I can’t come here as a friend, even though I might very much want to.” These are the words of Andrea Dworkin, addressing an anti-sexist men’s organisation in 1983, in her acclaimed speech I Want a 24-Hour Truce in Which There Is No Rape. “The power exercised by men, day to day, in life is power that is institutionalised. It is protected by law. It is protected by religion and religious practice. It is protected by universities, which are strongholds of male supremacy. It is protected by a police force. It is protected by those whom Shelley called “the unacknowledged legislators of the world”: the poets, the artists. Against that power, we have silence.”
Dworkin, who died of heart failure in 2005 at the age of 58, was one of the world’s most notorious radical feminists. She wrote 14 books, the most famous of which was Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981). Now her work is being revisited in Last Days at Hot Slit, a new collection of her writing.
Category: Gender Equality
Google will work with LGBTQ+ groups on harassment policies
In the wake of YouTube’s controversial decision not to pull videos containing homophobic and racist attacks, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote an internal email acknowledging that “the LGBTQ+ community has felt a lot of pain and frustration over recent events.” While a few Google execs have already apologized for YouTube’s decision, Pichai’s email carries more weight given his position. The email, obtained by The Verge, also suggests that Google plans to conduct more internal discussions aimed at addressing its harassment policies.
via Google will work with LGBTQ+ groups on harassment policies
Do mapping apps need a ‘night-safe mode’ for women? | Guardian Careers | The Guardian
It may just be another part of how we bid farewell at the end of the night. But it’s also a reminder of how, when we’re alone in a town or city at night, our safety is no guarantee.
While there’s much we can do to stay safe by taking sensible precautions, could our phones also help?
via Do mapping apps need a ‘night-safe mode’ for women? | Guardian Careers | The Guardian
Anti-Abortion Group Live Action Absurdly Claims Censorship by Pinterest
Yesterday morning, the anti-abortion group Live Action launched a Tweetstorm alleging that Pinterest was discriminating against it for its beliefs. The group, which rose to infamy with heavily edited Planned Parenthood undercover “sting” videos, said that it had been put on Pinterest’s domain “block list” and had its account permanently suspended for spreading “misinformation.” Lila Rose, Live Action’s founder, suggested that the group had been wrongly censored out of partisan bias.“Pinterest Logic: You can freely pin if you’re Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider,” she tweeted. “But if you’re a pro-life group & pin about the beauty & humanity of a baby in the womb, you’re banned bc you’re a threat to ‘Pinner’s health or safety.’”
via Anti-Abortion Group Live Action Absurdly Claims Censorship by Pinterest
Books about ‘kick-ass’ women might be a pain in one – but we need to hear these wondrous stories | Life and style | The Guardian
Over the past few years, a slew of similar books has attempted to fill the yawning gaps left in recorded history regarding women’s contributions. Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and its sequel taught girls to aspire to something more than tiaras and coma-kisses. Books aimed at adults such as 100 Nasty Women of History, the Forgotten Women series, Bloody Brilliant Women and A History of the World in 21 Women inspired but also educated, focusing on the many pioneering women who were rubbed out of school textbooks. There are several more titles dedicated to the strides many wondrous, hitherto invisible women have made in specific fields, countries, and time periods. The Little Leaders children’s series, for example, profiles “bold black women” in history.
UN Commissioner Says U.S. Abortion Laws Are ‘Torture’
Kate Gilmore, the United Nations’ High Deputy Commissioner on Human Rights, recently spoke to the Guardian and cut through bullshit talking points about abortion bans, referring to the recent slew of anti-abortion laws in the U.S. as what it really is: a “crisis” perpetuated by extremist groups who hate women. “We have not called it out in the same way we have other forms of extremist hate,” Gilmore told the Guardian, “but this is gender-based violence against women, no question.”
States like Georgia and Ohio have effectively banned abortion by making it illegal to obtain an abortion after a so-called “fetal heartbeat” can be detected, often before a person knows they are pregnant; in May, Alabama state lawmakers passed a bill banning abortion from the moment of conception. Yet the term “fetal heartbeat” is misleading because, at six weeks, there is no heart—only cardiac activity. That the term has been embraced in media coverage is a reminder of how effectively the anti-abortion movement sets the terms of the debate, and Gilmore’s comments are a reminder of what’s actually at stake. “It’s clear it’s torture—it’s a deprivation of a right to health,” Gilmore said.
Disney May Stop Filming in Georgia Depending on Abortion Ban
If crippling the rights of women isn’t concerning to the Georgia state government, which earlier this month signed into law its version of the cruel “heartbeat bill,” maybe this will send a message: Disney’s chairman and CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday it would be “very difficult” to continue filming in Georgia if the new law takes effect, since many people won’t want to work in the state.
Georgia, apparently a very popular location for filming major blockbusters like Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame thanks to a tax credit offered there, probably won’t be seeing that sweet, sweet entertainment money if the ban takes place. According to Reuters:
via Disney May Stop Filming in Georgia Depending on Abortion Ban
Inside the Warwick University rape chat scandal – BBC News
“Rape the whole flat to teach them a lesson,” one message read.
“Oh god. I would hate to be in the firing line if I had a vagina,” said another.
Anna – not her real name – was scrolling through hundreds of sexually violent messages on a Facebook group chat.
To her horror, she and her female university friends were mentioned dozens of times.
The men writing the messages were – like Anna – studying humanities at Warwick University.
But they weren’t just her coursemates. They were her close friends.
via Inside the Warwick University rape chat scandal – BBC News
Taylor Swift Does Not Have to Answer Questions About Having Kids Just Because She’s Almost 30
For women (or at least for me), 30 is the age when the world becomes allowed to ask questions about whether or not we’re going to dust off the old uterus and put it to work. As my twenties wound down, questions about kids sped way up; family members, grad school professors, even relative strangers, like my hairdresser, began to think it entirely appropriate to ask me if I’d made any plans to get some sperm in these eggs. For some reason, 30 looms large in our cultural imagination as the age when women need to grow up and get a baby in us.
via Taylor Swift Does Not Have to Answer Questions About Having Kids Just Because She’s Almost 30
House Republicans Describe Abortion as ‘Second Violent Act’ Experienced By Survivors of Rape and Incest
A messaging document on Alabama’s abortion ban compiled by the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, recommends that its members describe abortions people receive after being raped or in cases of incest as a “second violent act” that could “physically or psychologically wound her further.”
VICE News obtained the document, which was distributed to members of the RSC at a recent meeting. Calling the Alabama ban “bold new pro-life legislation,” the talking points in the document defend the near-total ban on abortion passed by the Republican-controlled state.