News flash: Sex isn’t going anywhere. Even people who don’t like abortion need to recognize that unwanted pregnancies and abortion aren’t going anywhere, either (especially, and frustratingly, and ironically when many “pro-life” “anti-choice” people oppose contraception and any kind of effective sex-ed). Here is a mere sampling from relatively recent history of the uncomfortable, painful, dangerous and deadly methods a woman would use when when abortion wasn’t legal or accesible.
Groupon Can Take Away Our Gun Deals, but They’ll Never Take Away our Anal Waxing
Ladies, we must be vigilant. Groupon has recently announced they are canceling their gun deals. The inevitable question is what will they come for next? Our God-given right to the Brazilian bikini wax. Not on my watch, they won’t. Not on my watch.
Groupon, the popular deal-of-the-day website, which offers everything from gym memberships, to restaurant meals, to vacations, announced Monday night that they were putting their gun-related deals on hold, e-mailing reporters,
“All scheduled and current gun-related deals featured on Groupon North America, including shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry and clay shooting, have been placed on hiatus while we review internal standards that shape the deal inventory we feature…. The category is under review following recent consumer and merchant feedback.”
They didn’t explain why they are changing their policy, but it’s likely that the Sandy Hook shooting and the renewed gun debate is behind their decision.
How Jane Roe Went from being a Lesbian Pro-Choice Icon to a Straight Born-Again Anti-Choice Activist
Jane “Roe v Wade” Roe, or Norma McCorvey, was the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court Case which, 40 years ago today, legalized abortion in the United States. A former lesbian and pro-choice icon, McCorvey is now a straight, born-again, Catholic, anti-choice activist. What the fuck happened? Since McCorvey was born-again, and has struggled with addiction, I present to you a 12-step program and how-to guide of Norma’s transformation.
1. Be born (for the first time) and raised in Dallas by an abusive, alcoholic Jehovah’s Witness single mother.
2. Drop out of school by 14, start working as a roller-skating carhop at 15, run off with and marry a customer who orders a “furburger” (he had her at furburger).
3. Become pregnant, divorce your abusive husband, move back in with your mother and give her custody over your daughter.
What Did John Boehner Say to Provoke Michelle Obama’s Epic Eye Roll? Some Theories
By now, most of the world has had the pleasure of seeing what will surely go down down as the most epic eye roll in world history. But what did John Boehner say to cause Michelle Obama to throw such record-breaking shade during the post-inauguration luncheon?
Nearly a Third of Fired Military Commanders Were Canned Because of Their Penises
A recent Associated Press article, called “Sex Is Major Reason Military Commanders Are Fired,” which is being picked up all over, says almost a third of fired military commanders are losing their jobs over sex. Losing your job over sex sounds kind of fun. Sounds like members of the armed services are being all that they can be by engaging in some good, old fashioned-patriotic boning. The only problem is, the article kind of confuses sex with sexual assault, and, like, helps the military sanitize its entrenched rape culture.
Just to review, rape and sexual assault are pervasive in the military. Here are some useful statistics:
- A female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
- In October The Huffington Post calculated that a servicewoman was nearly 180 times more likely to have become a victim of military sexual assault (MSA) in the past year than to have died while deployed during the last 11 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Over 20% of female veterans have been sexually assaulted while serving in the US army.
- The Pentagon estimates that only 14 percent of the assaults are reported.
- In Fiscal Year 2011, 3,192 sexual assaults were reported out of an estimated 19,000 — roughly 52 a day! (One of the reasons that rape is so underreported is because rape victims have to report their rape to their supervisor, who is often the rapist!)
Scoring the Inaugural Dance-Off: Bidens Almost Hump on the Dance Floor and Obamas are Swingers
Last night the world was treated to aDancing with the Leaders of the Free Worldcontest, at the Inaugural Ball. These are the results.
Costumes: Both Obama and Biden went with traditional choices. Jill and Michelle both looked beautiful.
Michelle wore a pleated ruby red Jason Wu dress. Jill looked ravishing in a blue satin dress with a Black sash from Vera Wang. Ultimately Jill, who went with a different designer than she did in 2009, made a more adventurous decision than did Michelle who stuck with Wu. Also, in wearing blue, the color of her party, Jill was more politically appropriate than Michelle, who wore the color of the GOP. So, for originality and partisanship, this one goes to the Bidens.
Song: The Obamas danced to Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” while the Bidens danced to Jamie Foxx’s version of the Ray Charles classic “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. Both choices had an “oh, cute” factor, as Obama broke into “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo Theater and Foxx played Ray Charles in the film Ray. But Hudson rocked the house with an infinitely more danceable song and Fox sounded a little schmaltzy, with a song that would be better for a first dance at a wedding, than an inaugural ball. So, the Obamas win this round.
How to Get Out of a Hook Up When the Guy Is Already in your Apartment
It’s awkward when you realize you don’t want to hook up with a guy who you’ve invited into your apartment for that purpose. But you can and should always be able to stop a hook up you don’t want to have. (Duh). This [Law and Order dum-dum] is my story.
