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Feminists for Choice
Kristin McRea blogged yesterday about a new Baltimore law that will stop Crisis Pregnancy Centers from misleading women about their services. The center is anti-choice and is upset about having to be open and honest with women in an unwanted pregnancy situation, calling the law "condemning".
Hugo Swytzer
Swytzer is an Episcopal youth minister who yesterday blogged about the controversial right-religious Manhattan Declaration. This declaration is aimed at fighting against abortion and gay rights while trying to bring young Christians back to the conservative veiwpoint. Swytzer calls this "cheap" and thinks more attention should be placed on sustainability and poverty.
Shakesville
Today is World AIDs Day, and Shakesville posted part of Hillary Clinton's speech regarding the matter. In Clinton's speech she announces that discrimination of populations has resulted in less treatment and Obama's plan to repeal the "HIV entry ban".
A Radical Profeminist
This post is about a missing black girl in Blatimore. The post comments on how minority women as well as working class women are less likely to get national media attention due to misogyny, racism and classism.
The F Word
This blog in the UK, with the same name as mine, wrote a post today about victim blaming in a newspapper. The Association of Cheif Police Officers have a "rape awareness" campaign. The campaign stresses that alcohol plays a factor in many rapes, but is mainly warning the women not to become victims as opposed to warning men not to become rapists.

Ashley Troutt- Pathing the way for tolerance at UGA

According to dictionary.com, feminism is the doctrine advocating political, social and all other rights of women equal to those of men. However, because the word “women” encompasses all types of women, from a middle-class Asian to rich black lesbians, the definition of feminism must be expanded upon. Now, most feminists not only focus on the advancement of women in society, but also equality for people of all races, economic standings and sexual preferences.
Ashley Troutt, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Georgia, is founding a club dedicated to promoting tolerance for gays called Young People for Gay Rights. She is a straight white female, but sees herself as an advocate for equality. She has not yet completed registration for the club, but hopes to be fully established at the beginning of spring semester.
Troutt would not necessarily consider herself a feminist, but she agrees with the feminist doctrine. She also believes that women should be sympathetic to the cause the most because women historically have “walked in the same shoes” and should know how it feels to be ostracized or marginalized. Troutt wants to found Young People for Gay Rights so people will be more aware of the issues and become more tolerant.
“It makes me sad and embarrassed that people are so closed-minded,” said Troutt.
Troutt has three close friends that are personally affected by gay rights laws, including her best friend, Joe Beasley. Troutt and Beasley have known each other for close to seven years, and Troutt said that she has witnessed discrimination of Beasley based on his sexual preference. She said that depending on what part of town they are in, Beasley might get looks, be judged, or even be called inappropriate names.
“Joe’s a little flamboyant and out there, but he is who he is. People need to look past ‘gay’,” said Troutt.
Beasley was Troutt’s inspiration for the foundation of Young People for Gay Rights, but she also thinks her parents have helped shape her into the person she is today. Troutt says her parents are tolerant people whose actions, throughout her childhood, spoke louder than words. Her parents are open-minded and try their best not to show any racism or judgment towards people they meet. Troutt believes that the biggest problem fueling homophobia is parents passing on their anti-gay feelings to their children. She thinks that the club will help create awareness and spread tolerance. Troutt knows it will be hard to change the minds of older generations, but thinks the club will make the biggest impact with young people at the university and hopefully break the cycle of discrimination.
Troutt hopes to have 30 to 50 new members by the end of the 2010 school year. She is optimistic about the future of Young People for Gay Rights and is not too worried about being a minority in her beliefs. Troutt understands that her biggest opponent is people with negative views towards gays and gay rights.
“You have to convince people that they are wrong. It’s just hard when the majority feels a certain way,” said Troutt.

