that social malaise renders us incapable of valuing the lives of those that are the most vulnerable amongst us?  In a society that is based upon exp0loiting the 'other' can we truly be surprised that we view their bodies as disposable refuse?

The blood of the 'other' is cheap in our world.  Human suffering is something to be ignored in the face of achieving greater profits and privilege.  To be counted in this world you must have power, and an African American woman who works in the sex trade will never have access to the proverbial golden fleece.  She will search in vain for understanding, she will labour only to find her efforts disregarded and demeaned.  When the time comes for the rent, the land lord hand extended will be waiting.  Every single purchase that she makes, she will pay taxes to support a system that wants only her money and sees in her not potential, but a body that may be worked to the dust.

These women have been waiting twenty-three years for justice, over half of my lifetime.  I fear that unless pressure is brought to bear they will remain among the countless cases of unsolved murders simply because in their lifetimes their bodies were positioned in  a socially stigmatized group.  If you believe in justice, seek it for those whom society has devalued and demeaned. A fair and equal society can only exist when all bodies are counted, and when all bodies are deemed worthy of respect.  So I say to you as I have said before, all bodies matter, we only have to believe in the validity of equality.

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Buying Back My Daughter: The Global Sex Trade Must End

The above is a small trailer for the film Buying Back my Daughter.  It is disturbing as it reveals the true cost of poverty. Cambodia is an impoverished third world nation and as a result young women are being sold into sex slavery to support their families.  These women clearly do not want to sell their children but feel that they have no other choice.  As  western women our first impulse may be to judge the parents for their decisions, but to do so is to neglect our culpability in the sex trade. 

As western citizens daily we participate in trade that has a negative impact on the rest of the globe.  When we grocery shop, or make debt laden trips to Walmart, what we are doing is supporting a global economy that exists through the exploitation of cheap labour in third world countries.  When we purchase a bunch of bananas for thirty-nine cents a pound what this means is that the worker that grew and picked those bananas did not get paid. We exist with a sense of entitlement. Through an accident of birth westerners have come to see consuming as an inalienable right despite the fact that our over consumption of the worlds goods relegates the majority of humanity to poverty and suffering.

It is no accident that those largely effected by the global slave trade are girls and women.  Female bodies are deemed meant for consumption by patriarchy and since patriarchy largely controls global trade, female bodies have become just another commodity no different than a shipment of wheat, or coffee. Through the global slave trade we can see how the interaction of gender and class work together to limit the life chances of women all over the globe.  These women exist without power because they are poor and female. Patriarchy has worked to create a disconnect in our minds, and this is only proof of the validity of interconnectivity.

As we learn about the terrible crime of the global sex trade it is quite easy to dismiss it because we feel powerless to create  change.  This is an expression of western privilege. If it were our daughters that were routinely subject to this kind of treatment, we would not be able to turn such a callous eye to this situation.  Since women are sold because of poverty the best way to combat the sex trade is to combat poverty.  We know that western corporations profit from cheap third world labour and therefor it is time to start demanding that these corporations pay a living wage. We can further refuse to support unfair labour practices by not purchasing items we know to be made through labour exploitation.  Do not purchase items blindly, take the time to investigate the companies business practices.  Teach these corporations in the only language that they understand - profit margins, that human lives are worth more than capitol. Everyday acts have the potential to make a large difference if we all commit to change. As I have said before and will continue to say, all bodies matter.

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Palin: Sexism Is Wrong

I came across this image at shakesville where they are keeping a record of the sexist attacks that have been aimed at Sarah Palin since her announcement as McCains VP pick. The speed at which the patriarchal juggernaut has moved to use sexism to discredit her is astounding.  Limbaugh (my favourite ass wipe) has already referred to her as the "babe on the ticket." 

As someone who is pro woman, and pro child in all things I feel that it is necessary to say that regardless of Palins heinous politics, or standing as a colluder, the sexist attacks are patently wrong.  When one woman is devalued in this way, we all are. 

While I believe that it is wonderful that feminists have gone on the immediate defensive, as a WOC I cannot help but be reminded that it took African American women pointing out the sexism faced by Michelle Obama for it to be recognized by the feminist movement.  There was no instantaneous reaction to her being constructed as an angry black woman.  In fact many prominent feminists to this day have still not spoken publicly against the attacks that Michelle received and continues to receive.  What this tells me, is that feminism is still a movement that protects, validates, and honours white women. 

I will speak out against the sexism faced by Palin because I believe that it is the right thing to do.  I firmly believe that all bodies matter, however I cannot help but feel angst that this sentiment is not returned.  I won't play the oppression Olympics and point out that Michelle is stigmatized by both race and gender. I won't rehash the reasons why black women occupy the bottom of the race and class hierarchy, however I will say that this election continues to reveal which bodies truly matter in feminism.  If we are to achieve any kind of cohesion as a movement to advance womens rights we need to begin to acknowledge that sexism is wrong regardless of which body it is aimed at.  All women matter.

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Code Pink Protestor Faces Police Brutality

H/T Feministing

No matter what you think of Code Pink and their activism, this woman did not deserve to be called a bitch and summarily thrown to the ground.  Watching the coverage of the DNC convention one would never believe that this kind of social protest occurred, and yet as this video and this story made clear, all was not peace and love. Social activism is part of a proud American tradition.  Stifling descent no matter how disagreeable is the surest path to fascism.

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Colluder of The Week: Sarah Palin

McCain made it official this morning and chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Despite the constant republican barrage about experience, he chose a woman with zero foreign policy experience.  At the age of 44 she is also younger than Obama, who has been criticized for his youthful zeal.

So what makes Palin worthy of the colluder of the week award?  Well of course the obvious, supporting John McCain.  Here is a woman who is willing to stand side by side with a man that called his wife a cunt.  Honey, if he can call his wife that imagine what he really thinks of you.  Since you are not his sugar mama, I suspect that he will be entering you in nude mud wrestling contests to make you earn your keep.  Hey maybe you and Cindy can wrestle together and the GOP's can debate the merit of your attributes while the real men deal with the issues. 

Even without her support of the raving misogynist McCain, Palin is a problematic figure.  She is firmly anti-choice (again I won't say pro life because none of these oxygen thief fundies really are). I think I am most stunned with her reference to the 18 million cracks in the ceiling. " It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all," she said.  Despite some of the dirty politics played by Hillary, she never once wavered on a womans right to choose.  Palin is not a crack in the ceiling, she is an express elevator ride to the basement.  What women do not need is to be made slaves to their biology.  Becoming a mother may have been a path to fulfillment for her, but not every woman is capable or wants to become a mother. I think that perhaps she has read A Handmaids Tale once to often...She smacks of Serenna Joy.

If only being anti-choice were the only negative on this colluders resume,  I could perhaps forgive her.  Sadly the woman has sipped enough kool aid to be  pro death penalty (yeah no  conflict with her "pro life" stance) and anti gay marriage. In what is perhaps the greatest of flaws, she also believes in...wait for it...drum roll....creationism....Yeah, throw out the science and rationale thought, lets just go with a faith based understanding of the universe.  Dear God, save this woman, or in biblical terms that she can understand, woman heal thyself.

I have dedicated several blog posts to colluders since starting womanist musings. I have continually referred to them as dangerous, and I believe the point is proven by Palin.  If McCain gets elected in Novemeber I am sure a good deal of his success will be due to his partnership with this colluder.  Patriarchy counts on women like Palin to internalize their values.  Just like every other movement on the planet, without the participation of women it would fall flat on its face.  It is women that perform all of the support labour that men either are unwilling to do, or have classified beneath them.  How ironic that if McCain and Walin are elected it will be a historic first...a woman VP. Too bad it will be a colluder who is willing to throw the best interest of women under the bus so that she can achieve access to power.  Hand in your vagina Palin, woman you may be,  but pro woman you are not.

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Everyone Wants A Wife: Domestic Labor and Gender Division

According to a study cited in the MailOnline "most men want a traditional wife".  When a list of priorities were listed what is obvious is that  men want a domestic servant rather than a partner.  You know after much thought, I cannot blame them.  I would love someone to do all of the cooking, cleaning and child care.  I would love for someone to cater to my every single whim simply because I was blessed to born with a vagina.  Why shouldn't I be entitled to that kind of gender worship?

Imagine a world where being born with a uterus coded the body with unearned privileges.  What would it be like to know that my sex meant that not only am I a  person of value, but that my words would hold weight when I chose to speak?  Consider for a moment what it would be like to be immediately deferred to as a rational voice of reason, based on the assumption that all women are naturally calm and thoughtful individuals.   Imagine a world wherein female is not considered a pejorative.  The fact that the number one thing a woman wanted in a mate was the ability to listen speaks volumes about how we value men and women.

The mail further states,  "figures from the Office for National Statistics bear out the claims. More than 2.1million women say they do not work because they are ‘looking after their family or home." This is offered as proof that women wish to return to the much mythologized fifties lifestyle of the stay at home wife.  What this fails to recognize is that though white middle/upper class women were stuck in the gilded cage of the household, women of colour daily reported to work.  The life of a stay at home mother  was never an option for us.  Since the days of slavery our gender has been no protection against cruelty and exploitation.  Though women were constructed as the fairer sex, the term woman was subsumed by white women. In slavery we bore the weight of the lash, and in freedom we have continued to labour never once receiving our due.

If women are returning to the household today it is due in large part to the fact that services that were once covered by the state are increasingly being downloaded to the nuclear family.  Companies are increasingly unwilling to make compromises that allow women to balance childcare and eldercare, while being gainfully employed.  Making the "choice" to stay home when all the other avenues to continue to work are closed off or are indefinitely forestalled, is not a choice.  A choice in absence of alternatives is a forced decision. 

Choosing to stay home and raise children, or care for elder parents is not only a sacrifice, it is a gamble.  Depending on a man for economic security leaves a woman in a precarious economic position.  Husbands loose jobs, and husbands die, thus leaving the sole responsibility for raising minor children and supporting the household on women.  Even staying out of the workforce for a short period of time can have a serious impact on a womans lifetime earning potential.  Often women are not able to re-enter the workforce at the same level that they left it at.  This is further compounded by the fact that absence from the workforce effects the amount of social security and old age pension that a woman receives.  Payout is based on your lifetime earnings and five years is a long time not to be contributing. 

It is quite obvious why men want a return to traditional gender roles.  Not only would they gain a domestic live in servant, their financial earning power would result in an uneven division of power within a relationship. For patriarchy to succeed women must be convinced into believing that our so-called role as natural caregivers is valued, which is clearly not the case.  In every single instance in this society, every form of labour that is valued is remunerated.  Despite the fact that the work in private sector upholds and maintains the work performed in the public sector it is not counted in the GDP or the GNP of any country. Though our work is necessary it is not valued enough to be counted much less paid.  This amounts to gender slavery based in the idea that a woman should sacrifice based in love.

Well love starts with self love.  Value yourself and don't be a dupe to patriarchy. If your man wants a live-in caregiver, let him move in with his mother who didn't have the good sense to raise a feminist son in the first place.

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The Truth About Obama

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Daddy's Little Girl Issues A Beat Down

I am normally against violence in every form but I have a confession to make, occasionally an incident happens that just plain and simple tickles me.  According to the Daily News, Arnelle Simpson became upset when she learned that O.J gave money to his new girlfriend when her mother was struggling to earn a living working at Walmart.  She was further enraged by said girlfriends drinking problem.  For probably the first time in his life O.J. caught a beating from a woman.  That's right, daddy's little girl  gave him the shove of a life time. According to the National Enquirer, (take with a grain of salt) "which first reported the row, quoted a source saying O.J. was "cut on the back of his head, blood was coming out the side of his mouth and his lip was cut."

Whether or not you believe that O.J killed his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson,  what cannot be denied is that he violently beat her.  I will never forget listening to the chilling 911 call she made during his trial.  I will not forget viewing the pictures of her bruised and battered body.  Those that celebrated his not guilty verdict could only do so by failing to acknowledge what this man is.   The juice, with his charming smile and football superhero status is a violent, angry man and that should never be forgotten.

Though Arnelle did call 911 to get aid for her father, there is a part of me that believes that he does deserve to suffer. He deserves even for just a moment to feel the pain, isolation, betrayal, hurt, and fear  that Nicole felt every single time he lifted his hand to her. Though I am sure that it did not teach him any lasting lessons, in what was probably the first time in his adult life  the Juice learned what it was to truly be vulnerable to one that is stronger.  That this person was a woman, and his daughter only makes it  a case of  poetic justice.

