Women's Empowerment

Here is my video. It is a reflection of the paper I wrote on "Redefining Empowerment."

The Women's War

I just read over an article from last year about women fighting in Iraq and the trauma associated with it. The article mentions a report from the Department of Defense that says that one-third of female veterans experienced rape or attempted rape while in service, with 37% of those being raped multiple times and 14% being gang raped. I have always assumed that this occurred in our military, with women only making up 15% of the armed forces but the numbers to me were pretty astonishing. These women are fighting for our country and putting their lives on the line, and all the while they are getting raped by the men fighting beside them. Its sad that only one-tenth of the rapists in these cases are court-martialed, causing most female soldiers to not even bother reporting it and just put up with it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/magazine/18cover.html?pagewanted=5&_r=1

Sexual Harassment

Three students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem filed complaints of sexual harassment against their professor after they accused him of forcing sexual relations on students in exchange for advancement and scholarships. The professor is also accused of misusing university funds to fund trips abroad with the female students and also to buy them gifts. It's sad to see how people use their status to discriminate against women and force them to do things they do not want to do.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1008511.html

shameless self-promotion

This really is not class-related at all -- just an fyi. A friend of mine launched an online feminist magazine, and he's sucked me into writing for it. Based on our class, I thought some of you might be interested. Also, as I've asked you to put yourselves out there with this blog (and of course I get to read your papers and such), I thought I'd return that and give you the chance to read my non-teacher-esque writing, if you felt so inclined. You could also critique it, if you wanted. :)

Modest Witness

A View of women in marriage

I was at my cousin’s wedding yesterday, and I found it very interesting that the preacher they had was quoting a bunch passages from the Bible about a women’s role in a marriage. Well, after the fifth quote about women being submissive to her husband coming from the bible, I started to get rather mad. I believe one of the preacher’s quotes was “The husband should be head of the household , as Jesus was head of the Church.” So, I started do some research within the bible on such passages. And, I found this one from the New Testament in I Timothy 2:11-12, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, and do not permit a women to teach or have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” As I said before, this comes from the New Testament and it’s very sad that there are people out there who believe every word of the bible as God’s word and truth. And, if you believe that it is God’s word, then there are some men out there who would justify a women’s subjugation because it’s in the Bible. There are also some women out there who would submit because it is in the Bible. It’s just really sad, that’s all.

birth control 101

A friend sent me a link to the following article in the New York Times:
"Weighing the Health Benefits of Birth Control"

Here's an excerpt:

Unveiled in 1960, the birth control pill revolutionized contraception. Yet despite an abundance of birth control options today, almost half the pregnancies in this country are unintended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than in any other developed nation. What’s the reason?

The issue is not technology. But economics and human behavior are another story. Nearly a third of women who start a new type of birth control stop within a year, according to one recent study, largely because of changes in their insurance coverage. All methods have some side effects. And the current crop of intrauterine devices, or IUD’s, despite having a nearly perfect efficacy rate, have been slow to catch on, experts say, partly because more doctors need to be trained in inserting them.

Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy

Across the country, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches. The pattern is roughly similar among the well-educated and the less educated, among the married and never married, among mothers with teenage children and those with children under 6, and among white women and black. The biggest retreat has been in manufacturing, where more than one million women have disappeared from payrolls since 2001. Like men, many have not returned to jobs in other sectors.

Here is the link to the entire article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/business/22jobs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wangari Maathai and activism

Since we're beginning our "Women's Activism" section, thought I'd link us with our last autobiography by Wangari Maathai. The video is posted on YouTube, but it is originally from CNN. You can go to the video on the CNN site here.

President Bush threatening access to birth control?

I woke up this morning to read an article about a proposal from the Bush administration that is supposed to protect health-care workers who are opposed to abortion and birth control methods. The proposal would deny federal funding to any health plan or facility that doesn't accommodate employees who want to opt out of performing abortions, giving out emergency contraceptive pills, or any other care/procedure that goes against their personal beliefs. People who are against this plan believe it will limit access to birth control and abortions to all women. I really don't know how I feel about this proposal. I don't think that the government should be able to take away funding for birth control or abortions. The health-care workers applied for the jobs they are in. If they don't believe in abortions, they should not be working in that field.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25940818/

Hiring Women in the Workplace in 1943

I was doing some research for my paper a couple days ago and I found this article. It's really an article within an article from 1943 with 11 tips on how to hire the right woman for a job. These tips are the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! One of them says to pick young married women because they have more of a sense of responsibility and they're less likely to be flirtatious than unmarried women. It's really sad to see how men viewed women when they were first coming into the workplace. Thought you might all get a laugh out of these tips as I did!

http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2008/03/women_in_the_wo.html

Rowling for Charity

With all the upsetting and horrible things that have been posted I thought I would lighten up the post a bit and talk about a woman that is doing something good for the world. I am sure everyone knows who J.K. Rowling is, the famed author of the Harry Potter books. She was a single mother who was writing in her free time and struck gold with the Harry Potter series. I believe she is now the second richest woman in the world next to Oprah. Well, the series has come to an end but she is now making another book that semi goes along with the Harry Potter series and is planning on giving everything she makes off of the book to charity, which they say is going to be around $8 million. I just think that she is such an inspiration to women everywhere. Coming out of complete poverty, raising children on her own to becoming a multi millionaire maybe even billionaire and she is now writing books for fans who love them and donating the money to charity. It's a good and short article to read. She is just such an inspiration to tell women that you can work your way out of nothing and become an everyday name.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25946599/

Queen Victoria's Bloomers!

This article just caught my eye and cracked me up. If you are having a bad day, this wil definitely make u smile...

A pair of Queen Victoria's bloomer were sold for $9000 dollars at an auction. She was said to be 5 ft tall and the bloomers are about 50 inches in waist.

