I have recently learned that climate change will be MUCH worse than previously thought: It is already affecting chocolate! That's right, the elixir that gives guys a fighting chance is already 25% more expensive. By 2020, chocolate could be as rare as fine caviar. Can civilization survive a chocolate shortage?!
Flooding in Hawaii
Some of you softies have been crying about your
loss of coastline, wetlands and drinking water; flooding of your
Atlantic Cities, your Bostons, your Floridas, your Hawaiis; your
shortages of grains, fruits and vegetables, livestock and fish; your
loss of big mammals like polar bears and reindeer.
If only karma were this easy....
But no chocolate? This is a
real emergency!!!
As everyone knows and study by the University of Arizona College of Medicine confirms:
Chocolate cravings... fluctuate with hormonal changes.... Chocolate cravings are real. The psychopharmacologic and chemosensory effects of chocolate must be considered when formulating recommendations for overall healthful eating.
There, see? The world will not be a healthful place without chocolate. Medical scientists agree.
As Inga Muscio has said:
The crazed... [unpleasant woman] from irritation hell recedes. In her place arises a side of ourselves with whom we may not -- at first -- be comfortable. She is a vulnerable, highly perceptive genius.
We must not lose our chocolate!! Our powers and our abilities are at stake!
How can bourbon chocolate fudge no longer be a thing?!
So what will you do about it? Here's a good list from the
National Resources Defense Council (please click the link for details): Choose renewable energy; offset your carbon footprint; drive smarter, drive less, or don't drive at all; weatherize your home; buy energy-efficient appliances (and electronics); and of course, keep the pressure on Congress and the EPA that you expect them to take action to limit climate change. The NRDC also recommends buying compact fluorescent light bulbs, but I can't recommend those; they have mercury in them, and if they break and you have pets, they could end up poisoned. No thanks! But there are other low-energy lighting choices.
Which actions to slow climate change have you taken and/or will you take?
For other women's issues, please join me below the orange tense, twisted, cramped-up thingy.
Topics in bold below include body shaming, intersectionality, ISIS, catcalling, abortion and malpractice, 3 hilarious items, 2 action items, 2 good news items; and, unfortunately, sad news, but you need to know.
Body shaming revisited: There are all sizes of fashion models these days, thank goodness. I was thinking about this after seeing this cover at the grocery store checkout line this week:
As I searched for photos, I also read a lot of comments on a lot of fashion Web sites. So here are two items that need further discussion:
(1) Is there a point beyond which we should no longer say "this body size is OK" and instead say "please lose weight; you cannot possibly be healthy"?
And
(2) At what size should "plus size" begin? The below are all "plus size models":
Tess Holliday, size 22
Nadia Aboulhosn, size 16
Ashley Graham, size 14
Robyn Lawley, size 12
Here are my answers: (1) I would say don't even think about it, not unless and until we say to most high-fashion models "please gain weight; you are anorexic looking and cannot possibly be healthy". (2) I would say since the average American woman is about a size 14, no woman should feel singled out or awkward at about that size; surely we should wait until at least size 16, and probably size 18, to say that is plus size.
And I would like to ask a third question that I haven't seen addressed anywhere else:
(3) Now that a range of body sizes are OK, when do we get to stop dressing up, and lose the heavy makeup, the big hair, the revealing clothing, and the cripplingly high-heeled shoes??
Please add your comments below.
Intersectionality: Black Girl Dangerous on gay rights versus other rights, and on hair and bodily integrity:
In Hold the Applause: Why Backlash Against Indiana's Homophobic Religious Freedom Bill Isn't Really About Social Justice, KJ Ward asks where are all the business boycotts when abortion and voters' rights are under attack? The answer, of course, is that they're not so concerned about doing the right thing, but doing the business thing.
In Broken Ends: When People Won't Take No For An Answer When It Comes To Touching Your Hair, Jessica Murray discusses how when she finally had hair that she liked, everyone else wanted to touch it! What is it about bodily integrity that some people find so hard to understand?
Why do women join the Islamic State and what happens then?: Journalist Lori Hinnant writes about the disturbing ways that young women are recruited to join ISIS and what happens when they arrive there in No Exit: For female jihadis, Syria is a one-way journey.
Female jihadi team in Syria
For more information see also CNN:
The women of ISIS: Who are they?;
How ISIS Recruits Girls and Women to Jihad; and other stories. While a few women do join the fighting, most simply become housewives, but without the electricity. Ugh.