Domestic violence is something that affects women globally across race, and class divides.  According to endabuse.org, "Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime." Domestic violence  is the secret shame that its victims live with, often creating elaborate tales to explain away the bruises and black eyes.  We live in a society that is intent on victim blaming, and women that are assaulted or murdered by their abusers are often constructed as ball busters. Often the social refrain is why didn't she just leave him. This anti-woman hatred further enables these incidents of violence to not be taken seriously. "Approximately two-thirds of reported domestic violence incidents are classified as "simple assaults," which is a misdemeanour rather than a felony. But up to 50 percent of these "simple assaults" result in physical injuries that are as, or more, serious than 90 percent of all rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults." (NOW Legal Defence Fund).  Yet many of these so-called simple assault regularly escalate and lead to death for the victim. According to the, Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief: Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, at 1 (2003) "In 2000, 1,247 women and 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. In recent years, an intimate partner killed approximately 33% of female murder victims and 4% of male murder victims."

While domestic violence affects women from all races and class backgrounds, it is occurring at alarming rates within the black community. Much of this has to do with the fact that black women occupy the bottom of the race and class hierarchy.  bell hooks theorizes that the black woman has no institutional other and this is made obvious by our continual abuse and marginalization.  According to the US Department of Justice, African-American women experience significantly more domestic violence than White women in the age group of 20-24. Generally, "Black women experience similar levels of intimate partner victimization in all other age categories as compared to White women, but experience slightly more domestic violence. (Estimates are provided from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which defines an intimate partner as a current or former spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriend. Violent acts include murder, rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.)"  The American Bar association cites. "Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races."  Domestic violence is the unspoken crime in the black community.  It is quite at odds with the medias consistent portrayal of the long suffering, tough, angry black woman.  That our blood continues to run like a river down the streets is something that is rarely discussed much less acknowledged.

Though we claim to live in an advanced and liberated society, how can this be truth when daily women are beaten and killed by those that claim to love them? Intimate partner violence is hidden from view.  Inside of our suburban Leave it to Beaver homes women are crying out in pain.  This is not an issue that we can afford to take lightly.  Though there are domestic violence shelters many are struggling to stay open in light of the recent down turn in the economy.  Where will women and children turn the next time a man decides that he has the right to violate their bodies? 

To those that are daily living this horror, know that it is not your fault.  This is an issue of power, and nothing you did or ever could do would make you deserving of having your body violated in this manner.  Please seek help.  The next time he lifts his hand to you, it could result in your death. 

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-7233 or
1-800-787-3224 (TDD)

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

1-303-839-1852

Resource Center on Domestic Violence, Child Protection and Custody

1-800-527-3223

Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence

1-888-792-2873

The Battered Women's Justice Project

1-800-903-0111

 

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Man, The King Of The Castle

I simply could not resist posting this.  He might just think twice before he decides who the boss is eh?

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Cops Attack Protestors At DNC

Emergency news conference exposes gov’t terror

By LeiLani Dowell
Denver

Published Aug 27, 2008 9:19 PM

Denver police have used violence and mass arrests in an attempt to silence dissent during the Democratic National Convention. However, organizers and activists have put the city and police on notice that their intimidation tactics will not work.

Larry Hales from Recreate 68 Alliance and
FIST tells off Denver police. To his left is
John Parker from Los Angeles
Int’l Action Center.

Photos: Troops Out Now Coalition

Several hundred activists were gathered in Civic Center Park on Aug. 25, where the Recreate 68 Alliance (Recreate68.org) has a permit for a week of actions during the DNC. At about 6 p.m., Denver police began massing in groups, encircling the park. Squads then began to march through the park, pushing and kicking people as they passed. One group of heavily-armed police lined up directly across from the Troops Out Now Coalition table.

At about 7:00, a group of mostly young people responded by chanting “No justice, no peace!” The police charged the group, hitting several of them with pepper spray. Attempting to get away from the club-swinging police, the group moved onto Cleveland Street, joined by many others from the park.

Police then closed off both ends of the block, entrapping the group as well as many bystanders. They began hitting people with their nightsticks and using pepper spray and pepper balls.

Front banner at anti-war march in Denver,
Aug. 24.

One young protester, Martin, told the Denver Post, “We moved to the sidewalk—a few people stayed in the street—because we didn’t want a confrontation, but it didn’t matter. People started pleading: ‘Let me go. I want to go home.’ ...

“Some of the police on horses were whacking people with their batons. I was told later that the police were telling us to disperse, but I didn’t hear them say that. And where would we go? The police were all around us, not letting us leave.”

TONC organizer and Navy veteran Dustin Langley was among those trapped on the street between the police lines. He noted that spirits remained high, saying: “Street medics took care of those who had been pepper sprayed, and we shared water and made sure everyone was okay. We continued chanting and singing. At one point, we sang ‘Solidarity Forever’. One group of activists chanted at the cops: ‘Who do you protect? Who do you serve?’”

After more than an hour, the solidarity of those on the streets and negotiations by Recreate 68 organizers won the release of most of those trapped on the block.

At least 85, however, were placed in metal shackles and arrested. They were denied access to attorneys while at the detention center, and many were bullied into making a guilty plea in order to get released. Martin said, “Now, because of the plea bargain, I’m free but on probation. I can’t join any more marches, or do anything illegal in the next six months, or I’ll get five days in jail on top of the other charges.”

The next day the police continued their attempts to intimidate those protesting the DNC. Heavily-armed police continued to mass around the park, and squads of horse-mounted cops rode through the park several times.

At about 9 a.m., the right-wing bigot Fred Phelps entered the park, spewing a homophobic hate speech. A Recreate 68 organizer, Carlo Garcia, told him to leave. The Denver police responded by arresting Garcia, who has two brothers in Iraq.

When Code Pink organizer Alicia Forrest questioned Garcia’s arrest, she was knocked to the ground by police and arrested as well.

Organizers with the Recreate 68 Alliance and TONC called an emergency press conference in front of police headquarters to take a public stand against these tactics and respond to distortions in the corporate media, which portrayed the protesters as the initiators of violence.

Glenn Spagnuolo, one of the cofounders of the Recreate 68 Alliance, put the mayor, police chief and Denver Police Department on notice that he and other organizers are meeting with attorneys to move forward with legal action. He noted several major protest-related lawsuits, such as those in New York and Washington, which have cost local governments millions of dollars.

Larry Hales, a leader of the Recreate 68 Alliance and of the youth group FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together), noted that any violence that has occurred was initiated by the Denver police. Recreate 68 demands all police be removed from the park. Hales stated that since Recreate 68 has a permit to hold its activity in the Civic Center Park, the police have no business there.

Other speakers at the press conference included Brian Vicente of the Peoples Law Project; Ben Kaufman, who described the arrest of Carlo Garcia; Sally Newman of Code Pink; and Mark Cohen, a Recreate 68 cofounder, who questioned the role of the Democratic Party in suppressing civil liberties and attempting to silence protest.

Following the press conference, organizers returned to Civic Center Park, where they joined hundreds of activists from around the country determined to continue in the spirit of resistance and protest.

More coverage and analysis on developments at the DNC as well as the Republican National Convention will appear in upcoming WW issues.

---

Articles copyright 1995-2008 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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Areola Reductions, The Path To Perfect Boobies

One of the joys of being born female in this world is learning that no matter how how much you watch your diet, exercise or invest in simulacres beauty treatments your body will always be imperfect.  The medical establishment has profited from this constructed insecurity by offering several operations to correct natures flaws.  If you have enough money you can have a designer vagina.  It does not matter that it may function just as nature intends, what matters is that it could be prettier, it could be tighter.  So what if you can have an orgasm, if the dick that penetrates you isn't satisfied you cannot possibly be happy.  Real women want tight holes, even the lesbians....

Of course the medical establishment is not happy with only making you panic about the unnatural looseness of your twat, you now have to be concerned about the size and shape of your areola.  What if they are too large?  What if they are too puffy?  All women are supposed to come out of the factory with a barbie like shape, and if you fall short of that ideal something is wrong with you. As a true woman it is your responsibility to fix these faults. It is a small price to pay to achieve perfection.

According to the website of Dr. Romano, the procedure involves the following.

• Usually a very light general anesthesia, and the procedure takes about two hours.
• The procedure involves an incision around the areola edge and a smaller incision with removal of the excess tissue in between, like a donut.
• The incision is very inconspicuous and located around the final edge of the areola.
• Dressings and a light gauze bandage are worn for several days.
• This can be combined with other plastic surgical procedures.

Are you convinced yet?  Well perhaps the results will make you realize that you need to correct this fault.  After his handiwork these are the results that you can expect.

• Beautiful, balanced and proportioned contour and size and shape to the nipples and areola.
• Lasts the rest of your life and always looks better than if you didn't do it.
• Natural and presentable appearance in the first week that just gets better over the next three to six months.

I guess the breasts that we grew when we entered puberty came with some kind of expiry date. Well if you are rapidly reaching your best before date, the medical establishment has the answer for you. Get the fat sucked out of your ass, get your vagina tightened and while you are at it don't forget to get your areola fixed. 

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Matrimonial Abuse: The Child Bride

Childhood is a precious time in life.  It is a time of innocence and discovery.  Unfortunately for many young girls this is a time that is cut short as they quickly discover that unlike their brothers, their lives will not be one of adventure, freedom, or autonomy.  When one is born female in this world it becomes evident at a very early age that possessing a vagina necessarily means living a life subjugation wherein your personal desires or wishes are ignored.  Woman is often not considered the equal of man, and this devaluation has made it impossible for many girls to have the opportunity to make the simplest of decisions about what will bring them happiness.

Childhood is often cut short very early to promote heteronormativity and female subjugation.  Young girls are routinely married off, often to men many times their age.  In Yemen an 8 year old child had to sue for a divorce from her 30 year old husband.  As horrific as this story is, it is not an isolated incident.  In an equally tragic tale reported by the Arab News,  Muhammad Ali Al-Zahrani, a death-row inmate married his 15 year old daughter off to a fellow death row inmate days before his execution.  She is now pregnant.  According to Ahmad Al-Muabi, a marriage official, "a father can marry off a one-year-old girl as long as sex is delayed until she reaches puberty." In yet another example of child marriage yet another 8 year old girl this time from Unayzah, 135 miles north of the capital Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has been married off by her father. Her mother thankfully has filed for a divorce on her behalf.

In an interview with Dr. Ahmad Al-Mu'bi, a Saudi marriage officiate, which aired on LBC TV on June 19, 2008, he defended child marriage by saying the following.

If the guardian is the father... There are two different types of guardianship. If the guardian is the father, and he marries his daughter off to a man of appropriate standing, the marriage is obviously valid.

[...]

People find themselves in all kinds of circumstances. Take, for example, a man who has two, three, or four daughters. He does not have any wives, but he needs to go on a trip. Isn't it better to marry his daughter to a man, who will protect and sustain her, and when she reaches the proper age, he will have sex with her? Who says all men are ferocious wolves?

This position is also affirmed by Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-'Ubeidi, an Iraqi expert on Islamic law,  in an interview which aired on Al-Rafidein TV on March 14, 2008.

Most of the time we act according to what is acceptable to most people, and indeed, most men do not marry a girl until she is of age. In some Islamic countries, the age of maturity can be 8 or 10 years. In Yemen, a girl might get her period at the age of 8. In cold countries, such as Russia, Belarus, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Canada, and so on, a girl might not reach maturity until she is 22 years old. She might not get her period until then. Therefore, the greatness of Islamic law is manifest in the fact that marriage is not just for pleasure. True, it is the basic objective for marriage, but there are some cases that require solutions.

[...]

Many criminals, the enemies of Islam, ask: "How could the Prophet Muhammad, at 52 years of age, marry 'Aisha when she was only 8 years old, and consummate the marriage when she was 9 years old?" I say to them: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Why do you permit your young girls to fornicate? They consider it one of their liberties. Therefore, in these stupid countries, you rarely find girls aged 10 or 12 who are still virgins. They permit this. They have even legislated laws stating that if a girl is under the age of 18, and her girlfriend [sic] or whatever has had sex with her, she has the right to have an abortion. How can you permit the outcome without accepting the cause? Why do you allow your girls to have sex and say this is an individual liberty? It is okay to fornicate with girls there or force them to have sex, and so on, and they have the right to have an abortion. If you permit all this before the age [of 18], without a marriage contract and without any legal grounds – how come you forbid marriage?

