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!

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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.


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Cowboys and Prairie Fairies

Gotta love the title of this article posted on The Huffington Post:

Cowboys, Prairie Fairies, and Mother Earth: The Political Psychology of Gendering Nature Female

... written by Stephen J. Ducat, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist from the San Francisco Bay Area and author of The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity.

Blame the Whore

I was alerted to this CNN article in the commentary on the Feministe interview I recommended in my last post. As it's apparently an accepted fact that the modern American parent is a total moron, CNN provides a helpful article on how to discuss the Spitzer scandal and, more specifically, prostitution with your children.

"Parents should be ready if children ask what a prostitute is, said Judy Kuriansky, a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University Teachers College.

"If they ask," she said, "You say, 'Sadly there are some women who feel that when they have an intimate experience with someone they need to get paid for it. This is something that is not healthy and I don't accept it or condone it."'"

That's what we should teach our children - that prostitution was created by greedy, immoral women preying on men who otherwise would never offer money for sex. This brings slut-bashing to a whole new low.