Recently in Activism Category

Someone may already have posted on this, but I'll give it a shot, for posterity.

An article ran in the Washington Post earlier this week about a DC man named William Kellibrew. When he was a child, his mother and brother were murdered by his mother's ex-boyfriend; just recently, one of his best friends was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend.

According to the article, "an average of three women are killed each day in the United States by a husband or boyfriend, and estimates of physical abuse run as high as 3 million cases each year." In the DC area:

"[...]the numbers are staggering. According to the latest report of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 12,800 cases of domestic violence were reported to D.C. police in the first six months of 2007. In Maryland, almost 22,000 cases were reported in 2006. In Virginia, 51,600 people contacted domestic violence programs that year."

To combat this, Kellibrew has proposed creating a registry of domestic abusers, "similar to those for sex offenders."

I think this would be a huge step in eliminating a problem that has plagued so many people and cost so many lives since...well, the beginning of time. Any other thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

I can speak from personal opinion that often times the women who work in and manage animal shelters across the continent are unsung heros.  Let me tell you, it's not a pretty job and you don't see a whole lot of men stepping up to the plate to care for the world's unwanted pets (although there are a few...). 

Almost twenty years ago I remember standing with my mother in a trashed building as she looked around and scratched her head.  She had decided, in her late twenties that she was going to establish an SPCA in our hometown.  She took this on with little help and today works in that very same building.  Her staff is mainly female and they work these dirty, low paying jobs because they want to.  Because it is important to them.

This (and most) shelters also supports women who are the victims of domestic violence by caring for the pets of women who are forced to flee their partners due to abuse.  Often times part of a woman's reason for staying has to do with her fear for the fate of the family pet.  This relieves them of this fear and allows them to start over knowing that their pet is safe, and will be returned to them when they are able to care for it.

However, this time of year and with the economy so bad we often get wrapped up in other agendas and forget about NPOs that might be struggling to get by the holiday season.  Shelters often experience a dramatic population increase following the holidays because of "pet gifting".  Getting a puppy for Christmas may be a nice idea in theory, but when people aren't prepared to make a life long commitment to that pet, they are brought to the shelter.  Sometimes they are even left on the doorstep in the cold. 

This holiday season please keep a few things in mind.  Animal rights (to the extent that they are safe and unabused at the very least) is a feminist issue.  So is doing good in the world around you.  This year, remember the animals who aren't spending the holidays chewing gift wrap and eating left over turkey.  Remember the ones who are sitting in cages waiting for a home.  Don't give any one a gift of a puppy or kitten, not unless you have talked it through at length and the person is ready to make the necessary commitment.  Remember the hard working women who have taken it upon themselves to be the guardians of smaller creatures who can not speak for themselves.  Donate a can of dog food, a chew toy, or a leash.  Put on your parka and walk a dog.

With all the anti-gay legislation that has recently passed and the following protests, there can be no slowing on this important issue.  So I came across this website today and felt that it was important to share with all the women that I know read this site, which I have read for a long time now. 

This is a very different type of non-violent resistance without a public protest persay.

Keep up the movements to change the anti-gay legislation that ultimately hurts both women and men equally.

The Canadian parole board is set to release a convicted child rapist and murderer into the city of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Harold David Smeltzer was convicted for the rape of two preteen girls as well as for the murder of a little 5 year old girl. He is also suspected of commiting 40 rapes on women and children.

After 25 years in prison, the parole board has determined that Harold David Smeltzer is cured and no longer presents a danger to the community. Despite community outrage, he will soon be released to a halfway house.

Canadian citizens interested in signing a petition to protest the release of violent sex offenders into society can do so here.

Well, I myself am not a UVA (University of Virginia) student, I thought I'd forward my friend's plea out to the feminist world.

UVA is putting on a production of The Laramie Project tonight (11/14/08) at 6:30 in the chapel, and apparently Fred Phelps and his "church" are coming to protest it. They plan on standing in the back of the chapel and disrupting the presentation by creating a ruckus.

