“Look at that dress,” I exclaimed as she sashayed across the stage, feet hidden beneath its many ruffles. The floor-length purple gown was embellished with swirling golden details offset by a flowing scarf of the same color. The “Diva de la Banda” waved the scarf as she positioned herself in front of a semi-circle of […]
Month: December 2012
Michigan Senate Votes to Ban All Insurance Coverage for Abortions
Last week, the Michigan Senate passed a slew of measures intended to make it even more difficult for women in the state to access and pay for abortions. Bills 612, 613 and 614 [pdf] if enacted by the state’s House, will ban abortion coverage by any private or state-based health insurance plans unless the woman’s […]
Marriage Equality is a Feminist Issue
2012 has been a huge year for marriage equality. In May, President Barack Obama declared support for the right of lesbians and gay men to marry–and then he resoundingly won re-election. Three new states approved gay marriage rights in ballot initiatives, and another defeated a constitutional ban. As December marches on, so, too, does the […]
Afghan Women’s Affairs Official Murdered
Najia Sediqi, the acting head of women’s affairs in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan, was on her way to work on Monday when she was shot to death by two motorcyclists. This is the second time in six months a woman holding this position has been assassinated. In July, Sediqi’s predecessor, Hanifa Safi, was killed […]
The Truth About Pink and Blue Brains
I loathe to weigh in on the “war on men” conversation, but … alas. While one can use both logic and data to poke gaping holes in Suzanne Venker’s argument that women need to surrender to their femininity and let men think that they’re in charge if they ever want to get married, I just want […]
Abortion Coverage for Military Rape Victims Passes Senate
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to extend abortion insurance coverage for rape or incest victims in the military. This amendment to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), first introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) last year, would mean that service women no longer have to pay out of pocket to terminate those […]
Supreme Court Takes Prop 8 and a DOMA Case
The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it will consider both Hollingsworth v. Perry (the case involving California’s same-sex marriage initiative, Proposition 8), and Windsor v. United States, which involves the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) According to the SCOTUS Blog (the prime source for this post) the case arguments will likely […]
Remembering the Homefront on Pearl Harbor Day
Seventy-one years ago, America’s children learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Before the attack, few had every heard of Pearl Harbor. “Who’s she?” more than one child probably asked. Just as 9/11 was a watershed for the millennium generation, Pearl Harbor divided our parents’ childhoods into before and after. Born during the Great Depression, […]
I’m Mad as Hell at Conventional Manhood
There are too many damn tragic anniversaries of men killing women. Pick any month and you’ll find them. Take today, December 6–it’s the 23rd anniversary of the Montréal Massacre. Marc Lépine stormed into the city’s École Polytechnique and murdered 14 women, wounding 10 others. The mass-murderer, who then killed himself, was 25–the same age as […]
Schoolgirl Killed in Afghanistan
She was a volunteer for a polio vaccination campaign in the eastern province of Kapisa province. Afghanistan, is one of just three countries in the world, along with Pakistan and Nigeria, considered a polio-endemic place, so there’s been a concerted effort to administer preventive medicine to millions of children. Anisa, a 10th grader at Mahmoud […]