California NOW

Sacramento LOVES Consensual Sex

We know that sex sells. But usually when advertising executives use sex to sell something, it's for a product like a car or a hamburger or another luxury item that has nothing to do with sex. Why not use sex to sell…well, sex? That's exactly what California NOW's "I Heart Consensual Sex" campaign is doing and there are several chapters that are doing it, and doing it, and doing it well.

Recently highlighted in their local weekly publication, the Sacramento News and Review, the vivacious Sacramento chapter has taken a particularly innovative approach to the I Heart Consensual Sex campaign. Paired with a gallery-style art display, accompanied by a number of local, very talented musicians and hosted at an adult erotic toy store, the chapter is hosting sex-themed variety show. But it's not what you think. Well, not all of it.

The Sacramento chapter, affectionately known in their community as "SacNOW," has partnered with their local domestic violence prevention program, WEAVE, and their local Planned Parenthood to present a program filled with informative and sex-positive facts. The program will include the important and necessary information about sexual assault prevention and rape awareness but will additionally include a non-traditional curriculum on the latest technology for sexual pleasure and stimulation as well as poetry and spoken word ranging the topics from sexual assault to sexual desire and everything in between. The chapter published a resource book for the event that includes a number of articles including a piece on sexual harassment in the work place and a well-researched expose how poverty affects consent. The resource book is littered with amusing quotes about sex and includes an original comic by April Brayman that is a sexy instruction manual of sorts on the topic of consent and communication. The art for the event is provocative and was highlighted at the top pick by the definitive resource for Sacramento's 2^nd Saturday Art Walk, a well-known and highly trafficked monthly event in Sacramento's trendy midtown. The chapter and its hosting facility, Grind and Groove, expect a large and enthusiastic turn out for the event this Saturday, April 12^th at 6pm-10pm at 22^nd and K Street in the heart of Sacramento. Bring and friend and get ready for some consensual sex!

 

Hilary Hodge

Co-president, SacNOW

Immigrant Women at Risk

Amanda Marcotte, in an article posted on Alternet looks at the dehumanizing language used to talk about immigrants and immigration, and the ways it affects immigrant women. It is a brilliant analysis and a very important one. Marcotte says:

Words like "illegals" dehumanize immigrants, whether or not they have their paperwork in order, and that dehumanization makes immigrant women juicy targets for assorted sexist oppressors, from anti-choicers to wife beaters to rapists...

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Recently I helped our PAC sort through the candidate questionnaires our Legislative Advisory Committee uses in determining endorsements. I was surprised how many candidates who identified as feminists answered questions that uncovered either ambivalence about immigrant women's rights, or their belief that rights for immigrants were somehow different than rights for citizens. This disturbed me and made me really recognize the deeply entrenched anti-immigrant, racist sentiment that permeates our culture, even among "progressives." As always, this affects women the hardest. It's one of the pressing issues of our time, and the women's movement has got to be on the forefront of the fight.

"NO! The Rape Documentary"

Some of the country's leading feminist scholars of color analyze rape in this groundbreaking film, "No! The Rape Documentary." Even the trailer for this film is amazing. Filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons has had the film translated into French, Spanish and Portuguese, and created an accompanying study guide for the film as well.

This is a great fusion of feminist scholarship and activism; just the way it's supposed to be.

Thanks to our friends at Feministing.com for posting about this. (Did you hear that Jessica Valenti from Feministing will be presenting at the CA NOW conference, Women in the Public Eye! How cool is that?!)

Looking for Roots of Violence

I have long wondered why the roots of violence in our culture are rarely traced back to violence in one of the fundamental units of any society: the family.

When Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" came out, I was shocked to see that although Moore explored many societal institutions and assumptions, he failed to look at family violence and violence against women at all.

A story in USA Today cites a recent study that found that children whose parents spank them or otherwise inflict physical punishment "may have a greater chance of physically or verbally coercing a sexual partner, engaging in risky sexual behavior or engaging in masochistic sex..."

What does this mean? Almost every parent I know--and indeed 85% of parents in general--have resorted to spanking their kid at least once. Will they all have abusive relationships in the future? No. Rather, what this study says to me is that kids who grow up in homes where violence is ever present, are more likely to use violence, or be the victims of violence, as adults.

These are important--albeit already intuitive--aspects of violence that we must look at as a society if we are to truly address the epidemic in this country.

The sexual aspects of this story are especially interesting. It cites another unpublished survey on dating violence that found that students who reported the most corporal punishment as children were more likely to engage in risky sex. So violence in the home leads not only to violent behavior towards others, but risky sexual behavior for them self; violence turned inward.

I can't help but wonder if family violence is not in fact the root of the problem that is too regularly overlooked.

Join us for Consensual Sex!

  People are excited about consensual sex.  It is fun to do and it is fun to talk about. 

It might not always be the easiest subject to bring up but it is crucial that we do so, any chance we get.  As we discuss consent we become better equipped to control our bodies and define our sexual encounters.

April is Sexual Assault Prevention month - join CA NOW in our campaign to spread the word about consent.   To get more information about joining the campaign, hosting an event or getting campaign materials contact Chelsea, vpaction@canow.org.

Nipples are a Deadly Weapon in Texas!

A woman taking a flight from Lubbock was recently forced to remove her nipple piercing with pliers while male TSA staff laughed in the background.

