My blog is a delightful mix of Doctor Who, Buffy, feminism, queer things, art, gender things, humor, and occasionally politics. If there's anything you're itching to know, don't hesitate to ask.
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Hazardous Waste
If there were fewer women and more “male aggression” in Sandy Hook Elementary School, the massacre there never would have taken place, according to a contribution to a leading conservative magazine.
National Review, whose in-house editorial…
A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the all-male Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an “irresistible attraction,” even if the employees have not engaged in flirtatious behavior or otherwise done anything wrong.
UMMM THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.
Changes in Government You May Have Missed
ThinkProgress.org’s Change in Congress Infographic
(For a larger image, click to the physical post and then on photo.
Or just CLICK HERE.)
The New Faces of the 113th Congress
The 2012 House and Senate elections brought over 80 new members to Washington.
Use our interactive application to sort and filter the freshmen by age, experience, ethnicity, and more.
Hover over each picture for name, state, and district information. To read a full narrative of each newcomer, written by the staff of The Almanac of American Politics, click the member’s picture.
This is very cool.
(via amyleona)
Some of this is taken from other posts. Ladies makin’ history collage.
Mary Gonzalez is the Representative-elect for Texas and will be the first openly pansexual official in the United States. She acknowledged the existence of non-binary identities when she came out.
Mazie Hirono is the Senator Elect from Hawaii and will be the first Asian-American woman in the Senate.
Tammy Duckworth is the Representative-elect for Illinois. She lost both her legs in the Iraq War and will be the first disabled female veteran elected to the House.
Tammy Baldwin is the Senator Elect from Winsconsin and the first openly gay person ever elected to the Senate.
(There was some misinformation over her stance on transgender issues (admittedly, the whole incident was a bit fuzzy at the end) but to clear things up, she has publically spoken out against transgender discrimination and advocated for their rights as recently as last year.)
GET IT, GRRRRRRRRRRRL!
This is also a historic election because there are now more women in the senate than in any other time in US history!
(via lipsredasroses)
(via ikenbot)
this guy pulled out his dick in front of like 5 billion feminist protestors holy shit
Some context for the idiots claiming the women are overreacting:
This occurred at a Slut Walk. For those not familiar with it, the Slut Walk is basically a peaceful protest seeking to eliminate the rape apologism so prevalent in society. The basis is that no woman is “asking for it,” with “it” being rape. It’s not a feminist protest; it’s a human rights protest.
Many of the protesters, as you can probably imagine, have dealt with sexual harassment or rape in their own lives. Many of them have structured their daily activities to avoid being raped. The gathering is supposed to be a place for them to feel empowered and able to recover in the company of those who understand what they’ve been through or who will not blame them.
Nobody at a Slut Walk will tell a survivor that it’s her fault. They will not ask what she was wearing to provoke her attacker. Nobody will say she had too much to drink. Nobody will tell the men in the group that they are inherently rapists themselves, and nobody will tell a male survivor that his experience “wasn’t really rape.”
Then, this fellow comes along. He sees this gathering of survivors and their supporters, and to him, it’s a joke. He sees feminazis. He sees girls who are taking “a bit of fun” too seriously. And what does he do? He exposes himself to this group of survivors and supporters - some of whom are, in fact, underage.
He sexually harasses literally hundreds of women in one act. Aside from public indecency, there was cruel intent in his actions. He wanted to make them uncomfortable. He wanted to “put them in their place.” Other photos from this event show him flipping the protesters off and laughing at their anger.
And there are still people defending his actions. There are those who still feel like these women were asking for itand that they deserved to be harassed for trying to claim they weren’t. There are those who feel that women should be taught a lesson this way, and they applaud this man’s actions.
So no, he didn’t pull out his dick in front of feminist protesters. He harassed dozens - if not hundreds - of rape survivors. The reaction to his actions alone outline the purpose of the Slut Walk.
For those of you still doubting whether what he did was wrong (and I do wonder if there’s something wrong with you, if you have doubts), let me give you an analogous situation. Imagine a gathering of black civil rights activists. Imagine Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and all their colleagues gathered together to demonstrate that being black did not make them lesser people. That being black and living in the South did not mean they were “asking” to be the target of hate crimes.
