It's a Girl!

Little Olive had a mani/pedi today and the vet confirmed what we'd hoped. Olive is a girl! Break out the pink cigars.

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

International Transgender Day of Remembrance was November 20, 2009

via Slog

Suggested Viewing: New From Athens Boys Choir

Remember how I love Athens Boys Choir? Well, fellow devotees, Katz is back with a new music video and there's even a Matisyahu reference. Sublime!

Check it out!

This is OBVIOUSLY a Shampoo Ad

Her giant, barely covered breasts were the first clue, right? There's also a blonde one, if that's your preference.

via feministing

Palin to Rape Victims: I'm Not Lying; It DOES Suck to be You

So, obviously, Palin vehemently denied that she charged rape victims for rape kits.
From USA Today:

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said in an e-mail that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test."

"Gov. Palin's position could not be more clear," she said. "To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice."

Well, folks, what do you know? She's been caught lying. Again.
From Op-Edna:

Thanks to the Huffington Post’s Jacob Alperin-Sherriff, Sarah Palin has been linked directly to the decision to force sexual assault victims to pay for their own rape kits in Wasilla, Alaska, while she was the town’s mayor.

Her signature on the documents cutting the cost of rape kits out of Wasilla’s budget and putting it on the victims of sexual assault not only confirms her knowledge of and involvement in implementing this heinous, disturbing policy, but also proves that her campaign is outright lying.

Here is the link to the specific document: http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/WasillaAnnualReport.pdf

Here is the signature:

This brings me to my next question: What other myriad untruths have yet to be uncovered, Sarah Palin, if that's your real name.

Palin to Rape Victims: Sucks to be You

There seems to be no end to the disconcerting news that surfaces regarding Palin. She seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. I wish I had a receipt.

I am thoroughly distressed by what has come up in the past week or so.

From Op-Edna (emphasis is mine):

While Sarah Palin was serving as the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the city charged victims of sexual assault between $300 and $1200 for their own rape kits. A rape kit is a sexual assault forensic evidence kit, used to collect DNA that can be used in criminal proceedings to assist in the conviction of those who commit sex crimes. The kit is performed as soon as possible after a sexual assault or attack has been committed. It is usually humiliating and uncomfortable for the victim–imagine enduring that and then paying $1200 just so that the criminal who assaulted you might be caught.

[According to the Frontiersman]: please note that the Governor who signed the new law preventing sexual assault victims from paying for their own rape kits was a Democrat, Tony Knowles. And please share with any woman you know who might be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin is definitely and thoroughly anti-women.

What She Said

From Jezebel:
Should Women Stop Using the Word "Douchebag"?

...I don't use the word douchebag. I'm prone to "asshole" or "fucking jerk." And I like faux-swearing, like "mothertrucker" and "shut the front door, you son of a businessman." But it seems like "douchebag" has been growing in popularity lately. The same way I would never call someone who is not brave a "pussy," I don't know that calling a stupid, irritating or reprehensible guy a "douchebag" is a good idea, since the negative connotation comes from the fact that a douche is something only a woman uses.

Where "asshole" is not gender specific, "douchebag," "douchenozzle" and "twatwaffle" are specifically designed to insult a man by associating him with something feminine. A douche is for the vagina. Since when is being exposed to a vagina a bad thing? Is it okay to use "douchebag" because, as we all know, douching is not really necessary and actually can be harmful to your vaginal health? How many people who use the word actually know that?

On the other hand, I know that some words just become part of the lexicon and take on new meaning. So that when you think "douchebag" you just think "jerk" or "asshole" and not Summer's Eve feminine care. And I would never say something like "women should never use this word!" Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing.

But just like the Cleveland Indians logo, Darkie toothpaste, and those super-popular Sean John "No Bitch Ass Ness" T-shirts, "douchebag" makes me uncomfortable. Am I alone?

Its Cool to Talk about Birth Control with Your Friends in Extremely Specific Terms in a Casual Setting, Like a Nightclub

Happy period control to you, Sarah Haskins!


via Feministing

Re: Um.... What?

I can't stop watching the Athens Boys Choir. Did you watch? Do it. Then watch it again 4 or 18 times. Revel in the fatuousness.

Um.... What?

From the Athens Boy's Choir...

::shrug::


via Slog

Cultivating Girls with Precarious Ideas about Sex One Purity Ball at a Time

Every year, the Purity Ball makes the news and I lose my mind a little bit. The Ball is a formal, primarily Evangelical event attended by girls as young as four and their fathers. The girls pledge to remain pure and virginal until marriage; the fathers pledge to protect their daughters' virginity.

Let's begin with a creepy excerpt from Nancy Gibbs' July 17th article (The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity) in TIME magazine:

Kylie Miraldi has come from California to celebrate her 18th birthday tonight. She'll be going to San Jose State on a volleyball scholarship next year. Her father, who looks a little like Superman, is on the dance floor with one of her sisters; he turns out to be Dean Miraldi, a former offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles. When Kylie was 13, her parents took her on a hike in Lake Tahoe, Calif. "We discussed what it means to be a teenager in today's world," she says. They gave her a charm for her bracelet--a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. "On my wedding day, he'll give it to my husband," she explains. "It's a symbol of my father giving up the covering of my heart, protecting me, since it means my husband is now the protector. He becomes like the shield to my heart, to love me as I'm supposed to be loved."

Kylie talks with an unblinking confidence about a promise that she says is spiritual, mental and physical. "It's something I'm very proud of. I plan to keep pure until marriage. It's a promise I made to myself--not pressure from my parents," she says. She speaks plainly about what she wants in her life, what she thinks she has the power to control and what she doesn't. "I'm very much at peace about this," she says, and looks out across the twirling room. "I don't feel like I need to seek a man. I will be found."

These messages provided by these events and the parents who encourage their daughters participation are incredibly complicated. The messages insinuate that girls' worth is dependent only on their sexual activity or inactivity. And aren't these parents getting a little too involved in what's going on between their daughters' legs?

Perhaps providing a thorough sex education (including issues about emotions and self-esteem, peer pressure and hormones, STIs and contraception, pregnancy and responsibility), empowering girls to make their own decisions and being prepared to love and respect them after they've made their own decision, good or "bad," is the way to cultivate a sense of worth and strength in these maturing girls. In a time where abstinence-only sex education is a widespread and Congress-endorsed, albeit irresponsible, means of "teaching" students throughout the country, it is imperative for kids to be given as much information as possible and to be allowed to make decisions without fearing repercussions and crushing guilt.

From Feministing:

Flowery language and valorizing these days doesn't change what purity balls are about: the ownership and fetishizing of young girls' sexuality. Perhaps someone should remind Time of that fact.

via Feministing