HIGH HEELS FOR BABIES. YES, BABIES.

Two moms in Seattle are making high heels for babies. Baby girls, of course. The shoes come in pink, zebra print, leopard, and does anyone else think this is insane??! Not only is this borderline baby bondage but it is also why people in developing countries are slaving away 18-hour days in sweatshops.

A New York Magazine article says: 

Girls are never too young to learn about class and flash, you know. The idea came to founder Britta Bacon when she was going to her daughter Kayla’s 4th-birthday party. As she remembered Kalya’s baby days, she thought, “That would have been hilarious if I could have brought Kayla to a party in high heels when she was a baby.” Who doesn’t think such things? Eureka! Next thing she knew, she and a friend were in the baby high-heel business together. It’s the classic American success story.

They say the shoes are completely safe — if Baby steps on them the heel collapses so Baby won’t fall. So why do this to your child? So you can laugh at them, of course! The Website reads: “WARNING: May cause extreme smiling and hysterical laughter when in use (this is completely normal).” Yes. Putting babies in high heels is absolutely normal.

 

–femme for thought

 

 

 

 

DISGUSTING!

Bush and a volleyball player at the Beijing Olympics.

WOMEN, CAN YOU FEEL THE LIBERATION??

-femme for thought

Rape as a War Tactic

Source: The International Rescue Committee: theirc.org 

The bodies and spirits of women and girls are the forgotten frontline in conflicts throughout the world. Sexual violence is not just a by-product of war; it is a strategy of combat systematically used to terrorize and humiliate.

The consequences of violence against women are debilitating and many: risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, damage to reproductive organs, and broken bones. The psychological and social consequences are equally as devastating, as the prevailing stigma associated with sexual violence often leaves women isolated and increasingly vulnerable. The trauma a survivor experiences goes beyond her own suffering, also rendering great costs to her family and community.  

The threat of assault follows women and girls as they flee conflict. And it lingers long after fighting ends. In war-torn regions where destruction, displacement and lawlessness breed yet more violence, women increasingly face abuse in their homes and may be forced to exchange sex for survival.

Around the world, the International Rescue Committee helps survivors heal and works with communities and institutions to break the cycle of violence. As first-responders in emergencies such as in Central African Republic, the IRC works hands-on to deliver urgent care and referrals for victims of assault. In longstanding crises, such as Darfur, we provide safe spaces for women to come together for support and to build skills at our women’s centers. And in the aftermath of war, such as in West Africa, the IRC addresses the root causes of violence against women by helping them gain greater economic independence and play a more meaningful role in decision-making.

Through grassroots campaigns that channel women’s voices about their experiences, we work with partners to reach out to men and boys to change attitudes that foster violence against women. We also advocate with government officials to advance laws preventing violence against women, and enforce policies ensuring survivors’ access to care and legal justice.

The recovery of communities devastated by war relies heavily on the participation of women and girls. The IRC works to foster conditions in which women and girls not only survive the effects of conflict, but ultimately thrive. 

-femme for thought

Palin’s Abortion Policy

This article about Governor Palin’s stance on abortion is from last week’s New York Times Magazine. I think it’s time we judge Palin more on her policies and less on her personality. 

By CYNTHIA GORNEY

Published: October 17, 2008

This summer, some weeks before John McCain settled on his choice for running mate, delegates to the Republican convention received e-mail invitations to something called the “Life of the Party Party.” This is a right-to-life reception that takes place every four years amid the Republican convention and features, as guests of honor, political leaders that the Republican National Coalition for Life has singled out for the impeccability of their opposition to legal abortion. Only one guest of honor would be presented this year, the 2008 invitation declared: the Honorable Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska. For those who’d never heard of her, four paragraphs of explanation followed Palin’s name; the lead adjective, before “conservative” and “popular,” was “pro-life.”

Palin wasn’t able to attend the party, as it turned out; other plans for presenting her to the public on a much grander scale intervened. At the Life of the Party Party, it can be assumed, no one minded. In the right-to-life trenches, the state lobbying and volunteer offices a long way from Washington, the selection of Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee has been the great galvanizing force of the November elections — despite the interesting way the topic of abortion has vanished entirely amid the clamor over Palin’s television interviews, passport-acquisition date, debate winking and so on.

So at the risk of occasioning yet another “heartbeat away” reference, it seems important to keep pointing out that the Republicans appear to have placed a genuine true believer on the presidential ticket. Palin has gone wobbly in a couple of recent interviews, placing extra emphasis on “personally,” as in, “personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in” — that’s from theKatie Couric interviews, as Couric pressed Palin on whether abortion should be illegal for a pregnant 15-year-old who was raped by her father. Palin won’t yield, though. That is what she believes. Abortion opposition at its most coherent is apparently central to Palin’s belief system, in fact: if a fetus is genuinely a child from the instant of conception, then the law can’t permit killing it for any reason except the extraordinary circumstance of an emergency to save a woman’s life (and in some right-to-life circles there’s argument about that, too, or whether equal measures should be taken to save woman and unborn alike).

