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grrrly news 10/12

October 12, 2003 09:32 PM posted by lisa : track it (0)

'Male lesbians' barred from Lesfest event
Though lesbian activists have traditionally fought against discrimination based on sexual orientation, it is homosexual women who now are being accused of insensitivity by wanting to exclude from an upcoming event a specific group of people – transsexual lesbians who used to be males.

Police target a new venue for child porn
District Attorney Tom Spota does not download Britney Spears songs. But he thinks it's likely his college-age daughter exchanges tunes from Internet file-sharing programs.
So he was incensed when a confidential source told his office that there was child pornography - lots of it - to be found by simply typing Britney's name on such services as Kazaa or Morpheus, Internet sites known for facilitating music-file trading. The Suffok County, New York, district attorney then mounted an investigation, which led to the indictment of 12 people for possessing and promoting child pornography.

Activists Condemn Girl's Arranged Wedding in Romania
Human rights activists and Romanians on Tuesday condemned the arranged marriage of a 12-year-old Gypsy girl, saying it was illegal and a violation of human rights.
Ana Maria Cioaba, 12, was married off Saturday to Birita Mihai, 15. The reluctant bride once stormed out of the church during the service and later told reporters she did not consider herself to be married

Defense Loses Bid to Have Kobe's Accuser Testify
Basketball star Kobe Bryant's accuser will not be forced to testify during the Los Angeles Lakers player's preliminary hearing, a Colorado judge ruled Thursday.
Eagle County Judge Frederick Gannett also said the Oct. 9 hearing would be open to the public. Bryant's defense team may accordingly waive the hearing and go straight to trial.

Gov. Davis signs controversial sex-ed bill
Embattled California Gov. Gray Davis, facing a recall vote next week, signed a controversial bill allowing public schools to teach and survey students on sexual topics without written parental permission.
Backers of SB 71 argue it streamlines the sex-education curriculum across the state to ensure students are getting the same teaching about topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention and abstinence.

Doctors pass pro-life resolution
A national physician's group has approved a pro-life resolution at its annual meeting, stating the doctors' Hippocratic oath does not allow them to perform abortions.

Chinese no longer need permission to wed
Marriage in China used to be a matter for a man, a woman - and the couple's employers. No longer.
On Wednesday, China eliminated a much-resented requirement for couples to obtain their bosses' approval before tying the knot, prompting thousands of couples to wed in what, for some, was also a celebration of the retreat of outside interference in their private lives

Male birth control pill soon a reality
For the first time, a safe, effective and reversible hormonal male contraceptive appears to be within reach. Several formulations are expected to become commercially available within the near future. Men may soon have the options of a daily pill to be taken orally, a patch or gel to be applied to the skin, an injection given every three months or an implant placed under the skin every 12 months, according to Seattle researchers.

Rape Claim Women Told to Lie, Says Newspaper
A British newspaper said yesterday that some women, who claim they were raped by UK soldiers had been encouraged by human rights activists to lie.
The Daily Telegraph of the UK said the activists "have encouraged Kenyan prostitutes to submit fake rape claims against British soldiers," and were "allegedly promised a share in any compensation payments."

Roll Call on Partial Birth Abortion Bill
The 281-142 roll call Thursday by which the House passed legislation to ban a procedure called partial birth abortion.
A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.
Voting "yes" were 63 Democrats and 218 Republicans.
Voting "no" were 137 Democrats, four Republicans and one independent

Planned Parenthood Sues to Block Mo. Law
Planned Parenthoodaffiliates asked a federal court Friday to block a new Missouri law that would require women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours after consulting a physician.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction against enforcing the law, which is set to take effect Oct. 11, on claims it contains unconstitutionally vague and broad language.
The Legislature enacted the measure Sept. 11 by overriding a veto of Democratic Gov. Bob Holden.

Italy baby-cash aims to boost births
In Italy, a country with the lowest birth rate and fastest ageing population in Europe, the foundations of the ample state pension scheme have already begun to crumble.
Italy leads a crisis throughout Europe, where fertility rates are plummeting and life expectancy increasing.

Jury Convicts Mother Of Contributing To Son's Suicide
A Meriden woman has been convicted of contributing to her 12-year-old son's suicide by creating an unsafe and unhealthy home.
Judith Scruggs, 52, was found guilty of one count of risk of injury to a minor. She was acquitted of a second risk-of-injury count and a charge of cruelty to persons.

