In Texas, Restoring Family-Planning Cuts Without Ruffling Feathers

Using taxpayer dollars to finance family-planning services has become politically thorny in Texas, largely because of Republican lawmakers’ assertions that the women’s health clinics providing that care are affiliated with abortion providers. In the fiscal crunch of 2011, the Legislature cut the state’s family-planning budget by two-thirds, with some lawmakers claiming that they were defunding the “abortion industry.” Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, found that more than 50 family-planning clinics had closed statewide as a result.

Now, amid estimates that the cuts could lead to 24,000 additional 2014-15 births at a cost to taxpayers of $273 million, lawmakers are seeking a way to restore financing without ruffling feathers.

How about we just do what’s right for women’s access to healthcare and control of their own reproduction, ruffled feathers be damned.

***

Why does America pretend that it doesn’t hate women?

A gang rape happened in Ohio and no one heard about it. A gang rape happened in India and everyone heard about it (as we should). The American media has represented India as a misogynistic country where women need to be constantly wary of the men that surround them….While our media went out representing India as a typical place for these deplorable events to happen, another woman’s similar story went ignored and without subsequent societal action. This country outright refuses to admit that it is a rape culture.

***

“Zerlina Maxwell said men can prevent rape — and recounts for Salon the nightmare that followed thereafter”

…where she drew outrage was in her suggestion to Hannity that “I don’t think that we should be telling women anything. I think we should be telling men not to rape women and start the conversation there.” She told Hannity, “You’re talking about this as if it’s some faceless, nameless criminal, when a lot of times it’s someone you know and trust,” adding, “If you train men not to grow up to become rapists, you prevent rape.”

***

We are Oberlin…And Here’s Our Dirty Laundry: This is a good post at Racialicious on the recent hate speech incidents at Oberlin College (of which I’m an alum). And let me just add that regardless of whether someone was in actual KKK regalia, in something meant to look like KKK regalia, or just wearing a damn misconstrued blanket, the reaction it generated among students wouldn’t have looked anything like it did if there weren’t some serious privilege, race, ethnicity, diversity, and awareness issues to address on that campus, and a history of recent concerning events. I watched the Convocation, and what I heard were students demanding to be educated, to have their concerns addressed in a systemic way, and a President listing off his credentials and saying it’s gonna be fine without making concrete promises beyond “investigation.” You can guess whose side I come down on.

For background:
Hate Speech Incidents Continue
An Open Letter from Students of the Africana Community (timeline of events leading up to Convocation)
Vandalism, Harassment Inspire Systemic Reform

***

On the difference between monosexism and biphobia

***

It ignores LGBT people of color in favor of promoting alliances between people of color and (erroneously by default presumed to be white LGBT people), but it will probably still give you chills:

***

Chuck Grassley accidentally becomes pro-choice – LOL. But only if you don’t want the government forcing you to have something in your body. Ahem.

***

Planned Parenthood has a tumblr.

***

Book things, haven’t read these yet: Two New Children’s Books About Gender-Independent Kids and LLF Announces Finalists of the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards

***

Arkansas passed a ban on abortions after 12 weeks. It’s surely unconstitutional.
Arkansas Abortion Law Bans Procedures After 12 Weeks of Pregnancy
Arkansas Abortion Ban Disproportionately Affects Poor Women and Teenagers
ACLU Statement on Arkansas Senate Passage of Bill to Ban Most Restrictive Abortion Law in the Country
Activists Will Challenge Arkansas’ New Abortion Limit

***

South Dakota Governor Signs 72-Hour, No Weekends Waiting Period Into Law

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed into law a bill that forces women to wait three days before they can obtain an abortion in the state; under the law, weekends and holidays do not count toward that waiting period.

***

A day of appreciation for abortion providers is being observed. I’d like to point to and give thanks to future providers as well, recognizing Medical Students for Choice and Nursing Students for Choice, for doing the work of making sure competent providers are being trained for the future.

***

The President signed the Violence Against Women Act, including provisions to improve protection for Native American, LGBT, low income, and immigrant women.

***

Plants for Patients: advocating wellness and pro-compassion
This is pretty terrific, a North Dakota non-profit started by a ceramics artist making planters and giving them with plants to post-abortion patients as a show to support and compassion. Here’s their homepage, and they’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

***

Recent thing at OBOS: Europe Takes on Review of Birth Control Pills Containing Drospirenone, because there are concerns that newer pills like Yaz are not as safe as some other existing options.

***

And, finally, via MedlinePlus a list of resources on anxiety. On my mind because of a stressful situation and my own catastrophizing.

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Drugs, Ethics, Events & Observances, Global Issues, Government, Laws, Legislation, & Courts, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups

Unmentionable personal things of late have kept me from really wanting to blog more than I have been. I can’t really describe the details here, but suffice it to say, it’s one of those things that sort of takes up your whole brainspace and doesn’t leave much emotional energy leftover for doing anything else – one of those things that can cause you to spin down everything you *like* doing because you’re busy dealing with *the other thing.*

Ugh. So, happy new year! One of my goals for the new year is to spin those likable things back up, and focus on arranging things for less of the bad and more of the good. You all wish me luck with that, now. A tangible outcome of that should be more blogging. (See Heather Corinna at Scarleteen for more talk about “more, not less” for the New Year).

That said, here are some stories and issues of interest from recent days:

*****

Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, CT:
I can’t talk about this one without first extending my sympathy and condolences to everyone affected by this violence.

SE Smith has a “factbomb” on mental illness and gun violence, including fact vs. reality on the stigma against mental illness that seems to be deepening in some ways in the wake of Newtown.

