Two feminist blogging carnivals were published this week: Carnival Against Sexual Violence 53 The 17th Carnival of Radical Feminists Both carnivals contain plenty of excellent posts to ponder, provoke and especially to disturb. Which brings me to the posts that… Read More ›
Politics
UK Criminal Compensation Authority Blaming Rape Victims
Under guidelines meant to minimise compensation payouts for people who “contribute to their own ordeal during a criminal incident”, such as people taking part in the crime, or offering provocation for an attack, certain bureaucrats decided that women being out in the world socialising in a perfectly legal fashion were liable for provoking their own rapes, and cut their compensation payouts accordingly. Public outcry has meant that the decision has been reversed, but how could they have been so wrong headed in the first place?
It could be something to do with the way that the media reports rape, of course. Melissa reports [trigger warnings], and then responds to a typical Daily Mail women-blaming op-ed (the pictorial juxtaposition has to be seen to be believed):
The piece itself is just unrelentingly infuriating, as its male author offers up gems like:
A conflict of interest in Campaign McCain, you say? Quelle surprise!
Most of the world is calling on both Russia and Georgia to show restraint in their current conflict, without attempting to cast one as more of an agressor than the other.
Not Campaign McCain
WWTTMD?
What would Tiananmen Tank Man Do?
I don’t think he’d watch the Olympics. Of course I can’t know this, because we don’t know who he was, whether he is still alive, or whether he would actually be an enormous fan of the Olympics right now.
Still, I am not watching these Olympics, simply because I can’t square my conscience with supporting the regime’s propaganda exercise.
Amandaw is kicking arse and taking names when it comes to able-bodied privilege
Amandaw has been writing an absolutely white-hot series of guest posts at Feministe about invisible disability and her illness experience. I intensely, wholeheartedly urge you to make an effort to set the time aside to read them all. Start at the bottom, read the comments, and work your way up.
If you had to pick just four, though, try
Newsflash! Gans and Leigh: Still no evidence that women are harming their babies for cash.
Back in November 2007, tigtog and I discussed at length the paper on the baby bonus introduction by Andrew Leigh and Joshua Gans, “Born (Again) on the First of July: Another Experiment in Birth Timing”[1]. The paper has now been revised for international publication, this time with mortality data.
Their thesis back in 2007 was there was an introduction effect “delaying” births around the time of the baby bonus introduction, and their data does show a clear change in pattern.
Feminism Friday from the Feed-reader
A few must-reads highlighting several very different feminist core issues from the recent posts at Feministe:
Octogalore: Opt Out, Push Out, and Pink Collar Paths
Well, it’s critical for workplaces to become more family friendly. Single parents, poor parents, don’t have the option for one parent not to work. And for women and men to have equal access to unemployment benefits.
But it’s also critical for this “family friendly” path not to
How more vile (and thick (and don’t forget vile)) can McCain possibly be?
He pimped his wife to voters as a potential contestant in a local “beauty contest” that involves skimpy swimwear, topless parades and simulated sex acts – (edited to addwhich to be fair I’m sure he didn’t know was quite so “risque”, but it’s still totally objectifying his wife). (Video here of both McCain’s “quip” and a typical night’s entertainment in the contest) As I’m sure you’ll all
Got Breastmilk? Californian Milk Board Threatens Batik Artist Mum
Remember when Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist was stomped on by Big Pork for selling a T-shirt saying “The other white milk”?
“Your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board’s mark, in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption”,
the Pork Board whined, with a side serve of insinuation that The Lactivist was a sexual lactation fetish site. (Or were they really, truly freaked out that she is just fine with toddlers and preschoolers breastfeeding, not just infants – and thought that that any association with all that booby malarkey would reflect badly on an organisation that intensively tortures pigs before making them into bacon? We’ll never know.)
The gap between American justice and that of the rest of the world is enormous and growing
Xeni Jardin notes that it’s official: more than 1% of the US population is now in jail or prison. The stats one finds can be a little confusing because of that particular US distinction (between jail (a remand facility for those awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanours) and prison (convicted criminals only)), but most studies find between 750 to 800 persons imprisoned per 100,000 US populace. Other nations treat jail/gaol and prison as synonyms, so their incarceration rates may well include those held on remand or for misdemeanours, making the difference in figures between the US and other countries even more striking.
Hoyden About Town 