The War On Drugs Has Become A Largely Unannounced War on Women of Color

Feeling Rebloggy

       
       Source: Andrea Ritchie

     According to the Drug Policy Alliance,  

     "Drug use and drug selling occur at similar rates across racial and ethnic groups, yet black and Latina women are far more likely to be criminalized for drug law violations than white women.”
Black, Latinx, and Indigenous women make up a grossly disproportionate share of women incarcerated for drug offenses, even though 

• whites are nearly 5 times as likely as Blacks to use marijuana and 
• 3 times as likely as Blacks to have used crack. 

According to sociologist Luana Ross, although 

     Native Americans make up 6 percent of the total population of Montana,
they are approximately 25 percent of the female prison population. These disparities are partially explained by incarceration for drug offenses.
     These statistics are not just products of targeting Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities; they are consequences of focusing on women of color in particular.

     From 2010 to 2014, women’s drug arrests increased by 9 percent while men’s decreased by 7.5 percent. These disparities were even starker at the height of the drug war. Between 1986 and 1995, arrests of adult women for drug abuse violations increased by 91.1 percent compared to 53.8 percent for men.
     However, there continues to be very little information about the everyday police encounters that lead to drug arrests and produce racial disparities in women’s prisons... 

     One notable exception to the lack of information with respect to women’s experiences of drug law policing was a General Accounting Office investigation, which found that Black women were more likely to be subject to searches of their bodies and personal effects by US Customs and Border Protection agents than any other group.

In fact, Black women were  

• 9 times as likely as white women to be X-rayed after being frisked or patted down, and
• 2 to 3 times as likely to be strip-searched, even though they were less than 1/2 as likely as white women to be found to be carrying contraband.
• Black women were also searched at a rate 1 1/2 times that of Black men and Latinx people,
• and were less likely to be found with contraband than any other group.

The report also found that Asian and Latinx women were strip-searched 3 times as often as men of the same race, and were 20 percent less likely than white women to be caught with contraband.

     Amanda Buritica, a fifty-two-year-old school-crossing guard born in Colombia, landed in San Francisco in 1994 on her way back from Hong Kong. She was strip-searched, forced to drink laxatives, repeatedly kicked by a US Customs officer, and held more than twenty-four hours before she was returned to the airport, sick and dehydrated from her ordeal 

      Across the country, shortly after landing in Fort Lauderdale following a trip to Jamaica, Janneral Denson found herself handcuffed to a bed at Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital by US Customs inspectors; she was forced to drink laxatives, her bowel movements were monitored, and she was held without contact with the outside world for two days, all because she allegedly fit the profile of a drug courier. She was seven months pregnant and experienced severe diarrhea and vaginal bleeding upon release. One week later, she delivered by C-section a three-and-a-half-pound baby who required prenatal intensive care for a month. 

    These stories are just a few of the many behind the statistics that reflect pervasive stereotyping of Black and Latinx women as drug couriers...

http://andreajritchie.com/2017/08/21/war-on-women-of-color/

HAVE WOMEN OF COLOR BECOME THE STRONGEST VOTING BLOC IN THE UNITED STATES?

Feeling Rebloggy
(Source: In U.K.)

     Many candidates who are women of colour are motivated by opposition to President Trump. Most run as Democrats, although they may express disagreements with the party’s leadership. But the movement is also shaped by the fact that women of colour are now emerging as the country’s most influential voting bloc.

     According to the US government’s National Center for Education Statistics, black women are now the most educated group in the US, measured by percentage of people with a degree, and they are translating this asset into political action. Black voters made up 29 per cent of the electorate in Alabama’s special Senate election in 2017, with 98 per cent of black women voting for the Democratic candidate Doug Jones, a striking increase from previous elections.
      [Last year,] ...has in many ways been “the year of the woman”. The successful fight of women in Saudi Arabia for their right to drive, the global #MeToo movement, and the uprise of women in Ireland against the abortion ban demonstrate how widespread the struggle for equal and fair representation has become. But the experiences of previous “years of the woman” in the 1970s and in 1992 (the year in which a number of women were elected to the US Senate, and Anita Hill brought sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas), could suggest some cautious [skepticism.]
    While both 1970 and 1992 did bring significant advancements for women, they fell short of fundamentally altering the structures and power imbalances that are both still the manifestation and the cause of inequality and discrimination today...