My thoughts, and response to someone who made the stigma-increasing, ableist comment, “How about instead of worrying about the guns, we worry about the fucking crazies.”

The problem with “worry about the fucking crazies” is that mental health is not a fixed state, any more than physical health. Sure, some people have chronic mental illness, and deserve the dignity of effective, accessible treatment (and not to be denigrated as “fucking crazies”). However, just as physical ailments can be acute and time-limited, so can be mental instability (as many folks who were once adolescents know). If you’ve ever been *this* close to punching somebody due to road rage or tipsiness or what have you, then you know the boundary between a person acting safe vs. unsafe is porous. The question then is, can you always screen for that? Is sufficiently good mental health consistent across a lifetime? Are crisis services readily available, and the attached stigma negligible? Nope. Can we reduce the number and types of guns around, then?

In other words, I don’t think the answer to gun violence is to further stigmatize people with mental illness. I think it’s to have fewer guns around. Further thoughts (blockquoted because I first posted them in comments in a private forum):

Something I’m thinking about today – on a local blog, a commenter keeps insisting that the people who get bullied in school get bullied because they’re not big jocks with giant muscles. In his mind, whoever has the biggest, most dangerous weapons wins, and those getting bullied should just have bigger muscles and more popularity. My take on this is more that because we value stereotypically masculine characteristics, it’s not as readily apparent to bullies that the larger group is going to stick up for the skinny gay art kid – it’s not the size of the muscles, it’s how we socially construct the value of people. Likewise, all those many illegal guns people keep talking as evidence for why stricter gun laws won’t work aren’t just out there because lots of individuals think guns are awesome and getting them illegally is even better – there’s stuff going on underneath – things we value, harm we do, rewards we give – as a culture. Do I know what all those things are and how to affect them? No. But you want to do something about gun violence, I think you have to go there.

So, yeah. I don’t think gun violence is as simple as rules about guns and mental illness and whatnot. I think it requires a hard look at how we socialize boys to dominate, and how we teach them how to have control, how to dominate, and what the consequences for that are. It’s not because “men are bad.” It might have something to do with how our culture values the biggest toy/muscles winning, and teaches that the way to win is through physical domination, that men have a right to that domination. That violence is “masculine,” and a useful tool.

Here are some other folks talking about violence and masculinity:

• We should be talking about masculinity and violence after the Sandy Hook shooting and every day – Maya at Feministing
• Gender, Race, Masculinity, and Gun Violence – Transcender
• Masculinity and Guns in America – Ashley Baggett at Nursing Clio
• Why Won’t We Talk About Violence and Masculinity in America? = Soraya Chemaly at the Ms. Blog
• Dude, Where’s My Gun? – Mark Anthony Neal for The New Black Magazine, from 2010 but talks about how social vulnerability underlies “masculine” violence
• A Theory of Violence: In Honor of Kasandra, CeCe, Victoria, Savita and Anonymous – at Crunk Feminist Collective:
  

  Violence is functional.
  It is a means of asserting and securing power. When violence targets women in the dark of night it ensures, among many other things, that women stay out of the streets. When violence against trans women goes largely unreported in studies of violence against women, it is tacitly legitimated. When violence against white school children raises a national furor and violence against an innocent black teenager wearing a hoodie doesn’t provoke a national conversation about legislating guns, we can see the fault lines. When a football player kills his partner and then himself and we find ourselves knowing his name but not hers, we see which victims matter.

One last thing on that, via an Ani Difranco song on a 1999 album [lyrics here]:

*****

Yeah, that probably should have been it’s own post….

• America’s Rape Problem: We Refuse to Admit That There Is One – Jessica Valenti for The Nation – “It’s time to acknowledge that the rape epidemic in the United States is not just about the crimes themselves, but our own cultural and political willful ignorance.” That’s *exactly* what we mean when we talk about ‘rape culture,’ and it’s no coincidence that when women criticize it, or specific examples of it, online, they often receive rape threats.
• California Court Says Rape by Impersonation Isn’t Rape if Woman Is not Married – Just, ugh, x1000.
• Purity Culture Is Rape Culture – E.J. Graff at The American Prospect
• Victory: Military Insurance to Cover Abortion in Cases of Rape – from Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health
• The Feminist Librarian looks back at the year in books
• Roe v. Wade 40th Anniversary Events – If you’re in Massachusetts, Our Bodies Ourselves is co-sponsoring an event there, and Blog for Choice day is coming up again.
• Oh, and those assholes in the House failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). You know, because some Republican dudes thought it offered too much protection to Native women on reservations (who have extremely high rates of being victimized). Native Appropriations has a great post on this:
  

  The Violence Against Women Act provisions that are holding up the bill are provisions that allow for the prosecution of Non-Indian perpetrators on Indian land within tribal court systems. The current laws state that crimes involving non-Indians are treated as federal cases. But in 2011, the federal government declined to pursue charges in 65% of domestic violence cases on reservations. Clearly this. is. unacceptable. 1 in 3 Native women have been raped or sexually assaulted, a rate 2.5 times higher than the national average, and of those crimes, 80% of them involve a non-Native assailant. This excellent Salon article discusses how these loopholes protect rapists on reservations, because they “know they can get away with it.

  Jamil Smith has another worthwhile post for the Melissa Harris Perry show, Why does the Violence Against Women Act remain stalled?

Okay, I think that’s a good enough start for getting back into the swing of things, don’t you?

