The radical right has spread quite a few lies about the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), often because of its opposition to women’s rights. Here are facts to replace some of the more common lies.
Newsweek made several conclusions about young feminists, all without asking a single young woman. This is hardly the first time the media has painted a picture of abortion rights activism, or for that matter feminism in general, as a few grannies in a moving truck stalled somewhere between the assisted living facility and the nursing home. It is a serial genre novelette we can only call Invisible Young Woman.
Alan Simpson is not fit to lead the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The ugliness of his disrespect for women is matched only by his dogged determination to dismantle Social Security by cutting benefits or increasing the retirement age. The National Organization for Women urges President Obama to take a stand on this issue and replace Simpson immediately.
I humbly suggest that parents who are helping out their children (or being supported by their children) get together and have a talk that starts with: Honey, we failed to ratify equality for women.
Target and Best Buy, two companies with reputations for being progressive and pro-LGBT rights, have given $150,000 and $100,000 respectively to MN Forward, a political action committee (PAC) that supports Tom Emmer, anti-LGBT rights candidate for Minnesota governor.
On July 21, the American Association of University Women cheered a court decision announcing that cheerleading is not a sport.
On July 27, the Utah Supreme Court overturned Warren Jeffs’ conviction of accomplice to rape. Jeffs, the so-called “prophet” and leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), had been convicted of accomplice to rape when he orchestrated the marriage of 14-year-old Elissa Wall to her first cousin, 19-year-old Allen Steed.
There’s been a lot of yammering recently about the death of feminism, how feminists are all old upper-middle class white women, and how women have achieved equality and need to stop whining about sexism because it’s a personal problem.
So, you’re committed to the cause and fired up for feminist activism. What now? How do you get informed on issues and decide what direction to take?
Where does one start with the whole Shirley Sherrod debacle? Let’s start with the positives. Through this right-wing attack, we were introduced to an amazing woman who handled the controversy and the public spotlight with dignity and integrity. We can learn a lot from Sherrod, if we can resist getting caught up in the spectacle of it all.