This is a lopsided week in the war on women, with most entries grouped into one or two categories, several reflective articles, and quite a bit of good news for a change.
So here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Women and Choice
The big news item in this category this week is that the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against two provisions in Texas' recent omnibus anti-abortion law. The provisions being fought are requiring doctors providing abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and the regulations that prescribe how medication abortions should be done, which is no longer considered best practice.
https://www.aclu.org/...
You can find a summary of restrictive laws in the states at the Guttmacher Institute.
http://www.guttmacher.org/...
And finally an article that reminds us that women's choices are not only restricted in the case of abortion. Many of these other cases have to do with personal safety, but far from all.
http://www.rawstory.com/...
Rape Culture
In Saudi Arabia, a young woman was sentenced to whipping after she was raped. This caused international protest, but the sentence was upheld, since she had been alone in a car with a man who was not a relative; Saudi women by law must have a male relative with them when they venture out. When her lawyer protested the sentence in court, the number of lashes was more than doubled to 200, and he was punished for not showing respect for the court and arguing with a judge.
http://www.examiner.com/...
Trigger warning for this one: 27 victims of sexual abuse hold up signs with things their abusers said to them. In a second article, 27 male survivors do the same thing. I think both are relevant to women - the scorn with which men were called "girls," and the fact that some of these victims are trans-men whose rapes happened before they transitioned would be reason enough without remembering that rape culture affects all of us.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
And in India, humor makes it all clear:
Women and Culture
Here are two interesting articles about whether we use feminism in some instances to disguise Islamophobia. Lots of food for thought. The first is from The Broad Side:
http://www.the-broad-side.com/...
The second is from last spring, and is from Australia. I found it after reading the first, and then googling the topic.
http://rightnow.org.au/...
Maya Angelou, herself a survivor of childhood rape, wins the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Norman Mailer Prize.
http://www.detroitnews.com/...
Here is a long but fascinating article about Henry David Thoreau and his laundry. Or rather, it starts with that question that is often asked about Thoreau's stay at Walden Pond, but goes on to look at his mother and sisters, who were ardent abolitionists and more radical than their famous brother and son, leading the way in their family and in Concord.
http://longform.org/...
I must confess that I don't always read this Daily Kos series, but when I do I find it well worth reading. I hope this brings the Women In Science series to more people's attention. And, as in so many things, women do not always receive the credit for what they discover.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The Best News of the Week
Marissa Alexander, whose case came to light during the Zimmerman trial as an instance of unequal application of Florida's stand your ground law, and who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting a warning shot to scare off her abuser, will have a new trial. The standard of proof was mis-applied in her case, requiring her to prove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, while, as we all know from George Zimmerman's trial, all that is needed is a reasonable belief that one's life is in danger.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Women and Politics
Here are two women running for office who are well worth supporting. The news that Wendy Davis has decided to run to be governor of Texas is the second-best news of the week.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.theguardian.com/...
And can you believe that Republicans are comparing Ted Cruz's crazy filibuster to Wendy Davis'?
A Profile in Courage
From Democracy Now:
Anabel Hernández has been described as one of the most courageous journalists in Mexico. In 2010, she published a groundbreaking book linking top Mexican governmental officials to the world’s most powerful drug cartels. She received so many death threats that the National Human Rights Commission assigned her two full-time bodyguards. Despite the danger, she continued to report.
http://www.democracynow.org/...