Category Archives: Feminism

It’s on us to go beyond ‘It’s On Us’

(Photo credit: Larry Downing/Reuters)

“Identify situations in which sexual assault may occur.

If you see something, intervene in any way you can.

If something looks like a bad situation, it probably is.

Get someone to help if you see something.

Get in the way by creating a distraction.”

The White House’s flashy new bystander intervention campaign, It’s On Us, makes sexual assault sound a lot like a bad thunderstorm — unfortunate, inevitable, striking seemingly out of nowhere, and devoid of human agents. The solution, then, is easy and comfortable: “Identify situations in which [a-tornado-I-mean-sexual-assault] may occur” and guide your friend to safety; remember: “If something looks like a bad situation, it probably is.”

Gender-based violence is not like the weather. It has direct, immediate human agents and is structural and systemic at its core. But the new campaign de-politicizes and de-genders sexual assault, portraying it as an easy-to-avoid problem solely between individuals, and making perpetrators out to be vague “someones” who do “something” to other “someones.” In reality, perpetrators are disproportionately likely to be men and their victims are disproportionately likely to be women (particularly queer and trans women, women of color, and women with disabilities), queer men, and gender non-conforming folks.

The It’s On Us campaign’s failure to conceptualize of violence as systemic and structural guts meaningful responses to it. While bystander intervention more broadly may be usefully integrated into a more comprehensive anti-violence approach, it has serious limitations. And the way it’s framed in It’s On Us, it offers a strategy to avoid violence, not meaningfully reduce it. The campaign’s tips — like guiding your friends away from perpetrators at parties — might help an individual woman avoid a rapist in an individual instance but it won’t stop that rapist from turning to the next girl down the bar. It makes the problem seem discrete and manageable, with a quick fix that fits comfortably within an existing structure of how our world works, who has power, and who doesn’t. It enlists men, for instance, to protect their female friends at a bar but not to recognize their own power and privilege, the subtle ways in which they enact violence all the time.

via It’s on us to go beyond ‘It’s On Us’.

Perry in first place for National Dork! Rick Perry suggests Joan Rivers might not have died under Texas abortion laws | World news | The Guardian

“It was interesting that when Joan Rivers, and the procedure that she had done, where she died – that was a clinic. And I’m just – it’s a curious thought that if they had had that type of regulations in place, whether or not that individual would be still alive,” Perry said on Sunday in response to a question from an audience member during a keynote session at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

Despite Perry’s comment appearing to advocate for such centres, Rivers was treated at a facility which has been described as an ambulatory surgical centre. The circumstances of her death are still mired in uncertainty, claims and counter-claims.

Pro-choice campaigners reacted angrily to Perry’s words. In an email to the Associated Press Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, wrote: “The reality is that complications happen in all areas of medicine. There’s risk inherent in just about anything.

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“You could have a heart attack and die while having your wisdom teeth removed. Should we outlaw wisdom teeth removal?”

via Rick Perry suggests Joan Rivers might not have died under Texas abortion laws | World news | The Guardian.

No, ‘Django Unchained’ Actress Won’t Apologize To The LAPD: LAist

her boyfriend wrote a post on Facebook earlier this week explaining why she was quick to assume the LAPD was racially profiling her, “What we experienced this past Thursday, September 11 was the THIRD time in the past few months that D and I have had to deal with cops profiling a ‘black and white couple.’ This is the THIRD time, an officer has realized his error and had to let us go because we weren’t breaking any laws.”

He writes that in one incident, neighbors in Loma Linda called police to report that a suspicious black and white couple were loitering in the area and that there may have been a potential robbery. He said it was just he and Daniele trying to go through storage in his father’s garage.

via No, ‘Django Unchained’ Actress Won’t Apologize To The LAPD: LAist.

Local Civil Rights Activists Want ‘Django Unchained’ Actress To Apologize To The LAPD And Community: LAist

Guys looking for free pass – get in good with police for

dissing black woman? Looks, smells, feels like profiling – Watts’ detainment came shortly after the detainment and arrest of a black TV producer, Charles Belk, who was stopped in Beverly Hills for matching the description of an alleged bank robber. In Belk’s situation, however, it took police six hours to determine that he was not the robber after reviewing video footage.

via Local Civil Rights Activists Want ‘Django Unchained’ Actress To Apologize To The LAPD And Community: LAist.

