Author: Feminist Newswire

The Feminist Newswire has provided a daily feminist perspective on national, global, and campus news stories since 1995. You can receive a weekly feminist news digest when you subscribe here.

Dr. Patricia Bath: The ‘Woman who Changed the World’ through Eye Care

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In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll be highlighting the stories of women in the United States who paved the way and inspired girls everywhere to follow their dreams.

Dr. Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist and laser scientist, was not only the first female African-American doctor to patent a medical device, but also the first person to invent laserphaco cataract surgery that greatly advanced treatment for cataracts. In addition, Bath was the first African American to complete residency in ophthalmology, the first woman faculty member at UCLA School of Medicine’s Jules Stein Eye Institute, first women chair of ophthalmology in the United States and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center.

Bath was born in 1942 in Harlem, New York and first grew interested in science after receiving a chemistry set from her mother. At 16 years old, Bath attended the National Science Foundation’s cancer research workshop where she was awarded for her scientific findings. Graduating high school two years early, Bath received a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and earned a medical degree from Howard University in 1968. During a fellowship at Columbia University, Bath discovered African Americans were two times more likely to develop blindness and eight times more likely to develop glaucoma, leading to the first creation of a community ophthalmology system that increased the eye care for people who could not afford it.

When Bath joined the faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, her male colleagues, who were uncomfortable with a woman in their department, sat her near the female secretaries. “When I was offered an office not equivalent to that of my male colleagues, I could’ve started marching,” Bath said. “But I felt it was more important to focus on the prize.”

Shortly after, Bath founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness that was based on the foundation that eyesight was a basic human right. As the director of the organization, Bath traveled to several different countries to perform surgeries, teach medical techniques, donate equipment, lecture, and observe health services in industrial and developing countries.

Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe in 1981 which used lasers to treat cataracts more precisely and less painfully. The invention was able to recover vision for people who had been blind or vision impaired for decades. When Bath explained her invention to a director of a prominent institute, the director did not believe her. “There was not acceptance,” Bath said. “And in some instances there was anger that petit moi, little me, had indeed shattered the glass ceiling, had a scientific breakthrough, and he wouldn’t look me in the face.”

Bath retired in 1993 from UCLA Medical Center and was elected to the honorary medical staff. She was named “Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine” and one of the “women who changed the world” by Time. Bath was also inducted to the International Women in Medicine Hall of Fame. In 2009, President Barack Obama recognized her advocacy for the blind by appointing her to his commission for digital accessibility for the blind.

“I wasn’t seeking to be first,” Bath said. “I was just doing my thing, and I wanted to serve humanity along the way—to give the gift of sight.”

 

Media Resources: The Philadelphia Tribune 2/8/17; Elmwood City Ledger 2/13/19; Health Magazine 9/8/17; ABC News 2/26/18; Time

Long Live the Queen: The Impact of Aretha Franklin

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In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll be highlighting the stories of women in the United States who paved the way and inspired girls everywhere to follow their dreams.

Music and civil rights activism were big influences in Aretha Franklin’s life since a young age: her father, C.L. Franklin, a minister known as “the Man with the Million Dollar Voice,” toured the nation giving sermons and was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Aretha herself started singing in her Detroit church’s choir and recorded her first album when she was only 14 before signing to RCA Records and Columbia Records. When she was 16, Aretha was touring with Dr. King.

The height of her career was when she released “Respect” in 1967. This song became an anthem for Black liberation. “It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights movement. The song took on monumental significance,” Franklin wrote in her memoir. She became a symbol of strength and pride for Black women during the Civil Rights Movement. She didn’t ask for respect, she demanded it. She was unapologetically herself in the face of a white majority that actively opposed her freedom.

Franklin didn’t take her support for granted. She acknowledged that her success came from Black women’s support and wanted to use her money to give back to the community. When Angela Davis was locked up for wrongful kidnapping and murder charges, Franklin offered to post bail (Roger McAffee, a dairy farmer, ended up posting bail for Davis instead). “I’m going to see her free if there is any justice in our courts, not because I believe in communism, but because she’s a Black woman and she wants freedom for Black people,” she told Jet magazine in 1972. “I have the money; I got it from Black people — they’ve made me financially able to have it — and I want to use it in ways that will help our people.”