"The handmade knickers — which date back to the 1890s — bear the monogram "VR" for Victoria Regina. They are open-crotch style, with separate legs joined by a drawstring at the waist, a popular style in the late Victorian era."

Her chemise, with a bust of 66 inches sold for $8000 and her nightgown for $11,000.

More on the article,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_en_ot/britain_victoria_s_bloomers

"Queen Victoria lived from 1819 to 1901. She became queen at age 18 and was the U.K.'s longest-reigning monarch. Her reign is noted for both imperial expansion and the decreasing political power of the monarch."

I really thought this was interesting...

Sex Testing for Olympics

This is another article I found from the Feminist Majority Foundation. As if women didnt already have issues but recently because of high athletic performance women in the olympics are being accused of being men. This is definitely outrageous. Recently Beijing Olympic officials are setting up sex determination tests for females suspected of being males. Each female suspect will be evaluated based on external appearance and blood samples tested for sex hormones, chromosomes, and genes. Sex testing began in Eastern Europe in the 1960's and the first athlete to be tested was in the 1968 Mexico City games. In the 1996 Games in Atlanta eight athletes were tested and failed. Later on these same athletes were cleared which just goes to show that these tests may not be as accurate as people may think. This kind of testing affects and destroys the lives of many women. Two famous olympic runners from Poland and India were stripped of their medals after failing sex tests. This type of testing has become a very controversial issue in athletics. Chromosomal abnormalities in women can cause them to fail the test and these same women have no competive advantage over other female athletes. Women who fail are required to take a physiological exam which just turns out to be an invasion of privacy. It is so sad that women have to be accused of being men just because they are highly skilled at what they do.

Here is a link to a site that gives more info about Olympic sex testing.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-07/27/content_6880175.htm

Passports Handed Out in Kosovo

Thought this was interesting that the first passport handed out was to a woman. Very short story (see below) http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/30/kosovo.passports.ap/index.html

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) -- Kosovo authorities have handed out their first passports, replacing travel documents issued by the United Nations.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has handed out the state's first passport.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci gave the first passport to a woman during a ceremony in the capital Pristina on Wednesday.

Kosovo's citizens are expected to be able to use the new passport in 43 countries that have recognized Kosovo's independence, declared on Feb. 17. U.N. documents will remain valid in countries that have not recognized Kosovo as a state. The U.N. in Kosovo will not issue new documents.

Citizens applying for the documents will pay €25 ($39) for the blue passport.

gender non-absolutism

This morning, I saw the following headline in my NYTimes morning email:

"A Lab Is Set to Test the Gender of Some Female Athletes"

And with that, my hackles went up. "What is this?!", I thought. "Are we still attempting to define gender by, as the article says, 'an athlete’s external appearance, hormones and genes', as though this will give definitive answers? Has Anne Fausto-Sterling's work reached no one of influence?"

Then I read the article, and was delightfully surprised by the discussion, which included the following complex statements, reported matter-of-factly:

Although the verification test has changed to adapt to new scientific understandings about gender — athletes are now evaluated by an endocrinologist, gynecologist, a geneticist and a psychologist — critics say the test is based on the false idea that someone’s sex is a cut-and-dried issue.

“It’s very difficult to define what is a man and what is a woman at this point,” said Christine McGinn, a plastic surgeon who specializes in transgender medicine.

Because of a range of genetic conditions, people who look like women may have a Y chromosome, while people who look like men may not, she said. Many times, the people do not learn of the defects until they reach adulthood. “It gets really complicated very quickly,” McGinn said.

Might our understanding of gender actually be advancing? I'm tentatively excited.

Read the full article by following the title link, or by clicking here.

Sony and Their New Game

I was looking up some things and reading some news on yahoo.com and ironically came across a title that kind of struck me as perfect for this class: Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess. Sony is coming up with a new game called Fat Princess. The premise of this game is a sort of capture the flag type of game. I know that this idea is not nearly as serious as other issues being discussed in this bolg but I thought I would post this to kind of put up a not as serious topic. The idea behind this game is to take a princess who starts off as skinny and attempt to fatten her up by giving her cake in the game so that she is harder to haul off. The article was not very long but some of the things I found interesting. They said that a couple of feminist web sites have already made statements about the degrading aspect of the game. One person made quite the statement about the premise of the game but it is a little too much to put up here. The head director of the game had a comment to the affect that a woman designed a good amount of the concept. I guess i was just curious as to what you guys may think about this. There is not much to the article but let me know what you gys think.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/feminists-cry-foul-over-fat-princess/1232315

Sexual Violence and it's Impacts in Uganda

Today on the Washington Post website I found this video on a woman from Uganda who was captured by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) the rebel group who caused the two decade civil war. During this time 66,000 people were abducted an the women were treated as sex slaves as Catherine, from this video, was. My paper is going to be on sexual violence so I was particularly interested in this video, but overall I believe that it is an example of how sexual violence is a link that brings women together globally. While in the "bush" Catherine became pregnant which is just like the girls in Rigoberta Menchu that suffered war rape. Catherine did not have an abortion though and now she has a daughter and in the video she said that she is should not tell her daughter anything about her father for fear of the reaction. Catherine was in the "bush" for 10 years and when she was released she was aided by World Vision, a humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children and families to tackle the causes of poverty. World Vision helped her learn how to run her own cafe so that she could earn a living, however Catherine says she doesn't feel completely empowered. One of her final quotes was, "My prayer is that God should forgive me." After doing the research for my paper I have found that guilt is a common feeling among those that suffer sexual violence.
As a developed nation what is our role in combating sexual violence? Do we aid in places like Uganda through money or presence or do we just stay out of it? What is the mindset that causes this violence? and how do those minds get changed? (These are some of the questions I've been thinking about as I write my paper).

