"Bill would LET moms breastfeed in public"

(originally posted 04/09 at wordpress)


by Blythe Pavlik

http://www.katu.com/news/local/42641712.html

This issue really gets my blood boiling. To go into all the issues surrounding breastfeeding, public or not, would be too labor intensive right now. But the issue that such bans or bills brings up is an issue of our hyper-sexual, sexually unhealthy society that can't see a breast as having any more value than as an object (never mind it is attached to a human being) of sexual titillation.

The Glass Crack: Painfully Palin

(originally posted 10/08 at wordpress)


by Gwen Davis

The Glass Crack is a new weekly column from PSU Grad Student Gwen Davis that revisits the previous week’s news stories and looks at them through a feminist eye. Granted, personal opinions, bias, rhetorical questions, and perhaps even a few logical fallacies will appear. At times it may seem like the author is confused, and that assumption is totally correct because many ways of the world—especially people—do not make sense. Comments, suggestions and guest columns are welcome and encouraged. Let this be an honest place to discuss the unfair, the beautiful, the perplexing, the wrong, and the right.

The title of the column is a reference to those 18 million cracks in the ceiling Hillary Clinton spoke of in her concession speech:

Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.

- Hillary Clinton

With the presidential election mere weeks away, I have become increasingly interested in the Sarah Palin debacle. One news organization postulated that the initial excitement that surrounded the Republican Vice Presidential nominee was a result of voters considering her to be an answer to a non-existent Hillary Clinton Democratic ticket. Unfortunately for Republicans, hopeful women, and many swing voters Sarah Palin is not Hillary Clinton — to the relief of Democrats.

I recently received an email from a very good, liberal friend of mine from Colorado. The email contained an article written by Eve Ensler, playwright best known for The Vagina Monologues. The article expressed Ensler’s disgust over the McCain/Palin ticket. “I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them,” she writes. “It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical.”

The Term Abortion to Include Preventative Contraception?

(originally posted 07/08 at wordpress)

"A Bush administration plan to define several widely used contraception methods as abortion is a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult" to women and faces tough opposition, Sen. Hillary Clinton said on Friday" (Nichols, M., Reuters).

Reflections on the Faculty Favorite Lecture Series

(originally posted 06/08 at wordpress)


by Emily Hutsell

This term I took the IST 499 engagement credit, which required my attendance at 6 PSU sponsored events. Because of the interesting subject matter, I chose to attend many of the Faculty Favorite Lecture Series, for which a faculty member is chosen to present their current work. The topics of the lectures covered sustainability, White Studies, interrupting oppression and why America isn’t ready for a female president. Each of these events was extremely thought provoking, and whether or not there was an opportunity for discussion, it has been part of my discussion with others.

Herstory: Barbara Lee

(originally posted 05/08 at wordpress)



by Katherine Johncock

Barbara Lee is a fearless leader protecting the American people’s rights. She is a member (democrat) of the House of Representatives for California’s 9^th district. Born July 16, 1946 in El Paso, Texas Lee moved to California in 1960 with her military family parents. As a young single mother of two, Lee received her Bachelor’s degree from Mill’s College in Oakland, California and went on for a Master of Social Work at the University of California, Berkeley. Barbara Lee is probably most well known for being the only elected representative (including both the house and the senate) who voted “no” on granting the executive branch unchecked military power after the September 11, 2001 attacks. This heroic act is often overlooked although it demonstrated unwavering dedication to the people’s freedom. After serving on the International Relations and Financial Services Committees in 2007 she joined the House Appropriations committee. Check out the video of her speech to the house after September 11^th! She sounds so prophetic. Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf1N-y9Mbo4For more information about Barbara Lee check out: http://lee.house.gov/

On Rape Culture

(originally posted 05/08 at wordpress)

 

 

by Katie Johncock

 

 

 

“Rape culture” is a scary phrase. At least I think so. The first time I heard it I was taking the basic advocacy training at Portland Women’s Crisis Hotline and I remember thinking: “Whoa, that sounds really intense…does our culture really support rape?” What I found out was that rape culture is so normalized that it’s easy to miss it. What exactly is rape culture?