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Reclusive Leftist
Today, the Reclusive Leftist posted a post comparing Sarah Palin to the infamous Andrew Jackson. She comments on Palin's appeal to the working class and her womanly appeal. She is excited about a women becoming such a force in the political world, but compares it to watching a woman become head of the mafia.
Stilleto Revolt
Morgan Elizabeth commented today on the new book by Leslie Sanchez, You've Come A Long Way, Maybe. The book highlights Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton throughout the 2008 election, revealing sexism and patronization.
Echidne of the Snakes
Echidne discusses in today's post the "elephant in the room", there are no women elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Massachusetts and there has yet to be a woman as president. She thinks that social heirarchy is anchored at the top, and in order to initiate change, women need to be in power.
Reappropriate
The Asian American feminist writing this blog wrote a post commenting on Lincoln University's fitness requirements. The college requires all students with a BMI over 30 to take a special class three times a week. She thinks this is pointing a finger at overweight students and BMI is not even a good measurement of health.
Confabulous
A post on Confabulous last week talks about the Canadian Women's Foundation. The foundation has been around for almost twenty years and focuses on women in poverty, violence against women and young girls' self esteem.
Feministe
This self-proclaimed "scary feminist" posted on the gendering of non-gender specific items in the marketplace, such as "Man-size" tissues from Kleenex. She describes her reaction to the product, as well as other bloggers' reactions to similar marketing of other products.
Feministing
This post discusses ABC's decision last week to cancel Adam Lambert's interview on Good Morning America after he kissed another man during the Aerican Music Awards. ABC claims they canceled because Lambert showed he was unpredictable on live television, but Feministing thinks otherwise. She also comments on ABC moving Chris Brown's interview to a better time slot.
Appetite for Equal Rights
This post responds to Paul Elam's article in Men's News Daily entitled "The Myth of Women's Oppression". Elam claims that because women have not be physically abused throughout history (what about rape, gentital cutting, domestic violence, etc.?) that they have not been oppressed.
Economic Woman
This post discusses an interview with Michelle Masse about gender and higher education. She talks about women, PhDs and pregnancy for instructors.
Womenstake
This blog highlights an ESPN segment on a pregnant athlete in high school. The post has a clip from the segment and discusses Title IX and discrimination against pregnant athletes.

Interesting Posts

Alas, a blog
This post blasts Fox's new show Glee for the stereotyping of a fat black women and a kid in a wheelchair. The post was in the blog's archives, but is still frequently viewed and for good reason. The author has some valid points and many people have posted comments in opposition.
Stuff white people do
This post comments on the Amazon best seller, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. The novel is NOT recommended to give as a Christmas gift for its false racial dynamics as written by a white author.
WIMN's Voices
In this post, one of WIMN's bloggers comments on how ageism and sexism can work into health plans. She looks at the mammography debate and health care for women is developed.
Two women blogging
Today's post on Two Women Blogging was about sexist paintings in a recently visited restaurant. All of the paintings had a naked woman in a cocktail glass, with a garnish replacing her head. Sexism at its best.
I blame the patriarchy
The most recent post on this blog highlights a woman's attemp in Australia to implement anti-violence-against-women training in public schools. The Australian Family Association spokesperson, John Morrissey, does not approve of the proposed class and thinks it is feminist propoganda.

Black Friday

Once a year, people get up at the wee hours of the morning and head out to the stores to get the best deals of the year. Black Friday. Last night I drove by Best Buy at 10 p.m. and people were wrapped around the building in tents waiting for the store to open at 5 a.m. Toys R Us opened at midnight and had three squad cars on the scene. Fifteen extra police officers were placed in high traffic areas around Augusta, Ga. Tighter security was placed at Wal-Marts across the country, and police were earging people to be safe and patient. Black Friday is the day for mad consumerism. What led to all of the chaos and frenzy? Women will knock over other women to get to the toy aisle, and I have even seen men pushing their way around the store. I have been keeping an eye on the news websites, and hopefully all of the extra security has paid off today. I haven't seen any stories on Black Friday fights yet on my local sight and nothing has occured as tragic as the fatal shooting last year at a Southern California Toys R Us. The lines were long and traffic was in a jam, but I think peace prevailed. "'Tis the season to be happy and safe," said Lt. Pearson in an article for the Augusta Chronicle.