In her contract, Franklin pledged that she would never perform for segregated audiences. In an interview that her longtime friend Reverend Jesse Jackson gave to USA today, he described how Franklin financed civil rights tours and housed activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When Jackson toured with activist Harry Belafonte, Franklin joined and put on free shows to draw more people to the events. She even paid for activists’ gas when they drove from city to city.

In 1987, Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, cementing her legacy as the Queen of Soul.

Franklin wrote the soundtrack for an era. She was a voice for black women fighting for equality and liberation. After hear death, civil rights hero and Georgia congressman John Lewis released a statement describing how he and his friends would listen to Franklin after they were released from jail following a non-violent protest. “She had a lifelong, unwavering commitment to civil rights and was one of the strongest supporters of the movement. She was our sister and our friend,” Lewis wrote. “Her music gave us a greater sense of determination to never give up or give in, and to keep the faith.”

 

Media Resources: CNN 8/30/2018; Vanity Fair 8/16/2018; The Cut 8/16/2018; USA Today 8/16/2018; Atlanta Tribune 8/16/2018

11 year old Rape Survivor Forced to Give Birth in Argentina

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In Argentina, an 11-year old rape survivor was forced to give birth this week after fighting for the right to an abortion. At 23 weeks pregnant, she underwent a cesarean section however the baby is not expected to survive.

The girl, who has been given the name Lucia to protect her identity, attempted suicide twice after she was raped by her grandmother’s 65 year old partner. She told psychologists at the hospital “I want you to remove what the old man put inside me.”

Lucia and her mother had requested an abortion, however the request was delayed for nearly five weeks and some doctors even refused to perform the abortion. Instead, doctors chose to give her a cesarean section as they felt an abortion was dangerous for her health. Argentina law does not allow for abortions except for cases of rape or when the mother’s health is at risk.

In August, the Argentine Senate rejected a bill that would have allowed abortion in the first 14 weeks. However, Senators are open to seeing other abortion bills. The President of Argentina is also considering decriminalizing abortion as women currently seeking abortions in Argentina face jail time.

Argentina is one of the many countries reconsidering its abortion laws. Colombia, Peru, and Chile all allow abortions cases of rape and incest. In 2012, Uruguay joined Cuba as the only Latin American countries that have decriminalized abortions.

 

Media Resources: Washington Post 2/28/19; The Guardian 3/1/19; BBC 2/28/19; Washington Post 8/9/18; The Guardian 8/9/18

Women for the White House – Victoria Woodhull and More

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In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll be highlighting the stories of women in the United States who paved the way and inspired girls everywhere to follow their dreams.

Victoria Woodhull, a 19th century women’s right activist and business owner, was the first woman to run for president in 1872 under the Equal Rights Party, 50 years before women gained the right to vote.

In 1871, the presidential candidate became the first woman to address a U.S. House committee. Woodhull testified before the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that the 14th and 15th Amendments in the Constitution implied a women’s right to vote, but that Congress should pass legislation guaranteeing women’s suffrage.

Woodhull’s campaign for president was reviled and viewed as radical in 1870, as it was still socially unacceptable for women to be seen in public without being escorted by a man. Her platform consisted of “extreme” ideas of women’s rights and free love, which at the time meant women’s rights to choose their husbands and to divorce their husbands. Her progressive viewpoints on women’s rights and equality caused much trouble to Woodhull and her family. In addition to her daughter being forced to leave school, Woodhull was evicted from her home and banned from renting by landlords. Woodhull was even arrested and spent Election Day in jail after she published an article in her newspaper exposing a prominent reverend for having several affairs.

Because Woodhull was left off the ballots, it is unclear how many votes she received; however, her campaign for presidency opened the floodgates for women presidential candidates. In fact only 12 years after Woodhull’s run, another woman in the Equal Rights Party, Belva Ann Lockwood, ran for president and won 4,149 votes in six states. Lockwood was the first female attorney to argue before the Supreme Court.

Since then, women including Shirley Chisholm, Patsy Mink, Margaret Chase Smith, Hillary Clinton, and dozens more have entered presidential races and empowered more women to run.

This year, a historic number of women have announced their 2020 presidential candidacy, marking the first time more than one woman competed for a party’s nomination. Currently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and self-help author Marianne Williamson have announced their candidacy for president.

 

Media Resources: Smithsonian Magazine 5/10/16; Politico 4/9/15; Politico 1/11/18; New York Times 3/1/19

Shannon Goessling Nominated to Head the Office of Violence Against Women

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On March 5, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Shannon Lee Goessling, Trump’s pick to head the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) at the Department of Justice. Women’s rights and anti-violence activists have raised serious concerns over the nominee’s anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-racial justice history, noting that combating intimate partner violence requires an intersectional perspective that understands the vulnerability of respective communities.

