Monday, January 20, 2003
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Good News!
Thousands Take Anti-War Message to the Streets!

Photo of January 18, 2003 San Francisco march from www.antiwar.com.

Jessica Lange in Washington, D.C. March:
"The path this administration is on is wrong and we object. It is an immoral war they are planning and we must not be silenced...All this talk of war, all this rhetoric has been an excellent cover, an excellent camouflage, to turn back the clock on civil rights, on woman's rights, on social justice and on environmental policies."

300,000-500,000 in Washington D.C.

100-350,000 in San Francisco

Remembering the words of Martin Luther King:

"Keep moving! Let nothing slow you up. Move on with dignity and honor and respectability."

From Birmingham Jail, 1963:
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was well-timed in the view of those who have not suffered...For years now I have heard the word, "Wait." It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait!" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied... "Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands."

Martin Luther King In His Own Words
A moving tribute with photos by Truthout

Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
King Documents, Quotes and Audio Clips

There's Something Happening Here
William Rivers Pitt for Truthout Exults in Anti-War Protests Worldwide

More News

How to Destroy a Woman's Life
Renald Cote of Magog, Quebec, has been convicted of sexually assaulting his daughter over 17 years, including when she was in the hospital, dying of ovarian cancer. His sons are also charged with sex-related crimes against their sister.

Sexual Harrassment Case Could Make It Harder for Women to Sue for Sexual Harrassment

Feminists for Life Groups Seek to Change Terms of Abortion Debate

British Women Losing Equal Pay Battle
The gap between men and women's pay widened in 2002, despite a number of initiatives aimed at greater equality.

Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project Seeks to Free Battered Women Who Killed Their Partners

Lesbian and Single-Mother Families Still Face Battles
Single women and lesbians who want to become parents and form families still face significant social, financial and legal hurdles. Adoption laws, insurance exceptions and expensive procedures make achieving pregnancy exceptionally difficult.

Monday, January 13, 2003

Randall Terry Broke, House, Property Seized

Spend a Night in Jail to Defend Privacy of Rape Victims

Sunday, January 5, 2003

Edward Paul Morris, Accused of Killing Renee Morris and
Their Three Children, Captured in Oregon

More about the Murders of Renee Morris and the Morris Children

Morris Used the Name "Jim Elliott"

Family Slayings Connect Three Oregon Fathers

All Three Fathers Were Conservative Christians

Renee Morris and Her Children

Man Arrested in Execution Style Murders of
Wife and Daughters on Christmas Eve
In July, Ernest Wholaver's daughters had accused him of incest. He had been freed and ordered to have no contact with them.
Wholaver's brother has also been arrested in the murders.

More news on Wholaver's arrest

Bush Administration Title IX Recommendations Will Hurt Women
Bush administration's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics will issue recommendations that will widen the still-sizable gap between men's and women's collegiate sports programs according to women's rights advocates.

Equality in the Workplace: How Flexible Working Hours Would Benefit Working Mothers

Passed On

Former Chief Justice Barbara Durham Blazed Trail for Women in Law
In her 26 years on the bench, Judge Durham was a staunch advocate for victims of domestic violence and once wrote the majority opinion that allowed a self-defense claim by an abused child who shot his stepfather.

Monday, December 30, 2002

Women of the Year -- Cynthia Cooper, Sherron Watkins, Colleen Rowley
I love this shot of the three women whistleblowers who were named "Women of the Year" by Time Magazine and the article is good, too. It struck me that of the three women, two are the wage earners in their families and their male partners are stay-at-home dads; this means the risks they took in blowing the whistle on Enron, the FBI, and WorldCom, were personally pretty significant for them.
http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2002/

2002 -- The Good, the Bad and the Worst
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14794

Clergy Sex Abuse-- Why Don't Women Come Forward?
A.W. Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former priest who has written extensively on clergy sex abuse, says he believes that, among young children and early adolescents, boys are twice as likely as girls to be victimized by priests. But Sipe found that the numbers change dramatically among late adolescents and adults, with woman victims outnumbering males 4 to 1.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/361/metro/Women_face_stigma_of_clergy_abuse+.shtml

Sexual violence 'is strategy for brutalising women'
A visiting group of feminists to Gujarat have raised the issue of the use of systematic rape and sexual violence as a strategy for brutalising women in conflict situations, whether in Bangladesh in 1971, Rwanda, Bosnia, Algeria or Gujarat.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=71803

Tuesday, December 16, 2002

As discouraging as the news has been lately, it seems to me something encouraging is in the air. Last week, extremely conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who rarely speaks during oral arguments, said a flaming cross symbolizes a "reign of terror against blacks" and condemned it for its terrifying link to "100 years of lynchings in the South" as the high court considered whether the practice is a form of free speech protected by the Constitution. And while Trent Lott's recent words were inexcusable and infuriating -- Lott recently told long-time racist and segregationist Strom Thurmond that the nation would be better off had Thurmond been elected President in 1948 -- I was heartened to read conservative black journalist Thomas Sowell's fairly strong condemnation. Maybe the Right has pushed things too far at last. Maybe this is a bend in the road. One can always hope?

NOW President Says Trent Lott is Unfit to Lead Senate
December 12, 2002 "Sen. Trent Lott's racist and sexist comments are outrageous and his apology is insufficient," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "The latest revelations offer ample evidence that Lott is unfit to assume a leadership role in the Senate. He should step down as a candidate for Senate majority leader or the Republicans must select someone who appreciates the progress made in this country over the last 50 years."

