Month: June 2013

Yesterday (Tuesday) was an extremely productive day for bigots around the world. Who knows what gems of ignorance we’ll see today, let alone throughout the week. For now, we can enjoy the following:

1. Jury selection in the murder trial against George Zimmerman started this week. Zimmerman is on trial for killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager.

While on Fox News, Former NYPD detective Harry Houck had the following to say about the case: “Listen, Trayvon Martin would be alive today, okay, if he didn’t, alright, have a street attitude.” It’s pretty clear that “a street attitude” is code for “being black” and wearing a hoodie. As if either of those things justifies getting out of your car, ignoring a 9/11 dispatcher who tells you to remain in your car and shooting someone to death.

2. On his 700 Club show, televangelist Pat Robertson lamented the Boys Scouts of America’s decision to overturn its ban on gay members. Robertson attacked the LGBT community for being:

… willing to rip apart the framework of traditional marriage, to rip apart an organization that has done so much good for young people… All for one thing, that the way they do sex will be accepted in the mainstream of society… Two percent deciding what the rest of us does… And they are willing to destroy it, and Hollywood the so-called liberal media had jumped on board that this is the new civil rights. Well, I don’t think so. It’s been a marvelous institution, and to see that torn up in order to accommodate a few kids who want to do sex with each other, I mean, it boggles the mind.

I’m sure Robertson takes some comfort in knowing the Boy Scouts haven’t relented entirely to the equal-rightist attack on good old-fashioned-American homophobia, since they’ve maintained their ban on LGBT adult leaders. Phew!

Read more at Care2

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been one of the most vocal and valiant critics of the way the military has responded to the epidemic of sexual assault. Gillibrand had put forth a proposal, which had 27 co-sponsors, including 4 Republicans, to remove sexual assault cases from the chain of command and place them in hands of an independent prosecutor. Gillibrand succinctlyexplained the problem inherent in leaving the decision making power within the chain of command: “When any single victim of sexual assault is forced to salute her attacker, clearly our system is broken.”

Lest you think Gillibrand is some civilian utopionist, out of touch with the gritty realities of military life,  you should know that SWAN (Service Women’s Action Network) also supportstaking the handling of sexual assault crimes out of the chain of command, since,

“Apart from compromising impartiality, the current system places victims at risk of retaliation by vesting authority in a figure who often exercises control over the career advancement of both parties. By approaching criminal justice from a personnel perspective, this policy promotes widespread fear of reprisal, creating a significant barrier to reporting… SWAN proposes that the United States military move the administration of criminal justice from commanding officers to professional prosecutors and judges.”

Read more at Feministing

Great news! The Obama administration announced late Monday that it would dropping its effort to limit sales of Plan B to girls and women 15 and over. This means girls of any age will be able to buy the pill, which can prevent pregnancy up to 72 hours after unprotected sex, over the counter without restrictions.

But before we celebrate, let us head the always wise words of conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, who, on the always fair and balanced Fox News channel, said the following about the development:

“It’s a good deal for pedophiles, a good deal for people who commit statutory rape against young girls… If mothers and fathers across this country hear this and they think, ‘Well, I guess my daughter or her boyfriend or her rapist can go out to a pharmacy and get a bunch of, you know, hormone pills to give a little girl.’ We don’t really know the effect of a spiking or dropping a little girl’s — in many cases a young woman’s or a little girl’s hormonal levels. It’s outrageous! These girls can’t get their ears pierced, they can’t take an Advil at school without parental permission. Yet, they can go into a pharmacy in this Brave New World of women’s equality and — quote — reproductive health and get a morning after pill.”

