SheWrites! Launch of Social Network for Women Writers

Congratulations to SheWrites, which has acquired almost 1000 new members since its launch a few days ago!  Kudos to creators Nancy K. Miller, Deborah Siegel, and Kamy Wiecoff!! Clearly there was a need for this site:)  There are writers from a variety of backgrounds (journalism, memoir, poetry, screenwriting, activism), and it is an incredible opportunity for women all over the country to connect with each other.

NonCustodial Parent Community
http://ncpcommunity.com/

Whenever we get anywhere near the 4th of July—and its permission to begin the light-hearted part of the year—I think about my Uncle Arthur. He was, without a doubt, one of the most free-spirited, un-angst loaded people I’ve known. And, July 4th was his birthday—or so he said.

My daughter, Elizabeth Hines, and I wrote a book about him and discovered all sorts of amazing things about him—and our country. The mouth-full title: Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire. Try that on twitter!

What we attempted to do was tell the history of the United States as he experienced it during the century-plus of his life. Born in 1892, he died in 1996 at the age of 103. In that span he managed to time-and-space travel from his grandparents’ slave cabin to The White House, as an advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. And he created ten major businesses along the way—hence, his millionaire status.

Uncle Arthur and my Aunt Minnie, one of my mother’s sisters and the matriarch of our family, lived in Birmingham, Alabama, on a gorgeous estate with a swimming pool, lake, goldfish pond—all the things that seemed just crazily posh to me and my cousins who had, shall we say, less royal lives.

Every 4th of July my uncle celebrated his birthday by opening up his home and grounds to the less privileged children (including his nephews and nieces) of Birmingham, many of whom belonged to the Girls and Boys Club he supported. Barbecue and music, swimming and fishing, music—those were great Fourths. American Fourths. A lush time, if only for a day.

If you had asked A.G. Gaston when his birthday was he would have told you, with pride, that it was the Fourth of July, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. If you’d asked him to prove it, he couldn’t have: formal records of rural black births were rarely kept before the middle of the twentieth century. But the date, whether by true accident of birth or by choice, reflected Gaston’s lifelong identification as a proud American. He was simply unshakable on the subject. And while many other blacks have adopted the Fourth as their own date of birth for its reverberations on the themes of liberty and freedom, few would buy so fully into those ideals as A.G. Gaston did.

Many would say he had no right to be so optimistic about America and his own future: the year my uncle was born in this country, 165 black men, women, and children were lynched—that was the most recorded in a single year. But while he was plenty-lighthearted, he took his work seriously. By the time the civil rights movements came along in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, my uncle was already a rich man—a former coalminer who now owned a bank and insurance company, the first black motel in the south, a business school. He helped Martin Luther King, Jr desegregate Birmingham department stores—and at the request of a President, bailed him out of jail.

I have often wondered what my uncle would have thought of a President Barack Obama—celebrating this Fourth of July at Camp David with his wife and children. There is no way he’d be able to contain his pride, I’m sure. But as I look at the dismal economic statistics of people of color in this country, I know he’d understand there are circumstances that mute the big Fourth celebrations. As a businessman he understood that true equality, independence, and freedom—all the things we wave the flag for–have, at the base, solid financial underpinnings. The way he put it: “There is no such thing as a broke first class citizen.”

Chest hair, growth spurts, voice changes, lust! In this edition of The Man Files, WMC Media Manager Rebekah Spicuglia writes about the challenges of feminist parenting when boys start coming of age: http://girlwpen.com/?p=1669

This video by Jonathan McIntosh is a must-see!!

A very creative video edit of the recent Twilight film and Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, edited together to show vampire slayer Buffy mocking and knocking Edwards out.  On WIMN, McIntosh blogged about his vision for this project:

Five months in the making, Buffy vs Edward is essentially an answer to the question “What Would Buffy Do?” My re-imagined story was specifically constructed as a response to Edward, and what his behavior represents in our larger social context for both men and women. More than just a showdown between The Slayer and the Sparkly Vampire, it’s also a humorous visualization of the metaphorical battle between two opposing visions of gender roles in the 21ist century.

Check it out: http://www.wimnonline.org/WIMNsVoicesBlog/?p=127

Thanks to Jodie Evans, I’ve just received a copy of ethnologist danah boyd’s talk from the Public Democracy Forum (PDF09) in New York City this week. Many colleagues attended and tweeted the conference, the most prolific being Ruth Ann Harnisch, who gets new media from her vantage point as a former journalist and current philanthropist.

I am particularly interested in danah’s take on social media networks, especially the trends she sees in young people’s participation. A media researcher for Microsoft, and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, she makes the case that the growth of Facebook is a case of “white flight” from what at least one high school student called “the ghetto” of MySpace. She posited a challenge to the PDF participants (mostly white) to take note of the class, race and gender divides that are being replicated in the digital world, eradicating the notion of a “public sphere” where all come together to gather information. The speakers and 1,000 attendees at the conference would indeed seem to confirm that the divide between the classes, races, and genders is getting wider.

It’s a subject I have much interest in, this vanishing of what I refer to as the Public Square. Where we once seemed to be moving toward full participation in the media (known as “mainstream”) and thus society, the internet, for all its promise of equalizing us, is fracturing us, the new technology and social networks allowing us to close in on our special interests and talk mostly to those we agree with—and in most cases, look like. As a result, the Public Square is sparsely populated, indeed.

