Over half of Planned Parenthood's clinics are in
rural and underserved areas.
After the recent spate of hoax videos with bizarrely manufactured claims about "selling fetal body parts," five states used taxpayer money to investigate Planned Parenthood - and all five found no evidence of any wrongdoing.
But the attacks continue, and in Florida Planned Parenthood had to ask for an emergency injunction to keep local regulators from interfering with their services. Florida officials are accusing the clinics of improperly performing second trimester abortions - but they're defining "second trimester" by counting from two weeks before conception.
Many thanks to all the people who sent links and suggestions for this weeks diary: ramara, mettle fatigue, officebss, and elenacarlena. For anyone who wants to try doing one of these weekly diaries, there's lots of people willing to help out, especially for first-timers! (And yes, this is leading up to me pointing out that we need a volunteer for next week.)
The good, the bad and the ugly below the orange dateline.
Reproductive Freedom:
Two pro-choice activists argue that we need to quit acting apologetic about abortion rights, and be proactive instead. They ended with the announcement of a new organization, Reproaction.
Here's a clever video of right wingers having their words cut-and-pasted, just like in the hoax videos attacking Planned Parenthood.
Violence and harassment:
Actor Emile Hirsch was sentenced to all of 15 days in jail for choking a woman.
It was announced earlier this week that South African Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was to be released after serving ten months for killing his girlfriend, and would finish the rest of his 5-year sentence at his uncle's mansion. Later announcements backtracked, and said he might serve a few more months in prison first.
At an elite New Hampshire prep school, an underground "tradition" of sexual scorekeeping was outed in a case involving the rape of a 15-year-old girl.
Human trafficking, and Romania's disappearing girls.
British writer Daisy Buchanan talks about the self-imposed "curfew," restrictions women place on their lives trying to avoid harassment.
An awful story of an "honor killing" in India.
The movie Straight Outta Compton, about the rappers of N.W.A., talks about the harsh realities of their lives - except Dr. Dre's notorious violence toward women. After some of the victims shifted the media spotlight onto the abuse, he issued a vague apology: “I apologize to the women I’ve hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.” Um..."our" lives?
"Consent is Sexy" cards are being given out at music festivals and other venues.
At three Canadian universities, a training program for women on identifying the risks and resisting sexual assault, found a significant reduction in rape and attempted rape for women who'd been through the program. It was interesting that this program focused on different factors than the usual "rape prevention tips" women are given:
the goal of being able to assess risk from acquaintances, overcome emotional barriers in acknowledging danger, and engage in effective verbal and physical self-defense.
This strikes me as more realistic than the "restrict your life as much as possible" advice that women are usually given. It's important to remember, though, that focusing on victims will only take us so far. Long-term solutions require going to the source.
Intersectionality:
The school to prison pipeline has been devastating for African-American girls.
Actually, for girls it might more accurately be called the sexual abuse to prison pipeline and it's doing trememdous damage to First Nations girls.
Workplace and school:
One of the largest truck-driver training programs is being sued by former trainees over sexual harassment.
After the recent NYT expose on nail salons, Connecticut's Department of Labor conducted random inspections of 25 nail salons. 23 (!) were shut down for violations, primarily wage theft.
In Missouri, a school board member was censured for openly telling a colleague, "Kathy, you are just a woman, the only thing you know is laying on your back with your legs in the air splayed." The board voted to request his resignation, which so far has not been forthcoming.
Business owners are increasingly women of color.
The Missouri state legislature has had some high-profile harassment scandals lately, including both Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans' proposed solution? A dress code for interns, of course! Mercifully, that suggestion was shot down. (Meanwhile, in Britain, a teenage girl was sent home from school because her outfit might "distract" boys by showing her collarbone.)
Media:
A 6-minute Media Matters video with 70 examples of over-the-top sexism on Fox. Hat tip to Shakesville for the transcript.
Are movies finally going to let three-dimensional women replace Manic Pixie Dream Girls?
An awesome open letter from a woman to the man who yelled fat-shaming comments at her while she was jogging.
Military:
The VA falls short when it comes to women's health.
For the first time, the graduating class of Army Rangers will include two women. I have mixed feelings about that, but got a huge chuckle out of Fox's Andrea Tarantos worrying that this may hurt the male rangers' fragile feelings.
Uncategorizable:
Shades of Hugo Schwyzer: Ben Schoen, who used to do a Harry Potter fan podcast and was co-founder of feminist media project Feminspire, had a bizarre twitter meltdown after being gently turned down by Buzzfeed writer Grace Spelman. Some additional thoughts from Emma Gray on how women don't owe men an explanation for turning them down.
Good News and Action Items:
A federal court has reinstated the minimum wage and overtime protections for home care workers.
In India, there's a taxi service for women - run by women trained in martial arts.
Just check out the photo.
Planned Parenthood can always use your donation!
Not "good news" per se, but it made me laugh: Thought Catalog asked 15 men about the prospect of taking his wife's last name, and the answers were about what you'd expect. (Sample: "My sense is that on a genetic level women want to marry up and part of marrying up is that they’re buying into a certain kind of—for lack of a better word—dynasty and that means taking a man’s name.") Jezebel responded with a hilarious 15 imaginary women addressing the same question.