This Week in Your Ladybits
You know that superstition that your ears are supposed to burn when someone talks about you? Thank goodness that doesn’t apply to ladybits. We’d all be constantly out of sorts. (Well, maybe not all of us; I would never judge your preferences.)
Republican legislators are trying to yank contraception and de-fund Planned Parenthood again, and Planned Parenthood is fighting back with the Planned Parenthood Saved Me tumblr. Add a story of your own, or just remind yourself of why access to basic women’s health care is such a big deal.
As always, Rachel Maddow is on the case when it comes to ladybits skullduggery, this time taking a look at the brazen attempts to use the uteruses of Washington, D.C. as political door prizes. District Congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton dropped in to register her umbrage. Here’s Dahlia Lithwick’s Slate article that was featured in that clip. And, yes, here is Cooch Watch.
Hey, a minor ladybits win! ThinkProgress reported that 150 doctors at Abington Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia protested a move to stop abortion services when it merged with the Catholic Holy Redeemer hospital. The doctors’ letter read, in part, “There is strong opposition to having our medical practice dictated by Catholic doctrine rather than our patients’ best interests and standard of care.” The merger was called off Wednesday as being “in the best interests of both organizations.” Thanks for caring enough to make some noise, docs.
Martha Plimpton has your ladybits and your back. She is sick of the attempts to roll reproductive freedoms back to 1387 and the further attempts to shame women into shutting up about it. So she founded A is For and partnered with the Center for Reproductive Rights. Maureen Herman at BoingBoing had a long piece this week on why it is so important to stay loud.
This Week in Not Helping
Jennifer Carroll, Florida’s Lieutenant Governor (R) was accused by a former staffer of having an extramarital affair… with another woman. There were lots of potential ways to handle this, but Carroll went with saying “usually black women that look like me don’t engage in relationships like that.” See, LesBi ladies? Your orientation would be all sorted out if only you were lucky enough to be as hot as Jennifer Carroll.
Hey, remember how the Japanese women’s soccer team won the World Cup last year? They’re currently ranked third in the world, and they just flew to Europe for the Olympics… in coach. The Japanese men’s team, ranked 20th, flew Business Class. The New York Times pointed out that it’s not unusual for women’s Olympic teams to literally be treated as second-class citizens.
Cracked had a feature on Five Prejudices that Video Games Can’t Seem to Get Over.
Hey, Marissa Mayer, the first female engineer at Google, is now the CEO of Yahoo! That’s a big deal! Good thing she fully understands the trail that feminists blazed for her so she could — wait, she what?
Oh, dear. Ms. Mayer, you should maybe check out some of the smart, hilarious feminists mentioned in the section of Awesomeness below. And by “should maybe” I mean “definitely.” Or at least take a moment to appreciate the facts that you can decide if and when to have kids (for now) and were able to choose a career path that involved getting listened to instead of harassed on a daily basis. You’ll never guess who made that happen.
Or voting. Voting is nice, Ms. Mayer. Those old-time suffragettes had lioness hearts under those big hats and sensible coats of theirs. This Week in Thinky
Trust Women released this chart from ThinkProgress on paid maternity leave around the world. And Feministing, not to be outdone, had an infographic on the state of women of color in the United States.
Julie Goodridge was one of the plaintiffs in the case that opened up same-sex marriage for Massachusetts. She had some run-ins with the guy who was the governor at the time, whom you may have heard of. Suffice it to say she is not a fan. In These Times had an interesting dialogue on what’s next for feminism, using the fascinating technique of having a bunch of actual feminists talk about it and not having some harrumphing sexist rumpsacks in for balance. You will be shocked to hear that it works.
The New York Times ran a riveting feature on activist Mona Eltahawy and her fight for a constitution that serves all Egyptians. (Thanks to @Madabip for the link on that one.)
AMC’s Small Town Security is a new reality show that’s getting good reviews… And features a transman, Dennis Croft. And, in a stunning move for a reality show, everyone seems to be handling the whole thing rather well. Check out GLAAD’s interview with Croft for a little blip of warmth in your heart.
The Jane Dough ran a short feature on Priscilla Nangurai, who is working to stop the practice of marrying off some young Kenyan girls as early as 12 or 14 — sometimes grown men “book” a future wife when the mother is pregnant. Nangurai is fighting to help girls continue their educations instead. This Week in Awesomeness and General Bad-assery
Olympic weightlifter Sarah Robles, who had been living on a paltry $400 a month stipend, finally has a sponsor. Way to step up, Solve Media.
The always wonderful Amy Poehler had a few wise words on dealing with deadlines and stress. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) says that marriage equality is likely to be a plank in the Democratic Party’s platform this year. Very much in the “it’s about damned time” category, but better late than never.
For some reason, the Paralympics have disabled embedding on this “Meet the Superhumans” promo video. Which a shame, because it is fantasticand features some incredible athletes of both genders. It’s well worth following the link to watch it.
83-year-old Edith Windsor is petitioning the Supreme Court to hear her challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. She says that the law discriminates against married same-sex couples, because duh.
Every now and then, mainstream journalists rediscover the notion that there are many kinds of feminists, including the kind that are really freaking hilarious. I hadn’t been familiar with Caitlin Moran before this week. I’m looking forward to reading her book and getting to know her better.
Oh, speaking of awesome, funny feminists who have books out, the wondrous Susie Bright is offering her book Sexwise for free on Kindle this weekend. Seriously: She is twelve kinds of awesome.
And let’s finish off with The Mary Sue’s gallery of genderswap (and other generally cool) cosplay from San Diego Comic Con. Have a great weekend. Get out there and be exactly who you want.
