Tag: Women Issues

Closing Thought–16Jan23

Enter the fashion police.

The GOP continues to insert themselves in the lives and choices of women…..and Missouri is the latest crap bill….

It seems that the GOP wants to impose a dress code for women.

Women make up fewer than one-third of the seats in Missouri’s House, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but they were the ones speaking the loudest this week after the chamber’s dress code was tweaked to mandate how female lawmakers should cover their arms while at work. The Hill reports that the alteration to the code was an update to the last directive from 2021, which stated women in the House could wear “dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots.” The new version suggested by GOP Rep. Ann Kelley would have changed that to “jackets worn with dresses, skirts, or slacks, and dress shoes or boots”—meaning no more sweaters, and emphasizing a requirement that women’s arms remain covered.

The Washington Post notes that House rules in the state can only be debated every two years, at the beginning of the General Assembly. This particular proposal was met with fiery opposition from the Democrats’ side of the aisle. “I spent $1,200 on a suit, and I can’t wear it in the People’s House because someone who doesn’t have the range tells me that it’s inappropriate,” Rep. Raychel Proudie protested on the House floor, per Heartland Signal. Even the guys jumped in to support their female colleagues’ right to choose their own clothing. “The caucus that lost their minds over the suggestion that they should wear masks during a pandemic to respect the safety of others is now spending its time focusing on the fine details of what women have to wear (specifically how to cover their arms),” Rep. Peter Merideth noted.

Kelley and other Republicans in the House are pushing back, saying they’re just trying to keep attire professional, and that the dress code tweak isn’t a substantial one. “All we’re trying to do today is to take the same rules that we have and make them more clear,” Rep. Brenda Shields said, per the Post. Kelley’s eye roll at the controversy: “You would think that all you would have to do is say ‘dress professionally’ and women could handle it.” A modified version of her bill was the one that finally passed, allowing cardigans to join jackets in the “appropriate” coverings column—but women still have to make sure their arms are shielded either way. Men in the state House also have a dress code, but there were no updates to theirs on Wednesday. Their mandate for the chamber: “Proper attire for gentlemen shall be business attire, including coat, tie, dress trousers, and dress shoes or boots.”

Once again the GOP has shown they cannot move into the 21st century….they still want to control all aspects of the women’s lives….to include their attire.

Truly pathetic bunch of old farts!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–11Aug21

There are many stories that go under reported because of the laser focus on Covid and infrastructure and other stuff by the MSM.

This report needed more coverage than it received…..

More than half of women soldiers who report sexual harassment say they are repeatedly harassed, according to a Rand Corporation study about sexual harassment and gender discrimination faced by soldiers. The most prevalent forms of harassment are attemptsat unwanted sexual relations, being “ignored,” “mistreated” and “insulted“ due to their gender and hearing they are not as good as men.

Rand released the results of a five-month study that was requested by the Army as part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s February 2021 order to address sexual assault. The study,comprised of 1,582 female and 900 male active-duty soldiers who reported some form of sexual harassment to the 2018 Workplace and Gender Relations of Active Duty Members survey. It concluded that while men and women both face forms of harassment in the Army, women are more likely to face “serious” or “persistent” harassment.

The WGRA is a biennial survey mandated by Congress to asses the prevalence of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and related issues within the military. In 2018 the survey sampled 735,645 active-duty service members across the military, with 17 percent of respondents self-reporting a form of sexual assault or harassment.

The most prevalent form of harassment experienced by women — reported by 53 percent of respondents — was being “ignored, mistreated,” or “insulted” due to their gender. In addition, 45 percent of women reported hearing that they weren’t as good as men at their job.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/08/03/more-than-half-of-women-in-army-report-facing-some-form-of-sexual-harassment-study/

Apparently the Pentagon had rather fight wars instead of insuring the safety and the mental health of women military participants.

This is so sad…..pathetic even.

Why are women soldiers treated like second class citizens?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06Apr20

Covid-19 news has smothered all other news from the conversation….but thank goodness there is the old Professor to keep his readers abreast.

It appears that women will have to register for the draft…..that is right the draft that is used if we need to call up people to fill the ranks of our military.

