miss i, gin pen
24year-old writer with two degrees and no fucks to give.
France Will Now Pay for the Full Cost of Abortions
Sticking to his campaign promise, French President François Hollande and the French state will now pay for 100 percent (!) of the cost of abortions. Not only that, teenage girls between the ages of 15-18 will have the option for free and anonymous birth control.
Prior to April 1st, French women over 18 could receive only 80% of the cost of an abortion covered, an operation that can cost up to 450 euros. This medical change is part of the 2013 social security budget, and France also hopes to increase the sharing of free contraceptives in an effort to cut down the total number of abortions in general — as there were close to 12,000 abortions performed in France last year.
CONTINUE
- by Zach Sokol
A Good News Story About A Guy Who Is Not A Douche
![mohandasgandhi:
dank-potion:
23andchildfree:
Happy women’s day, yo
What’s misandry, again?
Women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land.
Women make up 66% of the world’s illiterate adults.
Women head 83% of single-parent families. The number of families nurtured by women alone doubled from 1970 to 1995 (from 5.6 million to 12.2 million).
Women account for 55% of all college students, but even when women have equal years of education it does not translate into economic opportunities or political power.
There are six million more women than men in the world.
Two-thirds of the world’s children who receive less than four years of education are girls. Girls represent nearly 60% of the children not in school.
Parents in countries such as China and India sometimes use sex determination tests to find out if their fetus is a girl. Of 8,000 fetuses aborted at a Bombay clinic, 7,999 were female.
Wars today affect civilians most, since they are civil wars, guerrilla actions and ethnic disputes over territory or government. 3 out of 4 fatalities of war are women and children.
Rape is consciously used as a tool of genocide and weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been subjected to rape and other sexual violence since the crisis erupted in Darfur in 2003. There is no evidence of anyone being convicted in Darfur for these atrocities.
About 75% of the refugees and internally displaced in the world are women who have lost their families and their homes.
Gender-based violence kills one in three women across the world and is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide, causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accident, and war.
[source]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0kzqfqizq1qa4ff3o1_500.jpg)
Happy women’s day, yo
What’s misandry, again?
- Women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land.
- Women make up 66% of the world’s illiterate adults.
- Women head 83% of single-parent families. The number of families nurtured by women alone doubled from 1970 to 1995 (from 5.6 million to 12.2 million).
- Women account for 55% of all college students, but even when women have equal years of education it does not translate into economic opportunities or political power.
- There are six million more women than men in the world.
- Two-thirds of the world’s children who receive less than four years of education are girls. Girls represent nearly 60% of the children not in school.
- Parents in countries such as China and India sometimes use sex determination tests to find out if their fetus is a girl. Of 8,000 fetuses aborted at a Bombay clinic, 7,999 were female.
- Wars today affect civilians most, since they are civil wars, guerrilla actions and ethnic disputes over territory or government. 3 out of 4 fatalities of war are women and children.
- Rape is consciously used as a tool of genocide and weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been subjected to rape and other sexual violence since the crisis erupted in Darfur in 2003. There is no evidence of anyone being convicted in Darfur for these atrocities.
- About 75% of the refugees and internally displaced in the world are women who have lost their families and their homes.
- Gender-based violence kills one in three women across the world and is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide, causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accident, and war.
[source]
Malala Yousafzai, in a 2011 interview with CNN, discussing her activism on behalf of girls seeking education in Pakistan.
I’m bringing this back because this morning it was announced that Malala Yousafzai has been officially nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
He is aware he just confirmed that he believes in forcing women to bear children against their will, right?
Correct. They’re not even bothering to hide behind the fetal rights agenda anymore.
And he doesn’t care if people who are not mentally healthy enough to have a child…become parents.
fuck this dude.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Australia kicking ass and taking names (mostly Tony Abbott’s). [x]
This gif set doesn’t do the actual speech a shred of justice. Watch the video and stare in awe, as I did, at how badass this woman is. Honestly, she makes me want to pay attention to politics in Australia. So much drama! Betrayal! Lies! And people actually getting called out on it BY THEIR LEADER! Love it.
