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Feminism at its Finest: April 2008

April 30, 2008 · Filed Under Feminism at its Finest

Hooray, it’s the April 2008 edition of Feminism at its Finest!

Carol presents Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, a great post on spousal abuse and when you know someone who is being abused by their spouse–physically or verbally. Definitely a must-read, so head on over toCan’t Holder Tongue.

The Eclectic Female presents Recognizing Verbal Abuse in Relationships, saying:

“Words can hurt, and it is important to recognize when verbal abuse occurs.”

This is posted at Women’s Lifestyle.

Jackson Kern presents 40 Million Trees and a Nobel Peace Prize: One Woman’s Story, which is a video exclusive on how Wangari Maathai became the first African woman, and first environmentalist, to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. You can see the video at The Alternative Channel Blog.

John Phillips presents Guide to Hiring Women. I’ve seen these pictures before, but here’s a little trip to the past for you. This is posted at The Word On Employment Law.

Kejda Gjermani presents Dissecting the Burqa posted at Kejda.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents An Ode To Lefty Bloggers Who Hate Hillary Clinton posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Nine Deuce presents Porn Part 4: Half of the Big Picture. This post is not offensive. In fact, it makes some phenomenal points, such as:

“There’s no other object that is both desired and hated in the way women in porn are.”

~

“The porn industry is fucking lousy with producers who not only don’t work too hard to make sure their “actors” are of age, but who actively seek underage girls as they know it will increase the revenue they can extract from the kinds of assholes who are obsessed with virgins and young girls. Chances are, if you use a lot of porn, you’ve participated in the rape of a minor by proxy, especially if you’ve ever done a search with the word “young” in it.”

This is definitely a post worth checking out, posted at Rage Against the Man-chine.

Shaheen Lakhan presents Domestic Violence: Call for Primary Care Screening and Gender Issues - Part I, saying:

“Nearly half of women killed by their partner are seen in primary care settings prior to their deaths, but only 4% of them were in shelters.”

You can read the whole post at GNIF Brain Blogger.

Tali presents Plus Size Pinups - Could they Ever Grow Beyond Sidestream?, saying:

” Plus-size pinups are a niche within a niche. It’s hard to see a potential of growth outside of the plus-size fetish community. I would like to propose otherwise, by showcasing a few plus-size pinup artists.”

She also presents Where Pinups Got Their Start, saying:

“he end of the 19th century brought us the curvy, flowing styling of Art Nouveau. What better suiting movement to kick-start the pinups of the mid 20th century?”

Both of these stories can be seen at The Pinup Blog.

And lastly, for some shameless self-promotion, everyone should go check out my weekly section on the commercial sex industry, Take Me Now Here.

And that’s it for this month. Be sure to submit your posts for next month’s carnival here.

Report It on Angela Shelton Day

April 29, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women


Report IT

Happy Angela Shelton Day!

Today is the day where the Report It campaign, a campaign motivating survivors of sexual assault to report their cases via an online form at the Report It website, comes to a close with the biggest rally of unified sexual assault survivors taking place at various courthouses across the country! Today, on Angela Shelton Day, survivors are being asked to go to your local courthouses and say that the silence of sexual assault survivors has went on for far too long.

Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the world and it is also the least talked about. By being a survivor and living through your abuse and talking about your abuse, you are breaking the silence surrounding this pandemic. One person can change the world, so if you are able, please go to your local court house and speak up for the rights of survivors everywhere.

Here is the statement that is being read at rallies across the country:

“Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the world. All too often victims do not report the crime to authorities for fear of not being believed, mistrust of the legal system, because they blame themselves for the crime or fear of retaliation. It’s time to address why this happens to sexual violence victims, while victims of other crimes, like robbery, don’t hesitate to seek justice. Victims of sexual violence deserve the equal protection of our laws. They deserve to be heard and validated. The Report IT Campaign is a first of its kind effort on behalf of all victims — an initiative designed to give hope to all victims that we can end the silence surrounding sexual violence. Our loud, unified voice today will be the first step in a multi-year effort to inspire much needed reforms and better access to justice for all victims.”

But this isn’t the end of the collaborative rally from Angela Shelton and PAVE. In fact, PAVE will be collecting reports from survivors for the next year, in 2009 this rally will run again just as it did this year but hopefully with even more people and in 2010, PAVE is taking this rally straight to Washington DC.

If you haven’t already, report your case today on Angela Shelton Day by filling out the online form. I filled mine out this morning and now it’s your turn!

If you need someone to talk to remember that you can always call RAINN. It’s safe and confidential. 1.800.656.HOPE or check out the online hotline.

Anti-Choice Oklahoma

April 28, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights

The Oklahoma House has recently voted 80-12 in support of the Freedom of Conscious Act, also known as SB 1878.