Catcalling: Has become so bad that countries are outlawing it! According to The Economist, Argentina has now introduced bills to outlaw catcalling after a video regarding one woman's intimidation went viral. Argentina will join Bolivia, Peru, Panama, and the Council of Europe in making harassing speech illegal.
Abortion and Malpractice: It looks like anti-abortion Dr. Byron Calhoun of West Virginia used a young woman who had had an abortion to try to sue abortion providers, according to Is Anti-Choice Ideology Driving Malpractice Lawsuits? Byron Calhoun and the Phantom Fetal Skull. Now on May 19 of this year, the director of WV Free, West Virginia’s largest reproductive-health-advocacy organization, wrote an open letter to WVU's Health Sciences Center asking for his dismissal and replacement, so that she can receive expert care during her own pregnancy. She wants nothing to do with a man who sees things that aren't there and takes advantage of his patients on a quest to try to further his anti-abortion agenda. For now, she is seeing a doctor at Marshall University, about 50 miles away.
If the facts are as presented, we certainly hope that Dr. Calhoun finds himself without a medical practice, the sooner the better.
Hilarious News:
There's a new DKos writer amongst us, Operation American Jesus, whose first diary is hilarious about a subject we've all found concerning (the Duggars). If you aren't familiar with toxic pseudo-Christian Rick Boyer yet, then you probably want to read Listen-Up Ovaried Americans: Quiverfull Boss Biblesplains How This Whole Morality Thing Works. This new DKos writer is off to a successful start!
(Parenthetically, and not so hilarious, this 2000-year-old "women must submit" thing has got to go! For some serious nausea, see Top 10 list of marriage mistakes, AKA Abuse in Training; trigger, outrage, and vomitus warnings for all thinking human beings!)
Hilarious from Buzzfeed: Women were asked what they remember thinking about sex when they were children. You will laugh at Here Are The Insane Things People Thought About Sex As Kids. Warning: The accompanying cartoons are a bit explicit, but appropriate to the context.
Perhaps the most hilarious of all, WaterAid, a British organization that brings clean water, sanitation and hygiene to impoverished parts of the world, launched a new campaign called "If Men Had Periods" in honor of Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28. Now we all know that menstruation would be a badge of honor if men had periods. But leave it to the British, land of Monty Python, to actually make commercials on the subject. There are two of them, only 50 seconds apiece. Please go to the link and watch them; they're well worth the two minutes out of your day.
How did you spend your Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28?
Action Items:
The 10-year-old girl in Paraguay that we reported on previously in this column, who was raped by her stepfather, has still not been allowed to have an abortion! Please go to the Amnesty International petition and sign.
According to The Guardian, a march was planned in Paraguay today to protest this child's situation, as well as the general situation of men abusing and raping girls and young women. I have not at this point been able to verify that the march has taken place.
Petitions for the women students who were probed in the Radiology Program that we reported on previously have had some success, in that the use of transvaginal ultrasounds in the program has been discontinued. However, no one has yet faced punishment for forcing students to endure this thing in the first place. Please sign the petition to help keep up the pressure on President Shugart to thoroughly investigate and discipline those involved.
Good News:
Congratulations to the winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Vanya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas; and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, of Chesterfield, Missouri. Vanya has achieved a new milestone: The first sibling of a previous champion to become champion. Vanya's sister, Kavya, won the National Spelling Bee in 2009.
There is a new and exciting group here at DKos, SpiritSisters:
≈
Beautiful graphic used with permission of artist Michelle Robinson.
SpiritSisters: Writing In Women's Voices is a group of women from all walks of life who have come together to tell our stories and discuss women's issues and rights. We come from every ethnic group, from multiple sexual orientations and gender identities, from a broad spectrum of ability status, from a wide array of socioeconomic classes, and from a diversity of traditions and cultures – spiritual, religious, and secular.
For more information, please see
SpiritSisters: Writing In Women's Voices. New diary series. I look forward to reading these herstories!
And finally, some very sad news: Otteray Scribe's daughter, Brandi Nicole Stanley, AKA CelticLassie, died this past Monday. Otteray Scribe has written a moving tribute to her today, Remarkable People: Celtic Lassie; 1988-2015. Please go there and read and look at photos. It's sad but it's also inspiring. She accomplished so much in her 26 years! Our condolences, Otteray Scribe.
A thousand thank yous to 2thanks, officebss, ramara, and Tara the AntiSocial Social Worker for sending alerts and links my way this week!