abortion

It's Monday! I'm kicking off the week with this round-up of feminist news from around the internets.

• Reflections on Father's Day: Remembering a distant father who left his daughter's life and creating a new definition of what it means to be an "engaged father." [Crunk Feminist Collective and Colorlines]   

• Where is homosexuality most accepted? A new map of global attitudes toward LGBT folks reveals that Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Canada are most supportive of homosexuality. [Sociological Images]

• Here's another map for Monday: There are more waiting periods for abortions than waiting periods for guns in the US. [Feministing]

• What would a feminist labor movement look like? Writer Sarah Jaffe hosts a discussion for Dissent magazine. [Dissent] 

• Today in rape culture: A suburban Chicago fireman is accused of trying to rape an incapacitated woman at a party, his defense is she was "making eyes" at him. Plus, college serial rapists are evading prosecution. [Shakesville and Bloomberg]

• Suspicious confirmed: Auto shops do tend to overcharge women. [Atlantic] 

• The immigrant you won't see in The Bling Ring: In real life, one of the members of the "bling ring" of teens that stole from Hollywood celebrities' homes was undocumented immigrant Diana Tamayo, but in the new Sophia Coppola movie, she's cast as a white citizen. [Colorlines] 

• There's a new live-action Little Mermaid movie in the works, but the same director as the recent Anna Karenina. [The Mary Sue] 

• Paralympian Ryan Chalmers starts every day at 5:30am—he's becoming the first person to cross the US by wheelchair. [Guardian] 

• Since her insurance doesn't cover gender confirmation surgery, one transgender New Yorker—24-year-old Diana Tourjee—is running an Indiegogo fundraiser for the costs. [Indiegogo] 

What did I miss? Add what you're reading to the comments.

Here's what we're reading today.

• On Tuesday, CBC aired a poignant interview with Joni Mitchell. The singer spoke about fame, her life as a painter, and giving her daughter up for adoption. [CBC]

• Controversial feminist Camille Paglia writes an ode to Joan Rivers, who recently turned eighty. Paglia argues that "what Joan represents is power of voice," and that she "must be recognized as an iconic feminist role model." [Hollywood Reporter]

• What are the stereotypes of women in politics? A study finds that the vast majority of people see women politicians as sharing almost none of the qualities of women more broadly. [National Journal]

• This quote says it all: "If we as a society have any interest in preventing mass shootings -- crimes that seem so senseless, so unpredictable -- we have got to look at domestic violence." [The Stranger]

• Feminist blogger Anita Sarkeesian tweeted about the lack of female protagonists in the new Xbox One games, and the misogynistic backlash was, unfortunately, typical. [Huffington Post]

• What happens to women after they are denied an abortion? A study finds that, among other things, being denied an abortion makes a woman three times as likely to end up in poverty. [New York Times]

• On Friday, Iran will elect a new president: NPR profiles four Iranian women who are worried about rollbacks to their freedom under the new president. [NPR]

• The Senate Armed Services Committee blocked Senator Kristen Gillibrand's proposal to take military sexual assault cases out of the chain of command. [Feministing]

Share what you're reading in the comments.

Happy Wednesday! Here's some of the news that's on our radar today:

• Putting Rosie back in the kitchen? Cleaning product company Swiffer responds to recent outrage at their appropriation of Rosie the Riveter in their ads, and claim they are working to remove the image. [Think Progress]

• Dying Salvadorian woman denied the right to a life-saving abortion recieves a C-section and lives. [Think Progress]

• The maternity package: Finnish Goverment's "gift to mothers" is a factor in country's low infant mortality rate. [BBC News]

• Now that Facebook's new policy confronting rape culture is under way, here's a guide on how to report gender-based hate speech. [WAM]

• Obsession wth plastic surgery and Western beauty standards in South Korea compels this one woman, deemed "too tall, too fat, and too dark" to leave the country. [Daily Mail]

• Earlier on Jezebel, comedian Lindy West explains how rape-jokes and rape culture go hand-in-hand, and another strangely rejects her argument and calls Jezebel a woman-hating site. [Jezebel]

 Stay tuned!

Happy Friday, fellow feminist-news junkies! Here's all the wordy business on our radar this morning.

• If you've been following the story of Beatriz, the young Salvadorean woman whose pregnancy threatens her life (she has severe medical complications stemming from lupus, and the baby has already been deemed unviable), you'll be outraged to hear that the Supreme Court of El Salvador has officially denied her an abortion, handing down what amounts to a death sentence for the 22-year-old. Will a petition to the Pope help? Who knows, but it can't hurt to let His Holiness know that this is some senselessly cruel bullshit.  [RH Reality Check]

• Brooklyn district attorney Charles J. Hynes has announced that the borough's police force will no longer treat the possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution, a move that's a win for sex-work and public-health advocates. [New York Times]

• In the new cartoon SheZow, a 12-year-old boy gains superpowers—and a female alter ego—when he puts on a magic ring. To the folks at Breitbart News, the premise is evidence of a vast left-wing conspiracy to feminize boys. But creator Obie Scott Wade tells io9 that he just wanted to make a great animated show. [io9]

• White allies, antiracists, and more: A consideration of the limits—and, often, the meaninglessness—of self-applied labels among activists. [Spectra Speaks]

• NPR's Code Switch blog rounded up some of the most intersesting responses to the question, "What's the most ridiculous thing you've been asked about your race?" [Code Switch]

• The number of women opting not to pursue careers in academic research because of institutional bias is increasing—and that has dire consequences for universities that resist changing their internal structures. [Guardian Higher Education Network]

• In case Dolly Parton wasn't awesome enough: She has donated more than 50 million books to children as part of a literacy program called Imagination Library. [RawStory]

• Looking for an feminist internship in the Las Vegas area? Nationally syndicated blog The Sin City Siren wants you! [The Sin City Siren]

We as a nation just can’t seem to trust women to make their own choices, especially when their reproductive organs are involved.