WATCH THE VIDEO OH MY GOD
Oxford University students on why we need feminism
These Women Are About To Tell You Some Things That Are Absolutely None Of Your Business
Holy shit women on fire. This video gave me chills. If you do nothing at all today - watch this!
this shit is fucking A+++++++++++++++++ omg perfection
www.now.org
www.rawa.org
www.womenslaw.org
www.amnestyusa.org
www.globalissues.org
www.globalfundforwomen.orgTo the men who have told me that I’m overreacting and “it’s the 21st century women are equal now”
Ditto.
Note that the “women make only 77.5 cents for every dollar that men earn” statistic applies only to white women. Women of color make significantly less.
- Black women make about $0.68 to a man’s dollar.
- Latina women make about $0.58 to a man’s dollar.
The UN is seriously getting stuff done this week!
Kind of leery of this since the last time I read up on the subject outlawing female genital mutilation tended to result in more young girls dying as the result of backroom operations? Also not entirely sure how the UN issuing an open proclamation that no one legally needs to follow counts as “seriously getting stuff done”. This seems more like the UN taking an opportunity to profit by taking a stand against a buzz-worthy symptom of sexism rather than working to address some of the root causes (less glamorous, potentially more effective in the long run).
And no, this time I’m not talking about St Paul’s and its pro-rape facebook group and ongoing rape culture (although we could all stand a reminder that shit like “they can’t say no with a cock in their mouth” still exists in 2012).
But tumblr, I really need a signal boost on this one. People need to know. If I were to walk into this situation as an unsuspecting, naive fresher next year I think it would have actually broken me. Here’s the breakdown.
In March this year 33 male students of St John’s College (an accommodation complex within the University of Sydney) were implicated in the near-death of a female fresher. Despite her protests of a potentially fatal medical condition, they forced her and several other women to drink a ‘cocktail’ that included off-milk, dog food and shampoo, in addition to alcohol. She was then left alone to convulse on the floor of a corridor as her stomach ruptured. She spent three days in hospital.
Ostensibly this was “justice”: the punishment for her failure to walk down a corridor backwards, as per the College’s O-Week “rules”. It was her first day in the College.
The College rector, in an admirable attempt to take things in hand, investigated and suspended all the students. He also assigned them to community service and banned them from running for the student council - a decision that was recently overturned. Shortly afterwards, another of the rector’s decisions (to expel a student who caused property damage with a fire extinguisher) met the same fate. The students, quickly realising that the rector had very little actual power, immediately descended into anarchy.
Naming themselves “The Justice Group”, the 33 men made shirts depicting a vomiting eagle - a particularly tasteful nod to both the College’s crest and the hospitalised girl. They began to set fires, spread faeces and smash windows. Women became known as “Jets” (Just Excuse The Slags) and are snubbed by all men once a fortnight so that the men may remain ‘clean’. And should they protest to the blatant misogyny and mistreatment in anyway:
They are ostracised and subjected to horrible and vicious slander. Your door can be kicked in, your room vandalised, and your possessions stolen or strewn across the college. You will receive disgusting and intimidating notes that threaten further retaliation and demand you leave the house. You live in fear, constantly worried about tomorrow, and watching your friends disown you for fear they too will be punished.And even worse: in retaliation for the overturned ban against running for the student council, seven of the nine available positions have now been taken by members of the original 33. These men will now be responsible for setting the College’s culture, organising events, establishing its rules, enforcing those rules and yes - initiating freshers.
Men who nearly killed a girl this year and continue to harass and threaten many more will now be in near-total control of the College for 2013.
Please pass this on. Not everyone who applies for a College necessarily googles it beforehand, and for some reason I haven’t seen this story reported on any television station. There will be women (and men) walking into this College with absolutely no idea what’s waiting for them.
Update on the situation: yesterday afternoon, Archbishop of Sydney George Pell has called for the resignation of the 6 priests who make up part of the college’s administrative council*. This is significant because
- the legislature relating specifically to this college requires 6 of the 18 members on the council be priests, and
- the council cannot meet without at least one priest in attendanceIt’s understood that all six priests resigned within two hours of receiving that notice. The administration of the college has basically come to a total standstill.
