I have been writing for NaNoWriMo, so my brain is otherwise occupied and I haven’t thought of anything to write up here! I hope to write strong female protagonists and others. And not be too stereotypical in my portrayal of white guys!
In Other News
Violence:
US News: How states are addressing violence against indigenous women
Chances are, you probably haven't heard about Pepita Redhair, a 27-year-old Navajo woman who's been missing since March 2020, when she was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Or of RoyLynn Rides Horse, a 28-year-old who died after being beaten, strangled and set on fire on Montana's Crow Indian Reservation in 2016. Or of the thousands of other Native American and Alaska Native women and girls who ended up missing or murdered in recent years.
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"The lack of accountability and impunity is very much rooted in the systems and structures that the federal government has put in place and has failed to address," she says. "Tribal nations – sovereign nations – need to have their inherent authority restored to be able to investigate, collect and gather the evidence and then to prosecute those who are preying on Indigenous women in their community."
ABC7: One woman and two men arrested, including an active duty Air Force member, in the death of a 19-year-old woman after a Halloween party in Sacramento.
Leilani Beauchamp, 19, was last seen leaving the party in Sacramento with two Air Force members Saturday morning. Police say both are active at Travis Air Force Base. Her remains were found Sunday afternoon in rural Monterey County.
(To call this a death when 3 were arrested for murder seems odd. Like it was an accident or something.)
Update: ‘It was eerie’: Woman reacts after learning 19-year-old woman was killed in her Fairfield home.
Kansas City Star: Last year, 19-year-old Aaron Coleman was elected to the Kansas legislature despite an admitted history of revenge porn and sadistic bullying. He's now been arrested for domestic violence.
(Surprising no one here.)
Update: Looks like the victim of Aaron Coleman's latest assault was his brother. We still consider this a WOW issue - this loose cannon wouldn't be in the Kansas State House if his prior abuse of women had been taken seriously.
On October 30, University of Southern California President Carol Folt acknowledged that USC authorities had learned on Sept. 30 of five to seven allegations of drugging and sexual assault at Sigma Nu fraternity parties, but didn’t notify the community until October 20. Meanwhile yet another student reported a sexual assault there. In the face of an outraged march of hundreds of students — assault survivors and allies, including members of fraternities and sororities — the university has suspended Sigma Nu and is enforcing a moratorium on all fraternity parties.
The USC furor signals a pivotal moment for the American college fraternity system, as more Greek members and student coalitions mount protests against what one expert called the “unholy trinity” of dangerous drinking, misogyny and racial insensitivity that has plagued the all-male, mostly white organizations since their beginning two centuries ago.
Abortion AND MISOGYNOIR:
NBC News: Woman prosecuted for miscarriage highlights racial disparity in similar cases:
When Brittney Poolaw was in an Oklahoma hospital last year having a miscarriage, she admitted to using methamphetamine during her pregnancy. Now, Poolaw, who was 19 at the time of her miscarriage, is in prison, sentenced to four years in October for manslaughter in the death of her fetus.
Some advocates and medical professionals believe the verdict is a mistake, warning that the rising trend of women being prosecuted for actions during pregnancy is often based on faulty science and disproportionately affects low-income women and women of color.
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Lynn Paltrow, the founder and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which is working to fight Poolaw’s case, said no person can guarantee a healthy birth.
Trafficking and crime:
San Francisco Chronicle: California push to overhaul sex-work laws hinges on a central question: When to consider whom in the transaction as a victim.
Debates over the issue have been defined by two diametrically opposed arguments about the extent to which prostitution is consensual. On one side, many anti-trafficking groups have suggested most, if not the vast majority, of people who trade sexual acts for money are coerced or the victims of trafficking.
Meanwhile, many sex workers themselves and civil liberties advocates say that the vast majority of sex work is performed by consenting adults and that criminalization can actually exacerbate human trafficking.
Personally, I think we need far more well-paying jobs, so that the coercion of poverty is removed from anyone’s decision.