Women's Rights Advocates Decry Bush's Family Leave Decision December 9, 2002 by NOW Staff In what feminists called an attack on family well-being, the Bush administration announced last week that it will repeal a Clinton-era regulation that allows states to use unemployment insurance to help people who take parental leave from work to have babies or adopt children. The decision will stop legislative efforts in as many as 16 states to put the Department of Labor rule into effect, making unemployment compensation available to working parents who take time off to care for a new addition to the family.

Pornography Bust in Vancouver (Note: this courtesy link is NOT safe to click on from work!)
Police announced Tuesday that they have made what could be the biggest pornography bust in Vancouver and possibly even the country. Police seized about 100 computers and thousands of videos, CDs and files when they raided the offices and studios of a couple of local businesses in the porn industry after a year-long investigation. "This is a major organization that we've taken down," says Sgt. Doug Lang of the Vancouver Vice Unit. The companies raided were Sweet Entertainment Group, a local porn studio, and Diverse Talents, a talent agency that supplies models for porn manufacturers. Police allege the porn companies went beyond the legal limits in some of the porn produced. They say the material crossed the line, degrading and victimizing women. Lang says the material police seized was beyond obscene. "We're not talking about Playboy magazine here. We're talking about victimizing people," he says.

Sweet Entertainment Group set up shop four years ago and now feeds material to hundreds of Web sites around the world. Police believe is one of the major internet pornography producers in Canada, and quite possibly around the world. "You can see the magnitude of it. It's worldwide," Lang says. "This is a significant investigation and it will have a significant impact -- to some degree -- on pornography as it's distributed through Canada and the United States. Not to say there won't be other organizations to fill in. It's a bit like shovelling water, if you will."

Sweet Entertainment's material appears on hundreds of websites, and rakes in millions of dollars. Lang says some of the material police seized from the studio was almost "inhumane." One victim who has stepped forward says she was raped, beaten and degraded by a man at the porn studio during taping. Police are urging other victims to contact them. Sweet Entertainment officials were not available for comment. Four people are facing charges of making or publishing obscene matter. They could face up to two years in jail.

Kathy Bates to Appear Nude in New Movie
Kathy Bates would shudder at the idea of herself as a crusader for the rights of full-bodied women. Nonetheless, her nude scene in the forthcoming "About Schmidt" will surely pave the way for large actresses to feel OK about shedding their clothes onscreen. "We're so body-conscious in this country that it's a shame, really," Bates told us. "I think we live with very unrealistic expectations of what we should look like." The buzz has Jack Nicholson in line for an Oscar nomination as Schmidt, an emotionally numb widower. But Bates steals the movie as an aging hippie who takes a shine to Schmidt. If justice prevails, Bates, an Oscar winner for "Misery," will be up for best supporting actress in March. The ease with which she finesses the nude scene is alone worth recognition. To Schmidt's surprise, this woman, whom he barely knows, disrobes and hops into a hot tub with him. Before agreeing to the scene, Bates said she hashed out with director Alexander Payne exactly what part of her anatomy would be shown and what wouldn't. "I battled to make myself comfortable, and he battled to get what he wanted. We met in the middle." To avoid gawkers, a skeleton crew was used to shoot the scene. "I drank a cosmopolitan before I got in that tub, to relax just enough." Bates is pleased with the results. "I'm as self-conscious as anybody, which is why I wanted to make sure what we shot was something I was comfortable with. "

Monday, December 9, 2002

Chinese women losing the fight for jobs
Gender bias was once masked due to the equal distribution system, but now the fight for opportunities makes it obvious
BEIJING - Chinese women, used to decades of socialist planning when jobs were assigned rather than attained, now find themselves at the losing end of the free market competition. Men are favoured over women in almost all professional fields, even if the candidates are equally qualified, a survey done by the All China Women's Federation has discovered.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,159401,00.html?

Shelter squeeze shuts out women; Agencies appeal for funding boost
A lack of funding at emergency shelters is forcing growing numbers of women across the province back into abusive relationships, say organizations that deal with domestic violence. Social services experts say the continued space shortage, coupled with rising housing costs, is putting these women in dangerous situations where their lives, and the lives of their children, are at risk.
http://www.canada.com/calgary/story.asp?id={63EE1916-C13F-449A-8E81-CC9FDF2A6260}

Canadian Judge Approves Same-Sex Benefits
A nationwide class-action lawsuit can proceed on behalf of homosexuals denied survivor pension benefits from the government after their partners died, a judge ruled Friday. Ontario Superior Court Justice Maurice Cullity said a 2,000-member British Columbia class-action lawsuit can join a similar lawsuit representing about 8,000 people across the country.
http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=17199176&template=womansglobe/indexsearch.txt&index=recent

Only five women make list of 100 most important Britons
The survey by The Economist examines the top jobs in politics, business, academia, the professions, sport and the arts. It follows similar polls in 1972 and 1992.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=359264

Harvard Sued for New Sexual Assault Policy
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WOMENSENEWS)--Safe Community Night is a well-established tradition each fall at Harvard. Freshmen file through a large room to learn the intricacies of registering their bikes, locking up their laptops and dealing with the annoyance of lost or stolen cell phones. Most years, the portion of the evening devoted to "how to prevent rape" centers on advising female students not to get too drunk and to avoid wearing overly revealing clothes.

