BlogHer - United States - Comments

Thank you!

cutiebootycakes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:35:53 -0500

I agree with you 100% we can no longer be silent about this devastating disease! Cutie Booty Cakes

You Got It!

StickySweetMom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:07:30 -0500

You said it best "We could do away with these "days" and have an easy way to promote early intervention for individuals with HIV." Come on people let's get it together and get this done. Silence is only golden when your at the movie theater.

Leaving the boy's locker room

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:53:24 -0500

Usually I think that Breyer is great, so it really shocked me that he was the one who brought it up. It showed me just how profoundly biased by our experiences we all are, even those who do journey out of the boy's locker room fairly frequently. :)

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Women's medicine

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:51:25 -0500

Yeah, "women's medicine" has always made me cringe. Nothing related to prostate, penis, and testicular care is called "men's medicine," is it?

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

I like your summary

kandela — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:03:56 -0500

Good summary, where laws are ambigious different views from those who decide are valuable because there will be different views by those who are affected.

Ideally a law will be clear and unambigious but a good law maker knows that it is better to write a fair law than a clear one, and this is one area where varying views in passing judgement on those laws are valuable.

You wouldn't think we are the same race

Wilma Ham — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:00:22 -0500

When oh when will some people give up their insane obsession with wanting to be right.
Justice is such a weird concept and it is ludicrous to assume there ever can be 'objective' justice. Those men are dillusional beyond belief.
And yes, they don't get touched by life .. . if they can help it, they rather stay in their ivory tower.
Sometimes I feel actually really sorry for them, to me they look like little children hardly knowing anything and pretending to be big and they have no idea how transparent their ignorance is.
However the power these men-children have bugs me though. Lockerroom is what they fondly remember, where have they been in between????

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

excellent analysis

elanas — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:45:15 -0500

Yes, men are "normal" and women are "different". This is true in so many aspects of life. Hospitals that have, you know, medicine, and then "women's medicine. Or websites that list lots of topics and then "women's" issues. Thanks for the post.

Elana Sztokman

www.forseriousjewishwomen.com

Sympathy

kandela — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:16:12 -0500

If I may add an additional point:

I have some sympathy for the defeated boys. Why, you ask? Well, because of the patriarchy.

“It’s a lose-lose situation,” he said. “If he wins, he’s supposed to win. If he loses, he lost to a girl.”

This is actually the situation that the boy deals with from his peers. Nobody likes losing. The only time an athlete feels good about a loss is when they gave it their best, played to their potential and pushed their opponent all the way. The patriarchy has taught boys that they are better than girls at sport. Thus if they lose, especially at their chosen sport, then they aren't allowed to feel they have played to their potential. In fact they are subject to ostricism – treated as lesser examples of thier gender. Of course they aren't in any way less male for losing to a female but this is the affect the patriarchy has.

If they win, then because of the patriarchial view that they should win, the achievement is mocked by their peers. Showing pride in the victory is met with dripping sarcasm, 'Big deal, you beat a girl.'

The boy in the final behaved immaturely. Smashing his racquet is actually a technical fault (racquet abuse) in tennis, and he'd have lost a point for it. However, his reaction is perhaps understandable (though not excusable) because his coach is pushing the patriarchial line at him. His coach, by telling him he should beat a girl, and pouring scorn on him when he doesn't is treating his own player badly. You could even argue he is treating him in a sexist way. It's not the type of sexism we're used to talking about on feminist blogs but I think it is sexism. If the coach's player was a girl he wouldn't have had this attitude toward her. The beaten finalist has no power, being a child, so the usual arguments about men not being able to be the victims of sexism are less valid than usual.

By contrast the semi-final coach did an excellent job, saying treat her like any other player. It would appear his players acted in a sporting fashion. The semi-final coach did not reinforce patriarchial stereotypes and I'm sure his players feel much better about how they competed as a result. They may still have received some stick from their peers, but the effect would be muted thanks to the attitude of the coach.

Tennis

kandela — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:50:28 -0500

Firstly, this is totally great. Sometimes I think separate women's competitions encourage the belief that women can't compete with men at sports. Of course, it depends on the sport.

If anyone can explain to me why there are separate men's and women's Lawn Bowls competitions I'd be most interested.