Women at Work:
Vulture: The Go-Go's ding the Rock Hall's misogyny problem
One of the most upsetting facts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is that female inductees only comprise about 8 percent of its total body; the disproportionate number, in fact, has influenced numerous induction speeches by women in recent years, with Stevie Nicks and Janet Jackson both going deep about the institutional failures that allowed this to happen.
Supreme Court:
NY Times gives more details: Supreme Court Tries to Tame Unruly Oral Arguments:
After a 2017 study showed that female justices were disproportionately interrupted by their male colleagues and by male lawyers, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. took action, Justice Sotomayor said in a video conversation last month at New York University’s law school.
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“I know there is often discussion about how much influence research has on the courts,” she said. “In the case of that study, I think it had an enormous impact. I know that after reports of that finding came out that our chief judge was much more sensitive.”
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In 2009, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last year, told Joan Biskupic, then of USA Today, that she sometimes felt ignored at the justices’ private conferences. “I will say something — and I don’t think I’m a confused speaker — and it isn’t until somebody else says it that everyone will focus on the point,” Justice Ginsburg said.
Interrupting the wonderful RBG? The nerve!
Women are more competitive when they're given the option to share winnings,, a research finding that may help close the gender pay gap:
....Since one explanation of the gender pay gap is that women tend to be less competitive than men in workplace settings, this finding could lead to ways to narrow it. ... Our research suggests [that] It’s not that women don’t like competition, but that they are sensitive to social aspects of it that men aren’t. When incentives reflect those social aspects, women are just as competitive as men [or more so].
From constructiondive.com's series of conversations with women leaders in the construction industry. Adolfson & Peterson superintendent Beth Butler says, 'Be assertive' ... women in construction should speak up and not be afraid to ask a lot of questions."
The biggest challenge I have found is that many people believe women belong behind a desk in an office. Through the years, I have worked with many who initially said, "I'm surprised to see a woman in the field." After working with me for a bit, their skepticism goes to the wayside. It has been a great feeling to counter that challenge.
From constructiondive.com - Inclusion Week: ...more than 1,100 firms took part in the inaugural event, which focused on issues such as women's pay, attracting underrepresented workers and eradicating hate from jobsites.
Some of Construction Inclusion Week focused on race, gender and sexual orientation. Some of it focused on jobsite culture and a zero tolerance policy toward hate. And other parts focused on leveling the playing field and bringing in underrepresented firms to construction contracts.
But ultimately, the event was about how to be better human beings to one another at work, while promoting a kinder attitude between workers on jobsites.
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Perhaps the most common theme of all events throughout the week was to point out that the efforts don't stop at the end of five days.
Also discussed: Inclusion = safety. And unconscious bias.
women and climate:
Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis is leading the California delegation at the Glasgow international climate summit. If you can’t read the tweet: “Our zero carbon future must not only be healthier, cleaner but also more equal.” California is the 5th leading economy in the world!
Cop26 — Women Leaders
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, speech on YouTube:
If you can’t see it here, try the linky, https://youtu.be/...
Partial transcript (h/t officebss):
I ask to you: what must we say to our people, living on the frontline in the Caribbean, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Pacific, when both ambition and, regrettably, some of the needed faces at Glasgow, are not present? What excuse should we give for the failure?
When will leaders lead? Our people are watching, and our people are taking note. And are we really going to leave Scotland without the resolve and the ambition that is sorely needed to save lives and to save out planet?
Are we so blinded and hardened that we can no longer appreciate the cries of humanity?
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission:
I know that all of us here at Cop26 want to be on the right side of history. And this is why I call on all of us to do whatever it takes, now, to limit global warming to 1.5C. And we can do it. Because climate change is man-made, science tells us. So we can do something about it. It’s our opportunity to write history. Even more, it’s our duty to act now.