Native Americans and Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Turkey Day! I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and something caught my eye. It was the Onieda Indian Nation Iriquois Dancers. They were doing a creation dance. Native Americans were oppressed by the Pilgrims, yet these Native Americans were joining us in the celebration of "the first Thanksgiving". It is taught in elementary schools that everyone got along so great, and the Native Americans taught the starving Pilgrims how to fish and plant maize, but really there was a lot of bloodshed. I guess the Native Americans are putting the animosity of our ancestors aside and joining in the national holiday. At the end of their performance, they even wished peace for all.

A Few Good Blogs

Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog
This is a blog where FAQ's about feminism are asked and answered. It is a little hard to navigate through, but it has a lot of good background information on what feminism is.

blogher
Blogher is a blog with many authors writing about news and politics. It is a for women/by women forum for news in all topics from general feminism to sports.

Appetite for Equal Rights
This blog is "a blog for the modern feminist". It does not just focus on women's advancement in society (or lack there of) but also other marginalized groups. It has posts about political and news topics as well as how pop culture is shaping society's views.

Jump off the Bridge
This blog is a personal blog by a passionate feminist. She comments on news and culture that effects her daily life. Occasionally there will be a post about the books she wants to read or her baking skills, but there are some interesting and thought provoking posts as well.

10-year-old boy stands up for LGBT rights

10-year-old Will Philips from West Fork, Ark. was on CNN Nov. 16 for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at his elementary school. The boy states that he will not stand for the pledge because the last line is "liberty and justice for all". He believes that because there is still racism and the denial of marriage for gays and lesbians. The boy decided to execute his first amendment right after analyzing the pledge and feeling that the statement is not true in America today. He says that he will continue to sit during the pledge until marriage rights are given to gays and lesbians. He has been the center of publicity, negative as well as positive, and ridicule from classmates, but is sticking to his beliefs. You go, boy!

New Disney movie is a step forward... or a frog jump

This December, Disney is set to release the animated movie, "The Princess and the Frog" which will feature an African American Princess, Tiana. The eight official princesses are Snow White, Cinderella, Princess Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan.Jasmine was the first princess that was not white in Aladdin in 1992. She was then followed by Pocahontas, a Native American, in 1995, and Mulan, a Chinese Disney Princess in 1998. Tiana will be continuing the trend of the latest Disney princesses towards more diversity. "The Princess and the Frog will be based in New Orleans, La., and will feature some of the culture native to the area including jazz music and voodoo. The film will open in limited release Nov. 25 in Los Angeles and New York City, and open everywhere Dec. 11.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure speaks at PRSSA

