The War on Women

An important op-ed in The New York Times from Friday (h/t Feminist Law Professors for the link):

The War on Women

Republicans in the House of Representatives are mounting an assault on women’s health and freedom that would deny millions of women access to affordable contraception and life-saving cancer screenings and cut nutritional support for millions of newborn babies in struggling families. And this is just the beginning.

The budget bill pushed through the House last Saturday included the defunding of Planned Parenthood and myriad other cuts detrimental to women. It’s not likely to pass unchanged, but the urge to compromise may take a toll on these programs. And once the current skirmishing is over, House Republicans are likely to use any legislative vehicle at hand to continue the attack.

The egregious cuts in the House resolution include the elimination of support for Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income women that provides birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases. In the absence of Title X’s preventive care, some women would die. The Guttmacher Institute, a leading authority on reproductive health, says a rise in unintended pregnancies would result in some 400,000 more abortions a year.

An amendment offered by Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, would bar any financing of Planned Parenthood. A recent sting operation by an anti-abortion group uncovered an errant employee, who was promptly fired. That hardly warrants taking aim at an irreplaceable network of clinics, which uses no federal dollars in providing needed abortion care. It serves one in five American women at some point in her lifetime.

You can read the rest here.

Ladies Drink Free!

Jamie Keiles of The Seventeen Magazine Project fame* just posted a clever chart about frat party politics (particularly iterations of the "ladies drink free" ideology) on her new blog Teenagerie. Check it out!

She makes a good point, especially, about the way men pay for access to women in these situations; the cover and drink charges function then as a kind of fee securing their place in a space where, presumably, many women have flocked, lured by the prospect of free alcohol. What she doesn't really bring up, though, are the issues of consent that go along with a "ladies drink free" philosophy. Without an economic incentive to stop drinking, "ladies" might get drunker than their male counterparts ergo it will be that much easier to take advantage of them. Of course, women have just as much agency over their alcohol consumption as men do--free or not--but that doesn't change the implications of this idea. And the fact is that many college students (at whom this type of advertising is primarily aimed, even when it's a feature of a bar rather than a frat house), male or female, will find it difficult to pass up free alcohol.


* In another life, I had planned an interview with Jamie for the Ms. blog, but I think she got swamped with requests as her website took off and that, unfortunately, never came to fruition.

No Women Allowed! -- Dr. Pepper 10

And today in super-annoying marketing decisions:



Unfortunately, Colorado must be one of the "selected test markets" Time alludes to in the linked article, because I've been seeing this damn commercial for the last three days and I hate it with a burning passion. You know what's really sad? I would probably buy this soda, since I've long been on a quest to find a soda that doesn't taste like aspartame but also isn't sugar- and calorie-laden. Of course, part of me wants to buy this soda in spite of the advertising--no girls allowed! I'll show you, Dr. Pepper!--but, of course, they're probably counting on women either not caring about their men-only advertising or being irked enough to buy the soda because of their men-only advertising.

I understand that advertisers need to push their products towards certain markets and that it may be difficult to sell diet sodas to men (because of a bizarre social stigma, or perceived stigma, that already doesn't make sense). What I don't understand is why they can't make ads that are either gender-neutral or advertise towards men without reinforcing gender stereotypes (and particularly inane ones at that). God forbid you like "romantic comedies and lady drinks." (Actually, what are lady drinks?) And women definitely don't like action films.

In anticipation that people will claim I just can't take a joke, I'm perfectly fine with ads that make fun of gender stereotypes (like the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" ads, which I love). But, I mostly just think this ad this dumb and, hence, not funny.

Adventures in Women's Studies 101

I have two little anecdotes to share:

Last week, I asked my women's studies class how many of them consider themselves feminists; one student raised her hand (out of 60). When I asked them if they believe women and men should be equal in society, everyone raised their hands. This was a perfect set-up for talking about the antifeminist backlash, but also extremely depressing.

Earlier today, I asked my students to discuss what needs to be changed in terms of gender equity/inequity in society today. A guy in the back of the room who has barely made a peep so far this semester responded (this is an approximation of what he said), "I think it's really important that women have the right to abortion because from my perspective, as a guy, it's my job to support her decision no matter what because it's her body and not mine. And I don't think it's right that society makes being pro-choice look so bad and that some people, like the religious right, think it's okay to make decisions about women's bodies for them."

I now love this guy...although he still didn't raise his hand when I asked if anyone considered themselves a feminist. Peer pressure? Cultural denigration of a term that should be more neutral than it's often presumed to be? Any other theories?

Classic Feminist Writings

I just found this amazing internet resource, funded and provided by the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU). It's a collection of classic feminist essays and manifestos, available online and for free, including Barbara Ehrenreich's "What is Socialist Feminism," Jo Freeman's "The BITCH Manifesto," Judy Syfer's "Why I Want a Wife," Pat Mainardi's "The Politics of Housework," Kate Millet's "Sexual Politics" (the essay that led to the book) and many more!

Happy reading.

(Also, I'm planning a series of posts syncing up with my women's studies class--something I started last spring, but on which I never followed through. I'll be starting it in the next two weeks or so!)