Much of this is due to the failure of old media to fully integrate, to fully incorporate coverage of women, people of color, gay and lesbian, immigrants. It’s at the bottom of the success of what’s called “ethnic media,” women’s sites, and millions of websites and blogs.

For me, this is a family history as well as societal commentary. I was a second generation journalist—both my father and stepfather worked for the Black Press in the 40’s and 50’s: my father as a reporter for papers like the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier; my stepfather as publisher of the first African American pictorial magazine in the country, NewsPic. It preceded Ebony and was created for the black soldiers fighting in World War II. Both of these reporters were prohibited from working for major publications because of their race in a time of segregation and discrimination.

When I became a television reporter in 1970, we believed we were on track to full participation—but as we know now, that never happened, and gains by women and people of color are slipping fast in the economic turmoil.

The question before us is: what can we do to save the Public Square? Where do we meet (or tweet up) as a nation un-divided?

Movement or Revolution? Learning From Developments in Iran
by Sahar Driver

Yesterday in Iran, presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called the government illegitimate and asked for protests to continue. Iranian-American commentator Sahar Driver tells us that, whatever happens in the near future, the reform movement has already achieved significant gains.

Click here to read the full article.

The ride home on the A train last night was symbolic of our modern media age: I sat next to my son, each of us plugged into an earpiece of his aqua “gummie” earphones (the latest rage, I’m told), watching a video on his Ipod. It was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” As two generations of Michael Jackson fans, we were paying perhaps a final homage to his brilliance and magic—and sadness.

We were, quite by accident, in Harlem last night as thousands of fans lined up for Michael’s tribute at the Apollo Theatre. Truth be told, we were there to bowl—a birthday celebration for my own Mike at the Harlem Lanes. But to get there we had to squeeze by the rain-soaked and teary-eyed, queued up 3 blocks away, determined to pay their last respects. The last time I’d done that was for Rosa Parks—seven hours in a slow-step towards the Capital Rotunda—getting in at the very last minute, past 2AM, to see her lying in state.

And for many, Michael Jackson was as much a civil rights icon as a musician. Much of the talk in the days after his death spoke of his breaking down barriers in music, getting MTV to play his videos, the first for a black musician, promising in his lyrics, it didn’t matter if you were black or white. We forget, in the age of Obama, how segregated we were in our music before Michael Jackson.

After our night of bowling, we walked up 125th towards the Apollo. Even though the program inside was over, hundreds kept vigil outside. A gigantic strip of white plastic had been erected against an adjacent wall of the theatre, and people were writing their good-byes: “Dear Michael, I came all the way from the Caribbean to bid you farewell. Like the rest of the world, I’ll miss you dearly.” The young woman who wrote that asked a stranger to take her picture next to her missive. Further down the wall another, less enchanted person had written: “Black is beautiful. You should not have changed your color.” My favorite was: “Peace, Moonwalker.” The only thing I could think to say, of the thousands of things that could be said, was: “God bless. “ I asked my son what he had written. His salute to a fallen music hero: “You’re still #1.”

And, indeed, he is. Courtesy of the totally predictable madness in our media, a bereft following, and savvy investors, everything Michael Jackson shot up to the tops of all lists; specials devoted to his life and death carried networks to unprecedented ratings wins. Those of us who sighed privately, “Just leave him alone, now,“ had a moment of relief when some pundit finally said that no matter how much debt he’d been in, his estate will reap gazillions, his children won’t go hungry.

I was happy we were in Harlem for the farewell: it is the place you want to be when something happens in the family. When Barack Obama won, for instance. That night I sat in my sister’s apartment watching the returns. Outside, horns were honking, people were cheering. Inside, my sister was sobbing. I’d be living there myself, except that when I moved back to New York at the top of the real estate market, I couldn’t afford it.

As Mike and I moved west along 125th Street we ran into the eager small businessmen and women hawking Michael tee-shirts and posters, alongside leftover Obama inauguration merchandise. It seemed like perfect marketing. On the corner of 125th and 7th an impromptu photo-shoot had been set up: you could pose in front of a massive picture of MJ—and my son did. We got the $20 version because it’s a truly cool memento.

It reminded me of a highlight of my daughter’s childhood. It had to have been over 25 years ago. Our friend Jayne bought tickets to take Elizabeth, a trueblue 8 year old Michael adorer, to the Jackson concert in the Meadowlands. Jayne hired a half-block long limousine for the two of them—and with much of the neighborhood (and this was Union Square, not the suburbs) waving—off they went. Elizabeth reported that as they drove up to the stadium the limousine got rushed, fans thinking she was a little Jackson. And in the photos of that night I can see the resemblance to the eight year old Michael, including that irresistible big smile.

We all know there was tragedy, sadness, loneliness and strangeness. But I guess, as we’ve come to this sudden end, I’m with the person who wrote on the wall, “Peace, Moonwalker.”

Arab TV Soaps Reinforce Gender Bias
6/30/09
IPS: Arabic TV channels wait for Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, to launch new soaps that generally portray women negatively. Ramadan starts this year at the end of August.

Come Together To Prevent My Murder
6/30/09
RH Reality Check: In my 15 years as the executive director of the Allentown Women’s Center, a reproductive health care facility located in northeast Pennsylvania that also performs abortions, I have never felt more vulnerable.