In the trenches this distinguishes Palin not only from McCain and George W. Bush but also from a long list of other politicians, many Republican and some Democratic, whose records make them look anti-abortion while their hearts don’t seem to be in it. If that makes Palin “extreme,” according to the view from the trenches, fine — about time a pro-life candidate stood up and made it clear that keeping any abortions legal blows up the central right-to-life premise. If you take the Bush/McCain position — abortion should be illegal but with exceptions for rape and incest pregnancies — then you’re saying the fetus is not a child if the woman was forced into sex, but is a child if she participated voluntarily. That doesn’t actually make any sense, which is why for 35 years now this country’s most dedicated abortion opponents have been essentially holding their noses as they accept as allies the rape-and-incest-exception people, the restrict-but-don’t-prohibit people, the overturn-Roe-and-let-the-states-decide people. In the midst of all that moral compromise, Palin appears to have backbone. “She just is sincere,” says Colleen Parro, the Republican National Coalition for Life co-founder, whose idea it was to make Palin this year’s guest of honor. “She isn’t someone who just wants to regulate it or restrict it or fool around with it.”

There’s a tip-of-the-iceberg aspect to Palin’s sudden celebrity, too. Next month, Colorado voters have on their ballot a measure defining “any human being from the moment of fertilization” as a “person,” entitled to rights and due process under the state constitution. No mention of abortion; that would likely come in ensuing litigation, should the measure be approved. But in at least a half dozen states besides Colorado, there’s renewed enthusiasm for promoting laws that codify the full argument that life begins at conception. “No equivocation,” a Georgia Republican said late last month, in what started as a conversation about Palin. “There is a paradigm shift going on. Back to our roots, at the ‘sanctity of life’ level.”

This means one of the best things about Palin, from a Republican strategist’s point of view, is also one of the most dangerous. The ticket deeply needs right-to-life voters, who are some of the most reliable single-issue constituents in American politics. But it simultaneously needs people not to look too closely in that direction, because the ethically coherent anti-abortion position is at odds with every large-scale abortion poll ever taken in this country, since before Roe v. Wade: Americans don’t like unrestricted access, but they do want legal early abortion and lots of “exceptions.” So the prudent Republican thing to do is to hope for no thoughtful conversation on the topic at all.

It’s a pity, really. On the abortion question, as far as we’ve been permitted to see, Palin is sort of articulate. Her syntax stays sure. Her family dramas hush up any suggestion of hypocrisy. It’s been pointed out how differently the pregnant-daughter-and-Down-syndrome-infant narrative would be received if the Palins were black, how foolhardy even the most valiant right-to-lifer would have to be to jump on that bandwagon. But maybe if somebody would just let her talk to us about all this for a while, settle in for a good long discourse about women’s options and criminal law and the moment when life begins, then the bellicose rhetoric of her final weeks on the campaign trail might yield, for an hour or so, to something the governor of Alaska sounds as if she truly believes.

Cynthia Gorney, a contributing writer, teaches at the graduate school of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of “Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars.”

MEN WHO THINK YOU’RE A CHALLENGE

An excerpt from a book I’m reading by Amanda Marcotte, “IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE: THE FEMINIST SURVIVAL GUIDE TO POLITICALLY INHOSPITABLE ENVIRONMENTS.” 

MEN WHO THINK YOU’RE A CHALLENGE 

Despite the stereotype that romantic comedies are ruinous solely to women’s expectations, the truth of the matter is there are a lot of men out there who have some pretty cracked opinions on what’s hot and sexy, opinions that seem to come directly from romantic comedies. One of the most irritating of these is the idea that nothing is more romantic than taming the wild filly. We’ve all seen this plot in movies- the headstrong, intellectual young woman brought to her senses by the firm guidance of a tough young stud. It’s all fun and games until you’re a feminist, which is translated as “wild filly who needs taming” in romantic comedy terms. Which means that you’re going to find yourself in many situations where men have absorbed the lessons of The Philadelphia Story and all its sequels, and are going to try to woo you by taking you down a few notches. So, some strategies on fighting them off. 