Regarding the above speeches: Per CBS News: Some Caribbean nations are planning to sue big polluters responsible for climate change, as they face ending up underwater
Yahoo! Finance: Climate change: Yellen calls for 'wholesale transformation of our carbon intensive economies'
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a "wholesale transformation" of carbon intensive economies at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on Wednesday, urging the private sector to capitalize on an opportunity to help developing nations transition to a carbon free economy.
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“CEOs representing trillions in assets are here to show their commitment," Yellen stated. "Financial institutions with collective assets under management of nearly $100 trillion have come together under The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or GFANZ. If these ambitions are realized, those portfolios will be carbon-neutral by 2050 and significantly reduce emissions by 2030."
Covid:
Medscape: Evidence That COVID Is Changing Personal Boundaries leads us to wonder whether such social changes would or wouldn't help protect women from minor physical sexual harassment? This extremely brief report of research doesn't actually address that, though. One interesting bit:
...These boundaries are mirrored in functional MRI studies, which show that columns of activation in the brain respond to stimuli within the borders of personal space, according to Daphne Holt, MD, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital…
Maybe some men will finally understand how we don’t want strangers in our faces!
Other Health Issues:
WTTW (Chicago): Improving investment in women's health research, health care:
Just a fraction of research funds into Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and autoimmune disease goes toward women, even though they disproportionately face those ailments.
That’s according to a new report from the group Women’s Health Access Matters, which found that a $300 million dollar investment into research focused on women would yield a $13 billion economic return in reduced healthcare costs, better quality of life, and years of productivity returned to the workforce.
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“There’s [sic] a lot of women who don’t achieve their full potential, not because they aren’t good enough – in actuality there’s a system set up to prevent them from getting to the level they could get to,” Jain said. “We need to take the onus away from the women. It needs to be everybody having these discussions and bringing these issues up.”
Afghanistan:
The Guardian: Women’s rights activist shot dead in northern Afghanistan: Frozan Safi, 29, is believed to be the first women’s rights defender to be killed since Taliban return to power
Say her name: Frozan Safi
Frozan Safi’s body was identified in a morgue in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif after she went missing on 20 October. “We recognised her by her clothes. Bullets had destroyed her face,” said Safi’s sister, Rita, who is a doctor.
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The extremists have led a largely violent crackdown on dissent, beating women with electric batons and detaining and torturing reporters who cover the nationwide protests by women demanding their rights be restored and protected.
CNN: She was sold to a stranger so her family could eat as Afghanistan crumbles:
Parwana Malik, a 9-year-old girl with dark eyes and rosy cheeks, giggles with her friends as they play jump rope in a dusty clearing.
But Parwana's laughter disappears as she returns home, a small hut with dirt walls, where she's reminded of her fate: she's being sold to a stranger as a child bride.
The man who wants to buy Parwana says he's 55, but to her, he's "an old man" with white eyebrows and a thick white beard, she told CNN on October 22. She worries he will beat her and force her to work in his house.
Ethiopia:
Tigray region, Ethiopia: Decades of healthcare progress literally destroyed in one year. - Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has declared a state of emergency and urged citizens to take up arms to defend themselves from the Tigray People's Liberation Front and its Eritrean People's Liberation Front ally. Since the outbreak of war one year ago, human rights bodies and the US and EU report thousands of civilians killed, more than 2.1 million internally displaced people, 900 thousand in famine conditions, over 70,000 refugees, and widespread war crimes, a mass humanitarian crisis. Tigray's healthcare system has been especially targetted, with over 200 facilities in the past 2 weeks alone attacked, looted, and turned into military camps or destroyed. And on the part of the government, this past summer Amnesty International was among sources reporting soldiers and allied militias subjecting Tigrayan women and girls to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture, often using ethnic slurs and death threats, as a weapon of war. Tragic:
Ethiopia's healthcare system witnessed remarkable improvements over the past three decades. The Tigray region had some of the best health outcomes in the country. Before the war began, 94% of women in Tigray had access to skilled antenatal care; 72% gave birth in a health facility; and 63% made use of postnatal care services. And more than 96% of children were vaccinated. Tigray also had made remarkable achievement in preventing and controlling communicable diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV. The destruction of the health system has left millions of people without access to basic healthcare services... pregnant women are left without basic maternal health services and [nearly 800 thousand children lack a range of immunisations.]
