I'm an early voter!

That's right - I voted today! Yeah!
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Feminist Parenting: The Wet Blanket Dilemma, Halloween Edition

Halloween is on Friday and its costume crunch-time for tons of parents here in the U.S. The kids need costumes ASAP if they're going trick-or-treating and, of course, the easiest way to remedy the situation quickly would be to go buy costumes, but maybe the thought of dressing the kids as baby sex symbols or racial stereotypes makes you queasy - then what?

Yup, as our friend FeministGal notes, it isn't easy to find a feminist-parent approved kiddy costume on the shelves:

Halloween, if nothing else, allows children to play dress-up and use their imagination to be anything they want to be. Or in the case of the mainstream costume industry, gives kids the chance to further perpetuate gender roles, reinforce stereotypes, and dress little girls in hyper-sexualized outfits.

That's right, in stores all over the U.S.A. there are the racks are full of costumes like:

Sexy Teen Witch














French Maid Jr.














and whatever Major Flirt Girl is supposed to be:














Last year we brainstormed some home-made alternatives like Marie Curie, Hermione Granger, Amelia Earhart, Billie Holiday, and Janis Joplin - but we failed to address one major question. What if your little daughter really, really wants the Major Flirt Girl outfit? What if all her friends are dressed as flirt nurses and trollop fairies and have stuffed melons down the tops of their midriff-bearing coquette pop-star outfits? How can feminist moms and dads turn All Hallows Eve into a good experience instead of an exercise in gender role reinforcement and stereotypes?

No holding back - all of the last-minute feminist parents need ideas on how to pull together some good costumes, and how to get their kids excited about some age-appropriate options. What's your family doing for Halloween this year? What was your favorite costume as a kid?

Why I've Just Decided to Vote Early and to Take a Video Camera to My Polling Place

I don't care if it's a glitch or a trick - anything that keeps a voter from being able to cast her vote for the candidate of her own choosing is wrong:



(h/t Guanabee, where we're reminded "Make sure you get out to the polls early, kittens. Before you hit the poles, even.")

Rwanda: Women Helping Women

With Gov. Sarah Palin serving as a daily reminder that women politicians don't always act in the best interest of women, it is refreshing to read of Rwandan women's success in advancing women's rights through increased representation in government:

Women hold a third of all cabinet positions, including foreign minister, education minister, Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general. And Rwanda's parliament last month became the first in the world where women claim the majority -- 56 percent, including the speaker's chair.

One result is that Rwanda has banished archaic patriarchal laws that are still enforced in many African societies, such as those that prevent women from inheriting land. The legislature has passed bills aimed at ending domestic violence and child abuse, while a committee is now combing through the legal code to purge it of discriminatory laws.

One lawmaker said the committee has compiled "a stack" of laws to modify or toss out altogether -- including one that requires a woman to get her husband's signature on a bank loan.

"The fact that we are so many has made it possible for men to listen to our views," said lawmaker Espérance Mwiza. "Now that we're a majority, we can do even more."

You can read more at the Washington Post.

Girls Are Funny: Sarah Haskins

Actually, this is just a linky post to tell you that there is an interview with Sarah Haskins of Target Women up over at Jezebel, and I think she and Dodai are new BFF. I wonder how I get into that club?

Oh, this is the Target Women that S.H. says is her favorite:


And just to link back into the 'Girls Are Funny' post title - who is your favorite lady comedian?

(h/t bucking the wave)

Mediocre Female Politicians: A Mark of Success?

Judith Warner writes on the opinion pages of The New York Times:

In 1977, Bella Abzug, the former congresswoman and outspoken feminist, said, “Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”

In other words: women will truly have arrived when the most mediocre among us will be able to do just as well as the most mediocre of men.

By this standard, the watershed event for women this year was not Hillary Clinton’s near ascendancy to the top of the Democratic ticket, but Sarah Palin’s nomination as the Republicans’ No. 2. ...

Mediocrity, after all, is the privilege of those who have arrived.

Go read the whole thing. Then I hope you'll come back here and drop a line about what you think of Warner's argument.

The 3rd International Congress on Islamic Feminism

The Third International Congress on Islamic Feminism is currently taking place in Barcelona, and the BBC has published a collection of brief essays from some of the amazing activists taking part. The views expressed by Muslim feminist leaders of different countries are diverse, as you'd expect when a group of international leaders of any movement gather together, and there are naturally some contradictions in what different women see as the most difficult challenges, their sources, and how to address them. Yet, reading through the collection of views on feminism, religion and secularism made me feel surprisingly hopeful about all of our abilities to better our communities and to challenge one another. I was particularly struck by the words of Amina Wadud:

I do not wish to sacrifice my faith for anybody's conception of feminism, nor do I sacrifice the struggle and actions for full equality of women, Muslim and non-Muslim women, for any religion. Islamic feminism is not an either/or, you can be Muslim and feminist and strive for women's rights and not call yourself a feminist.

It is true, you can strive for women's rights and not call yourself a feminist. Perhaps I've been too intent on defining the label in the past...

Oh, and this seems like an opportune time to point to Fatemeh's "Open Letter to White Non-Muslim Western Feminists." For anyone who hasn't yet read it, this post is (hopefully) an eye-opener and a good guideline on how not to be an ass, one that I'm sure I'll need from time to time.

Ill Doctrine: Poem for Young Voters

Damn, this guy is good...



(h/t Lots of Thinking)

I Hate Fruit Flies

Really I do. When I was doing my fresh-water minnow research in college I had to share the lab space with students doing their fruit fly research. The sickly smell of fruit fly food was enough to turn me off fruit fly research for life. Thankfully I did indeed manage to avoid the little fellas.

