Once in a while you run across a story that sums up exactly what's meant by the term "War on Women."
The Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act was supposed to be a non-controversial bill that used money from fines against human traffickers to compensate victims and help them get a fresh start. While women and girls are not the only victims of human trafficking, they are particularly vulnerable in sex trafficking, and you would think that reproductive freedom was one of the very basic rights they would need to reclaim.
But Republicans slipped a change into the bill: no funds from it could be used for abortion. Because nothing says "freedom" like forcing a former slave to have her rapist's baby. It's now unclear if the bill will pass at all.
The good, the bad and the ugly below the orange amendment.
Reproductive rights:
March 10 was the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.
Three Senators are sponsoring a bill to expand women's reproductive care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Marlise's Law, if passed, will give Texans the right to end-of-life decisions while pregnant. The law was proposed after Marlise Munoz was kept on life support against her family's wishes because of her pregnancy.
Violence and harassment:
A jury voted 11-1 not to convict Cherelle Baldwin, who killed her abusive ex-boyfriend while trying to escape him. She remains in her 21st month in prison while prosecutors retry the case.
In Sweden, a man was acquitted of raping a 13-year-old because she was so "well-developed" that he claimed to think she was 15. What's really galling about this one is that the exploitation doesn't stop there: she was a runaway from a foster home, and he offered her a place to stay....for a price, apparently.
Graphic comic: The phone rang. It was my college rapist. (Trigger warning, of course.)
China observed International Women's Day by detaining feminists.
Anita Sarkesian on the realities of living with nonstop harassment.
Twitter will remove nude photos if the subject can show it was posted without her consent, and will suspend the offender's account. Note that the burden is still on the victim to prove it was nonconsensual. We're not talking about sending someone to jail here, we're talking about taking a photo down.
A powerful message from a mother to the teenage boy who won't stop asking her daughter out, despite the daughter repeatedly saying no. The mother is incredibly respectful and supportive while delivering the message that no means no, and disregarding the girl's "no" is harassment.
Echidne on women under ISIL. Part 1: The rules for women. Part 2: Sexual slavery and rape. Warning: It's a painful read.
Economics:
Germany will require that 30 percent of corporate boards be made up of women. This approach has had mixed success in other countries, as a handful of women wind up serving on a large number of boards.
If current trends continue, the wage gap should close around 2058.
Some suggested redesigns of the $20 bill featuring prominent American women.
Intersectionality:
Heeding the Call: Black Women Fighting for Black Lives That Matter.
A Japanese beauty queen gets pushback because ethnically she's hafu, half Japanese.
Jada Mosely on How It Feels to Be a Black Girl.
Maryland fratboy lives down the worst fratboy stereotypes with an email filled with racial slurs and adding "f* consent."
Trudy on the erasure of African-American women's experiences.
Uncategorizable:
A German woman is writing feminist messages on sanitary napkins and posting them round the city: "Imagine if men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods."
Good News and Action Items:
Stepping it up for International Women's Day.
The women of the Supreme Court are now LEGO figures.
The power of of a YA heroine who's fat.
A do-it-yourself guide to feminist cybersecurity.
Petition from UltraViolet: Colleges should not be allowed to use rape victims' private therapy records against them.
A little girl has the perfect response to a boy who called her ugly.
You just gotta see this picture. What happens when Wonder Woman says: "If I don't get pants, nobody gets pants."