This Is How You Respond to the Degradation of Women

Go Australia.



Some choice quotes:

• Those who think that it is okay to behave in a way that demeans or exploits their colleagues have no place in this army.
• On all operations, female soldiers and officers have proven themselves worthy of the best traditions of the Australian army. They are vital to us maintaining our capability now and into the future. If that does not suit you, then get out.
• If you become aware of any individual degrading another, then show moral courage and take a stand against it.
• The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. That goes for all of us, but especially those who by their rank have a leadership role.
• If we care about the legacy we leave to those who, in turn, will protect and secure Australia then it is up to us to make a difference. If you're not up to it, find something else to do with your life. There is no place for you amongst this band of brothers and sisters.

It's amazing to me to see a man in uniform take such a strong stand on the equality of women in his ranks, especially when compared with the recent attitude of our military leaders regarding sexual assault, much less degrading remarks or images. I can only hope they learn from Lt Gen Morrison's example of true leadership.

New From Ohio: Anti-Choice Extremists on the Rampage

Ohio seems to be in the national news a lot (or maybe I just notice it more now that I live here), and it never seems to be for a good reason. My adopted home state has some wacky ideas about stuff, so I thought I might use my blog to highlight some of them.

Ohio House Republicans have introduced a bill that takes all the worst anti-choice bills across the country and combines them into one horrible, woman hating bag of crap designed to prevent women who need it most from getting the health care they need. And yes, abortion is health care.

Here's what's in the bill:

• Require doctors to give women a verbal description of the ultrasound, including an audible heartbeat, if available. (The bill notes, however, that a woman can refuse to view ultrasound images or listen to the sounds detected by a fetal heart monitor.)
• Compel abortion providers to tell patients that fetuses and embryos can feel pain, and that a woman who has an abortion increases her risk of breast cancer.
• Extend the waiting period for abortions to 48 hours instead of 24.
• Require doctors to tell patients seeking abortions in writing how much money they earn and how much income they would lose by not performing abortions.
• Eliminate "medical necessity" as a reason to waive the waiting period. Medical necessity had been defined as a medical condition that complicates the pregnancy so that it warrants an immediate abortion.
• Allow a waiver for a "medical emergency," which is redefined in the bill as a condition that would result in the woman's death without an abortion, as opposed to one that presents a serious risk to her life or physical health.

So here's what Ohio Republicans assume about women, based on these items:

• We didn't really think about the decision to have an abortion. We are immature and don't understand the implications of our decision. The House Republicans want to make sure we are double triple sure by making us pay for an ultrasound that isn't medically necessary for the termination of our pregnancy and by providing us with scientifically suspect information.
• We have tons of free time and money and can afford to take 2 days off work to get a procedure that only requires 1 day. Because we all know that well-to-do women of leisure are the ones most in need of abortion.
• We aren't aware that doctors get paid.
• A serious risk to our life or health isn't a big deal. We can wait 48 hours and hope nothing goes wrong. Non-doctor Republicans are sure everything will be just fine. 

The bill insulting enough on it's face, but then you pair it with attempts to defund Planned Parenthood in the state's appropriations bill, and you realize that House Republicans are totally anti-woman. They don't believe women can be trusted to make decisions about their own health and well being. An interesting stance for a party that opposed the Affordable Care Act as a government intrusion into personal decisions about health care.

Not So Modern Family

I would like to begin this post with a disclaimer. I love Modern Family. I think it is funny and quirky and tells some great stories, and I’m pretty sure my husband is going to give himself a hernia one of these days laughing at Phil Dunphy.

If you don’t know the premise of the show, here’s a quick breakdown. Jay Pritchett is the patriarch. He is married to the much younger and Columbian Gloria. Gloria’s son lives with them and they recently had a baby of their own. Jay has two children, Claire and Mitch. Claire is a SAHM married to Phil, a real estate agent. They have three children. Mitch is in a relationship with Cam, a SAHD, and they have adopted a daughter from Vietnam.

Presumably the name Modern Family came from the fact that one of the families was a headed by a gay couple and the other by a May-December romance. Beyond that, there’s not much “modern” going on.