It’s not earth-shattering to point out a good deal of language tossed around by our nation’s lawmakers, major media presences and religious institutions, is detrimental to the agency of women.  The wave of laws restricting abortion rights in 49 states often portray the woman as nothing more than a vessel for a fetus from the point of conception  

But recently, rhetoric has taken the issue even further. Current public education campaigns imply that we have a civic duty to tell women when they should get pregnant and reinforce the idea that pregnant women’s bodies are public property.

Good morning, folks! Here's all the feminist and feminist-adjacent news on our radar this fine morning.

• Who says online activism doesn't get results? Reebok has dropped Rick Ross as a spokesperson in the wake of his rapey lyrical outing on the track "U.O.E.N.O." The company's statement reads, in part, "While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse." [TMZ] 

• With the capital murder trial of former abortion provider Kermit Gosnell now underway in Philadelphia, Women's Law Project looks at how Pennsylvania's longstanding attitudes toward legal abortion made it possible for Gosnell's crimes to go unreported for so long. [Women's Law Project]

• In a rare move for the fashion industry, the summer lookbook for U.K. high-street clothier Debenhams features models who are plus-size, older than 40, of different races, and, in one case, a Paralympian. Hopefully, this won't be a one-off move. [Refinery29]

• Now that the likes of Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj have embraced it, has the word "ratchet" become a compliment? Insert side-eye here. [The Cut]

• If all you know about children's singer Raffi is that he's responsible for that infernal "Baby Beluga" song, time to get reacquainted: In the wake of Canadian teen Rehtaeh Parsons's suicide, he's using Twitter to speak out against rape culture and bullying. [ThinkProgress]

• Pro-choice fans of Edensoy milk, better start looking for an alternative: Eden Foods founder and CEO Michael Potter is trying to impose his sex-is-for-babies beliefs on the company's employees, suing the Obama administration to protest its mandate to cover contraception for workers. [Salon]

• Connie Britton will play the love interest of Girls' Adam Driver in the ensemble film This Is Where I Leave You, a flip of the typical May-December romance setup that definitely counts as exciting and mold-busting Hollywood news. Also in the film: Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, and Jane Fonda. Stoke your anticipation with the book, which is awesome.

As ever, share your own fave reads from this week in the comments!

Good morning! Ready to start your weekend off right with a big bowl of healthy links from around the web?

• Tyler Perry's new movie, Temptation, looks to be a moralizing mess. But it's also dangerously cavalier about rape, according to Carolyn Edgar, who posits that the movie's larger message about "fallen" women getting what they deserve makes it even trickier to discuss the issue. [Carolyn Edgar]

• Earlier this week, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban caused a stir in the sports press by saying he's interested in drafting Brittney Griner, the star player for Baylor University's women's basketball team. But is it simply a "publicity stunt" on Cuban's part? Would drafting a woman into the NBA be terrible for women's basketball? Everybody's got an opinion. [ESPN, ThinkProgress, Business Insider]

• Elsewhere in basketball news, Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice was fired this week after video surfaced of him physically and verbally abusing players during practice. At Autostraddle, a Rutgers alumna considers why Rice's apparently longstanding habit of using antigay slurs to bully (or, as he thought of it, "motivate") players was hush-hush for so long. [Autostraddle]

• In all the recent discussion about women leaning in and having it all, where's the discussion about what men can do? A paid paternity-leave quota in Quebec could be changing both how typically gendered work is valued as it allows mothers more freedom to continue working post-childbirth. [New York Times]

• It's Steubenville all over again: In the town of Torrington, Connecticut, two high-school football players have been charged with the rape of two 13-year-old girls—and the girls are on the receiving end of bullying and vitriol. [New York Times]

• Nevada assemplywoman Lucy Flores testified this week about the consequences of inadequate sex education, noting that her sister all gave birth as teenagers, and that she herself opted for an abortion. Cue the death threats, since as we all know, that's the pro-life way to do it! [ThinkProgress]

• If you're a Walking Dead fan who's been frustrated with how the show portrays women, well, get ready to be a little more frustrated: The comic series' author is on record as believing that women are weaker than men. "That's science." [Village Voice]

• Yesterday we lost Roger Ebert, a film critic who was so much more than just that. The Daily Beast rounds up some of his best reviews—as well as his most awesome burns. (Lookin' at you, Vinccent Gallo.) [Daily Beast]

As ever, let us know what you're reading in the comments!

This week, we’re all hoping that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of all that is fair and good and affirm the rights of gay and lesbian people to be married.

But while we’ve got our thumbs on champagne corks, anxiously waiting to celebrate, let’s just take a breath for a minute and recognize that while marriage equality is just major step forward toward equality for same-sex couples, it’s just a step toward equality for all in America. We’ve got to look beyond marriage to the other ways gender, sexuality, and love will still be regulated by the government, even if gays can finally tie the knot.

The North Dakota legislature approved a “personhood” measure for the ballot last week—if the governor signs off on the measure, voters will decide in 2014 if North Dakota should criminalize abortion and shut down the state’s only abortion-providing clinic.

These are the most restrictive laws proposed in the United States, but a slew of lesser restrictions have passed legislatures across the country in recent years.  While they’ll have real, personal impact if enacted, the bills serve another purpose: media stunt.

Finally: A smart book about abortion that doesn’t hew to a party line.

Sarah Erdreich’s Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement, is an incisive and comprehensive overview of the current state of the reproductive rights movement.