Good evening all, welcome to This Week in the War on Women.
It feels like every step forward we get, there is a step backwards working against us. At times, I question what on Earth is going on in this world today. So much misogyny, racism and narcissism all over not just here where the tangerine tool is squatting in OUR house. Yet, through it all women are fighting back for what is right in all kinds of ways and it is a local, national and global movement around all issues surrounding human rights and equality.
As Tara would say there is the good, the bad and the ugly and although I will feature a bit of each, take heart in the good.
Thank you to all the WoW contributors who help assemble the news for this weeks diary. This would not be complete without you.
This article from the Guardian really riled me up.
A topless photo ruined this teacher's career. Now she's speaking out
Lauren Miranda’s nightmare began as a school day like any other. She was teaching math during first period at Bellport middle school on Long Island, New York, when she received a text from a friend in another building. There was a nude photo going around, and kids were saying it was her.
“I just thought it was impossible,” Miranda told the Guardian. “I was almost offended that she thought it was a picture of me.”
But when she arrived in the principal’s office, he spun the computer monitor around to show her the image in question. There it was: a picture of her topless on the screen. She had sent the picture to one and one person only: a male colleague she was dating.
That Friday, 11 January 2019, changed her life forever, sparking a lively conversation about citizen rights, privacy in the age of sexting and social media and even the right to be sexual – with Miranda at the center of it.
Now she’s suing the school district and its administrators for her job back or for $3m in restitution for gender discrimination, claiming in court documents that they failed to conduct a “full and adequate” review.
Miranda never intended to become the cause du jour, but the central irony of combatting her firing is that she has had to fight her case against the private photo that ruined her life when it became public by going even more public with it.
It is a long read and there are many more details but the gist of it is she sent a private photo, it got out and she was fired. Where is the line and would this have happened to a male teacher. Food for thought.
Women suffer needless pain because almost everything is designed for men
In the 1983 movie Yentl, the title character, played by Barbra Streisand, pretends to be a man to get the education she wants. She has to change the way she dresses, the timbre of her voice, and much more to get any respect.
In medical lore, the term “Yentl syndrome” has come to describe what happens when women present to their doctors with symptoms that differ from men’s — they often get misdiagnosed, mistreated, or told the pain is all in their heads. This phenomenon can have lethal consequences.
Many, many women have had this experience when they go to the doctor. I had it myself, years ago. As a spate of articles about the phenomenon has come out in the past couple of years, more people have begun talking about a “gender pain gap.”
In a new book, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, the British journalist and feminist activist Caroline Criado Perez argues that this is part of a larger problem: the “gender data gap.” Basically, the data our society collects is typically about men’s experience, not women’s. That data gets used to allocate research funding and make decisions about design. Because most things and spaces — from pain medications to cars, and from air-conditioned offices to city streets — have been designed by men with men as the default user, they often don’t work well for women.
Sorry, this is another long read but it brings up very important points, not enough is being done to ensure women are represented in research and other areas gathering data so that our needs are met.
This is just sad.
Lyra McKee Made Politics Feel Personal
At 29, investigative reporter Lyra McKee was already known for giving voice to the powerless. Her journalism was a form of activism aimed to mold the world into a more tolerant place by exposing the horrors and atrocities more easily ignored.
And McKee was killed doing this work. On Thursday night, McKee was covering militant protests in Northern Ireland, where police had suspected that extremists had been stockpiling firearms and explosives; they told the New York Times that, after the searches, a riot erupted and more than 50 gasoline bombs were thrown. McKee was shot and killed by a alleged gunman who’d been firing at police.
In a brief tribute, writer Eoin McNamee described how McKee’s own pain and rage infused the topics she covered with vitality. “A young writer who could reach into the eerie spaces of what had happened to us before she was born,” he wrote. “It wasn’t an accident. Prejudice forces you into self-knowledge and clear intellect and Lyra McKee had written about the pain and fear of her own early life.”
It’s rare to hold such versatile talent; McKee produced writing that both probed internal worlds and exposed impenetrable power structures. There is a cruel irony in losing a young person who was dedicated to creating the kind of work so vitally needed in journalism. Like her subjects, McKee will not be forgotten.
And an update:
2 Men Arrested In Connection With Murder Of Journalist In Northern Ireland
This is horrible:
This Student Died After She Was Set On Fire For Reporting Sexual Harassment
Nusrat Jahan Rafi, an 18-year-old student studying at a madrasa, or Islamic school, in Feni, went to the police on March 27 to file a report against her principal for allegedly sexually harassing her.
Rafi said the principal, Maulana Siraj Ud Doula, had called her into his office and repeatedly touched her inappropriately.
She also said that she had been repeatedly sexually harassed by Ud Doula, but had been told to keep it quiet when she tried to bring it up with her teachers.
On April 6, Rafi was tricked into going to the roof of a school building, where at least four unidentified people doused her in kerosene and set her on fire.