Iraq: What We Leave As We Withdraw
6/30/09
CommonDreams.org: Just six years ago, only the old and very religious were covered, women were employed everywhere and Baghdad University was bustling with young women. Now it is bleak. Zainab was able to go uncovered but it is still mandatory for the Iraqi women. Most businesses she visited had no women working, not to say they did not try, but they’re just fired within days.

Party Celebrates China Web Filter Delay
7/1/09
Reuters: Beijing made a surprising about-face late on Tuesday, hours before an edict that all personal computers sold in China must be preloaded with the program was due to come into force.

Study Shows 28% Of Console Gamers Are Women (And No One Should Be Surprised)
6/30/09
Examiner: A new market research study by the NPD Group revealed that female gamers now make up 28% of the console gaming population. This is right on the heels of the Neilson Company’s study last April that showed almost 50% of PC gamers were women.

Vibe Magazine Shutting Down
6/30/09
Daily Finance: Vibe magazine, the urban-music magazine founded in 1993 by Quincy Jones, is the latest victim of the media recession. Multiple sources both within and outside the magazine confirmed that it is shutting down.

An Advocate For Women
6/30/09
NY Times: Domestic violence is a serious law enforcement and public health problem affecting as many as one in four women in this country. Yet Washington has devoted too little attention to reducing domestic violence and sexual assaults generally. We welcome President Obama’s decision to create a new post, White House adviser on violence against women, and his appointment of a seasoned advocate for victims to fill it.

Kirsten Gillibrand Gets NARAL Endorsement
6/30/09
Politico: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) got a boost to her 2010 election campaign by winning the endorsement of one of America’s largest abortion rights advocacy groups.

Spousal Rape Laws Continue to Evolve
7/1/09
Women’s eNews: Remnants of the “marital rape exemption” still exist in many states’ laws, even though all 50 states now criminalize spousal rape. Plea bargains can also lead to more lenient sentencing. Caroline Johnston Polisi looks at how these laws have changed.

First Female To Be Recognized As Labor Group’s Representative Of The Year
6/29/09
Kansas City Star: Donna Birks has been named Labor’s Representative of the Year by a local labor group. She is the first female to be recognized at the group’s annual dinner. Hence, the first 100 women attending the banquet will receive Rosie the Riveter T-shirts, and buttons will be given to everyone.

Roya Hakakian: The Iranian Regime Is Coming Undone
6/29/09
wowOwow: Author Roya Hakakian joins Lesley Stahl for a post-election discussion about gender apartheid, an Iranian girlhood and the moves necessary for a better Middle East.

2 Orthodox Women’s Conferences Present Decidedly Different Takes On Feminism
6/30/09
Jerusalem Post: Is feminism compatible with Orthodox Judaism? Is a woman’s role primarily in the home? Can women learn the same Jewish texts as men? Two different Orthodox women’s organizations, both holding conferences in July, have radically different answers to these questions

Helping Men Take The Lead In Family Planning
6/29/09
East African: In a makeshift room inside an unfinished building at Manyatta slums in Kisumu, men congregate regularly to discuss community matters, usually in the presence of the local chief. But the May 21 baraza (a chief’s gathering) was different. A community health worker engaged the over 50 men on family planning, an issue many are uncomfortable with.

Indonesia:  Presidential Poll Race Disappoints Women’s Activists
6/30/09
IPS: As the country prepares to elect its new president next week, Indonesian activists are trying to push gender issues onto the political agenda.

Woman’s Shop Breaks Afghan Mould
7/1/09
BBC: Women find it difficult to break into the jobs market in Afghanistan but in Mazar-e- Sharif one woman has defied men’s hostility to become the city’s only female shop-owner.

Financial Help For Women With Breast Cancer
6/30/09
Baltimore Sun: The Red Devils aim to help breast cancer patients and their families by funding child care, coordinating rides to the doctor and helping to pay bills, among other services. Created by friends of Jessica Cowling and Ginny Schardt, the idea behind the Baltimore-based nonprofit is to give newly diagnosed patients the same kind of support that the two Maryland women received before they succumbed to the disease in 2002.

Fertility Method For Older Women Spawns Doubts
7/1/09
Wall Street Journal: For more than a decade, thousands of older women undergoing in-vitro fertilization have relied on an expensive embryo-screening procedure to boost their chances of getting pregnant. But mounting evidence suggests that the procedure doesn’t help people become mothers.

Sets Appeal: Beauty Aces Talent At Wimbledon
6/30/09
Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIA’S former Federation Cup captain, John Alexander, is appalled by the decision of the All England Club to take the physical appearance of women into consideration when planning their schedule for Centre Court matches at Wimbledon.

Women’s Professional Football Is Growing In US
6/30/09
Voice of America: It has been a men’s sport for decades. These days, women in the U.S. can play professional tackle football in a 41-team league. Washington’s team, the D.C. Divas, just completed an undefeated season in the nine-year-old league the team’s owner says is catching on.

Just when you think Rush Limbaugh can’t be any more of a hateful force in America, we come across something like this. On the June 29th broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Limbaugh addressed President Obama’s appointment of Lynn Rosenthal to the new position of White House adviser on violence against women. Among other things, he said:

It’s a domestic violence adviser. What the hell kind of advice are you gonna get? About the only kind of advice - I mean we’re talking about democrats here, right? We’re talking about the party of Bill Clinton. So I assume If you’re going to have a domestic policy adviser, the advice you’re gonna get - put some ice on it. Your lip’s a little bleeding and swollen - put some ice on it, as you leave the swanky motel room. Domestic policy - domestic violence adviser - why do you need any advice on that?