But with a controversial new sexual assault policy in place at Harvard, young women at the nation's oldest university have something else to worry about. In a surprise move, the faculty of Harvard College voted unanimously late last spring to require students bringing sexual assault charges to the school's disciplinary board to provide "sufficient corroborating evidence" of misconduct before the board will investigate.
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1137/context/cover/

Landrieu Wins Lousiana Race for Dems, Choice
After what was a disappointing midterm election year for Democrats, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) gave her party something to cheer about in her contested Senate runoff election. Saturday, she defeated Suzanne Terrell by a slim margin, turning back a strong challenge from a Republican candidate backed by the popular President Bush and holding at bay the Republican Party's ascendancy in the South.
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1134

The Rise of the American Police State
Check out this three-part series by Jennifer Van Bergen for Truthout.
http://truthout.com/docs_02/12.03B.jvb.hsa.1.htm

Monday, November 18, 2002

Woman Kills Father After Years of Sexual Abuse
Here is an article about a woman who killed her father after years of his sexual abuse and after finding him touching the vagina of her infant daughter. When she confronted him, he said he would report to authorities that she was an unfit mother so that she would lose her children. I have always been nonviolent and a pacifist; nevertheless, my sympathies are with this woman. What was she supposed to do?

Feminists Protest Masters
Feminists are making plans to protest outside next year's Masters tournament - as club members yesterday released a poll they say shows the public backs their no-woman policy

November 11-17, 2002

Thirty Years of Title IX
Veteran Feminists of America is sponsoring a conference to "celebrate and evaluate" Title IX this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland.

NYLAG Leads Charge in Support of Children of Domestic Violence Victims
The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), an organization that provides free legal services to low income New Yorkers, led a coalition of organizations in filing an amicus brief supporting the class action lawsuit currently being brought against New York City’s Administration of Children’s Services (ACS). The lawsuit, filed by Lansner & Kubitschek and Sanctuary for Families Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services on behalf of several plaintiffs, charges ACS with bringing neglect cases against battered mothers and placing the children of these victims of domestic violence into foster care.

Four Former Symbionese Liberation Army Members Plead Guilty
Four graying, middle-aged former members of the Symbionese Liberation Army pleaded guilty to the killing of a bank customer to escape a time warp that has trapped them for a quarter-century, they and their attorneys said. Montague, William Harris, Michael Bortin and Sara Jane Olson pleaded guilty to murder Thursday in the shotgun slaying of Myrna Opsahl on April 21, 1975, during a robbery of the Crocker National Bank in suburban Sacramento.

Thursday, November 7, 2002

White House 'Bonesman' Leads Nation into the Dark
Alexandra Robbins good editorial on how Bush is turning the government into a secret society

Extreme Eating Disorders: Beyond Anorexia and Bulimia
A horrifying syndrome is worse now than it ever was.

Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Bangkok: Women Saving Women from the Sex Trade
To stem the flow of young women into the urban sex industry, a group of Catholic nuns have set up a scheme in Nong Khai to pass on all manner of skills, from embroidery and pottery-making to weaving fabric and growing mushrooms

Feminist Pro-Choice Groups Pull Out All Stops to Protect Senate
With a staunch anti-choice president and a House that is likely to stay anti-choice as well, pro-choice groups are spending big in close races to ensure that abortion rights supporters keep a foothold in the national government.


Still in Doubt, Fight for Senate Grows Feverish
State polls showing that more than half a dozen Senate seats were still within either party's grasp prompted Republicans and Democrats today to intensify their feverish campaigns for control of the chamber.

Monday, November 4, 2002

Women on Ballot for Governor in Nine U.S. States
While the 2002 elections don't look to be a watershed, like the so-called Year of the Woman in 1992, when 42 women were elected to Congress, women's groups are looking forward to next Tuesday.


The Second Arab Women Summit opened in Amman yesterday with calls to empower women, and establish an Arab organisation to cater for their needs.

Domestic abuse groups dispute status of claims by men
"Once a year, Massachusetts advocates for battered women gather in the October chill to hold white placards bearing the names of those killed by spouses or former lovers. This year, for the first time, three of the names belonged to men. The men's deaths come at time when both gay and heterosexual groups are raising concern nationally about the plight of battered men."

Sunday, November 3, 2002

Tell us something we didn't know! Economy Continues to Lag; Jobless Rate Climbs
"I have never seen the business community this hunkered down," said James Glassman, senior economist at J. P. Morgan. "The business community is running the tightest ship I have ever seen."

Washington Court Treats Lesbian Breakup as Divorce
A Yakima County Superior Court judge has ruled that two women ending a 10-year relationship must divide their assets equally, a decision that amounts to a divorce in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage. Judge Heather Van Nuys said the relationship between Yakima physician Julia Robertson and Seattle nurse Linda Gormley was "sufficiently marriagelike to provide equitable relief." Gormley considered the ruling a personal victory and a major accomplishment for same-sex couples everywhere.

New Hope, New Music: Here's a great article about what's going on with Melissa Etheridge these days
This is on the news page because Melissa is my all-time favorite musician. Heh.

Saturday, November 2, 2002

Gloria Steinem This Morning on Alternet: Will Sex Ever Make Us As Smart As Race?
"I will go to my grave believing that one day, sex will make us as self-respecting and smart in our political behavior, as devoted to our own longterm empowerment and enlightened self-interest, as does race. There will come a time when we take prejudice that affects only females as seriously as we do race, class and other biases that also affect males."