Goessling spent eleven years as the executive director and chief legal counsel at the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), a conservative public interest firm and policy center that works to strip environmental protections, dismantle gun control legislation, oppose LGBTQ rights, and more.

Under her leadership, SLF advocated against Alabama’s administration of driver’s license exams in languages other than English, raising serious concerns about her position on providing domestic violence resources in foreign languages, as well as how she would handle policies around survivors’ immigration statuses, their eligibility for public support, and her respect for cultural differences in addressing intimate partner violence.

During the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, SLF and Goessling advocated in favor of bans on same-sex marriage. Advocates fear that with Goessling heading OVW, LGBTQ survivors won’t get the increase in resources they need. A report released in 2016 found that nearly half of LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence have been turned away from shelters, highlighting the need for increased resources and training.

One of Goessling’s most troubling positions is her argument for wider gun ownership as a means of preventing violence against women, with one of her SLF amicus brief’s stating that, “Women who are confronted with a sexual assault are significantly less likely to experience a completed rape if they resist with a weapon.” In reality, a 2016 report by Trace found that, “Every credible scientific study of women and guns in the last two decades strongly indicates that a firearm in a woman’s home is far more likely to be used against her or her family than to defend from an outside intruder.”

If an abuser has access to firearm, victims are five times more likely to be killed. An average of 760 Americans are killed with guns by intimate partners each year, and more than 80% of the victims are women. In addition, 4.5 million women report being intimidated or coerced with a gun by an intimate partner.

The Office of Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice is charged with reducing violence against women and strengthening services to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

You can take action to oppose Goessling’s confirmation here.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 10/20/16; The Trace 5/2/16; American Journal of Public Health 07/2003; Huffington Post 2/26/16; Business Insider 10/4/16

Trump Administration Imposes Domestic Gag Rule

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The Trump administration is implementing a policy that prevents clinics that provide abortion counseling and referrals from receiving Title X Family Planning Program funding, funding that provides birth control, STD tests, cervical and breast cancer screenings, and reproductive health care to low-income and uninsured individuals. Under Title X, federal dollars already cannot directly fund abortion but this rule will make it harder for patients to seek the care and counseling they need.

According to Planned Parenthood President, Leana Wen, Planned Parenthood serves 41% of Title X patients but Planned Parenthood is estimated to lose $60 million in federal funding. “This rule will block doctors across the country from referring Title X patients for safe, legal abortion,” Wen said.

Opponents have slammed this policy as a “gag rule,” saying it prevents physicians from giving their patients complete and accurate medical guidance. In order to continue receiving Title X funding, health care providers must demonstrate clear physical and financial separation between abortion services and other reproductive health services. In some cases, patients must enter through different doors depending on which services they seek. This is supposed to ensure that Title X-funded services remain separate from abortion procedures. In reality, it perpetrates stigma surrounding people who seek abortions and creates another obstacle between patients and healthcare.

Four million low-income patients will be affected by the Trump administration’s new rule and over half these patients are people of color. The policy goes into effect in 60 days after publication of the proposed rule change and is schedule for the next week.

 

Media Resources: NPR 2/22/19; AJMC 2/22/19; HHS 2/22/19; PBS 2/25/19; Washington State ATG 2/25/19; Rewire 5/30/18

Afghan Women Demand Inclusion in Peace Talks

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Over 700 Afghan women from all 34 provinces participated today in a National conference to demand their inclusion in any peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan while stressing the importance of preserving women’s rights and upholding Afghanistan’s democracy. This conference was in response to recent peace talks between U.S. officials and the Taliban, a terrorist group, in an effort to end the 17 year war in Afghanistan. However, these peace talks did not involve representatives from the Afghan government or Afghan women in a direct violation of the United States 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act.

While the Taliban and the U.S. representatives were preparing for their fifth round of peace negotiations, women across Afghanistan organized at an event led by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Afghan Women Network, and Afghan civil society to demand their inclusion in peace talks to ensure that women’s rights are protected. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was at the event and stressed that women “are no longer victims of decisions on the future of Afghanistan. No one can impose peace on us. A peace which is not sustainable is rejected.”