And at this gathering, a white man decides he should teach them a lesson by pointedly hanging a noose from the nearest tree and laughing at their anger. And other white men, laughing along with him, commend him for taking these activists down a peg.
That’s what happened here. It’s not an “OMG, I can’t believe he did that!” moment. It’s an “OMG, there are people who think this is okay” moment. And the fact is, it’s not. It never will be. And that’s the take home message of this ridiculous rant I’ve written up.
(via amyleona)
But Romney has never been easy to pin down on abortion-related issues. When it comes to women’s health, and particularly the issue of safe and legal access to abortion services, the presidential candidate has had a long and convoluted evolution throughout his political career — shifting from pro-choice to pro-life, amending his stated intentions for the future of Roe v. Wade, and waffling over whether the power to regulate abortion legislation should rest with the states or the courts. ThinkProgress has compiled a timeline of Romney’s constantly changing stance on abortion:
5/27/1994: Romney supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion.
During a 1994 Massachusetts Senate debate, Romney emphasized his commitment to supporting a women’s right to safe and legal abortions. “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country,” he said. “I have since the time my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it. And I sustain and support that law, and the right of a woman to make that choice.”
9/8/1994: A Romney spokesperson says Mitt has been consistently pro-choice.
After Sen. Edward Kennedy’s campaign criticized Romney for not being a true supporter of abortion rights, a Romney spokesperson told reporters, “Mitt has always been consistent in his pro-choice position.”
9/21/2002: Romney is “unequivocally” pro-choice.
In a 2002 interview with WBZ-TV, Ann and Mitt sought to clarify that Mitt Romney will not limit women’s reproductive freedom. “When asked whether I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose, I make an unequivocal answer — yes,” Romney said.
5/27/2005: Romney is pro-life, but says he will maintain the pro-choice status quo.
Romney committed to keeping the current pro-choice laws in Massachusetts in place, deferring on his own beliefs on the subject of abortion because he says they are a distraction. “I’m absolutely committed to my promise to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion and choice, and so far I’ve been able to successfully do that,” Romney said at a news conference.
07/26/2005: Romney vetoes pro-choice legislation.
Romney vetoed a bill that would have allowed women in Massachusetts access to emergency contraception in pharmacies and hospitals. In an op-ed explaining his decision, he wrote, “I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. I wish the people of America agreed, and that the laws of our nation could reflect that view.”
8/12/2007: Romney says he has never been pro-choice.
Romney told Fox News that he never called himself pro-choice. “I never allowed myself to use the word pro-choice because I didn’t feel I was pro-choice,” Romney said. “I would protect the law, I said, as it was, but I wasn’t pro-choice.”
10/28/2007: Romney supports a federal bill to ban abortion across the country.
In a Republican primary debate in 2007, Romney said he would be “delighted” to sign a bill banning abortion across the country. “I would welcome a circumstance where there was such a consensus in this country that we said we don’t want to have abortion in this country at all, period,” he said. “That would be wonderful…but that’s not where America is today. Where America is, is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and return to the states that authority.”
11/30/2007: Romney supports overturning Roe v. Wade and returning control over abortion laws to the states.
At a town hall meeting, Romney said that abortion laws should be determined by the states. “I would like, for instance, to see Roe v. Wade overturned — and by overturning Roe v. Wade, you would effectively be returning to the people and the states the ability to create their own legislation as it relates to abortion and life,” he said.
8/7/2007: Romney supports expanding the definition of the 14th Amendment to include unborn children, which would outlaw all abortions under any circumstances.
During an appearance on Good Morning America, Romney confirmed that he supported the so-called “human life amendment” in the 2004 GOP platform that would extend the 14th Amendment’s protections to fetuses and outlaw abortions without any exceptions. “I do support the Republican Platform and I support that being part of the Republican Platform,” he said.
8/16/2007: Romney qualifies his stance on the Human Life Amendment to say he might not actually support it.