Religion is being used as a justification for child abuse.  This abuse is aimed at girls because the patriarchy believes that it not only has the right to our bodies, but to our very lives.  Though both of these experts declare that these marriages are not consummated, I find it doubtful that in a culture that believes that women exist to slave for men, and fulfill their sexual needs that these young women remain unmolested.  Even if we are to take them at their word how harmful is it to these young girls to be summarily ripped away from everything that they have come to trust and love, to be thrust into an unfamiliar situation where the possibility of abuse and neglect exist?  How harmful is it to these young girls that their very humanity is negated in order that a man may assert his authority over her?  Patriarchy is what benefits from these child marriages. According to the Telegraph, "A United Nations report on child marriage in 2005 found that 100 million girls were expected to marry by the age of 18 before 2015. The worst countries for child marriage were Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh." International pressure must be brought to end this terrible tradition. 

There are those that will accuse me of imposing western values upon different cultures.  My answer to those condemnations is that simply because something is culturally specific does not make it right.  This is a strict violation of human rights, and it is child abuse.  It would be one thing if adult women were wilfully participating in this, but these are children who are powerless in the face of authoritarian adult control.  All bodies matter regardless of age or gender.

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Wine, Dine 69 Me

There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton gave an excellent speech last night. Every single point that she was asked to make she did.  Hillary unreservedly endorsed Barack in a way that was not only inspiring but designed to bring unity to the party.  It was the speech of a lifetime. 

Unfortunately her supporters are refusing to hear her message and support Obama.  Not only am I saddened by this,  I find myself experiencing rage.  When they are not busy spreading obvious lies about his background, they are complaining about his lack of experience.  Barack it seems has to earn their votes; or wine dine 69 me as I like to put it.

Would you hire a CEO without experience?  Is anyone even aware of how big business works.  No person no matter how knowledgeable is an expert on everything, this is why they have a staff.  Barack will surround himself with knowledgeable people and make the decisions that need to be made.  He may not have the political experience of Bush or McCain, but he is much better educated.  Education counts for something, and only in a society that is intent on anti-intellectualism could this important factor be over looked.  The man was the first black president of the Harvard Law review for crying out loud.  Did he get that by being dense?

I believe these women are being purposefully obtuse.  Would Hillary have made a great candidate? Absolutely. The primaries are over and she was not chosen.  It is time to move on and think about the future.  To decide that you may not vote is an affront to every single person that was beaten and denied the right to vote.  This is especially disgusting coming from an African American woman. Even considering voting for McCain is to spit on the grave of every woman that died having a back alley abortion. 

Finally choosing McKinney as your fall back choice is disgusting.  While she may have an excellent platform the hypocrisy of this choice bridles my sensibilities.  Until your golden girl was out the running few even thought to validate that there were two women running.  Until recently few have even commented on the historic nature of her campaign...that's right, a little thing like an African American female candidate and VP choice. But hey she is woman enough now isn't she?

Barack isn't going to bend over backward to kiss your collective asses.  He realizes that this is a no win  situation for him and therefore he is going to attempt to win the votes that are truly up for grabs.  Sitting there, posturing and preening about how he has to work for your vote is ridiculous and if you gave it a moments pause you might realize that.  Hold on to your anger and resentment that Hillary was not chosen and in the process say good bye to health care, environmental protections, ending the war in Iraq, and most importantly Roe V Wade. Obama may be a centrist without the ability to make real and lasting change but when you consider the alternative is the lesser of evils really that bad?

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Give Me Some Of Those Old Time Cosby Morals

Who amongst us is not familiar with Americas favourite dad, Bill Cosby?  The award winning comedian and father has made it his mission in recent years to save the black community.  His arguments are all about blaming the poor for being poor, and forcing black women to capitulate to the black male patriarchy. The world was better when man was the head of the household and everyone knew their place.   He has been peddling his anti-woman, classist message from sea to shining sea.   That he continues to be worshipped as a beacon of truth is proof of the degree that we have internalized the false doctrine of meritocracy. That womens organizations continue to give him a platform is proof of the acceptability of slut shaming in our so called sexually liberated world.

In The Forum For Dark Secrets, Bill Cosby lectured, to every girl that there is always an alternative to what’s popular -- and that sex, the right way, is worth waiting for. Yes young girls must certainly remember that the time to have sex is when daddy has walked you down the isle; then and only then is it okay for you to be a sexual being.  Your virginity is precious and just because you may be experiencing sexual desire, having sex is simply not acceptable.  Young girls  need to understand that their bodies don't belong to them, they belong to their future husbands. 

"If you’re 13, 14, 15 and you have sex, this is not gourmet stuff," he said. "Nobody’s buying you a bottle of wine and candlelight and putting some romantic music on. No, you’re in the clothes closet or down near the dryer or dishwasher saying, ‘Hurry up before my mother comes home.’ That’s why you don’t know the boy’s name."

Young women are not participating in sex because they might desire it.  Women only submit to sex when they have been appropriately bought and paid for. Black girls need to hold out for a man with money to pay for their services, because sex is essentially women selling their bodies to the highest bidder. 

"Now let me tell you the pitiful part. The child you’re now pregnant with? Neither you nor Peewee are pleased with having this child. ... If you never dreamt of having this child, how are you going to think lovingly of raising it?"

Right, if the pregnancy is accidental you cannot possibly love this child.  A child only has a chance if they are painstakingly planned for. In other words stop producing little bastards. Submit damn it, marriage is the path to salvation.

At that point, he said, the girl is "knocked up" and her "beautiful mind is knocked off the right track" -- "and your mother wants to knock your block off."

Of course it does not occur to the man to scream just as loudly for programs that would allow young single mothers to continue their education.  How about a little socialized day care Bill?  Just because a woman has had a child out of wedlock does not mean that her life is over if she is given the appropriate support. I know that it is hard to believe but as important as motherhood can be in the life of a woman, it does not encompass the totality of her being.  I may be a mother but I also play many roles.

"In my time, it wasn’t a perfect time, but it was tough trying to get some," he said. "Women interviewed you: ‘What high school did you graduate from?’ ‘Well, right now? Uh,’ ’No, good-bye.’ "

The little sluts of today just give it away like candy.  In the good old days before reliable birth control women knew better. Now that you are free to have sex like wild animals you have lost all sense of self.  In his day women were never whores.  The world was balanced, men chased and the good girls said no. Of course there is nothing wrong with men actively seeking to have sex, hey that just comes with a penis.

Bill Cosby is a member of the Black afrostocracy. He is not interested in helping people, he is only interested in shaming people into conforming to norms that are not necessarily in their best interest.  While he unashamedly lectures women about refraining from being sexually active, he neglects to mention that he paid a woman not to reveal that he had possibly fathered a child outside of his blessed wedlock.  He recently settled a civil suit wherein a woman charged that he drugged and sexually assaulted her.  I guess she didn't understand that because he had money he was entitled to access to her body. Maybe this is why he is intent on telling young black women to hold out for a fat wallet. The more women that can be convinced that their bodies should be available to the thickest wallet, the more victims he will have.

When he speaks about the poor letting the civil rights movement down I must question where was his devotion when Dick Greggory, a fellow comedian was including race into his stand up routines and actively marching? He wasn't down with the black community then.  He was busy telling the world that he was simply a human being, denying the struggle that blacks were undergoing to have their human worth recognized.  Today in his senior years he is seeking to redeem the lack of action of his younger days.  Even if he were take every single dollar he earned peddling jello and invest it into poor communities it will not make up for his failure to answer the call to civil rights.  That you preach unity now does not erase the fact that in your youth you saw only the glint of gold and not the tears of suffering and true degradation.  And so I say to you Mr.Cosby in the words of a comedian who knew what honesty was, "Have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up."

 

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Elizabeth Acevedo, Murdered and Devalued

Elizabeth Acevedo died on August 22.  She was only 38 years old, far to young to die.  Very little is known about her, but what the New York Post wants their readers to be aware of is that she had one leg, and that she was a prostitute. Throughout the brief article they only bother to refer to her by name twice. It seems that her profession did not entitle her to even the dignity of being assigned a victim status.

Apparently she was hit over the head with a heavy object after performing a sex act. It is a well known fact that prostitutes are  particularly vulnerable members of our society.  When they are attacked, raped or beaten society has a tendency to turn a blind eye.  Only pure women are worthy of social angst, and somehow it is deemed that sex trade workers bring this kind of violence upon themselves. 

When researching to see if I could find out more information about her tragic passing, I came across a post at Bossip wherein Acevedo is further demeaned. They have a mock picture up and refer to her murder as, "some pure comedy indeed." Only in a world where women are routinely devalued could the death of a prostitute be referred to as  a joke.  Had a white male been killed it certainly would not be a laughing matter because their bodies count. 

Every time I hear someone speculate that we have reached a post feminist world, I think of women like Elizabeth Acevedo, Claudette Osborne, Emma Caldwell, Chantal Robertson and Stephine Beck.  As long as women continue to be slaughtered in cold blood, there can be no such thing as a post feminist world. Until such time as the violence against women is taken seriously, and not treated as fodder for tasteless jokes there will be a reason for feminism.

The devaluation of women is a world wide phenomenon. The patriarchy tries to assure us that we are not oppressed.  They offer the women of the middle east as examples of real oppression. The blood of Osborne, Acevedo, Caldwell, Robertson and Beck assure me that misogyny and violence against women is a real and ever present danger here in the so-called enlightened west. These women are no different than you or I, there only fault was to be born female in a world that is obsessed with phalocentric worship.

This is not a case of hysterical whining.  Yes women can vote, we even have the right to make seventy cents for every dollar a man makes, but now is not the time for complacency. Now is not the time to be lulled into the false belief that because some things have improved that we are living in a utopia of ovarian freedom.  The reality is that daily women are beaten, raped and murdered. We have not come close to dismantling male privilege.  We must stand up and demand justice.  It is not okay to slaughter us, and it is not okay to treat us as disposable bodies.  The blood of one woman is the blood of all.

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Clintons 4 McCain

The message here is don't vote for a dirty Muslim, he's not like you. White people don't get educated in places like Indonesia.  He's not really an American despite being born here and living here most of his life.  What kind of message are we sending to the world if we let one of those people rule over us.  This is the land of milk, honey and white privilege. 

Just ignore that boys impressive resume. He probably got some breaks because of that reverse racist affirmative action program. Ivy league schools have to let a few of the darkies graduate to keep the liberal wingnuts off their backs.  What are you people even thinking about, not only is he  a sambo, he might even be a Muslim.  That's two strikes right there.  White entitled people of America I implore you to remember who the hard workers in this society are. By electing him president you are throwing away your hard earned privileges. Think about your ancestors.  Do you believe it was easy for them to enslave a whole race of people, damn near complete a genocide of Native Peoples while stealing land, intern Japanese in camps, perform public lynching's during picnics, beat and brutalize children protesting for civil rights with batons, water hoses, and dogs?  Think of the precious wood that was used to burn crosses on front lawns that will have gone to waste if the country decides that a boy black man is fit to be president.  This all could have been avoided if you had gotten over your sexism and chosen Hillary. 

H/T Instaputz

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DNC Convention, Racism Reflections and Other Minor Irritations

Like many people, I watched the DNC convention last night.  Before Michelle's speech many pundits saw this as an opportunity for her to redeem herself from what they perceived to be her earlier political guffaws.  That their reaction to Michelle and her message could be based in racism and sexism is something that few sought to examine.  The lens of white privilege and racial construction have entwined to create Michelle as the angry, ball busting black shrew.  She is none of these things.  As her speech last night clearly showed she is a bright, loving, committed woman who has a destiny with greatness.  This life path is not due to her marriage to Barack, rather it is based in her great sense of self,  poise and  grace. 

Even as I watched her speak and thrilled at her message, I knew that race would again raise its ugly head and seek to not only diminish her, but Baracks campaign.  Unfortunately I was proven correct within a short period of time. 

Following the conventions I watched Larry King Live.  His guests were Ben Stein, Marsha Blackburn,  and Michael Reagan.  What was intended to be a GOP reaction to the convention quickly became a display of white privilege.  This included the familiar I cannot be a racist or say something racist because I have a niece that is black qualifier.  The commentary was so obviously racist that Larry King had to intervene saying, "I have never seen or heard an intelligent argument that could support racism."  He followed that up today with his Thoughts on Last Nights Show.

