Feminism

Source: www.salon.com --- 12 days ago
There are many, many different ways to define Feminism and even the many waves of Feminism. But, until today, I had never heard this definition of third-wave Feminism: sex with robots. Today, in Violet Blue's sex column for the San Francisco Chronicle, a woman who goes by the name Binx explains why she took a sex machine for a public spin at a sex and technology conference last year: Feminism, baby ... F-ing machines are the pornographic equivalent of third-wave Feminism. It does not show men being violent towards women because it does not include men, only women and their sweet, sweet machines. So, look, I'm all for women having sex with robots if it turns them on, but I'm confused. Is pornographic robot sex feminist because it eliminates the potential for violence against women -- and does it, really? Is it feminist because a woman can't be exploited by a robot sex partner -- even if she's performing for a human audience? Is it feminist because it allows a woman to get pleasured without pleasuring a man, which somehow maintains the political purity of her pleasure? Is it that asking for and demanding the sexual -- and sexy -- respect that one wants in the bedroom isn't as feminist as simply replacing men with literal sex machines? Is it feminist because we all know feminists not-so-secretly hope to annihilate the entire male species and replace them with robots that can simulate emotions -- including a belief in equality -- and ...

Source: www.npr.org --- 6 days ago
Some feminists have had a hard time accepting Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a symbol of women's empowerment. But political science professor Ronnee Schreiber argues that conservatism and Feminism are not mutually exclusive ideologies. ...

Source: www.freep.com --- 13 days ago
My efforts to convince Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to withdraw from the presidential race drew passionate dissents -- and a lot of hate mail -- from women in the movement. ...

Source: mediamatters.org --- 7 days ago
On the October 6 broadcast of The War Room , co-host Jim Quinn said of criticism of Gov. Sarah Palin by author, activist, and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem: "Palin blew it, you see. She publicly expressed through both word and selfless deed that she values all people during every stage of development from conception to natural death. Most egregiously, she refused the sacrificial right of passage, better known as the Eucharist of the feminist church: abortion. That's right. She declined to slaughter her own unborn child, Trig, to the goddess of Feminism, even after doctors told her that he was one of those Down syndrome 'throw-aways.' " Quinn later stated: "The reality is, except for those who, like Gloria Steinem, think the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence should've read, 'All women are endowed by Mother Earth with an inalienable right to eat their own young,' Sarah Palin has connected with the average American, especially with women." Quinn prefaced these remarks by saying, "Not surprisingly, the ultra-liberal and pompously self-styled National Organization for Women has been beating the war-path drums, claiming that Palin is, quote, 'more a conservative man than she is a woman.' " Quinn was presumably referring to a September 11 Politico article that quoted a "spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women" as saying of Palin: "She's more a conservative man than she is a woman on women's issues." An "Ed ...

Source: san.francisco.eventguide.com --- 9 days ago
Speakers from Central America, China, Australia and the U.S. will be featured, plus inter... ...

Source: wizbangblog.com --- 6 days ago
Hey ladies! Did you know that you and your hard work accomplished absolutely NOTHING? Everything you have today, you can thank second wave Feminism for. Had that never happened, I... ...

Source: www.feministe.us --- 4 days ago
I’m pretty late on getting to this AlterNet article Can You Be a Feminist and Anti-Abortion?, but I just read it and thought it was worth discussion. It’s an interview with Jennifer Baumgardner about her new book Abortion and Life, and includes a decent-sized excerpt from it on this very topic. I’ll let you read the [...] ...

Source: www.boxxet.com --- 6 days ago
 DC - Tina Fey makes a career of impersonating Mrs. Palin on "Saturday Night Live" - and the real Sarah Palin says she's a fan of the fake. Well, why not? ... Original story at Washington Times . View our complete collection of news and blogs, plus related videos, photos and more at Boxxet: SNL: Saturday Night Live . ...