~Wired.Co.UK

Read More: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/government-women-of-colour?

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A QUIET REVOLUTION: WOMEN IN WEST AFRICA INCREASINGLY SEEK DIVORCE

"For centuries, women have been expected to endure bad marriages in many conservative pockets of West Africa. Divorce happened, but most often the husbands were the ones casting off their partners. Tradition has bound women so tightly that spouses are sometimes chosen for babies in the womb."

     Joy and sadness rose up in me at the same time when I first read a headline about women seeking more divorces West Africa. But I was mostly happy.

     I so wish I didn't understand that locations where there are no divorces are locations where women don't have any choices. And a location where a woman doesn't have any choices is a location where men can make zero effort to be a friend, confidant, and supporter. 

     Bottom Line: More often than not, a place where a woman has no choice is a place where the husbands are doing a poor job at being husbands. 

     "He didn’t hit her. He didn’t yell. He didn’t cheat, as far as she knows. It was just that, less than two years into their marriage, Zalika Amadou’s husband had changed. He’d become far too neglectful and indifferent for a young woman who expected, well, more.
     Her mother, who had gotten married at 14 to a stranger twice her age, couldn’t understand the fuss. She’d stuck with her husband for five decades until he died, and was appalled that young women these days didn’t do the same.
     But for Ms. Amadou, who married at 16, simply having a husband was not enough. She never wanted to depend on a man in the first place. So, on a busy morning in Maradi, Niger, she sat in front of a judge at a crowded Islamic court on the sidewalk and asked for what young women across the region are seeking like never before: a divorce."

Read More: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/06/world/africa/niger-divorce-women.html?

     I was really happy to read, despite the conservatism of these Islamic West African Nations, that wife beating and murder were not at the root of divorces. By comparison, in India, the men appear to be having a hard time letting go of conservative, traditional roles where the men are supposed to be the only ones in charge in the household. 
     Years ago, I set a google search engine for wife beating and neglected to limit the search to the United States. I couldn't believe how many women were being murdered by husbands in India. I couldn't believe it. 
     Never forget that women's freedom is not only a quality of life issue, but a life and death issue.  And one as is important as the other. 

BLACKCHICKROCKED.BLOGSPOT.COM

absolute power corrupts absolutely

No Other Congress Has Ever Looked Like This

feeling rebloggy

There are record numbers of women who will be sworn in in just a few hours. 

Muslim women will be serving for the first time -- including Omar and Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib (Palestinian- American) of Michigan

 -- as will Native American women, including Reps.-elect Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland.

The state of Texas sent the state's first two Latina members to Congress,

[and two black congresswomen, Ayanna Pressley [D-MA] and Jahana Hayes [D-CT] will also make history by coming to Washington from New England ] 

The historic firsts come from both parties and at least one member -- Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio Cortez [a Democratic Socialist out] of New York -- will be younger than 30..."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/politics/new-congress-history-women-diversity/index.html


headline
Lauren Underwood [D-IL] is the youngest black woman to ever serve in Congress at 32 years of age

Registered nurse Lauren Underwood, 32, of Naperville became the youngest black woman in U.S. history to serve in the House when lawmakers took the oath in the House chamber Thursday afternoon.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-lauren-underwood-chuy-garcia-sean-casten-inauguration-20190102-story.html?

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REDress EXHIBIT FOR MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS

Feeling Rebloggy  

   Two Grade 12 students are using metal as their medium to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
     Trinity Harry and Joseph Ginter spent more than 300 hours welding a red dress hanging from a tree at R.B. Russell Vocational School.
     "I do it because people don't really know what some girls have to worry about every single day," said 17-year-old Harry. "People missing their relatives, their moms, their sisters, their kids. It's sad and something that shouldn't even be going on.
     Harry and Ginter said the red dress represents MMIWG, a symbol created by Winnipeg artist Jaime Black through her REDress Project.
    The students put their own spin on Black's project, incorporating elements of their culture into the tree's design.
     "We made seven branches, they go together, the seven pieces represent the seven teachings," said Harry. "On the branches we have leaves with the provinces where girls have gone missing."