Dear Republicans, clearly you have conceded the black vote as you no longer pretend to be anti-racist.  You posture, and puff out your chests about the majority of the blacks supporting Barack as some kind of reverse racism.  Have you stopped and thought to yourself about what the Republican party has done for people of colour since Lincoln freed the slaves? You may have suckered a few bourgeoisie blacks to vote for you based in class, but the large majority of blacks are aware of exactly what conservatism stands for.  You are trying to conserve the status quo in a country where blacks daily meet racism both in the public and private sphere. Why should they be complicit in their own marginalization and support you?  The GOP has become synonymous with I am suffering because POC of want equality, and I don't want to give up any of my privileges white man whine.  So while you may profess to love us, even occasionally adopting one of us like we are pets that you can pick up at the SPCA, being your pet black that you can present on command to prove how enlightened you are just isn't as appealing as it used to be. 

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It's All About The Booty

Recently I have taken to deconstructing ridiculous products that are aimed at women.  I see these as attempts to discipline womens bodies.  So far I have examined the faux penis, the anti rape condom and the vibrator with a razor. Continuing on in the bizarre tradition of torture through clothing, I bring you the Double-O- Push Up Thong. 

Karen Jones, the owner and founder says, "Our ultimate goal then and now is to help women look their best...because when you look great, you feel great! We've learned that we're not just selling better booties, by boosting self-esteem, we're really helping people in their day to day lives. This has become our driving and continuing motivation." 

If only my ass were ripe and luscious then all of my problems would be solved.  I could experience the thrill of having a man drool over ass as I walk by.  Oh the angst and the emotional drama over the missed catcalls and whistles. It's just not fair to be ass challenged in a world that worships the booty.  The lack of support systems and groups to deal with this stigma makes it so much harder to deal with. Life is not easy for the narcissistic. What about me...doesn't my physical disability need to be addressed.  So what if I can walk, run, talk, dance, see and sing, my ass is flat.  Are you listening people, I said my ass is flat, and you cannot imagine the pain it brings....okay I need a moment, talk amongst yourselves.

This is the kind of ridiculousness that products like this promote.  Though Ms.Jones claims to be helping women in fact she is feeding the social monster that says that womens bodies are always imperfect.  This is the result of the happy marriage of patriarchy and capitalism. Create a fault that seems natural and then exploit it to maintain position and create profit.  Really how does creating products like these help women?

These neo-Victorian torture underwear, firm and shape making sure that the body conforms as much as possible to the "ideal female form".  The problem is that women come in all different shapes and sizes. It is impossible despite all of the riggers that we put ourselves through  to be found perfect in the patriarchal lens. This is a Quixote like quest.  Not only is the windmill forever out of reach, it is an impermanent optical illusion, as beauty standards are in a continual state of flux. Instead of chasing an impossibility it is time that we embrace the wonderful diversity that is possible in the female form.  No matter what shape a woman takes, her beauty cannot and should not be defined by others.

H/T A Little Girl Talk

 

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Target Women: The Chick Flick

Okay still totally girl crushing on Sarah.

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There Is More To Race Than Black and White

I know that this is a little shameless self promotion but I have a piece up at GlobalComment. This is the first time I have been paid for my writing and I am thrilled. The following is a little teaser...

In the current American presidential election, race has become a pivotal issue.  Obama is the first African American man to have a legitimate chance of becoming president of the United States.  Blacks and whites vacillate between a celebratory end of the racial divide, and the further entrenchment of racial hostilities.   The post racial world debate has gone mainstream giving rise to conversations that are long overdue. While we are continually refining the discourse surrounding race, what has become patently obvious is that the term people of colour stands for black.  The United States has a historical legacy of black disenfranchisement that clearly needs to be addressed. Slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, and the rape and sterilization of black women have left a lasting legacy on the social psyche; however this should not erase other bodies of colour from our social conversations.  Neither of the candidates, nor mainstream media has made an attempt to specifically address the needs of Muslims, Native Americans, Asians, or Latinos. The aforementioned are the bodies that have become erased. Colour cannot and should not be solely represented by blacks. 

Read  the rest of it here.

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National Pro-Life Unions, says Obama Has Betrayed The Black Community

The infamous Day Garner has issued yet another polemical declaration, apparently Baracks position on Roe v Wade is traitorous and  constitutes the support of a racial holocaust.  She is reported to have told Lifenews.com that,“By kow-towing to the abortion industry Obama proves he is just another politician, as he purposely overlooks the fact that 63 percent of Planned Parenthood’s 860 clinics are in African-American communities.What both Planned Parenthood and Obama don’t realize is that we do not have to kill our children to have fruitful, successful lives. But it doesn't matter. Even though blacks compromise only 13% of the population, they make up over 36% of all abortions done in this country." The veracity of her statistics regarding the placement of planned parenthood clinics, as well as the number of African American women having abortions are irrefutable.  Even though black women constitute a small percentage of women we are having the most abortions.

The problem is the conclusions that Gardner draws from these statistics.  Simply because a planned parenthood centre is in a particular neighbourhood, does not make it more likely for a woman to have an abortion.  First a woman must have her birth control fail, or engage in unprotected sex to become pregnant.  She must then make the decision as to whether or not to have the baby, put the child up for adoption, or have an abortion.  What this means is that a woman is actively deciding to walk into a centre.  Those that work for planned parenthood do not troll the streets looking for pregnant women on which to perform an abortion.  They do not tie women down and force them to submit to a procedure to which they are not desirous of.  Too claim that positioning of the centres are a major factor in the decision making process, subverts the degree to which African American women are in possession of agency and autonomy. Does she believe that we are so easily swayed that merely upon seeing a clinic we would be persuaded to make a life altering decision like having an abortion?  I do believe the woman has watched to many episodes of hot ghetto mess...Black women are more than capable of deciding for themselves whether they have the desire and  the wherewithal to parent.

Gardners objective is to overturn Roe v Wade, and what she does not acknowledge is that this will not bring an end to abortion.  What will happen is that women will resort to back alley abortions to rid themselves of a child they either do not want, or unable to financially support.  In countries where abortions are illegal women have resorted to purchasing medicines to induce abortions that are potentially lethal.  While professing her love for the black community what she is not considering are the thousands of women that will die if they are forced to utilize these unsafe methods.  When you value the child that isn't born, and incapable of surviving without its maternal host over the life of the woman that is already existing and contributing to society you are essentially delivering a death sentence.  It is not a question of if women will die; if Roe V Wade is ever overturned it is simply a question of how many. 

Though Gardner identifies as someone who is pro-life, I find the same faults with her position as do with all of the other organizations that daily strive to eliminate the right of women to choose; she offers no counter solutions.

According to Andrea E Wilson and Melissa A. Hardy, "African American women have experienced higher rates of unemployment — twice the rates of white women through the 1980s and 1990s (Browne 1999). This suggests that white women have been able to find a job more quickly when they are searching for work and are less likely to lose a job once they are employed (Browne 1999). Consistent with this pattern at the individual level, African American women are most likely to have sporadic work patterns, shorter job tenure, and greater concentration in low-paying, unstable occupations (Dressel 1988; Gibson 1987; Hertz 1988). Living in areas of high unemployment or areas negatively affected by deindustrialization, having lower levels of education and skill, and having to deal with the negative effects of discrimination are among the hypothesized factors contributing to the concentration of African American women in less stable and lower-paying jobs "(Cancio, Evans & Maume 1996; England 1992; Holzer & Vroman 1992; Wilson 1987)

If a mother is poor, her child will be equally poor.  If the aim is to support life perhaps it should begin with offering concrete solutions to lift black women out of poverty.  Where are the organizing drives meant to create better labour opportunities for black women, support of black entrepreneurship, or increasing education funding?  Where is the advocacy supporting national subsidized health care, and day care?  How about paid maternity leave, or job sharing or flexible hours?  The aforementioned are positive steps that would increase the likelihood of mothers choosing to keep their children.  It is easy for a woman like Garner to suggest that abortion should be outlawed when  it will not be her vainly searching in a kitchen for food to feed a hungry child.  It will not be her that will be shamed by social services when food stamps are required.  She will not be accused of being a bad mother simply because she is poor and unable to pay for groceries, the rent, and utilities out of a meagre paycheck.  If the goal is to encourage women to have children the conditions that make that choice tenable need to be created.  We cannot simply moralize from a distance about valuing life when daily through social neglect and apathy our behaviour displays the opposite.

Sources

Hardy, Melissa A, and Andrea E. Wilson. "Racial Disparities in Income Security for a Cohort of Aging American Women." Social Forces 80.4 (2002):1288-1289. www.projectmuse.com

(accessed August 25,2008)

 

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God Bless The US and No One Else

 

I discovered a great new site entitled The Asian Economist.  He has a post up called Ten Ways To Piss The United States Off. I highly suggest you go and check it out.   I am sure the title pretty much makes it clear that it is a satirical polemic, however I feel that there is much to be gained from reading such work.

One of the constants in the American psyche is that evil always exists outside the borders.  Not only is America the land of baseball and apple pie, it is the land where goodness and righteousness are a constant.  Americans invade countries for the sake of freedom and hey if they happen to be able to build a pipeline or have  greater access to oil, it is all just a happy accidental windfall.  Why can't the backward Iraqis, and Afghanis realize that all of the death, and destruction is for their own good.  Americans are after all sending soldiers which they recruited in impoverished neighbourhoods to secure their freedom. Aaah freedom the greater justifier of some of the worst atrocities in this Middle Eastern debacle.  As soon as these people realize what is good for them they will be swigging coca cola and gorging on Big Macs.  Who knows maybe they will even hit the trifector and Walmart will start to open big box stores so that they can be suitably civilized Westernized.  Thank God for the red, white, and blue, we might all be swinging from trees where it not for American intervention.

Another salient point that The Asian Economist makes is about  torture and human rights abuses.  These are things that happen only on the dark continent, backward sands of the middle east, or in the anathema of the western world, China.  Of course this ignores the torture of the political detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  It further means that human rights must be kept to a very narrow definition.  I happen to believe that it should be a human right that everyone should have access to health care, education, housing, food and water but that would mean a better a division of assets.  What would the Paris Hiltons of the world do if they could not live in the lap of luxury while school children go without breakfast.  Yet these facts are not ignominious, no they represent the bonuses of living in a country where supposedly the cult of meritocracy is for the good of all.  As long as the finger is pointed outward instead of inward the white hat role of the good guy will always be played by an American.

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Political Fashion And The Cult Of Vanity

One of the joys of living in a capitalist system is that besides the air that we breathe, nothing exists outside of exchange.  We freely commodify to make a profit  readily obscuring need, or meaning.  This loss of substance is not only anti-intellectual, it often leads to the commodification or 'othering' of another culture. That donning certain clothing might present a message contrary to what the wearer actually believes is irrelevant, because looking good is the objective.  We are not a politicized society, we have become the culture of drive through McDonalds and decaf lattes by the litre.

The degradation of symbols by the bourgeoisie is purposeful.  Symbols can be used to increase solidarity and raise the ire of large masses of people.  To turn substantive items into everyday fashion disconnects the proletariat from their meaning.  Wearing a Che t-shirt in a capitalist society should represent a rejection of the very system under which we live, and instead it has come to have all the value of a happy face, or a crude limerick. This inversion of a revolutionary to an ordinary signification of the "coolness factor," silences his message, which is ultimately the goal of the ruling elite.  People no longer reflect on the larger connections of political messages.  Critical thought involves more than  reading the top stories at Digg, while we wait anxiously for the next meaningless text message.   The amount of communication continues to expand with the proliferation of the internet, however the substance of conversation is often reduced to meaningless banter.  Oh well, at least we "look good" while we are doing it.

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No Short Shorts, More Social Discipline and Slut Shaming

This post comes via Just A Girl In Short Shorts.  Kristie Arnold was sentenced to three days in jail for having the temerity to wear shorts judge Janet Booth deemed to be inappropriate to court.

Too much leg.  Yes, the female body is to be covered and hidden from view unless permission has been given for it to be displayed.  This is slut shaming at its finest.  That this punishment is inflicted by a woman highlights the degree to which we have succumb to the idea that female bodies are always dirty.  The message is that if the body is on display it is always sexual, thus invalidating womens agency.  That a woman may choose to display her body for her own gratification is often overlooked in the desire to construct the body from the point of view of the patriarchal lens.   The understanding of the  body is not removed from discourse rather it is formed from it.  It is already understood before becoming realized in the corporeal sense.

