05/14/08
Great News!
This is very good news for rape victims everywhere:
Yahoo! Anonymous rape tests are going nationwide
Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.
The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples.
What makes a Jane Doe rape kit different is that it is sealed with only a number on the outside of the envelope to identify the victim. Police do not open the envelope unless the victim decides to press charges.
The FBI has recommended such an option since at least 1999.
"The idea is to collect the evidence now, while it's still there," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the national Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.
[...]
"Many times, you have people who were drunk, maybe doing drugs, maybe they're underage, and you start talking about the police and they get scared," Bean said. "So, sometimes it's not until long after they're willing to report, at which point of course any physical evidence is gone."
The article also states that according to the U.S. Justic Department, 272,350 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 alone. Dear God.
:: Share this Post ::
05/12/08
MySpace Ads
I am seriously thinking about boycotting MySpace because I am very offended by this. I don't need to see this when I login.
:: Share this Post ::05/05/08
Abortion of Females in India
There is an article in the New York Times about abortion of females in India. Here is a quote that I found interesting:
In his first speech on the subject, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighted an “alarming” decline in the number of girls for every 1,000 boys in India, slipping to 927 in 2001 from 962 in 1981, according to the latest census figures. “This indicates that growing economic prosperity and education levels have not led to a corresponding mitigation in this acute problem,” he said.
“No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women,” Mr. Singh said, giving an inaugural speech at a national conference dedicating to “saving the girl child,” which brought together politicians, doctors and advocates.
What can you say about things like this? It happens in other countries as well; in fact, young Chinese men are dealing with an epidemic of not being able to find wives.
There are no words to describe how angry it makes me that people want only sons. How do they expect the human race to survive? Why are men valued so much more than women? Men could not reproduce without us, so where is the sense in this?
I wonder about the unreported story as well - how many women are pressured to abort girls, or who do so because they fear their husband's reactions. I am not saying that women are innocent.. indeed, I am sure there are many mothers who do not want daughters. But there have to be some cases of pressure, of having few choices in society.
:: Share this Post ::05/03/08
New word of the week
04:56:44 pm, Categories: Random Thoughts, 86 words, by Ken I promise I will do a real post soon, but I have a new word I wanted to share. It came about because I was doing a livejournal posting on the differences between women's and men's posts in "missed connections" on Craigslist and I realized that ninety percent of the posts were M4W or W4M. Of course, I had to pretend to be all clinical in my description of the mating habits of the: heterosapiens.
That's my new word, heterosapien. It just seemed fitting.
:: Share this Post ::04/28/08
Playboy Line at Hot Topic
So I get this email from the store Hot Topic. I don't know if any of you ever shop there but it sells clothes that are supposed to be punk, goth, emo, rocker basically alternative clothes for those that don’t want to be Barbie/Ken dolls and shop at places like Express and Bebe. The email says "Introducing Playboy Exposed, A Hot Topic Exclusive." So Hot Topic, a store supposedly for those that are rejects of mainstream society is now selling a whole line of playboy (which now couldn't be anymore mainstream and glamorized) featured clothes.
So yes, now even alternative guys and gals can enjoy the playboy culture that saturates America. Whoo hoo!
:: Share this Post ::Sunday
So yesterday on my day off I decided to go to a water park with my friend and her sister. My mom called me as I was leaving and I told her where I'd been. She asked me "Where's Aaron" (my boyfriend) I told her he was at home. "Oh," she said. "Why didn't he go with you?" I explained to her that he doesn't really enjoy swimming/water and that I was going with my friend and her sister so I didn't really think to invite him. In her next breath her voice got soft and she said "Are you guys having problems?"
Somewhat exasperated I explained to her that no, we weren't having problems, that Sunday is my day off not Aaron's and I wanted to do something fun. After she was assured that I just wanted to hang out with my friends, not leave Aaron, she dropped the subject.
I thought it was interesting how just because I chose to hang out with a friend instead of my boyfriend my mom assumed we were having problems. She assumed because I am in a relationship that any free time I have should be spent with my partner.
This reminded me of high school where when many of my friends got boyfriends, they immediately ditched me to hang out with them. Even my best friend who I had been close with for years started spending every weekend and day after school with her boyfriend instead of me when they started going out. If I ever hung out with her then it was because her boyfriend was busy.
