Category Archives: Politics

An Open Letter to Congress

Posted in Health, Politics, Reproductive Rights by

Dear Congress-people responsible for the ridiculously-named  Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act:

Have you heard about the 2006 study* on pre-term births that revealed racism as a very real risk-factor in early labor?

African-American women at every socioeconomic level have higher rates of preterm birth and infant mortality. Incredibly, these rates exceed those of white women who have not even finished high school and those of black women who emigrated to the U.S. from other countries. For example, infant mortality in white women with a college degree or higher is 4 per 1000, while for similarly educated African-American women, the rate is 12 per 1000 births. [Source]

If that is not compelling enough check out the transcript for Unnatural Causes: When the Bough Breaks, one part of an (awesome) documentary series about health disparity in America (that I was lucky enough to be introduced to at a recent YWCA Cultural Competency training!)

I agree – racism is a serious issue – but how about we deal with the racism faced by fully-gestated people first? There are a plethora of reasons why you should care about the racism that fully-gestated people face every day (basic human decency and a sense of justice, for starters) but if none of those reasons compel you, then do so for the fetuses that you care so very much about. Fetuses who are being born pre-term because their mothers bodies are so worn down by the constant stress of racism that they cannot carry their baby to full-term, despite making every effort to do so.

Or, you know, you can keep writing bills that exploit the very real problem of racism in an attempt to screw over women of color even more. Your choice.

- A concerned voter.

*Institute of Medicine Committee on Understanding Premature Birth and Assuring Healthy Outcomes, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Behrman, R.E., and Butler, A.S. (eds.). (2006). Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. Washington, DC, The National Academies Press.

Its His Party & He’ll Cry if He Wants To…

Posted in Politics by

As an avid crier myself, I think its time for me to take on the Boehner crying thing. I’ve been trying to ignore this issue for awhile, because it honestly just strikes a bit too close to home, but after a recent episode of the Daily Show managed to stretch the Speaker of the House’s tears into about ten minutes of jokes… I felt as if I had to speak up. This whole situation reminds me of the time that someone told me they were against Palin running for Vice President because she should be home caring for her children. There are so many GOOD reasons to be against her running, and you choose that one? Was my response. Allow me to troth that argument out again: There are so many GOOD reasons to question Boehner, why are focusing on the fact that he tends to cry?

If a female politician cries she gets mocked and her credibility gets questioned because her tears are seen as a sign of feminine weakness, indicating an inability to handle the tough world of politics (then again, sometimes if she DOESN’T cry, its seen as a sign that she is a “bitch.”) If a male politician cries he (sometimes) gets a pass if the situation holds enough gravity, and his tears are stoic enough… but not if he cries as often as Boehner has. Basically, crying in politics is really complicated and not often something a politician can do without criticism. But, why?

In a recently published study at Penn State, researchers sought to explore differing perceptions of crying in men and women, presenting their 284 subjects with a series of hypothetical vignettes.

Reactions depended on the type of crying, and who was doing it. A moist eye was viewed much more positively than open crying, and males got the most positive responses.

“Women are not making it up when they say they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” said Stephanie Shields, the psychology professor who conducted the study. “If you don’t express any emotion, you’re seen as not human, like Mr. Spock on ‘Star Trek,’ ” she said. “But too much crying, or the wrong kind, and you’re labeled as overemotional, out of control and possibly irrational.” [...]

For a little historical perspective, says Lutz, author of “Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears,” it’s helpful to look back to the 19th century, when skillful politicians like Abraham Lincoln used tears as a natural part of their oratory.

The tide later shifted against male crying, but in the past 30 to 40 years male crying has gained in acceptability. “Every president since Ronald Reagan has used tears at some point,” says Shields, the Penn State psychologist. [Source]

I don’t love Boehner for many reasons. Off the top of my head: I feel he is hypocritical, he is against legislation that would prohibit job-discrimination based on sexual orientation , he is anti-choice when it comes to reproductive rights, and I find the need for a GIANT gavel just silly. (That last one was a joke!)  However, the fact that he sometimes engages in a perfectly natural bodily function just doesn’t strike me as a valid reason to dislike him.

When I’m trying to give an important presentation, or trying to talk in front of a group, or whatever and I start crying it happens because I can’t help it. I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain Boehner would rather get through his interviews without invoking the mockery that comes along with crying, so he’s probably like me.  The best thing that I, personally, have started to do in these situations is to simply assure the people around me that I am fine, my body just doesn’t seem to realize that and request that they simply ignore my tears. I am lucky that I am typically surrounded by people open-minded enough to see past my body’s involuntary reaction and listen to what I am saying. The more directly  I address the tears, the  less crying I actually do because suddenly I have gone from thinking don’t cry, don’t cry (does that ever work?) to not thinking about the tears at all.

