100 Days of Pro-Woman Progress
Today marks President Obama’s 100th day in office. While there is certainly an astronomical amount of negative chatter coming from the right about Obama, including calling him an “Ritalin case” who is too busy with frivolous parties and events to get anything done for the country, I thought that Obama’s 100th day as the President of the United States would be the perfect time just to outline what Obama has done for this country’s women and families.
Barack Obama’s presidency is the perfect example of how electing leaders who support and value women makes a truly remarkable difference in the lives of women and of their families. After eight long years of unrelenting attacks on women’s freedom and privacy from an anti-choice administration, it is amazing to see an administration who supports the rights and freedoms of women. So when a deluded, foggy-headed member of the right has the audacity to tell you that Obama has done nothing for this country thus far in his presidency based on nothing but the delusion that the economic crisis is still affecting American families, you can correct them and tell them that why yes, he has accomplished a great deal for this country and unlike the last administration, he has signed in laws and regulations to protect and stand up for human rights.
- On January 23, just three days after his inauguration, Obama reversed the Global Gag Rule, a policy that has been reinstated by the Bush administration their first day in office that canceled US family planning funds to many overseas health centers and denied the world’s poorest women access to birth control.
- Also on January 23, Obama re-funded the UN family planning program, UNFPA, which the Bush administration had de-funded for seven years straight and on March 11 Obama signed legislation into law boosting UNFPA funding to a record $50 million.
- On January 29, Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 into law that restored women’s ability to sue the companies they work for for pay discrimination.
- On January 31, the Senate approved a bill to expand and reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in a 66 to 32 vote. On February 4 Obama expanded government health insurance to cover 11 million children. SCHIP provides health insurance to children from low income families who cannot afford private health care but do not qualify for federal Medicaid.
- On February 26, Obama signaled his commitment to medically accurate sex education by including it in his first budget outline.
- On February 27, Obama announced his intention to repeal the controversial, last minute Bush policy, the Federal Refusal Rule, or what some anti-choice groups claim is a “conscience clause.” The Refusal Rule could have allowed entire health care corporations to refuse to provide medical services, including abortion and birth control to patients.
- On March 6, Obama instituted a new ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues.
- On March 9, Obama lifted restrictions on stem cell research.
- On March 11, Obama signed legislation into law fixing the birth control price crisis at college health centers and safety net provider clinics across the country. In 2005, the birth control pricing crisis began when Congress amended federal law through the Deficit Reduction Act and eliminated incentives for pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide discounts on prescription birth control to college campuses and local health centers. Because the price for birth control skyrocketed, patients, including low income women and families who would be unable to pay the normal price for birth control, we unable to obtain birth control. (As a senator, Obama authored this legislation.)
- Also on March 11, Obama signed legislation increasing family planning funding for American women by $7 million and cutting the failed abstinence-only programs by $14 million.
- Also on March 11, Obama signed legislation increasing international family planning funding at the USAID by more than $30 million.
- On March 19, Obama pledged to sign UN declaration to decriminalize homosexuality. A declaration that Bush refused to sign.
- On March 20, Obama appointee Elena Kagan was confirmed as the first woman Solicitor General
- On April 23, Obama’s appointments to posts needing Senate confirmation were 32% women with a substantial portion of them being women of color.
Hillary Clinton Explains Why Family Planning & Reproductive Rights are Important & Needed
Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey is very concerned about the future of pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin-American countries that the the prior, eight-year-long administration circus had definitely worked its ass off on instating. So concerned, in fact, that he brought the question up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who not only spoke for herself, but for every woman who believes that women everywhere are entitled to access to safe and legal reproductive health services. Yes, that includes abortion.
Is the Obama administration seeking, in any way, to weaken or overturn pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin-American countries, either directly or through multi-lateral organizations, including and especially the United Nations, African Union, or the OAS, or by way of funding NGOs like Planned Parenthood; and, secondly, and so we can have total transparency—you know, you know, as a former lawmaker, we always have definition pages when we write legislation; definitions do matter—does the United States’ definition of the term “reproductive health,” or “reproductive services,” or “reproductive rights,” include abortion? I yield to the distinguished gentleman.