~CBC.CA 

Read More
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/rb-russell-welding-mmiwg-1.4931544?fbclid=IwAR2Tn643lZereS112zAJzvefWuRh8Qn025nVHYfSe96Fwq6OPhaatiebzpg

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THE HANDMAID'S TALE Comes To Ohio: Senators Propose Death Penalty For Abortions

Feeling Rebloggy

After passing a bill through the House that would ban abortion at six weeks, Ohio Republicans are considering legislation that would ban abortion completely in the state and make the procedure punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty.

House Bill 565, sponsored by Ohio Sens. Rob Hood and Nino Vitale, allows for no exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or danger to a woman's life. Under the law, fetuses would be classified as "unborn humans," making abortion punishable under the Ohio criminal code. This means that a woman who receives an abortion and doctors who perform the procedure could face criminal penalties, ranging from a prison sentence to capital punishment.

Unfortunately, floating criminal punishment for abortion is not an obscure idea among conservatives: In April, Idaho State Sen. Bob Nonini suggested that "anyone who has an abortion should pay." And, before he was elected, President Donald Trump said "there has to be some form of punishment" for women who undergo the procedure.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/11/217323/ohio-abortion-ban-death-penalty 

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BETWEEN BROCK TURNER AND BRETT KAVANAUGH

A repost

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THE #TimesUp LEGAL DEFENSE FUND IS USING ITS 22 MILLION DOLLARS TO HELP POOR WOMEN

Feeling Rebloggy 

Women in the entertainment industry began the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in January. It followed accusations of sexual wrongdoing against powerful men in Hollywood. Those accusations also led to the rise of #MeToo.

In the months since the fund was launched, more than 780 lawyers have registered with the group to provide legal help. More than 3,500 people have asked for help. Forty percent of them are women of color. Two-thirds are poor or near poor.

The women come from many different industries, including building, food services, education and the military.

VOANEWS

Read More: 

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/times-up-metoo-helping-poorer-women-fight-against-sex-abuse-too/4599784.html

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Toxic Cancer Causing Jewelry Recalled At Ross, Nordstrom Rack and Papaya Stores

Feeling Rebloggy 

Jewelry with the toxic metal cadmium is showing up on the shelves of national retailers including Ross, Nordstrom Rack and Papaya, according to newly released test results. 

Analysis done for the nonprofit Center for Environmental Health revealed some jewelry sold with women’s dresses and shirts was nearly pure cadmium, which can cause cancer and reproductive harm after prolonged exposure. 

Consumer advocates were hopeful cadmium had disappeared from the U.S. jewelry market following changes prompted by a 2010 Associated Press investigation that found Chinese manufacturers were using the metal to make kids’ jewelry.  

States including California outlawed cadmium in children’s jewelry, and testing by the center found the chemical had virtually disappeared from jewelry by 2012. 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/toxic-metal-jewelry-sold-in-stores_us_5bbf5a6ce4b040bb4e7fbd19/

56% OF REPUBLICANS SAY THEY WOULD VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE DESPITE MULTIPLE SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSATIONS

Feeling Rebloggy

A majority of Republicans are willing to support political candidates who face multiple accusations of sexual assault, while a vast majority of Democrats are not.

The poll, released on Wednesday morning by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, asked a representative sample of Americans this question: “If a political candidate has been accused of sexual assault by multiple people, would you still consider voting for them if you agreed with them on the issues, or would you definitely not vote for them?”

Fifty-six percent of Republicans said they would consider voting for a candidate who had been accused by multiple people; only 34 percent said they would no

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/3/17932324/brett-kavanaugh-news-republicans-poll-sexual-assault 

JERRY BROWN TAKES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION TO ENSURE FEMALE BOARD MEMBERS IN CALIFORNIA CORPORATIONS

"Companies headquartered in California can no longer have all-male boards. 

That's according to a new law, enacted Sunday, which requires publicly traded firms in the state to place at least one woman on their board of directors by the end of 2019 — or face a penalty. 