Women Add up in Education

Harvard always ranks at the top for educational standards as a beacon that other universities look towards as a model. Ironically, the president has not always been so forward thinking, apparently three years ago Lawrence Summers the Harvard president made a comment about girls' "intrinsic aptitude" for math and the sciences. This article discusses how this stereotype has no backing. I did think it was interesting how there was a Barbie that said "math class is tough," I wonder if this toy had any psychological impacts on the little girls that played with this doll? Do you think that they could have been preconditioned to believe that they would struggle with the class? Overall, how do opinions of well respected men such as Summers shape girls expectations and performance? As well as other people's outlook? Now, I think we can expect to read an article that girls don't have any genetic advantage over males in the English and literature section. I enjoyed reading this article as I am more gifted in the math/sciences and my brother in English and that type, teachers have always commented to my mom about this.

Women of the Land girls receive WWII Honors.

I was looking on the BBC website the other day, and I came across an interesting story about women in Britain during WWII. Early this week, women, who served as Land girls, received honors from the British government for their service. What are Land girls, you ask? They worked in agricultural type jobs while the men were away fighting in the war. The Land girls were founded at the start of the war in 1939 and disbanded in 1950. If it wasn’t for these women, a lot of British soldiers would have gone hungry in campaigns in Africa and later in Western Europe. More than 80,000 women dug ditches, sowing seeds, and harvesting crops. But, the Land girls were disbanded after the men return, and they were pretty much forgotten about until their service was recognized.

To find out more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7517821.stm

Modern "Witch-hunting"

I recently read an article by the Feminist Majority foundation which is an organization that works for the equality of women. This article was both interesting and scary. As crazy as this may sound this kind of thing still exists. Witch-hunting, though it may seem historic and ancient, in some countries this type of thing actually still exists. Recently there has been an increase in the number of news stories covering the killing of women accused of witchcraft. This fanatical phenomena is happening specifically in Asia and Kenya. It is kind of hard to believe that a practice so historic and unbelievably scary is still affecting women today. The witch-hunting is particularly affecting the women in India. The foundation reports that each year dozens of women in India are killed for being "witches and practicing black magic." Just in May of 2008, in India, a woman was gagged, beaten and burned to death just from being accused of practicing witchcraft. Another woman was tied to a tree and beaten by a mob after a man hired her to use "magic and prayer to improve his wife's health" but accused her of being a witch when his wife's health deteriorated. This strange phenomena is sadly not only happening in India, but in Kenya, Africa as well. Shockingly in the very same month (May) eight women and three men were killed when a mob dragged them from their homes and burned each of the 11 victims individually. According to the BBC, villagers found a book belonging to the victims along with "minutes" from a "witches meeting." How sad is this. Women have come so far only to still have to endure injustices such as these every day. Unfortunately the article doesnt say anything about what is being done to prevent this type of thing from occuring. Below I am posting a link to a site that talks about witchcraft in the Islam societies. Figured this would be a good link since we are finishing up Infidel.



http://wamiqjawaid.blogspot.com/2006/05/economics-of-witch-craft-in-islamic.html

Men's Abortion Rights?

I remembered earlier when we were talking about abortion and women's reproductive rights, we mentioned how if a women has the right to chose to have an abortion shouldn't a man have the right to have his opinion heard as well? I came across this article talking about just this; Men's abortion rights. The article talks about how, in many cases, women experience emotional and physical distress after having an abortion. New studies that have been conducted have shown men who, after their babies were aborted, also experienced distress. The article states that "anti-abortion advocates suggest "lost fatherhood" can lead to domestic violence and an addiction to sex.". It seems Ohio legislators are attempting to pass a bill that "seeks to give a man the legal right to decide whether or not the woman he impregnates should get an abortion and would make it mandatory for all women to have the written consent of "the father of the fetus" before she can go forward with the procedure". Even though many people believe that this bill will never be passed, what do you think of the possibility of this becoming a new law?


http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/menandabortion.html

World News - Europe - International Herald Tribune

I hope this link works. As we move into reading about Europe, I found this story last week about "Sworn Virgins" in Albania to be very interesting. "The ritual was a form of self-empowerment for rural women living in a desperately poor and macho country that was cut off from mainstream Europe for decades under a Stalinist dictatorship."

I had not heard of this tradition of women swearing an oath to remain virgins in order to become the head of the house. This tradition enabled and sometimes forced a young woman (18-20) to become the decision maker in their family. This tradition says that a woman can become the decision maker for their family if there is not a living son or the male family member has died. If there is not a "man" to make family decisions, the remaining family could lose their home and would not be able to sustain themselves. When a woman becomes a "Sworn Virgin" she becomes the man of the family. She cuts her hair, wears only mens clothes, holds a man's job and is respected/treated as a man.

"Stripping off their sexuality by pledging to remain virgins was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life," says Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina in Kosovo. "It was about surviving in a world where men rule."

There is a video interview with one of the remaining "Sworn Virgins." She discusses her life and decisions she has made. She does not regret becoming a "man" because of the freedoms she has enjoyed. Her only regret as she ages is not having someone to share her life with.

While this is extreme, it is somewhat forward thinking. I wondered about the thought process that went into creating this tradition. We have been talking about equality and feminism, this holds a different idea all together. Equality is there as an underlying idea as long as the woman appears as a man. These women are giving respect and the opportunity to work side by side with other men and earn the same wages as long as she appears as a man. Some of my questions include: Why the change in appearance? Does living like a man change how a "sworn virgin" would make family decisions? Is this for safety of the women or it is to keep the men superior to women? Since she is the "man" of the family, does the family name die with her? What happens with a female family member has a son?

