Tag Archives: politics

Dharun Ravi, Roommate Of Gay Rutgers Student Tyler Clementi, Found Guilty Of Hate Crimes

Jessica WakemanMarch 16, 2012 //

18-year-old Tyler Clementi committed suicide after being outed. Read More »

Hate Crimes Charges

Tyler Clementi's roommate Dharun Ravi faces hate crimes charges. Read More »

Bigots "Lost" Gay Marriage

Bigots admit they've lost the gay marriage battle in our generation. Read More »

Gay Marriage Ad

This marriage equality ad will give you chills. Watch »

Dharun Ravi, the former roommate of Tyler Clementi, a gay Rutgers University student who committed suicide, was convicted this morning of hate crimes. Twenty-year-old Ravi used a webcam set up in the dorm room they shared to spy on Clementi on several occasions, which he announced over Twitter to classmates and watched from a friend’s room. Clementi — who knew about the webcam spying, requested a room change, and had complained to an RA about his roommate — eventually jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: One Woman’s Ordeal With The Texas Sonogram Law

Jessica WakemanMarch 15, 2012 //

If you read one article on the Internet today, make it this: a mother in Texas terminated her much-wanted pregnancy after doctors learned her baby would be born with genetic defects that would cause him to suffer greatly. Due to Texas’s 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that doctors describe, in detail, the development of fetus, she and her husband were caused suffering on one of the most horrible days of their lives. This essay by Carolyn Jones is heartbreaking, yet extremely touching. [Texas Observer]
I’m sure you’ll be shocked — shocked! — to hear that Catholic bishops pressured the breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure to halt their funding to Planned Parenthood, which was used for breast exams. (And fortunately reversed.) [Reuters] Keep reading »

Meghan McCain Saw A Therapist Because Everyone Was Trashing Her Body

Jessica WakemanMarch 13, 2012 //

BoobGate

Meghan McCain accidentally showed her boobs on Twitter. Read More »

Slutshaming

Don't call Meghan McCain a "slut." Read More »

Glenn Beck Hurts Meghan

Glenn Beck made barfing noises talking about Meghan McCain's body. Read More »

“I don’t even feel like it was a mistake anymore. I don’t really believe in the concept of mistakes. Now I’m very sensitive to any pictures taken of myself at photoshoots and whatever because the internet has this very weird —especially people in politics — this very weird reaction to my body, because I’m not super skinny. I have large breasts. I know! They’re real, I can’t do anything about it and the internet just has this really weird reaction to my body … I’ve seen a therapist about it, if that means anything. There’s like this obsession (with my body). I think people don’t understand why I haven’t lost a bunch of weight right now, because [sarcastic] ‘all women in the media should lose a bunch of weight if they want to go on television to talk about anything.’”

– Meghan McCain discusses BoobGate (aka that time she tweeted a very boobalicious photo, apparently by accident) and how much negative attention that’s been heaped upon her body as she’s become a conservative pundit. Now, I’ve always thought Meghan McCain was nepotistic and kind of annoying. But in the past few years, I’ve admired the way that she’s taken every incident where a douchebag has tried to body-shame her or slut-shame her and fought back. Unfortunately, I’m not the least bit surprised that bullying from Glenn Beck would send a girl into therapy! [YouTube via Nerve]

Finally, We Hear From The Real Experts On Women’s Health: Middle-Aged Men

Winona Dimeo-EdigerFebruary 29, 2012 //

Congressional Sausagefest

All-male panel testifies about birth control. Read More »

Birth Control? Boooo!

Crowd boos birth control at GOP debate. Watch »

Support Planned Parenthood

How you can help protect access to reproductive health care. Read More »

Lately it seems like the politicians and pundits with the strongest opinions about women’s reproductive health all have one thing in common: a penis. This video, starring Nick Offerman, Tim Meadows, and Judd Nelson, paints a hilarious — and terrifyingly accurate — picture of the current discourse surrounding women’s access to birth control and abortion. Here’s a quote from Nick Offerman’s character that sums it up perfectly: “What qualifies me to be an expert on women’s reproductive health? I’m a 59-year-old man. And late middle-aged men know the most about everything.” [Funny Or Die]

John Edwards’ Sex Tape Will Be Destroyed

Jessica WakemanFebruary 24, 2012 //

Edwards' Sex Tape

Yes, there is a John Edwards sex tape. Read More »

Rielle Is Bonkers

The mistress posed in GQ in her undies with stuffed animals. Read More »

Love Children

Love children of the rich and famous. 18 Photos »

Bad news, ladies: the world will never see what Senate John Edwards is packing because the sex tape between he and his former mistress Rielle Hunter will be destroyed. Bummer! Keep reading »

Arizona Pol’s “Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act” Would Allow Men, Parents To Stop Abortions

Jessica WakemanFebruary 21, 2012 //

Banning Abortions

PreNDA would ban abortions based on race or sex. Read More »

VA Abortion Bills

Virginia wants to force women to have ultrasounds before abortions. Read More »

Proposed Ban In D.C.

A ban on abortion after 20 weeks has been proposed for Washington, D.C. Read More »

Public Hanging?

