Maybe I am alone in this thought---maybe it is just the me who is in the process of recovery that feels this way, but I really hope not.

It's rape awareness month here on my college campus. A year ago, I would have thought "Awesome! Rape is bad! Let's prevent it! Signs with statistics are a great way to raise awareness. Lets plaster them everywhere!"

But, see, I learned better. I know a sickeningly large number of women don't need a sign to remember that rape exists. My disgust with my campus's approach to this entire thing has been growing steadily over the last few weeks--first with the huge bulletin board directly across from the elevator with the word "RAPE" in enormous black letters, then with the signs plastered on the outside of the bathroom doors sighting that great 1 in 4 statistic. But it finally came to a point I had to speak up. Last night, after walking into the bathroom and discovering they had placed sheets inside of our very tiny stalls will rape statistics, including ones like "Rape victims are 4 times more likely to commit suicide," I had to do something. I sent my PA the following email:

Continue reading "Rape Awareness Month...AKA the month from hell for victims...."

Lauren at Feministe has the goods on how to register (or check if you're registered), how to find out more about your voting rights, and other ways to help get out the vote. (Here's state-by-state info on how to register or request an absentee ballot.) Plus, Feministe is collecting stories!

FEMINISTE is soliciting stories about your voting experiences to help encourage registered and unregistered voters to vote.

Do you have a story about working a registration drive? About working the polls? Do you live in a split-ticket household? What kinds of traditions or stories does your family have when it comes to voting in an election? Do you have additional ideas on how to participate in the election during the final weeks? How is the subtext of race and gender this election season going to affect how you, your friends, and family members, are going to vote -- or is it?

Send your stories to fauxrealtho at gmail dot com with "VOTE" in the title, including your name and a link to your website, and we will publish your stories as they come in along with additional information about voting registration, disenfranchisement, and election news. Send us what you've got.

If you have the time and inclination to volunteer, the Pollworkers for Democracy project has info on how to be a pollworker or pollwatcher.

And if you need additional motivation, check out the graphic on the homepage of Women's Voices, Women's Vote, which shows you how many women are unregistered and how many didn't vote in 2006.

Too cool - Michelle Obama blogged over at BlogHer on equal pay and Lilly Ledbetter.

Lilly is from Alabama. For nearly 20 years, she worked for a Goodyear tire plant. She was the only female supervisor--so you know this is a tough, hard-working woman. One day, someone sent her an anonymous letter with a list of salaries of her co-workers. That's how she found out that she was making less than the men she worked with--even men who were less senior than she was. And we're not talking about a few dollars. Some of her male counterparts were making 40 percent more than she was--for doing the same work.

It's a nice follow-up to Samhita's post yesterday on Obama and the economy...

(Originally posted yesterday at yp4.org)

I won a scholarship and spent the weekend in Rhinebeck, New York attending the Women and Courage conference at the Omega Institute. This was the single largest group of feminists that I've ever been exposed to. Women (and a few men) from all backgrounds of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, gender identity, age, and ability passed me by in those woods. Feminists from all three 'waves' and beyond sat together and discussed how we can rewrite the story of humanity.

The main theme was that the energy of Machismo and all its subsequent theories, governments, and societies have been the determinate factor in human evolution for far too long. This concept prioritizes everything having to do with our masculine qualities and ignores or downplays everything associated with our feminine ones. All of the speakers made sure to explain that the masculine and feminine reside in every human being, regardless of one's biological sex. We were invited there to usher in a new century of Mamisma, a phrase coined by Harriet Rueben, which can best be described as "the energy a mother bear has when she senses her cubs are in danger." To clarify, the mother bear must act not out of vengeance, but out of the urge to provide for and protect future generations. We were encouraged not to copy the same old tired power structures and institutions that men have dominated for centuries, but to radically alter the way in which this shared world of ours operates.

Continue reading "What is Mamisma?"

David Brooks has an interesting column in The New York Times about the ways in which conservatives have switched their notion of what prepares one for a life of politics; it used to be that they were wedded to tradition accolades and formal schooling, but now they're jumping on the populist bandwagon thanks to Palin. Interesting, I admit. But then he threw in this bizarre line:

The feminists declare that she's not a real woman because she doesn't hew to their rigid categories.

If I had a direct line to Mr. Brooks, I would like to ask him what so-called feminist has claimed Sarah Palin is not a "real" woman? Unlike anxiously masculine men, such as Brooks, most women don't insult other women by calling into question whether they are "real." And further, Mr. Brooks, I would say, it is Palin that is reinforcing rigid categories. Not feminists. Thank you. And goodbye. [Hangs up phone.]

