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The internet's a-buzzin' with talk of Obama's "first 100 days." I myself have been wondering what exactly is so significant about the first 100 days, until I saw Jon Stewart ask historian Doris Kearns Goodwin the same question. Apparently, since FDR did so much in his first 100 days as president, every president thereafter has been measured in the same way, using FDR's accomplishments as a yardstick. Watch Goodwin's opinion on the first 100 days:


So far, I'm pleased with what I'm seeing. Obama is behaving in the way I hoped he would - he's remaining personable and connected to the public, open-minded yet firm in his decisions, and I see a conscious effort on his part to keep his promises. And because we're facing urgent issues that need quick action, like the recession, I know that women's issues are in danger of taking the back seat. However, I have seen Obama do more for women in his first 100 days than I ever could have imagined any president doing. There is a breakdown in The Huffington Post of everything he has done so far, from overturning the global gag rule to signing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

The rest of America seems to agree. A poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal showed that "more than six in 10 approve of Obama's job, nearly two-thirds view him favorably, and a majority believe he has gotten off to a solid start during his first three months on the job."

Overall, he's more popular than George W. and Clinton were in their first 100 days. I can't wait to see what Obama has in store for the next 100 days.

Hi lovely readers. Just a quick reminder that my online radio show at BlogTalkRadio.com is today at 5PM EST. You can listen to it live here, and you can call in using the number provided. If you miss it, it will be recorded and kept in my archive, so you can give it a listen whenever. Please call in and offer your two cents! I'll be talking about sexism, so I'm sure all of you will have plenty to say.

Watch this POS and you won't believe it. It's a trailer for a new movie "Dance Flick," which not only looks horrendous, but also loves milking the black stereotypes. Watch as Pregnant Black Girl with an Afro gives birth on a dance floor and puts her baby in her locker. Another trailer for the movie apparently shows they also make fun of the stereotypical absent "baby daddy."



Classy.

Today is Equal Pay Day. Just some stats (from pay-equity.org) to remind everyone how far from pay equity we actually are:



But we are making progress. Feminists were thrilled to see the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed by Obama in January.

The National Committee on Pay Equity has a list of activities you can do today, including wearing red to show that women are kept "in the red." Also, take a few minutes to contact your representatives and let them know how important pay equity is to you. Changes in law won't solve wage gaps, but it helps.

I feel the need to call some attention to Tony Tomazic's blog post on crumpleitup.com, which is causing quite the outrage. Here's his main point: the fatter we are, the harder we are on the environment. Unfortunately, society has come to "accept" and "normalize" obesity, and now more than ever, we need to shame fat people into getting thin for the sake of our planet. Tomazic speculates:

So, if that's the problem, then what's the answer? Fundamentally, we need to depreciate the perceived social value for this kind of habit. What about taxing excessive indulgence? I'm not talking about US Federal Income Tax, I'm talking about inter-personal "social" taxes. Taxes that diminish that false perception in the social value of overdoing it. How would society react if obese people were required to stand in a different line at the bank? Only be allowed to see movies at certain times? Only be able to order certain foods in restaurants? What would happen if society fought back the disastrous perception that it's OK to eat yourself (and the planet) to death?

First of all, I'm not entirely sure where he's getting this preposterous belief that our society is just oh so accepting of fat people, because I'm really not seeing it.

Second of all, standing in different lines? Only able to go to certain restaurants? So... I guess it's just not enough that most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women. Or that about half of all American women are currently dieting. That fat people are seeing as disgusting, unhealthy, unsexy beings. Or that overweight people have to pay more for a plane ticket or for clothing that fits. What about the fact that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder? In his blog post, Tomazic mentions "eating ourselves to death", but what in the hell does he think would happen if fat people were quarantined like diseased animals? I think we'd all be starving ourselves right to the grave.

But it's OK. At least our carbon footprint would be smaller.

Jill at Feministe really summed it up when she said, "With swine flu now hitting the United States, I figured it was only a matter of time before someone started to blame Mexicans."

Check out radio host and ignoramus Neal Boortz as he proclaims, "What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans?"



And all the bullshit about this being a terrorist attack through Mexico? *Rolls eyes* Give me a break.