The recent peace talks between the United States and the Taliban, not the Afghan government, are in direct violation of the 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act that requires the “meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts.”  Donald Trump signed this Act into law in 2017, yet the Trump administration has failed to outline a strategic plan for women’s participation that was required to be sent to Congress in October 2018.

Afghan women fear that negotiations with the Taliban, especially negotiations without women, will leave women vulnerable to losing their rights, which occurred under the brutal Taliban rule of the late 1990s. Women under previous Taliban rule were subjected to public beatings and executions. Women could not leave their homes without a male chaperone and women and girls could not be admitted to a hospital, go to school, or be employed. Women’s rights are one of the most vital issues when discussing peace talks and the end of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, yet women are excluded from these discussions.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has led recent efforts in Congress to fight for women’s inclusion in Afghan peace talks. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senators Shaheen, Leahy, and Menendez demand that the Trump administration include meaningful participation for Afghan women in any peace negotiations with the Taliban. In the letter, the lawmakers write, “we urge you to ensure our investment of time, resources and the lives of U.S. soldiers will not have gone to waste by ensuring that Afghan women are represented and issues central to their rights and needs ae part of any negotiation going forward.”

From 2005 to 2014, there have been 23 rounds of peace talks involving Afghanistan and the Taliban, yet, women were only present for two of these talks. Research on peace talks finds that when women participate, meaningfully, in peace negotiations, the peace agreements are 64 percent less likely to fail and 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years. Specifically in conflict zones, women are successful in mediating conflict, violence, and extremism, and are successful in stabilizing communities and peacekeeping efforts.

Media Resources: Tolo News 2/28/19; Diplomatic Courier 2/27/19; Pajhwok Afghan News 2/26/19; Politico 2/5/19

Venezuela Humanitarian Crisis at the Border Harms Women

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This past weekend, the accused illegitimate Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, sent military forces to the border to prevent civilians from receiving aid, a heightened response after his recent attempts to block aid at the border of Venezuela and Colombia; as a result 285 people were injured, 37 hospitalized, and 4 were killed. Maduro refuses to let humanitarian aid enter Venezuela as he views it as a means to undermine his administration and states that there is no humanitarian crisis going on, while 3 million Venezuelans have already fled the country.

Maduro has been attempting to block Western aid, which enters the country at the border between Venezuela and Colombia, because The United States and other Western countries are supporting Juan Guiado as the president of Venezuela. Guiado, and Western countries, argue that he is the true President of Venezuela because he is the head of the National Assembly.

A new research study found that women tend to suffer the most from border conflicts. Women face higher levels of sexual assault, kidnapping, and other forms of violence at the border. This research was conducted at the border town in Colombia, Cucuta, which has a large population of Venezuelan women and where many women have to pursue sex work as a means to provide for them and their family, and if they do not pursue sex work they will still face pressure from men to do so.

Sex workers in Cucuta also shared that individuals can make much more money if they go to work at the military camps in the rural areas. However, this is much more dangerous as the men are more aggressive. A woman who runs a charitable foundation for migrants in Colombia stated that generally if 30 women go to these camps, only 28 will return.

No one knows the true extent of sexual violence Venezuelan women face at the border, as most women do not report it to the Colombian government. In these rural areas women do not even have access to police offices. Women also fear that if they do report what happened to them that they will be deported and many of these women also do not have family to protect them should something happen to them. One Colombian woman who did report what happened to her was not believed by the police until she was examined at a hospital. Even then, the police told her she was not allowed to leave the town or else she would face violence.

Sexual violence is widely used as a means of territorial and social control in Colombia. One institutional representative shared with the researcher that “perpetrators take advantage of the fact that women are invisible, they know they won’t be held accountable.”

After the longtime socialist President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, died in 2013, Nicolas Maduro who was Chavez’s Vice President was elected to replace him. Chavez left a strong economy for Maduro which allowed him to continue funding Chavez’s socialist programs. However, the economy was heavily oil dependent and when oil prices began to drop Maduro was unable to continue funding Chavez’s programs. Since 2013, Venezuelan GDP has dropped over 50 percent and more than 90 percent of the country lives below the poverty line.

 

Media Resources: Washington Post 2/23/19; NBC News 2/21/19; Washington Post 2/26/19; PBS News Hour 2/18/19; Medium 1/24/19; The Guardian 12/6/18

Thousands of Complaints of Sexual Abuse from Migrant Youths in Detention Centers

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On Tuesday, a Democratic representative from Florida, Ted Deutch, released a report outlining the sexual abuse of migrant youths in detention facilities that included 4,556 filed complaints of sexual abuse from other youths in detention, adult staff, and other adults who are not staff.