It also requires companies with five directors to add two women by the end of 2021, and companies with six or more directors to add at least three more women by the end of the same year.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/30/news/california-requires-women-board-of-directors/

This makes me happy. And I want to be purely happy. But I can't help but think about how there was no screaming about "affirmative action" or "quotas" after this announcement.  And I know why too. 

Despite the photo, this represents progress for white women. Despite white women only being 67% of all women, 98% of these new openings for women will go to white women or people who can pass as white women if they wanted to. 

And make no mistake THIS IS affirmative action. The boards of companies are going to have to take AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS to go out and find women that are qualified for these positions or STOP PASSING OVER the women already in their organizations.

However, I've never seen a black company where the men shared power to the tune of 50% either so....this is a win for black women working at black companies. And as the population continues to brown, all companies will be more and more open to black and brown women

So I guess I AM happy...mostly.  I guess. 

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BILL COSBY SENTENCED TO A PALTRY 3 to 10 YEARS IN STATE PRISON, BAIL DENIED

Cosby was convicted in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and assaulting Constand at his home in 2004, in the first high-profile celebrity criminal trial of the #MeToo era.   

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/bill-cosby-sentencing/index.html 

Cosby is actually pre-#MeToo. 

Cosby's old crime came whizzing back to the public's attention during a slow news cycle. In 2014, a black male comedian named Hannibal Burris started riffing on stage about how Cosby had gotten away with it (rape) for so long. Either somebody videotaped the comedy performance or a reporter picked up on the performance somehow or both.

Then all of a sudden Andrea Constand's story is back in the news in a big way. It is at this point that I find out Constand was one of six or so women, drugged and raped, who gave some sort of testimony or written statement during the court proceeding in 2004.  

After Burris comedy routine lifted Constand's case up in national news, four dozen or so other women came forward to say Cosby drugged and raped them too. 

I don't consider #MeToo to have really started until Harvey Weinstein. 

When a powerful white man goes to prison over raping a "mere" woman, that's when you know you have a movement -- because prior to #MeToo rich white men almost never went to prison, not unless there's video of them with the bloody knife in one of their hands.

* * * * *
Cosby was denied bail. I suppose that means he'll go to prison today despite his attorney asking for house arrest.   

http://www.tmz.com/2018/09/25/bill-cosby-sentencing-prison-sexual-assault/ 

Cosby has also been labeled a sexual offender, so he'll have to register as a sex offender when he leaves prison. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45644374 

The sentence isn't nearly long enough for raping one woman in this way, much less four dozen. If he's in jail for more than half of the minimum sentence, 3 years, I'll be surprised. 

I'm actually waiting to see if he gets out of going to prison period somehow. I'd say that upwards of 70% of white men and black men, both, think rape is a tiny little crime -- only worthy of a 3 year sentence, knowing men get out for good behavior when only half the sentence has passed.

The only solution is to vote women into office, mostly black and brown feminist women at that.

BLACKCHICKROCKED.BLOGSPOT.COM 

RIGHT NOW THERE ARE DOZENS OF OLD RICH WHITE MEN THINKING...

Why the hell didn't we just throw Woody Allen's ass in prison when his Ronan Farrow's sister Dylan accused Allen of being a pedophile?

'Cause Ronan wouldn't be all up in their sh*t right now if they had. 

In case you don't know Farrow's backstory: 

Ronan Farrow proud of sister Dylan who accused their dad Woody Allen of molestation

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/ronan-farrow-proud-big-sister-dylan-article-1.3932465# 

His sister Dylan being ignored then being called a liar after what she suffered has majorly shaped who Ronan Farrow is.  

Farrow got the #MeToo ball rolling downhill fast by taking out Harvey Weinstein. And now, in addition to other stories he's written, Farrow has interviewed the second woman to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of predatory sexual behavior.  

Read It Here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez


I'm also thinking Farrow must be needing a bodyguard right about now. He's taken down quite a few have-the-world-by-the-ass white millionaires at this point.

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KAVANAUGH AND A CONGRESS THAT SEES RAPE CULTURE AS NORMAL CULTURE

Girls used to go out to clubs and bars in packs 20, 30, 40 years ago -- so they could close ranks against male aggressors just like Kavanaugh.

