Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Ore. submitted a racy ad to Bitch Magazine, which refused to run it. The magazine, a self-described “feminist response to pop culture,” explained turning down the ad by stating, “We felt that our readers would feel that the ad goes against our mission statement to be anti-sexist.” Voodoo, where the menu includes Triple Chocolate Penetration and C**k-n-Balls, responded, “I thought Bitch would be happy the woman isn’t plucked and shaved, but all natural like a real woman.” Check out the full NSFW ad after the jump.

If you call yourself a “feminist”—which basically means you believe women deserve the dignity, rights and respect afforded to men—then you can relate to how peeps come out of the woodwork to tell you you’re either being “too feminist” or “not feminist” enough. Some people think feminism should be a spartan existence where there’s no frivolity allowed, on principle: no makeup, no “Sex & The City, and definitely no getting married!

The dumbest criticism of feminists we’ve ever seen happened when some people freaked out over the engagement of Jessica Valenti, co-founder of Feministing (and one-time Frisky blog!) to her boyfriend, Andrew Golis, deputy publisher of the politics blog, Talking Points Memo. Gettin’ hitched, apparently, is “antithetical” to feminism.

Unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women each year, according to a recent study of 197 countries by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. The three-year study also found abortions are happening in countries where they are legal just as often as in countries where they are illegal—despite the fact that 40 percent of the world’s women live in places were abortion laws are strict. Said Sharon Camp, Guttmacher’s president:

‘‘Legal restrictions do not stop abortion from happening. They just make the procedure dangerous. Too many women are maimed or killed each year because they lack legal abortion access.”

Sandra Bullock has always annoyed the crap out of me with her repeated portrayal of the stock rom-com character—the gorgeous, “quirky” girl. Even more irritating perhaps is that she is trying to live her onscreen persona off screen. Sandra’s message to the women of the world is always a variation of the same theme—be unique, ladies! Thanks for the permission, Sandy. In a recent interview with Parade, she said:

“Why is it that men are called ‘unique’ and ‘eccentric’ and ‘mavericks’ when they’re different, but women are labeled as ‘odd’ or just plain ‘weird?’ It’s about being unconventional and being true to who you are. Not fitting in often means you’re really standing out. If I can do anything in this time of my career, it’s to make it easier for girls who are growing up not to feel they have to wind up with someone to complete them. You know, I complete me. I’m just lucky that after I completed myself, I met someone who could tolerate me.”

• Chicago resident Kathy Cleaves-Milan is suing her former landlords, Elm Creek Apartments, for evicting her due to “criminal activity” after she reported to police her ex-boyfriend had shown up at her apartment brandishing a gun. The company said it was concerned about potential gun violence, but it was afraid Cleaves-Milan could not have paid her rent without her ex. An attorney for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project said her landlord’s actions put women in the position of being trapped with an abuser so they don’t lose their housing. [Chicago Tribune]
 
• Last November, a police officer in London, responding to the U.K.‘s version of a 911 call, left a woman in an apartment with a rapist without further inquiry. On Monday, Vitas Jalonis was found guilty of raping the 32-year-old victim. However, police officer Matthew Harris is now under investigation for responding to an emergency call from a neighbor who heard the victim screaming, but then taking Jalonis’ word for it when he answered the door and said everything was OK. Hours later, after the victim had been raped again, she called police herself and Jalonis was finally arrested. [BBC]

It’s hard not to like the Dalai Lama, especially since he’s a card-carrying feminist. According to a story on Double X, one of the Dalai Lama’s strongest memories was witnessing Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day in 1959, when 15,000 women gathered to peacefully protest China’s invasion of Tibet. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet shortly after and in his 50 years in exile has strongly supported women’s rights in a culture where women are supposed to be the “jewel of the home.”