Here is the link to the story: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/23/europe/virgins.php
World News - Europe - International Herald Tribune (under the multi-media section is a video interview)

African Aid Package?

I've been working on a brochure for an organization I am a part of called ROW Kids that helps to improve the education of children in places like Vietnam, Kenya, Belize, and Guatemala and I came across an initiative that President Bush announced three years ago, promising a $55 million program to three-year program to "help combat sexual violence against women and improve their health and legal status in four African countries". Anyone know if anything was ever accomplished with this initiative to help women? I have tried to find articles and information telling how this money helped and where it went, but I can find nothing. I also don't really understand how money helps to improve women's legal status'.

Article with Initiative:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/26922.php

Abuse in Kenya maternal wards

Since we are on the "women in Africa" unit I thought this would be a great blog. For the past 20 years Joyce Atieno, 38, has been getting out of bed at various times during the night or day to deliver another baby into the world. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya. In a city that's full of "predatory quacks and counterfeit pharmaceuticals," Atieno is a trained birth attendant who has been giving her services for free. Recently, however, she no longer provides her free service. This recent change has stemmed from violence against women in labor by Kenya's health care facilities. Though there are rumors of many scandals and numerous investigations there has been no improvement in Kenya's healthcare system. In 2006 a patient was turned away because she did not have the $45 required for admission. The mother was then referred to a private clinic who again turned her away for lack of money. Atieno assisted in the birth and attempted to tie the placenta shockingly with a piece of twine retrieved from the gutter. Unfortunately it was too late and both mother and baby died. Joyce Atieno's opposition to the Kenya's healthcare system grew when the next incident hit too close to home. Later this same year Atieno's 25 year old daughter died on the doorstep of a public health facility where her husband worked. The excuse was that the facility was unable to handle her daughter's complications and the ambulance was out of gas. In another case a male clinician who was supposed to be stitching up a women who had received a tear during birth instead took a pair of scissors and genitally mutilated the female patient. The male clinician was investigated but the case was dismissed for lack of sufficient grounds. Genital mutilation was outlawed in 2001 but it still practiced and little is done to completely stop it. According to the World Health Organization, of the 536,000 deaths caused by maternal complications, 533,000 of those deaths occur in sub-saharan Africa. The problem is that many African countries lack the funding and health facilities to provide care for pregnant women. Hope is still to come because Kenya will receive $500 million in health aid from the Uniteds States this year.

Mothers roles in Prison Sanity

This tuesday, July 22nd, I took a tour of Perry Correctional Institution for a course I am in. This is considered a medium/high security prison. Before we could begin the tour we were given quite an intimidating introduction. First, there were a set of rules such as where our hands should be, not talking, no communication, in a line, and girls between the guys. The part that blew my mind was our tour guides were five of the inmates in there.
After first hand experiencing their lack of privacy and freedom, we were asked to sit down and talk to the inmates and ask them questions. They began by introducing themselves (first name bases only due to security purposes) and telling us their crimes and life history. I was dumbfounded as one of then was in for murder, another for drug trafficking, another for attempted murder, and others. These people have been here for atleast 9 or more years and have many more to go.
What broke my heart is the way they talked about their mothers being their best support. Fathers were included in these conversations, but some of them were in jail themselves. Most of the mentors were mothers or other motherly figures. One of them even mentioned, "My girlfriend, my friends (homies), the cars, the house, the money does not come visit me here and will not be there when I get out, but my mother will."
I just wanted to take this oppurtunity to thank the mothers of the world and women in general. They will never give up on their children, no matter what. I also want to mention that this love and dedication is what keeps the inmates going with a ray of hope. So keep it coming; it might help us make a better society...

Iranian Fashion

After reading Persepolis, I started to wonder about the dress of the Iranian women when I came across and interesting article from 2007. It's some what like the article that Krutika found on the women from the polygamous sect that started their own clothing line, but involves Iranian fashion. In 2007 for the first time they have allowed Iranian models to walk the runway in their traditional dress, but they've put a little twist on it. Using bright colors and different fabrics, they've tried to make their dress brighter and more attractive. Many people are not happy with the new changes and feel that the younger generation was never "properly educated". I thought it was a interesting article and it reminded me a little of Marji in Persepolis with her jean jacket, Michael Jackson pin, and Nike tennis shoes!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6213854.stm

The Raise Project

I was reading up on many different articles to see women that have had successes in the business world and ran along this article on women in science, research, and acedemics. I was fascinated by this article on a thing called The RAISE Project which is a program of the Society for Women’s Health Research. They try to work in helping women gain respect in fields such as engineering, medicine, and science. This article interested me because I am a packaging science major which is considered an engineering degree and the other schools that offer this major. The main goal of the RAISE Projectis to give scholarships to women and make women aware of scholarships they may not have known about. I think it's a wonderful program that is out there giving women the opportunities that they may not have know about. The article gives alot of good statistics on the amount of rewards given to women in respect to men. I just think this article is great and has a lot of good information. There is also a link to the RAISE project website as well if you have any interest in reading about what it is all about.

http://www.womenshealthresearch.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7701

final project example

I wanted to give an example of what I had in mind for a final project. The following video was done by my friend Sophie under (purple@not.priv.at) creative commons license. She created it this summer using Adobe Premiere, with some of the photo work done with Adobe Photoshop. I think this is a really stellar example of what a gender-based video project might be. Now, Sophie is clearly very talented, and you may not have as much experience with this sort of project, so I understand that the quality of your final project might not be at this level. But, though short (which is okay), she packs a lot of meaning and ideas here. [Note: I had to compress the video to upload it here -- shouldn't really effect quality, just size]

As always, feel free to ask questions of me, or Sophie, and let's hear your thoughts!

Female bishops in the Church of England...