Katie Hart’s eyes well up with tears as she looks around the Miller Learning Center room 150, almost completely filled with students wearing pink. She is at the Public Relations Student Society of America meeting at 6:30 p.m. awaiting a speaker from Susan G. Komen for the Cure when she announces that her mother has passed away from breast cancer.
The lecture style room was almost at capacity with PRSSA members and other students to hear Ashley Skiles speak about the public relations strategy for the 2009 Race for the Cure in Atlanta. Hart, the historian for PRSSA and a Grady student, was not the only student in the room who has been touched by breast cancer. One student mentioned her grandmother is in remission. Another student remembered a grandmother who has died. One more told of a high school mentor affected by the disease.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure was founded by Nancy G. Brinker in honor of her sister who passed away of breast cancer. Nearly $1.5 billion has been invested in the foundation since its inception in 1982. The Greater Atlanta Affiliate covers the ten-count metro Atlanta area and has raised $2.3 million in local grants.
Ashley Skiles is the marketing and development manager for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The foundation is the leader in nonprofit funds for fighting breast cancer. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is also the global leader for the breast cancer movement and a grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.
This is Skiles first position out of college and she has worked with Susan G. Komen for the Cure for the past two years. Skiles chose to work for Susan G. Komen for the Cure after interning with the foundation the summer before her senior year of college, feeling like it was “run well”. Skiles and her team helped win the Phoenix Award for Best Nonprofit Event from Public Relations Society of America this year for their work promoting the 2009 Race for the Cure in Atlanta.
Skiles has five people on her team working specifically on the Race for the Cure along with a 15 member committee of volunteers. As she shares her winning PR strategy, Skiles said she turned the downturn in the economy into a selling point for participating in the race. One of the main projects of the Greater Atlanta Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure is to screen women for breast cancer who cannot afford it or do not have insurance, and with the recession, more people are losing their company insurance.
“One in three Georgians were without health insurance at some point in the past two years. If people participate in the race, they can help give mammograms to people who need it,” said Skiles.
The Race for the Cure is held on Mother’s Day weekend annually. This year Skiles and her team had a goal of 15,000 race participants and had an outcome of 14,972 participants. The team used social media for the first time this year and saw an increase in participation as well as funds raised. One aspect of the PR campaign was the use of a facebook application to encourage race participants to fundraise for themselves. The Atlanta affiliate was only the second in the country to use a facebook application to help with fundraising for the race, following the Austin, Texas affiliate. The team used a company named Charity Dynamics to create the application and they ended up raising almost $20,000.
At the beginning of the presentation, everyone was asked to look under their chair and pick up a Post-it note. Most people had yellow, but a few had blue. The people holding blue where asked to stand, representing the one in eight women diagnosed with breast cancer every year. There was a small gasp in the room as the prevalence of the disease was revealed. By the end of the speech, the group of students was informed of the disease and the way public relations can help raise awareness for a cure.
When asked about how she felt about the speech, Hart said, “I think it’s great when a college can pull together and not let this happen, to try and find a cure. It is super special to see people in my major, my college, Grady, taking a stand. I just wish my mom could see it.”

84, high heels and a bicycle!?

So I was scanning the news today and ran across an article about Lan Yin Tsai, known as "Eiko" to family and friends, riding her bicycle 150 miles for an MS charity race in New Jersey! She is 84 years old and wears her pumps and a dress as if she was riding her bike to church. Tsai has been participating in the annual City to Shore event for 26 years. I can barely ride for two miles let alone 150. And you can forget about the pumps. This woman blows my mind! Apparently she is treated like a celebrity at the race, and as she should be. Wow!

Women in the Media and News

WIMN is a blog based on (guess what?) women in the news and media. It is a group blog written by 50 different women that gives women a chance to comment on different social, political and cultural issues of today. It covers so many topics from policies to reality TV. Definitely a one-stop-shop for your daily dose of womanly news.

Holla Back New York City

Holla Back is a blog to holla back at street harassers. Holla Back has several different sites, the one I have posted pertaining to NYC. It is a place where women can talk about the stupid guys that harass them on the streets. You can even post pictures of the perverts!

So I was watching Oprah today...

...and a woman from Dubai was on the show to help describe how people live around the world. The woman described how her mother-in-law wearing a traditional head covering called a shaila and face covering. Oprah asked her what she wore on a daily basis and she told her that she chose not to where the head and face coverings, but her sisters do. And then she said, "I think the feminist in me is coming out." I immediately thought that was why she did not choose to wear the head covering, but I was wrong! She said no one questions when men wear the typical head covering called a ghutra. She explained that it is about culture, not suppression, and that goes the same for the women. Maybe we should re-evaluate our views on women and culture and stop being so ethnocentric. Feminism is about accepting peoples differences and embracing them. The head covering is empowering for some women and a connection to their home. Let's respect that.

Think Pink

This month is national breast cancer awareness month. All over organizations are raising awareness and money for the cause. Just recently a young alumna of my sorority, just 24, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She doesn't have medical insurance and her family is really struggling. She is keeping her spirits high and will soon start writing a blog about her journey. My chapter is starting a penny war to help raise money for her medical treatment. Just knowing someone so close to my age has breast cancer scares me to death. According to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, only 5% of breast cancer diagnosises are women under the age of 40. It happens. Even that five percent is enough to think preventatively. Everyone: check yourself! Boyfriends check your girlfriends! Girlfriends check your girlfriends! Wear pink this month and