Here we go again. After the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the pattern is depressingly familiar: the suspect was abusive to his ex-girlfriend and harassing toward other girls. It’s a predictable red flag: perpetrators practice violence at home before taking it elsewhere.
In more than half of mass shootings in the US, the victims included the shooter’s partner or ex, or a family member. When domestic violence exists in a relationship, the victim is five times more likely to be killed if the abuser owns a firearm.
And yet, as we saw with Rob Porter, there can be mountains of evidence that someone committed domestic violence, and it’s still treated as unimportant.
Tell Congress: Abusers should never have guns.
As always, this diary is a group effort. Many thanks to ramara, elenacarlena, Besame, noweasels, Crimson Quillfeather, mettle fatigue, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.
Reproductive Rights and Health Care:
After an apparent stillbirth, a Salvadoran woman was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years. She was recently freed after serving 11 years of her sentence.
Residents of Toledo, Ohio received good news Monday night, after the last abortion clinic in the city was able to sign an agreement with a local hospital that would allow it to keep its doors open.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of Preterm Cleveland and a number of other abortion care providers to challenge an unconstitutional law, signed by Gov. John Kasich, which would prevent a woman from ending a pregnancy because of a Down syndrome diagnosis.
This law does nothing to honor or support families who decide to bring a special needs child into the world. It does not improve access to health care, education, or other services, nor does it do anything to address discrimination against people with disabilities. What this law does is to deny women’s constitutional right to make their own reproductive decisions, and it also interferes with women’s relationships with their doctors, by making it harder to have honest and informed conversations.
And (Reuters via Medscape) https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/892761 “U.S. Groups Sue Trump Administration Over Teen Pregnancy Grant Cuts” challenging $200 million in defunding.
...The four lawsuits in federal courts in Washington state, Maryland and the District of Columbia seek to have funding reinstated for [evidence-based programs created during the Obama administration]that the groups say serve 1.2 million young people [and] the teen birth rate in the United States has fallen 41 percent from 2010 to 2016, according to one of the lawsuits.
Those suing include affiliates of Planned Parenthood; Washington's King County, which includes Seattle and its suburbs; and Baltimore-based Healthy Teen Network.
The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) did not respond to a request for comment. HHS currently funds 84 grants...But in July, the department under the Republican Trump's administration told recipients of 81 of the five-year grants that it would be terminating their agreements two years early. The remaining three were terminated in September, the groups say...
Lena Dunham on having a hysterectomy at 31.
From Reuters via medscape https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/892443 :
Structural and contextual factors such as governance, healthcare policy and conflict [rather than religion per se] may explain why some Muslim-majority countries (MMCs) have shown little progress in improving women and children’s health, according to a new comparative analysis published in The Lancet.
SNIP
Increased political rights, more-effective government and gross per capita income all were significantly associated with lower mortality for children under 5, as were overall adult literacy, female adult literacy, and ratio of female-to-male enrollment in secondary school.
Meanwhile, closer to home:
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world and is the only country where the rate of deaths from childbirth is increasing. And the majority of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States are preventable, according to a report released this month by Review to Action, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative. The report also found that black women, who made up almost 50 percent of deaths studied, are the most likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.
Violence and Harassment:
35 states allow "consensual" sex between police and arrestees.
An ICE detainee was allegedly put in solitary for 60 hours to coerce her to recant accusations of being physically and sexually abused.
Mika Brzezinski interviews Rose McGowan about systemic harassment in Hollywood.
What has made me different from 15 to 50 is that I am done...
I am henceforth putting men on notice. If you touch me without my permission, I will break your hand…
Patriarchy is institutionalized misogyny that enables and protects men to control women’s bodies.
Workplace Issues and Economics:
Latest proposal to punish poverty: replacing SNAP with a monthly box of canned foods. Think of all the taxpayer money that would be poured into collecting, packaging & shipping. How is this better than letting an impoverished single mom choose fresh foods that she knows her family likes? (Heaven forbid a poor person should have a candy bar once in a while or something!)
Celebrating black women scientists.
Media:
The women of Wakanda shine in Black Panther.
Media portrayals of domestic violence tell us whose stories are seen as believable.
Romance novelists on writing explicit consent into the sex scenes.
Lucy Terry Prince, a freed slave and activist, wrote the oldest known piece of literature by a black woman in America.
Uncategorizable:
A Utah school made headlines with a policy that sixth-grade girls attending a dance were supposed to say yes to every boy who wanted to dance with them. While the school’s goal was to teach inclusion, Sady Doyle nails why this was a wrongheaded way to go about it:
When children grow up hearing that their bodies are theirs to control and knowing that their boundaries are firm and will be respected, they’re likely less primed to believe “loving” relationship can include hitting or sexual coercion. And it's not just girls who benefit. Boys who understand that it’s not okay to guilt-trip someone into a kiss or hug are not only less likely to be predators, they’re less likely to stay in relationships where they’re abused.
We teach one gender to undervalue their own needs, and teach the other gender to overvalue their own desires. Any opportunity we have to disrupt those old narratives is a good one—even if it’s as simple as letting a little girl know that, if she doesn’t like her partner, she doesn’t have to dance.
Here’s one that is the epitome of uncategorizable: Vagina Mohawks Made An Appearance at New York Fashion Week :
“All differences, even if not fully understood or agreed with, should find tolerance; all creatures deserve room under the sun,” the release said. “The main collection strives to reflect individual desire to transform and to become the best version of one’s self, ultimately being proud of one’s uniqueness.”
But the mohawks were there to make a represent a special statement about the vagina (the definition of which, for these purposes, includes external anatomy) in particular.
“Kaimin chose to represent diversity, uniqueness, and acceptance of individuality with the life-giving human vagina — which was alluded to in the artistic videos projected during the show and was emphasized by the mohawk on the runway,” the release read.
(Pictures at the link. They’re unique.)
End With Art