Ack! I've fallen off the face of the blogosphere!

I'm still here. Bear with me.

And in the mean time, watch this video. It's a couple months old, but I just saw it and found it incredibly heart-breaking and, at the same time, uplifting. It's from the NoVo Foundation.

Here's me making up for the lack of updates with LOTS of links to lovely feminist news, and with a picture of cute animals XD



A legislation has been introduced to END funding for abstinence-only education. Cue the Hallelujah chorus. In a press release, Congresswoman Lee stated: "The issues of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among our young people have reached a critical level. The best and most responsible way to protect them is through comprehensive sex education." Amen, sistah.

Interesting: "How 19th Century Prostitutes Were Among the Freest, Wealthiest, Most Educated Women of Their Time."

From Jezebel: "In what is perhaps a strange homage to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cosmopolitan has come up with '50 Great Things To Do With Your Breasts,' and guess what? Most of them revolve around dudes." Would you expect anything less from Cosmo?

A new poll shows that Latino voters are reluctant to embrace the GOP, despite the GOP's efforts to lure them in.

Lance Bass and my gay husband, Neil Patrick Harris, are speaking out against bullying of queer-identified youth, prompted by the recent suicide of Tyler Clementi. Lance even admits that he used to bully LGBTQ youth himself. But Queerty points out that we also need to hear from celebrities who "built their image on being bullies," e.g. 50 Cent, whose recent anti-gay pro-suicide Tweet got him in some deep shit.

Quite possibly the best submission to PostSecret I've ever seen.

Two (male) senators are halting the construction of the National Women's History Museum: "Their reasoning for blocking the National Women's History Museum, which would showcase the original, signed 19th amendment along tens of thousands of other artifacts central to women's history in the U.S., is that taxpayers might be asked to subsidize the museum in the future and that the museum would focus on abortion rights without 'without featuring any of the many contributions of the pro-life movement in America.'" GAH!

Dolce & Gabanna photoshopped Madonna within inches of her life in her newest spread for them.

A new series from Women's eNews, "Poverty - Tales from the Recession's Front Lines," explores the burdens placed on women during the recession. Also available in Spanish.

A new report from Guttmacher Institute shows that the proportion of abortion patients who are poor has increased by almost 60%, from 27% in 2000 to 42% in 2008. According to the report, impoverished women are more likely to seek abortions because financial constraints deter them from wanting to have children. Additionally, financial constraints also make it more difficult to access contraceptives. Sharon L. Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, commented:

Gaps in unintended pregnancy and abortion between poor and more affluent women have been increasing since the mid-1990s, so—sadly—none of this comes as a surprise. Reproductive health disparities, and health disparities more generally, are endemic in this country and stem from broader, persistent economic and social inequities. We need to bridge these reproductive health gaps by ensuring that all women, regardless of their economic circumstances, have meaningful access to the full spectrum of information and services—both contraceptive services to reduce levels of unintended pregnancy and abortion services.

Read the full report here.

I'M BACK! It's been an exciting week in Vegas, filled with winning money in Blackjack, followed by spending said money on $11 drinks. Definitely a successful vacation, but I'm glad to be back. My body couldn't handle another day in Vegas, and I was tired of being handed flyers for female escorts.

So, to catch up on everything I've been missing, and to help myself get back into the real world, here's a special back-from-Vegas edition of Buffet of the Week:

• Judge Sotomayor has been confirmed in a 68-31 vote! Congratulations to Judge Sotomayor, and let's hope she's as wonderful of a judge as we anticipated.


• A gay man has recently been released from prison after spending 21 years behind bars for sexual attacks on children that he did not commit.


• A new report released shows that women's insurance is more adversely affected by the recession.


• Quakers in the UK have decided to throw all their support behind same-sex marriage.


• Supermodel Gisele, who has announced that she is pregnant, has appeared in an ad campaign sans baby bulge. Why? Advertisers photoshopped it out.


• The Women and Work Commission has found that the wage gap in the UK has been increasing.


• Washington, D.C. schools are planning to offer STD testing to students.


• Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed asks, "Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?"

Anything else?

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.

On April 11th, the very wonderful Women for Women International is hosting their 3rd annual Run for Congo Women in Frederick, Maryland. Please consider signing up! It is a wonderful way to raise funds for women in the Congo who are suffering from devastating conditions. If you can't make it to Maryland, check the website for more upcoming run locations. The Maryland run is only 5K, and you are more than welcome to walk instead. You can also do a lone run, or consider getting creative and raising money by doing other things, such as yoga or dancing, or holding a benefit concert or bake sale. There is no one way to raise funds and awareness.

With the economy worsening, many women are turning to desperate measures to make ends meet: taking their clothes off. An article on MSNBC explains that, "The tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country to dance in strip clubs, appear in adult movies or pose for magazines like Hustler."