On Women's Right to Vote

(originally posted 04/08 at wordpress)


by Susan B Anthony, 1873

"Friends and fellow citizens: I stand before you tonight under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny.

The WRC's Response to the Genocide Awareness Project

(originally posted 04/08 at wordpress)

Women’s Resource Center’s Response
To the Genocide Awareness Project @ PSU
April 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The PSU Women’s Resource Center honors Freedom of Speech – the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. We also recognize that the Genocide Awareness Project may be disturbing and evoke an emotional response. Freedom of speech allows us to engage in a dialogue about the Choice Movement, and the WRC strongly encourages PSU students to do so.

Please let your voice be heard too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to get involved!

Plan an event or volunteer at the Women’s Resource
Center.wrc@pdx.edu • www.wrc.pdx.edu • 503-725-5672

Join the student group PSU Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood
Vox@pdx.edu

Join the student group NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon
tleanne5664@hotmail.com

Volunteer with NARAL Pro-Choice
Oregoneddie@prochoiceoregon.org • 503-223-4510

Volunteer with Planned Parenthood
http://www.plannedparenthood.org • 1-800-230-PLAN

Write about your personal experience or
write a response and submit it to the WRC’s online zine.
mae@shesheet.com (www.shesheet.com)

Register to VOTE!
http://www.declareyourself.com
Register to Vote in the WRC April 9 – April 28

Feminist Food For Thought: "Goodbye to All That (#2)" by Robin Morgan

(originally posted 03/08 at wordpress)

This is a thought-provoking read for anyone interested in feminist issues, regardless of your position in the democratic primary election.

Goodbye To All That (#2) by Robin Morgan

February 2, 2008
“Goodbye To All That” was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago /).

During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.

Goodbye to the double standard . . .

—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.

—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)

—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.

More...

—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.)

Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .

Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.” Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For shame.

Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.

Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame.

Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame.

Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?

Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .

The women’s movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com ). But what about NBC’s Tim Russert’s continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN’s Tony Harris chuckling at “the chromosome thing” while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that’s not even mentioning Fox News.

for the rest of the article, visit: http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.html

Herstory: Gladys Bentley

(originally posted 03/08 at wordpress)



by mae stephenson

Gladys Bentley (1907 - 1960)

Audio Clip from www.queerculturalcenter.org

Gladys Bentley was an out lesbian blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. She moved to Harlem from Pennsylvania at age 16 and began performing at rent parties (thrown by artists for a cover charge to raise rent), soon graduating to speakeasies and nightclubs. She gained immense notoriety for her raunchy renditions of popular songs, always performed in her signature tux and top hat. She began recording her music in the 1930's, and while politics of the era forced her to forego including her songs with lesbian lyrics, she still performed them at clubs and attracted a predominately gay audience. Once the "lavender scare" and McCarthyism hit in the 1950's, Bentley became a prime target an as out lesbian bulldagger in the entertainment industry. Despite her previous marriage to a white woman in New Jersey, she quickly married a man and began wearing dresses, touting salvation via the consumption of female hormones. Her efforts to survive in a dangerous era are seen as a piece of her important herstory.

For more information, visit http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Bentley/BentleyBio.html or http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbiansinhistory/p/GladysBentley.htm

Clinton and Obama - Change U.S. Forever

(originally posted 02/08 at wordpress)

by Blythe Pavlik

This morning I had a warm feeling flood through me when thinking about the current democratic presidential campaign. It felt a lot like hope. It was a significant feeling – politics was inciting good vibes! Quite suddenly it dawned on me that history (ourstory) was taking place. At this very moment we are transforming progressively as a country. At this very moment, steps that have never before been taken in the United States are being taken with gusto!