I have a lot of things I want to write about, except that most of them are barely coherent. Like how, reading about Bob Woodward’s interview with the president I wondered, how many people are dying every day because some people didn’t like Hillary Clinton. Some were like the Democrats I spoke to phone-banking four years ago, who complained about her voice, her corruption — one man told me his whole family was voting for Trump, told me to read “Clinton Cash.” Of course, he stopped to think when I asked if he would leave his daughter alone in a room with Trump. He was looking at his three-year-old granddaughters as we spoke, and sounded stunned when he said he was going to have to sit down with his wife and reconsider. Some were people I went to meetings and lunch with, who complained about her policies, especially her militarism and hobnobbing with banksters. To which I always said, yes I agree but none of that matters in this election, where many women I knew were having flashbacks of sexual abuse and assault because of Donald Trump, where Latinx children were having nightmares about their parents being taken away. Even I never imagined that this pandemic would lead to tens of thousands of unnecessary and preventable COVID-19 deaths because telling people the truth might hurt his chance for reeclection. Though I must say that the only thing that surprised me was how much of the reality he understood. After the 2016 election there were people I couldn’t bear to see or talk to, I was so angry.
And if nothing else will make you get out to vote to remove him from office, imagine Ruth Bader Ginsburg (may she live forever) being replaced by Ted Cruz.
September 22 is Voter Registration Day — make sure you check your voter status.
End of the rant portion of this diary. Now for the news, with thanks to SandraLLAP, Angmar, Tara TASW, officebss, elenacarlena, Getting1
Reproductive Health
Research confirms that women denied abortions have worse health/emotional outcomes than women who have them. The thought that women might regret their decisions brings out the latent paternalism in so many men, who just want to control (sorry, I meant protect) us. You know — don’t worry your pretty little head about that.
www.huffpost.com/…
Has anyone ever considered that having a child might place an undue burden on a woman?
Food and Drug Administration v. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology
The Food and Drug Administration is making some medications that normally require in-person dispensing or administration more easily available because of the danger of getting COVID-19. The next Supreme Court abortion case will address whether the second drug used in medication abortions, misoprostol, should be on that list. Some states require a second clinic visit to administer this drug, some allow telemedicine appoints. In most cases, neither is actually necessary. Should there be a waiver to override those state laws? Also, should it be easier to get abortion medications by mail? Those are the questions this case will address — misoprostol was taken off the original list.
The other question of course is what will John Roberts do?
www.vox.com/…
We have a weekly group message thread where we share links and discussions. This week, there was a post where a woman student said she had a male professor lecture for and hour on how menstural symptoms are a social construct, and how she asked him at the end if he ever experienced “period shit.” I didn’t like the site with the video of the student, so I googled and was surprised to see that “period symptoms as a social construct” was generally put out there by feminists. Here is an example of what I found:
feministing.com/...
Violence Against Women
With everything going on in our legal system, the Dept. of Justice has taken over as Donald Trump’s personal representative in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him. The point is to remove the case from state to federal courts, where it will disappear. The argument is that Trump’s remarks calling Carroll a liar when she accused him of raping her, were made as part of his official duties.
www.npr.org/...
In the UK, there is a movement to make misogyny a hate crime. Among the supporters of the measure are women who were victims of attacks that were also homophobic, antisemitic, or Islamophobic, including two women who were beaten and robbed last year after they refused to kiss men who were harassing them. These attacks were already legally hate crimes — but the advocates for the measure say that women need more protection, being victims of attacks much more often than men.
www.theguardian.com/…
Culture
Meet Bolivia’s Flying Cholitas, women wrestlers who blend wrestling and activism.
www.nationalgeographic.com/…
The French film Cuties exposes the hypersexualization of pre-teen girls, but has been criticized after Netflix advertised the film with a photo of girls twerking in skimpy outfits.
Even though Cuties has received widespread acclaim in France and won a Sundance award, a publicity gaffe from its US distributor, Netflix, almost cost the movie its reputation.
After Netflix published a marketing poster showing the 'Cuties' twerking in revealing cheerleading outfits without any context, an online petition calling for the cancellation of the US release received more than 140 thousand signatures.
Doucouré was accused, on social media, of being a pedophile and even received death threats.
She says she hopes those who signed the petition will watch the film.
www.npr.org/...