Well, since WAC8 deals with women and religion, I thought it would be important to point out a story I saw on the news the other day pertaining to merry ole England. Hundreds of Anglican traditionalists threaten to leave the church if safeguards were not put up to hinder women becoming bishops. Women have been allowed to become priests in the church since 1994. And, it wasn’t until the beginning of this month that the "woman bishop" debate began to heat up. The traditionalists argue that Jesus only wanted men in leadership positions, and with women now being allowed to become bishops maybe by 2014, bishops threaten to leave the Church of England for the Church of Rome. Traditionalists, who want to combat women bishops, propose creating a new breed of bishop…oh, yes, the dreaded SUPER BISHOP. Now, I don’t know much about these “super bishops,” but I do know that they are faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and their only weakness is not kryptonite but the thought of women becoming bishops. OH NO. These proposed super bishops will, of course, outrank women bishops. Thus, continuing male dominance in the Church of England.

Will Super bishops defeat women bishops? Will this posting be a slight bit funny?…tune in next time same bishop-time, same bishop-channel…seriously, find out more at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/07/anglicanism.religion

Iranian Legislation

Since reading Ch 8 in WAC on religion and discovering I really don't know much about other faiths other than knowing their names and some very basic ideas, I thought I would try to educate myself further. So I turned to the internet and started reading some of the religious websites. I came across the following article and was appalled at what I read:

"Iran: Death to non-Muslims http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=179068

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 7/17/2008 10:00:00 AM

Lawmakers in Iran are considering a proposal to make the death penalty automatic for those who leave the Muslim faith.

Abe Ghafari of Iranian Christians International, Inc. (ICI) was at least a little surprised to learn the news. "Before, it was like an option that an Islamic judge could decide to use or not to use -- but now it will become an automatic thing. And from the language of the legislation, it seems like something that cannot be appealed," Ghafari contends.

The death penalty would primarily apply to those who convert to the Christian faith. "There are large numbers of conversions from Islam, maybe even in the tens of thousands every year, and this is causing concern in the Islamic circles in Iran," Ghafari explains.

People who use the Internet to convert people away from the Muslim faith will also be subject to the death penalty. Ghafari was asked if this information shocked him. "Yes, it does a bit because we do know that under Islamic law of Iran, there was always this option of issuing death penalties for any conversions from Islam. So this was already available, but it looks like they just want to escalate persecution – making the death penalty almost automatic for anyone who converts from Islam," Ghafari adds.

While Christians are the primary target, anyone converting to the Bahá'í faith will also face the death penalty. Ghafari sees trouble ahead, and is hopeful Christians everywhere will pray for the underground church in Iran.

Information on legislation provided by ICI about Iranian apostasy and the death penalty is available here."

Here is the link to the IRANIAN DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION FOR APOSTASY http://www.iranchristians.org/conference.shtml
Here is the Article that addresses women in the legislation:

"Article 225-10: Punishment for women, whether Innate or Parental, is life imprisonment and during the sentence, under the guidance of the court, hardship will be exercised on her, and she will be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant, and if she recants she will be freed immediately."

There are no specific articles regarding just men. An thoughts? My brother-in-law (Jordanian) and sister could be imprisoned because they converted to Catholicism.

Note: The condition of hardship will be determined according to the religious laws.

can governments and reproductive rights mix? should they?

Our discussion of reproductive rights and freedoms has elicited some passionate expression in our discussion boards. Most recently, we've expressed some pride at and happiness over our reproductive rights, particularly in light of governmental control, such as that demonstrated in the one-child policy of China.

But today I saw the following article in the New York Times (from 15 July -- this is what I get for not reading the news every day):
Abortion Proposal Sets Condition on Aid
The policy demands that health care providers and organizations do not discriminate against (potential) employees who oppose abortion and/or other methods of contraception. This, in and of itself, is not necessarily problematic as a non-discrimination clause. However, this policy also offers a very broad definition of abortion. According to the NYTimes:

The proposal defines abortion as follows: “any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

The key terms in question here are the following: "the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation." This definition would then classify other methods of birth control, including oral contraceptives, emergency contraception (Plan B), and IUDs, as methods of abortion.

I am not drawing clear lines between this policy and that of China, but this is certainly a very specific move by the government into/onto women's bodies. This is also not a new move from this administration (see, for example, discussion of the Global Gag rule imposed on USAID -- a Google search offers a number of sources).

So...thoughts?

Here is a link to another article on the subject:
Salon.com -- Health proposal rankles Democrats

And one (very liberal source) to a report on other related moves by the Bush administration:
National Women's Law Center updates on the Bush administration's anti-reproductive rights record

slave tag histories

I was interested in trying to found information regarding Bethany's discussion board post about slavery markings. I came across an interesting project a high school English teacher, Betsy Neurauter, conducted in 2006 with some of students (6th-12th graders). The idea for this project, "The Slave Tag Project," came after a trip to Des Moines, IA were Neurauter was treasure hunting with a friend. She came across a tag with markings of an 1800s slave tag. Later that summer she found a second tag in Princeton. Her idea was to return the tags to their rightful owner.

Through their research efforts the kids came across some interesting information:
1. "Authentic tags were extremely rare"
2. "Slave tags were made from 1800 to 1864, but only in Charleston, S.C., and one of its suburbs, Charleston Neck."
3. "Slaves wore them to show they could work outside their master's residence and that they'd paid their wage taxes to the government, said expert Rich Hartzog of Rockford, who operates www.exonumia.com."
4. "They learned more about slavery and authentic slave tags, how some slaves literally earned their freedom by working these outside jobs."
5. "They learned that while the tags were unique to the Charleston area, the concept of allowing slaves to work and earn their own money was not. And much of the records have been lost or destroyed over the years. They also learned about "fantasy" tags, replicas that are sometimes advertised as duplicates and sometimes purported to be real, Hartzog said. Some are collected knowingly by people who cannot afford genuine tags, which run for $2,000 to more than $10,000 each, he said. Some are purchased by people who believe they are buying the genuine article, he said."

