Tag Archives: women news

Rep. Michele Bachmann Urges “Spiritual Warfare” Against Marriage Equality, Reproductive Rights

Jessica WakemanMay 14, 2013 //

Katelyn Campbell just said no to her school's abstinence-only sex ed. Read More »

No "Feminist" Blog

Beliefnet wouldn't use the word "feminist" on a blog. Read More »

Nutso Religious Graphic

Your slutty behavior is killing flowers (or something?). Read More »

Rep. Michele Bachmann is urging Christians to engage in “spiritual warfare” to put their religious values in government, like banning marriage equality and criminalizing abortion. Scary, scary stuff. [Raw Story]
In related I’m-moving-to-Canada news, North Carolina’s state Senate has advanced a bill that erroneously lists abortion as a cause of premature birth. Although the medical community vehemently disagrees, abortion opponents frequently claim that abortion causes breast cancer or makes it difficult for women to have children in the future. The NC bill includes abortion as a cause of “preterm birth” up there with drug use lack of prenatal care. [RH Reality Check]
On Planned Parenthood and the real lessons of the Kermit Gosnell case. [The Daily Beast]
“Elementary” actress Lucy Liu on the limits placed on her for being an Asian actress in Hollywood. [xoJane]
On the inappropriate comments being made about Angelina Jolie losing her natural breasts to a double mastectomy, which she chose to have to prevent breast cancer. [Slate] Keep reading »

Kermit Gosnell, Late Term Abortion Provider, Found Guilty Of Three Counts Of Murder

Jessica WakemanMay 14, 2013 //

Generation Roe

Q&A with Sarah Erdreich, author of the book "Generation Roe." Read More »

My Abortion

This author says her abortion was the best decision of her life. Read More »

Our Favorite Republican

... says male legislators "shouldn't even vote" on abortion bills. Read More »

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia doctor whose clinic gained attention for his criminal performance of late-term abortions, was found guilty yesterday of three counts of first-degree murder. He had been accused of killing four babies and one woman, but was found guilty of only three of the babies’ deaths.

Gosnell, 72, operated an illegally-run clinic in Philly that provided late-term abortions to low-income women. He was accused of killing live babies after delivery with scissors, as opposed to terminating the pregnancies during standard late-term abortion procedure. Gosnell’s case became a lightening rod for anti-abortion activists who attempted to paint Gosnell as the standard in abortion care. Similarly, abortion rights supporters underscored the reason abortion needs to be safe and legal is to keep patients safe from doctors like him. Keep reading »

Could Turkey Get A Brothel Filled With Men?!

Jessica WakemanMay 14, 2013 //

Zurich's Sex Boxes

Zurich, Switzerland, has created drive-in sex boxes for prostitutes. Read More »

Military Trafficking

The military's dirty human trafficking secret. Read More »

Decriminalize Condoms

Bill introduced in New York State to decriminalize condom possession. Read More »

A brothel filled with men for female customers? We’re listening … It turns out the call comes from an anti-poverty group in Turkey demanding that legal, state-run brothels practice gender equality. The campaigners from Sefkat Der accuse the Turkish government of condoning “sex slavery,” and as a ploy to fight prostitution in general, are daring them to open a brothel that caters to women. After all, the brothels filled with women get over 5,000 male customers a day. “They say men need sex and they need to go to brothels. But on the other hand, they are not accepting the principles of gender equality,’” said one of the campaigners. Keep reading »

Cab Driver Allegedly Rapes Sleeping Woman, Returns Lost Wallet, Wants A Cookie

Jessica WakemanMay 13, 2013 //

A New Orleans cab driver would much prefer that you focus on the fact he returned a man’s lost wallet and didn’t accept the reward and not that he covered the in-cab surveillance camera and allegedly raped a woman sleeping in the back of his taxi. [Jezebel]
Surprise! White men make up the majority of evening cable news hosts. [Media Matters For America]
California’s state Assembly has advanced a bill that will protect trans students who use bathrooms based on their gender identity, not their physical sex. [Los Angeles Times]
What are Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s thoughts on the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision that effectively legalized abortion in America? [Politico] Keep reading »

15-Year-Old Boy Arrested For Acid Attack Against London Woman

Jessica WakemanMay 13, 2013 //

Remarrying Abuser

Bangladesh woman forced to remarry husband after acid attack. Read More »

"Hurl Some Acid"

A Republican campaign spokesman suggesting an acid attack. Read More »

India's New Rape Laws

India now could have the death penalty for rape. Read More »

Last month a 28-year-old woman answered the door of her East London home to have a bottle of acid squirted in her face and on the pet chihuahua in her arms. She shut the door and rinsed her face with water, but her face has still been been permanently scarred by the acid; her dog also had to be treated for injuries. This weekend, police finally arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the incident. As of right now, people do not have an explanation for why a teen boy would have executed the attack. Keep reading »

Minnesota’s Rep. Peggy Scott Says “My Heart Breaks” Over Marriage Equality Win

Jessica WakemanMay 10, 2013 //

Minnesota’s state House has advanced a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage … [Feminist.org]
… which has one Minnesota Republican named Rep. Peggy Scott very upset. “My heart breaks for Minnesota,” she said. Deal with it. [Raw Story]
Microsoft has named Amy Hood as its first-ever female CFO. [The Daily Beast]
Here’s how to participate in a national call-in for Kiera Wilmot, the teen girl in Florida who was expelled, arrested and charged with a felony all for a science project gone wrong. [Crunk Feminist Collective]
ABC News producer Dawn Ennis has come out to her colleagues as transgender, asking now to be referred to as “Dawn” instead of “Don,” and henceforth dressing in her gender at the office. [Cosmopolitan] Keep reading »

North Carolina Pols Actually Thought Requiring Parental Consent For STD Testing Was A Good Idea

Jessica WakemanMay 9, 2013 //

Vaginal Probe Ad

NC candidate co-stars with vaginal probe in new campaign ad. Read More »

NC Vaginal Probe

North Carolina's ultrasound-before-abortion law challenged. Read More »

Abortion Provider Death Threats

NC politician calls for public hanging of abortion providers. Read More »

terrible idea!