UVA students are putting out calls for help in the Charlottesville area and anyone who is willing to make the trip to physically block the WBC from entering the chapel.

So if you're in central or western Virginia, please help out the students! As a Virginia Tech student, I remember all too well when the WBC wanted to come and disrupt our campus and the funerals of those who died nearly two years ago. I will not be there due to an exam, but several of my friends will be.

In the 50s and 60s, the Civil Rights movement galvanized around the Black community. In the late 60s and 70s, women got into the movement in a more serious way, and in the late 70s and 80s (especially after the AIDS epidemic began) gay people got into the movement in a more serious way. But ever since then, there's been a debate about whether gay rights is a civil rights issue.

It is. Period. I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but being gay isn't any more of a choice than being straight. I never chose to be heterosexual anymore than my sister chose to be homosexual. Ergo, this argument that "gay rights isn't civil rights, cause being gay is a choice" is bullshit. Gay rights is civil rights.

Homosexuals are a subset of our population, and hating someone for being gay is bigotry. I'm sorry to have to break that to you, but it is. Hating someone for being a woman is bigotry in the form of sexism. Hating someone for being Jewish (a choice, oddly enough) is bigotry in the form of antisemitism. Hating someone for being Hispanic is bigotry in the form of racism. Hating someone for being from Iran is bigotry in the form of xenophobia. Hating someone for being gay is bigotry in the form of homophobia and/or heterosexism. I think that, in the 21st century, we can all agree that bigotry is not a desirable characteristic in our society or government.

But bigotry isn't just hate. A lot of the time, bigotry is a lot more subtle. It's voting for measures that prevent gay people from having rights -- or in the case of Prop 8, voting to take away rights that a subset of the population had been granted by a court interpretation of the state Constitution. Gay people had the right to marry in California for about 3 months. Now they don't. Californians voted to take away rights that gay people already had.

Join the Impact is a nationwide protest that will take place in front of city halls and state capitols all across America on Nov. 15 (10:30a.m./1:30 EST) to rally against prop. 8 and the other anti-gay measures that were passed this election.

Go to www.jointheimpact.com to find your protest location and learn how you can help.

I'm a peer counselor with CASA (Coalition Against Sexual Assault) at my college. Two Thursdays ago we held Take Back the Night, the entire event was incredibly empowering and wonderful. Before Take Back the Night, we met with the editor of our school newspaper so that we could discuss how the press would cover the event. We told her we were happy to have coverage, but explicitly told her that survivor's could not be quoted unless they were asked permission, and then only anonymously. We said this multiple times, and explained how having someone's rape discussed in the paper would effect the community. So, needless to say, when the paper came out last Tuesday and survivor's experiences were directly quoted (not their empowering speeches, but the quotes regarding physical rape), we were irate.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications has announced it will induct right wing extremist, and Prop 8 developer, James Dobson into its Radio Hall of Fame. Dobson runs a so-called “ex-gay” program and has said that allowing gay people to marry will “destroy the earth.” In the past two years, at least seven researchers in three countries have accused Dobson of distorting their research to back his anti-gay teachings.

Unless the Museum reverses its outrageous and offensive decision to honor this dishonest demagogue, Truth Wins Out will join the Gay Liberation Network and a coalition of Chicago organizations to protest the annual Radio Hall of Fame awards dinner.

This is just messed up.

I'm sure you all remember Larry Summers as the clown who claimed that one of the reasons women are so rare in the sciences is that our little brains can't hack it. This was irresponsible enough (the latest research indicates there *are* no significant differences between men and women in any mathematic task but 3d rotation, which is unimportant in most sciences, and besides, the same research Summers was looking at says women are more verbal, and I'm not seeing us dominating the writing industry). However, it turns out that there are many other reasons to want Summers kept far, far away from power.