Category Archives: feminism

Burqas Don’t Stop Harassment, Rush

tell_your_breasts_to_stop_staring_at_my_eyes_tshirt-p235403032527114539qw9y_400Walk up to the woman and say, “Would you please ask your breasts to stop staring at my eyes?”

That’s Rush Limbaugh’s advice after University of Nebraska researchers said it looks like men can control their objectifying behavior as they gain awareness of it. (Btw, objectifying and appreciating that someone is attractive are two different things.)

And that’s a good thing, they say, because objectified women are seen as less friendly, less intelligent and competent, and less moral. That, in turn, leaves women silencing themselves and it undermines their work performance.

Yet Rush insists,

Some of these babes, I’m telling you, like the sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes.

Hmmm. Take a look at a Public Service Ad that puts you in an Egyptian woman’s shoes (where harassment is rampant):

And you know what? Women can’t please Rush whether they look attractive or not. (And most don’t want to please him.)  Read the rest of this entry

Vain, Fashion-Obsessed Women

penelope_cruz2Women are silly creatures who worry their pretty little heads over fashion and vainly adorn themselves in color, lace and ruffles.

But maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe fashion, lace and ruffles are thought trivial because they are associated with women.

In fact, men were once fashionistas, too.

Many of our serious and revered Founding Fathers wore color, lace, ruffles, embroidered vests, and silk stockings with decorative garters. They also donned wigs, curled their hair and hired tutors to instruct them in the elegance of sitting, standing and gesturing.

Thomas Jefferson was particularly fastidious, his fashion sense costing him a pretty penny. Or, as historians Barbara Clark Smith and Kathy Peiss explainRead the rest of this entry

Criminalizing Abortion Doesn’t Stop It

Birth Control Pill ContainerMy born again friend worries about me. I want to keep abortion safe and legal. But she wants me to shout down sinners and demand restrictions. I’ll go straight to Hell, for sure.

Truth is, I don’t really like abortion, and I wish that no woman ever felt a need to get one. At the same time I know that accidents happen, mistakes happen, that women become desperate, and that one third of American women have an abortion at some point in their lives.

I also know that criminalizing abortion doesn’t stop it.

A global study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Guttmacher Institute found that abortion rates are about the same in countries where it is legal and where it is not.

Read the rest of this entry

Hostility, Objectification Go Hand-In-Hand

Dolce-Gabbana-Ad-Sexist[1]Funny how objectifying women and hostility toward them so often go hand-in-hand. Well, not funny –ha ha.

Phil is a strip club patron who says that f-ing is all men really want from women, and whose philosophy of life includes “The Four Fs”: Find ‘em. Feel ‘em. F-k ‘em. Forget ‘em.

And then there are men who hate pretty women. These guys constantly lust after the ladies – or at least their body parts. But they hate women, too.  As one guy described  it:  Read the rest of this entry

An elevator speech for sexual assault

The best way to handle the moment when you feel threatened – or have just been attacked – is to have your reaction prepared in advance, says Jennie Saia.

Thigh Gap: Worth Starving For?

14445664-young-woman-measuring-her-thigh-with-a-meter-tapeIs a “thigh gap” worth starving for?

Thigh gap: When a woman’s legs are so thin that her thighs don’t touch. Right now it’s all the rage on social media with Twitterers and Tumblers sharing photos anxiously captioned, “Three inches to go.”

It’s all fueling a mass obsession and deemed a universal “ideal” instead of a crazy trend.

Not so long ago the “perfect woman,” embodied in Miss Universe, was one whose thighs touched. Read the rest of this entry

Men Mustn’t Pay For Pregnancies They Cause

2009-10-08-IMG_14331No fair! Men shouldn’t have to pay for women’s maternity care!

Oddly, that’s a recent GOP argument against the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, which says insurance companies can’t charge women more than men.

It’s left extremist men complaining, “No babies will ever pop out between my legs, so why should I have to pay for someone else’s pregnancy?”

After all, men have nothing to do with getting women pregnant. Right?

Next, they’ll be whining that babies should have to pay for their own care!

Yet babies don’t ask to be born.  Read the rest of this entry

Couples Trade Outfits, and Attitudes

couples-switch-outfits-switcheroo-project-hana-pesut-71__880Switch gender and watch normal become weird.

Hana Pesut photographed couples in their regular clothing, and again after switching outfits.

In the switch, women’s outfits become drab. Yet their posture straightens and strengthens. Some seem more in charge as they place their arms around their partner’s bodies.  Read the rest of this entry

Hookup Sex Less Pleasurable

1292393586_95218200Men are more likely to climax in committed relationships. And women are twice as likely to reach orgasm in serious relationships, compared with hookup sex.

Maybe that’s because partners are more likely to know what the other likes, through both communication and practice. They’re also less likely to have performance anxiety. And, they are less likely to be drunk. That always helps. Meanwhile, love can add a rich vein of emotional connectedness.

So it’s not so surprising that 70% of women and 73% of men in college say they want relationships over hookup sex.

The whole phenomenon doubles down when it comes to women, though. An NYU study found only 40% of women climaxing during their last sexual hookup, while 80% of men did.

It may all be due to nurture more than nature. Read the rest of this entry

Football Bullies Act Like Chickens

440px-Day_old_chick_black_backgroundWhat do football bullies and chickens have in common?

Ellen Chase bought some chickens, both for the eggs and the entertainment value. They quickly formed a pecking order, leaving the bird at the bottom madder than a wet hen. Eventually, that chicken realized that a blind hen was even more defenseless than her. “Fearful and isolated from her short lifetime of harassment,” Chase says,

It didn’t take her long to realize that here was someone more defenseless than herself, and all her pent-up anger came out in merciless attacks, random and unprovoked.

Miami Dolphins bully Richie Incognito is a lot like that chicken:  Read the rest of this entry