This callous treatment of such a serious problem is completely unacceptable. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury among women: 5.3 million women are abused each year, and 1,232 women each year are killed by their intimate partner. Men’s violence against women is a men’s issue–not something for men to flippantly dismiss.

We encourage all of you to find out what local station near you broadcasts Limbaugh and file a complaint with the FCC.

Media Matters has documented many, many, many, instances of Limbaugh’s sexism in the past, and we applaud them for continuing to do so.

Via Feministing.

Hoping your summer is getting off to a good start! We’ve got lots of things going on here at the WMC: plans, plans, and more plans!

In case you missed Sunday’s (6.28) Washington Times piece on the durability of the Sunday morning talk show, I’m reprinting my comments. It’s the essence of our argument with network programmers who hold Sundays sacrosanct for male pontificating:

“‘We always refer to Sunday morning as the most segregated hour of broadcasting still left on the air,’ said Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center, a New York-based advocacy group. ‘We ask the same question. Where are the women, where are the people of color on these shows?’”

“‘These programs do what we call “stunting.” They will have all women guests, or all black guests, and the viewers will say, “Oh, they’ve made progress.” But next Sunday, it’s back to the same old thing,’ Ms. Jenkins said.”

I want to make clear that our objections are directed as much to the gender and race of hosts as well as guests. You can access the full Washington Times article on our blog, Majority Post — and please leave us a comment.

We are pleased to hear through the grapevine that Christiane Amanpour is getting her own daily show on CNN International in the fall — with the prospect of a Sunday morning slot on CNN US. Now that would be fabulous — the WMC would have to be quiet for a whole week if that happened. And word is that Joy Behar is prepping her CNN Headline News show as well.

Also watched the debut of Dr. Nancy Snyderman’s new health/news MSNBC show — another five hours of woman-hosted TV (Mon-Fri 12 noon EST) just before Andrea Mitchell’s 1PM EST political show. Dr. Nancy started off on the right foot: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg — then Elizabeth Edwards. Perfect programming as health care reform –and hopefully health–come center stage.

PWV participant Maria Teresa Kumar was one of Dylan Rattigan’s first guests on his premiere show, Morning Meeting, on MSNBC Monday. She did a great job discussing the Supreme Court’s vote on the New Haven firefighters’ case — reversing Sonia Sotomayor’s vote in a lower court — and whether or not that would derail her nomination. Surprising guest alongside Maria Teresa: former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer.

WMC Media Actions

Thanks to our supporters, The Women’s Media Center has been successfully advocating against media sexism and for media that thoughtfully addresses women’s issues.   Over 800 WMC supporters contacted PBS in response to our action alert highlighting Maria Hinojosa’s thoughtful post-Tiller report on abortion providers which had been receiving a great deal of hate mail; PBS producers responded with gratitude for the support. In our recent alert about sexism in the media, we highlighted Bacardi’s recent “Ugly Girlfriend” campaign, and within 2 days, Bacardi had taken down the offending website and offered an apology for its offensive advertising.  We also highlighted an extremely sexist advertisement by Burger King, which is still available for viewing online — click here for more information and to demand its removal.  To receive these alerts via email, click here to sign up for WMC Action Alerts.

And to help us continue our work, please make a contribution to WMC by donating.

WMC Essential Reads

As part of our work we support women writers by publishing reports and commentaries you won’t find anywhere else. A sampling of our writers gives you a different take on the world, through the eyes of women.  You can also subscribe to receive future commentaries in your inbox, along with our Daily News Briefs.

The Undiagnosed Problem: The Twilight “Saga” by Esté Yarmosh
June 30, 2009

Harmless fantasy-romance? Or influential prototype of a controlling lover? The author asks her (somewhat) younger sister-readers to take a deeper look at the popular series.

Responsible Solidarity: An Appeal to the Public on the Matter of Iran by Sahar Driver
June 25, 2009

The author urges us to stand against the violence threatening the masses of protesters in Iran, but to insist that our leaders not infringe on Iranian sovereignty-as has happened in the past. Her commentary is based on a speech she delivered on Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall.

The Iranian Election and the Global Politics of “Pretty” by Latoya Peterson
June 24, 2009

With reporting opportunities strictly limited in Iran, images carry the narrative, many of them focusing on young, attractive women. The author wonders about complexities hidden behind the emerging icons.

“Supa”: A Report from Kenya by Mana Lumumba-Kasongo
June 22, 2009

The author, a medical doctor and writer, learned in an African village the truth behind the alarming worldwide maternal health statistics-when she was asked to treat a patient whose only resource was her mother, frantically urging her to “push.”

QWOC Film Festival Focuses on the Immigrant Experience by Emily Wilson
June 18, 2009

Produced by filmmaker Madeleine Lin, herself an immigrant from Singapore, the San Francisco festival gives newly trained queer women of color a showcase for their short films-and also feeds into the larger Frameline festival, which begins this week.

The OHIP Card — The Benefits are Priceless by Karin Lippert
June 17, 2009

Don’t be misled by the rhetoric of opponents of single-payer health care, says the author, who has experienced the insurance systems on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. She has a decided preference.

