California NOW

Roe vs Wade 35 years old on January 22nd 2008!

CA NOW is co-sponsoring an exciting event on January 22nd with NARAL Pro-Choice California! Join us at the Napa and Sonoma Valleys Roe v. Wade Anniversary Luncheon and Action Summit! The luncheon will celebrate 35 years of freedom and privacy, and will feature an afternoon full of wonderful workshops and dialogues. The featured speakers this year are Dr. Susan Wicklund, author of "This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor," and Amy Everitt, State Director of NARAL Pro-Choice California. There are workshops on everything from the "Crisis of Fake Clinics" to pro-choice messaging. Looks like a stellar event! You can register online, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

You've come a long way baby?

Would you feel the urge to smoke a cigarette if it came in a pretty pink package? Probably not. But R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, the maker of Camel cigarettes, thinks you might. Feminists and policymakers are taking issue, however, with Reynolds’ use of pink and light green packaging for the new Camel No. 9 cigarette brand, and succeeded this week in getting ads for the product out of a number of women’s magazines.

Get this: the National Partnership for Women and Families reports that Reynolds, “in an effort to increase its market share among female smokers, who make up about 30% of Camel buyers, packaged the cigarettes in a ‘hot-pink fuchsia’ and a ‘minty-green teal package’ and advertised the brand with the slogan, ‘Light and Luscious.’ An ad campaign for the brand said the cigarettes were ‘available in stiletto,’ a longer, thinner cigarette.” The manufacturers put ads for No. 9s in Cosmo, Glamour and Vogue, and gave away coupons and free packs at various nightclubs.

Of course spokespeople for Reynolds denied pulling the ads as a result of consumer responses, but a number of activist organizations cite political pressure as the chief reason for ousting the pink-packaged cigarettes. Whether or not tobacco companies alter the content of the advertisements rather than just pull them from select magazines is up to us! To contact representatives for Camel Cigarettes specifically, call 1-800-334-8157. How dumb do they think women are?

Studies Reveal Breast Cancer More Aggressive in Black Women

Differences in breast cancer survival rates between black and white women are often attributed to access to health care and thus, late detection, the unjust environmental disparities of industries and government dumping and polluting in communities of color, as well as disparities in diet and exercise related to socio-economic factors.

Forbes posted to an article today about a study at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, who found clear genetic differences in the breast cancer tumors of black women as compared with white women. This study and other research documenting racial disparities in breast cancer are being presented this week at the American Association for cancer Research conference on The Science of Cancer Research Conference.

If this study is true, we will embark on a new journey. Are we going to begin to increase studies and actually address the different needs of all women? Or are we going to continue to study only white women? Who will we cure?

Who Is Insulted?

I'm so saddened by the decision of the Sudanese court to sentence Gillian Gibbons to 15 days in jail and deportation for allowing her 7 year old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Certainly, we know the punishment could have been much worse.

I know several Muslims, and they are some of the best people I know. The reports we see in the news about these drastic measures taken in the name of Islam, are such a skewed perspective on the average practicing Muslim, but I am afraid that most Americans may not realize that. Just as in the US, we have Christians who truly walk in the footsteps of Jesus and radicals who use his name to justify their violent actions, any group can have radicals that misrepresent the rest. Unfortunately, in both of these religions, it seems that the radicals have governmental power.

Schapiro & Pollan talked, laughed and chatted about Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products

I am truly unveiling what a social justice, feminist, eco geek I am by telling you that last night's discussion in Berkeley with Mark Schapiro author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power and Michael Pollan author of The Omnivore's Dilemma (another Must Read!), ranks as high as meeting Ani DiFranco in NY! After this post and this post, I know you are not surprised that we sat in the front row.

As I've already told you, Schapiro exposes the dangerous consequences that lax environmental policies are having on the consumer products that we, and our children, use every day thanks to lobbying efforts by the U.S. chemical industry. Yet, despite the numerous powerful chemical companies in the European Union, the EU has passed laws that prevent untested or toxic chemicals in the market place.

How did they do this? Is the EU full of eco-freaks like me? Do the politicians hate big business? Unfortunately, the answers are no and no. But the real answers are still fantastic. #1. The political candidates in the EU cannot take campaign contribution from business & industry!! Woo hoo!!! Politicians free from the golden handcuffs of lobbyists and big business are able to DO THE RIGHT THING! I'm so glad. #2. The most of the European Union have single payer health care...that means that the Government is invested in Europeans health because they pay the health care bills. I wonder what it feels like to know your Government actually cares about your health.

Schapiro and Pollen laughed, as they told us we all need to "get over" our idea that the FDA protects us. We all have grown up believing that new products get screened through the FDA, right? Wrong. That is a myth. They don't even test most foods.

Couldn't make it to Berkeley last night? Can't wait for your copy to arrive? Listen to the NPR interview with Terry Gross.

Thanks for a great night Mr. Pollen and Mr. Schapiro. If either of you ever want to blog here, just let me know.

There's Nothing Like "Bitch"

Here's an Op-Ed piece by guest blogger Kate Mitchell, the CA NOW legislative and advocacy intern, widening the discussion started by the Washington Post piece by Andi Zeisler one of the founders of Bitch Magazine.