Lives of Girls and Women
DEEP WITHIN Ann-Marie MacDonald's long-awaited second novel, The Way the Crow Flies (Knopf), her omniscient narrator makes an aside about the old two-lane highways that link Toronto and Ottawa. They're more dangerous, she notes, than the newer, multi-lane 401, not because the freeway has controlled-access ramps or dividers between oncoming traffic, but because "these winding roads, with their scenery and their signs, are narrative -- the 401 is just a series of facts." It's an arresting, multiple image -- bringing to mind not just the fact that old roads tell old stories of past migrations and settlements, but also the notion that any way of explaining the world is inherently risky. Narratives can set you free, but their unexpected twists and turns can as easily send you careening off your road, shattering what had seemed eternally solid a moment before

California leads on civil unions
WHILE THE MEDIA are entertaining us with the California recall circus, they've overlooked a different story: The Golden State recently leapfrogged the rest of the United States in protecting lesbian and gay pairs. California's new ABM (All But Marriage) law is just as comprehensive as Vermont's civil union law, but far more significant. That's true in no small part because its 34.5 million citizens make up 12 percent of the nation, vastly outnumbering the 630,000 souls shivering away in the Ben & Jerry's state.

Is this the state of feminism today?
Switching to the MTV Video Music Awards the other night, I thought at first that I must be viewing a special-themed awards show. A pimp 'n' ho ball, right?
Rapper Snoop Dogg set the standard, walking down the red carpet with two half-dressed women chained to him.
But as the night wore on, I realised: this was serious.

Single male: jobless and a 'threat to society'
Increasing numbers of prime-aged men have neither full-time jobs, wives, nor children, and pose a threat to society, according to a senior labour market economist.
Sue Richardson, of the National Institute of Labour Studies, at Flinders University, said Australia was re-creating an underclass "of the excluded and the dangerous" not seen since the late 19th century.
"Back then large numbers of men were excluded from secure jobs, never got to be fathers - at least, officially - and were a menace to society," she said.

Rape is never glamorous
The press is usually not much exercised by rape. Over the few months I have been monitoring rape trials; only one I sat through was reported. Cases where the complainant knows the accused, and consent is the defence, do not interest the public.
Editors and their readers only take notice of strangers roaming the country in masks, or celebrities - such as the current case involving eight footballers. Tabloids affect shock and horror, but they focus less on the alleged crime than on the saucy details. Headlines in two newspapers yesterday suggested that the alleged victim had sold her story, feeding public perceptions that a woman who alleges rape against a famous person has to be making it up.

Domestic Violence Campaign Not About Helping Women

October 1 is the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. But don't be fooled -- this feminist-driven campaign is not about stopping partner violence, or even helping women in abusive relationships.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month is an excuse for radical feminists to perpetrate their myths that domestic violence has reached epidemic proportions in this country, that men are always the brutal perpetrators, and women the inevitable victims.

Aborting Child Protection
With all the publicity about the harm done by pedophile priests, you might think that people uniformly disapprove of sex between minors and adults. If a 16-year-old boy tells us that he had sex with a priest, we all now agree that the older person exploited him. Evidently, this new consensus does not apply to adult men having sex with under-aged girls in California. At least, not if the girl gets pregnant.
Here is the issue. Health-care personnel are ordinarily mandatory reporters of child abuse. But a recent survey has prompted the question of whether abortion clinics take this responsibility seriously. A woman called Planned Parenthood Clinics across the country and told them that she was 13, and pregnant by her 22-year-old boyfriend. The overwhelming majority of the clinics told her she could come in for an abortion with complete confidentiality; they would not report her boyfriend for statutory rape.

ONE FREE GROPE
If there was a precise moment when feminism died, it was in 1998, when Gloria Steinem published the apologia for President Clinton discussed below. "The personal is political" was transformed into "Bill Clinton's personal is political". Among the beneficiaries of Ms Steinem's contortions will be the next Governor of California.

Nobel Winner Ebadi Talks of Her Decades-Long Fight
Legal warrior for Iran's women and a brilliant interpreter of Islamic law, Shirin Ebadi became the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She spoke to Women's eNews in an exclusive interview shortly before her award was announced

Woman-Owned Companies Surge in Five Western States
In five western states where women have little representation in the professional and political sectors, female-owned small enterprises are doing particularly well. A study suggests this is because women are finding less resistance there.

Sports Stars Act Like Perks Include Abusing Women
Caryl Rivers declares open season on the attitudes, economic incentives and legal loopholes that seem to be spurring assaults on women by high-profile male athletes

New NYSE Chief to Keep Augusta Membership
John Reed, the new chief of the New York Stock Exchange, recently indicated that he would not use his position to urge the Augusta National Golf Club to admit women.
Reed, once retired but now interim chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange, rejected a recent plea from the National Council of Women's Organizations to cancel his membership at the club. The council has been in a battle for more than a year over whether the famous club--home to one of golf's most prestigious tournaments--would continue its refusal to admit women as members.

Court May Rule on Battered Women Losing Custody
The New York State Court of Appeals is considering offering an opinion on the debate over whether children should be removed from homes where there is domestic violence.

Orthodox Women Read Torah in Mixed Services
Traditionally, women have been locked out of reading the Jewish holy book in Orthodox Holy Day celebrations. But a small movement of female Torah readers is gaining ground both in the United States and Israel

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