Welcome to the Feminist Fix, our weekly round-up of feminist links from the week. Get caught up! (And then dig in to the rest of our stuff from the week.)
Feminist News
UN peacekeepers are pulling out of Haiti after 13 years. The mission was plagued by a pattern of rape. pic.twitter.com/CkTnW6yjTK
— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 5, 2017
+ Abortion restrictions were struck down in Indiana and Kentucky. Meanwhile, in Iowa, a judge upheld the state’s forced 72-hour waiting period for women getting abortions.
+ A trans woman who was beaten and threatened with death by a Guatemalan drug cartel, raped and tortured by Guatemalan police and faced death threats because of her gender identity, won asylum in the United States with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Thanks for marching with us yesterday! #MarchForRacialJustice #MarchForBlackWomen pic.twitter.com/h4A0lllFLX
— GU Black Student Alliance (@TeamBSA) October 1, 2017
+ Congress quietly advanced legislation guaranteeing women a seat at peace-making tables.
+ The White House is pressing Facebook to release personal data for over 6,000 anti-Trump activists.
+ Governor Jerry Brown just signed a bill making California a sanctuary state. He has less than two weeks to sign into law legislation guaranteeing menstrual products in schools for low-income students and keeping college students safe(r) from sexual assault.
+ The House voted to advance a 20-week abortion ban this week, including a “yea” vote from the Representative exposed this week for urging his mistress to get an abortion. (Here’s our first report on the bill.) Don’t be fooled: This isn’t about restricting abortion; it’s about ending abortion.
Hi Rep. Trent Franks. I’m a researcher and abortion provider. This isn’t actual science. I’d be happy to educate you about it if you’d like. https://t.co/YPEKrhD32Z
— Dr. Daniel Grossman (@DrDGrossman) October 3, 2017
+ The financial firm that put the “Fearless Girl” statue near Wall Street is paying out $5 million in an equal pay dispute over gender and racial discrimination.
+ Activists and lawmakers alike called for reform in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting that left over 50 dead and over 400 injured. Senator Dianne Feinstein put those words into action when she introduced legislation banning “bump stocks.”
+ Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Ro Khanna are calling for a Congressional hearing on “stealthing.”
+ Stanford now has an emergency contraception vending machine on campus.
Lest We Forget
+ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when asked if sexism impacted the 2016 election: “I have no doubt that it did.”
+ Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers laughed at journalist Jourdan Rodrigue for asking him about routes because “it’s funny to hear a female talk about routes.” Her response:
https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/915682599326162945
+ Zendaya on K.C. Undercover: “I didn’t feel like there was any other choice. I was like, ‘If I’m going to do this, this is how it has to be.’ There needs to be a Black family on the Disney Channel.”
+ Shonda Rhimes took the Vanity Fair Proust Questionnaire: “Why should I dislike anything about my appearance? I came off the factory line this way. I am perfect.”
+ Raquel Willis, Black queer trans activist, in an interview with Paper magazine: “I think about both ancestry and legacy often. I think of the Black ancestors who made a way out of no way and provided a path for me to achieve all that I have been able to thus far. I think of the trans people of yesteryear who boldly claimed their lives as their own in times when they didn’t even have the words to describe their experiences. I think of the women who always saw their power in glory in societies that constantly told them they were less than.”
Milestones
+ Fifteen of 20 finalists for the National Book Award are female. (And they’re women we’ve been reading, too!) Even better: The National Book Award’s 2017 5 Under 35 honorees were all women.
+ Cambridge University’s Murray Edwards College will now accept all self-identified women.
+ It’s official! The Marines have officially welcomed the first-ever female infantry officer to their ranks.
+ NASA has dedicated a new facility to mathematician Katherine Johnson.
Media, Arts & Culture
+ Rooney Mara’s UNA tackles the complexity of speaking up about childhood sexual assault.
+ Feministing talked to Jamia Wilson, the first woman of color to run the Feminist Press:
Senti Sojwal: Who is the feminist that inspires you most today and why?
Jamia Wilson: I feel like everyone always talks about mom, but I’m going to talk about mine. My mother is a feminist and has always unapologetically been one, just like my grandmother. She is a trailblazer in her field and has always worked in male dominated environments and has thrived. She has always pushed me to claim my power, own my space, and take up space even if other people didn’t want me there. I one hundred percent get it from my mama when it comes to that — boldness and having a vision and seeing myself in places that other people might not be ready for yet. She’s someone I greatly admire. My mom went to college very young and wanted to be independent in a time when that was really maligned. She’s someone people don’t forget — she supports and loves others so much. I wouldn’t be who I am without her support and coaching and her telling me that I have what it takes to do everything. When I was a kid, I would ask her, how come you don’t bake like other moms? How come you don’t do stuff like the moms on TV? She would tell me, I’m not like those moms. With me, you’re going to see food from all over the world. Work makes me travel, and I’ll take you with me. I won’t bake for you, but I’ll buy you pastries, and someone else will make them because I’m busy doing other things. She made it clear to me that she had a conscious choice to have me — that she had been on birth control when I was conceived and it didn’t work, but then she decided to have me. She also said she could have made another decision, and that one could have been right for her, too. I so respect that and that she respected me enough as a woman to tell me that. When I’d be upset about relationships, she’d say, I can’t believe you’re crying over some guy when you have empires to build. She changed everything about what I imagined as a possibility for myself.
+ Any chance you’re in the market for a feminist military drama? If you are, look no further: Valor is here.
+ Welcome to the What Happened book club.
How We’re Doing
+ An internal review of BBC salaries found that men are making 9.3 percent more than women on average—and almost 500 women may be getting paid less than their male counterparts just because of their gender.
+ It’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A reminder: Each year, 10 million people are victims of domestic violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will become victims of physical domestic violence in their lifetime.
+ The Center for American Progress graded Ivanka Trump on her supposed influence and her self-described mission to advance working women’s rights. Her report card doesn’t look too good.
Take Action
+ The president won’t help Puerto Rico. Here’s how you can. (While you’re at it, join us in saluting Carmen Yulin Cruz, Mayor of San Juan, for her leadership—and for withstanding Trump’s sexist attacks.)
+ You can tackle gun violence, too.
+ The House just advanced a dangerous abortion ban. So have 28 states this year alone. Tell business leaders to speak up and oppose these discriminatory and dangerous laws—and do right by their own employees in case political leaders won’t.