Once again, efforts to allow gays and lesbians to serve as clergy in the U.S.A. Presbyterian Church have failed. From MSNBC:

Last summer, the 2.3 million-member denomination's General Assembly voted to drop a constitutional requirement that would-be ministers, deacons and elders live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."

Any such change requires approval by a majority of the nation's 173 presbyteries, or regional church bodies. Those votes have been trickling in for months, and on Saturday enough "no" votes had been recorded to clinch the measure's defeat.

The good news? The vote was extremely close - much closer than it was in previous years, showing that support for openly gay clergy is growing. I suppose more and more people are realizing that the point of religion is not to exclude people because they're different, but to accept with open arms anyone and everyone who wants to worship. Such a simple concept... so why is it so hard for people to grasp?

If you enjoy my blog, you'll just LOVE my new online radio show. Don't miss my first show, which is this week, in which the topic is: the subtle sexism that plagues our culture, and why it's bad that we've come to accept it. The show will be:

Thursday, April 30th @ 5PM EST

My show can be listened to live at that date and time at this URL. If you miss it, it will be recorded, so you can listen to the episode whenever. But if you listen live, you can call in (using the number provided on the website) to chat with me, debate me, call me a moron, whatever you like. It's so exciting! I hope I can count on a few readers to become listeners :)

Saw this posted in Womanist Musings and I was utterly appalled. This is a "news" story on how a Popeye's restaurant ran out of chicken one day, causing customers to be outraged. Do you see a pattern amongst the people who were interviewed? What a racist piece of crap this is.

A verdict has been delivered in the case of the murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender woman who was beaten to death by a man, Allen Andrade, whom she met on the net. Andrade has been charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

It makes me absolutely sick what he did to her, and it is just appalling to me that his lawyer attempted to justify what he did with, "He lost control" due to finding out Angie was once a man. That is no excuse whatsoever. There was absolutely no need to do what he did; Angie was no threat to him - his actions were fueled by pure hatred. And as a huge slap in the face to Angie's family, the defense would only refer to her as "Justin" - her name before she transitioned.

But thankfully, the court ruled this as a hate crime. There is really no other way to put it - he committed a crime with pure, intolerant, blind hatred as a motive.

There is a beautiful online tribute to Angie you can visit. But stay away from the comment section... intolerance is everywhere.

The latest from the phenomenal Sarah Haskins. I found this episode particularly awesome because the dating shows she refers to piss me off to no end.

This part 1 of a really interesting special on BBC about reproductive rights in the Philippines. Contraception is so scarce, especially to impoverished women, and as a result, families are forced to cram large amounts of children into tiny homes. This is really eye-opening, not to mention heart-breaking.

When the iPhone first came out, it seemed pretty extravagant and unnecessary. But I'll admit: after playing with one, I decided it's a pretty nifty little gadget. Unfortunately, sexist morons started developing iPhone applications that exist solely to objectify women and shit all over feminism. Clear off your desk so you have an empty space on which to slam your head, and enjoy the Top 5 Sexist iPhone Apps:


5. The Perfect Girl

"Tap or shake your iPhone and you will experience what it is like to have the PERFECT girl."

When the iPhone user gives the virtual lady a tap or a shake, she says such charming phrases as:

"I'll try anything once!"
"Do you think she's flirting with us?"
"You are so right!"

Who needs an intelligent woman when you have the perfect woman?



4. iControlHer




"Have you ever wished to have a remote control for people?"

By "for people," they mean for women, or else it would be called "iControlPeople." Just point the remote at your wife when the bitch won't shut up! :) :)






3. iGirl




"Blow her, shake her, touch her and more! Have your own virtual girlfriend on your iPhone for less than the price of a cup of coffee or a beer, and shake her around!"

Because who doesn't love shaking women around?!?







2. PMSTracker

Uh oh, Margaret has her period and the bitch is about to go NUTS! Thankfully, PMSTracker has your back.