The report detailed complaints over the last four years from October 2014 to July 2018 by the Department of Health & Human Services and an additional 1,303 complaints have been filed to the Justice Department. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is tasked with caring for unaccompanied migrant minors and is faced with responding to the complaints in the report.

In response to the report, Representative Matt Gaetz made inflammatory comments, stating that the youths were more at risk of being sexually abused by traffickers instead of government officials. The report details complaints of sexual abuse, including minors having non-consensual relationships with staff.

The hope for releasing the report is for the Department of Health & Human Services to take a more active approach in investigating claims, taking action, and ensuring that the youths are safe in these detention centers. Over the last years, while the number of sexual abuse complaints has continued to rise, there is a lack of transparency from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

It is vital to hold the agencies tasked with ensuring the protection and safety of migrant youth accountable and have complete transparency of what occurs in detention centers. The urgency of the issue is intensified because thousands of children have been forcibly separated from their parents and sent to detention centers since April 2018.  Migrant youths alone in detention centers have no voice and are lost within the system; however, the abuse they suffer should not be forgotten nor should it continue to go unheard.

 

Media Resources: Romper, 2/26/2019; CBS News, 2/26/2019; Axios, 2/26/2019

Anti-Abortion Attack Forces Abortion Services Clinic to Relocate

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Last Thursday, Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion clinic located in North Austin, Texas, closed its doors after a faith-based pregnancy center, Austin LifeCare, bought out their lease in an attempt to prevent abortion access. This is the second time an organization has tried to buy their lease out from under them, but previously Whole Women’s Health was able to raise the money necessary to keep the location open the first time. However, in order to extend the lease they would have to pay an additional $200,000 from what they originally were paying.

Controversies and speculation surround the lease  buy out because Lion Venture Partners, the building space owners, is managing partners with Andy Schoonover, who co-founded Carrying To Term (CTT), a pro-life nonprofit that advocates for pregnant women that receive a terminal prenatal diagnosis to carry the pregnancy to term regardless, and serves as the executive director of Austin LifeCare.

 The abortion clinic faces challenges to finding a new location because many properties reject leasing property to Whole Woman’s Health due to their abortion services. Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and president of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, stated, “The anti-abortion movement’s attacks on us continue — from the Legislature to the courts and even behind the scenes with our realtors and vendors, but we persist, and we prevail.”

Whole Woman’s Health has been offering abortion care services at the North Austin location since 2003. They work under the Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, which was a plaintiff in a Supreme Court case in 2016, that successfully challenged Texas regulations that would have closed 75 percent of abortion clinics in the state and deny millions of women access to safe, legal abortion.

 

Media Resources: Statesman 2/21/19; Feminist News 11/13/15

New Jersey Governor Murphy Signs Bill to Increase Paid Family Leave

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Tuesday, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law legislation that will greatly expand paid family leave in New Jersey, doubling the amount of paid time possible for workers. The bill was heavily supported by Democrats in the legislature who have been focused on increasing protections for working families.

This bill, NJ S2528 (18R), includes paid family leave for both caring for new infants as well as sick family members. The bill increases the time period for this from six weeks to twelve weeks, and also increases weekly compensation from 67 percent to 85 percent.

New Jersey is one of the few states with paid sick and family leave, unlike the unpaid national standard. Senate President Steve Sweeny noted that “Paid leave can ease financial burdens and provide peace of mind for working families at critical times in their lives.” The governor’s office noted that unpaid time off is a significant barrier for low income and middle-class constituents.

Proponents of the law are hopeful that this will set an example for other states to do the same, in order to serve the middle class and low-income worker and families.

 

Media: Politico 2019; North Jersey 2019; PoliticoPro 2019

FMF Supported Documentary “Period. End of Sentence.” Wins Oscar for Best Short Documentary

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The documentary short, “Period. End of Sentence.”, which tells the story of women in a small village outside Delhi, India who are leading a quiet revolution against the deeply rooted stigma surrounding menstruation, won an Oscar for Best Documentary – Short Subject on Sunday night at the 91st Academy Awards.

The award was accepted by 25-year-old Iranian-American director Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton, a producer as well as a teacher at Oakwood School in Los Angeles. Berton and Zehtabchi were also joined on stage by the students from the Oakwood School. Berton, the students, and the Feminist Majority Foundation helped establish The Pad Project and create the film.