The Freedom of Conscious Act is basically an act that takes all of the previously brought up anti-choice laws and combines them into one. This bill allows health care workers to refuse to participate in actions that they feel are contrary to their religious beliefs and moral convictions. It also states that employers would not be able to “discriminate” against health care workers who exercise this right to refuse.

It may just be me, but if you are not able to you know, do your job, because of your religious beliefs and moral convictions, shouldn’t you find another line of work? Makes perfect, logical sense to me.

Under this bill, women are also required to have an ultrasound prior to getting an abortion. It also requires that wherever abortions are provided, there are large signs stating it is “against the law for anyone, regardless of his or her relationship to you, to force you to have an abortion.”

What this bill is doing is simply using more scare tactics against women when they seek an abortion. It talks down to women saying that it is “against the law for anyone, regardless or his or her relationship to you, to force you to have an abortion” and saying that that is simply the only reason why a woman would choose to have an abortion in the first place. By forcing a woman to get an ultrasound done before getting an abortion, you are using emotional trauma in order to get the upper hand against women seeking abortions. If they feel bad, then maybe they will go through with the pregnancy, right? That’s the “logic” behind this bill. However, people are simply not understanding that women do not walk into abortion clinics with smiles on their faces. They are not waking up in the morning and saying to themselves “Wow, what a beautiful day to get an abortion.” These women have already thought about their options, they have weighed them and have made a decision that the government is simply doing their damnedest to tell them they have no right to make.

This bill also regulates the use of Mifepristone, or RU-486, medications used in performing chemical abortions. This is perhaps the most ridiculous point on this bill.

Why does the use of these medications need to be regulated? The bottom line is that your doctor should be the only person aiding in how you get your abortion performed; not the government. When the government starts regulating the use of a medication they begin to strip away the rights of women when it comes to reproductive health and they are putting more women in harm’s way by regulating the use of these medications by making them resort to other options in order to obtain an abortion. By regulating these medications a woman who is desperate for an abortion is not going to say “Oh shit, I guess I’ll just wait 9 months and have the baby since that is the only logical way out of this.” No, they are going to go to other measures in order to abort the fetus that they do not want. End of story.

With this bill receiving the vote, it is now on its way to the Senate for consideration. This bill has already went to Senate and passed. This is a shame for all women, especially those in Oklahoma. This is a violation of women’s rights and I simply cannot express the amount of dissapointment I feel right now.

Now Every Girl Can Be a Pole Dancer

April 27, 2008 · Filed Under Society

stripper pole When I heard about this I thought it was a joke, but sadly, I was mistaken.

With fans like Carmen Electra, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls, The Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit is a stripper pole that you can put in your home and practice how to be a real, live stripper! You know, before your 18th birthday when you can legally go give men their jollies and this way, you will already be experienced!

With their booklet of dance moves, a garter and 100 peekaboo dance dollars to reenact the real thing, this stripper pole, they claim, is a sure fire way to spice things up the bedroom or what I found a little strange…to liven up a friend’s party. I’m sorry, but who wants to go to a party where everyone gets together and dance on a stripper pole?

Now what I find truly amazing is that the makers of the Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit recently announced that they are seeking a partner to help license their concept to Nintendo and making their pole dancing kit, which cannot support your full body weight and looks incredibly dangerous, as a game for the Wii.

Interested in what this Pole Dancing Kit is all about? Check out the video below.



Help Us Help You Help Others

April 26, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

Skirt Sports SkirtSports, a retailer for sport apparel for women and children, has recently put together a campaign that will help their customers give back to the organizations and charities that mean the most to them.

Help Us Help You Help Others is a campaign unlike most others I have seen. Not only can you donate to a charity and help that charity help others in need, but you, as a SkirtSports customer, can choose the charity that Help Us Help You Help Others donates to.

Over a period of a month, SkirtSports asks people to nominate their favorite charity and the charity that receives the most submitted nominations will receive a $500 donation from the SkirtSports Help Us Help You Help Others campaign plus whatever amount is received through your donations, which range from donations of $5 to $100.

For the month of April and in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Help Us Help You Help Others will be donating to SOAR (Speaking Out Against Rape) SOAR is an amazing non-profit organization which runs national awareness, education and prevention programs to help survivors of sexual abuse reclaim their voice, confidence and lives. You can learn more about SOAR at their website here.

In order to donate to SOAR through Help Us Help You Help Others, go here and select the amount you would like to donate. 100% of your donations go straight to SOAR; there is no tax or fees of any kind and it gets donated directly. As an added bonus, SOAR has a special promotion through SkirtSports where if you buy from their website you receive 10% off on all online purchases by using the promo code SOAR–and while you’re at it, don’t forget to make a donation to SOAR.

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