And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s response:
Congressman, I deeply respect your passionate concern and views, which you have championed and advocated for over the course of your public career. We obviously have a profound disagreement.
When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world—I’ve been in hospitals in Brazil where half the women were enthusiastically and joyfully greeting new babies and the other half were fighting for their lives against botched abortions. I’ve been in African countries where 12- and 13-year-old girls are bearing children. I have been in Asian countries where the denial of family planning consigns women to lives of oppression and hardship. So we have a very fundamental disagreement.
And it is my strongly held view that you are entitled to advocate, and everyone who agrees with you should be free to do so anywhere in the world, and so are we.
We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health—and reproductive health includes access to abortion, that I believe should be safe, legal, and rare. I spent a lot of my time trying to bring down the rate of abortions, and it has been my experience that good family planning and good medical care brings down the rate of abortion. Keeping women and men in ignorance and denied the access to services actually increases the rate of abortion.
During my time as First Lady, I helped to create the Campaign Against Teenage Pregnancy, and while we were working to provide good information, access to contraception, and decision-making that would enable young women to protect themselves and say no, the rate of teen pregnancy went down. I’m sad to report that, after an administration of 8 years that undid so much of the good work, the rate of teenage pregnancy is going up.
So, we disagree. And we are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive healthcare.
h/t Shakesville
Yeast Infection: When You Want To Make Love To The Toilet Brush
At the risk of being accused of “over sharing,” I have decided to talk about yeast infections. I have not had one in about three years but this past week let me tell you, I could bake a loaf of bread in my vagina. Women get this annoying infection all of the time and we don’t talk about it because to admit it is to confirm in the minds of many that the vagina really is a polluted place.
Yeast infections are accompanied by a thick white discharge, redness, swelling, and itching. Believe me, the minute you have one the toilet brush suddenly seems like the most appealing lover that a girl could ever hope for. If you have never had one it is best to get it diagnosed by a doctor before buying over the counter medication to deal with the problem.
Like periods, yeast infections are something that we suffer through in silence. Unlike menstruation there is even less conversation about this issue. This is yet another sign of how disconnected we are from our bodies. With the medicalization of labour and delivery, women have lost our traditional ways of healing and we have learned to become ashamed of our biological processes; whispering about it occasionally to friends, only to discover that they are just as ignorant of female biology as we are.
Can you imagine announcing that you are cranky because you have a yeast infection or freely scratching yourself with impunity the way that men do? If even saying the word vagina is deemed faux pas in public, touching yourself is definitely out of the question. Our vaginas are deemed the property of men and therefore unless we are washing them or neatly trimming our pubic hair they are understood as a no “fly zone”.
There are still women that douche regularly because they believe that their vaginas are dirty. Many don’t even know that they are supposed to have discharge or that its consistency and color can change as we go through our monthly cycle. We would not tolerate such ignorance about our hands, or legs but when it comes to the vagina, the occasional hushed whisper often suffices.
This willful ignorance continues on because mothers who are not aware don’t teach their daughters. How many women still wipe back to front, instead of front to back? If you can take the time to clip your fingernails and brush your teeth, perhaps investing in your vagina might not be such a bad idea considering you are going to be in possession of one all of the days of your life.
So yeah this week I had a yeast infection. It was less than pleasant but you know what, it is part of being a woman. We need to acknowledge all of the things our bodies do even when it makes us uncomfortable.
Cross Posted from Womanist Musings
Justice for Angie Zapata
Angie Zapata was brutally murdered in July 2008 in Greeley, Colorado. She was murdered because she was a transgender woman. Her murder was a hate crime.