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Events & Observances, Global Issues, Government, Laws, Legislation, & Courts, Libraryland, Mental Health, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups, Women's Health

A couple of my recent posts at Our Bodies Our Blog that I want to share:

Sign on to Support Native American Women’s Access to Emergency Contraception – OTC access to emergency contraception is very limited for Native American women through the Indian Health Service. Learn more and sign a petition to enforce access.

DES Action Collecting Information on Health Issues in People Exposed to DES – A DES education and advocacy organization wants to learn more about the health issues faced by women who took DES during pregnancy, and their children and grandchildren. All of those groups are invited to complete a survey.

Breastfeeding in African American Communities – Black women start and continue breastfeeding at lower rates than other women in America. Explore writings about why, see the stats, and get some resources for supporting Black women breastfeeding in this post.

“Pervasive” Problems in Studies Linking Abortion to Mental Health Issues – Last month a journal’s editor criticized a previously published article claiming a link between abortion and bad mental health outcomes, but problems with the literature anti-choice folks use to support this claim go far beyond this one article. Learn more and find out why calling out bad science matters. (Even if sometimes we’re not sure if our legislators know anything at all about science…)

See also Christine’s Health Benefits: What Women Won, and May Lose, in the Supreme Court’s Dark, Dark, Place on healthcare reform and the Supreme Court.

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Cancer, Drugs, Government, Laws, Legislation, & Courts, Miscellaneous

I just realized last night that I haven’t actually posted anything here since last Sunday’s round-up. In usual blogger style, I’m going to say how busy I’ve been. This week has been pretty packed at work, including work related to another women’s health topic comparative effectiveness review that might get done. I also found out that I get to go to the IHA health literacy conference this year, which I’m really excited about – but that of course took some unexpected time making arrangements and working with colleagues on a poster abstract.

At home, I’m currently reading “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex,” which I’m finding pretty compelling, and which talks about the ways in which dependence on foundation funding stifles organizations (especially social justice orgs) from doing what actually needs doing in their communities and effecting real change. In an odd coincidence, the Friday lecture I attended at work this week was on tips for obtaining foundation grants. Ha.

I also read the last volume of Y The Last Man (although I skipped book 9 because the library can’t seem to find it…it’s been “on search” for two weeks). People, the monkey made me cry. *embarrassing*

The spouse and I also built a computer together this week. For various work and home reasons, it’s running Windows 7 rather than being a hackintosh or something else interesting. It was a fun nerd project though, and a long overdue replacement for the Mac laptop bought ~2002 that is making ominous noises. I’m trying to get by with OpenOffice, installed the protein FoldIt game, and have set up a character in World of Warcraft. Let’s hope that last doesn’t lead to even fewer posts.

Over at Our Bodies Our Blog, I actually have a couple of new posts. One is on some recent attention to the potential (although relatively low) risk of atypical fractures in some long-term users of bisphosphonates (like Boniva and Fosamax), drugs intended to reduce hip fractures in folks with osteoporosis.

The second is on the U.S. Justice Department’s new task force to address violence against American Indian women. While this violence needs attention, I express my skepticism of a police/state/Justice Department solution and include an INCITE! report on police violence against Native women, especially violence against trans women. There are also links to recent news about violence against/disappearance of Native women in Canada. (Note: I checked several sources on the preference for “American Indian” over “Native American,” and AI seemed to win out, but I’m willing to be corrected.)

People are also sharing their OBOS Stories in anticipation of the 40th anniversary edition; please share yours if you have a tale of receiving or reading the book, in any edition.

For those who have inquired, my dad has finished his chemotherapy and has started some different chemo with radiation. They’re in east Tennessee and he missed an appointment last week when Knoxville was experiencing flash floods – I’m glad they were not caught out in it. Radiation is going to suck, but the doctors still seem optimistic about dad’s treatment. Thanks for your thoughts.

Filed under: Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Cancer, Events & Observances

A bit of what I’ve been reading this week, when I haven’t been outside getting a mild sunburn. In February.

Via fellow librarian Bobbie Newman, I learned of this piece, “The Hazards of Leading Culture Change” (click on the download link for the PDF). It’s kind of oriented toward businesses/organizations instead of movements/activism, but there were a few points I thought were relevant:

“When you are up to your backside in alligators,” goes the oft-quoted line, “it is hard to remember you were there to drain the swamp.” Organizations under pressure are fraught with alligators-those seemingly never ceasing crises that keep leaders up at night. But, if all the energy goes into simply fighting alligators, there will always be alligators. Culture change is about focusing on source, not symptom—cause, not contest.

the illusion of advancement is far worse than none at all

Three turtles sat on a log in the edge of the swamp. One decided to jump in. How many are now on the log? Nope, there are still three. Deciding and doing are not the same thing.

Culture change is hard work and requires enormous patience. Many leaders are by nature impatient people who think results can be produced with the snap of a finger and completed by the end of the week. Culture change takes a long time because it is complex and disruptive. Culture change involves unlearning old habits and acquiring new ways of thinking and behaving.

Lunapads has a couple of suggestions For the Bookworm On Her Period.

The New Black Woman asks, Why are white feminists silent on Limbaugh’s attacks on FLOTUS? Apparently Limbaugh criticized what Michelle Obama was eating on a trip (while completely misrepresenting her nutrition message, of course), and basically called her fat, saying she “does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.”

Honestly, I don’t pay any attention to Limbaugh. His comments are clearly problematic because, at the very least, they misrepresent her message (hello, healthy eating does not mean you never ever eat anything unhealthy – it means awareness, better choices most of the time, and balance – not “roots and tree bark” as Limbaugh suggested), they put him in the position of policing what she eats and looks like, and they hold up an unreasonable (and not even real; Limbaugh, meet photoshop) standard and call it “healthy.” They basically say, “if she’s not an object of sexual desire in my estimation, her opinions aren’t valid.” And that, my friends, is utter bullshit.