While the students found their tags to be replicas or "fantasy" tags, they learned about US History and our ancestors involvement in the slave trades. I commend this teacher for challenging these students to find the truth (facts) regarding these tags. One student researcher, Monica Guio said, "The concept of slavery in our history is interesting because we overcame it eventually. It's interesting to see how our culture develops." I hope these young researchers continue to question what they hear and read.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=56165

Aids gel: good news for women

This is an interesting article about a gel that researchers have come up with that might possibly protect women from the infection. It is however safe to use. The gel uses the drug, Viread, sold by Gilead Sciences Inc.

There was a meeting of AIDS researchers in India and involved 200 sexually-active HIV-negative women in the US and India. It is a microbicide (gel or creams) that can be applied vaginally or anally to prevent transmission of HIV that causes AIDS.

There are many other ones that were tested and were unsuccessful like Carraguard, Nonoxynol-9, and Ushercell.

According to the United Nations Agency UNAIDS, 46% of the 33.2 million affected are women.

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20080225104811465C361147

Here is more information on the article. The news is kind of old, but I thought it went well with our class.

Men working signs are disappearing around Atlanta

I was watching the news the other day and a interesting story came on about how women had protested the "Men Working" road construction signs around Atlanta Ga. Well, Georgia's department of transportation decided to change the signs to "Workers Ahead." What do y'all think about this. In my opinion, I think it is good, I guess, that roadside around Atlanta are now more gender friendly. But, then again, does it really matter? Either way it is conveying the same message: "Don't hit the people on the side of the road." I think there are more pressing issues to women other than roadsides. But, this is only my humble opinion...

For more information:http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/07/09/men_working_signs_atlanta.html

gender identification and facebook

The following blog post from Facebook was brought to my attention today. Particularly in light of our recent readings about Mary Daly (with some discussion of the importance of language/word choice in interpretation), seemed like an interesting discussion point.

He/She/They: Grammar and Facebook.

by Naomi Gleit Friday, June 27, 2008 at 1:37am

As Facebook grows in other languages, we are learning a lot about what the "Facebook Experience" is like for people around the world. One of the first challenges was getting words that are really long in other languages to fit on the screen properly. Recently, we've been figuring out how to deal with a new challenge—grammar.

Ever see a story about a friend who tagged "themself" in a photo? "Themself" isn't even a real word. We've used that in place of "himself or herself". We made that grammatical choice in order to respect people who haven't, until now, selected their sex on their profile.

However, we've gotten feedback from translators and users in other countries that translations wind up being too confusing when people have not specified a sex on their profiles. People who haven't selected what sex they are frequently get defaulted to the wrong sex entirely in Mini-Feed stories.

For this reason, we've decided to request that all Facebook users fill out this information on their profile. If you haven't yet selected a sex, you will probably see a prompt to choose whether you want to be referred to as "him" or "her" in the coming weeks. When you make a selection, that will appear in Mini-Feed and News Feed stories about you, but it won't be searchable or displayed in your Basic Information.

We've received pushback in the past from groups that find the male/female distinction too limiting. We have a lot of respect for these communities, which is why it will still be possible to remove gender entirely from your account, including how we refer to you in Mini-Feed.

We hope this change will make the Facebook experience even better across the world. Let us know if you have any thoughts about this on our suggestions page.

Naomi is a Product Manager at Facebook.

So, indeed, let Facebook know your thoughts, if you'd like, but most certainly share them with us!

How must women behave?

While the tide of our class has mostly been moving in the direction of women's activism and positive ambitions to help themselves and their communities, I thought it would be a good time to look at a women exhibiting opposing behavior.

I found this article at the Washington Post website (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502018.html?hpid=topnews), to summarize the article a former driver of Al-Queda being held at Guantanamo Bay, accused a female interrogator of using unfair tactics by acting sexually suggestive.

Her behavior is potentially detrimental to the feminist movement, because she fails to show how women can use their brains and be empowered. Instead she just showed how women can use their bodies to get their way with men. However, is there a possibility that this could be a successful interrogation technique? Based on her results with the driver I would say that it is clearly. In the previous post about Iranian women, one thing that they wanted was dignity which I do not believe is gained from sexually suggestive behavior.

Overall, I was just wondering what people thought about reports like this and this behavior affects women globally?

Women's Activist in Iran

I was looking in the news and found an article about women's activists in Iran called "No Dignity, no Justice". This past Saturday, June 12 was the anniversary of the National Day of Solidarity of Iranian Women. On June 12, 2005 "thousands of Iranian women gathered in front of the Tehran University and demanded changes to the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran." Many women's activists groups protested to change discriminatory laws against women and girls. The Iranian woman's activists rights chose this day as the National Day of Solidarity. It stated in the article that "many consider this day to be the day the women’s movement declared her independent existence and identity as a social movement." But what I found most interesting was that since June, 2006 Iranian women are being arrested, harassed, and put in prison for their actions towards the women's movement. The government is breaking up private meetings at houses, blocking blogs on women's activist sights and much more. It's really sad to see how hard these women are trying to make a change in their lives and the lives of their future generation, and they are constantly shut down by men and their government. I found this article really moving and interesting. I hope you all enjoy it!


http://womennewsnetwork.net/2008/06/24/iran-arrests-globalreport801/

A remarkable gift: The tale of two sisters and a baby

A remarkable gift: The tale of two sisters and a baby

This is an article that I read this morning in Anderosn Independent Mail, the local Anderson newspaper. I thought it would go well with our current discussion about pregnancy and women's choices.