After his Good Morning America appearance, Romney walked back his stance on the 14th Amendment after discussing it with one of his advisers. When reporters asked him to clarify whether or not he actually supported a constitutional amendment banning all abortions, Romney said, “I’m pro-life; it would be great if we could just leave it at that.”
1/23/2012: Romney calls Roe v. Wade “one of the darkest moments in Supreme Court history.”
On the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Romney said that it marked “one of the darkest moments in Supreme Court history” and recommitted himself to “reversing that decision, for in the quiet of conscience, people of both political parties know that more than a million abortions a year cannot be squared with the good heart of America.”
6/18/2012: Romney lays out a “pro-life pledge” that outlines the anti-abortion legislation he would support as president.
Romney reiterates his support for anti-choice policies in an op-ed in the National Review Online, including banning federal funding for abortion under the Hyde Amendment, denying funds for voluntary family planning services in foreign countries under the “global gag rule,” overturning Roe v. Wade, and appointing anti-choice judges to the Supreme Court.
8/27/2012: Romney broadens his support for rape exceptions to include exceptions in the case of the “health of the mother.”
Until this point, Romney had typically argued that abortion should only be limited to rape, incest, or life of the mother. But in an interview with CBS, Romney broadened his rhetoric to say that he is in “favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest, and the health and life of the mother.”
8/27/2012: A Romney adviser says that Mitt’s stance on abortion has remained unchanged.
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul clarified that, even though Romney appeared to have shifted to favor a health exception in his abortion stance, his position on abortion did not change. “Gov. Romney’s position is clear: he opposes abortion except for cases of rape, incest and where the life of the mother is threatened,” she said in a statement.
8/27/2012: Romney believes abortion is not a political issue because it should be settled by the courts.
In the same CBS interview, Romney said that abortion “is a decision that will be made by the Supreme Court.”
8/28/2012: Romney’s sister says that Mitt won’t be touching abortion because it’s not his focus.
In an interview with the National Journal, Jane Romney said that her brother would never make abortions illegal as president. “He’s not going to be touching any of that. It’s not his focus,” she said. Calling Democratic concerns about restricted access to reproductive rights unfounded scare tactics, Jane said she believes “Mitt’s much more in the middle” when it comes to abortion.
10/9/2012: Rommey says he does not plan to enact anti-abortion legislation as president.
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Romney suggested that he would not focus on abortion issues as president. “There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” he said.
10/10/2012: Romney will be a pro-life president, but still will not name specific abortion-related legislation that he will enact in office.
Romney reiterated his support for anti-choice policies, such as regulating abortion at the state level and cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. “I am pro-life, I’ll be a pro-life president,” he said. “I will take pro-life measures, but those happen to be executive-order and budget measures, as opposed to legislation, at least so far as I’m aware.” When he was asked about the possibility of a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade, Romney said, “That’s not where America is now.”
In the 1994 debate during the Massachusetts Senate race, Kennedy derided Romney as having a “multiple choice” stance on abortion.
(via lipstick-feminists)
I’m just making a mirror of the blog post at The Phoenix, because their server is melting at the moment:
Mind The Binder
Published Oct 16 2012, 10:46 PM by David S. BernsteinHey, I know about that binder! And guess what — Mitt Romney was lying about it.
This is all you need to know about Mitt Romney.
My jaw dropped so violently when he said this that it popped.
In case anyone missed the debate, the candidates were asked what they would do to enhance job security and equality in the workplace for women. Romney’s response was around the idea of “I have hired many women in the past, thus I will continue to do so in the future. Women need special flexibility such as being able to go home to their children” (Paraphrased). Why on EARTH would you assume that only women have families at home depending on them to make dinner? Apparently sexism is now a new form of sensitivity in the workplace.
A spokesman for the local sheriff’s office said that drug-sniffing dogs found “a little tiny amount of pot and hash” in Apple’s tour bus at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint in west Texas. She was bonded out today.
Thank you for getting this criminal off the streets, Texas Border Patrol. I know that I feel safer knowing that a dangerous predator like Fiona Apple, who weighs maybe 100 lbs. soaking wet, is off the streets. We can all rest easy now. The children are now safe from her unbelievable musical talent that has enriched the lives of millions of fans over the years.
