Category Archives: Feminism

German Muslim soldier criticizes racism following Cologne attacks | News | DW.COM | 26.01.2016

She even had to contend with people who accused her of not understanding the plight of the women who had been harassed. “Sexual harassment – against women, men or children- is bad,” Reinke said. “I don’t want anyone to experience this.”Reinke’s Facebook post begins with her saying she is a “German and a Muslim.” She says she was “ashamed” and felt “sick” when she heard that there were several Moroccans among the men who harassed women in Cologne on December 31.”My parents worked very hard to establish themselves here …” Reinke told DW. “I cringe when I hear these people who sexually assaulted women were from Morocco.”Reinke said she also feels bad when she hears about a refugee home being attacked. “For me it is attempted murder … because then people say, ‘All Germans are Nazis.’ And that makes me cringe too.”Reinke’s message unleashed an outpouring of reactions. She said her supervisors at the Bundeswehr and her organization Deutscher Soldat, which volunteers for refugee causes, were very cooperative. “I did not realize that it had been shared so much,” she said, adding that she was on holiday and looking for wedding dresses with her best friend who was getting married.

Source: German Muslim soldier criticizes racism following Cologne attacks | News | DW.COM | 26.01.2016

Danish teen fought off her attacker – now she’ll face fine – The Local

The teenager told police that she was attacked in central Sønderborg on Wednesday at around 10pm by an English-speaking man in dark clothing. She said the man knocked her to the ground and then unbuttoned her pants and attempted to undress her.  The girl was able to save herself from further assault by using pepper spray on the attacker, but now she may be the one who ends up in legal trouble.  “It is illegal to possess and use pepper spray, so she will likely be charged for that,” local police spokesman Knud Kirsten told TV Syd.  The case has sparked a backlash among some Danes who point to increasing reports of sexual harassment in Sønderborg and other Danish cities at the same time that police say they are stretched too thin to properly carry out their duties.  Numerous readers wrote in the comments section on TV Syd’s story about the incident that they would be willing to pay the girl’s fine, which will most likely be 500 kroner.  The man who attacked the 17-year-old fled from the scene and has not been charged.

Source: Danish teen fought off her attacker – now she’ll face fine – The Local

Before You Unlock a Woman’s ‘GDP Potential’, Why Don’t You Improve Her Financial Life First? – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Of course, individual women who want to move into higher productivity jobs because that improves their own lives deserve the world’s support. But can’t productivity (i.e. higher pay, to continue the decoding), better working conditions, unionisation, vacations, insurance, and pensions themselves be shifted to the work that women currently do, if they want to continue doing it? Can it be that traditional women’s work will never be compensated in the way that, say, STEM work will be, because our age of compulsive technology-mongering and war-mongering needs (or thinks it needs) STEM more than “less skilled” “women’s work”?

Source: Before You Unlock a Woman’s ‘GDP Potential’, Why Don’t You Improve Her Financial Life First? – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

[Update] [NSFW] Video: Topless Activists Disrupt Saturday’s Anti-Abortion Rally, Get Arrested: SFist

 

The group, reports Jezebel, is called Femen, and specifically sought to disrupt the speech of David Daleiden. Daleiden, you may remember, is the guy whose highly edited Planned Parenthood videos caused an uproar among anti-choice activists last year. He was scheduled to speak at Saturday’s event, and that’s when Femen made their move.”Seconds after Daleiden took the stage,” reads a press release from the group, “FEMEN activist Anni Ma set off a personal security alarm from within the crowd, and took her shirt off to reveal ‘FREEDOM MEANS CHOICE’ painted on her chest. Activist Carly Mitchell joined Ma in chanting ‘Fraud! Hypocrite! Liar!’ at Daleiden.””Ducote and Marston climbed up the wheelchair lift and tossed 200 fake subpoenas at Daleiden,” continues the group’s statement, “featuring his face stamped with ‘Fraud,’ ‘Fake,’ and ‘Liar.'”Ducote and Marston were charged with violating a park code prohibiting women from being topless, notes Jezebel, after six rally attendees physically restrained the women (you can watch a partial video of the arrest below).“I have written to SF Board of Supervisors at length about changing this park code, but they have not risen to the occasion,” notes Ducote.As we’ve learned before, SF’s current ban on public nudity does not extend to certain sanctioned events, beaches, and permitted protests, and activists have claimed successfully in court that other instances of nude protest might be legal as well.Update: Houston Public Media is now reporting that David Daleiden, the focus of Femen’s protest and featured speaker at Saturday’s anti-abortion rally, has been indicted by a Texas grand jury.Both David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt have been indicted for Tampering with a Governmental Record, which is a felony. Daleidan was also indicted for Prohibition of the Purchase and Sale of Human Organs, meaning he illegally offered to purchase human organs in the video recording. A violation of this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