Afghan Supreme Court Dismisses Woman Judge for Meeting with President Bush Unveiled
The Afghan Supreme Court has dismissed a female judge for not wearing an Islamic headscarf during a meeting with President Bush and his wife last month.

Members of the UN Security Council issued a strong statement to the international community today recognizing the vital role of women in promoting peace, and calling for an increased use of women’s expertise in conflict resolution and all stages of peacemaking and peacebuilding.

Bahraini women failed to win seats in the Gulf Arab state's parliament after being allowed to take part for the first time in national elections as part of democratic reforms, final results showed on Friday.


Friday, November 1, 2002

Well, this is a little different! Barnard College has had annual feminist conferences for decades, going back to the early days of the Second Wave. This year, together with the Institute for American Values, it hosted a what was billed as a "Major Conference on Feminism and Motherhood." The conference was called "Maternal Feminism: Lessons for a 21st Century Motherhood Movement." Speakers/Moderators included NOW President Kim Gandy, Authors Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Ann Crittenden, Jean Bethke Elshtain and Peggy O'Mara, Editor of Mothering Magazine.

Here is a great article about the passing of Ramona Sawyer Barth at 91. Described as a "free spirit," and "one of a kind", she had always described herself as a "minister's wife," as well as an as author, feminist, and historian. Barth joined NOW shortly after its founding in 1966 and represented NOW on television on at least one occasion. "On the program she said that women's advances toward equality in business, the professions, and education amounted to tokenism. What NOW was seeking, the mother of five said, was nothing short of 'a new lifestyle for women, a better relationship equal to men in our society'...'Marriage just doesn't fit our needs anymore. I don't hold God, the flag, apple pie, or motherhood as sacred.' ...Ms. Barth, who sometimes wore a large, carved-wooden female figurine around her neck, once arranged a demonstration she called 'Why We Burn: a Feminist Exercise in Exorcism,' in which passages that she found denigrating to women in the Bible and the Koran were burned.

Yesterday's News

Thursday, October 31, 2002

"That was the essence of Sheila Wellstone"-- The Wellstones and Domestic Violence
Several years ago I sat with Sheila Wellstone and one of her staff members at a table in her Washington office while a reporter interviewed her about her role in the current domestic violence legislation Paul was developing. In the interview Sheila mentioned that one in four women has at least one incident of domestic violence in her lifetime. After the interview the reporter quietly told Sheila that she was the one in four at the table. Sheila spent the next 20 minutes talking with her personally and giving her support, resources and encouragement.
That was the essence of Sheila Wellstone.

Bahrainis Vote Again, Women Among Candidates
Bahrainis voted in their first parliament in 30 years on Thursday in a second round of elections set to consolidate democratic reforms in the Gulf Arab state.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Wellstone Memorial Turns Into Footstomping Rally

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Was Paul Wellstone Murdered?
Paul Wellstone was the only progressive in the U.S. Senate. Mother Jones magazine once described him as, "The first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. senate." He was also the last. Since defeating incumbent Republican Rudy Boschowitz 12 years ago in a grassroots upset, Wellstone emerged as the strongest, most persistent, most articulate and most vocal Senate opponent of the Bush administration

Dispatches from the Peace Movement
The tens of thousands of people who showed up at Saturday's demonstration in San Francisco left no doubt about it: there IS a peace movement.

Monday, October 28, 2002

Paul Wellstone, Wife, Daughter Dead in Plane Crash
Passionate voice for justice and peace silenced at 56.

Special Report on How the Bush Budget Shortchanges Women (prepared by the Democrats)

Here's the link to a great new article, "You are what you eat:
The pervasive porn industry and what it says about you and your desires",
by Robert Jensen, one of the authors of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality. The article was published in the most recent issue of Clamor Magazine. From the article:

"So, let me put this in the first person: I was born in the United States in 1958, the post-Playboy generation. I was taught a very specific sexual grammar, which Catharine MacKinnon has succinctly summarized: “Man fucks woman; subject verb object.” In the world in which I learned about sex, sex was the acquisition of pleasure by the taking of women. In the locker room, the question was not, “Did you and your girlfriend find a way to feel passionate and close last night?” but “Did you get any last night?” What does one get? One gets “a piece of ass.” What kind of relationship can one have to a piece of ass? Subject, verb, object.

Now, maybe I had an idiosyncratic upbringing. Maybe the sex education I got -- on the street, in pornography -- was different than what most men learn. Maybe what I was taught about being a man -- on the street, in the locker room -- was an aberration. But I have spent a lot of time talking to men about this, and I don’t think so.

My approach to all this is simple: Masculinity is a bad idea, for everyone, and it’s time to get rid of it. Not reform it, but eliminate it."
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Fit California Moms Losing Custody to Abusive Fathers
Studies in California and elsewhere have demonstrated what mothers know-- that if they tell the Courts their children's father abuses them, the Courts, more often than not, will punish them by giving full custody to the perpetrator fathers.

ovember 19, 2002

Wondering About Allegiances to Women

Has anybody been following the disciplinary hearings of Judge Maria Lopez in Boston? This is one of those situations in which you begin to wonder whether it might be time to reconsider your commitment, as a feminist woman, to unequivocally placing your confidence in women.