The second aspect to consider when we view this incident is the class element at play.  Class is more than a designation it signifies a series of learned behaviours, as well as access to certain commodities.  A person of a middle or upper class background may exist with the understanding that certain clothing is appropriate for certain spaces, however those lessons are not necessarily transmitted to those of a different class location.  Arnold assumed that because her clothing was neat and clean that her attire was appropriate, yet without continual access to the privileges that class grants such ignorance of cultural norms is understandable.   Booth did not attempt to make a determination of why Arnold felt that her attire was appropriate, nor did she take the time to investigate whether or not she had the financial ability to purchase the kinds of clothing that she deemed to be acceptable.  Arnold was disciplined and stigmatized by both class and gender.

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Man Fed To Lions: Thanks Mandela

In 2004, Nelson Chisale was beaten and fed to lions on the orders of his white boss Mark Scott-Crossley.  All that remained of the father of three were his skull and strips of his clothing.  A South African jury rightly found Mark guilty and sentenced him to  life in prison. That should be the end of the story, justice served right?...WRONG. According to CNN Mark Scott-Crossley was released on parole on Thursday. Do the math, that is four years for threatening a man with a gun, having him beaten to death, and then feeding his remains to lions.  This is the kind of justice that happens in South Africa when it comes to blacks.

South Africa has worked very hard to change its global image since the end of the evil apartheid system.  That it now publicly criticizes Israel of human rights abuses is an example of the hypocrisy at play.  It began with the historic release of Mandela from prison and his ascension to power as the countries first black president.  He is  globally celebrated as an emissary of peace for asking black South Africans to accept the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a path to healing and progression. 

SINCE the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 (Act No. 200 of 1993), provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society characterized by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex; AND SINCE it is deemed necessary to establish the truth in relation to past events as well as the motives for and circumstances in which gross violations of human fights have occurred, and to make the findings known in order to prevent a repetition of such acts in future;

The end result is that blacks learned how their loved ones died and the murderers got amnesty. Sounds like a fair deal doesn't it in the interest of peace.

This Constitution provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply
divided society characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice
and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and
peaceful co-existence and development opportunities for all South Africans
irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex.
The pursuit of national unity, the well-being of all South African citizens and
peace require reconciliation between the people of South Africa and the
reconstruction of society.
The adoption of this Constitution lays the secure foundation for the people
of South Africa to transcend the divisions and strife of the past, which gen -
erated gross violations of human rights, the transgression of humanitarian
principles in violent conflicts and a legacy of hatred, fear, guilt and revenge.
These can now be addressed on the basis that there is a need for under -
standing but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not for retaliation,
a need for ubuntu but not for victimisation.
In order to advance such reconciliation and reconstruction, amnesty shall be
granted in respect of acts, omissions and offences associated with political
objectives and committed in the course of the conflicts of the past. To this
end, Parliament under this Constitution shall adopt a law determining a firm
cut-off date, which shall be a date after 8 October 1990 and before 6
December 1993, and providing for the mechanisms, criteria and procedures,
including tribunals, if any, through which such amnesty shall be dealt with at
any time after the law has been passed.

Turn the other cheek, swallow your rage and anger.  This is globally what blacks have been told for centuries in regard to the crimes committed against us.  Yet no matter how many times the olive branch is extended our bodies continue to be violated. Mandela had a historic opportunity to achieve justice for the long suffering blacks of South Africa and instead it was more of the same.  I cannot find it in my heart to praise him when I continue to see how black lives are devalued in South Africa.  I cannot praise him when I realize that all that has changed is that now there are a small group of black bourgeoisie who are intent on oppressing the majority of the countries blacks.

Blacks still live in shanty towns without running water or electricity, while in the cities whites reside in comfortable homes with their neatly manicured lawns. That commercials like this still need to made is a sign of exactly how unequal South African society is.  Yet he continues to be held up globally as a hero.  I believe that this is a case of white fear.  There is no doubt that whites have globally committed horrific inhumane acts against POC.  They fear retribution. They fear justice, and rightly so,  I am angry and so are my brethren.   No more turning the other cheek, for if history has taught the brown peoples of this world anything, it is that forgiveness is only an invitation to be revictimized. I shall hold my anger in my heart as a shield against the pain that has been inflicted upon POC. I shall swallow it like vinegar relishing the taste because I know that there is a truthfulness to it, an honesty that cannot be found in pandering and begging for what is rightfully ours. 

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CNN Slut Shames Amanda Beard

Where the hell does Amanda Beard get off saying, "eww", when she was asked if she had kissed Michael Phelps? Seriously, the dirty slut had the nerve to pose naked, she is no position to be picky.   Isn't she aware that with his record breaking gold medal wins, he will be a multi millionaire?  It is common knowledge that money is supposed to buy access to womens bodies.  As long as you are in possession of  a vagina you must spend your life on an auction block.  It seems that if you refuse to be sold like chattel, it is perfectly acceptable to be a called a slut and a whore.  Good to know that in 2008 women are still expected to fuck on command.

CNN makes it quite clear that in comparison to Michael Phelps, Amanda Beard is a nothing. That she is also a gold medalist is completely ignored in their desire to paint their hero as ruler of all he surveys.  Why didn't she just acknowledge her own second class citizenship in comparison to the new lord and master of the pool.  Poseidon God of the  water has a dick and must be fed pussy to keep a float.

Poor Amanda does not know what she is missing, and it doesn't matter anyway as it seems CNN decided in the end, that Michael could do better than sloppy seconds.  Yeah the king of the water deserves fresh, virginal pussy.  No one on this horrendous panel stopped for a moment to discuss Phelps sexual history. He was picked on as a child, boo hoo, he can't possibly have any freaky sexual peccadilloes the world might be interested in.  MMMM...what was I thinking, men don't have sexual peccadilloes,  especially when they they are conquering heroes....Men like Phelps fall into the category of STUD.  Valenti got this one right, He's a stud, She's a slut is the way the world works. 

If she had slept with him, she would still be a slut because women are supposed to be virginal.  Not sleeping with him is still reason to be called a slut because women are meant to be passive in the face of male sexual advances. No matter what angle you look at this from slut shaming is meant to keep women constantly changing their behaviour to satisfy whatever particular male interests are at play at any given moment. Women are reduced to marionettes in a game of sexual conquest in which their genitals represent the totality of worth.  Legs open or leg closed it simply does not matter as long as we are focusing on how men want us to behave rather than what is appropriate for our needs and desires. You had me until you apologized Amanda, you had it right the first time. You are entitled to pick who will, and will not sleep with without being constructed as a whore. 

H/T Wolfrum @Shakesville

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Too Many Gays In New York

I have a little confession to make..I am nosey. I eavesdrop on peoples conversations quite a bit.  Yesterday while attending a private function I had the displeasure of hearing two acquaintance of mine in conversation.  One asserted his desire to travel to New York City..A wish I completely understand as N.Y is my second favourite  city.  The other acquaintance lowered his voice and responded, "you don't want to go to New York there are too many fags there." Due to the nature of the gathering I was not able to publicly give this man the verbal thrashing that he deserved but I did give him a very scathing look which I know imparted my displeasure with his commentary.

Too many fags...I personally believe that there are too many intolerant fundie oxygen thieves but I tolerate their existence.  Upon reflecting on this conversation one of the things that I could not let go of is the fact that he knew with a certainty that what he was saying was not only homophobic, it was wrong.  I know this because he took the time to lower his voice before speaking.  What do you do with someone who knowingly promotes bigotry?  

How does someone else's sexuality become threatening to another?  Heterosexual panic is partly based in the fallacy that all gay people find all straight people attractive.  If I am sitting next to a lesbian, it does not mean that she will find me attractive  just because we possess the same body parts. Just as hetero people have a "type" of person that they find sexually attractive so to do gay people.  It is hetero arrogance to believe that appropriate body parts necessarily means that another finds you attractive in this way.  This is a part of the don't ask, don't tell theory.  Yeah if same sex people work together and someone happens to be gay they will be overcome with desire, and this will lead to a distraction...in a word BULLSHIT.  I am straight and do not drool over every man I come across.  There are often times when I look at man and think not even if he were the last one on the planet, and all of the dildos and vibrators magically disappeared  would he be invited into my bed, and gay people think the same way. Dear overly panicked straight people, there is no need to fear....you may not be as hot as you think that you are.

 

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Kick Ass

Kevin of the Slant truth honoured me with this. Totally awesome as he is damn kick ass himself.  At any rate I am going to pass this on to five blogs that I think do an awesome job of truth telling.

Transgriot: If you are not already reading it you should be.  Do you want to learn how to be an effective trans ally, or to remove transphobic language from your speech, this is the blog.  If you want to learn about what it is like to live as a trans woman in a society that is un welcoming and intolerant, this is the blog.

Professor What If: This feminist blog examines race, class and gender from  a theoretical perspective.  In terms of ass kicking, you need look no further.  Every time I read it, I need to take a moments pause to reflect upon the lessons that have been so generously shared .

WOC PHD:  Do you ever read a blog and find yourself continually nodding your head in agreement?  This is what happens when I read this blog.  I find myself thinking now why didn't this occur to me?

Renegade Evolution: This blog is written by one fucking right on woman. I find her work to advance the rights of sex trade workers to be inspiring. She is a master of truth telling.

Uppity Brown Woman: I just discovered this blog not to long ago and I am hooked.  I love her brashness and honesty. I love the way she keeps it real, mostly though it is the way she speaks truth to power---tell it

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Gender Bending In Egypt: The Male Bellydancer

While in some ways he still promotes the gender binary by stating that men and women should dance differently from one another, daring to belly dance in a country where anything that is remotely associated with homosexuality is considered  taboo deconstructs gender performativity vis a vis traditional ideas of masculinity. I feel that this is a very progressive step.  Western countries have a tendency to perpetuate the idea that fluidity is the preserve of the west but as he clearly displays eastern ideas of masculinity can be just a gender bending when given the opportunity to flourish. 

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Walmart: Where Exploiting People Is The Law

At this time I was not able to find a lot of information on Walmarts effect in Canada.  When I am able to amass enough information I will dedicate a post directly to that.  This blog post will deal primarily with Walmart in the United States.  After examining the data it should be more than obvious that Walmart is an evil corporation.  When we spend our few disposable dollars there we are culpable of participating in a vicious cycle of exploitation.

Year after year Walmart achieves record sales and earnings. When a Walmart comes to town property value for businesses immediately declines. It is assumed that small mom and pop businesses will have to close because of an inability to compete with Walmart. Annually, Walmart drives down retail wages three billion every year. It purposefully short staffs, and keeps the number of full-time staff low. Full-time workers are living at a poverty level and cannot afford Walmart health insurance. Keep in mind that for Walmart, full-time constitutes twenty-eight hours per week. In Florida Walmart has more workers eligible for medicare than any other company. USC Berkeley did a study and concluded that Walmart costs eighty-six million per year to California tax payers, and up to twenty-five million more to country tax payers picking up the tabs for health care, income tax credits, housing subsidies and food stamps.

Alabama: 3,864 children of Walmart employees are enrolled in Medicad
Arizona: 2700 Walmart workers are on medicade
Arkansas: 3,971 Walmart workers are on public assistance
Florida: 12,300 Walmart workers and dependents are on Medicade
Georgia: 10,261 children of Walmart employees are enrolled in peach care for kids
Massachusetts: 4,172 Walmart workers and dependents are on state health care
Tennessee: 9,617 Walmart workers are on Tenncare
Texas: 4,363 children of Walmart employees are on Chip
Wisconsin: 1,252 Walmart employees and dependents are on Badger care
Federally: Walmart costs 1,557,000,000.00 to support its employees.

 Walmart is notoriously anti-union. It illegally shows videos to staff saying that unions will not protect them and will cost them money needlessly. This is despite the fact that Walmart routinely asks employees to work off the clock. They imply if the worker does not consent to this that they will be replaced. They have also been charged with hiring illegal workers and locking them in their stores at night. This is a health and safety risk as well as a violation of labour law. The federal poverty level for a family of four is 17,650 and a full-time Walmart sales associate earns 13,861 annually. They are currently facing lawsuits in 31 states for wage and labour abuses, involving hundreds of thousands of workers.