I've been reading Bitch Magazine consistently for about 5 years. Nothing beats its insightful, witty commentary on a range of modern feminist dilemmas--from women in the media to environmental responsibility, third wave politics to graphic novels, and most recently gender-neutral pronouns and asexuality. And then there's the contentious and hilarious relationship with Jane, a rival publication. Certainly Bitch isn't on the fringe of the fringe, but I can count on its writers for, what else, but bitchy quips about popular culture. At the same time, it's easy to revel in my own feminist bitchiness and lose sight of the importance of the word---that is, until it's thrown in my face because I'm too assertive, or I "drive like a woman," or I dare to speak up when a man at a theme park calls me a dyke (the most recent utterance).

Andi Zeisler, one of the magazine's founders and editors, gave her definition of the word in a recent article in the Washington Post: "Bitch is a word we use culturally to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men. We use the term for a woman on the street who doesn't respond to men's catcalls or smile when they say, "Cheer up, baby, it can't be that bad." We use it for the woman who has a better job than a man and doesn't apologize for it. We use it for the woman who doesn't back down from a confrontation."

I agree with Zeisler, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. She goes on to say that what's painful is what goes unsaid, that underlying sexism that hangs in the air after a slur is uttered. "Dyke" I can deal with--perhaps because it seems so hyperbolic and ridiculous--but there's nothing like "bitch." In my experience, there's no other insult that women use so liberally against one another--and has so far to go on the path towards reclamation. How have you all out in the blogosphere experienced the word? Out of hatred, disdain, or maybe as a compliment? Perhaps you've accepted the bitch inside?

Take a moment to demand cheap birth control...

For Nikki Bruce, a senior at Tufts, a NuvaRing once cost $8--now she pays up to $50.

For college students around the country, birth control is an expensive necessity. This fall, the average cost of a number of contraceptive methods skyrocketed for women in college and for poor women who use community clinics. This was mainly due to a provision in a federal law that ended the practice of drug companies supplying birth control to health centers at rock-bottom prices. Many colleges knew of the change in advance and stockpiled the discounted contraceptives---but those supplies are dwindling.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) has put forth a bill (HR 4054) that would eliminate this provision and lower costs again. Tell your legislator that you support HR 4054--and ensure that the women least able to pay for safe, affordable birth control will get it!

What is in a name?

Dr. Elisabeth Waugaman is working on a book project which allows women to tell their stories in their own words. She is looking for women to write and tell her about their first names.

Her book is A Rose by Any Other Name: Women's First Names and How They Affect Our Lives. Here is her request:

If you could send me your thoughts about your name that would be wonderful. I will include as many of your short essays as possible - a paragraph up to a page. Here are a few questions to get some thoughts going: Do you know why your parents chose your first name? Do you use it or another? Do you have a nickname? Do you have a compound name? If so, do you use both parts? Do you have an ethnic name in addition to your American name? Does your name suit you? Do you use a different name for your professional life? Anecdotes? Name traditions? Anything you want to say. Let me know if you want your first and last name or just your first name used with your essay. Remember there will be multiple listings for each name - with rare exceptions for unique names. (Since I am trying to study name cycles and conduct an ethnic cross cultural study, it would be helpful if you could indicate your generation or age, your ethnic/religious background, and where you grew up - but this is not required.) Your response indicates your willingness to have your essay published with the understanding some editing may have to be done to fit the book's format. Thank you for your participation and please forward this to your friends and relatives. Elisabeth Waugaman, Ph.D. (womensnames@gmail.com)

Sounds like a cool project, and even cooler: Dr. Waugaman will donate 10% of her proceeds to NOW, and 10% to children's charities! What do you have to say about your name?

Intergenerational Dialogue with Megan Seely and Bettina Aptheker

An Intergenerational Dialogue with Megan Seely and Bettina Aptheker at the Capitola Book Café in Capitola, CA, on Thursday, November 29th at 7:30pm.

With one over 60 and the other under 35, Bettina Aptheker and Megan Seely are two of our most articulate and inspiring leaders in the feminist movement. Their experiences are many and varied, and their collective knowledge and camaraderie make for an inspiring multigenerational dialogue about the key issues facing women and girls today. Bettina Aptheker is a professor of feminist studies at UCSC whose recent memoir is Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech & Became a Feminist Rebel. Originally from Aromas, Megan Seely began her activism with the United Farm Workers, became the youngest state president of NOW, and authored the book Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist.

Would you vote to....

After her election to the U.S. House of Representatives late this past summer, Rep. Laura Richardson didn't waste any time in submitting her first piece of congressional legislation: a joint resolution which would criminalize the hanging of nooses in public spaces. Her act of leadership has roots in the rash of noose-related incidents sweeping the nation since the widespread outcry over the fate of the "Jena 6." The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked reported incidents since the events in Louisiana began several months ago. In the past decade or so, only about a dozen noose incidents a year came to the attention of civil rights groups. But since the huge Sept. 20 rally in Jena, the country has seen a rash of as many as 60.

Here is a commentary on the Geography of Hate in the NY Times.

Not everyone is supporting Rep. Richardson's resolution--notably, the ACLU is undecided on the issue of symbols as free speech....What do you think? Is criminalizing nooses an appropriate response to these atrocious hate acts?