I recently accepted an invitation to attend a dinner at the State Department hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in honor of the holy month of Ramadan. The dinner itself, which takes place on Tuesday, September 7, is a formal iftar—the meal eaten every evening after sunset when Muslims break the fast during the […]
Month: September 2010
90210 on 9/02/10
When I think about growing up in the 90s, I always return to one particular place: Beverly Hills, California. I never actually stepped foot in the zip code (until recently, when I came to work as an intern for Ms.), but I watched Beverly Hills 90210 every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. I followed the […]
Feds Slap Sheriff Joe Arpaio with Lawsuit
It’s been the summer of Arizona vs. the federal government, with lawsuits flying fast and furiously. The controversial state government now has yet another legal battle on its hands. Today, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Arizona’s infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his refusal to cooperate with a federal investigation of possible human rights […]
Newsflash: Australian Couple Awaits Trial for Abortion
In Cairns, Queensland, a 20-year-old woman is being prosecuted for intending to terminate her pregnancy. Tegan Leach and her partner, Sergie Brennan, 22, are expected to stand trial on October 12 for importing the abortion drugs RU486 and Misoprostol from Ukraine in order to terminate Leach’s pregnancy (in December 2008). While police did not prove […]
Senator Alan Kooi Simpson Steps in a Cow Pie
Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson recently stated that Social Security is becoming “a cow with 310 million tits.” I’m a vegetarian, but even I know that cows don’t have tits, they have teats. Thus begins the list of incorrect and nasty misstatements that have poured out of the mouth of Alan Kooi Simpson lately. (Hey, […]
How To Respect Sex Workers
Most women have strong feelings about the sex industry, be they for or against. (And many, of course, remain undecided.) When dealing with such an emotionally volatile topic, it’s easy to inadvertently silence or even insult sex workers themselves. (As a participant in sex worker activism for the past four years, I’ve seen that in […]
Do Men Make Better Women Than Women Do?
I choreograph a stage show for a drag queen. In his day-to-day life, this queen is a soft-spoken, 6’7 man who rides a road bike and enjoys fresh salads. In his drag life, he’s Barbie Banjée, the bitchiest (and tallest) of East Vancouver queens, boasting the longest legs and sharpest cheek bones in the biz. […]
Women We’ll Be Reading 200 Years From Now
“Women I admire have gone through hell to get their work out there,” Erica Jong told us this past weekend. “I’d like to change that for you.” Despite its sale of 20 million copies worldwide, Jong’s 1973 feminist novel Fear of Flying provoked a backlash, the vestiges of which still own a sliver of Jong’s […]
We Heart: Temple Grandin
For an autistic woman who “thinks like a cow,” Temple Grandin has certainly affected millions of humans. Last Sunday at the 62nd Emmy Awards, Temple Grandin, the made-for-HBO movie about the bestselling author and livestock expert, won five Emmys, including best lead actress (for Claire Danes playing Grandin) in a mini-series/movie. Now, more than ever, Grandin is, […]
The Weekly Pulse: Egg Recalls, DIY Abortion, Sex Education
This week, it’s not just eggs that are doing the salmonella infecting, women are having DIY abortions along the U.S.-Mexico border, and in Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty would rather shell out major cash than have comprehensive sex education. Read about it in Lindsay Beyerstein’s weekly health round-up at The Media Consortium. Women on along U.S.-Mexico border […]