Labour in China: The employees must labour seven days a week and reside in a Walmart issue apartment. The rent for their apartment is deducted from their salary whether or not they occupy the place. The apartments are small, filthy and do not have adequate space for cooking. The cost for a worker to assemble a product in China is eighteen cents, that same product will retail for 14.96. In 2004 Walmart imported 18 billion from China.

Labor in Bangladesh: Walmart employees 189,000 women sewing garments. These women brush their teeth with their fingers using ashes from last nights fire because they cannot afford to buy toothpaste or a tooth brush. They work from 8am to 10pm for thirteen to eighteen cents per hour seven days per week. They are often beaten by their supervisors if they fall behind schedule.

 Walmart tries to tell the world that they care for others. They have an in house program wherein employees are encouraged to donate money to other employees in need. In 2004 Walmart employees donated over five million dollars and the Walton family gave a stunning six thousand dollars. The Walton Family had a net worth of ninety billion dollars in 2004. They have cumulatively donated less than 1% of their wealth to charity whereas Bill Gates has donated fifty-eight percent. And the final insult to injury, in the 2004 tax year the Walton family received a federal tax break of 91,500.00 per hour. Do you still feel like shopping there?

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Disposable Targets: Domestic Workers Exported Exploitation

Kamusta, Womanist Musings readers!  I'm tanglad, and I write about the impact of globalization on women and marginalized groups in the Philippines and Southeast Asia at tanglad.wordpress.com.  In case you're wondering, tanglad is Tagalog for lemongrass, my favourite herb.  I can't begin to thank Renee for this opportunity, and am thrilled at the chance to join your conversations. Salamat.

Eugenia Baja’s family began to receive worrisome text messages towards the end of 2007. First, the 25-year-old Filipina domestic worker in Riyadh said she could not send money for Christmas. Then in January 2008, Eugenia pleaded to her brother, “Please help me. Please find me.” 

Eugenia texted that she felt cold all the time. Hungry. She did not know what was being done to her. She felt like she was losing her mind.

Then in February came the news that Eugenia had died in a Saudi Arabia hospital of an unspecified illness. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs later changed the story, saying Eugenia committed suicide by banging her head against the bathroom tiles in her employer’s bathroom.  But Riyadh autopsy documents listed her cause of death as an ulcer, and noted that her body showed signs of starvation.

Eugenia was one of the three thousand Filipinos who leave the country every day to work overseas. An estimated 75 percent of them are female, making Filipinas the country’s largest export.  People like Eugenia are also the country’s most lucrative export, generating remittances of over US$15 billion in 2007. This state-sanctioned labor migration is therefore a key component of the country’s economic development program.

This, of course despite the fact that too many women are coming home in caskets.

The government is heavily invested in the OFW remittances, so it maintains that the death of Eugenia Baja, and too many more before and since then, are just unfortunate, isolated incidents.  President Gloria Arroyo calls OFWs the bagong bayani. The new heroes. Somehow, these platitudes are to make up for how women like Eugenia are practically treated like export commodities.

Eugenia’s death was a direct result of the state state-sanctioned labour migration program and the lack of support infrastructure. This is even more pronounced for Filipina OFWs in service and domestic work occupations, where they are more vulnerable to abuse and violence.

Rosa Linda Fregoso provides relevant insights for studying state culpability in the deaths of women, in her essay “The Complexities of ‘Feminicide’ on the Border,” from The Color of Violence:  The Incite! Anthology:

“The state’s early response, negation, involved at first a denial that the killings were systematic. Then, when the state could no longer deny this reality, officials shifted the blame onto the victims, committing further sacrilege against already violated bodies.”

This denial was evident in how Eugenia’s cause of death was painted as a suicide (i.e, her fault), even when her body evidenced starvation, bruises, stab marks. This denial and victim-blaming is also seen in the government’s silence on the “rash of suicides” among OFWs in the United Arab Emirates, including numerous women workers who allegedly jumped off buildings. Norayda Ayuman. Mitos Vergara. Myrna Baylosis. Evelyn Lilo. Remedios Waayan. All women the government would rather we forget, women whose families’ demands for justice continue to go unheard.

And lest you think that Filipinas only come to harm in the Middle East:

There is Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, a waitress whose mutilated and dismembered body parts were found around Tokyo last April.

There is Jocelyn Dulnuan, who was found dead last October of multiple stab wounds in the Canadian mansion where she worked as a caregiver.

So what is to be done?  We can start by supporting the People’s Global Action on Migration, Development, and Human Rights.

But the only true solution is a long-term strategy. Filipinas like Eugenia, Honeyfaith, Jocelyn become OFWs for one reason—because it was impossible for them to provide for their families by working in the Philippines. Eugenia comes from a family of tenant farmers in rural Bohol. They needed seeds, fertilizer, rent money, then had to turn over half the harvest to the landowner.   Eugenia could barely contribute when she worked as a salesperson. But when she went to Riyadh, she was able to send money for a carabao.

“This newly constituted global economic order impacts the most vulnerable communities,” writes Rosa Linda Fregoso, “the bodies of the poor and Third World women, who are its disposable targets of labor exploitation.”

The poverty that fuels labor migration is a systemic program, and globalization has only exacerbated the problem.  And every day, there are thousands more Filipina women who become globalized labor’s disposable targets.

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Radical Feminism And Men

Yes I am going to go there.  I was reading through some rad fem blogs last night which I will not link to as I have decided that this kind of feminism is not inclusive and has the potential to be harmful to women.  Yes I understand that there have been some wonderful outcomes like DV shelters and eliminating a womens sexual past as a reason to question her rape however, its continual refusal to accept intersectionality and its demonization of men is problematic to say the least.

As you are all aware I live in a household of men.  I have been happily unmarried to the same man for over 18 years and am the mother of two wonderful sons.  What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that my unhusband is not a potential rapist, or batterer.  How is that possible, he is in possession of a penis? I will tell you how that is possible, he respects women.  He is also not some kind of freak anomaly. 

In much of radical feminist theory there is a tendency to demonize men.  Do males commit some of the worst atrocities on the planet, absolutely but that does not mean that all men are capable of these acts.  It should not even have to be said that generalization of this kind is harmful. When we look at a group and pronounce them all guilty it is an excuse to spread hatred.  Believe it or not when you spread such vicious hatred of men it is not only harmful, it is hurtful to a large group of women.

I did not choose the sex of my children but I would not change it.  Raising sons can be an extremely feminist act.  Not only am I raising my sons to respect women and treat women as equals, I am teaching them to own their unearned male privileges.  The women that they encounter in life will benefit because of the lessons that I have taught them.  The lessons that I am choosing to impart are not only supported by their father they are promoted.  Feminism is a lived theory in my household.  So when I hear that all men are ___ (insert whatever crime), it causes me to get angry because not all men have the desire to cause harm and furthermore daily there are many women dedicating our lives to making sure that future generations of men are even less likely to cause harm. 

I am a straight woman, but I am also a mother, a sister, friend, an aunt and a cousin. Men play many integral roles in my life.  They have been by dearest of friends, sources of extreme pride and filled my life with much joy.  To admit this does not lessen my commitment to seeking justice for women.  To admit this does not make me less of a feminist.  I love women and will always work to improve our lot in life, but uplift cannot come from treating another group as though they are all criminal and evil.  This is the same kind of generalization that whites use to demonize blacks, and straights use to create homosexuals as less than.  Asserting your humanity also means validating the humanity of others.  If we expect men to value us as people, we also need to value them, and their contributions to our lives.

Pointing out sexism and the ways in which patriarchy continues to be damaging to women is vitally important to changing our lives.  Just like every other social justice movement feminism needs allies.  The civil rights movement of the 60's would not have been as successful as it was, if blacks and whites had not marched together.  We must embrace the males in our lives that commit themselves to feminism as it is their help that we need to make real and lasting change to this society.  Understanding that feminism improves the lives of both men and women can and should be the basis for a foundation in which we come together to end the ways in which gender performativity forces us to adhere to behaviour that limits our personal aspirations and desires.  When I see a man, my first thought is not potential rapist, nor is it potential baterrer, however I am open to the possibility that in time man it will automatically come to mean ally and friend.

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Jeremiah Munsen Gets 4 Months For Hanging A Noose

That is the face of hate and ignorance.  Jeremiah Munsen hung a noose from the back of his pick up truck and then proceeded to drive by Jena6 protesters.  Time and Time again I have blogged about the noose and what it symbolizes to blacks. If I were to walk by this young man on the street I would never guess that his heart held such hatred towards me simply because I am black and he is white. To see him away from the symbol of hatred that he decided to terrorize protesters with is to view him as just another human being tying to get by in this world.  As I look into his eyes I cannot help but wonder what happened to make him decide that it was okay to threaten the safety of another in this manner, and what caused his pure and simple hatred for blacks?

He was born just as I was into this world with colour blind eyes.  Yes children can see that there are differences between us but they assign no difference to colour. That is a specifically learned behaviour.   Even if we  accept that he  was raised in a racist society or that he had been socialized to view blacks as less than by his family, at the age of 18 he should have been able to overcome these teachings and formulate for himself a more inclusive view of humanity.  Instead he choose to internalize messages from the hateful KKK. 

I fear as the economic disparity between the rich and the poor continues to rise we are going to see more instances of this kind of threat and intimidation.  One of the things the KKK regularly preaches about are POC taking away jobs from God fearing white people.  What these racial bigots don't realize is that they are dupes.  That is right dupes.  The ruling bourgeoisie have perfected the art of divide and conquer.  Instead of targeting them and the capitalist system which is the true cause of poverty, poor whites have internalized white privilege to the degree that they have learned to blame POC instead of the system.  They see whiteness as valuable enough to disregard our common plight as proletariats.  In accepting whiteness as a reward they are complicit in their own economic and social marginalization.

The ruling elite have wielded white identity as a weapon to forestall labour unity and any kind of economic advancement of the working poor. Today Natalist can be heard screaming about so-called illegal immigrants crossing the border to steal jobs.  Yes steal jobs even though no American citizen wants to work below minimum wage and receive zero health benefits.  What jobs are they actually stealing?  The key to this implied threat is that American stands for white.  As long as these forces continue to look outwards and see POC as a threat rather than inwards at the corrupt corporations that regularly flaunt the few labour laws in existence poverty will continue to be pervasive.

POC have never been the enemy. To accept us as such is beyond ridiculous.  How is it that a group of people that have historically occupied the bottom tier of the economic pyramid can be blamed for something as systemic as poverty? The answer is that people continue to value whiteness.  To be accepted as white is to be deemed a person of value.  That this privilege is routinely mitigated by class, ability, sex,  etc is oft overlooked to gain a form of power where none exists.  Power is at the very heart of this debate.  As humans we actively seek to wield it even when doing so places us at a disadvantage.  Think of the thousands and thousands of confederate soldiers who died defending the evil institution of slavery even though it was the planter class that had the financial ability to own. Who and what did they die for?  They died for the right to claim themselves as white?  Slavery did not benefit poor whites in any way.  By having a class of people that could be forced to labour indefinitely it reduced opportunities for poor whites to sell their labour power and yet when called to fight and risk their lives they readily signed up, such is the value of whiteness. 

Jerimah Munsen is a dupe.  he has internalized the idea that white power is the road to success and this has garnered him four months in prison.  While what he did was criminal, I believe that incarcerating him is only going to further entrench his hatred.  This kind of hatred is a learned behaviour, and can be unlearned.  Instead he should have been forced to learn about African  American history, economics, white privilege and power.  Jail should not only be about punishment, it should be about rehabilitation. Until we take active steps to confront racism and its causes it will continue to spread like a virus through our communities.

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Spanish Tennis Team Shows The World Their Slant Eyes

 

After the controversy that was created with this picture of the Spanish basketball team  it would be fair to assume that making a facial gesture meant to mock another race should have been understood as patently racist and clearly not acceptable.  It seems that some groups of people are slow to learn.

 

H/T Blackperpsective

The following comes from skynews.

Olympic tennis silver-medallist Garrigues insisted the snap was not "racist" and was not intended to cause offence.

"We did it because we came to China. We don't want to do anything bad for Chinese people or Asian people," she said.

"We think maybe we took a bad picture but we never wanted to offend anybody. We didn't see it as a racist gesture."

Asked if she wanted to apologise, she replied: "Yes, sure. We never wanted to do anything bad."