The controversy began when Lopez sentenced a 22-year-old transsexual, Charles "Ebony" Johnson, to probation instead of prison for the kidnapping and sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy. Johnson admitted placing a screwdriver to the boy's neck and demanding oral sex. Judge Lopez defended her decision not to sentence Johnson to prison only by saying this was a "low level offense," and blamed Prosecutor Leora Joseph for creating a "media circus" around the sentencing, describing Joseph as "mean," and as someone who "belonged in the suburbs." When Lopez was asked what she meant by that, Lopez said she meant that Joseph "was the kind of woman who stays home, does her nails, and goes to the beauty parlor".

In addition Lopez is reported to have placed four men charged with sex crimes on probation last spring. Three of the men were charged with raping or sexually assaulting minors and one was charged with beating and raping his former girlfriend.

With friends like Judge Lopez serving in the nation's courts, women do not need enemies! Some say she has been singled out for behaviors and decisions which are not at all unusual, and that may be true. Women and children have never fared well before male judges, particularly when they have been sexually assaulted. Nevertheless, one expects better from a woman who becomes a judge.

American "Third World"

I received the link to this article from a Margins reader, Rosemary, and I have to agree with her that this is one of the saddest stories I have read in some time. In one of the poorest areas of the United States, six children died in a mobile home fire. The poor mother who rented the home could not afford utilities and was lighting her home with candles. What infuriates me is that this story receives its best coverage in The Guardian; I have yet to read about it in U.S. newspapers. The truth about the U.S. economy, and about how women and children are faring is being actively suppressed in this country, I'm absolutely convinced.

November 18, 2002

Good News:  Bankruptcy Bill Dead
"A planned overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws was pronounced dead yesterday in the Senate, less than one day after House members voted first to kill the bill, then to revive it in altered form." The death of the bill was attributed to conflict over provisions which would have prevented anti-abortion protesters from declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying criminal penalties. This is really good news for women and the poor, whom the bill would have affected most dramatically.

Bad News:  Study finds Child Care Tax Credits Aren't Working
"Over half the states have enacted employer tax credits for child care, but the credits have failed to encourage employers to provide child care assistance to their employees, according to a new study that will be released by the National Women’s Law Center on November 19. The report examines employer tax credits in 20 states in which data are available. In 16 of the 20 states, five or fewer corporations claimed the tax credit. In five of the 16 states, no corporations claimed the credit. Even more troubling, the credits are diverting state resources from proven solutions to America’s child care needs.

November 9-17

Here are a couple of interesting articles I've come across over the past couple of days, both having to do with censorship. In the first article, Parisians want prostitution to stay legal, they just don't want to be faced with prostituted women actually plying their trade via solicitations and certain kinds of "dress" and "attitude". In the second article, the appeals court in Texas has upheld the obscenity conviction of a comic book retailer, which seems rather odd, given the ubiquitousness of porn. What the court seems to be saying is that the medium -- comics -- is a problem because of its appeal to children.

Prostituted Women Take to Paris Streets

Presenting as "hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens whose work helps maintain the moral order" hundreds of prostituted women in Paris took to the streets to protest legislation designed to make "passive soliciting" a crime. A woman whose dress or attitude gives the impression that she is soliciting money for sex could face a fine of $3,800 or six months in jail under the new legislation. The prostitutes have banded together in a new organization, France Prostitution, that will represent prostitutes and their local associations from around the country. Leaders of the protest say that under the new legislation, ordinary women could be targeted simply because of their dress and that prostituted women will be more vulnerable because they will be forced underground and will have to solicit where police can't find them. Prostitution has always been legal in France; the new law is meant to curb open soliciting. Once again, prostituted women are punished for engaging in work which men clearly want them to do and pay for them to do.

Court of Appeals Won't Hear Appeal in Texas Obscenity Case

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied the Petition for Discretionary Review of the "display of obscenity" conviction of Texas comic retailer Jesus Castillo. This appeal by the attorney for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was a second appeal; in the first, the Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld Castillo's conviction in a 2-1 decision. The Castillo conviction was for the sale of an adult manga (a kind of comic book porn) to an adult. In the original case, the prosecution argued that comics are a children's medium, and that the medium and the proximity of the store to a school meant that the adult material was meant to appeal to children. Here is some legal analysis of recent decisions in the case.

Monday, November 2, 2002

One thing I enjoy about the weekends is that I get to do some nice, relaxed, websurfing. Here are a couple of interesting links I've found; I'll add them to the appropriate Margins pages in a day or two, but they're interesting enough that I thought I'd post them to the main page.

Shared Families

Here's a link to an Alternative Families website, where there is information and networking around the concept of "shared families," meaning gay and lesbian couples or single people who decide to have and raise babies together in ways which make their families "alternative" by the definitions of modern society. The information on the Alternative Families webpage, in general, is good and interesting. While I oppose surrogacy and reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization for the way these technologies exploit the bodies of women and bring reproduction under the control of the medical establishment, I do not oppose the idea of "shared families", where people who would not be able to have biological children themselves not only decide to have a baby together, but to raise the baby together as well. If a birth mother shares responsibility for raising a child, I don't think she's a "surrogate", I think she's a mom. If a man shares responsibility for raising a child, I don't think he's a "sperm donor", I think he's a dad. At the same time, the concept of shared families is new enough that there are very few legal protections in place for those who decide to be part of a shared family. Pay particular attention to the "Abuses" page. (Link grabbed from the Warbird.)