Source: www.beachwoodreporter.com --- 6 days ago
Three events of note. 1. WHERE WOMEN STAND IN CHICAGO NEWSROOMS Date: October 15, 2008 Time: 6 p.m. Location: Columbia College's Ferguson Hall, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Featuring: Linda Yu, Sally Eisele, Hanke Gratteau and Lynn Norment 2. CHICAGO AREA WOMEN'S HISTORY COUNCIL DOCUMENTS FEMINIST ACTIVISM IN THE CITY Date: October 11, 2008 Time: 9:30 a.m. Location: Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St. Featuring: Stephanie Gilmore, Ph.D, editor of Feminist Coalitions, Historical Perspectives on Second-Wave Feminism in the United States (University of Illinois Press 2008) and Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at Dickinson College. Gilmore is also co-editor of the Second Wave and Beyond , an online community. Special Presentation: Janet Olson, MA, Chair of the Chicago Area Archivists group and Assistant University Archivist at Northwestern University will present the premiere of Preserving the History of Second Wave Feminism in Chicago: Donating Your Papers to a Permanent Archives. Meet the Archivists: A distinguished group of Chicago area archivists representing nine of the city's most notable institutions will be on hand to discuss their repositories and their collections. Note: Reservations are required. Admission is free. To register go to: www.cawhc.org or call: 773-227-0093 3. TALK.IN Feminism TODAY: NEW RADIO SHOW LAUNCHES ITS PILOT SEASON Date: November 17, 2008 Time: 6:30 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. program Location: The S.P.A.C.E ...

Source: www.theithacajournal.com --- 7 days ago
I find the writer of the letter “Campaign's ‘malicious' Feminism” (Oct. 1) outburst against her fellow females' attitudes toward Sarah Palin sophomoric. She seems to think “sisterhood solidarity” should be unconditional. Women are just like men in that we are all human beings. Women can be just as selfish, ignorant and power hungry as men. ...

Source: community.feministing.com --- 2 days ago
I'm not sure if the 40th anniversary of the '68 protests outside the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City have been remarked on here - it's these protests that have been said to have sparked the "Second Wave" of Feminism, so I thought I'd post this great "Direct Action" article by a longtime Australian/US feminist activist: Forty years of Feminism By Helen Jarvis September 7 marks the 40th anniversary of the event that put on the front pages of the world’s press the feminist movement, or more precisely its “second wave” (following the long lapse since the strong campaigns of the early 20th century for women’s suffrage and emancipation). The newsletter Voices from the Women’s Liberation Movement reported at the time that “nearly 150 women committed to women’s liberation from New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Florida, Boston and Detroit, converged on Atlantic City to protest the degrading image of women perpetuated by the Miss America Pageant.” The newsletter went on to report: “Our goal was: ‘No more Miss America!’ Our objections to the Pageant: its racism (there’s never been a black contestant); its use of Miss America as a military mascot to entertain the troops abroad and symbolise the unstained, patriotic American womanhood our boys are fighting for; the degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie symbol which puts women on a pedestal/auction block to compete for male approval; the consumer con-game which makes Miss America a walking ...

Source: community.feministing.com --- 14 days ago
There has been a lot of sexism watching going on during this election, and from Hillary Clinton to Michelle Obama to Sarah Palin there's definitely no shortage of material.  But we thought we'd change things up a little, so we've started doing a Joe Biden Feminism watch.  Today was our second installment, on last week's Senate reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act. Last week, the Senate passed the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008 . The original law , authored by Senator Biden, was set to expire next year. The law "standardizes the evidence collection of kits for sexual assaults, making it easier to enter the information into state and national databases" and provides funding to forensic labs to "process the DNA evidence and compare the DNA samples with those taken from criminals". From the statement released by Senator Biden: It is estimated that 40 percent of the unsolved rape cases could be solved by taking the DNA sample collected after a sexual assault and comparing it to the existing DNA databases of convicted felons and rapists. The U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that there are at least 221,000 rape kits currently on the shelves in evidence lockers, untested and gathering dust. The Debbie Smith Grant Program has helped alleviate some of the backlog and has expanded testing to solve more crimes, but much more needs to be done. "If there's a rape kit left sitting on a shelf, there's a victim without justic ...