She was taken to a local hospital, but was transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after doctors discovered she had suffered burns to 80% of her body.
On April 10, she died.
What the hedoublehockeysticks:
A Pregnant Woman in Missouri Spent 39 Days in Jail for Refusing to Make Her Kids Take a Paternity Test
A woman in St. Louis County has filed a lawsuit alleging her civil rights were violated when, after being arrested for refusing a court-ordered paternity test, she was jailed for more than a month. To make matters worse, she was seven months pregnant when she was arrested, and gave birth prematurely when she was finally released from jail.
According to the Appeal, Adrianna Thurman was carted off to jail in October of last year, when she was deemed in contempt of the St. Louis County Family Court for refusing to submit her two children to a paternity test requested by her ex-boyfriend. Thurman was adamant the ex, Erwin Rush, was not her children’s father—an assertion later confirmed by paternity test—but she was arrested. And since her arrest manifested from a civil warrant, she was held without being charged, without having access to an attorney, and without being eligible for bond.
Thurman was finally released on November 9, 39 days after she was incarcerated. She alleges that in addition to separating her from her two children, the stint in jail cost her her job and her housing, and that she gave birth prematurely, as a “direct result of the wrongful incarceration.” Thurman was also later diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, according to the lawsuit, and believes it might have been caught earlier had she not been in jail.
A WoW diary would not be complete without the subject of abortion rearing it’s ugly head, unfortunately.
The Anti-Abortion Movie ‘Unplanned’ Is Loaded With Dangerous Lies
“Unplanned,” a new movie in limited release, charts the unusual conversion story of Abby Johnson, a real-life Planned Parenthood clinic director in Bryan, Texas, who became an anti-abortion advocate after a crisis of conscience. The R-rated film, which Vice President Mike Pence plugged on Twitter earlier this month, has grossed $15.7 million since its debut on March 29, more than double its original budget.
The film follows Johnson, played in the movie by Ashley Bratcher, on her journey from Planned Parenthood employee of the year to disillusioned opponent of abortion. Along the way, it perpetuates distortions and potentially dangerous myths about the procedure.
There are a LOT of misconceptions in this movie, including outright lies!
A fetus unrealistically appears to struggle for its life against an abortion
Planned Parenthood is falsely depicted as a for-profit abortion business
Abortions are sensationalized like a horror movie
Abortion is inaccurately depicted as extremely dangerous
Abortion clinicians are portrayed as villains and monsters
Prayer has magical properties, can stop abortions
These are very thoroughly debunked in the article, read it all.
While we are on the subject, this should be required reading:
How We Got Abortions Before Abortion Was Legal
Safe, legal abortion access is a constitutional right, but it hasn't always been that way — an unfortunate reality that led many people to turn to self-induced abortions before Roe v. Wade.
Looks like tonight is long read night. I will quote the conclusion of the writer:
How to Get Involved in the Fight for Reproductive Rights
So what can we do? The most obvious answer is to vote and get involved with reproductive rights organizations, such as Women Help Women, and Abortion Pill Info, which provides secure information about DIY abortion pills.
Varnam encourages women to educate themselves about their bodies. “When we were trained, the person who trained us was like, ‘[Menstrual extraction is] not something that you come to when you're in a crisis. You have to create this relationship with it,’"she tells Allure. "So that's super important when we're looking down the barrel of this thing, [our current political climate]. We do need to be planting the seeds of choice and not relying on capitalism or the government structure.”
“We need [another] Jane,” Ross adds. “Wherever there are conscious feminists, they should learn the techniques of self-managed abortions, they should make sure that the information is out as far and wide as possible. We should set up the legal defense team for women who are obviously going to get prosecuted because people's bodies aren’t a political playground. Our families, our sisters, are going to come together — that’s what we are going to do. That's what we're going to do.”
Could DIY abortions be on the rise in the future? "Even without the looming idea of Roe v. Wade being overturned, we need to have more options for abortion," Varnam says. "Because when you need an abortion, you fucking need an abortion.”
Damn right we need to vote and vote our hearts out, vote for the future of our children and GOT(f)V!
Let’s have some good news now, after this week I think we all can use it.
Attorneys general pledge to not prosecute abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Attorneys general in Michigan and New Mexico are pledging not to prosecute pregnant people or providers should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Both states would criminalize abortion in the event that the Supreme Court landmark decision is overturned — making these statements all the more powerful.
“I will never prosecute a woman, or her doctor, for making the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) at a press conference on Tuesday.
Following her announcement, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) told ThinkProgress he also would commit to not prosecuting abortion-related cases.
Aretha Franklin Becomes First Woman to Earn Pulitzer Prize Special Award and Citation
The Pulitzer Prize Board has awarded late Earth Goddess Aretha Franklin with a special award and citation, honoring “her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.” Franklin shares the honor with around 40 other men, like John Coltrane, and institutions, like the Kansas City Star, but is the the first woman on the list—not a great look for the Pulitzer Prize Board!