Nursing Father?

Here's a touching news article about a widowed father in Sri Lanka -- his wife died in childbirth with their second child -- who is breastfeeding their 18 month old. She had been breastfed until her mother's death and would not drink baby formula. The dad says he couldn't stand to see her cry, offered her his breast, and has been able to produce milk. Sweet!(Link grabbed from the Warbird.)

Feminist Homeschooling

Homeschooling feminists might be interested in this site created by a feminist homeschooling mom who lives in San Francisco. In particular, I liked the "Feminist Pedagogy" page-- classically feminist theory-wise, with a radical feminist perspective particularly as to means being undifferentiable from ends, as to the learning process being as important as what is learned.

Predatory Lending

Here's an article about predatory lending practices, something which is on the increase during these days of a poor economy, substantial need, and low interest rates. There was an article in our local newspaper recently about families having either lost their homes or being about to lose their homes after having refinanced with Household Finance/Beneficial, which sought their business, then ripped them off to the tune of thousands of dollars in the form of previously-undisclosed costs and fees at closing (up to $20,000 worth), failing to pay credit card debts and other debts at closing as promised, and in other ways. A class action suit in this case has brought some families some relief, but not nearly enough; the Attorney General's office said they were not as aggressive as they'd have liked because they feared pushing Household Finance into bankruptcy, in which case victims would not have recovered anything at all. In the mean time, poor or marginalized people suffer. Predatory lenders target poor, often minority people and offer loans in the full knowledge that their victims do not have the income to repay the loans.

Homelessness

Here's link to site offering substantial information for those interested in working with the homeless. It's gotten cold here in the Pacific Northwest, down in the 20s at night; on my way to work in downtown Seattle, I pass men and women completely covered with sleeping bags and blankets, sleeping on benches or in stairwells in the freezing weather. I don't trust the news in this country, including the economic news. I think the economy is much worse than we have been led to believe, I think the gap between the poor and the affluent has increased and continues to increase, and I think more people are poor, struggling and homeless than ever, and it's worse than it's been in decades for them because there are so few programs to serve them and the attitudes towards the poor and homeless seem so merciless, so lacking in compassion.

Saturday, November 2, 2002

Gloria Steinem, on Alternet , wonders in this new article when women will take themselves seriously enough to make women's interests as important as race and class interests (Margins News Page)

Bill Moyer interviews Katie Roiphe about porn going mainstream. Roiphe is her regular, antagonistic-to-what-she-refers-to-as-"70s feminists" self, suggesting that the solution to the ubiquitousness of porn is to make it even more ubiquitous, and maybe then everybody will lose interest. (Link grabbed from Daze Reader.)

Julie Burchill writes an article for the Guardian about male "power lists" and society's insistence that unlike women, men should never be evaluated on the basis of their looks or appeal, while women must always be valued first and foremost for their looks. It's an interesting article. (Link grabbed from Daze Reader .)

Here's a New York Times review of a new book about the history of transsexuality in the United States. What was interesting to me as a feminist was the tracing of the history of how the medical establishment's assuming of the right to define gender through surgery.

Happy Saturday! Or if you're reading this from work, maybe not so happy, but have a good day anyway.w

Tuesday, June 10, 2002

Here's an interesting story about African women's fight for land rights. In most African countries although women constitute almost 80 percent of the agricultural labor force, governments still enforce traditional or customary laws when it came to women's rights to land. Although it is women who do the farming, who prepare the soil, plant the seeds, tend the fields, harvest the crops, by law the holder of the title to the land -- the women's husbands -- not only decide what crop to sow and where the crops should be sold, but also make the decision on how whatever money is earned should be spent. http://allafrica.com/stories/200206060063.html (Link lifted from www.womansglobe.com)

According to the latest census figures, the wage gap in the United States is still wide, with women earning only 73 cents for each dollar men were paid. According to experts, "the main reasons for the wage gap are that women often take time off to have children and lose experience and pay because of it; that women often choose lower-paying professions, such as teaching and social work; and that women are discriminated against when it comes to promotions and raises." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134468773_wages06.html (www.womansglobe.com)

Murder is the top killer of new mothers, according to an analysis of maternal deaths during the 1990s, released yesterday by the Department of Public Health. According to the study, two-thirds of the women knew their attackers, and the weapons most often used were guns and knives. Black women were four times more likely than white women to be murdered. http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/149/metro/Murder_top_killer_of_new_mothers+.shtml (link lifted from Proud Mary, http://pub59.ezboard.com/bproudmary)

Monday, May 20, 2002

Two in Three Women Abused WHO Finds

As many as two out of three women living in some parts of the world have suffered domestic violence. Preliminary results from a study carried out by the World Health Organisation found that almost half the women living in Peru had been physically assaulted by their partners. This figure increased to 61% outside the major cities. Similar findings were reported in studies of women living in Brazil and Thailand. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1992000/1992915.stm

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Thai Women's Rights Pioneer Dead at 82
Fought for poor, nuns, prostitutes
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/14May2002_news09.html

Jordanian Woman Wins Right to Divorce
A Jordanian woman has reportedly won the right to divorce her husband, in the first such court ruling under a new law.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1985000/1985271.stm