It is about Susie Smith, who is 38 and has been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. She is unable to conceive even after trying for 15 years. It is an ironic situation, because Susie and her husband, Brian have always been family people and they were more than upset about this.

All through Susie's countless appointments, considering many options like adoption and after a hope-ending hysterectomy, Susie finally realized that her dream might not be possible.

But there was a ray of hope. Susie's sister, Lisa, who was already a mother of 3, offered to carry the baby for her sister. She understood the Smith's desperate need for a family and discussed it with her own. After convincing Susie that this was a good choice, everyone decided to go ahead with in vitro fertilization. Although there were a lot of risks involved, the joy that they might parent a child was what kept the Smith's faith going. Now, Lisa is due the second week of August and after years of trying, the Smith's seem to finally find happiness.

They have decided to name the baby, Jake Thomas Smith and have already built and decorated his room. Here is the article -
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/jul/12/remarkable-gift-tale-two-sisters-and-baby/

P.S. - I just wanted to point out that for a small city like Anderson, this kind of technology and the willingness to try this is a major step.

Sisters working their way out of poverty

I am personally a huge fan of tennis especially females in tennis because it is such a great sport and it takes so much training and heart to work your way to the top. If anyone follows tennis at all they would know that Wimbeldon just ended earlier this week and to me something great happened. American women won both the singles and doubles championship. These American women are better know as the Williams sisters. Not only did Venus and Serena end up having to play eachother for the final early in the day but after Serena lost to Venus they had to play together for the doubles championship. Playing two huge games in one day and coming out victorious just amazes me. These two young women have overcome so much hardship growing up in a bad area and being taught tennis by their father on local public courts shows how great these women are. I think that these women are perfect examples of just how great any women can be. They have overcome many bad things only to come out on top as champions. They are a great inspiration to all young girls striving to become great. Not only are they champions on the court but they are also champions off the court with many charity organizations. So I just thought if anyone wanted to do some light reading here is a little article on Venus from Wimbeldon.

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2008-07-05/200807051215279910743.html

Rigoberta Menchu

After reading "I, Rigoberta Menchu," I wondered about Menchu's life now. So I did a goggle search on her name. Granted I wasn't looking for anything specific and thought I would probably only find information about this book. I was surprised to read she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. But what shocked me the most was the following story: (Now I grasp Amanda's question about how trustworthy I found Menchu)

"Fraudulent Storyteller Still Praised by Dinesh D’Souza" http://www.boundless.org/1999/departments/isms/a0000074.html

"I confess to having been mildly embarrassed when Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemalan political activist and author of I, Rigoberta Menchu, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. The Chronicle of Higher Education called the very day her prize was announced and reminded me that in my book Illiberal Education the year before, I had harshly criticized Menchu’s autobiography as a sadly typical example of the bogus multi-cultural agitprop that was displacing the Western classics on the reading lists for undergraduates at elite universities like Stanford.

“Now that Rigoberta has won the Nobel Prize,” the reporter asked, “what is your reaction?”

“All I can say,” I replied, “is that I am relieved she didn’t win for literature.”

For Rigoberta, the Nobel Prize proved to be a canonization in both senses of the term. This obscure Indian woman who published her 1983 autobiography when she was still in her mid ‘20s, suddenly received worldwide recognition as a leftist icon — a modern-day Saint Sebastian, pierced by the arrows of racist discrimination and colonial exploitation. She received several honorary doctorates and in 1992 was nominated as a United Nations goodwill ambassador and special representative of indigenous peoples. Her book, haled as a first-person account of Guatemalan bigotry and brutality against native Indians, spread from cutting-edge curricula like Stanford’s to become part of the canon of required and frequently assigned readings in high schools and universities around the globe.

Then, just last week, the New York Times revealed that much of I, Rigoberta Menchu is a fabrication. Times reporter Larry Rohter corroborated the research of an American anthropologist, David Stoll, whose interview with over a hundred people and archival research during the past decade led him to conclude that Rigoberta’s story “cannot be the eyewitness account it purports to be.”

For example, in one of the most moving scenes in the book, Rigoberta describes how she watched her brother Nicolas die of malnutrition. But the New York Times found Nicolas alive and well enough to be running a relatively prosperous homestead in a Guatemalan village. According to members of Rigoberta’s own family, as well as residents of her village, she also fabricated her account of how a second brother was burned alive by army troops as her parents were forced to watch..."

With this revelation how do you feel about the book? How much of the content do you believe? Do you feel victimized by Menchu's conscious deception? While her personal life stories have been proven false, do you think her stories reflect the general treatment of women and Indians in Guatemala?

Why did she feel the need to falsify her life story, surely there we true accounts she could have told. In her own words (I, Rigoberta Menchu, pg 1)"This is my testimony. I didn't learn it from a book and I didn't learn it alone. I'd like to stress that it's not only my life, it's also the testimony of my people."

Wordnet defines testimony as: "# S: (n) testimony (a solemn statement made under oath)
# S: (n) testimony (an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact) "according to his own testimony he can't do it"
# S: (n) testimony, testimonial (something that serves as evidence) "his effort was testimony to his devotion"

My initial thoughts about this book are now warped. While I believe the struggles the Indians endured, I would have rather had an accurate account. As the article concludes with the following: "Rigoberta Menchu has all along been a willing and crafty accomplice in this cultural transaction. With extraordinary canniness, she presented herself in her autobiography as the consummate victim, a quadruple victim of oppression. She is a person of color, and thus a victim of racism. She is a woman, and thus a victim of sexism. She is a Latin American, and thus a victim of European and North American colonialism. She is an Indian, and thus victimized by the Latino ruling class of Latin America." How do you feel about her canniness?

dance dance revolution

This post is less gender-based (though we can of course draw some connections/conclusions), more comment on the global. I ran across an interesting article in the NYTimes this morning: "A Private Dance? Four Million Web Fans Say No", by Charles McGrath. This chronicles the popularity of a video simply called "Dancing," created by Matt Harding. Harding traveled the world doing an odd little dance, videoing his performance (solo and with others -- including a beach full of crabs) and publishing it for, well, the world to see. Read the article for more details on Harding and this creation.