Thank God somebody in North Carolina’s state legislature has some sense: the Health and Human Services Committee has pulled a bill that would require teens get parental consent for STD testing and treatment, as well as other healthcare. The Republican-controlled committee had advanced the bill on Tuesday, to an explosion of WTF ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? on the Internet.

The bill would have required teens to get notarized parental consent for STD testing and treatment, pregnancy care, mental health counseling, or substance abuse treatment. Anyone with half a brain would know that teenagers don’t want to talk with dear old Mommy and Daddy about weird stuff going on in their genitals, their cutting problem, or their dependency on popping pills. But North Carolina Republicans? Apparently they don’t understand basic human psychology. Keep reading »

Identical Twins Kirstie & Kristie Bronner Are Co-Valedictorians Of Spelman

Jessica WakemanMay 9, 2013 //

2 sets of twins

One woman gave birth to two sets of identical twins at once. Read More »

Twin Telepathy

Tamera Mowry experienced once of Tia's pregnancy contractions. Read More »

Mitt's Commencement

Mitt Romney urges 2013 college grads to get married and have kids. Read More »

congratulations, ladies

Here’s a hard sister act to follow: identical twins Kirstie and Kristie Bronner (yes, those are their names) have been named co-valedictorians of Spelman College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, Georgia. See, Kirstie had a 4.0 GPA and her twin sister Kristie also had a 4.0 GPA, so the school appointed them both to the highest academic honor. Both sisters were music majors and plan to record a gospel album together; after graduation, they want to work for their father, who is a minister. They’re also planning to write a book on how to achieve academically — a subject they both know well. The young women said they exercised intense self-discipline, only socializing on the weekends. “We maximized our study time,” said Kirstie. “People would ask us ‘do you want to go do this or that on a weekday’ and the response was an automatic ‘no.’ We saved recreation for the weekend. Our philosophy was and is, pay now and play later.” The twins will be honored this Sunday at Spelman’s 126th commencement. [News One; Patch]

SlutWalk Protest Gets Student Teacher Theresa Illgen Removed From Job

Jessica WakemanMay 9, 2013 //

What Are SlutWalks?

SlutWalks are sexually empowering for women! Read More »

Origins Of Slutwalk

The Slutwalk origin story comes to us via Toronto, Canada. Read More »

Be Sex Positive!

Eight ways to be positive you're sex positive. Read More »

Theresa Illgen, 23, a student teacher, was asked not to return to the high school where she was teaching after she participated in a SlutWalk protest on the New Mexico State University campus and had a picture of herself wearing a bra on the front page of the local newspaper. Illgen is the president of a student feminist group and marched in the protest with tons of other students. [Las Cruces Sun-News]
An abortion provider reflects on motherhood and her own abortion. [Raw Story]
A Change.org petition asking Disney not to give Princess Merida from “Brave” a sexy makeover has garnered over 30,000 signatures. [Change.org]
On how “The Great Gatsby” movie gets fashion and feminism wrong. [Collectors Weekly] Keep reading »

Lawyer Wants Age Of Consent Lowered To 13 To Stop “Persecution Of Old Men”

Jessica WakemanMay 9, 2013 //

On Consent

Jessica explores a sexual experience that wasn't totally consensual. Read More »

Statutory Rape Suicide

14-year-old commits suicide when IDed after statutory rape. Read More »

Teach Boys Not To Rape

On Steubenville High School and teaching boys not to rape. Read More »

what?!

Yup, you read that headline right: a British lawyer has called for the age of consent to be lowered to 13 because a dirty old man touching 8th graders’ boobs should be totally OK.

London lawyer Barbara Hewson penned an impassioned piece for a contrarian British publication called Spiked in which she wrote about the Jimmy Savile trial, or Operation Yewtree. Simply put, Yewtree investigated multiple allegations that a late British TV host had sexually abused many, many underage girls and boys. The whole trial has reignited concerns in the UK about adult sexual abuse of children and young adults

But now Hewson — A WOMAN!— is concerned that the UK is conducting its own witch hunt, falsely accusing adult men of being sexual predators. ”[T]he goings-on at the BBC in past decades are not a patch on what Stead exposed. Taking girls to one’s dressing room, bottom pinching and groping in cars hardly rank in the annals of depravity with flogging and rape in padded rooms,” she wites. “Touching a 17-year-old’s breast, kissing a 13-year-old, or putting one’s hand up a 16-year-old’s skirt, are not remotely comparable” to rape or gang rapes. And since that’s supposedly the only really bad way a young woman can be violated, she now advocates that they “remove complainant anonymity; introduce a strict statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions and civil actions; and reduce the age of consent to 13.” Keep reading »