Renee at Womanist Musings has more on this issue, and writes:

There is nothing about her physical body that needs to change, and the fact that she isn’t willing to starve herself, or engage in harmful eating practices to attain a figure that is unnatural for her, sends a positive message to young girls and more specifically young girls of colour, that they are fine they way they are.

I have to say, too, that I’ve also been troubled by the comments that are basically, “Limbaugh’s fat, so he can’t say anything.” No, if Michelle Obama were saying everybody should try to eat better and she was eating ribs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, Limbaugh could say something. No matter his size, no matter how much we might dislike him. But that is not the case. I don’t think the way to respond to body size policing is with more body size policing. Let me be 100% clear that this is not in any way to defend Limbaugh. I think his comments were crap. But I think that if people are going to respond to his crap comments, the way to do it is to criticize the substance, not to attack another body. It just sounds like some version of “so’s your mom” – and doesn’t get us anywhere.

Also on body image, Marianne at The Rotund has this to say:

“Real women have curves” was a marketing slogan thought up to sell people overpriced, ill-fitting pants. It does NOT promote body positivity – it only perpetuates body policing by turning the tables on people who don’t fit into yet another arbitrary ideal.

The job is to BUST THE FUCKING PARADIGM APART, not shift it a little bit toward the fat side. The job is to remind people, bodies are not public property and your opinion about an individual’s body is only an opinion, not a valid judgment of their worth as a human being. The JOB is to destroy systemic oppression of nonconforming, rebellious bodies no matter what those bodies look like.

Trans woman Tyra Trent was found murdered in Baltimore, reminding us once again of the violence trans women and men are too often subjected to. The Baltimore Sun covered the story, but included several quotes from Trent’s family members calling her “he,” and a cousin used the word “flaunt.” Tyra was also called a “sex worker” in the piece, while the same piece notes she had not been arrested since 2008. Argh. Other coverage, were it exists, is no better.

The Vanderbilt Medical School is hosting its annual LGBT health week this year from March 14-19. Overall it looks more LG than T, although Friday’s “Case Presentations in Adolescent Hormonal Therapy” might be relevant to trans health (no additional description is available at the moment – here’s the site).

I don’t think there’s a chance in hell this Georgia bill will hold up, but here it is. HB 1 would make “prenatal murder” illegal/a felony. It excludes “naturally occurring expulsion of a fetus known medically as a ‘spontaneous abortion’ and popularly as a ‘miscarriage’ so long as there is no human involvement whatsoever in the causation of such event.” Most miscarriages are unexplainable and so it would be impossible to prove that there was absolutely no human involvement in it. There is a lot of scientific debate about what may or may not increase a woman’s risk of miscarriage, so that’s a huge potential can of worms that could criminalize the smallest of everyday choices, not only abortion. Aside from which, there is necessarily human involvement, given that a fetus resides *inside* another human! It also defines a fetus as a person from “the moment of conception” (nevermind that at conception, it’s not a fetus. biology, whatever!). Amie and Jill at RHRC have more.

I haven’t watched them yet so I can’t say anything about them, but Dr. Nicholas Fogelson (Academic ob/gyn) has provided video of a recent talk he did on delayed cord clamping.

Next time I wonder why people call out online feminism for ageism, I’m going to remind myself that somebody who is 32 said she should pull back in order to make sure there was “a place for younger feminists to build their careers and platforms.” Okay, then. Kathy at Her Five Dollar Radio brings this up and asks “what you do “graduate” to when you feel you’ve aged out of the feminist blogosphere?” Over 30 as “old” is a huge problem; so’s the focus on “careers and platforms” instead of social change.

Things to learn more about: “The Native Women’s Association of Canada reports that 582 indigenous women and girls have disappeared or were murdered over the last five years.” For a U.S. update, the Seattle Weekly points to a new federal task force set up to address violence against native women. Here’s the press release from the Justice Department.

The New York Times has an editorial on recent abortion and family planning-focused legislation, The War on Women.

From libraryland, library folks are talking this week about Harper Collins’s completely absurd approach to ebooks.

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Birth, Body Image & Eating Disorders, Government, Laws, Legislation, & Courts, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups

A bit of what I’ve been reading this week, when I haven’t been outside getting a mild sunburn. In February.

Via fellow librarian Bobbie Newman, I learned of this piece, “The Hazards of Leading Culture Change” (click on the download link for the PDF). It’s kind of oriented toward businesses/organizations instead of movements/activism, but there were a few points I thought were relevant:

“When you are up to your backside in alligators,” goes the oft-quoted line, “it is hard to remember you were there to drain the swamp.” Organizations under pressure are fraught with alligators-those seemingly never ceasing crises that keep leaders up at night. But, if all the energy goes into simply fighting alligators, there will always be alligators. Culture change is about focusing on source, not symptom—cause, not contest.

the illusion of advancement is far worse than none at all

Three turtles sat on a log in the edge of the swamp. One decided to jump in. How many are now on the log? Nope, there are still three. Deciding and doing are not the same thing.

Culture change is hard work and requires enormous patience. Many leaders are by nature impatient people who think results can be produced with the snap of a finger and completed by the end of the week. Culture change takes a long time because it is complex and disruptive. Culture change involves unlearning old habits and acquiring new ways of thinking and behaving.

Lunapads has a couple of suggestions For the Bookworm On Her Period.

