Tag Archives: feminism

Today’s Lady News: Polanski’s Lawyer Says He’s Been Punished Enough For Drugging, Raping Teen

  • Roman Polanski’s attorney said he has already been punished enough by serving 42 days in prison back in 1978. You know, after he gave drugs to and raped a 13-year-old girl? Forty-two days! Polanski is currently in jail in Switzerland and may be in prison for up to two years if he’s sent back to the U.S. for a trial. [L.A. Times]
  • Lady buffaloes in California are being put on birth control because they’re screwing like bunnies. Sorry, folks, I just thought slutty buffaloes would make you giggle on a Friday afternoon. [L.A. Times]
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Today’s Lady News: Conan O’Brien’s Fat Jokes Get Him In, Uh, Big Trouble

  • Conan O’Brien is the subject of pissy Tweets by plus-sized actresses Kirstie Alley and Star Jones after cracking jokes about Alley’s size. Example? A recent earthquake drill in California might have just been a response to Alley jazzercising. [New York Daily News]—Ah, fat jokes: the province of lazy comedians. Maybe he could mix up his repertoire and do ugly jokes, too? And for her part, maybe Alley could practice what she preaches and stop drawing so much attention to her own weight.
  • An analysis by George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services found that the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to Obama’s health care reform bill would “produce industry-wide effects, leading to the elimination of health plan coverage for nearly all medically indicated abortions.” The GW study arrived at this conclusion after examining how “the health benefits services industry adjusts its products over time to conform to the regulatory environment in which it operates.” [George Washington University Medical Center]

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Today’s Lady News: Jaycee Dugard’s Family Speaks Out Against Proposed Porn

  • Jaycee Dugard’s family has spoken out against adult filmmaker Shane Ryan, who is at work on a pornographic film called “Abducted Girl: An American Sex Slave,” based on Dugard’s ordeal. In a statement, the Dugards’ spokeswoman called the film “exploitive, hurtful and breathtakingly unkind.” [New York Daily News]
  • Poor women in developing countries will be most negatively affected by global warming, according to a new report by the United Nations Population Fund. Weather-related natural disasters are likely to affect how they get their food, water and energy. [BBC]

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10 Ridiculous Lady Laws That Are Still On The Books

Even though Paris is the fashion capitol of the world, it is still technically against the law for a woman to wear pants there. Someone should tell the police quick … they could have made a killing during Fashion Week. But seriously, how crazy is that? This ridiculous law has survived years of attempted upheaval. In 1892, the law was amended to say that trousers were permitted “as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse.” In 1909, female cyclists were declared exempt. After a couple more attempts over the ages, I guess the ladies (and police) forgot the law even existed and went right on ahead breaking it by proudly rocking their pants. That got me thinking. What other crazy kinds of laws are there that we don’t even know about? Wait for this one. I discovered that here in New York a woman can incur $25 fine for flirting! Oops … I broke that law like a million times. After the jump, some more archaic lady laws that need to be repealed pronto. [Newser, Dumblaws] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Military Police Arrest A Single Mom For Refusing Deployment

  • Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, an Army cook, was arrested by military police and contained at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, after she refused deployment to Afghanistan by not showing up for her flight. Hutchinson, a 21-year-old single mother, said she hasn’t been able to find care for her 10-month-old son, Kamani, while she is gone, explaining that her mother is overwhelmed by caring for three sick relatives. Hutchinson’s attorney said one of her superiors told her Kamani would be placed in foster care if Hutchinson couldn’t find care during her deployment. A spokesperson for Hunter Army Airfield said he does not know what Hutchinson was told by her superior, but she wouldn’t be deployed unless she could find Kamani care. Hutchinson’s mother ended up flying from California to Georgia to pick up Kamani anyway, since her daughter could face charges from the Army for going AWOL. [AP]

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No Bras Were Actually Harmed During The Womens’ Lib Movement

Have you ever entertained the idea of ripping off your bra in a moment of feminist passion? I know I have. What better way to express female rebellion against oppressive ideologies? What better way to salute our bra-burning foremothers in a proud act of solidarity and continuity? But then I think to myself, “It’s too cliché. Feminists have been there and done that.” That’s why I was pretty shocked to discover that this particularly irreverent act of bra-burning never actually happened. Huh? Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: FBI Had Been Warned About Abortion Doctor Killer

  • One month before late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered by an anti-choice extremist, the FBI in Kansas City received an anonymous letter warning them that Scott Roeder posed a physical threat to abortion providers. The FBI said they didn’t heed the letter as a credible threat, apparently because the letter writer was involved in a custody battle with Roeder. [The Wichita Eagle]

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Today’s Lady News: Preacher Sentenced To 175 Years For Taking Girls As “Child Brides”

  • Tony Alamo, a 75-year-old evangelist preacher, has been sentenced to 175 years in prison for taking underage girls as “child brides” and molesting them. Alamo apparently threatened the girls with “the loss of their salvation.” [NY Daily News]
  • Some pregnant women are forgoing the H1N1 vaccine, saying they are more comfortable with holistic approaches, like acupuncture, yoga and “obsessive hand washing,” to fend off the swine flu. [Chicago Tribune]
  • An 18-year-old female student at Loyola University recanted an allegation made this morning that she was sexually assaulted after drinking with three men in her dorm room last night. Police said she was being evaluated at a local hospital. [ChicagoBreakingNews.com]—I wonder if she was copycatting the young woman who lied about a gang rape at Hofstra.

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Today’s Lady News: Spain Teaches Masturbation In Sex Ed Program

  • “Pleasure is in your own hands” is the new pro-masturbation slogan used by a sex ed program in the Extremadura region of Spain. The campaign has upset some Catholics in the country, despite having received funding from local youth and women’s affairs ministries. [Guardian UK]
  • The federal government released a report on Tuesday which found that DNA evidence culled from “rape kits,” which are performed when a victim visits an emergency room or doctor’s office after a rape, are often never sent to crime labs. A CBS news investigation found that when raped kids are not tested for months or even years, the rapists are walking free and continuing to commit crimes. [CBS News]

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Eva Mendes Says Getting Naked On Camera Is Empowering — But Is It?

“If I feel it’s appropriate to show some nudity in the scenes then I go for it. As much as I use my sexuality, I have never felt exploited. I feel like it’s on my terms and I have no problem with it.”

That’s actress Eva Mendes, who stars in the upcoming “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” on going naked in the movies. If she’s in control of her sexuality, her theory goes, how can she be exploited? Cinematical’s Peter Kaplan agrees:

“Speaking as someone who first noticed Mendes when Ethan Hawke opened a door in ‘Training Day’ to reveal her lying naked on a bed, I say: ‘I have no problem with it, either.’”

One imagines Broadsheet’s Kate Harding would not concur. Keep reading »