For some reason, despite the fact that forcing someone to drink that mess should definitely qualify as poisoning them (and under Australian law could in this case result in a charge of attempt murder and/or assault with a deadly weapon) no criminal charges have as yet been laid against the 33 male students involved.
* some sources say 5 priests. I’m getting my info from Triple J, who actually had someone at the college while this was going on.
And then I debated whether or not to put it on Tumblr…but I decided it was important. Because in my own way, I can (unfortunately) point out exactly what is wrong with men when they don’t realize how hard it is to be a woman. How we do not have equal opportunities and freedoms in everyday life. How most men, even good caring men, have no clue what we go through on a daily basis just trying to live our lives.
So here goes.
I often ride the Metro when I commute from North Hollywood to Long Beach in order to save money. I bring a book, pointedly wear a ring on my ring finger to imply I’m married (I’m not) and keep to myself.
Without fail, I am aggressively approached by men on at least half of these commutes. The most common approach is to walk up to where I am sitting with body language that practically screams LEAVE ME ALONE and sit down next to me or as close to me as possible, when the train is not crowded and there are many empty rows. Sometimes an overly friendly arm is draped over the railing behind me, or they attempt to lean in close to talk to me as if we are old friends. Without fail, the man or boy in question will lean to close and ask me
What are you reading?
Is that a good book?
What’s that book about?
This serves the double purpose of getting my attention and trapping me in a conversation. If I stop reading the book I enjoy to talk to you, random stranger, you hit on me or just stay way too close to me. If I tell you to leave me alone, you get mad at me. Because I somehow, as a woman, owe you conversation.Tonight when I boarded the train in Long Beach at 10:30pm, it started up right away. I was not on the train more than three minutes before three boys who looked eighteen sat in the row behind me and leaned over the seats into my personal space, close enough to breathe on me. The one with his arm draped over onto the back of my seat asked me—surprise— “what are you reading?” I went through my usual routine. I told them loudly and firmly that I wanted to be left alone to read my book. They got angry. I was told “Why are you going to be like that? I just wanted to talk!” His friends start laughing at me and they don’t move, telling me come on! and why are you gonna be like that? until I tell them to leave me the fuck alone, stand up, and move to the front of the car near the three other people on the train, a couple and a business man in a suit. They spend the next two stops shouting at me from the back of the car, alternating between trying to sound flirtatious and making fun of me, shouting “I bet she’s reading Stephanie Meyer! I bet she’s reading Twilight or some shit! You reading Twilight or some shit?”
They exit the train at the next stop, and I’m relieved. The train is going out of service at the next station, so we all exit to board a new train to Los Angeles. As we board, the business man steps aside to let me go through the door first and asks me if those guys were bothering me. I say yes, that it happens all the time, and he tells he’ll beat them up for me if they come back. He is a nice person who talks to me like I’m a human being instead of a walking pair of tits, and I make a mental note: This is how a real man talks to a woman on a train.
The business man and the couple exit our new Blue Line train an exit or so later, and I think my night is ending on a good note. A seemingly normal man enters the train with his bicycle. At this point I am three rows from the front of the car, another man was sitting near the back of the car, and the rest of the car is empty. Bicycle Man walks halfway down the row, and settles into the seat directly opposite me. Perfect, I think. Twice in one night.
It’s not the first time I’ve been bothered multiple times. As such, I’m still amped from the teenagers on the first train. So when this man leans across the aisle into my personal space and asks me, yes, what are you reading, I assertively but calmly tell him to please leave me alone, I am reading. The man stands up, moving to the front and muttering angrily over his shoulder that it isn’t his fault I’m pretty.
Yes. Exactly that. I am the bad person in this situation because somehow this is all my fault. I started this by being attractive. I am making a mental note to bitch about this to my friends later. I go so far as to write it down so I know I’m remembering it properly.
