Republicans have made an amazing discovery: women, especially single women, don't vote for them. Their solution, of course, is more marketing: a new firm called "Burning Glass" that's supposed to better sell the anti-reproductive-freedom, anti-income-equality, anti-health-care message to women. Hey Republicans, here's some free advice: try changing the policies instead!
Here's a fun secret about young, unmarried American women: we know how to use the internet. And social media. And, contrary to how stupid GOP rebranding strategists may think we are, we have memories that last significantly longer than 6 seconds. How a party can, in good conscience, ask a demographic for their votes while simultaneously telling them to go fuck themselves is almost unfathomably audacious.
What Republicans don't understand is that all the chick lit cover Just Us Gals yogurt ad-style empowering Brand montages in the world won't tilt women red. The only thing Republicans can do to win young, single women is stop actively and obviously working to foster a social environment that his hostile to young, single women. No glassburning needed.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear to have noticed that
opposing the War on Women is a winning issue.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will introduce the Women's Health Protection Act of 2013, joined by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The bill would prohibit states from passing so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose strict and cost-prohibitive building standards on abortion clinics, require women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds, and create other barriers to abortion access.
...Blumenthal's bill wouldn't automatically overturn states' existing anti-abortion laws, but because federal law trumps state law, it would provide a means to challenge them in court.
This isn't going anywhere until we win back the House, of course - and this is one of the things that will help win it.
The good, the bad, and the ugly below the orange buned-glass window.
Reproductive Rights:
Someone from a group called "Abolish Human Abortion" (to distinguish it from wombat abortion, I guess?) suggested volunteering for a clinic transportation program and then kidnapping women and taking them to church instead of their clinic appointment. No actual kidnappings have been attempted, and the transportation organization is of course checking out every volunteer and getting their personal information.
26 women share their abortion stories.
If abortion opponents really believe that fetuses feel pain, why did they forcibly prolong the agony for a dying fetus in this Nebraska case? (Trigger warning: what this woman and her husband were put through was horrible.)
Violence:
It seems like there's a horror story like this every week. This time it's New Zealand with the teenage "rape club." Calling themselves the Roast Busters, they openly bragged online about getting underage girls drunk and raping them. It took two years and an international outcry for the police to act. One of the suspects is the son of a well-known actor, another is the son of a cop. The ringleader has now fled town, and two disc jockeys who engaged in victim-blaming while interviewing a victim have now been suspended.
Revenge porn and victim-blaming.
Mark Patterson, an Idaho lawmaker who previously pled guilty to felony assault with intent to commit rape, is upset that his concealed-carry permit has been revoked. (Yes, you read that right.) Except that, as an elected official, he's exempt. Do you feel safer now?
India has been rocked by a number of high-profile rape cases. A recent study of 40 rape cases tried by district courts in Delhi that resulted in acquittals found that more than half were due to police failure to perform adequate investigations. Ranjit Sinha, the head of the CBI (India's equivalent of the FBI) had this to say when asked an unrelated question about illegal gambling:
"It is very easy to say that if you can't enforce it, it's like saying if you can't prevent rape, you [should] enjoy it."
After a nationwide outcry and demands for his resignation, Sinha apologised and said he had "just used a proverb to make a point." Sadly, I think we got his point.
Intersectionality:
Trudy at Gradient Lair writes another must-read, this one on how a Black woman's life is also a valuable life to save.
bell hooks and Melissa Harris-Perry have an in-depth discussion of African-American feminism.
The Arab Spring has actually moved rights backwards for women in many countries, particularly Egypt.
Latina feminists tweet about Secret Lives of Feministas.
Womanism, Black feminism, and race in feminist discourse.
Uncategorizable:
Richardson High School, a public high school in the Dallas area, subjected the students to a talk by "Christian dating coach" Jason Lookadoo, who pretty much dragged in every demeaning gender stereotype in existence: girls should shut up (in order to be "mysterious," of course), boys are conquerors, and if he treats her like "meat" it's because she dressed too slutty. Several students walked out, and the twitterspere erupted with their comments at #Lookadouche:
I see, so I'm single because I gab? This makes sense. I'll just find a virgin, noncommunicative, conquerer.
Also make sure you cover up so he doesn't treat you like "meat". As a guy, I'm offended.
shuffles back to the kitchen:: hey, anyone seen my shoes? Oh, nvmnd. Don't need em to cook muffins.
Guys- mayday!! Justin Lookadoo says I'm "dateless" & romantically hopeless. Do you think I should tell my partner of 5+ years??
The kids are alright!
Good News and Action Items:
The US Supreme Court has refused to hear two Oklahoma cases where the state Supreme Court struck down abortion restrictions. The law banning medical abortion and the one requiring the woman to view an ultrasound have both been invalidated.
Lindsey Graham is proposing a nationwide abortion ban at 20 weeks. Petition opposing this.
Sen, Kristen Gillibrand continues fighting for better handling of sexual assault cases in the military. Here's a roundup of ways you can help support the Military Justice Improvement Act, and a related dkos petition .
Amnesty International is asking for messages opposing the flogging of a Sudanese woman for "indecent dress." Go here to help.
One motorcycle dealer tried putting men in the "sexy woman and motorcycle ad" poses, with results that are both hilarious and thought-provoking.