We’ll see you again soon — thanks so much again for your support!

With warmest wishes,

Carol Jenkins
WMC President

PS — Be sure to follow us on Twitter and become WMC fans on Facebook! 

You can also follow my own tweets by clicking here.

The Undiagnosed Problem: The Twilight “Saga”
by Esté Yarmosh

Harmless fantasy-romance? Or influential prototype of a controlling lover? The author asks her (somewhat) younger sister-readers to take a deeper look at the popular series.

Click here to read the full article.

In a July 28 Washington Times article about Sunday morning political talk shows, WMC President Carol Jenkins took the networks to task for their continued exclusion of women and people of color:

“We always refer to Sunday morning as the most segregated hour of broadcasting still left on the air,” said Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center, a New York-based advocacy group. “We ask the same question. Where are the women, where are the people of color on these shows?”

When the search was on for a new “Meet the Press” host last year, the group organized a public effort to draft a female.

“These programs do what we call ’stunting.’ They will have all women guests, or all black guests, and the viewers will say, ‘Oh, they’ve made progress.’ But next Sunday, it’s back to the same old thing,” Ms. Jenkins said.

The Times article went on to cite a 2007 Media Matters study that pointed out that, “men outnumber women by four to one on average and whites outnumber blacks by seven to one.”

The WMC will continue to urge networks to increase the number of women and people of color represented on their Sunday morning talk shows, so these programs reflect the diversity of the people who watch and are effected by them.

How Moms Feel About Social Media
6/26/09
Wall Street Journal: Mothers have dramatically increased their use of social-networking tools in the past three years, according to a new survey of 25,000 women conducted by parenting site BabyCenter.

Lynn Rosenthal Named White House Adviser On Violence Against Women
6/26/09
AP via Washington Post: A longtime advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault was named to a new post Friday as a White House adviser on violence against women. In announcing the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal, Vice President Biden said that creating the job allows the White House to revive a focus on domestic violence issues — which Biden said were not at the forefront during the Bush administration.

Iran’s Post-Election Uprising: Hopes & Fears Revealed
6/25/09
Spread Persepolis: An illustrated depiction of June 12-June 21 in Iran, based on the original graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi.

Keeping News Of Kidnapping Off Wikipedia
6/28/09
NY Times: For seven months, The New York Times managed to keep out of the news the fact that one of its reporters, David Rohde, had been kidnapped by the Taliban. But that was pretty straightforward compared with keeping it off Wikipedia.

A Political Wife’s Tough Stance Strikes A Chord
6/26/09
NY Times: When Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina gave what has become a ritualistically familiar part of American politics — the news conference on marital infidelity — there was no dutiful political wife to share the spotlight and, by her very presence, imply forgiveness.

Us Clinton Names Kashmiri-Origin Woman As Envoy For Muslims
6/26/09
World Bulletin: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week appointed a Kashmiri-origin woman as a special representative to Muslim communities as part of the Obama Administration’s effort to reach out to the Muslims around the world.

Most Americans Want Sotomayor On Court
6/28/09
Washington Post: A sizable majority of Americans want the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and most call her “about right” ideologically, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Nebraska High Court Backs Guatemalan Mom
6/26/09
AP via Lincoln Journal Star, NE: A Nebraska court ruled in favor of a Guatemalan mother Friday in a custody case that immigrant advocates say illustrates a nationwide problem.

When Partner Abuse Isn’t A Bruise But A Pregnant Belly
6/29/09
RH Reality Check: Many violence and public-health experts agree that at least one major issue has for too long remained missing from that conversation… Partner violence doesn’t show up in police photos as swollen bruises. Instead, the evidence might be their swollen, pregnant bellies.

Two Women Re-Enact 1st Female Transcontinental Drive
6/29/09
Craig Daily Press, CO: Emily Anderson, 37, and Christie Catania, 33, are reliving the first woman’s transcontinental trek in an automobile, a feat achieved in 1909 by Alice Ramsey, a Vassar College graduate married to a New Jersey politician, who drove 3,800 miles from New York to San Francisco.

Iran’s Second Sex
6/26/09
NY Times: From Day 1, Iran’s women stood in the vanguard. Their voices from rooftops were loudest, and their defiance in the streets boldest. “Stand, don’t run,” Nazanine told me as the baton-wielding police charged up handsome Vali Asr avenue on the day after the fraudulent election. She stood.

Laura Bush: Do Not Forget Burma
6/28/09
Washington Post: Watching images of Iranians taking to the streets to demand the most basic human freedoms and rights, I am reminded of a similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma, when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks peacefully marched through their nation’s streets. They, too, sought to reclaim basic human dignity for all Burmese citizens, but they were beaten back by that nation’s harsh regime.

U.N. Puts Female Peacekeepers On Display
6/28/09
Women’s eNews: The U.N. visitors’ lobby is showcasing some of its female peacekeepers through Aug. 4. India has deployed a 125-member female police contingent to Liberia, but women are otherwise scarce in peacekeeping operations.

Uganda To Reintroduce Female Condoms, Critical Tools In HIV Prevention
6/29/09
RH Reality Check: The Ugandan government plans to reintroduce and promote the female condom this fall, and civil society leaders in Uganda see this as an opportune moment to accelerate investment and support in this initiative… To ensure women have access to prevention tools designed to put them in charge and give them an opportunity to initiate protection HIV/AIDS.

