Tag Archives: women news

How To Support Planned Parenthood In Light Of Susan G. Komen Halting Its Grants

Jessica WakemanFebruary 1, 2012 //

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has halted grants to Planned Parenthood. Read More »

Breast Cancer On Facebook

Is this new breast cancer meme totally stupid? Read More »

Celebs Who Beat Cancer

10 inspiring celebs who beat breast cancer. 11 Photos »

Yesterday, cancer survivors, their loved ones, and loved ones of those who succumbed to the disease, reeled to learn that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the charity synonymous with breast cancer research, halted grants to Planned Parenthood.

The charity caved to pressure from anti-abortion activists who have the nationwide clinics under investigation at the behest of an anti-abortion politician (more about that here). Another factor is surely the hiring of Komen’s senior VP for Public Policy, Karen Handel, an ex-politician who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2010 on an anti-abortion platform and was endorsed by Sarah Palin (more on that here).

Despite the fact Susan G. Komen’s grants to Planned Parenthood mainly were used for breast exams for women who otherwise could not afford them, anti-abortion groups have targeted those charitable donations because some Planned Parenthood clinics also perform abortions.

But enough about ideology trumping ethics. What are we going to do about it? Keep reading »

Caitlin Flanagan Addresses “Hysteria,” Says Teen Girls “Need More Protection”

Jessica WakemanFebruary 1, 2012 //

Mass Hysteria

Nine strange cases of mass hysteria! 9 Photos »

Teens And Vaccines

The HPV vaccine won't make teen girls more slutty, survey finds. Read More »

Teen DV On The Rise

Domestic violence by and against teenagers is on the rise. Read More »

Conservative lady-splainer Caitlin Flanagan is handwringing over the teen girls again. No, not only in her new book, Girl Land, which frets about “eighth-grade girls who know how to roll on condoms because they’ve learned that in school.” She’s also fretting in last weekend’s New York Times op-ed page regarding the teen girls in LeRoy, New York, who came down with Tourette’s-like symptoms like tics and barking. Flanagan, who writes for The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, tied it to other cases of female mass hysteria — emphasis on the word female here — including “the Salem witch trials” and “poltergeist hauntings.”

Her diagnosis of this hysterical outbreak? Teen girls “deserve more protection.” Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Susan G. Komen Cancer Charity Halts Grants To Planned Parenthood

Jessica WakemanJanuary 31, 2012 //

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the charity synonymous with breast cancer research, has halted grants to Planned Parenthood — seemingly caving to pressure from anti-abortion activists who have the nationwide clinics under investigation. Susan G. Komen grants mainly were used for breast exams (and other breast health services) for women who otherwise could not afford them. But anti-abortion groups have targeted those charitable donations because some Planned Parenthood clinics also perform abortions. A CEO of a Planned Parenthood in Virginia, which received a 2010 grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, told the AP, “We’re kind of reeling … cancer doesn’t care if you’re pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative.” [Washington Post]
Meet Ava Duvernay, the first black woman to win the best director prize at Sundance for her film “Middle of Nowhere.” [ColorLines]
Ladybloggers: we have oh-so-many feelings. [n+1]
Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Three Canadians Convicted Of So-Called “Honor Killings”

Jessica WakemanJanuary 30, 2012 //

Three Afghan-Canadians have been convicted of murdering three teenaged girls and their dad’s first wife in so-called “honor killings.” Two of the daughters were reportedly killed because they wanted boyfriends against their fathers’ wishes; the father also said his daughters dressed in Western clothes. The eldest daughter at one point left home to live in a shelter because of abuse at home, which is reportedly when their father, brother and mother decided to kill the four women. What a terribly sad story. I am heartened, at least, to see the killers punished. [BBC]
GOP presidential wannabe Mitt Romney has trashed President Obama’s recent decision requiring religiously affiliated employers to offer birth control coverage in their health plans — despite the fact he made a similar decision himself as governor of Massachusetts. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Afghan Woman Reportedly Killed For Bearing Baby Girl

Jessica WakemanJanuary 30, 2012 //

Victims Of Abuse

NGOs speculate 90 percent of Afghan women are victims of abuse. Read More »

Girls Run The World?

Not so much, Beyonce. Read More »

Pink Stinks For Toys

Some parents are upset their little girls are given pink toys. Read More »

Frisky Feminism!