Sometimes you were only thinking about being safe after you said "no" to dancing or going off with some guy you simply weren't interested in. But, let's face it, the other thing going on when women went out in packs was rape prevention. 

Not being cornered or finding yourself off alone with some guy was uppermost in your mind when you were getting dressed to go out. You were trying to prevent EXACTLY what happened to Christine Blasey Ford

...because rape culture was counted as "normal" until very, very recently.

I knew that "men can't control their dicks"  thing was bullshit when I was 12. But I still played the game as best I knew how when I was 10 years older because I knew it would be counted as MY FAULT if I got raped. 

--same as every other unmarried woman in the country in the 1980s (and beyond) 

Ten out of ten men  that will wind up voting on this in congress know how strenuously they themselves or their buddies argued against the possibility that "date rape" was a reality a few decades back. 

• Believe it or not, whenever we heard of a woman being raped on a date, most young men would say things like "She wouldn't have agreed to go out on a date with him if she didn't want to have sex with him" which in turn meant TO A LOT OF MEN that it was impossible for a woman to be raped while on a date.

So it's entirely possible that seven out of ten congressmen waiting to hear this woman testify on Monday have done the same as Kavanaugh -- with the possible exception of him putting his hands over the Ford's mouth when she tried to scream.

The heat from #MeTOO is the only thing that will stop them from confirming Kavanaugh -- because they already believe Ford. 

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SUPREME COURT NOMINEE BRETT KAVANAUGH PUBLICLY ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTED RAPE

From NBC

" A lawyer for the woman who is accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s said Monday that her client believes his actions were "attempted rape" and she's willing to testify publicly about it.

"She believes that if it were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped," attorney Debra Katz said on "Today."

Katz added that her client, Christine Blasey Ford, is "willing to do whatever it takes," including testifying before members of Congress about her allegations and that her coming forward is "not a politically motivated action." "

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/kavanaugh-s-sexual-assault-accuser-believes-she-could-have-been-n910126

Brett Kavanaugh

Apparently Ford had decided NOT to come forward publicly after she told Diane Feinstein about Kavanaugh's character. But other politicians's representatives or reporters learned her name and sought her out. A professor, those seeking information from Ford came to her classrooms. The publicity she sought to avoid tracked her down anyway. So, she came forward.

If I was her? I seriously doubt I'd have put myself through this. As serious as the appointment to the supreme court is, I feel like it'll likely be for nothing.  It'll mostly be men that will making the decision as to whether Kavanaugh's behavior was abhorrent or whether his actions in high school was just a matter of boys-will-be-boys. 

-- even though Kavanaugh allegedly put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream for help. The only reason he couldn't fully execute the rape, according to his accuser, is that he was too drunk. 

In this era of #MeToo even the men of the republican party have to be a little careful before they write this attempted rape off as youthful male exuberance. Ford didn't tell very many people about the attempted rape -- most of us women don't. But she did tell the details of the attack during some sort of couples counseling in 2012. So there's a record of the event even thought Kavanaugh's name wasn't mentioned. 

So far Kavanaugh hasn't admitted whether he knew the woman or not.

On the news someone said Kavanaugh took a polygraph test to prove he's not lying about having attacked this woman. It was reportedly given to Kavanaugh by an ex FBI agent. Why an ex-FBI agent?  Even if a polygraph isn't admissible evidence or something why wasn't there an official polygraph test given by a real FBI agent?  

• Was the polygraph test done undercover just in case Kavanaugh didn't pass?
• Was the polygraph test done in the dark because they did test 9 times before Kavanugh passed the 10th time? 
• What's with the shady polygraph test?

The bottom line is this: Most men don't believe rape is rape. When people describe rape to some men, you can almost see the wheels turning in their heads as they start thinking, 'I've done that. My buddy Sam has done that.' and then the words "That's not rape" comes out. Worse than that there have been studies that show that a lot more men would force women to have sex (rape) if wasn't against the law.  