Gee only maybe took a bad picture?  There is no maybe about this and what more it was knowingly racist.  How many times do Spanish athletes need to be told that making gestures like this are racist?  But this is what comes from a country that celebrates Columbus the father of the modern day slave trade.  This is from the country that made the word inquisition into a horrific nightmare.  So much for moving and growing from the past. Yikes they're different, they're not like us..let's go over there and plant our flag win some medals.

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Belts, Children and Discipline.

I have been thinking about writing this since I read about the beating of 18-year-old Yaman Sankari at The Uppity Brown Woman. It seems that Sankari's family discovered that she was having sex with her boyfriend and their response was to beat her.  Her whole family has since been arrested and charged though they all deny that they have assaulted her.

This story triggered some very horrible memories for me.  You see I am no stranger to the belt.  For many years I was unable to even hold a belt in my hand because of the memories that it triggered in me.  I somehow have blocked out the sounds of my own screams but can regularly hear that of my brothers in my mind.  He was beaten more often, and more vigorously than I simply because he was male. 

Of course the beatings were always initiated by some wrong that we had done but regardless of the so-called disobedience no person should be beaten with a belt, much less a child.  The last time I was beaten I was 14 years old but I remember it like it was yesterday.  I remember the horror, the shock and the betrayal that I felt.  I have not forgiven it, and will I never forgive it for all the days of my life.

I cringe when I hear comics making jokes about catching a whippin.  It has become a regular shtick for some to turn this into a laughing matter.  Sinbad, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock all have comedy routines in which they speak about being beaten as a child by their mothers and the audience laughs as though this does not create lasting damage.  When you hit a child with a belt it is physical abuse. Many in the black community (though this happens in all communities) believe that this is an appropriate form of discipline. They scoff at time outs, and groundings because of course that isn't "real" punishment.  Is the point of discipline to teach consequence for actions, or to permanently damage a child? 

When I look at my own children, especially my oldest I know that if he were forced to endure what my brother or I lived with, it would break him.  I love both of my children and would never inflict this kind of pain on them.  It is  no excuse to say that you didn't know any better, or that this is the way you were raised, repeating the wrongs that were committed against you is continuing the legacy and cycle of violence.  At some point this needs to stop.  If you were beaten as a child then you know the pain, don't pass it on to your own children.  A child should never have to fear that the hand of the parent approaching them is going to deliver pain.  Yes they need to respect you, but when you beat them, all you illicit is fear and not respect.  Ask yourself as an adult why you deserve to exist without being beaten and a child does not? What makes your body so inviolable other than the fact that it has existed longer?

I will tell you as one that survived this kind of violence that it will stay with me all of the days of my life. When I think about it, my heart races and my hands begin to shake.  My body fills with such a rage that I cannot put words to it.  I know that my parents did what was done to them.  I understand that for them, this is what discipline meant but I cannot let it go.  I have intellectualized this to death but the end result is that the pain is and was real.  It was never a laughing matter for me and never will be.  It stands like a dam between us and will forever remain.  When you think about discipline and being tough on your children, I beseech those of you who think the belt is the way to go to think again.  You are violating your child and every other good thing that you may do will be overshadowed by this.  Most of all know that it does not get forgotten despite the fact that many have turned this into a joke.  Love and physical violence do not go together. Discipline does not need to rise to the level of abuse. Finally, love your children enough to respect their physical beings.  No one deserves to be beaten with a belt.

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Not Near My Crotch

 

This perfectly ghastly combination of vibrator and shaver is called The Womaniser.  "The magnificent Womaniser is not only smooth to the touch - it'll leave you smooth and strokable, too! This intimate shaver is hidden inside a single speed silicone massaging vibrator - the perfect combination for a night of orgasmic personal pleasure." Yeah for multi-tasking eh?  After you shave yourself to make sure that your body is appropriately smooth, you can just flip this little baby around and get down with the self pleasure.  Don't you just love the fact that even if you are masturbating you must make sure that your body is still smooth.  How can you possible get off if you happen to feel a hair on your own body? Gotta keep policing that muff.

For an extra 4 pounds you can even get it beautifully gift wrapped.  MMM what's coming down the chimney tonight.

This gorgeously packaged toy includes:

- Sex toy and personal shaver

- Elegant safety cap and sealant ring

- Replaceable bullet motor (original lasts for up to 40 minutes)

- Additional shaving add-ons

- Bullet key (for removing the vibrator motor)

- Batteries

- User manual

This little gem is not the only product sold by this company.  Just to make sure that both sexes receive pleasure they also market drum roll please... a cock ring. HMM what gross little add ons are on the cock ring?  A switch blade maybe?  Some new way to make the penis pretty before it is put to use.

Sorry to disappoint you, it is simply a vibrating cock ring. No fancy attachments associated with gender discipline or pain.  When it comes to a cock it is all about pleasure.  Only women would be "silly" enough to willingly put a knife near their crotches and smile pretty while they're doing it. How did I manage to have orgasms all these years without  a razor near my precious clit? But hey it comes in two pretty colours don't you feel reassured now?

H/T Feministing

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Rape Will Never Be A Laughing Matter

This entire post comes with huge trigger warnings...graphic material.

Having two small children I spend a lot of time watching cartoons.  One of my favourites is Scooby Doo.  It is a cartoon that I watched a great deal of as a child, and so you can imagine by surprise and disgust when I came across this.

Rape never has been nor will it ever be funny.  I wonder if the creators of this disgusting parody have ever seen this?

Of course the Scooby Video was made in the so-called enlightened west, where everyone respects each other and each person is an equal being.  So much so that rape can be held up as something that is just fucking hilarious.  I am actually quite speechless, but if this is what is coming out of academia today we have much to be concerned about.

When I looked at the video about the women of the Congo, I could not help but weep tears.  This is a war on women, and it has been occurring without cessation for years.  I wonder if men were being this savagely attacked if it would just be the impotent United Nations Peace Keeping Forces trying to end this horror? Somehow I cannot help but think that something more would be happening because men count as real people, and women are just disposable bodies.  This is specifically why a rape/murder of a woman can be ridiculed and seen as entertainment.  Sam Cooke once sang "a change is gonna come" and I cannot help but ask dear God when?

H/T Unapologetically Female (scooby video)

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Black Women Can Be Beautiful To

I have written and deleted this post several times. Confronting beauty as a black woman is a difficult thing to do.  As much as I hate to admit it, beauty is a source of power for women and to be deemed unattractive makes one feel unfeminine and less than. It is definitely a truth that true beauty comes from within, but our first reaction to someone is their appearance and it is only in time that we get to know who they are as a person.  When we judge based in physical appearance alone we close ourselves off to many wonderful people.

Very little in society affirms black as beautiful.  As young girls growing up this lack of representation can be damaging.  Where ever we look we are told that beautiful womanhood is white, with long flowing hair, and thus learning to love and accept yourself can be a Herculean task.  At times it feels easier to give in and internalize the negativity, but this is ultimately self destructive.  So we swallow the pain and hold our head up against the wind trying to define and create a standard of beauty that is not Eurocentric, a beauty that makes room for our darker complexions, curly hair (I won't use the word nappy), and fuller lips and hips. 

Some women never reach the point where they can tune out the negativity associated with blackness.  Some women wear permanent scars from attempting to become something they can never be - white.  In Uganda skin bleaching is all the rage.  Women slather themselves with creams  that they believe will lighten their skin, but it ultimately leaves them horribly disfigured.  According the WIP, "Consumers of bleaching cosmetics claim that they want to enhance their beauty. One woman who declined to be named, explains, “One has to look good, by having fair, lighter skin.”

What does looking good mean in a world where white equals beautiful and purity?  It means that black women become the eternal other.  Authenticating blackness as beautiful becomes something that whites do to prove how enlightened and advanced they are.  Whether it is the attention that is paid to Blacks during black history month, or the recent issue of an all black Italian Vogue, such temporary and fleeting representation only goes to remind us of exactly how disposable our bodies are.  Yes, here is one magazine out of the thousands that are printed world wide, dedicated to the idea that black women can be beautiful too, why aren't we satisfied? 

That is exactly the problem with this issue, black women can be beautiful too instead of black women are beautiful. The black women can be beautiful too comes with hueism which eliminates darker skinned women.  How many times are light skinned stars held up as an example of inclusiveness, and beauty, completely ignoring the fact that blackness comes in various shades.  This diversity of colour exists today from the legacy of the rape of our foremothers, and yet this is what we are to understand as beautiful?  It is time for a revolution, it is time for the field slave to mount the steps of glory and find herself not only only welcome but desired.  No longer should we pose the question ain't I a woman, instead we need to demand that we are recognized as women.

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Radical Feminism And CIS Privilege

Okay ladies and feminist identified males, it is time for a reality check.  Privilege is a loaded word, and it is often thrown around in feminist circles.  Time after time I have seen feminists complaining that men don't own their gender privileges.  Women want acknowledgment that we are a historically marginalized and oppressed class, but there is a proviso to that statement.  To qualify as 'woman', you must exist with class privilege, race privilege, be able bodied, straight, and CIS.  If you can somehow fit into all of these categories at the same time, you have won the lottery and you get to proclaim yourself woman.  Not only woman, but long suffering woman whose day has finally come.

Yes celebrate on the land...Declare yourself free.  Don't give a moments thought that your so-called freedom actually means the freedom to oppress another group of women.  This is not equality, it is taking on the Masters Tools.  I know that you feel threatened, but this is simply because you and only you have decided that feminism is about your concerns and should privilege your bodies and your experiences. Unfortunately, humanity is extremely diverse and cannot be divided into neat little binary categories.  Sure if we all had the privilege to be born into your definition of women, it would certainly make things easier for you, but that didn't happen, and so I am afraid that it is time that you step up to the plate and start owning some of the privileges that you are quick to assert that others don't own.

Feminism is about supporting and advancing the lives of all women, not just the ones that happened to be born CIS.  Your vitriolic rants scream of privilege and hate. What about me...Don't I count? Newsflash, yes you are important but not anymore more so than women like Angie Zapata.  How does ignoring the the experiences of a group of women advance feminism in any way? You know feminism, the movement that is supposed to be about improving the lives of all women.  That's right the same feminism that has the objective of validating the lives and humanity of all.

Let me tell you a little something, when you are bruised, or battered, humiliated and treated like some kind of freakish 'other' it hurts.  In a planet that is awash with womens blood, I shouldn't have to tell you that it is the same shade of red, or that it  is diluted only by the tears of pain.  That screaming that you hear are the collective death rattles of trans women who have met a violent end because of the same kind of ignorance and hatred that you regularly preach.  This is not a simple matter of an ideological disagreement, this is life and death.  Do you need to be splattered in their blood to take this seriously?

I wish I had the luxury of just dismissing your writings as nonsense.  I wish that I could just turn my head and say live and let live to the shit that you regularly spew on the internet.  As a WOC with a legacy of slavery, jim crow, beatings, lynchings, and rape I know that words like these are exactly how hatred is perpetuated.  When you turn someone's life into a comedic routine for your own amusement you are othering, and creating them as less than human.  When you can look someone in the eye and decide that they are not your equal, it serves as justification to be violent towards them.  Why should you care what happens to them if you cannot even recognize their shared humanity with you?  Before you make the accusation that I am projecting, let me remind you Hitler dehuamanized Jewish people as a justification for the holocaust.  In every war the first thing that happens is that we create the enemy as other to make their whole sale slaughter tenable.  Kill the gooks, kill the gerrys, death to the kaffirs...you may disguise your hate better but it is still the same thing to those of us that understand the value of language as tool of oppression. You have learned the lessons of Mein Kempf well, except this time there are people that are willing to sound the alarm bell.

As long as I have breathe in this body, I shall not stand idly by while one group is created as less than human so that others may exist in privilege.  You do not represent feminism, you represent hate.  It is no wonder that many disavow feminist goals when women like you claim to be its representatives.  Who would want to be associated with a group that regularly preaches hate and intolerance in a world that has seen more than enough blood shed.  This earth is so full of the blood of the innocent I could wring it free with my bare hands and yet you seek to multiple the destruction by deciding somehow you are more worthy than another.  This may be your ideal feminist vision but to me it is the stuff of nightmares.  In my dreams I see the headless horsemen, I see an apocalyptic vision in which our once fertile earth is reduced to a barren wasteland simply because we have lost the capacity to understand and truly believe that we are all of value.