Bahrain Offers Women No Protection From Spousal Rape
6/29/09
WIP: Similar to almost all Arab and Islamic countries, Bahrain offers women no protection from their sexually abusive husbands. Only in cases of physical injury will the courts grant a divorce. For those who bear no physical marks, victims of sexual abuse feel helpless, as marital rape isn’t penalized in this part of the world.

After Centuries, Venice Gets Female Gondolier
6/27/09
WAToday, Austrailia: After nine centuries of keeping women on dry land, Venice has broken with tradition by approving its first female gondolier.

Health Reform? Women Say It’s About Work, Wages
6/26/09
Women’s eNews: As Congress debates at least 10 health care proposals, prominent women’s advocates say work and wage issues make the single-payer model the best deal for women. So far, it’s mustering little support from lawmakers.

Swan Song
6/28/09
NY Times: The tender affection felt by both colleagues and audiences for the ballerina Nina Ananiashvili is extraordinary. This love affair reached its peak at the Metropolitan Opera House on Saturday night, when she gave her farewell performance with American Ballet Theater, in the full-length “Swan Lake.”

Wimbledon Women’s Fourth Round Preview: It’s The Williams Sisters’ Party
6/28/09
Bleacher Report: For the last decade at Wimbledon, it’s been Venus Williams’ party.
Sometimes she invites her sister Serena, but, for the most part, the rest of the top women tennis players in the world have found themselves on the outside looking in. Ana Ivanovic would like nothing more than to spoil Venus’s party.

Burger King continues its streak of objectionable advertising with its latest desperate tactic for selling fast food:

This blatant, demeaning ad is not only filled with gross sexual imagery, but also has text that claims eating a BK Super Seven Incher will “fill your desire for something long [and] juicy” and will make you “yearn for more after you taste the mind blowing burger…”

It seems like Burger King, who has also used female objectification to sell burgers to children, continues to sink to new lows in peddling its food at the expense of degrading women.

Let Burger King know that this ad is offensive and it should not continue to employ such distasteful tactics to sell its products.

Contact:

John Chidsey, CEO jchidsey@whopper.com

Corporate Offices:
Burger King Holdings, Inc.
5505 Blue Lagoon Drive
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Arrest Of Entire Iranian Newspaper Staff Condemned
6/26/09
Guardian, UK: Press freedom campaigning body Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of the entire staff of Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, as pressure on domestic journalists reporting the ongoing protests has intensified this week.

Fed Appeals Court Revives Va. Abortion Law
6/24/09
Washington Post: A sharply divided federal appeals court upheld Virginia’s ban on a type of late-term abortion Wednesday, ruling that the statute does not unduly burden a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy by more conventional means.

Africa: UN Experts Tackle ‘Conspiracy Of Silence’ Over Sexual Violence In Wartime
6/24/09
All Africa: Women’s rights activists, senior military figures and top United Nations officials met in New York this week to discuss what the world body’s former humanitarian chief Jan Egeland described as “one of the biggest conspiracies of silence in history” – the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

VAIN, A Magazine For Women, Launches
6/26/09
MediaBistro: VAIN is focused on all women ages 18 to 38… “VAIN, the women’s magazine all about you, takes pride in versatility of our readers…She may be an artist, a sports enthusiast, an educator, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, or even an emerging designer. And despite her desires or struggles, VAIN will fill her with images and words that will keep her striving for more,” said creator Rachelle Gauthier.

Supreme Court Declares Strip-Search Of Student Unconstitutional
6/26/09
LA Times: The 8-1 decision says Arizona school officials lacked justification for such an invasive search of a 13-year-old girl, who was suspected of hiding ibuprofen pills.

North Carolina Passes Sex Education Bill
6/25/09
RH Reality Check: The North Carolina House today passed the Healthy Youth Act. The Act will require schools to provide comprehensive sex education for middle school students for the first time in 13 years.

AT &T Case Spotlights Gender Issue For Sotomayor
6/25/09
Women’s eNews: Is there much judicial daylight between Supreme Court nominee Judge Sotomayor and outgoing Judge Souter on gender issues? After the AT and T ruling on maternity leave, women’s advocates expect the answer will be a resounding yes.

Girls Just Wanna Have … Networking?
6/24/09
NPR: Some Republican senators were rankled over Sotomayor’s membership in the Belizean Grove, an all-women’s club that brings together influential women on retreats. The senators called it discriminatory. But is it really discrimination? Not by a long shot.

Why So Few Women In Infidelity Club?
6/26/09
Politico: When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to an extramarital affair on Wednesday, he presented an all-too-familiar tableau… But after two of the same dramas within two weeks, it’s fair to ask: Does the casting ever change? Are female politicians really that much more faithful — or are they just not getting caught? “If anything, it’s a reminder of how relatively few women hold public office,” said Juliet Williams, an associate professor of women’s studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Being A Czech Mate Can Cause Women Pain And Suffix
6/26/09
LA Times: Linguistically speaking, the vast majority of Czech women spend their entire lives belonging to one man or another… They’re born with their dads’ surnames, plus “ova” at the end. Then, after marriage, when a woman takes her spouse’s last name, with the usual addition, she switches “allegiance” from father to husband. Though still a small minority, more and more young Czech women are grappling with that question as women make further inroads in Czech society and inch closer to parity with men.

