condoms

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]

Bringing you fine, feminist work from around the web!

• Bitch YA Blogger Jessica Stites follows up on police response to Ms.' petition demanding they apologize for having a woman who reported her rape fined.
• Queerty shares a video and list, "Just In Case You Forgot Why The Family Research Council Is A Hate Group."
• Monica at TransGriot provides a history lesson about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Trigger warning for discussion of racism and physical violence.)
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle reports on Friday's protest of last week's shameful "not guilty" verdict at the Raw Story.
• Shakesville's Melissa McEwan comments on the latest fail by the New York Times. (Quotable: "This column smells like barf.")
• Tom at Original Plumbing talks about the Lambda Literary Awards and being an out artist.
• Check out V-Girls' latest project: collecting photo, video and text submissions for the I Am an Emotional Creature workshops they'll be leading with Eve Ensler in South Africa.
• The Guardian reports on author Naipaul's eyeroll-inducing insistence that no woman could write as well as him.
• Feministe's Clarisse gives us the rundown on feminist sci-fi awards!
• Bitch contributor Emily Manuel blurbs about the "fauxtreversy" around baby Storm's biological sex being a secret and the "imposing their ideology" accusation at Tiger Beatdown.
• At AlterNet, Laura Rena Murray explains the wrongheaded practice of police pointing to condom-carrying as evidence of being a sex worker... and the oft-dismissed bill that would prevent it.
• Mother Jones reports on the FIFA soccer scandal.
• WTF? Feministing discusses Cadbury's new ad, which compares Naomi Campbell and a chocolate bar.

Any reactions to the pieces we've shared? What else have you been reading?

If you could bundle the perfect safer-sex kit, what would you put in it?

As much as we complain about hip-hop and rap staying mostly "unconscious" about reproductive-justice issues (the only cut to this day discussing pro-choice options is Digable Planets’ "Femme Fetale"—and that came out 15 years ago), artists have spat about prophylactic use, specifically Trojan Magnums.

Now, Ludacris is doing his part to spread more of the large latex love by teaming up with the company for its very first ad campaign, a contest where people can create their own paeans to the brand. The winner gets $5,000 and a trip to the hip-hop festival Birthday Bash, to be held in Atlanta in June, and personal congrats from the rapper/actor himself.