The New Black Woman asks, Why are white feminists silent on Limbaugh’s attacks on FLOTUS? Apparently Limbaugh criticized what Michelle Obama was eating on a trip (while completely misrepresenting her nutrition message, of course), and basically called her fat, saying she “does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.”

Honestly, I don’t pay any attention to Limbaugh. His comments are clearly problematic because, at the very least, they misrepresent her message (hello, healthy eating does not mean you never ever eat anything unhealthy – it means awareness, better choices most of the time, and balance – not “roots and tree bark” as Limbaugh suggested), they put him in the position of policing what she eats and looks like, and they hold up an unreasonable (and not even real; Limbaugh, meet photoshop) standard and call it “healthy.” They basically say, “if she’s not an object of sexual desire in my estimation, her opinions aren’t valid.” And that, my friends, is utter bullshit.

Renee at Womanist Musings has more on this issue, and writes:

There is nothing about her physical body that needs to change, and the fact that she isn’t willing to starve herself, or engage in harmful eating practices to attain a figure that is unnatural for her, sends a positive message to young girls and more specifically young girls of colour, that they are fine they way they are.

I have to say, too, that I’ve also been troubled by the comments that are basically, “Limbaugh’s fat, so he can’t say anything.” No, if Michelle Obama were saying everybody should try to eat better and she was eating ribs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, Limbaugh could say something. No matter his size, no matter how much we might dislike him. But that is not the case. I don’t think the way to respond to body size policing is with more body size policing. Let me be 100% clear that this is not in any way to defend Limbaugh. I think his comments were crap. But I think that if people are going to respond to his crap comments, the way to do it is to criticize the substance, not to attack another body. It just sounds like some version of “so’s your mom” – and doesn’t get us anywhere.

Also on body image, Marianne at The Rotund has this to say:

“Real women have curves” was a marketing slogan thought up to sell people overpriced, ill-fitting pants. It does NOT promote body positivity – it only perpetuates body policing by turning the tables on people who don’t fit into yet another arbitrary ideal.

The job is to BUST THE FUCKING PARADIGM APART, not shift it a little bit toward the fat side. The job is to remind people, bodies are not public property and your opinion about an individual’s body is only an opinion, not a valid judgment of their worth as a human being. The JOB is to destroy systemic oppression of nonconforming, rebellious bodies no matter what those bodies look like.

Trans woman Tyra Trent was found murdered in Baltimore, reminding us once again of the violence trans women and men are too often subjected to. The Baltimore Sun covered the story, but included several quotes from Trent’s family members calling her “he,” and a cousin used the word “flaunt.” Tyra was also called a “sex worker” in the piece, while the same piece notes she had not been arrested since 2008. Argh. Other coverage, were it exists, is no better.

The Vanderbilt Medical School is hosting its annual LGBT health week this year from March 14-19. Overall it looks more LG than T, although Friday’s “Case Presentations in Adolescent Hormonal Therapy” might be relevant to trans health (no additional description is available at the moment – here’s the site).

I don’t think there’s a chance in hell this Georgia bill will hold up, but here it is. HB 1 would make “prenatal murder” illegal/a felony. It excludes “naturally occurring expulsion of a fetus known medically as a ‘spontaneous abortion’ and popularly as a ‘miscarriage’ so long as there is no human involvement whatsoever in the causation of such event.” Most miscarriages are unexplainable and so it would be impossible to prove that there was absolutely no human involvement in it. There is a lot of scientific debate about what may or may not increase a woman’s risk of miscarriage, so that’s a huge potential can of worms that could criminalize the smallest of everyday choices, not only abortion. Aside from which, there is necessarily human involvement, given that a fetus resides *inside* another human! It also defines a fetus as a person from “the moment of conception” (nevermind that at conception, it’s not a fetus. biology, whatever!). Amie and Jill at RHRC have more.

I haven’t watched them yet so I can’t say anything about them, but Dr. Nicholas Fogelson (Academic ob/gyn) has provided video of a recent talk he did on delayed cord clamping.

Next time I wonder why people call out online feminism for ageism, I’m going to remind myself that somebody who is 32 said she should pull back in order to make sure there was “a place for younger feminists to build their careers and platforms.” Okay, then. Kathy at Her Five Dollar Radio brings this up and asks “what you do “graduate” to when you feel you’ve aged out of the feminist blogosphere?” Over 30 as “old” is a huge problem; so’s the focus on “careers and platforms” instead of social change.

Things to learn more about: “The Native Women’s Association of Canada reports that 582 indigenous women and girls have disappeared or were murdered over the last five years.” For a U.S. update, the Seattle Weekly points to a new federal task force set up to address violence against native women. Here’s the press release from the Justice Department.

The New York Times has an editorial on recent abortion and family planning-focused legislation, The War on Women.

From libraryland, library folks are talking this week about Harper Collins’s completely absurd approach to ebooks.

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Birth, Body Image & Eating Disorders, Government, Laws, Legislation, & Courts, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups

Some things that caught my eye this week; for new folks, the Sunday news round-up tends to focus more on social issues than research or resources, including whatever I’ve noted for later reading from my RSS feeds or Twitter.

First, the English-language site for Al Jazeera has the most complete coverage I’ve seen of what’s going on in Egypt for those who need it in the English language.