Each family has a working spouse in a traditional job and a stay at home spouse who takes care of the home and children full time. The twist is that one of the couples is gay, so the stay at home spouse is not a woman. However, Cam is generally played as the more traditionally “wife-like” member of the couple. He loves crafts and decorating and party planning and costumes and show tunes. He tried to “work” for a couple of episodes and just couldn’t stand to be away from his daughter for that long. Claire gave up her career when her children were born and is now struggling with her identity and the possibility of moving back into the workforce. This is something that many women struggle with, but many modern families have two working spouses. How about a family with young children where both parents work and they manage to keep their house running smoothly. Now that would be groundbreaking television.

The other edgy “modern” couple is Jay and Gloria. Jay is divorced from Claire and Mitch’s mother, who makes and occasional appearance on the show. Much fun is made of Gloria’s hotness and how fortunate Jay is to be with her. His libido is never played for jokes against him. It is seen as totally normal, which, presumably it is. He and Gloria seem sincerely in love. However, whenever Jay’s ex-wife appears on the scene, her attraction to younger men is seen as a pathetic joke. She is played as manipulative and passive aggressive and her presumably excessive sex drive is an off shoot of her personality disorders.

While I understand the need for traditional family story lines, the fact that this show purports to be about a modern family (by stating it explicitly in the title) is disappointing, as it’s obvious the producers and writers just took a traditional Ozzie and Harriet family and gave it a little gay twist and called it a day. One would hope for more creativity, but that's often not the case.

News from Ohio: Steubenville Rape Trial Begins Today

Ohio seems to be in the national news a lot (or maybe I just notice it more now that I live here), and it never seems to be for a good reason. My adopted home state has some wacky ideas about stuff, so I thought I might use my blog to highlight some of them.

Many of you have already read about this case, but if not, here's a good rundown. To sum up: girl goes to party, girl gets really drunk, girl is witnessed unconcious, boys rape girl, lots of people post about it on Twitter and Facebook. It's awful. And to make matters worse, the defense is going with the time-honored "she was asking for it" defense. Because nothing says affirmative and enthusiastic consent like an inability to speak coherently or stand upright on your own.

There are many victim blamers out there who say the guys shouldn't be held responsible. I beg to disagree, because there's no such thing as accidental rape.

Let's hope justice is served.

Steubenville Rape Trial Begins

Video: Depressing Income Distribution

I disagree with some things in this video (specifically his definition of socialism), but otherwise, it's a great way to visualize income distribution in this country. I often argue with people about things like the flat tax or the consumption tax because the people that bring it up with me say that it is more fair, because someone who makes more money works harder to earn that money. But, as this video points out, the average American CEO does not work 380x harder than the average American worker. It's physically impossible.

I'm far from calling for a revolution here, but when the President calls a raise in the minimum wage, it's not because he hates business, it's because at this point it may be a matter of survival for some people.

Lady News for International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day! Here is some women-stuff from around the interwebs.

The good:

• Finally - VAWA is law.
• Air France celebrated International Women's Day with an all-female Airbus crew.
• Check out this awesome campaign to break down gender stereotypes and prevent sexual assault.
• This hero helped get rape prosecuted as a war crime.

The bad:

• Facebook launched their new newsfeed today and the reporter ratio was 18:1.
• Sheryl Sandberg's book is coming out next week and the hate pile is already a mile high.
• Speaking of hater, Girls gets trashed for all the things that made Seinfeld awesome.
• Arkansas is going to spend a bunch of money defending an anti-abortion law that will almost definitely be overturned.
• The gender wage gap widened again last year.

The ugly:

• Violence against women comes in many forms.
• Military rape - still a problem.
• More rape, this time as a weapon of war in Syria.

And just so you don't get too depressed, here's a reminder that we're all in this together.

News from Ohio: Oberlin Cancels Classes After Hate-Related Incidents

Ohio seems to be in the national news a lot (or maybe I just notice it more now that I live here), and it never seems to be for a good reason. My adopted home state has some wacky ideas about stuff, so I thought I might use my blog to highlight some of them.

I swear I don't go looking for this stuff. It just appears in my news feed every day. Today we have Oberlin College (near Cleveland) cancelling classes after a series of racist graffiti and "incidents." Also, a person was seen wearing a KKK robe on campus. Terrifying.

Oberlin Cancels Classes After Series of ‘Hate-Related Incidents’