FIRST, LEARN TO SPOT THEM 

Sometimes this isn’t hard. My all-time favorite story of someone trying to hit on me with the “fight with them, they love that” strategy involves the guy who caught me drinking a Miller Lite, bought me some mircobrew, came over, and said, “I bought that for you so you can learn to drink real beer.” However, not all of them are that easy to spot right off the bat, since most have learned to have little more subterfuge. The rule of thumb is that a guy is enamored of you-as-a-challenge if he seems to think that your habits, tastes, or intellectual pursuits exists only to be analyzed and possibly corrected by men. Mix in the fact that he will be oblivious to hints to buzz off and you’ll know you’ve managed to attract someone who thinks you’re a challenge. 

For instance, these guys are drawn like flies to women who are reading or writing in public. While it’s quite likely true that some women do read or write in public in an attempt to attract men, some of us honestly do have a reason not to be sequestered in the house to read or write. The thinks-you’re-a-challenge guy will interrupt you to ask what you’re reading or writing, but more importantly, he’ll be aggressive in questioning you about it. (I can’t blame a decent guy simply looking for an opening, but they tend to be doing just that and nothing more.) To diagnose if he’s that kind of guy, I tend to just flash the title of the book at him or answer rather curtly. If he asks a bunch of leading, nosy questions about what it is-”So, you’re a big feminist, then?” being the most obnoxious-it’s time to run him off. However, as above beer example shows, some guys-who-think-you’re-a-challenge will seek anything to be aggressive about.

WHAT NOT TO DO TO GET RID OF HIM 

The number one thing about these guy is that they can’t take no for an answer. “No” is a challenge, and remember, they think they want a challenge. “No” will eventually work, if you are very repetitive and show no other signs of life besides the word “no.” That can be time-consuming and irritating, though. Trying to escalate the strength of the rejection can make it even worse. Whatever you do, don’t try to be clever and say, “Oh, I get it. You’re going to tame the wild, overintellectualized feminist beast. Good luck with that.” Yes, it’s funny, but it’s also exactly what the female lead in a romantic comedy would say, and will probably only encourage him. 

STRATEGY ONE TO RUN HIM OFF 

The key is that these guys only think they want a challenge. What they want is someone who will offer token resistance and then fall into their arms, having learned the danger of their wicked feminist ways. As such, the Chatty Cathy routine works pretty well to run them off. When a guy starts the aggressive questioning, use that as your excuse to run your mouth, not letting him get word in edgewise, going over every detail of your intellectual world in great detail. If he can’t get a word edgewise, he can’t live out his fantasy and will run away soon enough. A good preventive strategy is to be obnoxiously feminist too. Don’t just read or tap away on your laptop in public. Do so with an Andrea Dworkin book sitting title-up next to you and a NOW sweatshirt on. Go way over their heads. This might also work as a good filter, since you know anyone who’ll chat you up if you look like that doesn’t want to change a damn thing about you. 

STRATEGY TWO TO RUN HIM OFF 

Just don’t be a challenge at all. This one might be a little harder to pull off, because it takes a certain Zen lack of ego, but it can work. Every challenging question he asks, simply agree with whatever he’s saying and refuse to elaborate. “You’re right.” Yeah, probably.” “I’m sure whatever you’re saying is true, I wouldn’t know.” No static, no electricity, nothing to keep him motivated. Much, much harder to pull off than the first one, but it can be amusing if you’re good at it.

WHEN YOU WONT JUST GET CANCER AND DIE 

My working theory is that romantic comedies are the work of Satan, and not the good Satan. For one thing, they are universally disdained as “chick flicks,” and yet somehow a great number of men absorb the message of the two odious romantic comedy cliches. The first is the headstrong woman who is tamed by The Cock, as previously mentioned. In these flicks, the woman’s headstrongness is shown as brittle, career-oriented, and unromantic about sex. And that’s bad enough, but there’s an even worse stereotype of the headstrong woman lurking in the annals of romantic-comedy-cum-melodrama, and that’s the flighty but headstrong eccentric who teaches the hero a thing of two about life before exiting stage right, often due to some sort of disease. She has to die or leave somehow, because audiences are incapable of picturing the heroine as a wife, since wives are supposed to be submissive and competent. 

For what it’s worth, the best antidote to this cliche is probably Sofia Coppola’s movie The Virgin Suicides, where the eccentric, exotic female lead kills her own damn self, leaving the viewer with the uncomfortable impression that being an exotic fantasy who must somehow exit stage right after forever changing some impressionable young man isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 

My field research for his guide (i.e., asking my feminist friends) indicates that many feminists find that this particular romantic comedy cliche gives them real problems in real life. Many a young man will fall for the headstrong feminist, on the theory that she’s the quirky gal who will change his life forever. And then where reality sets in and it turns out that she’s not likely to develop leukemia anytime soon, things fall apart. There’s not much in the way of advice on how to handle that, since those situations tend to self-terminate, but you can jazz it up a little. 