It is at this exact moment I realize Bicycle Man is not taking it well. The seemingly annoying but normal man a moment before is now talking to himself, becoming agitated. In my years of being bothered by total strangers, I have learned how to hold a book and seem to be reading while taking in everything around me. He is glaring at me, and says out loud in an angry baby talk voice “PLEASELEAVEMEALONEI’MREADING. PLEASE LEAVE ME ALOOOONE.”
Then he’s up out of his seat and things go from bad to worse. He begins pacing back and forth in front of his bike, alternating between screaming something about his mother being dead and calling me a slut, a hoe, a bitch. I am frozen in place. There is one other person in the car, and I’m not sure if trying to change seats will draw more attention to me or less. I trust my instincts and show no fear, doing my best to appear to be calmly reading my book, never once looking up to acknowledge the abuse he’s hurling at me. There are four stops left until we reach the main downtown station where there are lights and security officers. Those four stops are virtually abandoned, and I have no guarantee that leaving to wait for another train won’t motivate him to leave the train as well, leaving us potentially alone at a metro station platform just outside of Compton. I’m frozen in place, trying to plan what I’m going to do if he decides to take all this rage directly to me. I’m ready to kick him, scream, make enough noise that he panics and flees.
At this point he’s punching the walls and doors of the train, screaming at me. He stares me full in the face and screams
SUCK MY DICK, BITCH
YOU BITCH
YOU STUPID BITCH
YOU GODDAMN HO
IF I HAD A GUN I’D SHOOT YOU
I WOULD FUCKING KILL YOU BITCH
This went on for two stops. No one came to see what was happening. The man in the last row was as frozen as I was. I’m not angry he didn’t come to my defense. He was smaller, older, and frailer-looking than I was. Again, I was worried if I got up, I would be turning my back on him to walk down the aisle. In the state he was in, I had no guarantee it wouldn’t get physical, and I had more physical strength with my back to the window and feet in kicking position where I was. If he had chosen to assault me, I would only be making it easier for him by standing up and putting myself directly in his path. On and on, over and over, he screamed at me, screamed at his dead mother, screamed at me again.
The moment we reached the downtown station, I was out the door and down the stairs. I still had to catch a connecting train to North Hollywood, and made sure there was no sign of Bicycle Man before I entered the car. That’s when I finally starting shaking, and almost threw up. By the time I exited the Red Line and reached my car I could barely breathe and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Even now, in my own home, my hands are still shaking and for some reason the stress has made my back muscles feel cold and numb. From all the tension, I can only assume. I can’t eat anything, I still feel like I’m going to vomit, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t cried so much, so hard I still have the headache.
So when people (men) want to talk about “legitimate” forms of assault, tell girls they should be nice to strangers and give men the benefit of a doubt, tell them to consider it a compliment, tell them to ignore the bad behavior of men, I want them to be forced to feel, for even one minute, what it feels like to have so much verbal hatred and physical intimidation thrown at them for nothing more than being female and not wanting to share.
I just wanted to read my book.
It’s not my fault I’m pretty.
President Obama responds to rape statement (below) from Senate candidate Richard Mourdock:
“I struggled with it myself for a long time but I came to realize, life is a gift from god and even if life begins in the horrible situation of rape it is something god intended to happen.”
Judith, by Artemesia Gentileschi, a Roman painter in the early 1620s. Gentileschi was raped and actually prosecuted her rapist in court, and the trial went on for like seven months and she was verbally abused and harassed, she underwent a physical exam to prove her virginity, she was physically tortured to see if she was telling the truth, and her rapist was actually found guilty! But he was only sentenced to a few months of exile.
Shortly after the trial, the church said she couldn’t paint the Virgin Mary or any other religious depictions because they couldnt have someone who was raped painting things for the church. She then began painting things like this and in every painting she put the face of her rapist as the man being killed.art
wow if i ever do a misandry mixtape sequel, this is going to be the cover.
OH MY GOD PLS
cathartic
beautiful
I JUST read about her in my women’s studies textbook this afternoon. Awesome lady.
Quick historical fact-check: this painting is called Judith Slaying Holofernes, and it’s from c. 1611-1612.
But yeah I majored in art history (SUPER USEFUL!) and Artemesia Gentileschi is one of my faves. I need her work on my blog.