"Tired of your wife/girlfriend/sister/mom/secretary biting your head off unexpectedly once a month? PMSTracker allows you to quickly track the approximate time each woman in your life has PMS. Just enter their name, and the last known date of PMS, and PMSTracker will calculate the likelihood of that woman having PMS each day. Green means they most likely don't have PMS, orange is a warning that they may have PMS, and red means they most likely have PMS. Overheard at a bar: 'Hey Joe, mind if I sleep over tonight? My iPhone says my wife's PMS'ing today.'"



1. Hot Chick-o-Meter

THANK GOD FOR THIS! Without it, how would I sort out the hags from the hotties? The supermodels from the but-her-faces? How else would I objectify women on the go?!

"Say you're out on the town in the clubs, and you see a really hot chick - you can take a picture of her, dial up her ranking on the Hot Chick-o-Meter to smokin', and send it to your friends to tell them where the action is in town! Hilarious Hot Chick-o-Meter readings: Bagger, Butchy, Great Personality, Doable, Respectable, Cute, Sexy, Smokin', Hot Mama, Could Melt Your Stuff, Stripper, Porn Star, Supermodel."

This is from a Belgian comedy show. I can't even express in words how unfunny and offensive this bullshit is.

My jaw dropped to the floor when my friend Eli sent me this, and then I started uncontrollably giggling because this is just too ridiculous. This is a real page from a children's book written in the 1960s called I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! You might be inclined to think this is a hoax or meant to be some sort of satire, but Gwen at Sociological Images has strong evidence to refute both those suspicions.

(Click on the image to see the whole thing)

In a small victory for us reproductive justice advocates, emergency contraception will now be made available to both women and men as young as 17 without a prescription. It used to be that only those 18 and older could obtain it without seeing a doctor first, but the FDA lowered the age after a judge in the Federal District Court in New York ruled that the minimum age being 18 was a policy driven by politics, and not science. Ah, sweet justice.

Since EC became widely available to people 18 and over in 2006, it has not had any significant impact on abortion or teen pregnancy rates. This is because the amount of teenagers having sex and dealing with unplanned pregnancies is just too immense for EC alone to make a dent. In order for EC to effective lower these rates, it must work in conjunction with comprehensive sex education programs. No wonder teen pregnancy and abortion rates aren't lowering; too many teenagers who are victims of abstinence-only education don't even know what emergency contraception is.

This week, representatives in Maine will begin debates over the legalization of same-sex marriage. Will Maine become the fourth New England state to legalize? Uh oh... a storm is most definitely coming.

Yes, Obama is attractive.

Yes, he probably has a better body than all of the past presidents combined.

But why, oh why, must we turn him into a piece of meat?!

It was ten years ago that openly gay Matthew Shepard was beaten to death by cowardly homophobes. What better way to honor his memory and the memory of countless other GLBTQ victims of violence and harassment than to urge Congress to pass a necessary hate crime bill? The Matthew Shepard Act will give GLBTQ people the protection they deserve by outlawing hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Two years ago, there were efforts to pass this Act, but thanks to George W. Bush's veto threat, it was blocked. But now, there's a real chance of getting it passed. Please visit the Human Rights Campaign to send an e-mail to your representatives, urging them to support the Matthew Shepard Act. There is also a very powerful (though possibly triggering) video with a statement by Judy Shepard, Matthew's mom. I'm sure it would be a huge comfort to Matthew's family if this Act were to pass.

I really wish I could write a more adequate post, but the eyes are heavy after working some more on my monster research paper on the pro-life movement. But here are a few short stories to tide you folks over.

• Leaders in Sierra Leone recently signed an agreement stating that girls under the age of 18 will not be forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Upon hitting puberty, most girls in Sierra Leone are "initiated" into a secret women's society through the use of FGM.


• This is an interesting one: Sarah Palin's choice for attorney general once wrote an opinion piece defending a KKK statue on a college campus.


• The New York Times is calling for the impeachment of the moron who wrote the memo on torture. You know... the one that compared food deprivation to Weight Watchers.


• The last place you would ever expect to find feminism: South Park...?


• A key feminist activist, Elizabeth Chittick, passed away last week at age 100.


• A new poll shows that New Yorkers are open to the idea of same-sex marriage being legalized in their state.