Thursay, May 2, 2002

Study: Women Cops Less Brutal
Male officers are far more likely than female officers to get entangled in police brutality cases, according to an advocacy group dismayed by a recent drop in the number of women in police jobs.
http://www.womansglobe.com/p/4d/22f06b48d69e.html

Sunday, April 28, 2002

British Firm Wins Right to Advertise for Women Only Jobs
And good for this guy!
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,4214419%255E2682,00.html

ACLU Challenges High School Rule Requiring Graduating Women to Wear Dresses Under Robes
And what the heck?!
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,4214419%255E2682,00.html

Those Nude Photos in Penthouse Are Not of Kournikova; Kournikova Plans to Sue
http://msn.espn.go.com/tennis/news/2002/0425/1374096.html

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Linda Marchiano Killed in Car Crash
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=&ncid=762&e=5&u=/ap/20020423/ap_en_mo/obit_lovelace_4

Porn Magazines Dead Says Screw Publisher
http://nypost.com/news/nationalnews/46157.htm

Genocide in India
A women’s fact-finding panel that toured Ahmedabad and six riot-ravaged Gujarat districts said on Tuesday that the pattern of violence against Muslims there ‘‘clearly indicates genocide’’.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=7098542

Pakistani Feminist, Advocate for Battered Women, Faces Fight of Her Life Against the System
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/05/MN69414.DTL

Mauling Victim's Partner Preaks Ground with Suit
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0204050288apr05.story?coll=chi%2Dprintnews%2Dhed

Good News: Penthouse Empire Crumbling
http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage3.asp

Monday April 1, 2002

Commission on Afghanistan's Future to Include 160 Seats for Women
A grand council on Afghanistan's future will have at least 160 women among its more than 1,500 members.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_557190.html

First Novel by American Black Woman, Runaway Slave, to be Published This Week
A 150-year-old manuscript by a runaway slave, believed to be the first novel by a black woman, is being published this week
The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts, tells the apparently autobiographical story of her life as a young house slave.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_557552.html

Saturday, March 30, 2002

Battered, Abused Women Storm Bars, Takes Action Against Sellers of Dangerous, High Proof Alcohol
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/28/1017206140915.html

UK Women Soldiers Won't Be Allowed on Front Lines
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=279926

Saturday, March 23, 2002

New Year Holds Special Promise for Afghan Women
Afghans welcomed their first new year since the fall of the Taliban yesterday with a raucous celebration of Spring Harvest, a holiday of renewal that this year carries special importance for the nation's women. Tens of thousands of men - and a few dozen bold women who marked the Afghan new year by shedding their all-enveloping burkas - crowded into the national stadium to watch dancing, singing, and parades that were banned by the Taliban.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/081/nation/New_year_holds_special_promise_for_women+.shtml

Welsh Labour Backs Plans to Adopt All-Woman Candidate Lists to Increase Number of Women in Government
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_551592.htmlAnanova

Outrage of the Month! Federal Judge Rule Workfare Women Are Not Protected Against Sexual and Racial Harassment in the Workplace
When Norma Colon, a mother of two young children living in a homeless shelter in New York City, was assigned a workfare job in 1997, she thought her major challenge would be finding good child care. But at work, Colon says, her supervisor touched her inappropriately, suggested they go to a motel and offered to bend the rules in exchange for sexual favors. Colon quit and filed a harassment complaint. Now a federal judge has ruled that Colon and other women in the city's workfare program don't have the same protections against sexual and racial harassment as most U.S. workers. The women, the judge ruled two weeks ago, do work for the city in exchange for welfare benefits, but are not legally employed by the city — a distinction that means they aren't entitled to the same workplace protections most city employees have.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/081/nation/New_year_holds_special_promise_for_women+.shtml

Suit Alleging Abortion-Cancer Link Dismissed
A San Diego judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a Michigan-based family-values group demanding that Planned Parenthood inform women of a possible link between abortions and breast cancer. Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager ruled the suit should be dismissed because of a state law that prohibits litigation designed to infringe on someone's free-speech rights. Prager ruled Monday that the Michigan group's suit infringed on Planned Parenthood's First Amendment rights and that the Michigan group had failed to demonstrate a likelihood that they could prevail had the case gone to trial.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20020321-9999_7m21planned.html

Pill Found to Raise Breast Cancer Risk
Using the birth control pill can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, particularly if is she is still taking it after the age of 45, scientists said on Saturday. New research presented at the Third European Breast Cancer Conference confirms the results of earlier, smaller studies which have shown the chance of getting the disease rises by about 26 percent in women who have used oral contraceptives compared to those who have not. For women aged 45 and over the risk is doubled.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&u=/nm/20020323/sc_nm/health_cancer_pill_dc_1

No More Sex for Father of 12
In lieu of a prison sentence, Luther Crawford must abstain from sex until he pays nearly $33,000 in back payments for child support, Jefferson County (Kentucky) Judge Thomas McDonald ruled last week. Crawford, 50, is believed to have fathered at least 12 children with 11 different women, but authorities say that number could be as high as 23 kids. Prosecutors suggested the unique agreement as a last-ditch effort to keep Crawford from impregnating any more women. Some have criticized the idea, but Commonwealth Prosecutor Allan Cobb remains resolute.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ct/20020321/cr_ct/no_more_sex_for_father_of_12

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Uganda Tackles Wife-Beating Taboo
Africa's highest-ranking female politician has spoken out about the beatings which she said were responsible for her separation from her husband.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1881000/1881472.stm