However, my distaste has nothing to do with a lack of knowledge about their importance when it comes to scientific research, unlike (apparently) Sarah Palin.

"You guys have heard some of the examples of where those dollars go," the fun Alaska governor said to the guys in the audience, acknowledging their media savvy about Congress members, who sometimes acquire public money for frivolous projects. "You've heard about the bridges. And some of these pet projects. They really don't make a whole lot of sense."

A troubled look crossed her face. "And sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good, things like ..." she grinned, shaking her head side to side, her voice rising to a facetious pitch "... fruit fly research in Paris, France." Feeling in tune with the guys in her audience, she added, "I kid you not."

Now, I had to read about this because it does seem odd for U.S. money to go towards fruit fly research in France...I mean we all know how much the U.S. doesn't like the French these days, right?

Apparently this is why the research is necessary:

A healthy industry, for sure, and one now threatened by the fruit fly. A University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources report declares that currently "the olive fruit fly occurs in at least 41 counties in California," adding that in other areas of the world where the olive fruit fly has flourished, the pest has wiped out 100 percent of some olive varieties. As Thompson knew, a 2004 USDA report did not mince words: "The recent establishment of the olive fruit fly ... in California has threatened to destroy the U.S. olive industry."

And the reasoning behind the location of the research:

In April, when Thompson won the dubious achievement, he responded: "The olive fruit fly has infested thousands of California olive groves and is the single largest threat to the U.S. olive and olive oil industries." He explained that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will employ a portion ($211,000) of the $750,000 award for research in France. "This USDA research facility is located in France because Mediterranean countries like France have dealt with the olive fruit fly for decades, while California has only been exposed since the late 1990s," he said.

I still maintain that Sarah Palin is not the right female for White House. This wee little fruit fly tale is another example of how she manages to consistently fail at intelligent assessments of a situation.

Children & Clinical Studies.

A topic for which I feel extremely strongly is that of research pertaining to children's health. Luckily the NIH is beginning to come around and started a new children's health research initiative and website. They have a wonderful video on the main page that secretly made me get a little teary eyed.

We have neglected the safety and interests of children for long enough. It is time that we make sure that what we do as treatments is safe and effective. We have long assumed that just because it works in adults, it works in children, too. Evidence to the contrary is emerging at an astonishing rate.

From the website are the reasons why we MUST do research in children:

• "Understand the differences in children as they grow and develop.
• Identify the best dose of medicines to prevent harmful effects or under-treatment.
• Produce chewables, liquids or tablets that are easier for children to take.
• Find treatments for problems that occur only in children, like prematurity.
• Find treatments for certain diseases or conditions that occur in both children and adults but which act differently in children and adults, like arthritis or heart disease.
• Understand how medicines are used in and filtered out of the body in children of all ages.
• Find treatments for new or existing diseases to improve the health of children in the future, like vaccine studies that were done years ago help children stay healthier today.
• Treat our children like children, rather than little adults."

Paris Hilton = Patriotic ?!?

God Bless America. While I support the country, I can think of 237 reasons why America is less than love worthy. Paris Hilton is one of them. (Honestly the ready availability of animal print hotpants might also make the list).

What would make your list of top reasons to love America? The site fivethirtyeight.com outlines why I think we'll all have a lot more things to celebrate in the future.

Justice For All

Today Jezebel has a post on an accused rapist who personally took it upon himself to cross-examine the victim at his trial. And there's nothing wrong with being outraged at the manipulations of a criminal. As women it's okay to feel solidarity and to want to support rape victims and fight for appropriate punishments for rapists. I wouldn't have a problem with it if it weren't for the last sentence: "You've got to love our criminal justice system."

I'm hoping this is a knee-jerk reaction, not one that was given time and thought. (To be fair, my knee-jerk reaction to that statement is something not fit for family viewing.) Several of the commenters also went after the Judge for allowing the conduct. An accused rapist who personally cross-examines the victim is most likely a bastard and deserves whatever vitriol we spew. But instead there seems to be just as much hatred for the Judge and the system that allowed these actions as for the defendant himself.

As a lawyer, this tendency to blame the justice system concerns me. Yes, it's terrible that a woman's rapist gets to confront her again in a courtroom setting. But what happens if we don't allow people to cross-examine witnesses against them? What if it wasn't a rapist that was on trial? What if it was an innocent person? Is it okay to allow the suggestion that rapists don't deserve rights? Where do you draw that line?

The article that serves as the basis for the story notes that while the Judge allowed the questioning, he didn't in any way endorse it. In fact, he pointed out to the defense attorney that the defendant's actions were hurting his own case. My guess is this guy just wrote his guilty verdict himself. This isn't a situation where we shouldn't hate the player but the game. This is a time where we really should go all out for the player.

This type of rhetoric tears down a system that we should try to build. This wasn't just some random law someone thought up. It's the 6th Amendment of the Constitution. That's right, folks, your basic Bill of Rights. Mine, yours, everyone's. Even rapists. If we find flaws in the system, we should jump to point them out and rally against them. If we find Judges who refuse to follow the law, we should bring their actions to light. But just because someone you dislike is protected by the same rights as everyone else doesn't mean we, as feminists, should rally a pitchfork-bearing mob. There's no such thing as a perfect legal system. Sometimes guilty people go free, sometimes innocent people go to jail. The trial of a rape victim isn't something anyone enjoys, it's a painful difficult process, especially for the victim who has to testify. I can't imagine how terrible this experience must have been for her. But I also think it must have been hard for the Judge to watch it all unfold and know it was his job to let it happen. I respect him for it, and I hope others will, too.