feminist blogs in english

Not to write two work-out mentioning posts in a row, but my gym has simply the baddest-ass logo ever:

It’s a totally co-ed gym and our logo is a girl doing some burly power snatches. How awesome is that?

What’s really weird is that it took me awhile to realize that there wasn’t another logo in addition to this one — a logo with a guy doing the same lifts. I think it says something, that even someone pretty sensitized to gender issues, can still be socialized to accepting men/maleness as the standard representation of humanity.

The other day, I woke up and threw on running shorts and a sports bra and went for a jog. I’m in Boston for the summer, so I headed towards the Common which takes me by Copley Square. There’s a big marble circle in the ground with all the names of the Boston Marathon winners and for some inexplicable reason (read: it was 90 degrees at 7 a.m. and I couldn’t breathe), I decided to stop and look.

So sometimes there are moments when completely ordinary facts jump up and hit you in a totally extraordinary way. This was one of those times. Looking at this circle, I was suddenly struck by how old the Boston Marathon was (1897!) and the long list of winners names threw something into stark relief: women’s names only began appearing 45 years ago.

Obviously this is something I knew, but standing there in just a sports bra and running shorts, with people rushing past on the way to the T, I was suddenly struck by how much has changed in such a relatively short period of time. I couldn’t help thinking to myself: Holy shit, 45 years ago, I could definitely NOT have just walked out my door in a sports bra and shorts and gone for a jog. Or been one of those women in a suit on their way to work. Or a lot of things really.

This is not to say that I then picked myself up, jogged home smiling, declared feminism a WIN and resigned my membership. On the contrary, I can’t even begin to list all the work yet to do for gender rights. And more than these kind of moments, I usually have “My God, did he/she really just say/do that incredibly anachronistic sexist/misogynist thing? Don’t they know it’s 2010?” But, BUT, I’ve found that sometimes it’s nice to remember how far we’ve come, while gearing up for how far we have to go.

Anyone have similar stories?

A friend passed this to me yesterday, and at first I was like, “Ok, fun and poppy, pretty good. Kinda empowering.” But then, bizarrely, I woke up this morning and it was the only thing I wanted to listen to (over, and over and over**). And now, I’m now passing the infection on to all the Feministe blog-readers.

You’re welcome.

* Gratuitous Music Video Wednesday
** I can’t be the only one that does this, though I might bring playing the same song on repeat to a new level. My iTunes “Top 25 Most Played” is an embarrassment. For example: “Toto, Africa, Plays: 184 (And that was probably in succession over the course of two very emotional weeks in February).

Hat tip to Maria for the vid!

Full lyrics after the jump.

Sara Bareilles
“King of Anything”

Keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table
While I look outside
So many things I’d say if only I were able
But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by

You’ve got opinions, man
We’re all entitled to ‘em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time, and try not to waste anymore of mine
And get out of here fast

I hate to break it to you babe, but I’m not drowning
There’s no one here to save

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

You sound so innocent, all full of good intent
Swear you know best
But you expect me to jump up on board with you
And ride off into your delusional sunset

I’m not the one who’s lost with no direction
But you’ll never see
Sara Bareilles King Of Anything lyrics found on http://www.directlyrics.com.com/sara-bareilles-king-of-anything-lyrics.html
You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps
You got the talking down, just not the listening

And who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?

Let me hold your crown, babe.

Over at The New York Times’ Magazine, Emily Bazelon has a must-read article on the future of abortion providers in America. There’s a lot to digest and think about in the piece, but for those of those familiar with the dismal statistics on abortion providers (a 1992 survey of OB/GYNs found that 59% of those age 65 and older said that they performed abortions, compared with 28% of those age 50 and younger), Bazelon offers more upbeat news: there’s a whole cadre of people who have “quietly worked” for access to abortion.

There’s one word in that last sentence that has me uneasy: quietly.

While it’s great that Bazelon exposes a hardy network handing off the torch of abortion-provision to the next generation of OB/GYNs, she describes a community that has been forced into the shadows by anti-choice terrorists. Many of those interviewed in the article use pseudonyms, fearing reprisal or violence. Practically, Bazelon describes a system that in the years since Roe has been forced out of hospitals (which performed 80% of abortions in 1973) to small, camouflaged clinics (by 1996, 90% of abortions were being performed in clinics). And those who fund abortion rights efforts, often do so anonymously.

