Daughter of No Comment -- August 2004

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The weather is hot, the political speak is more blather than fact but beyond the election lies the very chilly possibility that women's civil rights will be trashed by a legislative body where women aren't represented and possibly even by the highest court which is staffed by appointments from whatever flavor of president is in office. If we don't vote and get our communities to vote we will be gambling in a game where the stakes can't be any higher. The fact that we haven't really made it into the Constitution says a lot about our place and the possibility that what we consider our rights can continue to be traded away by politicians who don't consider women's rights to be important. No pork in civil rights. The Guerrilla Girls long (20 yr.,) fight against discrimination toward women in the arts has a new poster which says "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the modern art collections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female." Their latest book is titled "Bitches, Bimbos and Ball Breakers," The Guerrilla Girls' Guide to Female Stereotypes. More on these out spoken activists at www.guerrillagirls.com. A study by the Rabbinical Assembly, an association of over 1,500 conservative rabbis found that the mean total compensation of rabbis ordained since 1985 is $119,000 for men and $77,000 for women, When size of congregation, number of hours worked and comparable jobs were factored in, it was found that women earn an average of $21,000 less than men. There are no women rabbis in Orthodox congregations but among the Conservative rabbis, they make up 11% of the total. Is this a case of do as I say but not as I do? Corrine Grad Coleman who was one of the New York Radical women has died. She protested the Miss America pageant, and when denied a voice at a legislative hearing (12 men and a nun) on abortion law reform in 1969 she and others organized an abortion "speak out" and talked about their own experiences. She and 100 of her uppity friends occupied the Ladies Home Journal office and demanded the chance to put out a "liberated" issue. The magazine whose circulation was almost 7 million agreed to let the women publish a special section. I guess they wanted their office back. I didn't know her and yet I feel I owe her a heartfelt thank you. Three flagship psychiatric journals from the U,S., Britain and Canada have been surveyed by the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease for drug advertisements and it was found that women were over represented in the ads and were usually shown as submissive, sexy or asleep. 88% of the ads depicted white people. The authors wrote that "The effect of these advertisements on physician perception, diagnosis and prescribing is unknown but may be substantial. Despite the great diversification and expansion of women's roles over the last 20 years, there is a consistent tendency in pharmaceutical advertising to represent women submissively or even in a sexualized manner in traditional settings and roles." The Freudian legacy still contributes to confusion about who women really are. Alexandria, VA bridal shop co-owner Pamela Vito says that "It's funny the things that you think about in your presentation to the customer." She looks at her job as promoting the institution of marriage, "I've worn 4 or 5 inch heels every single day." She's on high heels 8-10 hours a day. They hurt so badly she can't sleep at night but she wears the heels because she wants to gain the customers' respect and so the client knows she has a sense of fashion she has to look good. The first thing she does when she goes home is soak her feet to help the pain go away. She also wears her wedding band because, selling marriage, she doesn't want the brides to even think of divorce, especially hers. Are women still going into marriage without understanding that half of all marriages end in divorce? And no wonder 85% of podiatrists patients are women. Smith College is graduating the country's first all female engineering class of 20 young women. Five of the 20 are going on to graduate programs in science and engineering. Two thirds of Smith's engineering professors are women compared to the national average of less than 10%. After I talked with the women engineers who came over with the Volvo concept car which was totally designed by women, there is hope that our needs can be taken seriously if the manufacturers want to take the trouble to listen. Jay Teachman of Western Washington University, Bellingham, found in a study published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family that living together or having sex before marriage isn't linked to a higher divorce-as long as it's with the partner you later marry. Sleeping around or living with more that one man, on the other hand, raises womens' divorce rate sharply, compared to women who have never had sex or lived with a man before marriage. No comparable data are available on men. How amazing is it that no men were included