ok, pissed.

abortion isn't covered in the new health care bill. there's a huge, huge conversation going on at feministing about viewing abortion as an "elective procedure" and about how a few feminists who claim the pro-choice moniker keep parroting the right-wing idea that only rape and a danger to the life of the woman should mean the big A gets covered.

where do we compromise? i am sure the dems who voted for this bill will say it's the only way they could get it passed. and i agree, the Right has been trying to kill health care by bringing in the abortion debate for YEARS. (see the hyde amendment.)

i want health care reform as much as the next person, but i'm frankly pissed that we still don't see abortion as a human right, and can't agree to the fact that a woman's right to control her own body is the single greatest thing contributing to the movement for gender equality. i won't even go into how much this amendment affects poor women disproportionately. there are so many things wrong with it, and yet i find myself thinking that maybe it was for the best, just to get something passed. but then i remember what this means and i do NOT think it was for the best. i loved obama's attitude of compromise when he was campaigning. i thought it would be good for our country to learn how to cooperate and get along. and since then i have realized that i don't WANT to compromise with people who want to deny rights to me and the people that i love. i am having a very hard time balancing my compassion and my rage.
i definitely understand why people are against abortion. i definitely understand why that means they don't want anyone to have one.

i just don't want to concede to them anymore.

question blog, v1.0

i am interested, dear readers, in what news sources you use and how often you use them. i strive to get news from different places, about a variety of topics, and i try to do this every day. it doesn't always happen. sometimes all i end up with is 10 minutes of democracy now headlines in the morning and maybe a feministing article or two during the day. my email inbox piles up with headlines and pleas from activist organizations and soon i find myself deleting whole messes of emails simply because i know i don't have time to read and respond to all of them. what news sources and/or activist organizations do you prioritize?

other questions:

-how important is it to you to know what's going on in the world? in the country? in your state? in your county?

-does being informed matter to you even if you know you won't use that information?

-what things do you hate or love about the news?

-and, one that has felt particularly relevant of late:
how do you make time for news and politics when emotions run high?

i feel like when i have personal stuff going on i often shut out my regular news sources and find it hard to get fired up about my usual issues because i'm bogged down in a morass of [insert emotion here].

does anyone have any methods? dudes are supposed to be better at compartmentalizing their brains (and yes, i realize this is not true for all dudes), so maybe XY readers of this blog can tell me something about how that works?

anyway, question blog go! answers plz k thx.

in other news...

sweden is STILL awesome. they are going to start putting emissions labels on their foods so that consumers can see what the level of emissions is for each thing they buy. here's a cool graph (you know i love teh graphs):
food science yay

maybe a little annoying, because i know i would be one of those people who is like..."oh shit, which of these candies is best for the planet?!" and then spend 10 minutes stressing over the fact that i really want some chocolate but sour patch kids emit less global warming gases during their production.
ugggghhhhhhhhh privileged choices. :)

rape culture

have you heard of it?
rape culture, in short, means all the strange shit that goes down in our society that means that people who rape other people mostly go unpunished and sometimes are exalted in the face of accusation (i'm looking at you, kobe bryant).
it means i avoid walking alone at night as much as possible, even though night walks are my favorite kind of walks. i tried it, for funsies (no, it was actually an accident, it got dark very quickly), a few weeks ago. i was followed most of the way home by a man yelling things at me. i am probably not going to feel like i want to do it again for a long time.
it means YES I HAVE TAKEN SELF DEFENSE and i'm still scared, so please don't tell me that's what i *should* do in order to feel okay about it.
it means nice guys who get all upset because i won't talk to them on the bus. and yeah, they really are nice. but they don't get it. (read this for a better run-down of why rapists mean that cute girl at the library/coffee shop/bus stop may not and does not have to give you the time of day).

rape culture means i can't hitchhike, even though i have always wanted to.
it means i don't look strange men in the eye when i'm speaking to them (or, sometimes, it means i don't look people i'm dating in the eye when i'm speaking to them), or smile back at men who smile at me. (eye contact and/or smiling means an invitation, right? amirite? this is what i have experienced, anyway)

it means i got really creeped out when last week this man pulled up in his car beside mine and said,
"you know, i just have to tell you, you've got really great legs"
and my friend laurel and i had to have a conversation about why that felt weird and yucky instead of complimentary. (fyi, it's partly because i don't know him and i don't know why he felt he needed to make his first statement to me about one part of my body) (double fyi, it's because i have no idea what his intentions were with that. he could have been a "nice guy" for all i know. doubtful, as he was much older and very leery and had looked down at my legs as he passed by my car, which i was sitting in, minding my own business. i love how the moment i step out my door at home i am somehow opened up to whatever onslaught of comments men feel necessary to bestow upon me. yes there are some women who like it. i'm not one of them. if i know you, and you want to tell me i'm pretty, awesome. if i don't know you, please don't make that your opener.)

it means that i am scared to write posts like these that might alienate some of my friends because they think it means i hate men or that i think all men are rapists or silly stereotypey things like that.

let me be clear. i hate rape culture. men who don't buy into it are not only super cool, they achieve hero status, because men in this movement are few and far between, and i get really excited when i see a dude standing up against the normalization of sexual violence (against anyone, not just women).

i was inspired to write this post by a similarly-formatted post on Shakesville about rape culture. You can find that here. I would recommend it, just as I would recommend the "Schrodinger's rapist: or a guy's guide to how to approach strange women without getting maced" (i don't agree with the tone she takes as much as i agree with her points about boundary assertion and paying attention to non-verbal communication). for a male's response to the article, go here, to the yes means yes blog.

wow

" H.B 1595 is a new provision on Oklahoma abortion laws that now requires, among other restrictions and requirements, an official record and reporting system of all abortions occuring within the state. This report will be available for anyone in the world to view, as it will be made public on a website as of March 1st. The Dept of Health, who among others has supported these new provisions, has declared that since the name and “personal information” will not be reported, there is no cause for concern or protest in regards to privacy issues. However, in reviewing the actual text of the law, the first 8 questions that will be asked and reported could easily be used to identify any member of a smaller community.

1. Date of abortion
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother
4. Marital status of mother
(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother
(specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions "

you can't twitter dat, it's a violation of pennsylvania law

this is fascinating. a man is arrested for tweeting about police dispersal. i am so glad they talk about the difference between the media covering the use of twitter during the iranian election protests and now, during the G20 protests. it's astonishing. i guess it shouldn't be, considering. but it really, really is.

put down that burger before it shuts down your nervous system!

article in the times about our "food safety" regulations.
a minnesota dance teacher was paralyzed after eating a hamburger. talk about shit luck.