• Follow me on Twitter! (Okay, this has nothing to do with anything else, but I thought it was good opportunity).

Steve Schmidt, who was a top aide in the McCain campaign, is delivering a speech today to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights organization, to lobby Republicans to support same-sex marriage. According to Schmidt:

"There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage. I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."

"It cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un American or threatens the rights of others. On the contrary, it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence — liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Schmidt compared same-sex marriage rights to the fight for civil rights and women's rights. I'm really impressed by his ability to adopt a point of view that is extremely frowned upon by his own party. His arguments are very logical, and seem so simple and obvious, but clearly it's going to take years more of persuasive arguments by a lot more people like Schmidt in order to pry open the minds of most Republicans.

In a particularly horrific memo released by the Bush administration on their torture practices towards terrorists, they attempted to justify depriving detainees of food as a form of torture.

...The Bush attorney general's office argued that restricting the caloric intake of terrorist suspects to 1000 calories a day was medically safe because people in the United States were dieting along those lines voluntarily.

"While detainees subject to dietary manipulation are obviously situated differently from individuals who voluntarily engage in commercial weight-loss programs, we note that widely available commercial weight-loss programs in the United States employ diets of 1000 kcal/day for sustain periods of weeks or longer without requiring medical supervision," read the footnote.

No! Fail! What?! Read the rest of it here; I particularly enjoyed when they claimed that sleep deprivation causes no long-term mental effects because all psychological side effects disappear once the torture victim goes to sleep.

Stephen Colbert warns us against the hellish nightmare our country will become if same-sex marriage is legalized.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

So, I'm sure all of you have heard that the Republicans are having some, ahem, teabagging issues (heh heh... teabagging). The Huffington Post displayed the ten most offensive signs that were held proudly at the protests. Some of them are just unreal.

A report has been released to examine the federal funding of abstinence-only education in every state for the year 2008. $176 million was distributed between the states, though seven states received no abstinence-only funding. More than half the funds were allocated to the 16 southern states, which have skyrocketing rates of STDs and teen pregnancies, and $20 million went to funding the anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers that litter the U.S.

Evidence that abstinence-only education does not work seems to be slowly persuading lawmakers because less federal funding is going to the programs. Still, it blows my mind that $176 million is wasted on hammering useless and misleading information into the heads of teenagers, not to mention the $20 million that's being used to lie to pregnant women. If Republicans want to whine about rogue spending by the government, why not focus on this?

Even though it was a huge blow when Spitzer left office, I'm happy he was replaced with a governor who is also a staunch supporter of GLBT rights. Governor David Paterson is set to announce on Thursday that he will introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.

I love my state, and I'll be extremely proud if it is the 5th state to legalize, but we can't get our hopes too high. Our Senate has more opposition to same-sex marriage than support. But who knows, maybe some votes will be swayed.

Did anyone participate in National Crisis Pregnancy Center Protest Day?

I sure did. The protest I held was a definite success. We had, at the most, around 10 people, which is more than I was hoping for. I did a ton of promotion for the protest, but as I've learned in the past, apathy is a plague. Besides, what was that Margaret Mead quote?

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

We had a couple people come up to us to get more information, and although we lost count, I think our "HONK IF YOU SUPPORT CHOICE" sign received well over 300 honks.



The best part of the day was when an elderly woman came up to us and said, "I support you as someone who had to travel to New Jersey over 30 years ago to get an abortion." I felt really proud at that moment, like I was part of a new generation of feminists working to correct the injustices of the past and today. It wasn't that long ago that even New York, one of the first states to liberalize abortion laws, didn't have an abortion clinic. It is truly our duty as modern feminists to do everything we can to protect what little reproductive justice we have, if not for ourselves then for the feminists who fought for it decades ago, giving their entire lives to the cause.