Read more at Feministing

As an actor, Martha Plimpton has conquered the stage, screen and television. The Emmy Award-winning thespian, has been in over 30 films including, of course, The Goonies, Running on Empty, Pecker, Parenthood (“electric ear cleaner,” anyone?) and I Shot Andy Warhol. As an outspoken activist, Plimpton is taking on misogyny and the attack on our reproductive rights, freedom, choice, health and access. She is one of the founders of A is For, an organization that advocates for and supports organizations protecting abortion and reproductive rights. Recently, she was the keynote speaker at the Physicians for Reproductive Health‘s annual Rashbaum-Tiller Awards Ceremony, which honored Eve Espey, MD, MPH, and Willie Parker, MD, MPH, MSc, two doctors who provide outstanding abortion services. On Thursday Plimpton will be at a New York City fundraiser for A is For at the sex toy boutique Babeland (“electric ear cleaner” call back, anyone?) in Soho, along with A is For co-founder Lizz Winstead. You should “Come for a Cause.”

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five with Martha Plimpton.

Katie Halper: Can you talk about your relationship with two amazing organizations: Physicians for Reproductive Health and A is For?

Martha Plimpton: A is For came about almost a year and a half ago now during the whole contraceptive mandate hearing on the hill debacle with Sandra Fluke. As I’m sure you were as well, we were all completely gobsmacked by the treatment she received. Is this the 21^st century? What? And it threw into real relief something which had been lying dormant in the culture for a long time. As a kid, I was involved as much as I could be with Planned Parenthood, in the early 90s when the clinic bombings were happening. Then we entered this period of relative calm when we weren’t really paying attention to what was going on on the state level. It wasn’t really making national news. And so the fact that abortion access was becoming less and less and less available across the country wasn’t really on people’s radar. And so when Sandra Fluke was horrifyingly excoriated, and we heard this vicious, misogynist, violent language, it inspired a lot of people to take a closer look at what was going on.  It just exposed this gross underbelly that we hadn’t really been paying attention to.

And so, some women friends and I got together in Los Angeles, we wanted to do something, we didn’t now really what. And we noticed on Twitter and elsewhere people were starting to say, “why don’t they just slap a scarlet letter on us and be done with it.” And I thought, hmm that’s not such a bad idea. And we decided we’d come up with a way to utilize that symbol of the Scarlet Letter and change its meaning, and appropriate it, and use it as a symbol of defiance and in recognition that we all, at some point, male and female, have worn this scarlet letter.  And we wanted to use it as way to raise awareness and build some kind of unity and so in doing that we created this organization A is For and basically what we are is an advocacy organization that ‘s there to provide not just financial support but strategic support for other organizations that are working in this field. And one of the organizations we partnered with was the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). And then, I had some friends who were connected with Physicians for Reproductive Health and I was invited  to go to their Tiller Awards last year. And then they invited me to be their keynote speaker this year. They’re an incredible organization, obviously.

[…]

Read more at Feministing

As George Zimmerman’s trial begins, the stories of two very different shooters show the inequality behind the law

A man in Florida shoots a man he finds having sex with his wife, killing him. A woman in Florida shoots the wall to scare off an abusive husband, harming nobody. Guess which one was acquitted? Guess which one was convicted?

On March 10 of this year, around midnight, Ralph Wald, 70, of Brandon, Fla., got out of bed to get a drink and found Walter Conley, 32, having sex with his wife, Johanna Lynn Flores, 41, in the living room. He immediately went back into his bedroom, grabbed his gun and shot Conley three times. Conley died. Wald claims that he thought Conley was a stranger who had broken in and was raping his wife – despite the fact that Conley lived next door, had been his wife’s roommate and lover, and had his wife’s name tattooed onto his neck and arm. During a 911 call, when the dispatcher asked Wald if the man he shot was dead, Wald responded, “I hope so!” Wald never used the word “rape” in later reports to police, opting instead for “fornicate.” And while the fact that the two were lovers doesn’t imply consent, Flores has never accused Conley of rape — nor do prosecutors buy that that’s what Wald actually thought was happening. They say that Wald, who suffers from erectile dysfunction, killed Conley in a jealous rage. Flores admits that she and Conley had sex regularly before and after her marriage to Wald. While testifying, Wald explained that his erectile dysfunction and his wife’s reluctance to have sex with him made them compatible: “In fact, she would joke a lot with me … that we were a perfect couple … She didn’t want to do it, and I couldn’t do it.” On May 30, after deliberating for two hours, a jury found Wald not guilty. After the verdict was announced, Wald continued to show no remorse: “If the same thing happened again, I would do the same thing.”

