Girls Write Now

This week in the media I came across a great non profit organization that I’d never heard of, girls write now. This organization pairs underprivileged and at risk New York high school girls with professional women writers as mentors, who teach the girls writing skills and how to make good decisions about life, school and careers. These girls are taught in weekly meetings and workshops arranged by their mentors. To help learn writing skills and foster their creativity the girls are encouraged to write their memoirs. The fact is that of the at risk girls that this program targets only 42% of white, 16% of black and of 22% of Hispanic female students read at their grade level. Programs like this are particularly valuable to this demographic if we ever want them to succeed and go to college. Believe it or not we still need more literacy programs in the U.S. today. This organization began in 1998 and 100% of the seniors who have been involved in this program have gone to college.
They teach the girls to write poems, fiction and non-fiction, also teaching them to fill out college applications and entrance essays. All of the mentors are volunteers and all of the money for this program is created by donors.
I believe that this kind of community service is vital to women gaining power and better careers in the future, if we give back and help out those less fortunate than ourselves then we can help create a better tomorrow for all of us and in this case, women in general.
I think that this program should be offered in every city. This service would be beneficial to the feminist movement and greatly help these girls make better life decisions, careers choices, and be more productive citizens in society overall becoming more powerful women.

Strip Searched At School

Should schools be able to strip search our children if they believe that drugs or weapons are involved? Savana Redding, in the eight grade at age 13, was strip searched by her school nurse. This came about because a classmate who was being punished for having prescription strength Ibuprofen said that Savana also had drugs. Savana was an honor roll student with no prior behavior problems and there was no physical or other evidence that proved she had any drugs on her. She was stripped nude and no drugs were found.
Her parents weren’t even notified that anything was going on. Her mother found out when the traumatized 13 year old got home from school, confused and humiliated. The Ninth Circuit Court found the school in violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches. But now the Supreme Court is deciding whether to uphold that ruling and whether or not Savana’s civil rights were violated. This incident took place on October 8, 2003 and is now in its third round of court hearings. The Supreme Court will here more in April and come to a decision over the next few months. Savana Redding is being represented by the ACLU and they plan to prove to the Supreme Court that this child’s civil rights were violated.
I would be outraged if Savana were my child for several reasons. First, I don’t believe that the school had sufficient proof, only hearsay, that Savana had any drugs on her. Second, I think that a parent should have to be notified and present for a strip search of a minor child by the school. Third, the school district had no reason to believe that Savana had drugs based on her past experience; she wasn’t a troubled student or a problem child. I do believe that her rights were very violated and can understand why she suffered great trauma from this event that caused her to not go back to school for a month and eventually transfer schools.
This is completely outrageous. If we let school districts get away with this behavior where is the line drawn? This minor child should not have been put through this totally ridiculous, overzealous procedure by the school for any reason. Things should’ve been handled much differently and not gotten so out of hand. I do believe we need to protect the privacy and innocence of our children against overbearing school officials such as the ones involved in this case. This was a clear violation of Savana Redding’s personal and civil rights and we should all stand behind her. Hopefully someday she will be able to put all of the humiliation, embarrassment and shame that these school officials have placed on her because of this event behind her and move on with her life to be a happy, healthy teenager again.

National Crime Victims' Rights Week: April 26–May 2, 2009

I recently discovered that at the end of this month we celebrate National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. One of the many things that is being celebrated this week is the 25 year old Victims of Crime Act, which in 1984 was enacted to set up after care for these victims. This act helps funding for victims continual healing and assistance ,as well as, training and education for professionals in the criminal justice system and others that need to understand the rights of victims and how to help them long term. The Office for Victims of Crime was formally established in 1988 with the mission to help provide leadership and funding on behalf of victims, according to the OVC website. This site offers an extensive look at what this organization does for dozens of different types of victims of crime ranging from domestic violence, sexual violence, discrimination, human trafficking, theft, terrorism and much more. There are downloadable fact and information sheets about what you should do if you are victim of crime and a wealth of other resources. There are resources available on national and international levels.
One week in April since 1981 has been designated as the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and the OVC hosts activities such as; rallies, candlelight vigils and other commemorative activities to promote victims’ rights and honor advocates of these victim rights. If you are interested in taking part of any activities that are in the D.C. area during this week check out the schedule of activities on the site.
Organizations such as the Office for Victims of Crime and their partnering organizations are important because of the amount of education and assistance that they provide for victims and their families. Crime affects all of us at some point either directly or indirectly and the resources and programs that this organization provides are essential for a healthier society and healing for all, as well as, awareness of crimes. This type of assistance and these advocates do a great social service that is much needed and often underappreciated or unseen by a vast majority of us until we need their help. Crime of all types does really affect us all and the OVC is trying to make a real difference in the fight against crime and the healing of victims.

