Sharia law and tweens getting married

To me, the most astounding part of this story about a mother trying to arrange an annulment for her eight-year old daughter is the quote from the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia: "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her." I would hate to knock someone for having crazy, paternalistic, misogynistic, pedophiliac views when they are based on religious doctrine. Oh right, no I wouldn't mind at all. Wingnut!

.

Really? with Emma (apologies to Seth)

Really, Archbishop Sobrinho? God wants a nine year old girl to carry to term a pregnancy caused by rape at the hands of her stepfather? Really? When she's too small to even carry twins to term and probably would have died? And really, to excommunicate the doctors and the girl's mother but not the guy who RAPED his nine year old stepdaughter? Nice touch.

I applaud the doctors for their bravery and defiance and am glad to see the light this is shedding on the problem of sexual violence and the abortion ban in Brazil.

.

Get Well Soon Ruth!

I found this nice NYT piece about Justice Ginsburg's increasing dissatisfaction with the direction the Supreme Court has taken over the past few years. Let's hope she has a full and speedy recovery from her recent surgery so that she can resume her role on the Court.

Given the age of a number of justices on the court, it seems likely that our new President will have to make at least two appointments during his term. Lucky for us!

.

Obama signs bill extending statutory limitation period to file lawsuit for pay discrimination violations

More good news on the equality front. And three cheers for Lilly Ledbetter!

.

A priest in South Carolina has told his parishioners that they should not take communion if they voted for Barack Obama unless they confess their sin of cooperating with "intrinsic evil". No joke. The evil of which the good father speaks is abortion. Barack Obama is pro-choice and is, therefore, evil.

Although one might be tempted to dismiss this self-aggrandizing proclamation as typical wingnuttiness, the problem is this type of hateful speech promotes violence. The priest calls abortion an "abomination that cries out to Heaven for vengeance". Some weak-minded crackpot is devising his plans for holy war as we speak.

.

Paris Does D.C.

I'm a latecomer to this whole McCain v. Paris Hilton wrangle. I just read up on the face-off on The Nation, and I watched Paris Hilton's comeback to McCain's put-down of her. I never thought I'd hear myself say this but, I *heart* Paris Hilton!

XY Games

I heard a very interesting story on Talk of the Nation this morning about gender testing at the Olympics. For years, all female Olympians were subjected to a pretty degrading physical examination to determine whether or not they were in fact women. Male Olympians were not subjected to testing. I'll infer that the organizers believed that men would disguise themselves as women in order to compete against "lesser athletes" and have a better chance of winning but that women would not disguise themselves as men. This value judgment does not strike me as entirely valid. I imagine there have been women that wanted to compete in events that were not open to women and therefore disguised themselves as men. Moreover, there are many events were men and women can compete on an equal footing, I'm sure. For instance, would women competing in equestrian events be subjected to testing? I think male and female equestrians compete against each other. I digress. The point is, in China, they plan to perform genetic testing on some female athletes if their gender comes into question. The 'genetic test' label gives the results the appearance of scientific authority. However, apparently gender is not always black and white. There are certain syndromes that cause individuals to test positive for some markers of the opposite gender. These people have no knowledge of this condition. They told the story of an Indian marathoner who "tested" male but was a woman. She looked like a woman and had always identified as a woman. Nonetheless, she was stripped of her medal and demonized in the media. This phenomenon whereby some people may appear on a genetic level to not be 100% female or 100% male was fascinating to me. I'd love to learn more about it.

#

Stuff that's not in the recruiting ads....

Women in the military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than to die in combat. Only 8% of reported sexually assaults are referred to courts martial. An 'army of one' shouldn't mean defending yourself from other US soldiers.


#

Back assward

Haiti just ratified Michele Pierre-Louis as prime minister. She is the second female prime minister in the country's history. Haiti has had two female prime ministers. Haiti. Sigh.


#

Massachusetts leading the way

I'd like to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to my home state of Massachusetts. Was proud to hear that the State legislature repealed a century old law that prohibited non-residents from getting married in the State. This opens the door for lesbian and gay couples from other states to be married in the Bay State, where same-sex marriage is no longer illegal. The Catholic Church, naturally, opposed the measure. Like anyone should be looking to the Massachusetts Diocese for guidance on morality.

.

Concerns with Gardasil

Gardasil, the relatively new vaccine for HPV, is under fire after complaints that several young girls that were administered the vaccine suffered paralysis. This is a disturbing development, if true, that requires further study and review. The makers of Gardasil have been campaigning for the FDA to approve the vaccine for boys - since men are often carriers of HPV.

