Just Another Day to Insult the Intelligence of Women
Note: Men, please do not think that the price of your gift to your significant other this Valentine’s Day is going to wow her. This is not your get out of jail free card and should not be treated as such–by either sex. Think of it like Christmas–How were you on the other 364 days of the year?
Another Note: JCPenney, I do not appreciate your ad to sell over-priced jewelry to men and make them believe that all women are just looking for jewelry and diamonds. Also, stop insulting the intelligence of women; if we are in a relationship with a man then there must be a reason. I don’t think we need to be hypnotized by shiny objects to be happy with the men in our lives. Thanks.
Without further ado, click here for JCPenney’s absurd ad for Valentine’s Day.
McCain on Choice: Federal Abortion Ban
Feministing has a great post up on John McCain and his long-standing anti-choice record. McCain, as most have already realized, will be the Republican candidate in the upcoming election; McCain is also the biggest threat to reproductive rights, if elected into office. For the next few weeks I will be taking his past pro-life record and looking at it a little more in depth.
While John McCain speaks about his pro-life record any chance he gets, according to NARAL, he “has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion.” So while he believes that under no circumstances whatsoever should a woman be permitted to have a safe and legal abortion, he also does not support in adequate safe sex education or any other educational or otherwise legislature that would protect women from getting pregnant in the first place.
Today we are going to take a look at the Federal Abortion Ban.
On April 18, 2007 the Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban case (or Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003) saying that it “does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.”
This ban paves the way for states to say to their women “This state has banned abortion, looks like you have to go through with 9 months of pregnancy and a lifetime with a child and we don’t give a damn if you can’t afford it, don’t want a child, or even if it is medically necessary and your own health is in danger because of this pregnancy, but your fetus has more rights than you do.”
This ban no longer leaves the decisions involving pregnancy to a woman and her doctor, but to politicians; most of which will never experience pregnancy. It bans safe and effective abortions and limits the time a woman has to seek an abortion even more–in this case, before viability. This ban does not make any exception for women whose health is at stake, violating the protection that was placed more than 30 years ago. Like most legislature trying to pull a fast one on the American people, the ban uses colorful and misleading wording and broad language subject to many different interpretations making it impossible for doctors who perform abortions to know what is and what isn’t prohibited when dealing with an abortion case.
Senator McCain’s presidential campaign released the following statement in response to the Federal Abortion Ban on April 18, 2007:
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children. It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written, and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures. As we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life.”
With such a staunch position on giving fetuses and embryos more rights than already living and breathing human, do we really want McCain, the Republican candidate in the upcoming election who opposes abortion and does not support women (even more so than Bush) to claim the presidency and move our rights backward over 30 years? I know I don’t.
Warning: It’s Only Sexual Assault if He Succeeds in Getting a Blowjob
Jackson County Commissioner Mike Brown was acquitted in a court in Michigan after being found not guilty of committing fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a misdemeanor, and attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct, which is a felony.
Mike Brown, a 61 year old man had admitted to exposing himself to a 24 year old woman whom he was giving a ride home to, as well as trying to push her head into his lap in hopes of her performing oral sex. However, he was found not guilty because he had not exerted the force needed to actually succeed in receiving said oral sex. Michigan’s law states that a person will be found guilty of criminal sexual conduct if “force or coercion is used to accomplish the sexual conduct.”
Are you kidding me? So a person can try to force someone into a sexual act without consent, however, if they aren’t successful then it doesn’t really count? That’s pretty much on the same lines of saying “Well sure, I ripped all of her clothes off and inserted myself into her, but I didn’t cum so I don’t think I should be found guilty of rape.”