As much as I want to embrace Bazelon’s optimism — I guess secret abortion access is better than no abortion access — the fact that the Randall Terrys and Operation Rescues of the world have forced the pro-choice community into semi-silent advocacy doesn’t seem like that big of a win: If we make the abortion rights movement secret, how will we keep it going?

Over at the Daily Beast, Dana Goldstein has some insight into the next big brouhaha to come out of the health care bill — Conservative mobilization against free birth control:

[T]he Daily Beast has learned that many conservative activists, who spent most of their energies during the health-care reform fight battling to win abortion restrictions and abstinence-education funding, are just waking up to the possibility that the new health care law could require employers and insurance companies to offer contraceptives, along with other commonly prescribed medications, without charging any co-pay. Now the Heritage Foundation and the National Abstinence Education Association say they plan to join the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in resisting implementation of the new provisions.

On the one hand, I’m amped to hear that the new health care plan could mean free birth control as a “preventative” medication. On the other, I hate being reminded of the power that these fringe anti-birth control groups wield.

Thankfully, there’s some good news. Goldstein reports that unlike America’s split on abortion rights, public opinion roundly supports birth control. So even if the Heritage Foundation and NAEA manage to get the support of someone like a Bart Stupak, it would be unlikely to gain as much traction.

I don’t know if this series of pictures by Barbara & Michael Leisgen could be called feminist, per se. But they give me a good old-fashioned girl-power kick when I look at them, and at the same time a feeling of almost Zen-like calm. My favorite below.

View the whole series here. Hat tip to Ann for her impeccable taste.

You’d think this was one of those mythical laws from one of those Puritan colonial states, but it’s not. D.C. police confirm that carrying a condom, while with another person, can contribute to cause to arrest for prostitution.

Making condoms a factor for arrest, discourages prostitutes (or anyone, really) from practicing safe sex — this is especially terrifying news for the District, which has the highest HIV infection rate in the U.S.

Sign the petition to keep condoms from being used as evidence.

Hat tip to Tyler for the link.
_____
Kate is guest blogging for the week at Feministe. She’s a part-time journalist and a full-time law student. Follow her on twitter @itscompliKATEd.

John McCain’s editorial on the Kagan nomination got me thinking.  At issue, her move as dean of Harvard Law School denying military recruiters access to the campus Career Services Office.  McCain cites one beleaguered recruiter complaining that without this access, they were “relegated to wandering the halls in hopes that someone will stop and talk to us.” [...]

5 states now require providers to perform ultrasounds on women seeking abortions, with several other states encouraging women to do so via counseling/consent provisions.  Pro-life proponents of this expensive, unnecessary, and patronizing requirement hope that viewing a fetal image will dissuade women from choosing their choice.  Au contraire.

The New York Times reports that out of 254 women at 2 British Columbia clinics, none reversed their decisions to terminate as a result of viewing an ultrasound.  Zero.  At an Alabama clinic, patients and providers report that ultrasounds helped ease the decision to abort:

In some instances, the ultrasounds have affected women in ways not intended by anti-abortion strategists. Because human features may barely be detectable during much of the first trimester, when 9 of 10 abortions are performed, some women find viewing the images reassuring.

“It just looked like a little egg, and I couldn’t see arms or legs or a face,” said Tiesha, 27, who chose to view her 8-week-old embryo before aborting it at the Birmingham clinic. “It was really the picture of the ultrasound that made me feel it was O.K.

Remember,  61% of abortions in the U.S. are obtained by women who already have one or more children:

Like other patients, Laura, who has a 17-year-old son, said she took offense at the state’s implicit suggestion that she had not fully considered her choice.

“You don’t just walk into one of these places like you’re getting your nails done,” she said. “I think we’re armed with enough information to make adult decisions without being emotionally tortured.”

Lauren Zuniga performs a poem for Oklahoma legislators.  Get it, girl.