Allen Ray Andrade, the man who murdered Angie Zapata was convicted of first degree murder and bias-motivated crime (more famously known as a ‘hate crime.’) He was also convicted of vehicle and identity theft. It took the jury of this case only two hours to come to a guilty verdict. Allen Ray Andrade will spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
Of course, this is not necessarily “justice” for Angie Zapata and her family because Angie is dead and just because her murderer was convicted and will spend the rest of his life in jail, Angie will not miraculously come back to life. However, returning a guilty verdict in this case, the jury has spoken volumes and have given not only the people of Colorado, but across this country a nice dose of reality and have said that no hate crime will go unpunished. That no innocent people should die by simply being who they are.
Angie’s family released a statement after the verdict was read. Angie’s brother gave a truly amazing and emotional speech. It is definitely a touching speech, you can see just how loved Angie Zapata was and the damage that Andrade has done to this family and to every person who loved and cared for Angie is not erased by a sentence of life in prison.
For the transcript of this speech, head over to Feministe.
Plan B Now Available to 17 Year Olds
Plan B, the so-called ‘morning after pill’ is now available to people as young as 17 years old without a doctor’s prescription.
The decision to lower the legal age to buy Plan B over the counter came from a decision made by Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court in New York. He stated that the decision to limit easy access to Plan B to those 18 and older in November 2006 was driven by politics, not by science and gave the agency 30 days to lower the age limit to 17.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights said that they are pleased that the FDA is taking the necessary steps to comply with the court’s order and that it is time for the FDA to restore confidence in its ability to safeguard the public health and put medical science first.
And as per usual, where there is good news for reproductive and women’s health, there are people and organizations fighting to take us 5 steps backward.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative advocacy organization, said the agency’s decision was driven by politics and a mistaken judicial decision. She added that parents should be furious at the FDA’s complete disregard for parental rights and the safety of minors. Anti-choice advocates have vocally predicted that easier access to Plan B will lead women to have more unprotected sex and thus, more abortions, while there is no evidence that either has happened or will happen.
Anti-choice advocates are always painting women to be completely clueless and careless human beings and while a lot of anti-choice advocates are women themselves, this paints a beautiful picture of privilege and women’s love of woman shaming. Yes, I said it… Women are also guilty of woman shaming, most often when they are accusing other women of being unable to form an educated decision over their own reproductive freedoms.
Plan B being available to people 17 years old and older is a great victory for reproductive rights. We have seen time and time again that abstinence-only education does not work and we must give people, of all ages, the necessary and comprehensive education they need about sex and contraception in order to effectively protect themselves and their partners. To do any less is cheating our youth out of the education they deserve.
A Rock Shock to the Status Quo
The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, PAVE, and The Voices and Faces Project have all teamed up to host a rock concert to benefit the great organizations working to end sexual assault.
A Rock Shock to the Status Quo will feature Martha Berner, The Laureates, and Tyler Jon Tyler.
When: April 26th, 7:00pm.
Where: Schubas, located at 3159 N. Southport , Chicago, IL.
The event is only $10 so if you’re in the Chicago area, please consider attending this event and helping the countless survivors of sexual assault who need the organizations who work to help them and end sexual violence.
A Downpour of Gay People is Coming
And they won’t stop until we’re all gay married!
This is a great parody of National Organization for Marriage’s repulsive PSA full of hate speech, scare tactics, and bigotry.
Carrie Prejean Got the Bigot Vote
Perez Hilton was a judge at the Miss USA pageant. When he asked Miss California, Carrie Prejean, if she thought every state should follow suit with the most recent Vermont victory for same sex marriage, she had this to say:
“Well I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage and you know what, in my country and in my family, I think that I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you.”
(The video above does not contain the first half of her answer, you can see her answer in its entirety here.)
Sadly, many people share Ms. Prejean’s thoughts. Many people believe that marriage is a right to some people, but not to others. Many people hold onto what they were taught by their parents so tight, refusing to open their minds and actually think for themselves and develop their own set of principles. It is because of this obvious set back in humanity that repeatedly brings the LGBT community, friends, and allies for equality to say the same thing. For the record, a person does not choose to be gay. We do not live in a land where we can choose same sex marriage because we do not choose to be gay or straight, we simply are.