[A] recent study on male college students’ attitudes toward rape led by Sarah Edwards of the University of North Dakota and published in Violence and Gender, the authors cite research first conducted in the 1980s:

Specifically, when survey items describe behaviors (i.e.,‘‘Have you ever coerced somebody to intercourse by holding them down?’’) instead of simply label them (i.e., ‘‘Have you ever raped somebody?’’), more men will admit to sexually coercive behaviors in the past and more women will self-report past victimization. 

Edwards and her team wanted to better understand the male side of this gap — that is, why men react differently (and divulge different information) depending on the wording — so they had a group of college men fill out a few surveys. 

One asked them which sorts of behaviors they would engage in “if nobody would ever know and there wouldn’t be any consequences.” It included items that both used the word rape and that instead described the act of forcing someone to have sex against their will without using the r-word itself...

Read More: https://www.thecut.com/2015/01/lots-of-men-dont-think-rape-is-rape.html

It's going to be interesting to see the democrats can even get the republicans who control the House and Senate to even back off long enough to listen to what this woman has to say. But I'm not terribly hopeful about the outcome. 

I keep hearing -- "It was 36 years ago. It was 36  years ago" ---as if that makes a rape attempt not a rape attempt. We cannot put a man on the supreme court who would look at someone like Brock Turner and decide that the alcohol is responsible for the rape. 

Funny how men will believe that alcohol can make man insane and not responsible for their actions when rape is involved. But they have no answer for how it is normal women don't get drunk, pull out their gun or knife and force men to have sex. 

When women DO perform such behavior, drunk or not, they are deviants that must be punished. They don't get put into a category of girls-will-be-girls, patted on the head and excused -- whether 36 years or 36 minutes have passed since the sexual assault.

As it stands most of our elected male officials seem perfectly willing to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court for life even if somebody pops up with video of the attempted rape.

And this is entirely because men do not think of rape, especially date rape or rapes at parties, as real crimes. Women are not going to see justice on certain matters until women are at least 50% of the United States' power structure.

It's going to be interesting to see if Chrstine Blasey Ford can connect to the outrage of the #MeToo movement and slow the republicans roll toward confirming Kavanaugh. I think the only way that happens is if this reluctant witness decides to do interviews either today or tomorrow.
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PASTOR CHARLES H ELLIS III MICRO-SEXUAL ASSAULT OF ARIANA GRANDE AT ARETHA FRANKLIN FUNERAL

"Bishop Charles H Ellis III’s hug of the singer, and a joke about her name, was interpreted by some as crossing a line"

   ~ from The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/01/bishop-apologises-to-ariana-grande-for-conduct-at-aretha-franklins-funeral?CMP=fb_gu

His hand and her face say it all. So yeah, I'd say he crossed a line. Or maybe it's just me...and most of the women in the country

This incident reminds me of Taylor Swift pretending a man didn't have a hand on her bare ass during a photo....not complaining until the photo was over even though she was already famous and powerful at the time.

We have to redefine professionalism for women. We've been taught pretend it's not happening IN THE MOMENT is the gold standard.

Swift should have known to shove an elbow in that man's throat while it was happening. And I wish Grande had bent to fake-fix her shoe so as to get his hand off her but not make a scene-- even though I doubt I'd have had time think of that myself

-- which is WHY we have to teach girls *pretend it's not happening* in the moment is not synonymous with "professionalism."

At the same time we have to create laws that at least impose fines for minor sexual assault (revision: "sexual harassment" should mean no-touching AT all).

Apologies are not gettin it for me

I wrote the section above BEFORE I saw the actual video. 

Now that I've actually seen his hand moving, reacquiring his access to her breast, I'm like,

"AUUUUUGGGGH!"

If we get to the year, 2118 and women and men are so equal that people don't even remember what the word "feminism" used to mean AND THIS WERE TO HAPPEN AGAIN, it might still be appropriate for Grande to wait until after the presentation is over

After all, this happened at a FUNERAL for an icon. If it were me I would not want the focus to turn away from The Queen Of Soul to me over a micro-sexual assault.

In the future I imagine Ariana would wait until she got off stage and then file charges (that will exist in 2118)

************
HOWEVER, in 2118 that thing that happened with Taylor Swift will not happen the same way again,

In 2118 a man who puts his hand up a skirt
will NOT
be met by a woman
CONDITIONED TO NOT RESPOND
to SEXUAL ASSAULT.