In The Pursuit For Equal Rights For All Marriages

With gay marriage in the news almost daily because of some recent, and not so recent, happenings I decided to see what's been going on and what people are saying about it. This political debate is interesting and sometimes appalling. I find it interesting and hopeful that to this date there are now four states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, in which same sex unions/marriages are legal. However there are 29 states that have banned same sex unions. Why do I care? Well because I do believe that allowing same sex marriage is an equal right and not a privilege or special rights. Gender should not have any thing to do with who gets to be married, furthermore I don't understand how allowing same sex marriage takes anything away from my own marriage to my husband. I do believe that it is mostly the conservatives and religious rights activists that are so against same sex marriages. The first video in this blog was produced by the National Organization For Marriage and it is absolutely wrong. This video is misleading and offensive. The website for this organization is full of ridiculous talking points against gay marriage and what it would do to all of us if it were legalize. I also disagree on their opinions that gay marriage undermines the importance for children to have a mother and a father in their homes, gender aside I believe that many same sex parents have family values, they just aren't your "traditional family values". They still care about their kids and are responsible parents. These people are bigots and homophobes.

On the other hand I absolutely loved the rebuttal video (shown second). This video along with other press in favor of same sex marriage can be found at Courage Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Freedom to Marry and many more sites. Pro Gay Rights California residents who are still waiting to hear a decision on Proposition 8 are hoping that the ruling for Vermont will help in their cause. For the four and a half months that same sex marriage was legal in California 18,000 gay and lesbian couples did say "I Do". Good for them, GLBT people should have the same rights as the rest of society and I wish them luck and happily support them in their pursuit of equality and happiness.

Sexual Fluidity

Last week on Oprah she talked to several women who had been heterosexual and married for years but later discovered that they weren’t heterosexual at all. They were actually attracted to women and ended up in long term relationships with these women. One of the most interesting things that caught my attention about this show was Dr. Lisa Diamond, the expert that was there who just wrote a book about sexual fluidity called Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire. In her book she describes the Kinsey scale of sexuality and that actually very few people are completely heterosexual or completely homosexual. This scale ranges from zero to six, zero being totally heterosexual and six being totally homosexual. The Kinsey Reports were done from 1948 to 1953 so even back then some doctors realized that we don’t really fit into a few boxes such as heterosexual or homosexual beings.
Dr. Lisa Diamond is continuing her research at the University of Utah’s Department of Psychology and also often lectures on her findings about sexual fluidity and relationships, straight and gay. I think that this book and this subject on such mainstream media as Oprah is great and it may lead all people to a better understanding of sexuality, which would be great for both the straight and gay communities. Maybe this is the beginning of some understandings that could lead to less hate crimes, less discrimination, more empathy, more unity and maybe even less political division amongst society as a whole.

One of the Most Disturbing Things I've Ever Seen

While looking around mediawatch for something to blog about I ran across one of the most horrifically disturbing things I’ve ever seen. Apparently the Japanese video game company Illusion has made some very distasteful games, such as, RapeLay and the Battle Rapper series. After looking a bit more I came across the story line for these games.
In RapeLay the objective of the main male character is to stalk, grope, molest, enslave and repeatedly rape an entire family of women. The female characters are a mother and her three young daughters. There are sexual positions a player can choose, as well as, appearance options to choose for the female characters. The game also includes options of gang rape and photos of the girls naked and covered in semen. The Battle Rapper series, Battle Rapper and Battle Rapper2, are similar to RapeLay in that the game consists of beating, stripping, molesting and raping the female characters.
Apparently these games cannot be bought legally in the U.S. and aren’t supposed to be sold outside of Japan but at one point RapeLay was available on Amazon. After harsh criticism Amazon has removed the game and EBay won’t sell it either. Of course you can find it free, in English online.
Members of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault have strongly encouraged everyone to speak out against this game and others like it and are calling for a ban on any kind of sales of these products in the U.S. I can’t honestly believe that anyone would make or buy a game that is so totally wrong on so many levels, it’s inconceivable to me that any human would play this crap.
I realize that traditionally the Japanese have thought that women are second class citizens but this is outrageous and absolutely ridiculous. I think that Illusion should be ashamed of themselves for creating such totally degrading and detrimental material and that anyone who buys, supports or plays these games should be ashamed as well. We as a whole in society globally should make these games obsolete because of their promotion of violence toward women and Illusion should not be able to gain financial profit for this kind of material. I do understand that even games made here are degrading to women and contain too much violence but these particular games take all of it to the next level.