Carrie Prejean was raised to be a bigot and it is obvious that there are many people who are still holding onto the old-fashioned, privileged, and bigoted principles that were forced into their brains as they were growing up. This does not mean that I am excusing Ms. Prejean’s words or how she conducted herself and answered the question during the pageant. Every person has the ability to wake up from their privileged stupor and accept every human for who they are and Prejean as well as every person who cheered for her after she gave her disappointing answer and who continue to cheer her on for her close-mindedness after the fact simply chose to believe that they are merely better than those who wish to have their love recognized by the state that they live in.
h/t Womanist Musings
True Tolerance, But Not Really
Firstly, my apologies for not getting this up yesterday, but as many of you out there may know, yesterday was the National Day of Silence, a student-led movement toward safer schools for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The National Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996 with over 150 participating students.
Students who participate in the National Day of Silence in their schools every year hand out “Speaking Cards” that say:
“Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by name-calling, bullying, and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?”
It seems as if this year the religious right is really on top of its ‘let’s take 5 steps back’ schedule because for the National Day of Silence this year, Focus on the Family came out with True Tolerance, a website that uses hate speech, scare tactics, and bigotry to push a religious agenda full of its usual “The religious right is the only group of people who are allowed to be represented for anything, otherwise we’ll use our money to take your organization down because we simply do not agree” agenda.
I don’t know about you, but just the two words, ‘true tolerance’ immediately says to me that whoever is behind this website is completely tolerant of everyone, no matter what, and of course that is what Focus on the Family wanted to portray in their new site’s name, but what they are really saying is they are tolerant of everyone, as long as they think and believe in exactly what they do.
But oh wait, it gets better. Focus on the Family goes as far as to say that public schools have a “pro-gay agenda” and that public schools have stifled free speech and true diversity by silencing students of faith and those with conservative perspectives. What they are really saying here is that name-calling, harassment, and bullying should be allowed in public schools, as long as the student of faith or conservatives perspectives are the students who are bullying the LGBT population.
It seems a little counterproductive to claim that your free speech, as a conservative and religious person or group is being stifled while actively trying to stifle the free speech of another group of people.
Scarlett Johansson Speaks Out About Body Image & Tabloid Media
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males currently living in the United States are fighting a battle with an eating disorder; with statistics this high, the situation presents society with a decision to make. Keep going in the direction we are going, letting media falsify the bodies of the people we see in print or make a commitment to stop presenting people with impossible body standards that are not even possessed by the people themselves who we see in magazines and tabloids.
Society’s image of the “perfect body” is severely out of touch with reality and it is a fact that the media plays a huge role in the way people look at their bodies; it is a sad world that we live in where publications are looking at the amount of money to be made in the business of self-loathing. Luckily, more and more celebrities are coming out and speaking for themselves on the topic of body image and holding the media responsible for the damage they have caused and continue to cause with every magazine cover they plaster their bold yellow font of body-hatred on.
Scarlett Johansson recently published a piece on her experiences with body image and the media, after seeing herself in the pages of magazines and tabloids containing several claims that she has been on a strict workout routine regulated by co-stars, whipped into shape by trainers she has never met, eating sprouted grains she can’t pronounce, and ultimately losing 14 pounds off of her 5′3″ frame, which she said herself if she had lost 14 pounds she would have to part with both arms and a foot.
In response to all of the media claims that have been made in her name, Scarlett Johansson had a few words of response:
I’m frustrated with the irresponsibility of tabloid media who sell the public ideas about what we should look like and how we should get there.
I’m not normally the type to dignify toilet paper rags with a response, but in this case I feel it’s my responsibility to comment. In a way, I’m glad some dummy journalist (and I use the term “journalist” loosely) is banking on my “deflating” so that I can address the issue straight from my healthy heart.
I am so glad that Scarlett has chosen to speak out against the media that has been portraying her in a false light in order to cater to their usual form of publicizing the “perfect” body and profiting off of the self-loathing of people world-wide. More celebrities need to speak out against the media that uses them as fodder for their obscene profit margins; perhaps if more celebrities spoke out against the lies that have been spread in their name the media would finally see that it is not okay.
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