Russia’s Supreme Court Orders New Trial In Killing Of Journalist
6/25/09
CBC News: Russia’s Supreme Court overturned the acquittals of three men charged in the slaying of a controversial journalist and ordered a new trial Thursday in Moscow.

Fragile Tanzanian Orphans Get Help After Mothers Die
6/24/09
NY Times: Africa is full of at least 50 million orphans, the legacy of AIDS and other diseases, war and high rates of death in pregnancy and childbirth. With the numbers increasing every day, Africans are struggling to care for them, often in ways that differ strikingly from the traditional concept of an orphanage in the developed world.

Burqa Politics In France
6/24/09
American Prospect: What happens when feminism and sexual liberation become tools for nationalism?

China Shuts Sex Health Websites To Ordinary Users
6/25/09
Reuters: Ordinary web users in China will be banned from surfing sex-related medical and research websites from next month, amid an Internet crackdown on pornographic online content, according to new regulations.

Generic Plan B Pill For Women 17 And Younger
6/25/09
WebMD: The FDA has approved the first generic version of the emergency contraceptive Plan B (levonorgestrel). It will be available by prescription only for women aged 17 and younger.

N.Y. To Pay For Eggs For Stem Cell Research
6/26/09
Washington Post: New York has become the first state to allow taxpayer-funded researchers to pay women for giving their eggs for embryonic stem cell research, a move welcomed by many scientists but condemned by critics who fear it will lead to the exploitation of vulnerable women.

Following A Famous Uncle And Also Her Ambition
6/24/09
NY Times: Cheyenne Woods has won more than 30 amateur tournaments, and she was the second-lowest scorer for Wake Forest. “If she were not Tiger Woods’s niece, she would still have a specialness about her,” her coach, Diane Dailey said.

Responsible Solidarity: An Appeal to the Public on the Matter of Iran
by Sahar Driver

The author urges us to stand against the violence threatening the masses of protesters in Iran, but to insist that our leaders not infringe on Iranian sovereignty—as has happened in the past. Her commentary is based on a speech she delivered on Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall.

Click here to read the full article.

by Somjen Frazer, Progressive Women’s Voices participant:

The media coverage of Chaz Bono’s transition has, like most other coverage of transgender people, been largely negative and sensationalist. While some news outlets have respectfully referred to him by his preferred name and gender, others have implied that his medical transition and use of male pronouns are somehow unreasonable or freakish. The New York Daily News, for example, uses female pronouns through their coverage and pointed out the use of male pronouns in Chaz’s spokesman’s statement about his transition. Like many other news outlets covering transgender issues, they also focus on whether or not Chaz has or will have surgery. ABC news published older photos of Chaz, in which he looks more feminine, rather than choosing to respect his privacy and his self-identification as male. As Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, points out in an interview with CNN, “”The whole media fixation on surgery is kind of misplaced,” and does not represent the experiences of many transgender people.

Further, the mainstream media has failed to make a connection from this individual story to the many people who are transitioning without access to the resources that Chaz enjoys. People who transition genders experience family rejection and social stigma that makes education and employment very difficult for many of them. Research consistently shows that transgender people are more likely to be in poverty, experience homelessness and be unemployed than non-transgender people. Far from having the money to hire a publicist to remind people what pronoun to use, many are focused on survival.  In my work as a senior policy analyst at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, I see examples of this discrimination every day. We’re currently analyzing the data from a national discrimination survey, conducted with the National Center for Transgender Equality, of 6,500 transgender and gender non-conforming people and the results are staggering.

In addition to financial resources, Chaz has parental support. Caitlin Ryan’s work at the Family Acceptance project illustrates the importance of family acceptance of transgender and gender non-conforming youth and the prevalence and negative effects of family rejection.  Her work shows that youth who experience rejection from their families are more likely to have mental health problems later in life, while those who experience acceptance have much better outcomes.

Instead of focusing on one person’s experience, the media should be attentive to the larger needs of transgender people. For example, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which was just introduced at the federal level, will protect transgender people from employment discrimination if it passes. While it will not solve all of the financial, legal and social problems that people who transition face, ENDA sends an important message about the rights of people who transition and helps to preserve their access to employment and thus, financial resources.

No one can legislate family acceptance, but encouraging states to pass anti-bullying bills that protect transgender and gender non-conforming youth will go a long way towards ensuring the safety of young people. North Carolina, my home state, just passed its first piece of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-inclusive legislation, an anti-bullying bill including protections based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. Let’s hope that rather than creating more sensationalist coverage, media will start to refocus on legislation that is crucial to ensuring equity—and in some cases, survival—for all transgender people.

The report may be viewed at http://www.uswcc.org/healthreport.pdf.

June 24, 2000
For Immediate Release:

For More Information:
Margot Dorfman, CEO
U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
(888) 418-7922
ceo@uswcc.org

U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Advocates Strong
Healthcare Reforms in Support of American Values

Supporting individual quality of life and American
business competitiveness through healthcare reform

June 24, 2009 – Washington, DC.  The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce submitted today a “Report to Congress” urging America’s elected leaders to restore American values and business competitiveness through the support of strong healthcare reforms.  Highlights of the report includes the support of Health Insurance Exchanges, guaranteed access to affordable health insurance coverage, bringing an end to age and wellness discrimination, a robust government public plan, greater transparency and accountability, choice, flexibility, and portability of health insurance.   