After the protest, we went into the crisis pregnancy center to talk to the women who worked there. They had heard that we were coming, and so one woman sat down with us to have a discussion. I vocalized my concerns that scared pregnant women will find them in the phonebook or online, see the words "pregnancy support," and come into the center, not knowing that they won't get all their options. The woman shot back with, "We're clearly a pro-life organization." I told her there is nothing "clear" about them being pro-life. I had to dig extremely deep on their website to confirm that they are a pro-life center - I mean, someone like me who is educated on this issue would know right away, but how many pregnant young women are likely to have a BA in Women's Studies? Moreover, their advertisements are the typical "Pregnant? Need Help? Call Us" type deal, without saying anything about being pro-life or not offering abortion referrals. She told me that they don't try to scare women away from having abortions, to which I picked up a pamphlet on "post-abortion stress syndrome" and said, "What's this then?" I told her that the so-called "syndrome" has been disproven by even the American Psychological Association and she had no response.

The one good thing they did offer was free baby clothes, diapers, and food to new mothers. However, I saw that as just another ploy to get women to "choose" life by saying, "Here, look at all we can offer you if you do decide to keep your baby."

Basically, this center and other crisis pregnancy centers know what they are doing. They are extremely sneaky and deceptive. If they are so proudly pro-life, as this woman claimed they were, why not put "pro-life" in their title? Or on the website? Or in the advertisements? Or in their pamphlets? I didn't see it anywhere. All I saw were promises that they can provide loving support to frightened pregnant women who might not know better.

I'm hoping I can send some PO'ed feminists over to the Daily Mail Online to leave negative comments on a highly offensive opinion piece written by Helen Kirwan-Taylor, entitled "Why DO babies turn so many brilliant women into slummy mummies?" The title basically explains it.

It might sound brutal, but this is a short, but crucial juncture in any relationship. Women have to see that their marriage matters as much as their children.

At a time when divorce is on the rise and families are breaking up, it seems even more important for women to --consider their other halves.

Men have a profound interest in their own children, but they also have adult sexual human urges - women ignore them at their peril.

When a woman puts her child first, she is making a choice.

For every mother with greasy hair and a flabby bum (even though she can afford gym membership) who has lost interest in herself and the world, there is a husband ready to go on the prowl.

Apparently, women exist to look purdy for their menfolk, and the second a woman starts slacking on that responsibility, it is not by any means the fault of the man should he end up in bed with his secretary, because it was his wife who was stupid enough to gain 15 pounds and let her roots show.

Wow, really? Women are more harshly scrutinized for being overweight than men are? Since when?!

The study, published in the British journal Equal Opportunities International, focused on the bosses of 1,000 leading companies in the United States.

Photographs of these individuals were assessed by experts, including medical professionals who were able to accurately estimate people's weight.

...Up to 61 per cent of the leading male bosses were overweight – higher than the US average of 41 per cent in this age group – indicating that overweight men were over-represented in high positions in the business world.

In contrast, only 22 per cent of women chief executives were overweight, compared with the US average of 29 per cent in this female age group.

Researcher Mark Roehling, an associate professor of human resource management at Michigan State University, said that the attitudes appeared to contribute to the glass ceiling.

"The results suggest that while being obese limits the career opportunities of both women and men, being 'merely overweight' harms only female executives – and may actually benefit male executives."

The results echo previous research showing that among white, middle-class communities, women faced "harsher weight standards" than men, Prof Roehling said.

So... am I supposed to be surprised?

Some of you might have heard the horrifying story of the woman who was raped in a subway station four years ago while an MTA worker just stared. I actually based a slam poem I wrote on her story, which I'm going to perform at Take Back the Night next weekend. If you haven't heard Maria's story, it goes like this (trigger warning): she was stuck alone on the subway with a creepy pervert one night. When he began to touch her feet, Maria was so distracted that she missed her stop. She immediately got off at the next stop and began to run, while the douchebag followed her. He grabbed her, pulled her down on the deserted platform, and held her down while raping her. When she screamed and cried, the man held her over the train tracks and threatened to drop her if she didn't stop. The most disturbing part: Maria was looking directly into the eyes of a man working the token booth while it was happening, and he just stared. The MTA worker pressed a button to notify the police, but he didn't even bother to try and scare the rapist away. Now, Maria is publicly denouncing the MTA worker. The MTA issued a statement in response:

"It is important to note that while NYC Transit workers are trained to the highest degree of professionalism in their assigned jobs, they are not and should not be expected to perform in the capacity of law enforcement officers."