Microsoft and Girl Scouts Making Internet Safer for Teens/Tweens

Microsoft has teamed up with the Girl Scouts of America to help make the internet a safer and a more understood place for preteens, teens and adults. The LMK website features an interactive group of Girl Scouts that will be educating teens and parents on internet issues. These issues include cyber bulling, online predators, social networking, tips on technology and advice about issues that face teens today. The Girl Scouts are hoping that teens will be more likely to listen to peers regarding these issues. They will be holding monthly meetings to seek out different internet issues to discuss. The Girl Scouts will be issuing a monthly newsletter for parents about everything that they have learned. They believe that this will help teens and their parents discuss dangers associated with the internet more openly. On LMK teens (and parents) can also take quizzes and polls, read related articles and participate in a question- answer column. This link between Microsoft and the Girl Scouts of America is a tool that teens can use to become empowered and educated on internet safety. This may also help non-computer orientated parents understand more about the things their teens use technologically and dangers that are presented with these types of mediums. This is a great new media resource for teens and parents.

How the Media Veiwed Them: Sarah Palin vs. Hillary Clinton in the Election

In the last election we had two key women players; Hillary Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic Party for President and Sarah Palin; a vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party. This is not my opinion it is how I saw the media viewing these two women. How were they seen differently in the media? Well, Hillary Clinton was seen as this anti-feminine, power suit wearing woman who alienated many people, men and women. On the other hand, Sarah Palin was seen as a sex symbol. These two political women were viewed as extreme opposites. Hillary Clinton was viewed as a woman who was too strong, too greedy, and too masculine. There were many comments about here physical appearance, such as her power “pant suits”. There was even a doll made in her likeness, “The Hillary Nutcracker”. The box comments on “I can feel Bill’s pain”…Barack Obama and “Hillary Nutcracker—that’s redundant.”…John McCain. I actually received one of these dolls, as a joke, for Christmas.
But the media took Sarah Palin to the opposite extreme commenting that she was a sex symbol, too naive for such high office. She was portrayed as ultra-feminine. Sarah always wore high heels and skirt suits opposite Hillary’s pantsuits. Sarah also was called a beauty contestant finalist despite photos that showed her with a rifle and a Moose head that she killed, even with the fact out there that Sarah was a long standing NRA supporter and participant.
Why were these two women viewed politically so different? They were both viewed in ways that took power away from them, either being too masculine or too much of a sex symbol. Who benefits from this, the male politicians! They keep the power. They have and discredit the women candidates’ any way they can, from both extremes of the spectrum. This should bother us because if the future races remain this way we will never see a woman candidate as serious enough or capable enough to actually be president or even vice president.

Refugee Women Dehumanized by Thailand's Government

An article I read on the web recently in Marie Claire describes how a 23 year old
young lady in Thailand is living. Her name is Zember and she is a refugee from Burma who has been living in a village in Thailand
for the past two decades. Since she was five years old she has worn traditional
Kayan neck rings but now she wants to take them off and be just like other young
ladies around the world. The problem is that the Thailand government of Mae Hong Son has put
these Kayan women in small, unsanitary villages and uses them as human tourist
attractions. Approximately 40,000 tourists a year pay $8 to drive thru these
“virtual human zoos” and also buy souvenirs and postcards of these women with
their neck rings. These women earn a small wage, about $45 a month, to
participate and to “smile and say nothing” to the tourist, who are mostly
Americans. If the women discuss their situation or are seen using cell phones or
doing anything modern then the village owners dock their wages or all together
don’t pay them. The owners say that these things may ruin their “traditional”
image and tourist will quit paying to see them. Because of their status in
Thailand as refugees they aren’t allowed to seek other employment opportunities.
New Zealand and Finland have offered Zember and other Kayan refugee’s
resettlement but the government in Thailand keeps blocking their exit visas.
20,000 other Burmese refugees have received exit visas and have relocated but
they were said to lack the same commercial value of the Kayan women, such as
Zember. The Governor of Mae Hong Son has issued press releases that state that
the Kayan women are happy, safe and don’t want to leave. Zember says that simply
isn’t true. They live in very poor conditions with no medical care and no
freedom.
The treatment of these women is so wrong and dehumanizing on so
many levels I don’t even know where to begin. Why should Zember and the other
Kayan women be forced to stay in Thailand, being treated like animals in a zoo
without any rights while the government receives financial incentives from
tourist to keep them this way? The Thailand government benefits from tourism but
the women suffer.
For a story of other women just like Zember visit the
website for Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom.