If a commission’s recommendation is accepted, young women will have to register for the draft when they turn 18, just like their male counterparts. After a three-year study into whether women should be eligible for the draft, the panel has decided they should, reports Politico. The outlet got the first look at the commission’s report to the Pentagon. “This is a necessary and fair step, making it possible to draw on the talent of a unified Nation in a time of national emergency,” the 11 commissioners write. It next goes to the White House and to congressional staffers, and it would be up to lawmakers to change the law if they wish.

Forced conscription was abolished in 1973, notes the Military Times, but men are still required to register. In addition to the commission’s report, the matter is being addressed in the courts as well. A federal appeals court is currently weighing whether a male-only draft registration is constitutional. About 224,000 women currently serve in the armed forces, notes Politico. And thanks to a Pentagon move five years ago, they can serve in combat roles.

This may be a non-starter for most people in this time of pandemic hysteria……but I have a few things about the need for a draft…

on Jan. 2, as Americans contemplated a return to work after the New Year holiday, shocking news began to ricochet across the internet: The United States had conducted a deadly drone strike on Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, one of that country’s most esteemed military officers. Suddenly, the U.S. appeared to be on a war footing with a sovereign nation, one with nuclear aspirations.

As whispers of a possible World War III gained viral speed, something unexpected happened: The nation’s attention turned to a small federal institution that has been little more than a historical footnote since the end of the Vietnam War. Google search traffic for “the draft” reached its highest levels since at least 2004; the U.S. Selective Service System’s website, which officials say was undergoing maintenance at the time, slowed nearly to a halt as panicked visitors flooded in. In the days that followed, the U.S. Army was forced to issue an announcement combating a malicious hoax. No, officials said: We will not conscript you and order you off to basic training via text message.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/22/bringing-back-draft-5-possibilities-future-military-conscription.html

We may need the draft to protect our nation in this time of doubt and confusion.

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I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Women’s History #6–Margaret Sanger

My closing tribute to women for this month…..afterwards I return to the world of Covid-19…..

Margaret Sanger…….Another woman that does not get much play in our study of history unless you are inn a women’s studies class…..she was an important rights activist for women’s birth control rights…..

The consequences of sexual relations between women and men simply were not fair.

An old double standard dictated that men were rewarded for sexual prowess and women suffered a damaged reputation. Males were encouraged to “sow a few wild oats” while women were told “good girls don’t.”

Most of all, if a relationship resulted in pregnancy, it was the woman who was left with the responsibility. For decades, pioneers like Margaret Sanger fought for contraceptives that women would control. With the introduction of the birth control pill to the market in 1960, women could for the first time deter pregnancy by their own choice.

The fight for reproductive freedoms was intense. Organized religions such as the Roman Catholic Church stood firm on their principles that artificial contraceptives were sinful. Many states in the early 1960s prohibited the sale of contraceptives — even to married couples.

https://www.ushistory.org/us/57b.asp

More on Sanger’s life……

In the early 20th century, at a time when matters surrounding family planning or women’s healthcare were not spoken in public, Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights. In her later life, Sanger spearheaded the effort that resulted in the modern birth control pill by 1960.

Born September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York, the sixth of eleven children born to Michael Hennessey Higgins, a stonemason, and Anna Purcell Higgins, a devoutly Roman Catholic Irishwoman. Sanger’s life course was shaped by the poverty of her childhood and the death of her mother at age 50, which Sanger understood resulted from the physical toll of eleven pregnancies. Sanger later became a nurse, attending Claverack College and Hudson River Institute in 1896 and completing the nursing program at White Plains Hospital in 1902. That year she married William Sanger, an architect, and moved to Hastings, New York, where the couple had three children

…

Sanger strongly believed that the ability to control family size was crucial to ending the cycle of women’s poverty. But it was illegal to distribute birth control information. Working as a visiting nurse, she frequented the homes of poor immigrants, often with large families and wives whose health was impaired by too many pregnancies, miscarriages, or in desperation botched abortions. Often, too, immigrant wives would ask her to tell them “the secret,” presuming that educated white women like Sanger knew how to limit family size. Sanger made it her mission to 1) provide women with birth control information and 2) repeal the federal Comstock Law, which prohibited the distribution of obscene materials through the mails, and regarded birth control information as such.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/margaret-sanger

Another woman that has been pushed aside in favor of BS history that features men over women……Margaret Sanger deserves better than to be forgotten by the masses when she did so much in their name.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Torture For Young Girls

It is Super Bowl Sunday and am not expecting much tarficc today….Me?  I’m not watching…I am a Saints fan and they were screwed so screw the Super Bowl.