FAKE YOUR DEATH

GIve him the movie. Consider it a romantic parting gift. 

IF HE DUMPS YOU FIRST, ACT REALLY RELIEVED 

He wont see it coming, which is death to the movie-trained mentality. If you have trouble feeling relieved, think about how funny it will be when he realizes that you’re not going to sob and sob over him, and that might help. 

DUMP HIM FIRST AND TELL HIM YOU’RE DATING A REAL BRUISER NAMED HARLEY 

Warning: While this is really funny, if you do this, you will be helping create a Nice Guy, a concept I’ll describe in detal later. 

TELL HIM TO SAVE THE WORLD

One wrinkle in the whole thing is the lighter version of this cliche, which is the Superhero’s Girlfriend. You know the cliche. Superman, Spiderman-they fall in love with headstrong, quirky, awesome, and for once competent women. But you will never see the headstrong girlfriend actually marry the superhero and scare the audience with the idea of a bona fide wife having a mind of her own. Your soon-to-be ex, however, is not a superhero and so cant really give you the speech about how he loves you but alas, he doesn’t want to put you in danger by dating you. So, you could, if you wanted to, tell him that you love him but you’re holding him back from saving the world. He knows the cliche and may just eat it up. 

TELL HIM YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD 

Just recite the Superhero’s speech to him and blow his mind. It’s not supposed to work that way; women aren’t the ones who are supposed to degrudgingly give up True Love for duty. True Love is supposed to be their duty. 

While he sits there with his mind blown, run away. Don’t forget, while fleeing the premises, to leave a sign on his door warning other women that he’s been ruined by films were the heroine up and dies, leaving the hero to face the world stronger for having known her and unweakened for having paid attention to her. 

-femme for thought

Target Women: Chick Flicks

target_women_- chick_flicks

Thank you Sarah Haskins. thank you.

And you know, I’d just like to take a sec to say thanks to my “hilarious group of friendos!!”

.femme for thought.

Women’s Bicycle Racing in Portland

What began as an effort to raise women’s interest in bicycle racing, has turned into a new popular sport for Portlands bicycling femmes. Monthly bicycle racing clinics were organized to introduce women to the sport of bicycle racing, including an introduction to the sport, a race and then a debrief. Now the clinics, held the 2nd Monday of each month (May-August, 2008), have turned into a dozen women screaming at top speeds at the Portland International Raceway – a 1.9 mile big and wide loop racetrack.

Organizers have received a very positive turnout with roughly 10-15 women participating in the clinics each month. Coach Kendra Wenzel, says of the practices, “So many women are afraid of being dropped their first time, and instead find that they can stay with the group and are actually contesting at the end.”

http://www.racemondaynight.com/blog/

The program was formed several years ago when organizers noticed a drop in women racers and wanted to re-introduce women to the sport in a safe and friendly environment. If you’re in the Portland area grab your bike and check out Lakeside Bicycles’ Monday Night Race Series, here.

.femme for thought.

We’re here!

We apologize for the sudden lack of posts! I have only been able to get away with such lax behavior because Radmilla is currently working on some projects in Ossetia, and will be traveling for another few weeks. I promise to better fulfill my blogging duties from this point forward, and know that Mila will have much to share upon her return!

xo-

V & R

ps: some e-flowers with my apologies…

(from my favorite florist... www.saipua.com)

13 Saudi Students Pave Way for Women’s Rights

Tufts alliance opens door to diplomacy career

A unique partnership launched this year between The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and Dar Al-Hekma College, the first private college for women in Saudi Arabia. This August, 13 Saudi women completed a crash course in international diplomacy, blazing a brazen path for the future of their country, where women still can’t drive or vote – nor, in many cases, travel, work, or see a doctor without permission from a male guardian.

The six-month program – split between Dar Al-Hekma in Jeddah and the Fletcher School – is the first known journey by an American university into training Saudi women to become diplomats. The new opportunity for women to represent their country could spur further gains in women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, and allow the kingdom to become more competitive in a global society, officials at both schools said.

The Fletcher School has also agreed to help the women’s college start an undergraduate program in international relations and diplomacy as early as fall 2009 to propel more Saudi women into diplomatic postings.

“We want women ambassadors, women officials, women leaders – not women working in the office,” said Suhair H. Al Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma, who asked Fletcher School to train the women. “My efforts here will push the ministry to make serious steps. Now they have no excuse. We have a prepared group, and they are not secretary material.”

Read the full article here.

.femme for thought.

FOX NEWS FOXS UP about Ossetia, Russia & Georgia