WTF?
A bunch of racist sexist homophobic nutbarsGOP nazis
spreading shit like this is somehow okay
in the land of the free, home of the brave?
Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) pretends
to prevent race-based abortions, steals from
the civil rights legacy to curb choice
and slams Planned Parenthood in its bid
to serve adherents of white supremacist ideas.
How interesting that Malcolm X and MLK
supported women’s reproductive freedom.
c. 2012-02-06 Politics’n’Poetry
There is much I would like to write about rabid anti-feminist men, but I find that my life is too busy right now to detail the ones I’ve encountered just this week. I suppose I could narrow it to just those who consider themselves progressive, but even that would take longer than the time I have.
So, I’ll just pile onto a post by F-email Fightback.
Just over a year ago, P’n’P wrote about a rabid anti-feminist man who was challenging a researcher’s right to name him a rabid anti-feminist man. Well, today I see that our sisters at CUPW have posted a similar story about a man who lost his defamation case against Status of Women Canada and the Minister Responsible.
F-email Fightback has written previously about the British Columbia Supreme Court challenge where Fathers Rights Activist Ken Wiebe went to trial in his legal suit against “radical feminists” within Status of Women Canada and the Federal Minister responsible for SWC
Well, he lost his defamation suit over a report he said portrayed him as “hate-monger.”
I guess it’s one of those, if the shoe fits cases.
So, the Liberals stood up Canadian women for a pink party at Stornoway. The NDP has a turncoat who needs to be removed from the party. And the anti-choice crowd is partying like they have not partied since before the Morgentaler decision of 1988. Me, I don’t feel too festive.
I am angry. I am angry with Parliament, for all the stupidity they’ve engaged in over the past 2+ years, but exceedingly so for this latest attack on women. It could send a woman into a tailspin. Fortunately, I’m stronger than that and have bounced back quickly and with more gusto than before. I am angry with myself, too, for not taking seriously this attack by the anti-choicers, for not catching the pattern of Harper’s attacks. Never underestimate Steve Harper is the lesson I have learned here. He is as mean and scary as they come.
So, peeps, what’s next? How do we take back what is being taken from us? How do we take back our democracy?
Oh, oooh, oooooooooooooh! This is gonna be good! Not to mention long overdue! But will the SK NDP learn from it? Don’t hold your breath!
The Enemies Within: Feminist Activism in the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
March 19, 3:30 p.m. CL 408, University of Regina
Feminist activists inside political parties play an important role in ensuring that equality issues remain on the party’s agenda. After the Saskatchewan NDP formed government in 1991, equality advocates at the party level suffered from what Iris Marion Young refers to as “internal exclusion.” The rise of neoliberalism has contributed toward a political climate that legitimates intolerance of and hostility toward equality claims. Indeed, despite the NDP’s espoused commitment to egalitarian principles, interviews with 12 members of the NDP women’s committee reveal that the party culture is hostile to internal feminist critiques of party policies and processes. This lecture problematizes inclusion strategies and argues that the Saskatchewan NDP ought to be more open to internal dissent and more receptive to critiques of power relations if it is to adequately address the lived realities of Saskatchewan women.
Jenn Ruddy is a Sessional Lecturer in the Political Science department. She received a SSHRC scholarship for her MA thesis, “From Policy Advisors to the Enemies Within: Feminist Activism in the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, 1982-2006.”
Birth Pangs has the goods on this, as well as an Activist Page where you can email Stephane Dion a letter demanding that he whip his Liberal caucus to vote against the Bill. And Choice Joyce has the reasons why the Bill must be defeated.
Go.
Today is the day that replaced Imbolc, an ancient celebration of the goddess, Brighid. Imbolc marks the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. Today is the Feast Day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And, today is the birth day of Birth Pangs!
Last year, a group of “radical,” “militant” and “feminazi” feminists who hang out at the Bread and Roses discussion boards launched Birth Pangs, an irreverent and relevant blog that keeps a close eye on the anti-choice, aka fetus fetishist, aka compulsory pregnancy, aka zygote zealot crowd. Demonstrating that feminists do, indeed, have a sense of humour, Birth Pangs sheds a slightly satirical light on the ludicrous, illogical and just plain ridiculous arguments and ideas of those who would have women barefooted, pregnant and back in the kitchen.
Pop by for a visit. Stop in and say hi. And don’t worry, the feminists don’t bite. (Well, not very hard, anyway!)
And here’s an Imbolc poem, a gift to the scruffy band of feminists who dare to challenge and inspire.
Horoscope: Ground Hog Day
Brighid, ancient Hag,
in winter brings new life,
kindles sacred fires to melt Earth’s blanket.She travels with you, as long ago
when she moved among Galatians and Brigantians.
Long before Patrick danced green among the Celts
Brighid quickened life.Old Brighid, young Maiden, Mother, Crone
hides within Christianity’s cloak, blessing houses
with candles blessed at Candlemas, the cross-quarter feast day
to celebrate winter’s passing halfway through,
her fires lighting houses, whole communities.Sainte Brighid, even after decanonization,
even after her fires were snuffed, still
lives. Christianity celebrates the purification
of their blessed virgin, Mary. A ground hog
carried Brighid’s memory across an ocean.© 2008 BW
The 1988 Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision on R. v. Morgentaler, the decision which struck down Canada’s old abortion law, is a document well worth the time it takes to read. It provides the historical context for there being no new abortion law in Canada and it clarifies why men need to keep their laws off women’s bodies.
Chief Justice Brian Dickson, in the Majority Report, said:
Section 251 clearly interferes with a woman’s physical and bodily integrity. Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a fetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations, is a profound interference with a woman’s body and thus an infringement of security of the person.
I’m celebrating that part today. And I’m celebrating the part by the late Justice Bertha Wilson who wrote a Minority Report which took the decision of the Majority even further. She said:
This decision is one that will have profound psychological, economic and social consequences for the pregnant woman. The circumstances giving rise to it can be complex and varied and there may be, and usually are, powerful considerations militating in opposite directions. It is a decision that deeply reflects the way the woman thinks about herself and her relationship to others and to society at large. It is not just a medical decision; it is a profound social and ethical one as well. Her response to it will be the response of the whole person.
…
It is probably impossible for a man to respond, even imaginatively, to such a dilemma not just because it is outside the realm of his personal experience … but because he can relate to it only by objectifying it, thereby eliminating the subjective elements of the female psyche which are at the heart of the dilemma.
So there ya have it! A w00t! for Wilson! A w00t! for Morgentaler! And a w00t! for prochoicers everywhere!
Now let’s get this problem of access to the procedure sorted, please.
Best Canadian Feminist Blog
Best International Feminist Blog
Activist Blog
Environmental Blog
Entertainment Blog
Culture Blog
Group Blog
Individual Blog
WOC-centered Blog
Reproductive Liberty Blog
Family Blog
Political Blog
LBGT Blog
Humour blog
Best comment thread
The “why the fuck didn’t I say that?” award for most poignant comment
Best Snark Comment
Most Regressive “Progressive”
The Support Bro – Best Post by a male in support of feminists/feminism
I type this in support of the US choice movement, now celebrating 35 years since the Roe v. Wade decision. I would hope that in the upcoming presidential election in the USA that voters vote for the candidate who is decidedly pro-choice on the matter of reproductive freedom. Reproductive freedoms are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.
Politics'n'Poetry 