I’m woefully behind on the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” proposed by House Republicans, so this first chunk is catching up. It seems to me to be completely unnecessary political posturing on the backs of women (and especially rape victims, as we’ll see), given that there are existing restrictions preventing federal funding for abortion. I know it includes an exception for “forcible rape,” which as far as I know is not a real legal term with an actionable definition. Many folks have expressed concerns would seem to exclude women who are date raped, or drugged, or otherwise not sufficiently otherwise physically abused in the course of being raped. Perhaps those women didn’t suffer enough for House Republicans to be considered for access to the means to make their own decisions about their own pregnancies. *headdesk*

It also fails to mention statutory rape, includes incest only if the victim is a minor, and includes only a “danger of death” exemption, not a health exemption.

There’s a decent summary over at Mother Jones, The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape.

The New York Times has an editorial: The Two Abortion Wars: A Highly Intrusive Federal Bill.

rikyrah at Jack & Jill Politics reminds us, of the politicians pushing this business: “They are who we thought they were.”

The blogger at No Fun at Parties writes in response to people who say, “who cares? I’m against all abortion anyway.” I think this response is an excellent one, and I encourage you to go read the whole post:

It’s not about abortion. It’s about rape. People who oppose legal abortion can agree with the idea of reducing federal funding for abortions in the case of rape and incest, but doing it this way is incredibly dangerous. Creating two different kinds of rape survivors is very dangerous. Requiring women who were raped to have to prove to a health care provider that their rape was forcible, by some legal standard that has yet to be determined, is very dangerous. It creates a de facto class of rape in which women who were drugged, or severely underaged, or who saw the threat of force and chose to drop their resistance, are treated by the law as having colluded in their rape.

By the way, some news sites like the New York Times have free online content but ask for users to register before viewing that content. If you ever need it, the website BugMeNot posts user-shared log-ins for reuse by those who don’t want to share their own personal details. It doesn’t always work and requires an extra step, but may be worth checking out if you have privacy concerns.

Sex-ed source Scarleteen has launched the new Find-a-Doc service, a searchable database of services including STI testing, pregnancy testing, abortion, transgender health, LGBQ health, rape/abuse crisis, prenatal care, and more. You can also add new listings, but the providers *must* serve young people; reviews can also be added.

RMJ at Deeply Problematic explores fat bodies in the Harry Potter books.

Local school Belmont University finally added “sexual orientation” to their nondiscrimination policy. This would be more meaningful if Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, when asked whether openly gay people were welcome to study and work at Belmont, hadn’t responded by saying, “I would put that in the hypothetical category.” It’s hard for me to belief a nondiscrimination policy has teeth if it’s hypothetical as to whether the people the policy is supposed to cover are actually welcome. They also still need to add gender identity and expression. Kudos, though, to the folks who worked hard to get this small step.

Lyon Martin Health Services, a San Francisco clinic that provides health care to many transgender and lgb persons, needs funding help to stay open. According to their website, “Currently, 39% of our patients are people of color; 14% are transgender and 41% self-identify as lesbian or bisexual; 84% live below 200% of the federal poverty level and 14% are homeless.” I wrote last year about a lecture I attended by an openly transgender physician affiliated with the clinic.

Via Siobhan, links to info on an initiative to promote literacy in pediatric clinics.

Canadian Blood Services (I could be wrong, but I think it’s kind of like our Red Cross in terms of blood donation), is planning to recommend that Health Canada start to roll back the lifetime ban for gay men on donating blood.

Change.or has a brief overview of the serious lack of obstetric services/facilities for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Amie at RHRC has an update on efforts in Washington State to hold “crisis pregnancy centers” accountable for their accuracy and disclosures.

Yet another study found no evidence that abortion causes mental health problems.

eastsidekate at Shakesville wants to share her own version of those car decals that demonstrate “how nuclear, hetero, and fecund your family is.”

The CDC has a new section on their website on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health.

Anne Marie is talking about pelvic exams performed on anesthetized women without their knowledge or consent. I’d like to hear suggestions for actions toward putting a hard stop to this practice.

I seriously want to have my belly button species cultured.

And, just a reminder that I’m being more strict about moderating comments here. I don’t need to make a place for hatred and hostility. I also just don’t always have the energy to respond – again, and again, and again – to the “why do you care about this little thing?” arguments, to the feminism 101/derailing for dummies stuff. Some things I’ll let through in the hopes that someone else will respond (and I’m unbelievably grateful to the people who do), but I don’t always have the energy. Please know that my leaving something up in no way implies that I agree with the thoughts expressed. To the commenter who said she acts like a guy and so they don’t give her crap – I hope that protects you. If it doesn’t, it’s not because you didn’t act sufficiently like a man. I hope you realize how taking this stance positions all women as less than men instead of addressing the inequity of positioning women this way, and I recommend Julia Serano’s “Whipping Girl” to you. To the commenter who called the policy “censorship:” – I’m a librarian and I take that charge seriously; however, you may freely express your opinion at any website/blog of your own – I have no more obligation to be the one to provide a space for you than the New York Times would have to publish every screed they may receive.

Related: if you never saw it, I really love Melissa McEwan’s response to the “little things” gambit related to the “Fat Princess” video game. Scroll down to: “How do you respond to the common argument “it’s just a game, and it’s not meant to be taken seriously”?

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Adolescent Health, Birth, Body Image & Eating Disorders, Ethics, Government, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups, Sex & Sex Education, Web Resources

Some things that caught my eye this week; for new folks, the Sunday news round-up tends to focus more on social issues than research or resources, including whatever I’ve noted for later reading from my RSS feeds or Twitter.

First, the English-language site for Al Jazeera has the most complete coverage I’ve seen of what’s going on in Egypt for those who need it in the English language.