“We have heard over and over from our members how the escalating costs of health care are suffocating their businesses and creating great personal and family hardships,” says Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.  “The explosion of healthcare costs, failure to instill transparency in the health care system and inability of Americans to afford basic healthcare insurance is part of the current broader systemic business and financial collapse fueled by unwarranted and oversized growth of executive compensation, shadow banking, credit card fee and rate escalation and other spurious financial manipulation that has nearly ground America’s economy to a halt.”

The report details troubling statistics regarding the suppression of business growth, lack of access to affordable healthcare for women, crippling economic damage caused by America’s healthcare crisis and details specific recommendations for Congress provided by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.   The report may be viewed at http://www.uswcc.org/healthreport.pdf.

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The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce™ is the leading advocate for women on economic and leadership issues. The USWCC creates opportunities and change for women by building a strong community voice, advocating for members, and providing programs and benefits to support the economic growth of women across America and around the globe. The USWCC is a not-for-profit 501(c)6 organization founded in 2001; its headquarters offices are located in Washington, D.C.

For more information, see www.uswcc.org or call 888-418-7922.

Thanks to the supporters of The Women’s Media Center, our WMC Media Awards celebration on June 17, 2009 was sold out — an outstanding success for this inaugural awards event!

The Women’s Media Center gives our deep and heartfelt thanks to our generous host Elizabeth A. Sackler, WMC Honorary Advisory Council member and friend, for making our intimate evening such a beautiful and important night.

We give special thanks to our sponsor Prudential Insurance Company of America, and WMC Board members Loreen Arbus, Jodie Evans, Gloria Feldt, Jane Fonda and Teresa McBride. We also thank WMC Honorary Advisory Council member, Dina Dublon, for her generous support of this event.

The WMC is especially grateful to our friends Barbara Rick of Out of the Blue Films and Jim Anderson of Anderson Video for recording the event! Footage from the evening to be posted soon.

Join us as we continue the celebration of women in the media!  Make a donation in honor of your favorite women in the media with a gift of $25 or more to the WMC today.  With your help we can continue to amplify women’s voices and fight sexism in the media. 

Candy Crowley and Bonnie Erbe

Gini Reticker and Lynn Nottage

Rebecca Traister and Pam Spaulding

Honored at the WMC’s Media Awards:

• Christiane Amanpour, the dean of international correspondents for CNN, for giving us an enlightened view of religion and its impact around the world.
• Helene Cooper, diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, for giving us consistently intelligent reports over a lengthy career covering a range of domestic and international stories.
• Candy Crowley, of CNN, for being a clear and probing political correspondent for a contentious election whose reporting never veered into opinion.
• Bonnie Erbe, for providing a forum for women’s voices analyzing the most important topics of the day for 18 years.
• Tina Fey, for being a creator, writer, producer and actor of a hit show on primetime television, 30 Rock on NBC.
• Rachel Maddow, for being an incisive progressive on The Rachel Maddow Show on NSNBC, with a way of getting to the point much sooner than most.
• Lynn Nottage, for use of breaking news about women in her work. Lynn won a Pulitzer for Ruined, her dramatic portrayal of what rape in the Congo has created in women’s lives.
• Gini Reticker and Abigail Disney, for their award-winning documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, that follows the market women of Liberia who exiled a president and installed Africa’s first woman president.
• Pam Spaulding, for creating a website, Pam’s House Blend, that gives the LGBT community a strong, insightful voice-and a center of action.
• Rebecca Traister, for her consistently articulate essays on Salon.com in a series of pieces dealing with the year of our presidential race and Hillary Clinton’s role in it.

Coverage of the Event:

• Huffington Post: Women in the Media: A Night of Recognition
• CNN: New honors for CNN’s Crowley
• MediaBistro: Steinem’s Women’s Media Center Holds First Annual Media Awards
• Feministing: The Women’s Media Center Honors Outstanding Feminist Journalists
• Pam’s House Blend: My night at the 2009 Women’s Media Center Awards…
• WMC: Celebrating Women’s Media Successes
• Make Waves: Women’s Media Center

It is thanks to supporters like you that The Women’s Media Center has made such progress in Making Women Visible and Powerful in the Media.  Please consider making a gift today in honor of the incredible women we have honored here.

Warmest Wishes,

Carol Jenkins
WMC President

PWV participant and WMC friend Deborah Siegel’s site, girlwpen.com, has a great piece from authors Gwendolyn Beetham and Tonni Brodber on women and revolution in Iran, titled “Global Exchange: Talking About A Revolution.”

Here’s an excerpt:

“If you’re like us, you’ve spent the past couple of weeks glued to your computer, watching the historic Iranian election – and its aftermath – unfold. For us, what’s been important are not only the changes in Iranian society that the post-election protests signal, but women’s role in these protests (dare we say revolution) and what this election means for Iranian women….

“Feminist politics are not new to Iran. According to Manilee Bagheritari, an independent gender consultant of Iranian descent, the feminist movement, or rather the ongoing three-decades old wave, is divided by two different approaches; the secular feminists (e.g. Shirin Ebadi) and Islamic feminists (though they might not prefer the label). What is important is that the two groups both demand that the state first ratify and second harmonize its laws with those of the international human rights instruments, namely the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW.”

Click here to read the full article.