The Taylor Swift-A-Like in 2118
will deliver a crushing blow
to the man's adam's apple
...THEN file charges afterward.

* * * * *

We ALL know why Ariana Grande responded the way she did 

-- because we've probably done it 
-- because we KNEW that was what was EXPECTED of us as nice, well-brought up young ladies. 

We need to change this from the ground up, from freaking birth. 

When girls (and boys) are no longer brought up believing it's ladylike or professional for a woman to be quiet when someone assaults her and complain later, that this is NOT minor, that is when women will understand oppressors do not voluntarily give up power.

And when women as a group understand that this behavior is part of oppression they will understand what is required to take our half of the power. 

Women as group taking power will look like a lot more girls being raised to think about being a senator or president one day when she's in grade school. A lot more young women will looking for other female politicians to vote for instead of male politicians to convince. Women as a group will become determined to make sure that women are at least half of those writing and enforcing laws.

Currently, consequences like embarrassment, apologies, and losing a job aren't teaching men anything. But losing large sums of money and prison time will. 

The only way that happens is if women move away from the gender-based version of respectability politics --same as black folks began giving up respectability politics as a method of moving toward equality during The Civil Rights Movement

We need to put women in positions of power where they can create at least 5 to 10 different types of sexual assault and sexual harassment charges that are associated with fines and penalties.

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BAYER WILL STOP SELLING ESSURE BIRTH CONTROL DEVICE IN THE U.S. TOO

Feeling Rebloggy

Last year, drugmaker Bayer announced that it would discontinue sales of the controversial birth control device Essure outside of the U.S. And now Bayer says it will also stop selling Essure within the U.S. too.  

"The device has been associated with serious risks, including persistent pain, perforation of the uterus and fallopian tubes, and migration of the coils into the pelvis or abdomen," FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. said in a statement last week. "As the FDA learned more from patients about the serious adverse events associated with this device, we took a series of important actions to better understand the benefits and risks, and to address patient safety concerns."

https://www.self.com/story/bayer-stop-selling-essure-in-the-us 

A professor told me years and years ago. The reason there is no birth control for men --who have a reproductive system MUCH MUCH simpler than women's-- is because they are unwilling to experiment on themselves.

Anybody who is a student of history and has read about how white people experimented on black women or how Nazi's experimented on Jewish people, should be familiar with this concept. Even when a company has no intention to torture their subject to gain medical knowledge, male run companies ARE WILLING to push drugs and devices through and tolerate all sorts of side effects they won't be sued for -- very often -- if there's a profit to be made.

But these same male run companies take no risks at all a man's possibly getting nauseous or not feeling like having sex due to "mild" side effects from a male birth control pill. 

Bayer Announced It Will Stop Selling Controversial Birth Control Device Essure in the U.S.

Among those actions was the FDA's decision in 2016 to have a black box warning added to Essure, designed to make sure patients better understood the risks associated with the product, including persistent pain, perforation of the uterus or fallopian tubes from device migration, abnormal bleeding, and allergy or hypersensitivity reactions. The black box is the strongest warning that the FDA issues, and indicates that research has found that the product comes with a significant risk of serious or life-threatening effects. 

The FDA issued the warning after it heard complaints from 5,000 people that Essure was involved in unintended pregnancies, miscarriages, stillbirths, and severe pain and bleeding. Some patients also reported that it broke apart inside them.

~SELF 

https://www.self.com/story/bayer-stop-selling-essure-in-the-us

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I OF THE BEHOLDER

 Excerpt

Defend the women around you. Defend the fictional women. Defend the real women. Defend complicated women, angry women, sad women. Defend a world in which women can be not-men in a way that’s not punitive, can be people, can be anything. Consume media created by women. Surround yourself with women — not “surround yourself with strong women,” as the saying often goes, because a) we’re not under a societal obligation to be strong and b) how offensive, to qualify women like that as if we are, inherently, not strong. Fill your eyes and ears and heart with a chorus of female voices and know, above all, that there is room for all of them.

~Sonya Vatomsky, Performing Gender: I of the Beholder