I’m woefully behind on the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” proposed by House Republicans, so this first chunk is catching up. It seems to me to be completely unnecessary political posturing on the backs of women (and especially rape victims, as we’ll see), given that there are existing restrictions preventing federal funding for abortion. I know it includes an exception for “forcible rape,” which as far as I know is not a real legal term with an actionable definition. Many folks have expressed concerns would seem to exclude women who are date raped, or drugged, or otherwise not sufficiently otherwise physically abused in the course of being raped. Perhaps those women didn’t suffer enough for House Republicans to be considered for access to the means to make their own decisions about their own pregnancies. *headdesk*

It also fails to mention statutory rape, includes incest only if the victim is a minor, and includes only a “danger of death” exemption, not a health exemption.

There’s a decent summary over at Mother Jones, The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape.

The New York Times has an editorial: The Two Abortion Wars: A Highly Intrusive Federal Bill.

rikyrah at Jack & Jill Politics reminds us, of the politicians pushing this business: “They are who we thought they were.”

The blogger at No Fun at Parties writes in response to people who say, “who cares? I’m against all abortion anyway.” I think this response is an excellent one, and I encourage you to go read the whole post:

It’s not about abortion. It’s about rape. People who oppose legal abortion can agree with the idea of reducing federal funding for abortions in the case of rape and incest, but doing it this way is incredibly dangerous. Creating two different kinds of rape survivors is very dangerous. Requiring women who were raped to have to prove to a health care provider that their rape was forcible, by some legal standard that has yet to be determined, is very dangerous. It creates a de facto class of rape in which women who were drugged, or severely underaged, or who saw the threat of force and chose to drop their resistance, are treated by the law as having colluded in their rape.

By the way, some news sites like the New York Times have free online content but ask for users to register before viewing that content. If you ever need it, the website BugMeNot posts user-shared log-ins for reuse by those who don’t want to share their own personal details. It doesn’t always work and requires an extra step, but may be worth checking out if you have privacy concerns.

Sex-ed source Scarleteen has launched the new Find-a-Doc service, a searchable database of services including STI testing, pregnancy testing, abortion, transgender health, LGBQ health, rape/abuse crisis, prenatal care, and more. You can also add new listings, but the providers *must* serve young people; reviews can also be added.

RMJ at Deeply Problematic explores fat bodies in the Harry Potter books.

Local school Belmont University finally added “sexual orientation” to their nondiscrimination policy. This would be more meaningful if Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, when asked whether openly gay people were welcome to study and work at Belmont, hadn’t responded by saying, “I would put that in the hypothetical category.” It’s hard for me to belief a nondiscrimination policy has teeth if it’s hypothetical as to whether the people the policy is supposed to cover are actually welcome. They also still need to add gender identity and expression. Kudos, though, to the folks who worked hard to get this small step.

Lyon Martin Health Services, a San Francisco clinic that provides health care to many transgender and lgb persons, needs funding help to stay open. According to their website, “Currently, 39% of our patients are people of color; 14% are transgender and 41% self-identify as lesbian or bisexual; 84% live below 200% of the federal poverty level and 14% are homeless.” I wrote last year about a lecture I attended by an openly transgender physician affiliated with the clinic.

Via Siobhan, links to info on an initiative to promote literacy in pediatric clinics.

Canadian Blood Services (I could be wrong, but I think it’s kind of like our Red Cross in terms of blood donation), is planning to recommend that Health Canada start to roll back the lifetime ban for gay men on donating blood.

Change.or has a brief overview of the serious lack of obstetric services/facilities for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Amie at RHRC has an update on efforts in Washington State to hold “crisis pregnancy centers” accountable for their accuracy and disclosures.

Yet another study found no evidence that abortion causes mental health problems.

eastsidekate at Shakesville wants to share her own version of those car decals that demonstrate “how nuclear, hetero, and fecund your family is.”

The CDC has a new section on their website on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health.

Anne Marie is talking about pelvic exams performed on anesthetized women without their knowledge or consent. I’d like to hear suggestions for actions toward putting a hard stop to this practice.

I seriously want to have my belly button species cultured.

And, just a reminder that I’m being more strict about moderating comments here. I don’t need to make a place for hatred and hostility. I also just don’t always have the energy to respond – again, and again, and again – to the “why do you care about this little thing?” arguments, to the feminism 101/derailing for dummies stuff. Some things I’ll let through in the hopes that someone else will respond (and I’m unbelievably grateful to the people who do), but I don’t always have the energy. Please know that my leaving something up in no way implies that I agree with the thoughts expressed. To the commenter who said she acts like a guy and so they don’t give her crap – I hope that protects you. If it doesn’t, it’s not because you didn’t act sufficiently like a man. I hope you realize how taking this stance positions all women as less than men instead of addressing the inequity of positioning women this way, and I recommend Julia Serano’s “Whipping Girl” to you. To the commenter who called the policy “censorship:” – I’m a librarian and I take that charge seriously; however, you may freely express your opinion at any website/blog of your own – I have no more obligation to be the one to provide a space for you than the New York Times would have to publish every screed they may receive.

Related: if you never saw it, I really love Melissa McEwan’s response to the “little things” gambit related to the “Fat Princess” video game. Scroll down to: “How do you respond to the common argument “it’s just a game, and it’s not meant to be taken seriously”?

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Adolescent Health, Birth, Body Image & Eating Disorders, Ethics, Government, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups, Sex & Sex Education, Web Resources

Some things that caught my eye this week; for new folks, the Sunday news round-up tends to focus more on social issues than research or resources, including whatever I’ve noted for later reading from my RSS feeds or Twitter.

First, the English-language site for Al Jazeera has the most complete coverage I’ve seen of what’s going on in Egypt for those who need it in the English language.