Yaz the Birth Control That Was Too Good To Be True

Yaz, a birth control pill that Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals produces, according to an article in the New York Times, was called out last week by the Food and Drug Administration for misleading commercials. The commercials in question promoted this new birth control pill as having more positive benefits than it actually does and down playing the serious health risks of the drug. This ad campaign used symbols, the hyperbole technique, and the “Simple Solution” approach to sell their product to young women.
The You Tube ad that I have at the top of this page uses symbols, such as, young successful women in a stylish setting to promote what a smart, educated decision using Yaz is. Bayer also used the “hyperbole” technique in this ad by making claims that this new pill significantly helps women suffering from severe Premenstrual Syndrome, mood swings and can help clear up acne too. Regulators for the FDA say that these claims have been simply over blown. The Yaz advertisements also offer the “Simple Solution” approach by telling these women that just by taking this birth control you also can get the benefits of easier periods and better skin and promoting it as a “lifestyle” not just birth control.
The FDA has forced Bayer to run $20 million in commercials from now until July that restates the effects of this birth control to reinforce the serious health risk that it can cause. Bayer made $616 million in sales of Yaz last year alone so is a new restated ad campaign that will run for five months really hurting them that much for using such misleading and deceptive advertisements? No, probably not, but is nice to know that the FDA is getting a little tougher on those drugs companies that are trying to exaggerate their products benefits. These pharmaceutical companies gain millions of dollars from running these misleading ads at our cost. Why should we care if pharmaceutical companies inflate the benefits of some drugs and down play the negative health risk that they could have on us, well, we should know the full truth about these drugs before we ingest them and become more informed consumers.

Young Girls Dressing Too Sexy

Over the past several years I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend in young girls across America. They strive to imitate celebrities that they see in the media, going as far as even dressing like them. It isn’t uncommon anymore to see girls as young as ten years old in short, short skirts or revealing shirts and even high heel shoes. The media and advertising has been promoting these clothes to younger and younger girls consistently and making the girls think that they should look provocative and sexy even if they are much too young.
Advertisers use the “Bandwagon” technique to sell these girls on the idea that everyone is dressing like this and they too should dress sexy to be cool and fit in. Walk into any mall across America and you can see this fashion phenomenon that has caught on with our tween and teen girls. The message that the media and advertisers are sending these girls way to early is the sexist view of the advertising world that women, and now girls, are just objects of men’s desires and that they are only important if they are pleasing to the male eye. This has to be starting a very destructive and degrading self image for these young girls.
They may also be pressured to start acting more sexual younger. Our teen pregnancy rate is one of the highest of industrialized countries. For the last three decades we’d managed to lower the teen pregnancy rate but now we are seeing girls as young as twelve and thirteen getting pregnant and getting STD’s.
Jean Kilbourne has even written a book about this scary new fashion trend. We need to fight back against the advertisers and media and teach our young girls that there is so much more to being a woman than looking sexy and that their self worth should not come from wearing inappropriate, provocative clothing.

Too Fat, Too Slim No Happy Medium in the Media

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen in the media that Jessica Simpson has put on a little weight and gained a few more curves. The press was very critical of her body changes, calling her fat and making such a big deal out of this that other celebrities have spoken out in her defense. At the same time the media has reported that Lindsay Lohan has recently lost weight and even accused her of being on drugs because of the weight loss.
Is the press ever happy? There doesn’t seem to be a “perfect” size anymore. Media has always objectifies women and focused on our looks but in the last decade I feel this has intensified and is also targeting younger girls more than ever before. Physicians today are seeing a large number of young girls with eating disorders, such as, anorexia and bulimia.
According to a study that was sited on AAP News, the official magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 548 girls from fifth grade to twelve grades were surveyed to see how the media has influenced them on weight control concerns, behaviors and their body image perceptions. Fifty- nine percent of these girls said they were dissatisfied with their body shape, and sixty-six percent of them wanted to loss weight. Of these girls sixty-six percent of them said that reading fashion magazines and that the appearance of the models in the magazines does influences their idea of a perfect female body. Forty-seven percent of the girls wanted to loss weight because of viewing the magazine photos. Our media is sending a dangerously distorted image of women’s bodies today and the young girls of our world are being dramatically affected.
In the past couple of years we have seen some media promoting a more positive and healthy body image. For instance, Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign uses real women of all shapes and sizes to promote their products. Also, the Tyra Banks Show regularly discusses topics on body image and the media. Tyra herself is always an advocate for promoting healthier more realistic body image and points out frequently that the celebrities and models seen in photos aren’t shown how they honestly look but are airbrushed, have special effects lighting and wear heavy stage make up.
We need to be better role models for young girls and educated them on healthy, positive body images, as well as, become better consumers that demand the media be more socially conscience and responsible about the body images that they put all over the media.