This is a negative side of relationships for all sexes’ not just women. I am sure plenty of men stop hanging out with their friends for their partners/girlfriends (and then many of them are referred to with negative slang such as "pussywhipped" or with the "ball and chain."
It's unfortunate because a lot of times we miss out on things with friends/family members/co-workers ect. because we are socialized to make romantic relationships the center of our lives and consider all other relationships secondary.
:: Share this Post ::04/24/08
Random Literary Quotation
10:07:22 am, Categories: Random Thoughts, 108 words, by Ken I picked up Jean Rhys' Good Morning Midnight again and started leafing through. I had forgotten about this book entirely, but after just half a page I realized that my school assignments suddenly had some serious competition for attention. One paragraph in particular stood out as quotable:
"And did I mind? Not at all, not at all. If you think I minded, then you've never lived like that, plunged in a dream, when all the faces are masks and only the trees are alive and you can almost see the strings that are pulling the puppets. Close-up of human nature -- isn't it worth something?"
Thought I would share.
:: Share this Post ::random quote
04/23/08
Children's Book on Plastic Surgery
From Newsweek:
:: Share this Post ::When she was pregnant with her son Junior, who turns nine this month, Gabriela Acosta ballooned from 115 pounds to 196. Acosta lost the weight but wound up with stretched, saggy skin. Even her son noticed it. He told her that her stomach looked "pruney," the result, he thought, of staying in the shower too long. So the 29-year-old stay-at-home mom scheduled a consultation with Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Bal Harbour, Fla.
Acosta told Salzhauer that she wasn't sure how to talk to her son about the procedures she was considering. That's when he showed her the manuscript for his children's picture book, "My Beautiful Mommy" (Big Tent Books), out this Mother's Day. It features a perky mother explaining to her child why she's having cosmetic surgery (a nose job and tummy tuck). Naturally, it has a happy ending: mommy winds up "even more" beautiful than before, and her daughter is thrilled.
The reassuring tale helped win Acosta over—she scheduled breast augmentation and a tummy tuck. Since February, when she had the surgery, she and Junior have read the book a half dozen times, and she says it helped him feel excited rather than scared. "I didn't want him to think [the surgery] was because I was hurting. It was to make me feel good," she says.
That message seems to have gotten through. Instead of being uncomfortable about the surgery, Acosta says her son actually spoke up about it at a big party. "Did you see her new belly button? It's so pretty!" he said of his mom. "I think he was proud," she says.
What's the market for a children's picture book about moms getting cosmetic surgery? No one specifically tracks the number of tummy-tuck-and-breast-implant combos (or "mommy makeovers," as they're called), but according to the latest numbers from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation was the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure last year, with 348,000 performed (up 6 percent over 2006). Of those, about one-third were for women over 40 who often opt for implants to restore lost volume in their breasts due to aging or pregnancy weight gain. There were 148,000 tummy tucks—up 1 percent from the previous year.
Salzhauer got the idea for a book after noticing that women were coming into his office with their kids in tow. He says that mysterious doctor's visits can be frightening for children. "Parents generally tend to go into this denial thing. They just try to ignore the kids' questions completely." But, he adds, children "fill in the blanks in their imagination" and then feel worse when they see "mommy with bandages," he says. "With the tummy tucks, [the mothers] can't lift anything. They're in bed. The kids have questions."
04/16/08
What is HE doing here?
What is HE doing here?
Outnumbered but unbowed, a man braves the 'Monologues'
Tuesday, April 15, 2008By Doug MacCash
How does it feel to be a guy in a gal rally?
Suffice it to say, the men's room wasn't crowded Saturday at the New Orleans Arena.
It's hard to say what the exact gender breakdown of the "Vagina Monologues" audience was, but I'd guess something like 20 women for every man in the audience.
An interesting article check it out at:
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1208265021269980.xml&coll=1
vagina monolouges, men's perspective
Men and Women
It is interesting to see how many age old stereotypes turn up in "modern" articles.
MSN: The Wife's Bill of Rights
MSN: The Husband's Bill of Rights
:: Share this Post ::Denim Day
I just heard about this for the first time through RAINN.