Thanks to reader everybodyever for the heads up.

Pretending to be smart and serious is hard stuff. All of that faking knowledge takes a toll on our tiny lady brains. But don't worry, McDonald's is here to let you know that you don't have to wear flats and read books anymore!

I feel vomity.

(Transcript below the jump.)

Via Jezebel.

UPDATE: Write to McDonald's and express your dislike for this commercial here.

Continue reading "McDonald's Coffee: So women can be stupid again!"

I announced my new book project here last week. If you missed it, feel free to check out all the info at the Do Greaters blog. I just found out that the donation process is a bit different than I originally explained, so...

If you want to support the multimedia platform for Do Greaters: The Kids These Days and How They're Changing the World, please send checks to: Amy Caldwell, Beacon Press, 41 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, MA 02108.

Thanks a bazillion.

Finding out that Sarah Palin charged Wasilla rape victims to pay for their own rape kits was quite a shock. How much of a shock is another question, but the very idea of making victims pay up to $1200 to gather medical evidence against their attacker seems surprising even for the most conservative of folk.

Well, apparently Palin's history of apathy towards victims of sexual assault doesn't end there.

Shakesville put it all together after finding the details behind Troopergate. While Palin fired her Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan after he failed to reopen an investigation into her sister's ex-husband, her failure to address the epidemic of sex crimes in Alaska led him to plan a trip to Washington to seek federal funding to address the problem, in which he was stopped short in his tracks:

The last straw, the McCain campaign said, was in July, when Monegan planned to travel to Washington to seek federal money for a plan to assign troopers, judges and prosecutors who could exclusively handle sexual assault cases -- one of the state's most intractable crime problems.

In a July 7 e-mail, John Katz, the governor's special counsel, noted two problems with the trip: The governor hadn't agreed the money should be sought, and the request was "out of sequence with our other appropriations requests and could put a strain on the evolving relationship between the Governor and Sen. (Ted) Stevens."

Four days later, Monegan was fired. He said he had kept others in the administration fully apprised of his plans to go to Washington.

Not only did Palin drive her Public Safety Commissioner to Washington due to her failure to address sexual assault in her state, but didn't allow him seeking federal funds because of a fear of mucking a relationship with a senator later indicted for corruption. And then subsequently fired him. Melissa says:

And even if it were true, it still means that Palin is shockingly indifferent to rape and domestic violence in her own state and contemptuous of the people who don't share her indifference--and, weirdly, the McCain campaign appears to believe that's somehow more palatable than Palin having simply fired Monegan for insubordination because she wasn't getting what she wanted from a public servant on her personal family matter.

That's quite an amazing calculation.

Yes it is. It has become painfully clear that not only is Sarah Palin not an advocate for rape victims, she is not an advocate for women. But Palin doesn't hate women; she just doesn't care about them.

Pic via AP.

Via a press conference today, the Feminist Majority PAC, National Organization for Women PAC, Business and Professional Women/PAC, National Association of Social Workers PACE, National Congress of Black Women, and the Women's Information Network officially endorse Barack Obama for President.

My favorite quote from the event: "We don't think it's much to break a glass ceiling for one woman and leave millions of women behind."

Doctor's office waiting room, uploaded by Flickr user TheConsumerist

I'll admit it: I find the debate over health care in America incredibly confusing at times. What I do know is pretty simple. I know that people don't have a right to health care in this country, which is appalling. I know that navigating our current system and getting quality care is a huge headache, even for the privileged and knowledgeable. I know that low-income people, those with nontraditional work situations, immigrants, and people of color have an even tougher time finding and paying for care.

And I know that health care is a feminist issue. Because women are more likely than men to go without needed care. Because nearly twice as many women as men access health care as a dependent -- in other words, they're not covered under their own name. Because low-income women and immigrant women and women of color have a disproportionately difficult time accessing regular care. Because women are more likely to have patchwork-style careers, dropping in and out of the workforce because of family care obligations, which makes dependence on employer-provided health care exceptionally hard. Because a larger percentage of women than men have a hard time paying their medical bills.

But sometimes I have a tough time understanding the debate about what it's gonna take to remedy this situation. When talk turns to mandates and single-payer and group plans, my eyes start glazing over. Which is why I'm grateful to Bob Herbert for breaking down this new study on the McCain/Palin proposed health care plan:

Continue reading "Health care is a feminist issue"