Mass Meeting!

Be sure to come to our mass meeting tonight (Monday Sept 14) at 7pm in the Dana Commons (Dana is the building south of the Chem building). Hope to see you there!

Also, as a bonus: the first decision based on the Lilly Ledbetter Act. Yay!

Response to nytimes “The Women’s Crusade”

Normally, I get very excited when other people get excited about women’s rights. In this case though, I am just lukewarm. This Sunday’s New York Times Magazine spotlights women’s issues. NYT columnist Nick Kristof co-authored the cover article “The Women’s Crusade“. He does not make any illuminating remarks in the sense that the facts and arguments he presents have long been better articulated by feminist scholars and activists. But Kristof is a man and a longtime columnist of the reputable Nytimes automatically rendering him to the masses as more brilliant, credible, objective and thus worth listening to than any wacko feminist. I say that matter-of-factly with no bitterness, just awareness of the way things are. After all, if one has more credibility or privilege–earned or unearned–one would be dum dum not to use it. And that is what Kristof has been doing as a nytimes columnist, using his white man privileges to bring attention to women’s issues and global poverty. But not all attention is good. That uninvited slap on the ass I got last time I went clubbing? Bad attention. Unlike the sleaze I encountered at the club, I trust that Kristof has good intentions. However, the arguments and tone he and co-author Sheryl WuDunn uses to forward women’s rights carry some assumptions that simultaneously undermine women’s rights and dignity.

NYT Magazine on Women’s Issues

Today’s New York Times Magazine is centered around women’s issues and rights. There’s a headlining piece by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn on “Why Women’s Rights are the Cause of Our Time,” based/taken from their upcoming book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (available on September 8th). There’s an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton about the administration’s plans to push women’s rights on international stage (although, I personally am kinda doubting their ability to do this properly with an extremely expansive domestic plan and two wars to fight abroad). There’s a piece on a Dexter Filken’s attempt to buy a schoolbus for girls in Afghanistan. There’s a ton more but I don’t feel like listing all of them.

Mistrust

Melissa McEwan manages to describe every day in my life in a blog entry at Shakesville. Basically, discussing the way we feminist are constantly having to explain/defend/assert ourselves, even to those people who we love and claim to care about us. We have to make the decision: should we (as she puts it) “Swallow shit, or ruin the entire afternoon?”

I’m so incredibly tempted to a very specific jackass who is every so fond of using the “devil’s advocate” I’m-only-trying-to-find-weaknesses-in-your-argument line. But he would not get it and I would have to waste my time arguing with him again.

Op-Ed in NYT on misogyny in US

I don’t think there’s too much new it is, but there was a relevant piece in the NYT yesterday on the misogyny in the United States and violence that stems from it.

Vigil for Dr. George Tiller

Thank you to everyone who came out yesterday to honor the life of Dr. George Tiller. It was touching to see so many familiar, and unfamiliar faces there.

Also, I’m sorry I forgot to advertise it up here myself, but it seems it got mentioned in Feministing with a link to this blog. Thanks!

More Supreme Court and Sotomayor

I am so totally thrilled that Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor (see the previous post here).

And all you stupid conservative critics, damn straight being a woman and Hispanic affects her decisions. A judge’s ethnicity and gender always affect their decisions. The only difference being, if you’re white and male, you don’t have to explain yourself because you are “normal”. We could use some more Hispanic and female thinking on the court (not that Justice Ginsburg isn’t holding her own). Get on with the confirming already.

More on Motherhood

Following up: Today, another article on motherhood in the NYT, specifically the high mortality rate for mothers, specifically discussing Tanzania.

The Danger of Motherhood

Great op-ed in the New York Times on motherhood in West Africa, and the risks of childbirth. I specifically like that Kristof acknowledges the sexism in the world’s response (or rather, lack thereof):

It’s pretty clear that if men were dying at these rates, the United Nations Security Council would be holding urgent consultations, and a country such as this would appoint a minister of paternal mortality. Yet half-a-million women die annually from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth without attracting much interest because the victims are typically among the most voiceless people in the world: impoverished, rural, uneducated and female.

Anyway, it’s a good read, and I think something the F-word should address in the fall? Maybe we can do some kind of fundraiser drive, or awareness campaign? Kristof makes some suggestions on groups that address these issues in his blog, which is also a good read.

A Harlem Charter School and Supreme Court Justice nominees

I hope the semester ended well for everyone.  I just wanted to share some interesting articles I’ve been reading.

The first is an op-ed in the NYT this morning on a charter school in Harlem which has been showing very impressive results in improving test scores.

The second topic is the speculation that Sonia Sotomayor may become the next Supreme Court justice, and the extreme and sexist criticism of her that has been coming from the right wing.  While the NYT editorial on the topic did not mention that fact that clearly sexism and homophobia has been playing a role in the right wing attacks of potential nominees, I would suggest you take a look at the BitchPhD post on the topic, or this op-ed in the Washington Independent. Both point out the baselessness and bias in the attacks that have been made on Justice Sotomayor, the first focusing more on the sexism they show, while the second pointing out the lack of evidence in the attacks, and looks at other and more complete evidence of her history as a judge.

Have a great summer!