A New Approach to Serving MA Survivors of Domestic Violence
Massachusetts is trying a new approach to help survivors of domestic violence at risk of homelessness. Five state agencies and the nonprofit Full Frame Initiative are developing a system to better assess survivors' needs when they seek emergency shelter.
Founder and CEO of Full Frame Initiative, Katya Smyth, explained people facing both domestic violence and homelessness often have to make trade-offs to get social services. For example, a woman might find a shelter, but not in her county. Smyth said the result can be unintended consequences, like disrupting her children's lives and making them change schools.
To minimize those trade-offs, the pilot program will look not only at housing and safety needs, but other parts of a survivor's life. The collaborators are developing a new intake form that includes a person's social connections, strengths and access to resources. They'll also work with domestic-violence survivors for up to eight weeks to help them get housing and plan for immediate and long-term goals.
Honduran transgender woman freed after a year in US detention
A Honduran transgender woman who was detained in a US immigrationfacility for seven months despite being granted asylum has been released after a legal challenge.
Nicole García Aguilar was freed from the Cibola County detention facility in New Mexico on Wednesday night, a week after lawyers filed a habeas corpus writ challenging her unjustified and prolonged detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).
García’s ordeal, which included several stints in solitary confinement, highlights the ongoing arbitrary detention of asylum seekers under the Trump administration, which has triggered multiple legal challenges.
Young Women In South Korea Are Driving An Era Of Change
Not long ago in South Korea, it wasn’t uncommon for female students to feel embarrassed walking around campus with a physiology textbook. The functions of the body — especially the female body — were embarrassing, dirty and taboo; a topic that could not be openly discussed. This is really something of the past.
Abortion was also shameful. The topic recently came up at a gathering of girlfriends I had known intimately for more than a decade, and I was surprised we had never discussed it before. Everyone shared the circumstances that led them to contemplate or go through with an abortion. These were tough memories my friends had kept buried — as most women do, according to abortion researchers. For decades, women have been forced to navigate their abortions alone because the procedure was considered a crime until earlier this month.
After 66 years, though, the Constitutional Court relegated the crime of abortion to the byways of history. On April 11, the court’s nine-judge panel ruled that the crimes of performing and receiving an abortion are unconstitutional. By the end of next year, the law criminalizing the procedure will be overhauled.
The landmark decision came after years of activism led by young women, from teens to women in their 30s, who have been willing to confront taboo issues head-on. These women are responsible for organizing a national petition in favor of abolishing the crime of abortion, which more than 230,000 people signed. They organized mass assemblies and launched social media hashtags to raise awareness of everything from abortion to sexual violence.
How about some amazing women!
The All-Female Big Bands That Made History During World War II
During World War II, with thousands of men shipping off to war, half a dozen all-female, instrumental big bands toured around America. It was a rarity in a musical world dominated by men and, for the most part, their stories have been erased or minimized in jazz history.
Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride has spent years tracing the history of some of these bands and notes that during this flourishing time for all-women groups, the 17-piece International Sweethearts of Rhythm had the most formidable level of popularity.
"They were probably the first all-female band taken seriously," McBride says, explaining that the Sweethearts were boundary breakers in more ways than one.
The legacy of the Sweethearts, and other all-females acts like The Coquettes, lives on today with big bands led by women. McBride says the Sweethearts paved the way from the 1950s through the modern era to present-day bands like the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.
Some humor?
This cracked me up and we all need a chuckle now and then. It is a bit graphic and I do not want to offend anyone so...I will do my best and just leave it up to you click and read the rest. Sorry, bahahaha!
Amateur MMA Fighter Beats Up Man J*****g Off In Front Of Her During Beach Photoshoot
Brazilian mixed martial artist Joyce Vieira was posing for a swimsuit photoshoot on a Rio de Janeiro beach earlier this month when she noticed a nearby man staring at her with his penis out, masturbating. Vieira first tried using her words to get the creep to cut it out, but when diplomacy failed, she made use of her highly trained fists and feet.
And this is why women are awesome:
Woman Carries Baby for Twin Sister Battling Cancer
Danielle Rants gave her sister the gift of a lifetime when she offered to be her surrogate.
Kaila Jorgensen, who lives in Olympia, Washington, didn’t know if she’d be able to have kids in the near future after she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. But Rants took that burden off her shoulders by offering to carry her fraternal twin sister’s child.
RIP:
Jerrie Cobb, one of the most gifted female pilots in history, has died
Geraldyn “Jerrie” M. Cobb, a noted aviation pioneer and fierce advocate for women flying into space, died March 18 at her home in Florida, her family has revealed. She was 88.
I don’t much participate in religious activities anymore, but for Easter:
The Story of Mary Magdalene and the First Easter Egg
Well, that is it for me tonight. Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and happy to be a woman!
Take us out Pat B.
Peace!