The Background: A few years ago, I was working on a documentary film about a play. One of the actors was very talented and good looking. We didn’t really get to know each other over the course of the week-long shoot, but we exchanged small talk and smiled at each other, like, a lot! The last night there was a cast party. As I was about to leave the party, the actor asked me where I was going. I told him I was going home and when he asked me what neighborhood I lived in, it turned out, that, lo and behold, he was going to the same neighborhood! It was late, so, being two economical people, in a terrible economy, pursuing our artistic passions and hence not making any money, we decided to share a cab.
Game On? During the cab ride, he was perfectly fine and we were getting along swimmingly. So, when we got to my apartment and he asked if he should come up too, I said, “Sure.”
Realization: Once we were in my apartment, however, his behavior changed. He seemed sure of an imminent conquest, and started acting like a douchebag. He started asking me questions about the sex life of my lesbian friend and colleague (whom he met through the shoot). It was a charming mix of bro-ish enthusiasm for all things lesbian and casual homophobia. While I had been attracted to the guy five minutes ago, now the idea of even kissing him viscerally repulsed me.
New Jersey Library Displays Drawing of Oral Sex
A drawing, which was so controversial it had to be covered up, is now on full display at a library in New Jersey. So, why would the Newark Library display an art work that depicts oral sex?
Because the piece, by renowned African-American artist Kara Walker, is, like so much of her other work, an exploration of race, gender, sexuality and violence. The title of the piece, “The moral arc of history ideally bends towards justice but just as soon as not curves back around toward barbarism, sadism, and unrestrained chaos,” (a reference to Martin Luther King’s more optimistic quote “The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice”) says as much. The drawing is consistent with Walker’s style and content, as Paul Sternberger, an associate art history professor at Rutgers-Newark, explains:
“For many years she has been exploring themes of race, gender and oppression, often in a quasi-historical context… Often those themes include violent and sexually charged imagery…. That’s what she does…. It’s frightening.”
The piece, which was put up in November, depicts the era of Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and contains violent imagery and images of the KKK. But the aspect that most found so disturbing was that of a white man pushing the head of a naked black woman, whose back is to us, into his groin. Kendell Willis, a library services employee, recalls, “I didn’t notice it at first…. Then I looked up and was blown away.” Willis sent Library Director Wilma Grey an e-mail complaining about the art work.
Happy MLK Day: Your Friendly Reminder Martin Luther King Loved Planned Parenthood and Birth Control
The right loves to try to co-opt Martin Luther King Jr. and portray Planned Parenthood as racist. But an inconvenient fact is that MLK and Planned Parenthood had an excellent relationship. He would, no doubt, be horrified by the modern day attacks on contraception.
As early as 1957, Dr. King expressed his support of birth control in an advice column he wrote for Ebony Magazine. One woman wrote in to him:
Question: We have seven children and another one is on the way. Our four-room apartment is bursting at the seams and living space in Harlem is at a premium. I have suggested to my husband that we practice birth control, but he says that when God thinks we have enough children, He will put a stop to it. I’ve tried to reason with him, but he says that birth control is sinful. Is he right?
King responded by writing,
I do not think it is correct to argue that birth control is sinful. It is a serious mistake to suppose that it is a religious act to allow nature to have its way in the sex life. The truth is that the natural order is given us, not as an absolute finality, but as something to be guided and controlled. In the case of birth control the real question at issue is that between rational control and resort to chance. Another thing that must be said is that changes in social and economic conditions make smaller families desirable, if not necessary. As you suggest, the limited quarters available in our large cities and the high cost of living preclude such large families as were common a century or so ago. A final consideration is that women must be considered as more than “breeding machines.” It is true that the primary obligation of the woman is that of motherhood, but an intelligent mother wants it to be a responsible motherhood-a motherhood to which she has given her consent, not a motherhood due to impulse and to chance. And this means birth control in some form. All of these factors, seem to me, to make birth control rationally and morally justifiable.
Meet the First Woman to Ever Deliver a Presidential Inaugural Invocation
It’s kind of incredible that today will mark the first time that a woman delivers a prayer at a presidential inauguration. But Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and a civil rights organizer in her own right, is the perfect woman for the job, especially for an inauguration coinciding with Martin Luther King Day.
Raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Evers-Williams met Medgar Evers, an upperclassman, Army veteran, and football player on her first day of college at Alcorn A&M, and they married the following year. Medgar was already a member of the NAACP and helped raise Myrlie’s consciousness and eschew white standards of beauty:
“He’s the one who told me to stop biting my bottom lip and to be proud of my large lips…. It was he who told me to stop straightening my hair and be proud of my kinky hair. It was Medgar who told me to stop using bleach on my face to be lighter and to be proud of my Blackness.”
In 1954, Medgar became the Mississippi state field secretary for the NAACP and Myrlie worked as his secretary. As a team they organized voter registration drives and civil rights demonstrations and fought to desegregate schools. They both knew the dangers they faced for their work. Mrylie and Medgar spoke in code over the phone and trained their children to dive to the ground if they heard strange noises (in case there were snipers).
katiehalper.com 