I’m woefully behind on the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” proposed by House Republicans, so this first chunk is catching up. It seems to me to be completely unnecessary political posturing on the backs of women (and especially rape victims, as we’ll see), given that there are existing restrictions preventing federal funding for abortion. I know it includes an exception for “forcible rape,” which as far as I know is not a real legal term with an actionable definition. Many folks have expressed concerns that it would seem to exclude women who are date raped, or drugged, or otherwise not sufficiently physically abused in the course of being raped. Perhaps those women didn’t suffer enough for House Republicans to be considered for access to the means to make their own decisions about their own pregnancies. *headdesk*

It also fails to mention statutory rape, includes incest only if the victim is a minor, and includes only a “danger of death” exemption, not a health exemption.

There’s a decent summary over at Mother Jones, The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape.

The New York Times has an editorial: The Two Abortion Wars: A Highly Intrusive Federal Bill.

rikyrah at Jack & Jill Politics reminds us, of the politicians pushing this business: “They are who we thought they were.”

The blogger at No Fun at Parties writes in response to people who say, “who cares? I’m against all abortion anyway.” I think this response is an excellent one, and I encourage you to go read the whole post:

It’s not about abortion. It’s about rape. People who oppose legal abortion can agree with the idea of reducing federal funding for abortions in the case of rape and incest, but doing it this way is incredibly dangerous. Creating two different kinds of rape survivors is very dangerous. Requiring women who were raped to have to prove to a health care provider that their rape was forcible, by some legal standard that has yet to be determined, is very dangerous. It creates a de facto class of rape in which women who were drugged, or severely underaged, or who saw the threat of force and chose to drop their resistance, are treated by the law as having colluded in their rape.

By the way, some news sites like the New York Times have free online content but ask for users to register before viewing that content. If you ever need it, the website BugMeNot posts user-shared log-ins for reuse by those who don’t want to share their own personal details. It doesn’t always work and requires an extra step, but may be worth checking out if you have privacy concerns.

Sex-ed source Scarleteen has launched the new Find-a-Doc service, a searchable database of services including STI testing, pregnancy testing, abortion, transgender health, LGBQ health, rape/abuse crisis, prenatal care, and more. You can also add new listings, but the providers *must* serve young people; reviews can also be added.

RMJ at Deeply Problematic explores fat bodies in the Harry Potter books.

Local school Belmont University finally added “sexual orientation” to their nondiscrimination policy. This would be more meaningful if Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, when asked whether openly gay people were welcome to study and work at Belmont, hadn’t responded by saying, “I would put that in the hypothetical category.” It’s hard for me to belief a nondiscrimination policy has teeth if it’s hypothetical as to whether the people the policy is supposed to cover are actually welcome. They also still need to add gender identity and expression. Kudos, though, to the folks who worked hard to get this small step.

Lyon Martin Health Services, a San Francisco clinic that provides health care to many transgender and lgb persons, needs funding help to stay open. According to their website, “Currently, 39% of our patients are people of color; 14% are transgender and 41% self-identify as lesbian or bisexual; 84% live below 200% of the federal poverty level and 14% are homeless.” I wrote last year about a lecture I attended by an openly transgender physician affiliated with the clinic.

Via Siobhan, links to info on an initiative to promote literacy in pediatric clinics.

Canadian Blood Services (I could be wrong, but I think it’s kind of like our Red Cross in terms of blood donation), is planning to recommend that Health Canada start to roll back the lifetime ban for gay men on donating blood.

Change.or has a brief overview of the serious lack of obstetric services/facilities for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Amie at RHRC has an update on efforts in Washington State to hold “crisis pregnancy centers” accountable for their accuracy and disclosures.

Yet another study found no evidence that abortion causes mental health problems.

eastsidekate at Shakesville wants to share her own version of those car decals that demonstrate “how nuclear, hetero, and fecund your family is.”

The CDC has a new section on their website on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health.

Anne Marie is talking about pelvic exams performed on anesthetized women without their knowledge or consent. I’d like to hear suggestions for actions toward putting a hard stop to this practice.

I seriously want to have my belly button species cultured.

And, just a reminder that I’m being more strict about moderating comments here. I don’t need to make a place for hatred and hostility. I also just don’t always have the energy to respond – again, and again, and again – to the “why do you care about this little thing?” arguments, to the feminism 101/derailing for dummies stuff. Some things I’ll let through in the hopes that someone else will respond (and I’m unbelievably grateful to the people who do), but I don’t always have the energy. Please know that my leaving something up in no way implies that I agree with the thoughts expressed. To the commenter who said she acts like a guy and so they don’t give her crap – I hope that protects you. If it doesn’t, it’s not because you didn’t act sufficiently like a man. I hope you realize how taking this stance positions all women as less than men instead of addressing the inequity of positioning women this way, and I recommend Julia Serano’s “Whipping Girl” to you. To the commenter who called the policy “censorship:” – I’m a librarian and I take that charge seriously; however, you may freely express your opinion at any website/blog of your own – I have no more obligation to be the one to provide a space for you than the New York Times would have to publish every screed they may receive.

Related: if you never saw it, I really love Melissa McEwan’s response to the “little things” gambit related to the “Fat Princess” video game. Scroll down to: “How do you respond to the common argument “it’s just a game, and it’s not meant to be taken seriously”?

Filed under: Abortion, Abuse, Rape, & Safety, Access, Rights, & Choice, Adolescent Health, Birth, Body Image & Eating Disorders, Ethics, Government, Miscellaneous, News Round-Ups, Sex & Sex Education, Web Resources