Here's what the TSA had to say about it: "TSA is well aware of terrorists' interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body, therefore we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm we discover." They also said that agents are trained to treat people being searched in "sensitive areas" with dignity and respect, but I guess those words must have different meanings in at least one Texas airport.

Raise your hands if you think a nipple piercing could be used to take down a plane. Someone in the back there? No?

Now raise your hand if you think this belongs in the same category as all the other women who have complained that TSA regulations have been used to violate their personal space and safety.

Gloria Allred has taken on the case, so we'll keep watching to see where it goes.

'Torture Porn' Ads Go Too Far

This creepy Captivity ad was effectively banned in the US, but still used in Europe. This is one of the films some are calling "Torture Porn."

Check out Hollywood NOW President Lindsey Horvath and CA NOW "Women in the Public Eye" Conference speaker Jill Soloway* in this Women's eNews story on the subject. Here's some of it:

Women have long borne the brunt of on-screen terrorizing says Jill Soloway, a consulting producer of ABC's TV show "Dirty Sexy Money." But she says the difference is the element of torture in movies that followed "Hostel," such as "Captivity," which prompted a storm of criticism for its graphic ads.

"There's all this blood spurting and it's like waiting for the money shot in a porn movie," says Soloway.

Lindsey Horvath, who works in film advertising and is president of the National Organization for Women's Hollywood chapter, doesn't see it that way. "We think the term is devastatingly accurate," she said about calling the films torture porn. Both she and Soloway emphasize that they do not want to censor the films but have organized against graphic, torture-porn advertisements, since they are in public view, where onlookers don't make an active choice about seeing the images.

Ick. If people are going to make and watch this kind of dehumanizing, violent crap, they could at least keep the ads fit for popular consumption. Right?

*If you haven't read Soloway's Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants, and you "came of age" in the 80s and 90s, OMG you MUST!

How Do You Define Consent?

What comes to mind when you think of consent? Some words that come to mind are agreement, mutual and coerced.

Yes, I said coerced. Because many times when a person does not agree to consensual sex they may be coerced or pressured into agreeing to it. Sometimes we are faced with the question, “If you loved me, you would” or “I thought you loved me”. That is NOT consent! Consensual sex is when you both agree, not when one person forces the other.

Recently, I was on a college campus and women were discussing the “walk of shame”. This was described as when a woman is drunk and she has nonconsensual sex. All of these women were unaware that in the state of California, you are not legally able to consent if you are drunk. This was a wake up call for them! They asked me questions and did not realize that was the law. Prior to this they thought the “walk of shame” was just something that, as they said, “happens all the time”.

Dialogue alone can create change and when that dialogue begins online it can be the first step in making change in your community. What does consent mean to you? How can you create change?

Guest Blog by Lisa Covington

Baseball Players Accused of Gang Rape Face Lawsuit

Remember the 17 year old girl who witnesses say was gang-raped by De Anza College baseball players? She has filed a civil suit against the ballplayers.

The lawsuit claims the men planned the attack--wherein the victim was given drinks, taken to a back room, gang raped and thrown up upon until three women soccer players busted in the door, carried her to their car and took her to the hospital--then they sent friends photos and videos of the attack, and finally lied and said she had agreed to have group sex with them. The Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr refused to press charges, citing insufficient evidence (despite eye witnesses! and the sheriff who said she believed a crime had been committed!). We held a protest in front of her office and the next day, in an unusual move, the DA submitted the case to the state Attorney General for review. Nine months later, the AG's office is still working on it, but the young woman wants justice served sooner than later.

Her suit names nine of the men and accuses them of rape, false imprisonment, and violating her privacy by sending images of the alleged assault to friends.

In April, Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies said another woman came forward and said that she was sexually assaulted months before in the same home, after being given shots of alcohol by members of the baseball team. No charges were filed in that case.

What is it about some male athletics that condones/fuels this violence against women? According to the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, one in three college sexual assaults are committed by athletes! And where the conviction rate among the general public is 80%, among athletes it is 38%! So they do it more, and get prosecuted less. This is a terrible state of affairs. We've got to get onto campuses and change the culture around sex, and consent and, more generally, we've got to change the underlying sexism and misogyny in our society that allows violence against women to continue.

The suit will be heard in July. Read the full story.

Forum: Undocumented Immigrants and Domestic Violence

From the National Council of Jewish Women Los Angeles:

In conjunction with our Women Helping Women Services, Advocacy and the Center for Pacific Asian Families have partnered to present a free community event that will bring to light how undocumented victims of domestic violence can learn to identify barriers and service gaps that put them and their children at risk.

What is the effect of the current political climate on services for undocumented immigrant families? Does a victim of domestic violence who is undocumented have access to the criminal justice system or social services for her and her children?

Do service barriers for undocumented immigrants have a ripple affect on community violence, public health or education?

What barriers to services and protections affect not only the women, but also their children and the community at large? What rights and services ARE available?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (Bring your “brown bag lunch” and we will provide refreshments and dessert), at NCJW/LA’s Council House: 543 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles 90036 (One Block South of Melrose – SW Corner of Clinton & Fairfax)

Panelists are:
♦ Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
♦ Sheila Neville, Senior Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA)
♦ Joann Lee, Directing Attorney, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA
Moderator: Councilmember Jan Perry

For information and reservations call: (323) 852-8503 or e-mail ruth@ncjwla.org