Feminism at its Finest: April 2008
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.
Take Me Now Here: The Commercial Sex Industry and Feminism
I have very briefly touched upon my thoughts on the commercial sex industry here and basically all posts I have written on the topic have been quite popular versus the other subjects I have written about.
With the attention those posts have received and after talking to a friend of mine who runs Take Me Nowhere, a great site that touches upon some taboo subjects such as marijuana, law reform, Wicca, Paganism, The Occult and also some personal tidbits thrown in there for the hell of it, we decided that while she gives the majority of conservatives quite a bit to get pissed off about already, why not throw some sex into the mix?
And so starting yesterday, I will be writing a section on the commercial sex industry, everything revolving around the sex industry and I also plan on writing a bit about feminist-friendly sex and (gasp!) feminist-friendly sex toys and stores! I have a lot of ideas, so check out my section, Take Me Now Here over at Take Me Nowhere (ha, get it?)
The Truth About Prostitution
The commercial sex industry is a very large and debated subject. Feminists, in particular, have waged wars of their own between themselves and between what is called “The Feminist Movement” and what is called “The Radical Feminist Movement” for quite some time now. Before you find yourself in the middle of a debate about sex work and sex workers, or if you have already made your own assumptions and stand firm on your beliefs, it is always wise to acknowledge and marinate on the facts of anything to assist you in your decision-making.
This picture is filled with facts on prostitution and why, exactly, most women enter the field.
The average age of women entering prostitution is 13.5. Most of the women who work within the commercial sex industry explore it’s many facets, which include street prostitution, massage brothels, escort services, outcall services, strip clubs, lap dancing, phone sex, pornography and prostitution tourism.
The commercial industry is by far one of the ugliest industries out there right now, yet sadly so many are resorting to working within it, most out of desperation. The long-term effects of prostitution, not to mention what led them there in the first place, are frightening and tell tales of abused pasts. These long-term effects do not wear off, nor do they get any easier for the woman. Prostitution undoubtedly hurts women and is a direct violation of human rights. To raise more awareness about it, visit Prostitution Research & Education, it’s a fabulous site.
Carnival of Radical Feminists
I am extremely honored to be hosting the Carnival of Radical Feminists this month. Thanks to everyone who submitted their posts.
Allecto presents The Blood of Women, a story posted at Spinning Spinsters.
Anji presents The War On Women posted at Shut Up, Sit Down.
Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff presents La! I’m back. And with an essay. Don’t worry, hon, it’s under 1000 words. posted at Demonista.
Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff also presents Pornography, stripping and violence in contemporary ‘lesbian’ culture and Erasure of lesbian/female-centred sexuality/ancient representations of female erotic autonomy posted at Gorgon Poisons.
Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff also presents In the Tradition of the Wickedary by Dissenter posted at Spinning Spinsters
Christine presents High School, Hair Color and Choices posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France. She says:
“Conformity does not breed brilliance! Allowing a child the dignity to express herself as long as her choices do not hurt herself or others.”
Christine also presents Is Moving Abroad Right for You? posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France.
Debs presents I hate men who hate women, as well as Rape and Street Harassment, Privilege, and Lies, posted at Feminist Fire.
Lauredhel presents Gestation Anxiety: the othering of intentional single motherhood posted at Hoyden About Town.
Maggie Jochild presents Blog for Choice 2008: On the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, SUPER BULLSHIT and Ten Letters Toward an Alphabet of Presidential Choice posted at Meta Watershed.
Phemisaurus presents They thought we were extinct posted at They thought we were extinct.
Sam presents The Secret Ballot posted at Reclusive Leftist. Saying:
“woman-centered woman, even if it isn’t acceptable to publicly be so”
Tali presents Who Cares if a Few Dykes Get Banned from Digg? posted at BlogHer. She says:
“Is the right to free speech irrelevant, at Digg?”
Tracee Sioux presents Caroline’s Name posted at So Sioux Me. She says:
“I’m regretting not passing my name to my daughter. She’s my only daughter so there’s a feeling of lost opportunity. I attempted to bring up the subject of changing her name to incorporate my sur name . . . but, it didn’t exactly go like I had imagined.”
And that’s it for this month! Be sure to submit your Radical Feminist posts for the next carnival!
Third Edition of Feminism at its Finest
The third edition of Feminism at its Finest is here! This week was a great turnout, a lot more than I expected. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Firstly, my favorite feminist post I’ve seen this past week is from Cara of the The Curvature. In Whose Abortion? she talk about a new men’s rights, anti-abortion movement that seeks to change political and personal language from “I had an abortion” or “she had an abortion” to “We had an abortion.” This is definitely a must-read; I know I was seething from beginning to end!
Madeleine Begun Kane presents a great little piece on bras, Keeping Abreast Of Bras. Bras…a subject I am all too familiar with, yet not so familiar with at the same time. I know I hate them, I even know how much I hate them! This and much more is at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.
D Robinson wrote a post warning people about an incredibly offensive T-shirt website that completely degrades women and uses their merchandise as their little sexism playground. Men behaving badly: sexist t-shirt slogans.
She also presents a post, ‘Right to Life’ bias in pregnancy counseling, which talks about anti-abortion pregnancy centers and pro-life extremists, citing a specific website, Pro-Life Victoria. This website has pictures of alive children and of course, being the extremists they are and carrying the entire pro-life “movement’s” belief that women have no idea what they are doing or are too unintelligent to care when seeking an abortion, aborted fetuses. For this, I issue a trigger warning because these types of pictures, while unnecessary and uncalled for, are rather disturbing. Both of these posts can be seen at Australian Women Online.
Vishal Gupta wrote a post, along with every other person in the blogosphere, about the one woman getting the most publicity in the media, Hillary Clinton. Iron my shirt?- Sexism and Leadership is posted at A Business Professor’s Weblog.
Megan Bayliss presents a great post on the traveling bra project that All For Women have going on right now, All for women, two sheilas and under cover BRAvery. She says:
Some women wear their bras on the inside, some on the outside. I wore mine up the street, in full view, as a consciousness raising walk about women’s issues and the circle of friendship between women the world over. Who stopped to talk to me about the bra - WOMEN.
Read this post at Imaginif child protection became serious business.
blue skelton presents Slippery Slope Movie Trailer, a trailer for a movie about Sarah Shenck and her dream to direct meaningful movies with a feminist message, but desperate for finances, finds herself directing a porno film. Could be interesting, especially if done right. This can be seen at Blue Skelton Publications.
For all of the business women or business women hopefuls out there, Bonnie Krueger has a post about business grants and loans–Where Do Women Go To Find Business Grants Or Loans? This is posted at Women Personal And Business Loans.
This week’s turn out was great! Thanks to everyone who submitted their posts, you can start submitting any feminist posts you may have for next week’s carnival!
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My name is Holly, I'm a freelance writer and web designer as well as an obsessive blogger. This site focuses on (mainly) US politics, women's rights and health and society. I also find myself constantly debunking feminist stereotypes that have been ingrained in the minds of the world's population through the last 30 years. Read more...Tags
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