#

Who the Heck Was Jerome LeJeune?

In last week's Planet Jackson Hole, Right to Life of Teton County had an ad quoting Dr. Jerome LeJeune. "After fertilization has taken place, a new human being has come into being," reads the quote. Dr. LeJeune is credited in the ad with receiving "the world's highest award for work in the field of genetics."

I was dubious. Especially with all those creepy salamander feet imprints on the border of the ad.

So I decided to investigate. It turns out Dr. LeJeune was a real person and indeed a celebrated French geneticist who discovered the chromosome abnormality in humans that causes Down syndrome.

He was also staunchly "pro-life" and a friend of Pope John Paul II, who appointed LeJeune to the Pontifical Academy for Life. If we assume the "world's highest award" to be the Nobel Prize, LeJeune was never awarded it, though many thought he should have been.

If you google Dr. LeJeune's name, you'll come up with a host of anti-abortion websites and blogs. He appears to be THE scientist of the anti-choice movement. He set the groundwork for other anti-choice physicians to manipulate science to fit their own world view, and with disastrous consequences. Case in Point: the "The Pill Kills" campaign by the American Life League which will stage protests across the nation on June 7. They campaign is designed to frighten young women into thinking they are "killing" "pre-born" babies when they take a contraceptive pill. Based on Dr. LeJeune's logic that a human life begins at fertilization, the American Life League has worked out a twisted logic that the Pill prevents fertilized eggs from attaching to the uterine wall, thereby "killing" the "human" that zygote would be. According to Planned Parenthood, there is no evidence that the pill works this way. It works the way we've always known it to work, by preventing fertilization in the first place. Basically the whole "The Pill Kills" campaign is directed at the rare "breakthrough" pregnancies that can occur while taking the Pill. Once again, the anti-choice movement is trying to chip away at women's reproductive rights by creating hysteria around rare events (as they did with late-term abortions.)

In any case, I really hate this debate over when life starts anyway. It's beside the point. American women have the constitutional right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy and just like we have the constitutional right to use the Pill. Join in on Planned Parenthood's June 7 celebration of the landmark Supreme Court decision to protect the use of birth control. They'll be taking a giant Pill to Capitol Hill!

And read this excellent Feministing post for more info on why the Pill Kills campaign is a load of horseshit.

.

Marriage Equality!

I've got to shamelessly gush here. The state of California has pushed the nation one step further in marriage equality for all, which is to say full citizenship for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. This is a huge step! I was particularly excited to see Jewelle Gomez and Dianne Sabin in this NY Times photo (that's them on the right, about to kiss.) We met them when we lived in SF, and they are the warmest, most wonderful women. Jewelle is a writer and Dianne is a chiropractor. They were plaintiffs in the case.

What the California ruling means for Wyoming is that we will likely see another bill proposed that would bar the state of Wyoming from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states (there was one like this last year). To enshrine such a measure in the state Constitution is overkill to say the least because if Z and I got married in Calif., our rights & benefits already don't travel across state lines. Also look for a state ban on same-sex marriage altogether.

For a run-down on Wyoming's laws regarding LGBT people, check out Human Rights Campaign's excellent website. The Equality State is not at the bottom of the barrel -- the sodomy law was repealed in 1977, same-sex partners can establish power of attorney to make medical decisions for one another -- but amazingly the state still doesn't have a hate crimes law, it's still legal to discriminate against us, and LGBT students are not protected from bullying and harassment.

But all that bad news aside, I'm focused on the great victory in California! I'm so excited I can barely sit still. I want to tell everyone I see! I want to buy a tuxedo and rush to San Francisco with my sweetie on my arm. Femmes look great in tuxes, you know.

What has stopping global warming got to do with feminism?

Both efforts imagine a hospitable planet for all people, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, or geography.

I just read the latest dispatch from conservationist Bill McKibben and it made me more frightened than I've been yet about the course this planet is on. If you care about our future too, please visit Bill's new campaign 350.org. Let's plan a 350 action here in Teton County! If you have ideas, please post a comment here.

Thanks for reading.
#

Marketing Mom's Day to Progressives

If I get one more "do it for Mom" solicitation email from one of the progressive organizations I belong to, I'm going to scream! So far, I have received Mother's Day fundraising pleas from:

1 Sky (climate change)
Planned Parenthood
Code Pink
Amnesty International
Feminist Majority

I like these organizations. I understand they need money. But I really hate it when they jump on the bandwagon of turning holidays and meaningful tribute days into "shopping" days, like Kmart or Victoria's Secret do. It's great to be part of the tribute & celebration of moms. Just don't pull on my progressive guilt strings. I don't need a tie-in to contribute -- I'm much more apt to give to a specific campaign than a feel-good exploitation of mothers.