[…]

Read more at Salon

That’s right… we now know what well over two hundred people will be doing on the evenings of June 28th & 29th, when VF13 “Centerpiece” world premiere, COMMIE CAMP, ignites the screen at New York’s Tribeca Cinema.

Calls flooded the VF offices and tickets SOLD OUT completely for the added show in just two days, making this the fastest selling program in the 13 years that VF has been running.

Excerpted from Domanivisionfilm

Dear friends,

You can buy tickets here. It’s program 6-B.

There’s a nice bar at the theater, too, where we can chat after the screening.

And I have the date for my California premier. Tickets aren’t on sale yet, but I’ll let you know when they are. Please help spread the word on that screening because the theater it’s in is huuuuuge! 600 seats! It’s a really nice deco theater from the 1920s, by the way. See the image above.

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Rehtaeh Parsons was a 17-year-old Canadian high student who hanged herself in April. Rehtaeh started having suicidal thoughts when she was 15 after she was raped by four boys who photographed the violation and sent it around to their friends and classmates. As if that weren’t bad enough, for the next 17 months, Rehtaeh’s classmates shunned, tormented and bulliedher mercilessly. No charges were ever filed.

Two months to the day after Rehtaeh’s death, feminists are launching a day of awareness around violence against women and a commemoration of Rehtaeh. As the organizers explain on the Hands Up for Rehtaeh page,

in light of this [Rehtaeh’s story], Steubenville, and numerous other rapes and sexual assaults in the news, we are making a call to action.

We are tired of girls and women being treated like sexual objects and the effect rape culture has on global society.

To that end, we are organizing a global day of awareness on violence against women, particularly rape culture (the institutional bias against victims and failure to prevent rape and sexual assault).

We ask you to join us on June 7th and write “Rehtaeh” on your wrist to let the world know you stand against rape culture.

Also: post pictures of your wrist (with “Rehtaeh” written on it) on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and explain why you’re doing so.

[…]

Read more at Feministing

If you want to kill a prostitute or escort, you may want to consider moving to Texas.

Wednesday, A Bexar County jury delivered on verdict on a case involving a man who fatally shot an escort in the neck and back. Here is what the prosecution, the defense and, of course, the defendant all agreed happened. Ezekiel Gilbert, 27 at the time, found an ad for an escort on Craigslist on Christmas Eve, 2009. The escort, Lenora Ivie Frago, 23, came to Gilbert’s apartment that night. The two did not have sex. Gilbert shot Frago in the neck and back. Frago was paralyzed. Frago died months later. The defense claims that Gilbert paid Frago $150 for sex. She refused to have sex with him and walked around his apartment for twenty minutes. Gilbert asked for his money back and Frago refused, saying she had to give it to her driver/ pimp. Gilbert shot Frago in the neck and back. Frago was paralyzed and died months later.

The prosecution claims that Gilbert shot Frago for refusing to have sex with him and points to the fact that Gilbert never mentioned anything about a theft in the police interview. The defense claims that Gilbert shot her because he was trying to recover the $150 he paid her for sex, which she did not deliver.

[…]

Read more at Policymic

What do 222 million women in developing nations around the world have in common? They all want access to modern contraceptive. In a new video and infographic, Population Action International explains that if the U.S. contributed a mere .03% of its federal budget towards international family planning, they could provide the 222 million women– more than the combined populations of Spain, The Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium– with the contraception they so desperately want and need. This would save the lives of 70,000 women and prevent the deaths of one million infants each year!

Read more at Feministing