While I believe that a woman should have the choice of whether or not to pursue a career that involves getting naked, it really angers me when people try to argue that strippers and porn stars are only in their professions because they chose it and they enjoy it. Some might, yes, but there are many more who turn to it out of desperation. It's upsetting that these women feel as if their only option is to take off their clothes and be ogled. I was mildly surprised by the quote from an adult film giant, who wants to warn women against rushing into something they might regret:

"Once you decide to be an adult actress, it impacts your relationship with everyone," said Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of adult film giant Vivid Entertainment Group. "Once you make an adult film, it never goes away."

But the stripping industry? Not so much.

"You're seeing a lot more beautiful women who are eligible to do so many other things," said Gus Poulos, general manager of New York City’s Sin City gentleman's club.

Why thank you, Gus, I'm so happy you have faith in "beautiful women." The article also stated, "Some performers said they were initially so nervous that only alcohol could calm their nerves."

That's wonderful. Nervous, desperate women are being fed alcohol to "loosen up" enough to take their clothes off for men. I don't deny that stripping can be empowering for some women, I just cannot stand when people try to deny the "other side" of stripping. A few months ago, I went to my first strip club with some friends out of curiosity. One of my friends, by request of the owner and some customers, was asked to dance. She did, but only took off her top. The owner came over, while she was dancing, and removed her pants for her. Later, when he offered her a job, he was sure to give her a large cup of alcohol to "loosen her up" before she signed her soul over to him. She declined.

If I had things my way, strip clubs wouldn't exist. If I had things partly my way, only strong, independent women who want to feel "empowered" would be stripping, and would know when to tell a man to back the fuck off. But I don't have things my way at all, and so desperate impoverished women are entering strip clubs, and never coming back out.

TONIGHT at 7PM ET, the PBS NewsHour will explore the status of women in Afghanistan, and the endless obstacles they face. From an e-mail sent to me by Women for Women International:

• 85.1% of women have no formal education
• 74% of girls drop out of school by 5th grade
• Only 1% of girls in rural communities attends school
• Nearly 79% of women are illiterate
• The average salary is just 48 cents a day
• On average, Afghan women give birth to 7 children
• 1 out of 8 women die from causes related to pregnancy or child birth

If you can't view it tonight, be sure to check your local listings for other times it may be airing. It should be a really interesting and eye-opening program, so do your best to see it!

Obama's first weekly address since being sworn in. I really like that he's holding these chats with us - I like knowing what his administration is doing. Here, he discusses his recovery plan for the economy.



I was reading comments left on this video (the ignorance that plagues YouTube comments pains me), and people are complaining that he's reading from a monitor. However, I hardly think that the president has the time to memorize a five-minute speech every week - not to mention, the time to re-record his chats several times to compensate for times that he might forget a line or stumble over his words. Besides, if you watch FDR's famous fireside chats from the 30s, you'll see that he read straight from paper:



You can tell that Obama is modeling his administration after past presidents. Surrounding himself with people who might disagree with his views is a la Lincoln, and obviously these weekly addresses are straight from FDR. I hope he can continue to learn from the great presidents of the past.

In Somalia, a 13-year-old girl reported that she was raped by three men. In the United States, we have the luxury of being able to take any sex offenders to court and possibly (hopefully) get their asses thrown in jail. In Somalia, an impoverished and violent country with no functioning government, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was not offered the option to bring these men to court. Instead, she was charged with adultery. In the middle of a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators, she was stoned to death by a group of men.

Stoned to death. For reporting a rape.

The treatment of women is not perfect in the U.S., but in other countries, it's appalling.



What You Can Do:

• Learn more about human rights in Somalia on Amnesty International's website.
• Sign an online petition to end stoning at Stop Stoning Forever.
• Read the list of things you can do at the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women.
• Visit Save Somali Women and Children.
• Sponsor a sister in another country devastated by violence at Women for Women International.

How do you sell extremely overpriced clothing and accessories? Stick them on people far too poor to afford them. At least, this was the strategy of Vogue magazine. In the August issue, Vogue India featured a 16-page spread of extremely poor Indian families modeling expensive designer handbags and umbrellas.







Those are not even the worst ones. The New York Times describes a photo that shows a woman holding a Hermès Birkin bag, usually sold for more than $10,000.

Despite Vogue India editor's advice to "lighten up," I am really fucking disgusted by these photos. Almost 500 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day, and Vogue has them modeling designer accessories?! Are you kidding? Mostly, I hate this shoot because it reminds me of how instead of buying disgustingly overpriced handbags, we could donate our money to feed hungry families abroad. I wonder how these people felt modeling accessories that are worth a year supply of food. I think this was an extremely insensitive move on Vogue's part.