#

2008 Penis, Ahem, I Mean, Pulitzer Prizes Announced

Last night I watched Margaret Cho's "Revolution" for the first time. (A must-see along with "I'm the One that I Want"). She does a piece about confronting a fellow driver in L.A. whose car boasts a bumper sticker proclaiming, "This car was made with tools not chopsticks." Margaret pulls up alongside the other car and just screams at the driver. "Aaaaaaaah!" The scream goes on and on, until, Margaret says, the other driver was forced to take a left turn against the light just to get away from her.

"I don't want to rise above," says Margaret. "I want to sink down to their level."

This is by way of introduction to how I'm feeling this morning reading the list of winners for this year's Pulitzer Prizes in Letters, Drama, and Music. Being of the literary ilk, I look forward to such announcements. But, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, there are 0, zero, zilch, no, none, zippo female artists, writers, poets in the winning roster. NONE. In fact, only one woman even made it into the finalist list, Ellen Bryant Voight in poetry (Go Ellen!)

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

You'd think my namesake, Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley, had never picked up pens OVER 200 YEARS AGO!

This sort of heinous and obvious sexism in a supposedly post-feminist world does not inspire me to rise above. It makes me want to sink down to their level and found women-only Pulitzer, National Book Award, New York Times Notable Books of the Year, Nobel Prize, etc., and give out awards until we've honored so many women that we have at long last given MORE awards to women than men. I'm sure this will take us until the year 2500. Or perhaps 3000. Then and only then will we consider giving men any awards, and then, only if they write about topics of interest to and/or involving women.
#

God wanted this?

You've probably heard the news about the 401 Fundamental LDS children taken into protective custody by the State of Texas. The children were removed from a compound run by the family of Warren Jeffs, the "prophet" leader of the sect currently serving two consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape. The State had received reports of abuse from former members and children inside the compound, including that a 15 year old child bride had given birth.

A brief commercial interruption: Haven't read Under the Banner of Heaven yet? Read it.

The sect is claiming the State has violated their right to freedom of religion by taking the children. What is free about forcing 15 year old girls to marry and have sex with men more than twice their age? This "religion" isn't about freedom - it's about power. More specifically, it's about men having power over women under the guise of religion. "God told me to." How very convenient that their "God" has told them to take as many wives as possible and to procreate ad nausea and to beat and molest children and threaten anyone who speaks out or complains with eternal damnation. Sounds like a pedophiliac's/sadomasochist's wet dream until you slap the religion label on it and now it's an oppressed minority just trying to "lead a righteous life". What child exposed to such hellfire and damnation rhetoric and abuse since birth could freely choose anything?

Here's hoping these children get access to some high quality medical and psychological care. They have been brainwashed and traumatized for years.

However, this brings me to my problem with religion. As a reviewer of Krakauer's book notes more eloquently than I could: "What makes one person's claim of revelation from God valid, and another's nonsense?" Exactly. Obviously most people dismiss Warren Jeff's revelation as total BS. But is that only because it is so outside the mainstream?

#

Talking about Women in Wyoming

I had a mixed reaction to this recent Cody Enterprise article about the gender-based wage gap in Wyoming. The article features comments from Equality Initiatives (EI) director Sarah Mikesell Growney of Cody.

I whole-heartedly support the mission of Equality Initiatives: "What's good for Wyoming's women is good for Wyoming's communities." And I'm thrilled that the organization is putting gender inequality into the news. However, EI's mainstream approach may neglect issues of importance to some of Wyoming's women.

For instance, Mikesell Growney says, "Equality Initiatives is thankful for the oil and gas industry," because they pay women high wages. I'm not sure aligning the organization with a problematic industry is the appropriate approach. While the oil and gas industry is a backbone of Wyoming's economy, women still have a right to challenge the industry to improve its environmental stewardship. EI could acknowledge the energy sector for its good pay for women without needing to be "thankful," which to my ears sounds like "ingratiated," a stance that may not sit well with all women.

I think the issue may be one of language and talking points. When Mikesell Growney says, “When a woman suffers, the child suffers, and when the child suffers, the community suffers," I'm not following the logic. Not all women have children. Childless women who suffer should still be supported. Although children's poverty is an indicator of a community's health, adult suffering is a worthy indicator also.

My hope is that EI will work to refine its messaging as it furthers its work in our communities. Using langauge that strives to be inclusive of all women and all women's perspectives is a tall order, for sure, yet a vital one.

#