Father Held in Murder of Six Children
http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=B3466C62-1407-482D-BEA3-13638982F467

Father Shoots, Kills 11 Year Old Daughter, Said He Was "Giving Child to God"
Rather than see his disabled 11-year-old daughter become a social outcast, a Seattle man put a gun to her head as she lay in her bed and pulled the trigger, according to court papers.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134422815_harrold20m.html

Wombs of Tens of Thousands of Women Removed Unnecessarily, Say Researchers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1882000/1882006.stm

Monday, March 18, 2002

Kansas Supreme Court says transsexual's marriage is invalid
A marriage between a man and a transsexual woman is not valid in Kansas, the state Supreme Court declared Friday.
The justices said that J'Noel Gardiner, a finance instructor at Park University in Parkville, Mo., remained a man, despite operations in 1994 and 1995 to become female. Their ruling was unanimous.
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/031502/bre_transmarrig.shtml

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Every Minute a Woman Dies in Childbirth
Every minute of every day, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement to mark International Women's Day. One in 13 women dies in childbirth in developing nations.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020308/1/2kkgy.html

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

Jury Rejects Insanity Claim, Convicts Mother of Murder
HOUSTON -- A jury took less than four hours Tuesday to find housewife Andrea Pia Yates guilty of capital murder for drowning her children in the family bathtub on a sunny summer morning. The 37-year-old mother, who said she was insane at the time, could be executed for systematically putting her five children to death in a tub of water. A second round of testimony is to begin Thursday to decide Yates' punishment.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000018522mar13.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage

Assaults in a Cloak of Faith
In the last five years, sex-related cases with ties to faith healing, in which people believe a cure is accomplished through religious faith and prayer, have been publicized in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin, as well as Canada and England.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000018520mar13.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage

Monday, March 4, 2002

Britain: Chief Justices Concerned, Number of Young Women Jailed has Tripled in Past Decade
The lord chief justice recently urged sentencers to consider the explosion in the female prison population before jailing women, particularly if they had been convicted of a non-violent offence, were first-time offenders or the sole supporter of young children. What is remarkable is that there remains the remotest controversy over whether it is a good idea to give women such as these a custodial sentence. And why it is that, in crown and magistrates courts up and down the country, it is happening on an unprecedented scale. The female population is the fastest-growing section of the prison estate. According to figures released last Friday, a record 4,179 women are currently in jail in England and Wales. The number has trebled in the past decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,658131,00.html

Bahamas Rejects Women's Rights Reforms
Bahamian voters have rejected five proposed constitutional amendments, two of which would have extended additional rights to women, in a referendum that drew criticism from the country's leader, who said he was "ashamed" of the result. http://www.reuters.co.uk/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=652228

Elgin High girls say lockers taken away
Two weeks after Elgin-based Unit School District 46 finished building a new girls locker room to settle a Title IX lawsuit, at least two girls were ordered to remove their gear so boys could use the room, parents said Friday. School officials acknowledge that boys used the Elgin High School girls locker rooms for basketball tournaments this week. Athletic Director Tim Heinrich on Thursday ordered the girls to move their softball gear to make way for the boys or their locks would be cut off, said Marilyn Grens, who was among the parents who sued the district over unequal facilities and scheduling.

"They're being tossed out to let the boys in," said Matt Schacht, another participant in the suit. Schacht has two daughters who play sports at Elgin High. "It wasn't built for boys."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0203020088mar02.story?coll=chi%2Dnewslocal%2Dhed

Saturday, February 23, 2002

Robert Pickton Charged With Two Murders --
Port Coquitlam Pig Farmer to Appear in Court Monday in Missing Women Case
Police investigating the disappearance of 50 women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside arrested a Port Coquitlam pig farmer Friday on two charges of first-degree murder. Robert William Pickton, 52, was taken into custody at 2 p.m. at one of his businesses in Richmond.
http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={6303AE69-5837-461C-B4FB-5CCA10F5A855}

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Mom Who Drowned Kids Not Insane
Andrea Yates, a troubled Texas mother who drowned her five children in the family bathtub last summer was sick, but sane enough to know that she had done wrong, prosecutors said on Monday in opening statements of a murder trial that could bring her the death penalty.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20020219/ts_nm/crime_mother_dc_6

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Two Million Women and Children Held in Sexual Slavery Worldwide
To most people, slavery seems a dreadful relic of the past, yet 2 million women and children are held in sexual servitude throughout the world, trapped through force, deceit or economic coercion. Each year, 100,000 to 200,000 women and children, some as young as 6, are trafficked across borders for sexual exploitation. Most of them never reach 30. They die of AIDS and other STDs, ill health, physical and psychological abuse, and drug abuse.
The notion of the "happy hooker" who can freely drift in and out of gainful prostitution is false and dangerously misleading.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0202170483feb17.story?coll=chi%2Dprintperspective%2Dhed

Women Boycott Campus Newspaper After Article About Sex with Young Girl
A fictional story in this week's issue of The Eyeopener that graphically describes a man having sex with a young girl has upset some students.
Kaliopi Tsimidis, co-ordinator of Ryerson's community services which include the Women's Centre, says six women came to her office for counselling after reading the piece. "The article triggered many survivors of child sexual abuse. It's horrible. One woman was so devastated, we had to send her home in a cab."