Superman

Good morning! Here's all the feminist news on our radar today. 

• Before South African Reeva Steenkamp died—allegedly shot by Olympian Oscar Pistorius—she planned to give a big speech about violence against women. [New York Times] 

• Students at Occidental College in California are filing a federal complaint about the way their school deals with sexual assault. [Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition] 

• Undocumented immigrant farmworkers can be major targets for sexual abuse and harassment. [RH Reality Check] 

• There is a campaign to end rape jokes and general misogyny in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. [UFC Respect Women]  

• Determining which countries have the highest instances of rape is next to impossible. [Foreign Policy] 

• What's the legacy of Hugo Chavez on the people of Venezuela? [Slate] 

• The artist hired to draw DC Comic's new Superman quit after a furor over hiring anti-gay campaigner Orson Scott Card to writer the series. [Guardian] 

• How to get elected in America, as someone who's LGB or T. [The Advocate] 

• A female meterologist is fired after responding politely on Facebook to racist comments about her looks. [Women's Media Center] 

• The model featured on a billboard in the opening credits for Mad Men sues the show for using her image without permission. [Salon] 

What did I miss? Add important stories to the comments. 

In Monday’s post I shared a very condensed herstory of Lois Lane’s appearances on film, as well as some clips of her filmic influences and contemporaries.

I know most people don’t care for Lois, but I think that’s because they haven’t really given her consideration. I mean, here’s a female character who, despite office sexism perseveres with moxie. She’s tough-talking, street smart, and modern. She has her own apartment in the City, is an award-winning reporter, and is dedicated to her profession—all of which sounds admirably progressive, even feminist to me. It reminds me of something I wrote in my book about Gloria Steinem’s comment about rescuing Wonder Woman by putting her on the cover of Ms. magazine. While Wonder Woman serves as a symbol of our highest aspirations, Lois may have more accurately reflected the lives of journalists at Ms., and at the time was certainly in need of as much rescuing as Diana Prince.