Now, Boehner’s tears could be a total strategy (though I’m pretty sure he is capable of coming up with something more effective than that as a political strategy) but its just as likely that they are something he has serious trouble controlling, like I do.

Do his tears alter the quality of his ideas and words? Nope.

Do they change his political viewpoints? Nope.

Do they effect his ability to do his job?  Only as much as we let them, by blowing his tears out of proportion and making mean jokes.

Continue reading →

Sarah Palin’s “Feminist Card”

Posted in Feminism, Politics by

This post is my blogging equivalent of “thinking out loud” so take everything said here with a grain of salt… this discussion is hard!

I don’t like Sarah Palin, lets make that clear. In fact, I don’t like her so much that at first I was very happily and vocally joining in with the “Sarah Palin is not a feminist” crowd. However, since my initial gut reaction, I’ve had a bit of an (unpopular) change of heart. In fact, I think Sarah Palin, could actually be a feminist.

Hear me out, let’s start by defining feminism for a quick second.

Feminism “refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and legal protections for women.” (Hooray for Wikipedia!)

My feminism goes beyond this and focuses a lot on challenging gender norms, racism, and homophobia as well [intersectional feminism, as I defined it earlier] but I suppose I can’t be so conceited to believe that my feminism works for all feminists.

I think the feminist blogger who writes Angry Feminist Doc says it best:

First, no one is such a Good Feminist as to be able to take away someone else’s right to call themselves such. I believe “feminist” is an identity marker that people choose to apply to themselves. Some people who advocate (who may strongly advocate) causes we may traditionally associate with the feminist movement do not choose to adopt the “feminist” label. We do not force it upon them. And we don’t have the right to be snatching it back from someone (including Sarah Palin) who has chosen to adopt it.

Palin is a woman in politics, in a decidedly anti-woman party. She’s a feminine woman in politics, who fairly consistently calls out the pundits who feel the need to criticize her based upon her body and her femininity; though I may not agree with her politics, I do agree that her intelligence has nothing to do with her looks. She’s a mother who has chosen to devote her time to politics, while her husband  takes on the role of primary-caregiver – and she’s willing to defend that choice publicly. All of these actions are, in my opinion, very feminist ones and I must give credit where credit is due.

However, if Sarah Palin is a feminist, I am going to hold her to the same standards that I hold all feminist leaders… and if I am holding her to those standards, well, then she has a lot of apologizing to do. Continue reading →

But is She Hot Enough to be a Justice?

Posted in Body Image, Politics by

I’m not looking to say I told you so, but:

I saw this coming, and its not going to stop unless we start making a fuss and telling our media to stop supporting this ridiculous double-standard. I mean, I understand that TMZ is not a serious news source but, still, that does not give them the right to make fun of Kagan based on her appearance.

When you see things like this, please, write letters to the media source responsible, blog about it and encourage others to do the same, call the editor and leave angry messages… basically, just do whatever you can to register your disapproval or else shit like this isn’t going to stop, and it  needs to stop. It needs to stop because this is a big deal. I mean, sure, Elena Kagan is a strong and confident enough woman that this stupid article won’t hurt her much in the long run, if at al; she’s accomplished more than the “journalist” who pulled this silly photo comparison together could even conceive of… but she’s not the one I am worried about.

Mostly I’m worried about the smart and ambitious young women who see things like this, and begin to doubt themselves. The women who are forced to wonder am I pretty enough to dream of being a public figure? instead of Am I intelligent enough to be a judge? Do I have what it takes to go into politics? Am I talented enough to be an actor, or a singer, or a dancer? and so on. Look at Hillary Clinton, look at Susan Boyle, look at Sonia Sotomayor, just look around at all of the talented, intelligent, powerful women who are constantly being judged based on their looks first and their appearance later. Is this happening to men? Not really, no (and when it does, it’s just as wrong).

As a young woman who went through years of insecurity before gaining the awareness and confidence to say fuck being beautiful, I’m going to change the world; a woman who still has off days where she feels beaten down and useless, just because she isn’t pretty enough; as a woman who is worth more than this I implore you to speak up and fight for this change. I’m willing to bet that if we just cut it out and focused on the relevant features of these women we would see a shift in our culture, a shift that leads to more young women pursuing their dreams (while not necessarily worrying what they look like) and thriving because they don’t have to worry about being pretty enough to be taken seriously.

[Admittedly old image courtesy of a Jezebel post that I just managed to find today.]