An NC politician called for the public hanging of abortion providers. Read More »

We’ve long been following the WTF-ery of the “Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenantal Nondiscrimination Act,” which will criminalize abortions based on race or gender of the fetus. The anti-abortion supporter of the bill, Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican, insisted that America had to ban such abortions and threaten abortion providers with punishment for performing them, despite the fact sex- and gender-selective abortions are scarcely a problem in this country. And surely you noticed the nods to Anthony, a suffragette whom abortion opponents mistakenly paint as anti-abortion, and Douglass, a civil rights activist, as coded messages to conservative women and blacks?

That bill, which is now just called PreNDA, passed out of a committee last week and is headed to the House. But an eagle-eyed Jezebel reader has noticed in the fine print of the bill wording that would allow men and/or the woman’s parents to stop her from having an abortion. Keep reading »

Which Moronic Comment About Birth Control Was NOT Made Today?

Jessica WakemanFebruary 16, 2012 //

It has been a long and aggravating day of the government trying to restrict our access to birth control. A panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ensured the worst PR ever when it convened a bunch of men — men with penises! I repeat, no one with an actual uterus — to discuss the birth control mandate in Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Their party line is that they were just discussing “religious freedom,” meaning, I guess, the freedom for a small minority of religious employers to impose their beliefs on everyone else in the country? I don’t know, I’m still not clear on their point other than “Wah, wah.”

Not surprisingly, silliness is in the water and it has proven a bang-up day for dumb comments about birth control all around. Of the following three comments about birth control, two are actual real things that people said, and one was made up by me. See if you can the difference. Birth control …

A) … causes prostrate cancer!

B) … isn’t necessary because women should put aspirin between our knees (or, debatably, inside our vaginas) instead!

C) … increases greenhouse gases!

After the jump, find out just how “Ugh, really?!” our elected officials are:

Keep reading »

Why One Republican Legislator Voted For Marriage Equality: “I Want To Throw A Wedding For My Kid”

Winona Dimeo-EdigerFebruary 10, 2012 //

Marriage Equality In WA

The state of Washington passed a marriage equality bill. Read More »

Bigots "Lost" Gay Marriage

Bigots admit they've lost the gay marriage battle in our generation. Read More »

Gay Marriage Ad

This marriage equality ad will give you chills. Watch »

State Representative Maureen Walsh was one of only two Washington state republicans to break rank and vote in favor of the marriage equality bill, which passed. When the governor signs the legislation into law, as she has stated her intention to do, it will legalize gay marriage in Washington. In this video, choking back tears, Maureen Walsh explains why she voted for fairness: she has a gay daughter. Walsh describes the bond she had with her late husband and the experience of her daughter coming out of the closet a couple years ago: “She’s a fabulous human being, and she’s met a person that she loves very much, and someday, by God, I want to throw a wedding for that kid.” You know the old cliche, “Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes?” Here is a real life example of just how powerful that shaky voice can be. [YouTube via The Atlantic]

Washington State Passes Gay Marriage Bill

Jessica WakemanFebruary 9, 2012 //

Yay For Starbucks

Starbucks has come out in support of gay marriage. Read More »

Celebs On Gay Marriage

These couples won't marry until it's legal for everyone. Read More »

Santorum on Lesbians

Says being a lesbian is a "choice." Read More »

Bigots "Lost" Gay Marriage

Bigots admit they've lost the gay marriage battle in our generation. Read More »

Washington state’s House of Representatives voted yesterday to legalize same-sex marriage, which will make Washington the seventh state in the country to allow lesbians and gays to marry their partners. Gay marriage is already legal in New York, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa, and New Hampshire. Both Starbucks and Microsoft, which are based out of Washington, supported the bill and Starbucks even sent a letter to their 150,000 employees asking them to support gay marriage. Governor Chris Gregoire has vowed to sign the legislation into law next week and it will go into effect 90 days later, which will be in June. Keep reading »

Mitt Romney Calls Morning After Pills “Abortive Pills”

Jessica WakemanFebruary 7, 2012 //

I Took Plan B

Our writer took the morning-after-pill to thwart unwanted pregnancy. Read More »

Bachmann Stupidity

Sorry, Michele, "the morning-after abortion pill" doesn't exist. Read More »

2012 Election

All of The Frisky's posts about the 2012 election. Read More »

Fact checking time! Mitt Romney hit the campaign trail in Colorado last night and referred to emergency contraception/the morning-after pill as “abortive pills.” This could be because he or his team genuinely doesn’t understand that emergency contraception (Plan B) and the abortion pill (RU-486) are two completely different pills. Or it could be because he’s irresponsibly trying to totally conflate the two for political gain, which I am sure would shock — shock! — you coming from an anti-abortion politician. (Is Mitt anti-abortion this week? I can never keep track!)

Let’s recap, very briefly: The morning-after pill prevents a pregnancy by stopping a woman’s ovaries from releasing eggs — which could be fertilized by the sperm and go implant in the uterus — as well as thinning the lining of a woman’s uterus so a fertilized egg cannot implant. The RU-486 abortion pill, on the other hand, ends an existing pregnancy — as in, the fertilized egg has already implanted in the uterus and a fetus is growing. (I explain it all in more detail in this post.)

See? Two different things, Mitt. Keep reading »