Everything The Frisky has ever written about feminism! Read More »

Today in News That Makes You Want To Crawl Back Under The Covers: police in Afghanistan say a woman was reportedly strangled to death by her husband because she gave birth to a baby girl. The husband reportedly warned his 22-year-old wife after she gave birth to their first daughter that he’d kill her if she did it again. The husband fled his home last week around the same time a neighbor found the wife’s body in their house; he has not been found, but his mother has been taken into custody for allegedly helping him plot how to kill her. This alleged murder is just another example of the ways women are still horrifically abused and killed in Afghanistan to this day. [CBS News]

Today’s Lady News: British Plastic Surgeons Say Advertising Their Procedures Should Be Banned

Jessica WakemanJanuary 27, 2012 //

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, a society of plastic surgeons, says what they perform are medical procedures and the procedures should not be advertised the same way clothing or cosmetics are. BAAPS also asked that annual checks be carried out on surgeons. The group said it is concerned by the increasing attitude that just anyone can perform plastic surgery, even people without a license, and believe that advertising and makeover TV shows are only furthering that reputation. Interesting. [BBC]
Chart time! Abortion rates are lower in areas of the world where abortion laws are more liberal, according to the medical journal The Lancet. [Ms. Magazine]
A judge tried to force sterilization and an abortion on a schizophrenic woman in Massachusetts. [Boston Globe]
Jezebel founder Anna Holmes has a great op-ed in the Washington Post about how female anger is dismissed. [Washington Post] Keep reading »

New Hampshire Considering Reversal Of Domestic Violence Laws

Jessica WakemanJanuary 27, 2012 //

Why Victims Stay

Should we ask victims of domestic violence why they stay? Read More »

Teen DV On The Rise

Domestic violence by and against teenagers is on the rise. Read More »

WTF, Topeka?

Topeka, Kansas, decriminalized domestic violence. Read More »

Oh, New Hampshire. There you go, sitting around thinking, You know what we don’t have enough of? Wife beatings!

Clearly that’s the only explanation for a piece of legislation proposed by state Republicans. According to the Concord Monitor newspaper, House Bill 1581 sought to require police officers to obtain a warrant in a domestic violence case unless they witnessed the crime themselves.

So if Jane called 911 because Bob punched her in the face? (Or Bob called 911 because Jane punched him in the face?) The cops could see the blood or bruises, but would have needed a warrant for arrest. Keep reading »

North Carolina Politician Calls For Public Hanging Of Abortion Providers

Jessica WakemanJanuary 27, 2012 //

Obama On Abortion

Read the president's statement about Roe Vs. Wade's 39th anniversary. Read More »

Abortion Rights

All of The Frisky's posts about reproductive rights. Read More »

Frisky Feminism!

Everything The Frisky has ever written about feminism! Read More »

A North Carolina politician sent an email to all his colleagues calling for “public hangings” of abortion providers as a deterrent. Republican Rep. Larry Pittman wrote in an email:

“We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner. If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.”

This is all kinds of crazy that I don’t even know where to start. Comparing abortion providers — a safe, legal, at times life-saving medical practice — to murderers, rapists and kidnappers? Suggesting public hangings as a cost-saving measure? Hell, why not go whole hog and whip out the guillotine? Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: NYPD Commissioner’s Son Greg Kelly Accused Of Sexual Assault

Jessica WakemanJanuary 26, 2012 //

Greg Kelly, the host of “Good Day New York,” a morning news show in New York City, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in October. Kelly is the son of New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly. [Huffington Post]
After President Obama declared January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month, YourTango spoke with a sex trafficking victim who was drugged, beaten and forced to film porn against her will. [YourTango]
The brilliant E.J. Graff on Cynthia Nixon’s claim that she chose to be gay after years of heterosexual relationships and the “masculinity patrol.” [American Prospect]
Meanwhile, GOP presidential wannabe Sen. Rick Santorum says homosexuality is “not healthy” for society. Being a bigot apparently still is. [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Rep. Gabby Giffords Resigns From Congress

Jessica WakemanJanuary 25, 2012 //

One year following a gunshot wound to the head, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) formally resigned from Congress today. Her friend Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz tearfully read a letter aloud to their legislator peers in which Giffords vowed to come back after her recuperation. It looks like there wasn’t a dry eye in the House. (And it wouldn’t be a tearjerker moment without House Speaker John Boehner crying, too.) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said of Giffords, “She has brought the word ‘dignity’ to new heights by her courage.” [CNN, Politico]
No fetus-eating for you! An Oklahoma legislator has introduced a bill to the state senate to ban the consumption of human fetuses. You know what they say: first abortion is legal, then the feminists are eating babies. [Jezebel]
Navy SEALs rescued aid worker Jessica Buchanan, 32, yesterday, who was kidnapped on October 25 at a refugee camp in Somalia where she worked as a Christian aid worker. Jessica’s Danish colleague Poul Hagen Thisted was also rescued during the raid. [Newser]
Keep reading »