Instead I post on a subject that few Americans know anything about.

There has been a concerted attempt to try and eliminate the process of FGM….about now if you are not all that interested this means nothing other than some title only the media would be interested….

Since today is a Sunday and I wrote a piece years ago as a Sunay posy…let me refresh your memory…..https://lobotero.com/2016/10/16/what-is-fgm/

But if you were to damn lazy to read my post……

It’s also known as “female circumcision” or “cutting”, and by other terms such as sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others.

FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts. It is illegal in the UK and is child abuse.

It’s very painful and can seriously harm the health of women and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth and mental health.

There are four main types of FGM:

  • Type 1 (clitoridectomy) – removing part or all of the clitoris.
  • Type 2 (excision) – removing part or all of the clitoris and the inner labia (lips that surround the vagina), with or without removal of the labia majora (larger outer lips).
  • Type 3 (infibulation) – narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a seal, formed by cutting and repositioning the labia.
  • Other harmful procedures to the female genitals, including pricking, piercing, cutting, scraping or burning the area.

FGM is often performed by traditional circumcisers or cutters who do not have any medical training. However, in some countries it may be done by a medical professional.

Now that you are caught up with the FGM thing……then we shall move on to another torture some girls are put through…

And that torture is called “Breast Ironing”……and yes it sounds horrible and it is …….

An African practice of “ironing” a girl’s chest with a hot stone to delay breast formation is spreading in the UK to “protect” young girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape, a media report said on Saturday.

The Guardian reported that community workers in London, Yorkshire, Essex and the West Midlands informed the newspaper about cases in which pre-teen girls from the diaspora of several African countries were subjected to the painful, abusive and futile practice.

The UN has described the practice as one of five global under-reported crimes relating to gender-based violence.

The perpetrators, usually mothers, consider it a traditional measure which protects girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape. Medical experts and victims, however, call it child abuse which could lead to physical and psychological scars, infections, inability to breastfeed, deformities and breast cancer.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/several-pre-teen-girls-subjected-to-breast-ironing-in-uk-report/story-YKa7nXekrBzBnn3LGyKk5N.html

This is so sad…..why must young girls be put through this archaic torture?  Women in Africa and the Third World have a difficult life then why make it worse?

Sorry to be a downer on this Sunday…..try to be well, be safe…..chuq

When Women Step Up

You would think that this close to the end of Midterm voting I would be talking about female candidates….well you would be mistaken…..

Throughout history women have stepped up when they were needed to…..they are the protesters that many listen to for they have the weight of family as well as society on their shoulders.

Countries like France, Russia, South Africa, etc….women have taken to the streets….least we forget the Women’s March on DC in January 2017……

On Saturday, 150,000 people are expected to take to the streets for the Women’s March on Washington. The progressive demonstration is expected to be the largest of inauguration weekend as well as one of the largest in US history, and sister marches will be held in cities across the country and around the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/21/womens-march-protests-history-suffragettes-iceland-poland

One of the biggest protest were anti-war and in Russia in 1917……some say the beginning of the Russian Revolution…..

The first day of the Russian Revolution – 8 March (23 February in the old Russian calendar) – was International Women’s Day, an important day in the socialist calendar. By midday of that day in 1917 there were tens of thousands of mainly women congregating on the Nevsky Prospekt, the principal avenue in the centre of the Russian capital, Petrograd, and banners started to appear.

The slogans on the banners were patriotic but also made forceful demands for change: “Feed the children of the defenders of the motherland,” read one; another said: “Supplement the ration of soldiers’ families, defenders of freedom and the people’s peace.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/08/womens-protest-sparked-russian-revolution-international-womens-day

What made me think about women and protests was an article I read the other day…..

About 1,500 women and allied men marched on the Pentagon on Sunday to demand an end to perpetual war and the funding of education, health care and other social needs instead.

Stopping U.S. military involvement in Syria and Yemen and closing U.S. military bases around the world were among the demands voiced by the protestors who set out from Pentagon City and marched to the seat of American military power along a one-mile route.

With the Pentagon in the background, the protestors shouted slogans and waved signs calling for, “No More War.”

https://theantimedia.com/women-march-on-the-pentagon-no-more-war/

Finally!  Someone has stepped up and protested the constant wars that are draining this country of blood and treasure….and it was women that stepped up and showed courage something that most men seem to lack.