H/T Renegade Your power was my inspiration.

 

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According To Jim Rome, Strippers Hate Their Daddy's

H/t BlackPerspective.Net

I was originally just going to post a response to this  at BlackPerspective,  but after polluting my ears with this video and reading the following commentary, "Rome can be annoying, but he hits gold sometimes; and this is just about my all time favourite rant of his – it’s too true. Come on." I decided to respond on my blog.

Well, let's start out with the fact that Jim Rome says,"Hey, listen I don't really know any strippers personally and I have never really had a conversation with  a stripper about this kind of thing but I think that we are all pretty safe in assuming that strippers hate their dads. Why do you think they became strippers because they had a good relationship with their father? Because they respected where he was coming from?"

Once again it is all about the men. Unless daddy gives you permission at the altar to be a sexual being, or perform in a sexual way, it is simply unacceptable. Women couldn't possibly choose to get into sex work because they enjoy it could they? The only two reasons to become a stripper is to feed a drug addiction, or to exact revenge upon daddy for his obvious neglect of his patriarchal duties.  Dear old dad should have no say on what a grown woman chooses to do with her body, and furthermore women are more than capable of making decisions outside of male considerations. Sometimes what is best for a man is not best for a woman.

"What is the worst nightmare that a father could have is that his daughter could become a stripper."

Of course the worst fear is not that she could be physically, or sexually assaulted.  It is certainly not that she faces a lifetime of systemic inequality as a direct result of patriarchy. Nope, the only supposed nightmare is that she might show her tits and shake a little ass to pay the rent and feed herself.  How can a man possibly embrace a daughter that believes that she has the right to decide what is and isn't appropriate for her to do? 

Daddy's don't love sluts. The best way to retain the love and respect of a father is to sit pretty, preferably with your legs closed, speaking only when spoken to.  When are daughters ever going to learn that their lives are not about them. Womens lives from birth to death are meant to be about fulfilling the wishes of men.  If Daddy wants chastity and you're feeling horny, you had better learn to masturbate quietly in a dark room, because dick  without permission is strictly a no no.  There is no point calling out the sweaty men that sit in pervert ally for their depravations, because everyone knows that it is women that are expected to be the moral regulators of sex and sexuality. Men may have their finger on the button but when faced with a snatch they suddenly loose the ability to think clearly.  I actually find that amusing considering it is common to hear that a woman could not be president because of hormones, but I suppose being led through your life by your genitals is ok, as long as it is a dick doing  the leading.

OOH twisting knife. I can already hear the trolls calling me a man hater. How dare I challenge their right to enforce appropriate morals (read: social chastity belts) on women?  I must be a slut myself for refusing to agree that all sex work is degrading. yeah, yeah, yeah.  Slut shaming is something that patriarchy excels at.  Sex is an essential drive and to discipline it in this way is to assert a large degree of control over someone's life. When the authoritarian father daughter connection is added to this equation, it appears to be an innocuous life lesson. Daddy is not harmed by the teaching but the little girl is deeply wounded because she learns from the one that is supposed to support  her the most, that there are conditions to love.

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Hairless Muff, Every Girls Dream

I have written before about the  different ways in which we police the muff.  Many different magazine articles are dedicated to questioning whether hair is appropriate on a vagina.  The question as to whether male pubic hair is appropriate is always posed as an aside because the real issue, that's right the real issue, is making sure the pussy is pleasantly pleasing. Women are expected to continually contort their bodies to whatever society deems to be feminine, having the right parts is not enough for you to classify as 'woman'.

From a very early age we are taught that our bodies are what matter.  Any thoughts we might have to the contrary are quickly silenced.  Real girls just go along with the status quo.  If you make waves boys aren't going to like that, and then you may never be able to participate in your slave auction, otherwise known as a wedding.  Think of everything you would be giving up if you dared to do something as radical as let hair grow under your arms, on your legs, and on daddy's well disciplined closed for business twat.

It seems it is never to early to teach young girls about the appropriate shape that their bodies should be in.

One New York City salon, Wanda’s European Skin Care Center, boasts on its Web site that children 8 years and older can get discounted waxing for “virgin” hair. “Virgin hair can be waxed so successfully that growth can be permanently stopped in just 2 to 6 sessions. Save your child a lifetime of waxing ... and put the money in the bank for her college education instead!” the salon proclaims.

Right, cause the norm is that we retain our pre pubescent bodies for life.  That this concept of the anti-aging woman is fundamentally anti-woman seems unimportant.  Of course if we didn't pay for waxing and just embraced ourselves as nature intended there would be no expense in the first place.  Ads like this create a fault in women and then exploit if for financial gain.   Of course the colluding mothers that are dragging their daughters to the salon to achieve the much desired model look cannot see the exploitation and anti-woman propaganda that is at work there.  Really would the world come to an end if women en masse stopped shaving and waxing? Would men suddenly say no, I'm not going to fuck you?  Somehow I doubt it. 

There is not a single inch of the female body that society has deemed beyond the need of repair.  For every implied fault someone has created a service to "fix it".  Now 10 year olds are getting microdermabrasion, which is a treatment that removes dead skin cells.  "Lauren Albert, spa director at Rescue Rittenhouse Spa, says mothers frequently bring in their daughters between the ages of 10 and 14 for various waxes, nail services and facials." All this in the quest to have the perfect pretty baby. Who defines perfect?  How is it that women have been duped into believing that our bodies are fundamentally damaged?

Two factors combine together to create woman as other; capitalism and patriarchy.  When a fault is created it means a business opportunity is created. Even though women earn 70 cents for every dollar a man makes, threatening our femininity is usually enough to get us to part with our hard earned dollars. Big business gains nothing by reinforcing a positive femininity.  A woman that loves herself as she is created will not feel the need to succumb to things like waxing, makeup, surgeries etc and this ultimately means that the beauty industry as we understand it would not exist.  That it is a predatory industry is largely ignored in the desire to make sure that we are deemed socially acceptable.  The male gaze is equally problematic.  It creates woman as not only 'other' in comparison to man but 'other' to women. The goal of perfection can never be achieved and that is the point. It keeps women constantly seeking  elusive male approval. It creates a sexuality that is not woman centred but man centred and  therefore we are meant to feel grateful that a man would think us worthy of a fuck.

It is time that women begin to examine these so called services critically. Who do they really benefit, and what messages are we internalizing. It is harmful to our daughters to teach them at a young age they are unacceptable for something that is beyond their control. It is further harmful that the message we are teaching is that femininity is ultimately a foul thing in need of continual grooming to escape being labelled less than.  It is time to stop enriching these corporations that prey upon womens fears.  A woman is so much more than her physical appearance and it is time to move beyond this standard as the value of worth.

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Olympic Gymnast Alica Sacramone: Only Your Sex Appeal Counts

Believe it or not the woman is a talented silver medalist at this years Olympics but what are people talking about...you guessed it her sex appeal.  Can we have a collective BLECH.  According to FOX news her profile has garnered a whopping 1.4 million views.  The Los Angeles Times claims that, "immediately after the women's gymnastics competition, the phrase "Alicia Sacramone is hot" shot to No. 1 on Google's hot trends list. Hordes of web surfers scoured the depths of Google for information on and photos of the athlete." Not to be left out, there have been several Facebook pages dedicated to her.

Facebook groups sprang up overnight for fans ogling the Olympian. One was created Wednesday morning around 10 a.m. and has already netted 400 members. Group creator Tyler Herrick, a student at the University of Maryland, wrote on the message board: "Dont worry fellas ill put some pictures of her up when i get home from work. So you can imagine whatever dream youve got going there." Later, he made good on his promise.

A clear competitor to Herrick's Facebook group, reads: "SHE'S 20, so she's not jailbait!"

Combine this with the gratuitous ass shots that have become popular of the womens volleyball teams and what becomes obvious is that womens sports isn't viewed as legitimate competition, no it is an opportunity oogle and sexualize the female form.  That these women train for years for the opportunity to represent their countries is overlooked because of course everything women do is about selling sex to every ready males. 

Am I just being to sensitive?  Should I just accept this as the cost of having international exposure for womens sports?  UUUUM No!  The exploitation of the female form is rampant in our society.  It is not as simple as sex sells because the flesh that is usually for sale is female.  Womens bodies are deemed to be consumable while men are on some kind of lofty endeavour to increase global unity through sport.  The sexism that the media has displayed throughout this years Olympics is disgusting and no self respecting woman could possibly see it any other way. In most photographs they don't even bother to include the head of the athlete ,just a sexy ass shot of a woman is enough to sum up her Olympic experience. I say Fuck that, we are more than parts for the pleasure of the male gaze.  The trend of showing disembodied women, or ignoring our achievements by discussing our fuckability rating reduces women to glory holes. Instead of sitting alone in your dark rooms boys vigourously masturbating to these images mentally cataloguing which athlete you would like to fuck, why don't you consider for one moment in your sex crazed desire that she might think that you are not worthy of a fuck.

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Women for Women International's "2008 Run for Congo Women"

The Run for Congo women is a series of run/walks across the country that is dedicated to generating awareness and support for the dire situation of women survivors of war in DR Congo. It has proven to be tremendously successful in the past and we would love for you to be able to feature this great event in your blog so it can be even more successful this year!  Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in sharing and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Here is a brief description and list of the cities Run for Congo Women is coming to:

Today in the Democratic Republic of Congo, people are still struggling after one of the deadliest wars in all history. Millions have died and new conflicts continue to threaten peace every day. Women of the Congo are targeted daily for sexual slavery, torture, and brutal gang rape. But despite this horrific violence, the situation in the Congo receives almost no media coverage and many are not even aware that this conflict is even happening.

Run for Congo Women is a grassroots run/walk that has grown into a global movement and is dedicated to raising awareness about this issue and supporting Women for Women Internationalʼs Congo Program.When you Run for Congo Women, you are sending a simple message of hope: that Congolese women are significant, that their lives are precious, and that you are running to help. Because of your efforts, you will be able to provide women with the chance to recover hope and rebuild their families after their lives have been torn apart by war.

Run for Congo Women will be coming to following cities!
Morrison, CO - September 13, 2008
Portland, OR - September 14, 2008
New York, NY - October 4, 2008
Phoenix/Tempe, AZ- October 5, 2008
Chicago, IL - October 11, 2008
St. Louis, MO - October 18, 2008
To register today and for more information, visit www.runforcongowomen.org. You have the opportunity to change the life of a Congolese woman today.

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Pssst Let's Play Dress up

 In our binary divided world the one thing that I am sure of is that little girls are made of sugar and spice and all that is nice ( you know the rest of the hideous poem)  Of course being born with a vagina these traits are immutable.  The minute they rubber stamp you in the hospitable and declare you an ovary bearing being the gender disciplining begins.  Little girls sit pretty, never getting  rambunctious because adventure and daring are for boys. Little girls don't climb trees, make mud pies, or play fort.  Little girls play hop scotch, tea party, dress up, and nurse their dolls.  What these little games do is reinforce gender performativity from a very young age.  Even with all of the amazing changes that technology has brought to this world we have simply reworked old games to make them appear fresh and new.

Can you smell a rant coming? Well your senses are bang on. I had the misfortune of running into a site called, Dress Me.  Now you don't need a collection of dress up clothes or a doll with multiple outfits, you only need to get online to access a virtual world of never ending costumes. The site sells itself as, "The largest dressing up site for girls. We have [the] coolest online fashion and dress up games. You can create a perfect girl in teen dressing for girls or dress up doll in fashion week game. Play with our wonderful dress up games and create your own online style. "  Suppress the bile, it gets even better!

Yes these are but a few of the images that young girls have to choose from. The avatars are either overly sexualized, or they are fairy tale princesses...Madonna/Whore dichotomy anyone?  What better way to teach young girls their two options in life than to naturalize it through play.  They will learn to dress their pretend dolls appropriately so that when a woman is assaulted the question of what she did to deserve it, will seem natural and proper to them.

Heaven forbid little girls be offered more ways to increase the skills that will benefit them in life.  You know games that encourage things like toughness, assertiveness, determination, oh but wait that would make it a boy game wouldn't it, and we simply cannot have that.  If you have a vagina you have two options, sweet virginal princess, or vampy whore, but in the end both lead to submissive cum receptacle.

In the beautiful photo montage I included one WOC which as you can see is problematic as she is clearly posing as beauty queen, thus prom