One of the country’s largest feminist groups, National Organization for Women, has weighed in on the revelations that “Late Show” host David Letterman slept with several of his interns and assistants. In a statement released on Tuesday, NOW said:

“The latest Letterman controversy sheds new light on the widespread objectification of women in the workplace. Most women can attest to the fact that many workplaces are plagued with inappropriate behavior by men in power. As ‘the boss,’ he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace — and he did that with sex. In any work environment, this places all employees — including employees who happen to be women—in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation. The National Organization for Women calls on CBS to recognize that Letterman’s behavior creates a toxic environment and to take action immediately to rectify this situation. With just two women on CBS’ board of directors, we’re not holding our breath.”

Usually, I agree with NOW’s pro-women’s rights stance on lots of subjects—for what it’s worth, I was president of the NOW chapter at my college. But I only have one thing to say about the stink they’re making about Letterman’s employee-diddling:

Bitch, please.

Guess who AskMen.com readers voted the most influential man of 2009? Don Draper, who, technically, is a not a “real” man but a fictional character. Sure, I love me some hot Hamm every Sunday night, but, at the end of the torrid hour, I realize that “Mad Men” is just a television show and that Don Draper is just a caricature of a man struggling with his own demons, unwilling to face his problems head-on. So why are guys so obsessed with Don, to the point that they treat him as an actual person?

I got my first period in the sixth grade. When my mom took me to the grocery store to buy pads, I remember glaring at every man that crossed our path, thinking, “You don’t know what it’s like to be controlled by your body! You’re walking around all nonchalant in your Dockers, not a care in the world.” I was immediately and irrevocably pissed off that I had to bleed out of my vagina once a month for most of the rest of my life. But I also felt solidarity, holding my mom’s hand and browsing the maxi pads. I guess that’s why I’m not surprised that the Guardian ran a story this week about women who’ve started a new breed of feminism called “menstrual activism.” Menstrual activist activities range from crafty to political to comedic to environmental. Since a woman uses about 11,400 tampons in her life, lots of menstrual activism involves championing products that aren’t treated with bleach or pesticides, and that can be reused. But you aren’t so interested in that—you want to hear about women dressing up as tampons and wearing period blood lipstick, right? Oh, OK.

Last week, I was in line at the grocery store. I had just finished a hardcore workout at the gym and was starving, so I popped in to pick up a few things. Meanwhile, my Blackberry was going off … emails, questions, work to be done. My mom was calling. My friends were texting about plans for the evening. And most unfortunately, the old woman in front of me was hell-bent on saving $1 on six cans of chicken broth with an expired coupon. Of course the checkout girl wouldn’t let her use the coupon—she smacked her gum and rolled her eyes instead. The old woman persisted in broken English: “One dollar off chicken broth! It say one dollar off chicken broth!” This scene went on like a broken record until finally the checker had to leave her station and get the manager. This process took no less than 20 minutes and the line continued to multiply. The voice inside my head started screaming, until finally I blurted out, “There are other people waiting here! F**k the soup!” It was the F-bomb heard ‘round the grocery store. I immediately felt ashamed as I looked around at all the other seemingly calm shoppers. What happened to me? Why did I fly into a rage?

Have you been keeping up with how the media’s all atwitter over a tweet sent by blogger and entrepreneur Penelope Trunk? She wrote a very strange message on her Twitter, essentially telling the world that she was in a board meeting and was having a miscarriage. The response to this 140-character blurb has been extreme, even in the lady blogosphere:

Love him or hate him, Tucker Max is in your face. The author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, a debauched chronicling of his booze-fueled sexual hijinks which has spent the last four years on the The New York Times bestseller list and most recently been turned into a feature film, Max is the king of “fratire” and the enemy of feminist bloggers everywhere. His crude erotic tales through subterranean America are populated by midgets and strippers; generally, women do not fare well in the face of his f**k-‘em-and-dump-‘em M.O. Protesters have boycotted his movie and accused him of promoting “rape culture.” Good or bad, Tucker seems to relish the attention. In Tucker-esque fashion, one young woman bragged: “I Slept With Tucker Max, the Internet’s Biggest Asshat.” So, is Tucker Max for real? Or is he a savvy marketer plugged into what 21st century men really want? We talked to Max about his movie, his sex life, and his detractors. The recently released “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” isn’t faring well at the box office. That didn’t make him any less cocky.