in the study? And since men don't get pregnant why wouldn't they be included. It is only fair. More on men behaving badly... Pennsylvania judge Mark Pazuhanich, 47, said in court that he would resign after he pleaded no contest to two counts of indecent assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of corruption of minor. Since these are all misdemeanors he was sentenced to 10 years probation and must register as a sex offender. He was charged with groping a 10 year old girl at a concert. Court observers are used in many jurisdictions and your local Office on Women can tell you if there is a project near you. Spending a few days in court on sexual assault and/or domestic violence cases is very educational and can help identify problem areas. And wonderful men...Chicago federal judge Prentice H. Marshall's death is another loss for fair play and equal treatment. In 1976 in a Chicago Police Department discrimination case, he ordered the department to hire more women as officers on the beat and to open its door to more blacks and hispanics. When the city failed to comply, Judge Marshall directed the United States Treasury to withhold federal money until the department changed its policies. It seems the $$$ speaks louder then a demand for fairness and since equality doesn't have an easy to quantify $$$ value it isn't a concern for the average politician, legislator or executive. Sean Vincent Gillis, 41, Baton Rouge LA, accused of killing 5 women admitted to killing 3 more since 1994 after he rejected his lawyers advice to stop talking to police. Wonder what he was thinking? Or is it Louisiana? Where medical workers at a LA jail were found not to have violated an inmates civil rights by preventing her from getting an abortion because the procedure was not "medically necessary" and elective procedures need a court order. Activist citizens need to monitor these institutions to be able to lobby for change when needed. The Correctional Services Advisory Board does this in Alexandria, VA. Osteoporosis costs around 14 billion annually and it a very serious problem for seniors, yes, men also get it. Women have formed most (90%) of their bone density by age 20 with the peak years being between 9 and 14. Bone is built by exercise. It is very simple and strength building can work at any age. Since we are going to get older we may as well do it on our terms and not let frailty rule our lives. The National Bone Health Campaign is at www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley offered an apology to women for including feminism in a list of social ills and for his decision not to include women in a Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony. In a letter, O'Malley praised "Christian feminism" and he pledged to seek guidance on whether he should wash women's feet when he visits the vatican in August. Being the "F" word takes on a whole new meaning. "She's what every macho lawyer wants to be. The only difference is, she's a chick." said Gerry Goldstein, San Antonio, Texas, defense lawyer about Pamela Mackey, the attorney defending Kobe Bryant against a rape charge. Iranian by birth and American since 1986 Leila Balali,35, a software engineer is a strong supporter for reproductive rights including Roe v. Wade. She has this warning for American women. "This (abortion rights) shouldn't even be an issue in this country. Women in this country need to realize that if they don't raise their voices, slowly,slowly they may lose their voice." Younger women need to be helped to understand how life for them has changed in the U.S.because the law changed 31 years ago. If they don't vote and fight for the issues important to their adult lives they need to listen to Kate Michelman, President Naral Pro-Choice America who says "Women today assume rights. They don't feel a sense of urgency." Never forget who appoints the Supreme Court and what power it has over all our lives. Cosmetic surgery has a new tummy tuck procedure that is gaining favor with the women who "need" to be perfect and have money to chase after perfection. Dr. Lloyd Krieger, a Beverly Hills surgeon says he's seeing a shift in demand from clients who simply say "make me flat"-referring to the pouch of fat just below the bellybutton-"to wanting to be indented on the sides" as well." To oblige, Dr. Krieger performs an operation that usually costs $7,000 to $10,000 and involves cutting along the bikini line, removing excess belly fat and then cinching in the waist muscles so the skin curves into an hourglass. Dr. Kriegersays that in the last 18 months his waist-in procedure business has risen 30%. "Straight is out," he says. Common sense is out too. Way out. Asked what she thought about Olympic atheletes posing as Playboy pinups, Dominique Dawes, president-elect of the Womans Sports Foundation said "It's not anything I would do, but sports and sex has always sold. I think women have earned the right to make those kind of decisions." Making our own decisions is what equality for women is all about. In all areas of our lives. And voting is fundamental.