Juror Rudy Nowles stated that both the woman as well as Brown had “both made big mistakes” and “[were] both stupid”, however, I also cannot see his side of those statements. As far as I’m concerned, a woman needed a ride home and had accepted a ride from a Jackson County Commissioner, who you would think would be a safe and logical decision and also taking into consideration that she had known this man, therefore making her not so stupid. The juror is correct, however, in saying that Brown was stupid, for lack of much more harsh and demeaning words, but not the woman. This juror is basically taking the blame from Brown and once again, as we have seen in many cases, pushing the blame for Brown’s acts on the woman making it her fault that she was not only sexually assaulted, but did not even receive the justice that she was deserved in this case.
I’m willing to bet that we’ll most likely see more of Mike Brown in the future. This woman had the support system and the ability to speak up about what had happened to her and Brown, at 61 years old, has probably done this to more women in the past. Perhaps with this woman’s bravery will provoke other women who have been assaulted by Brown to speak up and come forward.
Eight Points of Randomness
Carol of Can’t Holder Tongue has tagged me for the ‘Eight Random Things About Me’ meme. I would firstly like to thank her for tagging me, out of everyone in the whole blog-wide-world that she reads, I was one of her two picks and I’m quite happy about that. Second of all, I would also like to apologize for it taking me a few days to get this up.
Eight Random Things About Me
- I have been blogging and doing web design for eight years.
- I have had more domain and sub-domain names than I can recall.
- I live with (and refuse to say suffer from) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, social anxiety and clinical depression.
- I am a survivor of childhood sexual assault and child abuse that lasted six years–by my mother.
- At the age of 19 I began working from home as a Virtual Assistant for a friend of mine and have branched out as a web designer and developer.
- I am a major caffeine addict. I easily drink 5-8 cups of coffee daily.
- My poetry has been published in a nationally-distributed book put out by my high school creative writing class–I still count it as being published. I still need to get my writing back up on this site.
- I am not patriotic.
And there we have it. Most people may have already known these points about me, but if not, now you do!
Pro-Lifers Waving the Free Speech Card Again
Anti-abortion activists, as we know all too well by now, will stop at nothing to get their way and make sure they have the opportunity to brainwash and force their religion-driven opinions on as many people as they can. This is yet another demonstration of pure absurdity!
A South Dakota anti-abortion group, Citizens for Life led by Allen Carlson, filed a law suit against Rapid City School District because they refused to let Citizens for Life use their auditorium to host an anti-abortion event with guest speaker Joe Scheidler, director of the Pro-Life Action League. Carlson and Citizens for Life are claiming that they have been repeatedly refused the space because of their “message” and is suing under discrimination and violation of free speech.
Suing for violation of free speech is laughable since that is the first card all anti-abortion protesters, groups and activists pull out and wave in the faces of those who may disagree with their harsh tactics of protesting and shoving pictures of aborted fetuses in the faces of people walking anywhere near them. Whenever someone says something to them about what they are doing, they reach into their coat pockets and start waving the first amendment around while screaming “No, I’m practicing free speech, I can say whatever I want and there’s no law that says I can’t hold my five foot poster of aborted fetuses and the words ‘Abortion is Murder’ strewn all over it while your young child is walking with you.” To claim that they are being discriminated against when most of South Dakota, as we had seen with the abortion ban and flocks of pro-life protesters, is surely not the state in which you can easily get away with pulling the discrimination card.
The real reason why Citizens for Life were repeatedly denied the middle school auditorium space for their events and speakers is because the school district does not allow their facilities to be used for any sort of event with a political message. That, in my opinion, is admirable of the school district, since the two hottest topics and what we kill each other the most over are indeed politics and religion.
Another thing that bothers me each and every single time I read a news story like this one are the names of the people who run these groups; in this case, Allen Carlson and Joe Scheidler. I wonder how many times the two of them have been pregnant.
Sex-Positivity
I'm passionate about sex-positivity and believe every sexual being should have the freedom to explore their sexuality safely and without condemnation. I even lost my ad network after my refusal to censor myself after reviewing feminist porn.So if you're in the market for sex toys, porn, books, etc. take a look at the retailers below, all of which are feminist-friendly.
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.