Source: [Update] [NSFW] Video: Topless Activists Disrupt Saturday’s Anti-Abortion Rally, Get Arrested: SFist

Spanish Member of Congress Causes Controversy after Breastfeeding in Parliament | Inter Press Service

The idea, however, was to set an example of the difficulty that thousands of women face in juggling their private and professional lives and to highlight the need to share responsibilities and rights between both men and women.“In this country, there are millions of mothers who unfortunately cannot raise their children as they would like, who cannot go to work with their children as if it was something normal,” Bescansa said to reporters ” I think that the fact that coming to parliament with a breastfed baby makes the news says a lot about this country. That means we need to give more visibility to this.”It is not the first time a European politician has taken a stand by bringing their children into parliament. Iolanda Pineda, of the Socialists’ Party of Catalonia took her baby in 2012 into Spain’s upper house of parliament, and Licia Ronzulli, a former Italian member in the European Parliament, has frequently taken her daughter to sessions.The issue has opened a debate on the role of women both professionally and privately. Breastfeeding, which is a natural part of childbearing and caring, is still seen in many places as obscene and something to be done in private.It is important to mobilize at all levels of society in order to change the shame associated with breastfeeding and to incorporate it as part of the natural daily tasks of women both in public and in the workplace.

Source: Spanish Member of Congress Causes Controversy after Breastfeeding in Parliament | Inter Press Service

2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted – The New York Times {ROTFLMAO)

Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday that the inspector general of the state’s Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas attorney general’s office were continuing to investigate Planned Parenthood’s actions.“Nothing about today’s announcement in Harris County impacts the state’s ongoing investigation,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement. “The State of Texas will continue to protect life, and I will continue to support legislation prohibiting the sale or transfer of fetal tissue.”CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY259COMMENTSMr. Daleiden has been praised as a hero by some religious opponents of abortion. On Thursday, Mr. Daleiden was a featured guest at an Evangelicals for Life conference and was interviewed by Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Jim Daly, the president of Focus on the Family.Asked by Mr. Moore whether it was morally consistent to engage in lies and deception to obtain information, Mr. Daleiden said that undercover work is “fundamentally different from lying,” according to BaptistNews.com, because its underlying purpose “is actually to serve the truth.”

Source: 2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted – The New York Times

#ImSoEstablishment: Why words (and the absence of them) matter — Medium

Senator Sanders is a great man. He fights for so many things we believe in, but he’s not the champion we need in this perilous moment for women and families. His voice is an important one, which is why his rhetoric matters.Words matter. So do the absence of them. And so do we.

Source: #ImSoEstablishment: Why words (and the absence of them) matter — Medium

Cologne imam: Women provoked sex attacks by ′wearing perfume′ and being ′half-naked′ | News | DW.COM | 22.01.2016

{Too many males of all different religions and a number of women believe this foolishness and evil blame the victim position that lets gross men off the hook of being inhumane.}

 

In light of the attacks, women’s rights groups have taken to the streets of Cologne in recent weeks to protest against violence directed at women. Organizers of the demonstrations have strived to highlight a wider problem, however, arguing that women are facing assaults and harassment on a daily basis, regardless of who’s committing them.

Source: Cologne imam: Women provoked sex attacks by ′wearing perfume′ and being ′half-naked′ | News | DW.COM | 22.01.2016