Transgender rights:
AP News: The Supreme Court let stand without comment a California appeals court decision finding a Catholic hospital discriminated against a transgender man in refusing him a hysterectomy there in 2017 (Mercy San Juan Medical Center called it an “elective sterilization” that would violate their ethical and religious obligations). Three days afterward, the patient received the procedure elsewhere, later suing Mercy San Juan under a California law barring discrimination, the trial court dismissed the suit (on ridiculous grounds) but the appeals court overturned the lower court, and now SCOTUS has declined to revisit it, widely considered another win for transgender rights at SCOTUS level: e.g., in June, they declined to weigh in on a somewhat related case, and in 2020 they ruled that Title VII of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity, among other grounds.
Snark:
From The Establishment: Unfortunately shut down in 2019; this is from 2018 but still relevant. Fortunately, they are keeping all their archives available.
Alternative careers for male casualties of the #MeToo movement
In the current social climate of the #MeToo movement, men are under siege. We really have it rough; all of a sudden we have to think about, like, what we say, how we’re perceived, and if we’re safe. Who lives like that?! At this point we’re lucky if we dominate just 99% of corporate culture, politics, and the world at large. It’s like we’re barely running everything anymore.
It’s not even safe for nice guys who make an innocent mistake with an unconscious lady friend. Did you know that in almost .0067% of sexual misconduct cases, dudes have had to start their WHOLE lives over? They have nothing but the clothes on their back, their privilege, and an extensive network of other privileged men to help them get by!
IInspiring Women
Insight News: Preserving black women's stories as a labor of love
The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries is a growing repository of materials that reflect Black women’s intellectual contributions from across the African diaspora.
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“I hope at some point the BFA will grow into the largest of its kind in the world—an archive specifically devoted to identifying, curating, and preserving the contributions and stories of Black women who are activists, artists, academics, or just ordinary folk. People are here today and gone tomorrow. Their lives and work need to be preserved.”
From The Conversation: Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s - thanks to a woman named Eunice Foote:
Long before the current political divide over climate change, and even before the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), an American scientist named Eunice Foote documented the underlying cause of today’s climate change crisis.
The year was 1856. Foote’s brief scientific paper was the first to describe the extraordinary power of carbon dioxide gas to absorb heat – the driving force of global warming.
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The world has known about the warming risk posed by excessive levels of carbon dioxide for decades, even before the invention of cars or coal-fired power stations. A rare female scientist in her time, Eunice Foote, explicitly warned about the basic science 165 years ago. Why haven’t we listened more closely?
(Because it was noted by a woman?)
Fundraising
BBC: Bristol women's walking group fundraising for lower-income members.
A women's walking group has launched a fundraiser to make their trips more accessible for those from lower-income backgrounds.
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The group, which runs trips four times a month, is also fundraising to get more women trained as walking leaders to help arrange more regular and bigger trips.
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In August, the group tackled a charity challenge to raise money for a therapy centre dedicated to black mental health.
Two conservative Supreme Court justices appear open to abortion providers being able to challenge Texas law ---- Ultraviolet is asking for donations to support an emergency demonstration there on Monday!
From email:
It's difficult to read too much into what justices say during oral arguments, but there's no reason to think that this Trump-packed court will do anything different than what it's done so far, allowing the Texas abortion ban to shutter clinics and end legal abortion in the state. Today, our team is helping to rally protesters in front of the Supreme Court to show the justices, as well as the rest of the country, that we will not stand by quietly as the constitutional right to abortion is eviscerated. But this is a huge fight playing out in courtrooms, state capitols, corporate boardrooms, and clinics all over the country. We need a major influx of resources to grow our campaign and fight back.
As always, WOW is a group effort! Many thanks to mettle fatigue, Tara tAsSW, J Graham, SandraLLAP, officebss for news and discussion!