All the living former, current and Presidents to be got together on Wednesday at an unprecedented White House gathering. It's hard to imagine these five men getting along, let alone making small talk.

I'm posting this here because I'm interested in a feminist-driven discussion of Sarah Palin's interview for John Ziegler's Documentary, How Obama Got Elected.

If you've had too much of this already, please skip this post.

My motivation was the nastiness of comments on Jezebel, so please, no cheap shots.

If anybody has seen a transcript, could you post a link?

My initial thoughts:

• I agree with her that the rumors about Trig's parentage were/are ridiculous.
• I think (hope, actually) that her attitude towards New Media will be, at the very least, part of her downfall.  (I may be biased as an anonymous blogger, but then again, I'm not publishing Palin story after Palin story.)
• Second point where I agree with Palin: she is naive.  And surprisingly thin-skinned.  And deluded.  Is this a function of the people around her, or personal characteristics she's just always harbored?
• It's telling that the first publication she claimed to read was USA Today.  I've never seen USA Today as a bastion of current thought.  I've only read it when I've gotten it for free from hotels.

Amen! Via AP:

Energized by the prospects of a pro-labor president, House Democrats marked the first week of the new Congress Friday by pushing through two bills to help workers, particularly women, who are victims of pay discrimination.

Unlike President George W. Bush, who threatened to veto the two bills when they came up in the last session of Congress, President-elect Barack Obama has embraced them.

"Today we face a transformational moment," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chief sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act. "With a new Congress, a new administration, we have a chance to finally provide equal pay for equal work and make opportunity real for millions of American women."

The bill could reach the Senate floor as early as next week, so make sure your senator knows about your support. Here's more info about Lilly Ledbetter and read the whole AP piece for more details on today's passage.

Via Womanist Musings.

Transcript after the jump.

I found this while getting my friend a birthday card at my Rite Aid in Queens the other day and couldn't resist taking record of it. We all know that greetings cards themselves are gendered enough, but the actual card sections? Damn.

Six months after the FDA rejected Merck and Co.'s request to approve the distribution of Gardasil - the HPV vaccine - to women aged 27 to 45, they've sent a response letter to Merck requesting that they resubmit their request after a full 48-month study. Merck's original application included research from a 24-month period.

As Shark Fu noted, January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, so I'm not too surprised that this update is being released now. The good news is that the end of the 48-month study will be by the fourth quarter of 2009. Let's just hope this will be enough.

In the meantime, Merck also requested FDA approval for its use in males last month. I'm definitely curious how that's going to play out.

MSNBC discusses a growing trend of stockings for men which many call "mantyhose," as well as other "feminine" clothing that are renamed and altered in quality to dodge the stigma of being deemed feminine. On the one hand, they're making the hosiery as masculine as possible. On the other, the way the companies and their consumers humorously embrace its femininity is interesting.

Most companies name their stockings, girdles for men and the like almost indistinguishable from the "feminine version" of the product by completely omitting the use of words like "hosiery" or "stockings." For example, a product that's claimed to be "spanx for men" is called a Core Precision Undershirt. There's also a pantyhose for men called Comfilon's Activeskin Legwear for Men.

And while men's pantyhose is used for the same reasons anyone would wear hosiery, including support, comfort, and warmth and yes, aesthetics, the author makes sure to appease the reader:

European men have been sporting hose for several years, but the trend has been slow to catch on in the U.S. (It is important to note that the trend has no connection to men who wear hose to cross-dress, since they prefer to wear pairs that are more feminine.) The "mantyhose" is also part of a larger trend of untraditional men's underwear designed to lift, sculpt and suck in that beer belly... (Emphasis mine)

It's of the utmost importance you know that these are manly stockings! No cross-dressers here!

But while their makers and users try so very hard to distinguish themselves from women's stockings, girdles, what-have-you, they still manage to make a joke out of the fact that - whatever name you give it and whatever manly material you make it into - it's still women's clothing. The word "mantyhose" itself could make one chuckle. In fact, simply adding an "m" in front of many of these clothes masculinize but also mock them, like "mantyhose" or the "mirdle" (man girdle). Even the companies use humor in their marketing techniques; the tagline for Comfilon is, "This is NOT your mother's pantyhose."

This seems indicative of the general male hetero response to anything they do or wear that's "feminine" - if you mock it while you're doing it, you can get away with it. Same thing with male hetero friends who pretend to make out when they're hugging each other, or skip around the room in their face cream - it's more or less a way of defying gender norms without having to catch shit for it. And that makes me sort of sad.

At the same time, the article seems to imply that men aren't embarrassed, but their wives (of course they have wives!) are the skittish ones. Thoughts?

Ann Coulter says single motherhood is "a recipe to create criminals, strippers, rapists, murderers."

That is all.

Via Feministe.

After a long wait, requiring a lot of equanimity and patience, Mrs. Joyce Bamford Addo has just been appointed the third most powerful person in Ghana: Speaker of the 230 member of the 5th parliament of the 4th Republic. In more simple terms, she will be the first woman in the West African sub-region to hold such an honor, joining Betty Boothroyed in the UK and Nancy Pelosi of the US worldwide.

The coverage of her appointment on allAfrica.com, by the way, is sexist hilarity:

She retired to become an active grand mother superintending over her grand-children from her five children, who are in their late 30s. She was once married to one Mr. Abankwa, with whom she had three children and then the late Major General Addo, who also died a few years ago.

Sources who know her, say she is not a brainstorming Justice Kpegah look-alike, in terms of temperament, but a generally fair minded person, a lady who takes time to dust her nose and apply mascara delicately, before she goes to court. Apart from playing grandma, she now reads and occasional writes, until this unexpected job as the third most powerful person in the land.

Next time I'm "dusting my nose" I'll think of ol' Grandma Addo.

Thanks to the Women's Media Center for the heads up.

(crossposted at Amplify )

Last semester, Northern Kentucky University student Dennis Chaney was literally arrested for trying to distribute free condoms to students. At the freshman orientation, they told him that doing so with his student group was "against school policy", and when he refused to stop, he spent the next 12 hours in jail.

This semester, thanks to the Great American Condom Campaign (GACC), Dennis Chaney will have another chance.

Chaney was one of the 550 students selected by the GACC to be the host of a "Safe Site" on their campus. The GACC provided him with a box of 500 condoms to distribute at NKU, so that anyone who needs a condom can receive one. Chaney has already handed out condoms at New Years Eve parties on campus, and plans to hand out more at the student union once the semester starts.

But he's not alone! Last semester the GACC provided over 300,000 condoms to the 550 Safe Sites, focusing especially on campuses where condom access is limited or against school policy. Here are some of the testimonies of students around the country who are distributing condoms at their school.

And right now we're gearing up for giving out even more during the Spring 2009 semester! The applications to be a Safe Site for this semester are up right now at the GACC page, so if you want to join in the underground grassroots movement to improve condom access for students, or know someone who would, please head on over and check it out !

The deadline for the applications is January 25th, so get them in soon and you might get your condoms by Valentine’s Day. If you know someone who might be interested in this, please pass it along!

(The video below is the story of Dennis Chaney from last semester. Arrested for condoms??? Ridiculous...)