Perpetual Nakba | Poetry for Palestine

In 1948 WAR, my grandmother was a young mother,

My mother was a child in 1948

* * *

In 1967 WAR my mother was a young mother,

I was a child in 1967

* * *

In 1987 WAR, I was a young mother,

My daughter was a child in 1987

* * *

In 2014 WAR, my daughter is a young mother

My granddaughter is a child in 2014

* * *

EVERY SINGLE ONE of us,

FIVE generation girls/ women/ mothers/ grandmothers

Have lived the Nakba

Repeated over and over and over again

via Perpetual Nakba | Poetry for Palestine.

“Comfort women” who serviced U.S. soldiers demand justice – Salon.com

The lawsuit alleges that, since 1957, poor and undereducated South Korean women were pressured into prostitution in those government-designated zones around American military bases. Authorities should be legally held responsible because they turned a blind eye and therefore promoted the trade, according to the filing.

Former prostitutes say that the government rounded up bar workers — some of whom were girls in their mid-teens — and mandated that they undergo forced STD testing. The ones who tested positive for diseases were held against their will in quarantine and treatment centers, say the plaintiffs. “It was terrible. And we believe that the government was responsible for its negligence,” said Kim, the former sex worker, who was tested multiple times.

The government also sponsored etiquette and English-language classes for these hostesses, where they were praised for contributing to economic development and national security.

Scholars say the South Korean government, run by three dictators from the 1960s to 1980s, sought to please the US military out of fear that it would depart, while bringing in US dollars to buttress this struggling economy. In the past, the South Korean government has denied encouraging prostitution. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family would not comment on the litigation.

via “Comfort women” who serviced U.S. soldiers demand justice – Salon.com.

The woman behind the Democratic party’s twin threat: Rosie Castro | Latina Lista

Rosie Castro helped shape a new political era for the struggling Chicano movement in the 70s. Her work with La Raza Unida has put her in the spotlight. From getting young democrats involved, to registering voters and operating campaigns, Rosie has been a pioneer in the movement and continues to do so.

“There were things happening, in terms of Latinos – or things not happening – that really had me worried. There was a great deal of discrimination at the time.” Rosie told La Prensa. “I really got involved in Politics when I was at Our Lady of the Lake, and I haven’t stopped since then.”

via The woman behind the Democratic party’s twin threat: Rosie Castro | Latina Lista.

DoubleSpeak- They offer coverage… Rise Of Catholic Insurance Plans Raises Questions About Contraceptive Coverage – Kaiser Health News

It turns out that Catholic health plans have for years been arranging for outside firms to provide contraceptive coverage to their enrollees.

That’s because such coverage has long been required by state laws or sought by non-religious employers the religious health plans serve.

Now the federal health law requires most health insurance plans, including all new plans in the individual and small group markets, to provide contraceptive coverage at no out-of-pocket cost to women.

That divergence between the Catholic court claim that any link to contraceptive coverage is forbidden and the actions of Catholic insurance plans is likely to draw more attention as more large Catholic hospital systems add insurance plans to their portfolios.

via Rise Of Catholic Insurance Plans Raises Questions About Contraceptive Coverage – Kaiser Health News.

French minister ‘first from Europe’ to visit Africa’s Ebola-hit region – France 24

“I’m the first European minister to set foot” in the region since the start of the epidemic, Girardin told FRANCE 24’s sister station RFI in an interview ahead of the trip. “France can be proud,” she exclaimed.

Girardin’s visit follows a call from the World Health Organization (WHO), urging the international community to respond more quickly to stop the epidemic from spiraling out of control.

“I’m going to Guinea first to say that France is with them. And that’s not an insignificant message,” she told a news conference in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, on Friday.

“It’s also an important message to say that there are behaviours to adopt, that there are health systems that are resilient and that can take on this Ebola virus,” Girardin said.

“This is the case here in Senegal, it is the case in Ivory Coast and, unfortunately, not the case in Guinea, where health systems have proved less resilient to this virus, this epidemic,” she said, adding that Guinea desperately needs an overhaul of its health infrastructure, but noted “for that we need resources”.

via Africa – French minister ‘first from Europe’ to visit Africa’s Ebola-hit region – France 24.