Denim Day is 7 Days Away! But, it's not too late to organize an event in your area....
Less than a decade ago, Italian judges did not convict a rapist because the victim was wearing jeans. This callous decision was the catalyst for Denim Day USA, a day where supporters wear jeans to take a stand against rape, sexual assault, and dating violence. On April 23, join Peace over Violence in LA, RAINN, and over 300,000 other supporters nationwide in wearing denim to show your awareness of the issue of sexual assault (and invite your friends to do so, too!). For more information and ways to participate, we encourage you to visit denimdayusa.org or email info@denimdayinla.org.
From the Denim Day website:
:: Share this Post ::Italy, 1992
An 18-year old girl is picked up by her married 45-year old driving instructor for her very first lesson. He takes her to an isolated road, pulls her out of the car, wrestles her out of one leg of her jeans and forcefully rapes her. Threatened with death if she tells anyone, he makes her drive the car home. Later that night she tells her parents, and they help and support her to press charges. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.
He appeals the sentence. The case makes it’s all the way to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator released. In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.”
Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work. This call to action motivated and emboldened the California Senate and Assembly to do the same, which in turn spread to Patricia Giggans, Executive Director of Peace Over Violence, and Denim Day was born.
04/14/08
Music and Knitting
I love knitting and listening to this particular podcast called Cast On. It's by this fabulous American-gone-Welsh woman named Brenda Dayne. She's a woman after my own heart - we share political and social mind-frames, passion for knitting, and...wouldn't you know it...taste in music. The last podcast had two singers that I thought were pretty great and I wanted to share them with you:
Click over to check out these folkey, indie musicians. :)
:: Share this Post ::music, podcast, knitting, cast on, ingrid michaelson, amy steinberg
Advertisement Objectification
That's an awful lot of cleavage for a scholarship ad.
:: Share this Post ::04/12/08
Greetings from New Orleans
So I am in New Orleans for V to the Tenth, the Tenth Anniversary of V Day, which I'm sure you all know is the global movement to end violence against women and girls. It's been amazing two days of speakers, activists, artists and good hearted people and tonight is a performance of the Vagina Monologues that I am looking forward to. I will post more about my trip and the event along with pictures when I return to Florida on Monday.
With that said I just want to stress again the importance of blogging and writing. By doing this I truly believe we can create an important community, something I definitely feel we are doing here at girlistic. I would have not known about any of the V Day events, inlcuding Eve Ensler's speaking tour or the anniversary of V Day if Jaymi had not posted and given links to the sites discussing V Day. Her posting allowed me to learn more and in turn take action. That's one of the great things about blogs, they allow us to learn in a non-threatening enviorment and then inspire us to take action to change things for the better, which is a core principle of the feminist movement.
So if you ever wonder why you write a blog or a zine or an essay instead of going out and actually taking action, that is why: blogging and writing for an audience is activism, it encourages us and inspires us, it teaches us and helps us grow in ways that traditional methods of learning don't always do. Bloggging opens us up to doors we may not have seen otherwise and I am so thankful for this blog that continues to inspire me to take action, challenge stereotypes and not except society's traditional and narrow definition and view of women.
:: Share this Post ::vday
04/09/08
Women who Ride Bikes in Orlando
A guy in my area is making a documentary about women who ride bikes in the Orlando area. Here is a clip from what he's got so far:
:: Share this Post ::bikes, documentaries, gender, sexism
04/07/08
Sexism in the dental industry
I've been thinking about posting on the subject of gendered publications in the dental industry for awhile, and kept making notes, but put it aside, thinking no one would be interested. Well, today I saw something that gave me that extra needle in the side to say something.
I work for a major dental product manufacturer, and part of my job has me going through all the publications that the dental industry creates. I've noticed some serious differences in the publications for dentists, versus the publications for dental assistants and hygienists. Obviously, in the US, the vast majority of dentists are male, and the vast majority of hygienists and assistants are female. Well, the publications make serious note of that.
Dentist-oriented magazines go over case studies, have articles about practice building, talk about finances, retirement, etc. They're darker in colors, serious in tone, mostly, and have a professional air. They're also male dominated in writers, editors, and contributors.