As regards our heroine's comment that she plays like a boy, I believe she means stylisticly. If you watch men's and women's tennis the style of play is quite different. Most men will be baseline players, or serve-volley players. Basically, they take into account that their opponents are likely to be very strong – able to hit the ball hard and fast. They rely also on their own power to get the ball back competitively from the back court or in the serve to force their opponent back. The strongest female players also play like this, players like Emile Maresmo, and the Williams sisters. Martina Hingis at an Australian Open, famously said playing Maresmo was like playing a man. Many people took that in a way other than how it was intended, I believe she meant the style of play. The majority of female players however rely more on placement of the ball. You will see many more lobs in women's tennis, since women are generally shorter. Also the rallys are longer as the players try to out think each other rather than out muscle them. Depending on the type of player you are and your own style of play, one type of opponent may suit you better than another.

Also, the lower level of competition comment: if there is so little interest in women's tennis in the area that her school couldn't even field a team then obviously there will be a higher level of competition in the boys comp. Fewer women play sport competitvely than men do, by the law of averages then a player of equal ability placed in each competion will do better in the women's comp. This is something feminists can help address I think. Encouraging women's participation in sport is a feminist issue.

I believe women should be encouraged to participate more in sport, they deserve to feel good about their bodies for something other than their ornamental value. But there are complex issues involved here. At the highest level, men are stronger, taller and faster. Few women can compete with men at elite level in sports where those things really matter. (Yet, more than do now would be capable I think, it seems that the very best women are rarely encouraged to test themselves against the very best men.) Men and women have equal potential to be skillful and crafty in sport, so added strength is a big deal when less than 1% is the difference between winning and losing. So what do we do? Giving men's and women's comps equal status and prize money flies in the face of merit based achievement; as does handicapping based on gender. How do we encourage women's participation in sport to the same degree as men's under these conditions?

Edit: fixed grammar.

Important to remember

Suzanne Reisman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:47:17 -0500

Thanks for this great post and to everyone who shared their pre-Roe memories. Whatever one thinks of abortion, it is not going to stop by making it illegal (or unavailable, as 87% of counties in the US currently have no abortion services provider). Women desperate to terminate pregnancies based on their own moral values and beliefs will find ways to do so, even if it puts their health and lives at risk.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

I, too, grew up

Virginia DeBolt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:53:59 -0500

in the days before Row v. Wade made abortion legal. And I can tell you the stories about the lengths that women and young girls went to when they were desperate enough to want an abortion are indeed true. We don't want to go back to that.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer CE
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

Yes! He was a Doctor!

Devra Renner — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:28:39 -0500

Thank you for not labeling him as anything else. Although I would enever expect you to. You know how to report a story accurately.

It just turned my stomach to see CNN use the term "abortion provider". Dr. Tiller was dedicated to women's healthcare. Affordable women's healthcare. He provided many services, not just pregnancy termination.

I stood outside his clinic in 2001, the 10th anniversary of Operation Rescue, in order to make sure women had safe and unrestricted access to healthcare. Instead of over 2,000 arrests at the clinic, like what happened in 1991, there were 2.

Today I learned our synagogue, and the other synagogue in Wichita have been targeted for demonstrations this weekend by Fred Phelps' church group. I hope anyone in the area of Wichita who believes women have the right to legal and safe healthcare attend services at either congregation, regardless if they are Jewish or not!

Thank you Cynthia for writing up some of the historical collective as to why abortion must be a legal option available to those who need it.

Devra

www.parentopia.com

Welcome to Victory Garden heaven!

debra roby — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:47:55 -0500

Welcome to Victory Garden heaven time. Let us know how successful and fun your garden's been this year.

I will be picking kale and onions this weekend, and waiting for the lettuce, cabbage, and summer veggies to come in.

Also about to start a new set of seeds to plant to get some later summer, then fall veggies.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Weight for Deb

oh yeah

Kian Yamaguchi — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:50:15 -0500

I'm loving mine. We've already eaten several family sized salads from it. Now I'm just waiting for everything else!

http://mamafasha.blogspot.com my fabulous must-read blog ;)

http://MKSkinCare.myarbonne.com check out our new line FC5!

You'll love it

debra roby — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:53:01 -0500

Cherre,

You'll love it. Oddly, I'm at the point in my life where I know the next time I move, I'll probably move into a condo or apartment and stop the gardening. Or end up gardening at a community garden site.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Weight for Deb