Plus there are several antiwar protests that the media has ignored for whatever reason……but I can help the memory of those protests…..

 A friend told me yesterday that he hadn’t seen an antiwar protest in America in ten years. It was a sincere comment; he genuinely hadn’t seen any coverage on any peace activism in his country during that time. And of course he hadn’t; it is mainstream media’s job to distort public narratives in favor of the war-hungry plutocratic class which owns the media outlets. But I’ve actually been noticing a lot of antiwar activism lately which, while often far from the spotlight of mass media attention, has given me much hope for the future.

https://theantimedia.com/antiwar-protests/

And now for the musical interlude……..

Keep in mind if anyone has a RIGHT to protest war it is the people that fight them……Period!

Veterans were especially outspoken in their opposition. Retired generals and admirals feared such a demonstration would embarrass the U.S., placing the nation in the company of small-time authoritarian regimes that regularly parade their tanks and missiles as demonstrations of their military might. And some veterans’ organizations opposed the parade because they saw it as a celebration of militarism and war.

Veterans of past wars, as I document in my book “Guys Like Me: Five Wars, Five Veterans for Peace” have long been at the forefront of peace advocacy in the United States.

https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2018/11/10/veterans-have-fought-in-wars-and-fought-against-them/

Just think how much better this country could have been if the war bill of $5.6 trillion (post forthcoming) had been spent on infrastructure or other programs?

Use your voice!

Closing Thought–18Oct18

We had yet another round of the sexual assault of someone in the government or wants to be in the government…..

I found a Repub candidate that is the best example of the Party today, the party of ignorant old white men……

This guy thinks rape can be prevented by educating women……

When Senate Republicans voted this weekend to confirm alleged sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, they proved once again that the GOP is the party of rape.

And just in case you thought that was a fluke, Republican congressional candidate Denver Riggleman stepped in on Monday to claim that rape and sexual assault can be prevented by “educating females.”

During the fifth debate in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District between Riggleman and his Democratic opponent, veteran journalist Leslie Cockburn, an audience member asked both candidates how they proposed to reduce incidences of rape and sexual assault.

https://shareblue.com/gop-nominee-denver-riggleman-we-can-stop-rape-by-educating-females/

Seriously?  Once again it is a woman’s fault that she is raped…the man is an innocent by-stander according to the GOP and its nominees…..

Have you heard anything so fucking ignorant in your life?

And then I did…….

former Indiana state lawmaker, who once proudly identified himself as the most “conservative member” of the legislature in the state that gave the country Vice President Mike Pence, used a passage in the Bible to dismiss women who claim they have been raped.

“Only fools or fanatics or feminists (but then I repeat myself) say that all female sexual accusations against men should be believed. Period,” Boys wrote, before adding, “A false accusation can destroy a man’s family, finances, and future. All sexual assaults should be seriously looked at and any rapist should be executed as in bygone years and any false accuser should be branded with an L on her forehead and horse-whipped out of town (figuratively).”

But Boys added a caveat by citing a few choice passages from the Bible.

“Some common sense definitions are necessary regarding this accusation,” he explained. “Rape is having sex with a woman while she screams for help. No scream, no rape according to Deuteronomy 22:23-24. Ford says Kavanaugh held his hand over her mouth so did she scream for help when his hand was elsewhere?”

(rawstory.com)

Wow!  Only if the woman screams?  Wow!

Just wait another GOPer will open his mouth and insert both feet…..I have confidence in my prediction.

GOP is choke full of angry old men and the sooner they die off the better off the country will be…..a bit harsh I know….but as they say….the truth hurts!

Feminism In Review

Last week news came out that another state has ratified the ERA (Equal Right Amendment) making it so that only one more state needs to ratify and it will become the law of the land (I am sure there are a few that will cringe at the thought of women being equal)…..

I wrote about the last vote in a Closing Thought post…..

https://lobotero.com/2018/06/01/closing-thought-01jun18/

Step into the “Way Back” machine and set the dial for the 1970’s USA……Jimmy Carter is president and women started burning bras to get attention from the media……..this gave rise to feminism….and women have been fighting ever since……as of today can we decide what version of feminism we are in?

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that the second-wave feminists are at war with the third-wave feminists.