Hygienist-oriented magazine are the dental version of Martha Stewart. I'm not kidding. They're formated just like it, use the same bright color schemes, the same homey tone, and, thankfully, are dominated by female contributors, writers and editors. They talk about dental-related things, sure, but they lean heavily on the woman-as-nurturer role - they talk about other important person-to-person related issues, like how to talk to patients who show signs of eating disorders (so great!), talk to patients who are in abusive relationships (awesome), and other things that are great. I don't mind this at all because it fits within the assistant/hygienist role and are important (but these things NEVER appear in the dentist-oriented magazines).
But here's what gets me. They also focus heavily on caring for children, and they also talk about things that have NOTHING TO DO with dentistry. Like how to fung shui the office and.....ARG....how to lose weight. No joke. Even the ads have weight loss ads peppered in with the ads for dental materials.
This is what got me today:
March is here—it's kind of a "hump month" bridging the quietness of Winter and the bursting of Spring. We've got a great issue of Dimensions that's full of interesting information to get you past that "hump!" Be sure to check out our CE article on the connection between periodontal diseases & rheumatoid arthritis—it's a real eye-opener. And if you've been thinking about losing weight, read Anna's weight loss challenge for some encouragement. Is there a "smear factor" concern in dental hygiene? Tips on Technique looks at that topic. Handwashing protocols, early childhood caries, whitening and perio/medicine round out this issue, as well as Product Profiles and other informative columns. Enjoy!
Notice how they do that?
Important issue, important issue, important issue, something TOTALLY unrelated, important issue, important issue.....
WTF is weight loss doing in a dental hygienist magazine? That frustrates the hell out of me. There are fat dentists too, but their magazines don't tell them to go lose weight. They're too busy talking about the latest advances in dentistry, like the should be doing. But somehow this gets into the very heavily feminised hygienist rag.
Talk about a blatant example of gendered roles, advertising, publishing, and thinking in our world. GRr.
Luckily, I can say that the number of female dentists are on the rise in the US. I don't think that'll change these publications at all, but it's still something.
:: Share this Post ::04/06/08
Reality Show Deals with Abortion
09:42:50 pm, Categories: Pop Culture, Sexuality, Media, The state of our culture, Reproductive Health, Television, 195 words, by kellyrose 
Okay so I know I bitch about MTV a lot but it's just one of my pet peeves, because I know so many young people grow up watching it (myself included) and I just feel like it has gotten so far from where it started. Here's an episode from season three of the Real World from the early nineties. The earlier seasons actually did deal with real world issues like abortion (racism, aids, sexism, homophobia) instead of just mindless hooking up without consequences like the current seasons feature.
I so wish we could get back here again. Yeah it still focused on drama but it showed people actually dealing with things, confronting real issues and was actually closer to what young people actually do. It wasn't all drinking and sex like it is now. Yeah it was still reality TV but I do think it was much more postive and inspiring to young people than it is now. There is asolutely no value to MTV now.
Here's another old clip from the Real World of Pedro, a cast memeber living with AIDS while on the show.
:: Share this Post ::mtv, abortion, pro choice
Issue 6 of PULSE ZINE!!!
Hey Everyone,
Most of you know I write the zine Pulse, which I describe as "a zine about life, feminism and learning to love yourself." I just finished issue 6 of the zine and it's now available for 2.00 a copy, which includes shipping, via paypal or sending cash to my address.
Features of this issue include:
an article on the sexual abuse I suffered
a piece I posted on here about the gender of group fitness
an interview with Rachel who writes the site the-f-word.org
a rant called body backlash about what happens when society doesn't accept your body
a DIY guide to creating a zine which I wrote for the DIY section of Girlistic
"what i love about me" responses from readers on what they love about themselves
a blog turned article by Lacy D on marriage
and much much more...
Sooo if you are interested in getting a copy please message me on here, email me at littleacorns22@gmail.com or check me out on myspace at myspace.com/pulsezine1 (also linked above). The zine is 2.00 a copy which includes shipping and can be bought via paypal through my myspace page.
This issue is 26 pages, black and white photocopied cut and paste collage style. Get your copy today, the hottest fem zine this spring!
Thank you all for the support!!
:: Share this Post ::zines, feminism, DIY