I'm not usually swayed by such things, but decided to take a look. I concur with McGrath's summary of the piece: "it’s short, pleasingly weird and so minimal in its content that it’s open to a multitude of interpretations." And this, finally, is what I'm most interested in.

How do we interpret this? Is it a pleasing example of globalization? An apolitical "We are the World" for the 21st century? Is there something inherently problematic in an American traveling the world (with the help of Stride gum), capturing different cultures on camera in this way? Does the fact that this American is a white male make any difference (or, if this were a Native American woman, how might our interpretation change? would it?)? Are there issues of consent -- do the bushmen of New Guinea know in what they are participating? Does that matter? How does the technology, the new media, contribute to the equation? This has over four million views on youtube alone -- what does this tell us?

Clearly the questions can continue -- so let's discuss. But first, take a look:

**Just to complicate this a touch more, I found myself smiling throughout the video -- I do like dancing -- though I was also, at times, quite bothered.

Black Women in Latin America

I just returned home this weekend from two weeks in Belize doing mission work. Over the years of doing mission work there I have realize that it is one of the most diverse places. There are people of Chinese descent, Caribbean descent, Mexican, Guatemalan refugees, Menonnites, Amish, and from so many other places. We worked at a school these two weeks and I became very close to one of the young teachers at the school. She is originally from Jamaica but moved with her family to Belize when she was a teenager. I began telling her about this class and she showed me an article that hit home for her. She said that her family members (women) have been discriminated for being both black and poor, but through a sponsorship to get her teaching degree she has been able to escape some aspects of this discrimination.

"A study by the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW), another of the panel’s organisers, found that indigenous women experience access to resources and positions of power in a different way from non-indigenous men and women.
Women account for nearly 60 percent of the 50 million indigenous people in Latin America and the Caribbean, and they face triple discrimination: as women, as indigenous people and as poor people, the study says. This year the Regional Conference on Women is focussing on the contribution of women to the economy and social protection, particularly through unpaid work, and on political participation and gender parity.
On the subject of political participation by women, in addition to reforming electoral systems with affirmative action measures, a number of aspects of political culture which produce discriminatory bias must be changed, says another study presented on Tuesday by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The necessary changes should address unequal access to financing, the unequal influence of social networks, and the unjust use of time which demands that women focus on reproductive work (repetitive chores like cleaning, cooking and caring for children and the elderly), the ECLAC study says.
The emergence of women leaders in the region, the increasingly autonomous electoral behaviour of women, and the female vote in favour of women candidates are part of the new democratic scenario, says the ECLAC study on "Women’s Contribution to Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38847

Google Deal with Brazil to fight Child Porn

While reading the news today, I came across this Google deal with Brazil http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25514386/. Since I work in the technology field and maintain websites for our office, I found it interesting and encouraging that corporate America would make such a bold move as to sign an accord helping Brazil crack down on child porn.

"Google said it was the first such agreement that the company had signed and the firm believes it is the first internationally. Alexandre Hohagen, president of Google in Brazil, told a congressional committee, 'It's an historic day not only for Brazil but for the Internet in the entire world.'"


As we move into discussions about violence and sex crimes against women, Google's agreement to assist Brazil in their efforts to combat the issues of sexual crimes/abuse against children is a great first step. Hopefully, Google and other search engines will continue to monitor and assist in this effort.

I was reading the yahoo news today and found this article. I actually have followed this story in the news for a while and was amazed at some of the extreme accusations. I do not know if the story is all true or false or even the extent of the situation, but found this article interesting

"Women from Texas polygamous sect launch clothing line"

"Women from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who were called upon to make clothes en masse for the children taken into state custody, have now turned their skills to commerce and launched an online shop."

This statement to me shows one aspect of feminism -

"The austere dresses with long-sleeves and high collars, loose-fitting pants, long-johns and modest blouses worn by members of the sect are reminiscent of 19th century American pioneers and highlighted the sect's isolation.

But with the children returned to their legal guardians following a court ruling in May, the sect's members are turning their hand to providing their distinctive clothes to the general public -- and the demand appears strong."

Even though polygamy is illegal, these women showed the world that they care for their children by making clothes for them, display history through their design, and most importantly show the world that their culture is very special to them and its their choice.

The demand statement shows that there are people that are supporting them.

I just thought this was an interesting perspective of looking at things and does not portray anyone's beliefs.

the power of the (first) lady

As the presidential race heats up in the US, the potential first ladies become a greater topic of discussion (though their impact throughout the campaigns has been notable -- and I am a bit sad to not include "first gentleman" here, too).

On 2 July, The New York Times published an article by Larry Rohter on the death of a different and influential first lady -- Ruth Vilaça Corrêa Leite Cardoso, ex-first lady of Brazil. Rohter begins simply, yet offers us a strong impression:

Ruth Vilaça Corrêa Leite Cardoso, a Brazilian anthropologist who carved out a career as one of her country’s most respected intellectuals and feminists before rather reluctantly becoming its first lady, died June 24 at her home in São Paulo. She was 77.

Though we'll begin our class discussing sexual violence and exploitation, particularly in relation to Latin American women, I thought it might be nice to begin our blog with the story of a powerful, educated woman. Take a look at the article by following the link above. You can also read more about Cardoso through this Wikipedia article.