Anna sent me this video from GRITtv about reproductive coercion. Scary stuff...

Posted on Jezebel, a charming suitcase sticker that allows you to look like you're carrying a bound and gagged woman... and for only $15!


"Disgusting" doesn't even begin to describe it. Send hate mail to info@thecheeky.com.

This makes me sick.

In the Mexican state of Guanajuato, which holds the strictest abortion policy and the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and also refuses to teach comprehensive sex education, six women have been sentenced to 25 to 30 years prison time for the crime of violating Guanajuato's abortion laws. From womensrights.change.org:

Ms. Magazine reports that the six women were tried and sentence for homicide under laws criminalizing abortion. Activists working with the women reports that all six defendants were poor and had little education. Two were impregnated by rape, and all were abandoned by the sperm-providers. One had a spontaneous abortion, a.k.a. a miscarriage.

To have a woman charged with homicide and thrown in jail for making a decision about her own body is appalling to me... it sounds like something out of some horrifying dystopian novel. Too bad it's reality.

Eek! Lack of new posts! Fret not, I have not now nor will ever forget about my beloved feminist blog or its wonderfully loyal readers. I've been slacking a bit because as a marketing intern at Women's eNews, I spend my day social networking so I'm a bit blogged/Facebooked/Tweeted out by the time I get home. But I will make a conscious effort to update more. Posts might be shorter than usual, but research has told me that all of you prefer shorter more frequent posts to longer less frequent posts.

So keep your eyes peeled for more updates, and don't forget about me!

I just saw a commercial on TV for Kotex's line of menstruation products, called "U." I have to admit: normally, I tune out during commercial breaks, but this completely got my attention because it expressed basically every single qualm I have with your average tampon/pad ads:



I did some YouTube'ing, and not only do their commercials address how obnoxious tampon ads are, but they also address how uncomfortable people, particularly men, get when women talk about their periods:



And this one, again addressing the ridiculousness of most tampon/pad ads, made me laugh:



I also noticed that one of their ads posted on YouTube was tagged with "feminism." All of this was a bold move on Kotex's part, and although I don't use disposable pads/tampons (not since I bought my LunaPads), I'm intrigued.

Visit their YouTube channel or their website to learn more. Their website even has a pledge you can sign that starts out with:

Yeah, I have a period. And a vagina, not a va-jay-jay. It's what makes me a woman. But society and the media aren't being straight with me. It's like there's a code of secrecy and it makes me feel uncomfortable when talking about these topics.

Is this too good to be true?

Straight from Sociological Images, I didn't know whether to be appalled or just laugh at this utterly ridiculous birthday card from Dublin:




Oh, how cute.

Wow, just when I thought Mel Gibson's existence couldn't get anymore appalling, the internet gets ahold of his latest disgustingly misogynist and racist rant. It was recorded by his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. "Horrific," "offensive," and "repulsive" are all understatements.

Here's a part of it, from AlterNet, where Gibson yells at Grigorieva for looking like a "Vegas whore." SERIOUS TRIGGER WARNING.

You go out in public and it's a fucking embarrassment to me. You look like a fucking bitch in heat. And if you get raped by a pack of niggers it will be your fault. Alright? Because you provoked it. You are provocatively dressed all the time with your fake boobs that you feel you have to show off. I don't like it. I don't want that woman. I don't want you. I don't trust you. I don't love you.

Even though this is absolutely detestable language, I'm posting this here because this is an unfortunately common sentiment today: dress like a "whore," and you're asking for it. Not too long ago, I was out at a bar with some friends, dressed in my usual jeans, boots, and a tank top with a cardigan over it. Some charming gentleman tried to hit on me, I took him I was married to get him off my back, to which he responded, "If you were my wife and you went out looking like that, I would smack you around." Nice.

The Sexist actually recently posted a really nice PSA from Scotland that dealt with this issue.



Seriously, this shouldn't be such a hard concept to grasp. Women NEVER "ask for it," and even if a woman does go out in public wearing a short dress or whatever and ends up getting raped, the fault ultimately lies with the rapist. To say otherwise is preposterous.

My Fellow Americans,

I'm always torn on the Fourth of July, between feeling grateful that I live where I live, and not in a country where FGM and stoning and acid attacks are the norm, and feeling utterly ashamed by the horrific past the good ol' U.S.A. has of exploiting, slaughtering, an enslaving its people.

I suppose it's OK to feel both ways on this day. It is also OK to eat 5 burgers and wash them down with a beer each, which I plan to do.

But amidst the brouhaha of fireworks and BBQ, I encourage everyone to do a little internet exploration and learn something new about our past. No doubt it will be a depressing delve into history, but it's important to know about the injustices the U.S. has inflicted upon its citizens... because unfortunately those injustices are being repeated today. A good place to start is with Frederick Douglass' "Fourth of July" speech, delivered in 1852 to a crowd of white men, including the president. In his speech, Douglass asked why he was invited to speak, when clearly the country they were celebrating still saw him as less than human.

Fellow citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!” To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!

Sums up my sentiments quite well. Other things to do today: read the "Declaration of Sentiments," put together in 1848 at the herstoric Seneca Falls Convention. Also learn about the women that played key roles in the American Revolution, conveniently left out of history textbooks.

Also, take a look at some reflective pieces written by contemplative Americans who are using today to ask some important questions. "Has the American Dream Become Our Nightmare?" on AlterNet is a good place to start.

But let's not get too down today. After all the depressing stuff, find a reason to smile, whether it's what I said earlier about being grateful that we live here considering some of the alternatives, knowing that amidst all the injustices in this country, we can truly make a difference, or this Michael Ian Black/Michael Showalter 4th of July video:



Enjoy today, and eat many hot dogs (or soy dogs).