But Maria retorts:

"He could have just gotten over the intercom and said, 'Hey! Stop what you're doing! I've called the cops!' Anything like that would have helped. He didn't have to get out of the booth. I don't expect him to be a police officer. But he could have definitely said something over the intercom, or perhaps having a quicker system of notifying the police would have been effective, too."

The police took 10 minutes to show up, and immediately the rapist ran away and was never caught. The token booth worker wasn't the only one to call the police either. While Maria was being raped, a train pulled into the station and the conductor, not bothering to attempt to scare away the rapist either, pushed a similar button to notify the cops, and drove the train away.

After the assault, Maria tried to continue attending grad school at NYU, but she had panic attacks every time she rode the subway and had to quit school. She's now in therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Maria took her story to court, where a judge told her that the MTA workers had no obligation to do anything other than signal for police officers. While reading this story, I was tempted to pity Maria, but I don't think she needs it. It requires a tremendous amount of strength to go public with a horrifying story like this. I admire her courage.

Woooooooooo! What an exciting time to be alive.

That's original.

There is a great website, TheHormoneFactory.com, that aims to teach children ages 10-12 about puberty, menstruation, good touch vs. bad touch, how babies are made, contraception, abortion, masturbation, body parts, and self-esteem. With all the bullshit information floating around out there, it's wonderful that a fun and comprehensive website exists to teach children the real facts. To give you an idea, here's the text from the section of the website on pornography:

It is normal for you to be interested in this stuff at this age. (It is also normal not to be interested yet). But, pictures of naked people on the Internet is not a good way for you to find out about sex when you are this age. Usually these photos show sex and women in a pretty yucky way that makes women seem like they enjoy being treated badly, and it doesn't show sex as a loving kind of thing, just a thing that is about body parts. It is against the law for an adult to show you pornography. If this is happening you should tell and adult you trust, as its very creepy for someone to show a kid this stuff.

Of course, ignorant parents who would rather pretend that their children are asexual beings than protect them are all shook up. Some think it is "too detailed" and "distasteful." Was any of the above text distasteful? Did they go into detail on how women are shown in a "yucky way"? NOT AT ALL. And the other sections on the website are no different; they are all completely appropriate. People are also pissed off because the website says that women can feel relieved after having an abortion. Um, women feeling relieved after having an abortion is a proven fact. On abortion, the website says:

Sometimes people find they are pregnant and do not want to have a baby. They might decide to go to a doctor and have an operation to end the pregnancy. This is called a termination, or an abortion.

Having a termination is a hard decision to make, and can be very sad.

It can also be a relief. If a woman has a termination she can still have a baby at another time.

In some countries it is a woman's right to decide to have a termination. It is against the law in some countries to have a termination.

They say it can be a relief or it can make someone sad! What the hell is the problem? Parents, please stop trying to mess with a good thing. Age-appropriate comprehensive sex education is just too rare.

██ Same-sex marriages

██ Unions granting rights similar to marriage

██ Unions granting limited/enumerated rights

██ Foreign same-sex marriages recognized

██ Statute bans same-sex marriage

██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage

██ Constitution bans same-sex marriage and other kinds of same-sex unions

Two days ago, a Human Rights Watch report was released showing that there are at least 12,669 untested rape kits in Los Angeles County, the largest known backlog of its kind in the US.

Holy. Crap.

They estimated that thousands more rape kits have been destroyed in LA County as well. Interviews showed that many of the rape victims assumed that the DNA did not match in the database or no evidence was found when they did not hear their results. According to Ms. Magazine:

The backlog on rape kits is not unique to Los Angeles, and 2004 federal legislation advocated by the Feminist Majority and other women's rights groups, renewed this year, addressed the problem by authorizing funding for local police departments to catch up on DNA analyses. L.A.'s crime lab was awarded nearly $4 million, but lost nearly $500,000 of that due to lax oversight. And the backlog has worsened.

It really saddens me that when terrified women can muster up just enough courage to undergo a humiliating and time-consuming rape kit, their evidence is not even tested. It's a horrifying thought and it really makes me lose any faith I had left in our justice system.