Source: www.rhrealitycheck.org --- 5 days ago
"Sarah Palin's candidacy has turned our assumptions about women and politics on their head." So begins Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air this evening as she introduces - via an interview with Ronnee Schreiber, the author of a new book entitled Righting Feminism - a discussion of the ways in which Sarah Palin and mainstream Feminism have clashed thus far and what her candidacy might mean for the conservative women's movement led by such organizations as Concerned Women for American (CWA) and the Independent Women's Forum (IWF). Schreiber begins by talking about why feminists have been frustrated by Palin, pointing to the fact that she is conservative as a primary reason. This is likely true although the anger isn't about the term conservative , of course, but about how her conservativsm has played out in terms of her political priorites over issues specific to women. To provide historical perspective, Schreiber goes on to quote a prominent conservative women's movement advocate who, when asked why conservative women felt the need to specifically form a women's organization so many years ago, responded that they felt that Feminism/feminists didn't speak to them or about their interests and so they were going to speak to - and for - the majority of women for whom Feminism did not. It's an old refrain that is always new: feminists are just a small, radical group speaking to a small, radical group of rabid women. The interview, as well a ...

Source: community.feministing.com --- 5 days ago
We feminists are accused of crying sexism every time a woman is depicted as sexy in an advertisement, but at the same time we're responsible for turning young girls into sluts? The thing that makes me bemoan the state of Feminism in today's society is that we've become a catch-all scapegoat for all social problem. Economic troubles? It's that durned Feminism, with them there women getting jobs and taking up the job market. American youth underachieving in school? Feminism makes those women think they don't need to be moms! They're all neglecting their children! Too much sex in the media? It's Feminism's fault, they want all girls to have sex CONSTANTLY. They are all manly lesbians who resent femininity! I hate how no matter how ridiculous the problem, Feminism is to blame (especially when men get mad at Feminism for not fighting for men's rebellion against gender roles. The first point of that is that we DO talk about it, it's just that no one KNOWS a real feminist so they assume we're all like the token ballbuster from some generic sitcom and blame all of their problems on us. The second point is that many men blame Feminism for this when there seems to be little male organization to fight this problem). I once saw a thread on a nerd-subculture (read:  male oriented) messageboard about the new Dove ads that that discuss the unrealistic beauty expectations for women. Each one of the fifty or more replies claimed that the ad was m ...

Source: www.europeanvoice.com --- 6 days ago
Could the European Parliament bring together the Parmesan-loving wife of Carl Bildt and a homestead unionist? ...

Source: www.collegecandy.com --- 13 days ago
Is Palin a “Muscular Feminist“? Find out who is googling you Oh no, Angie depressed? Famous people say VOTE Oh great. Now I can pee my pants in fear for a 5th time I would not, thanks Aw, Scarlett and Ryan are little Hollywood hippies! Dear God, plug your ears now… What have they done to Clive Owen?! Fabulous bags on the cheap? [...] ...

Source: www.minnpost.com --- 12 days ago
While some women wave "Palin Power" signs and applaud her ascent, a less vocal group would like to keep the glass ceiling in place. ...

Source: www.stoptheaclu.com --- 6 days ago
Hey ladies! Did you know that you and your hard work accomplished absolutely NOTHING? Everything you have today, you can thank second wave Feminism for. Had that never happened, I know I wouldn’t have accomplished any of the things I’m doing today. Thank God for second wave Feminism, because surely I’m [...] ...

Source: www.theithacajournal.com --- 14 days ago
Sisterhood solidarity is melting, and it's not global warming. The 2008 presidential campaign has women so fired up that the once supportive Sisterhood is now sadly splintered. ...

Source: www.stthomas.edu --- 1 day ago
Rabbi Amy Eilberg will give the presentation from noon to 1 p.m. in the Luann Dummer Center for Women. The program features monthly brown bag interfaith discussions. ...