Some 200 Women Gang-Raped Over Four Days Near UN Base

Huffington Post: “Civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa said there were only about 25 peacekeepers and that they did what they could against some 200 to 400 rebels who occupied the town of about 2,200 people and five nearby villages.”

Marginalized folks shouldn’t always have to be the “bigger person”

What Tami Said: “And women, people of color and other groups learn early to pick their battles, lest they be branded bitter, angry or over-sensitive. There are just some dull aches that have to be swallowed. We try to pick our battles strategically, but it is stressful and ultimately soul-destroying to have to work so hard to ignore so much—to constantly be forced to show benevolence in the face of rude and dehumanizing treatment.”

On ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Abortion Goes Stigma Primetime

The Nation: “What the antichoice characters on the show want is exactly what their real-life counterparts want: to deny women any information that could help them obtain an abortion and to prevent them from getting one.” Continue reading →

With Friends Like These, Who Needs Glenn Beck? Racism and White Privilege on the Liberal Left

TimWise.org: “But suggest that racism and discrimination are also significant problems in more ‘progressive spaces,’ even among self-proclaimed liberals and leftists themselves — and that it might be unearthed in our political movements — and prepare to be met with icy stares, or worse, a self-righteous vitriol that seeks to separate ‘real racism’ (the right-wing kind) from not-so-real racism (the kind we on the left sometimes foster).”

Is Ella Birth Control or Abortion?

Slate: “Proponents are heralding the approval of ella, which is already available in Europe, as a welcome expansion of women’s reproductive options. Known as ulipristal acetate, it’s chemically similar to the abortion drug RU-486 but will be dispensed in much smaller doses and labeled as an emergency contraceptive. Critics, however, warn that it’s a potentially dangerous drug that was inadequately studied. It also reignites the debate about what defines contraception and abortion.”

Are Black Women Too Religious To Get Married?

Change.org: “We’ve already learned from the mainstream media that black women are too educated, too successful and too independent to be marriageable. Now, it seems, we can add “too religious” to our list of supposed sins.”

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My Favorite August

New York Times: “The story in American history I most like to tell is the one about how women got the right to vote 90 years ago this month. It has everything. Adventure! Suspense! Treachery! Drunken legislators!  But, first, there was a 70-year slog.”

Mocking Perfect Gender Performances

Sociological Images: “Both men and women face a lot of pressure to be masculine and feminine respectively.  But, ironically, people who rigidly conform to rules about gender, those who enact perfect performances of masculinity or femininity, are often the butt of jokes.”

“It’s Not Just Bullets Scarring Chicago Public Housing Residents”

Colorlines: “According to the latest round of health surveys, the community members, nearly all black women, who have been tracked since 2001, continue to struggle to move beyond an environment of poverty, even after being relocated. While the women of Madden/Wells had always suffered poor health overall, their problems gradually worsened to “stunning” levels in 2009.” Continue reading →

BP’s Dumping Oil-Spill Waste in Communities of Color, Study Finds

Colorlines: “These are communities already pummeled by the a triple-blow of Hurricane Katrina, economic paralysis and racial inequality. Within these populations, the pollution may strike women and children the hardest. Exposures to oil chemicals, such as benzene, along with the mystery cocktail of dispersants, may pose major risks to reproductive and maternal health, though much more research is needed.”

SB1070 is in FULL EFFECT in Tucson, AZ

Alto Arizona: “On August 2, 2010 around 3:15 p.m. Officer Zinn and Officer Koontz of the Tucson Police Department called Border Patrol on a woman during a traffic stop. Border Patrol came and took her into detention.”

Race and Gay Marriage In Perspective

The Atlantic: “Banning interracial marriage meant that most black people could not marry outside of their race. This was morally indefensible, but very different than a total exclusion of gays from the institution of marriage. Throughout much of America, gays are effectively banned from marrying, not simply certain types of people, but any another compatible partner period.” Continue reading →