The rally in New York yesterday had a good turnout. Here’s what I”ve been reading on the recent SCOTUS decision:
Background from the Center for Reproductive Rights
Statements from all major 2008 presidential candidates. (Interesting that John Edwards is the most direct)
Bean delivers smart and clear analysis, as per usual.
And Ann thanks Justice Ginsburg for her dissent, as do I.
Rally at Union Square Park Today on SCOTUS Decision
Court Upholds Federal Abortion Ban; NARAL Pro-Choice New York to Hold Rally Today at Union Square Park
The Supreme Court has ruled today with a 5-4 decision to uphold the 1993 federal law that bans certain safe abortion procedures. NARAL Pro-Choice New York will be holding a citywide rally today to denounce the decision, mobilize New Yorkers and talk about the importance of getting active to protect a woman’s right to choose.
Supreme Court Decision Upholds Abortion Ban; Rally For Reproductive Rights
Place: Union Square Park, South End
Time: 5:30pm
Planned Parenthood is also holding protests in DC.
The Justices upheld the ban by 5-4, with Bush appointed judges Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito joining Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas for the majority opinion. This is the first federal restriction on abortion since Roe in 1973.
In reality late term abortion is incredibly rare. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 99% of abortions happen in the first 20 weeks. When it is used, it’s because the woman seeking the procedure has had so many barriers that it took her that long to get access to an abortion or because there is a risk to the mother or pregnancy.
Boo!!!
I love this press conference! I’m sick of Imus, too, but not sick of the Rutgers basketball women because they rock. I love that they’re both insulted for themselves and quite clear about speaking out on behalf of all women.
Part of the reason this whole thing has gotten so irritating (I swear there was an entire Dateline devoted to Imus tonight) is because it’s all talking white heads bobbing back and forth (snore). I mean, did anyone see Meet the Press?! Why aren’t more women, especially black women, in on this conversation???
Anybody else sick and goddamned tired of these Bowlmor lanes ads everywhere? I see them plastered up all over the city and in Time Out New York pretty much every week. They’re all variations on the same lecherous theme: some leering dude staring at women’s breasts, butt, etc with text declaring “It’s strange, but I can’t stop thinking about bowling.” Um, you mean instead of ravaging some fleshy young woman? Ew. Especially since women bowl, too.
email Sarah Hawthorne @ bowlmor: shawthorne@bowlmor.com
email TONY: letters@timeoutny.com
Brooklyn Museum was transformed into a feminist dance party paradise last night!
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and the Black Rock Coalition put on an early show. The bands were great – Let me tell you, I was totally impressed with how empowered and awesome these girls are. I missed the first band, but did see Magnolia who proudly proclaim on their myspace page “It’s not about age, it’s about ROCK!!!!!!” There’s a great interview with Hugo and Zora of Magnolia here.
Apparently there are Rock Camps like Willie Mae across this country (like Portland, Chicago, Memphis) and in many others, too (like Canada and Sweden. And they’re working on forming a coalition!
Alexa Weinstein, who is involved in Portland’s rock camp, said this about what rock camps do for girls:
“There are so many girls who don’t fit in the mainstream at school … A lot of girls feeling like they have to join and can’t fit in,” said Weinstein. “They might not fit in because they’re queer and out in high school. They might be big girls. There are a million things that cause them not to be a part of mainstream groups at school. But here, they can work with four other girls who they’ve never met before and have nothing in common with and can write a song with them in a week, get up on stage and play it, and truly have an amazing experience. It really helps them to blossom, and to change, and to come out of their shells.”
Feminism, at its best, should nurture perpetual (and personalized) re-creation and revisions that contribute to a broader political sphere. This camp is so great because unlike many other programs for young feminists, it doesn’t ask that the girls participate in a certain way or require them to access something that didn’t come from them. Rock on riot grrls, I can’t wait to see who you become.
In the news this morning, Uganda’s Constitutional Court has scrapped a law that makes it illegal for women to commit adultery. Cheating men were allowed under the law to have an affair with an unmarried woman. But women could be fined and sentenced to prison for up to 12 years for cheating. This is much better than stoning adulterous women as Iran does, but still no good. The court ruled that this law was discrinatory and unconstitutional because it treats men and women unequally.
The Duke Feminist Police profile a recent campus event. According to Shadee Malaklou, all those raging campus “feminists” are secretly just patriarchy-reproducing “femmes.” Because, you know, you can’t be both feminine and feminist at the same time without being a “crazed schizophrenic.”
…like crazed schizophrenics with split personalities, we constantly fool ourselves into thinking we can be raging feminists in the classroom by day and girly femmes at the bar by night-that we can be both and that we can have it all.
Fortunately feminists on campus avoided “one mention of the infamous L-word” after performing self-styled feminist monologues. Thank goodness! Wouldn’t want to think there were any LESBIANS in the crowd! (Oh Shadee, if you only knew…) But unfortunately the feminists still didn’t get by without oppressing themselves, by performing a monologue about wanting to wear a dress and look pretty. Shadee, have you ever heard of something called the male gaze, something called re-claiming what looks good and feels good, something called all women have the right to wear whatever they want whenever they want without attracting sexist attention (which is often different from respectful attraction) or violence? Also, “femme” is a lesbian identity, not a slang term for “pretty pretty princess.”
If anyone has created a piece of patriarchy, it’s truly you Shadee.
Itty Bitty Titty Committee, a new film from the director of But I’m a Cheerleader, sounds killer — I’m thinking Firefox meets PCU? With Heavens to Betsy, Sleater-Kinney, Team Dresch, The Need, Slumber Party, and Bikini Kill on the soundtrack, naturally.
Anna is swept away into the world of a punk, radical feminist group called CIA (Clits in Action) and falls for the group’s leader as well as its principles. Formerly apolitical and unsure of herself, Anna becomes politically radical and self-confident. As she grows disillusioned with her mentor, Sadie (Nicole Vicius), Anna gains a sense of empowerment, eventually leading the CIA in its most radical action to date.
A feminist venture at heart, Itty Bitty was brought to the screen by a nearly all-woman crew, with women in the roles of first assistant director, cinematographer, producer, writer, composer, editor and production designer. There was also a cadre of girls who were flown in from around the country to be on the set as mentees. “It was girl talk every day,” recalled Melonie Diaz.
Clits in Action? Two thumbs up! Check out the full review here.
New April events up at Feminist Events – and more on the way, I promise!
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