No, wait, the second-wavers are at war with the fourth-wave feminists.

No, it’s not the second-wavers, it’s the Gen X-ers.

Are we still cool with the first-wavers? Are they all racists now?

Is there actually intergenerational fighting about feminist waves? Is that a real thing?

Do we even use the wave metaphor anymore?

As the #MeToo movement barrels forward, as record numbers of women seek office, and as the Women’s March drives the resistance against the Trump administration, feminism is reaching a level of cultural relevance it hasn’t enjoyed in years. It’s now a major object of cultural discourse — which has led to some very confusing conversations because not everyone is familiar with or agrees on the basic terminology of feminism. And one of the most basic and most confusing terms has to do with waves of feminism.

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth

I tried to do what I could to help women fight for their rights and their place in this society….a place beyond bare foot and pregnant and tied to the bed scenario….

They are getting close so now would be a good time for the old style feminism to be resurrected and work for that last state to ratify.

As soon as the dullards on the Right realize how close the ERA is they will double their efforts to see that it does not see the light of day in that last state.

Closing Thought–15Jun17

What’s Going On In Congress?

The “good old boys” seem to be making news these days…..their thoughts that women should be seen but not heard……male senators cannot move past their out of date sexism…..

First, during the Senate intel committee hearings make senators tried to silence a female senator…..

Senators were accused of sexism and possible racism Tuesday after the only minority woman on the Senate Intelligence Committee was shut down by male colleagues during the questioning of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, was reprimanded by GOP Sens. John McCain and Richard Burr for interrupting Sessions’ answers while she was questioning him, NBC reports. Critics accused senators of having a double standard, noting that male senators before and after Harris interrupted Sessions without being told off for doing so. Less than a week ago, the same scene played out with McCain and Burr interrupting Harris’s questioning of deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, CNN reports.

Harris, the second black woman ever to serve in the Senate, is a former prosecutor who uses what the New York Times calls “a rapid-fire questioning pace more commonly seen in courtrooms.” During Tuesday’s questioning, Sessions complained that she was making him nervous. “I’m not able to be rushed this fast,” he said. When Harris asked what policy allowed him to refuse to discuss his conversations with President Trump, she interrupted him when he started describing the principle instead of the policy—and was cut off by McCain. After the hearing, Harris tweeted: “It was a simple question. Can Sessions point to the policy, in writing, that allows him to not answer a whole host of our questions today.” She added: “The women of the United States Senate will not be silenced when seeking the truth.”

During a senate committee hearing on health Sen. Murray was interrupted by her male counterpart…….

In a meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) tried to demand a public hearing on the Senate health care repeal bill. She was summarily denied by Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN):

Alexander then proceeded to spend the next two minutes scolding Murray for supposedly going off topic, claiming he had no interest in a bipartisan hearing on Obamacare repeal because he already held one several months ago — before passage of the House bill — and Democrats “did very poorly” at that hearing.

Notably, Alexander did not at any point make an attempt to justify why nobody has a right to see the Republican health care bill. Nor did he address Murray’s point that the Democrats who passed Obamacare held months of bipartisan public meetings and let Republicans amend the bill. He simply silenced her and plowed on.

Then “good old boys” cannot stand the fact that they must treat the female Senators as equals……at least learn some simple respect…..advice for these tools…..”to get respect you must give respect”.

Time to replace this antiquated thinking and remove the Senate into the 21st century.

Time to smile and take a nap…..see you guys later….chuq

The Myth Of The Women’s Vote

During the campaign of 2016 the public was bombarded almost daily about the women’s vote…..how Trump had lost them and they were the way forward for Hillary….

All those polls were a bit off…..as they always are….only this time the public was more gullible than in the past.

This is a good op-ed on the myth of the women’s vote……

Among the clichés that deserve to be thrown out after the recent presidential election in the US is the idea of “women’s vote.”
It may seem surprising that only 54 percent of the female electorate voted for Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major party. But while gender is a strong marker for how Americans think about certain issues, it is not the best predictor of how they will vote. It turns out that female candidates do not face a single gender gap, but rather multiple gender gaps.

Source: The myth of the women’s vote | Arab News

According to all the surveys Hillary had all the major demographics…..women….Latinos….Asians…..Blacks……Millennials and yet she had her ass handed to her by Mr. Trump……at least in the Electoral College….and that is where it counts (more on that in a later post)……