“I’m not crying because I’m on my period, or anything,” said Zehrabchi, the only woman director nominated in the category, during her acceptance speech. “I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!”

Berton continued stating, “This film began because high school students here and our brave partners at Action India wanted to make a difference – a human rights difference. I share this award with the Feminist Majority Foundation, the entire team and cast. I share this with the teachers and students around the world — a period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education.”

The film follows women who, for generations, didn’t have access to pads, which led to health problems and girls missing school or dropping out entirely. But when a sanitary pad machine is installed in the village, the women learn to manufacture and market their own pads, empowering women in the entire community. The funds for that first pad machine were raised by the Oakwood High School chapter of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Girls Learn International (GLI) program.

“We’re thrilled to have been a part of this incredible project and so proud of our Girls Learn International program,” said Katherine Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

For over 15 years, GLI has been educating and energizing students in the global movement for girls’ access to education. In this particular case, GLI connected students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles with feminist activists in India and helped launch the menstrual equity non-profit, The Pad Project. The inspiring student activists are now working on installing pad machines in even more villages.

You can watch “Period. End of Sentence.” on Netflix!

Thanks to the support of feminists like you, we’re able to empower girls to change the world. 

Media Resources: Ms. Magazine 2/12/19; The Hollywood Reporter 2/24/19

Major Companies and Brands Pull YouTube Ads After Child Exploitation Claims

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Several brands and companies, such as Nestle and Disney, have pulled their advertisements from YouTube amid claims of the platform being used as a “soft-core pedophilia ring,” where pedophiles traded information and exploited videos featuring young girls. The videos seem appropriate, featuring girls doing gymnastics or playing with toys, but users have made suggestive comments and emphasized “compromising positions.”

Following online criticisms, YouTube has since taken “immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors,” according to a YouTube spokesperson. “Any content—including comments— that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube.”

Advertisements for major companies were shown with videos that had these exploitative comments, causing several major brands to pull their advertisements until YouTube and Google, YouTube’s parent company, took further action to remove the inappropriate content. Companies including Epic Games, the maker of the popular game, Fortnite, Nestle, the owner of Kit-Kat and Nespresso, Disney, and McDonald’s have pulled their advertisements.

The online outcry against these pedophilic comments and users rose after video blogger, Matt Watson, posted a 20-minute long video discussing how the video sharing platform was being misused by pedophiles and YouTube’s video suggestions were helping users find videos of young girls.

YouTube has been under fire before for publishing exploitative and predatory videos of children in 2017. These videos featured children in vulnerable scenarios, such as being tied up or kidnapped. After taking down these videos and several users in 2017, YouTube also outlined ways it would try to prevent inappropriate content from thriving under their platform such as disabling comment threads and working with child safety experts.

 

Media Resources: CNN 2/21/19; The Verge 2/21/19; The Washington Post 2/22/19; Buzzfeed News 11/22/17

Sima Samar: Afghan Women Should be a Part of Peace Talks

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The chairwomen of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Sima Samar, stated that she supports women being a part of the Afghanistan peace talks. Samar presented on the role of women in securing peace at the “Women’s role in ensuring justice and human rights” Conference in Kabul.

Samar pointed out the fear that many women have in the region regarding the Taliban, and argued that women serve an important role at the peace talks because of their special concerns. This was supported by the fact that women have overwhelmingly been the victims of war, but have been excluded from the conversations on how to end what they have endured.

 

Media: Didpress 2019

Mass Shooting in Aurora, Illinois Manufacturing Warehouse

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Last Friday, there was a mass shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois. The gunman began shooting at his coworkers when he was being fired at a meeting with managers—he killed five of his coworkers and injured several police officers.

Those killed were Trevor Wehner, an intern on his first day and senior at Northern Illinois University; Clayton Parks, a human resources manager; Russell Beyer, a mold operator; Vicente Juarez, a stockroom attendant and forklift operator; and Josh Pinkard, the plant manager. The police officers’ identities have not been released.

The assailant should not have been legally able to purchase a gun as he was a convicted felon for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, however when he applied for a Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) in 2014, he lied on the application and said he had never been convicted of a felony and the screening process failed to detect his criminal record. However, a few weeks later he had applied for a concealed carry permit that led to Illinois state police to discover his criminal record and his permit was shortly revoked.

Illinois state law does not allow police to confiscate guns when a permit is taken and relies on an honor system where the individual tells the police that the gun is no longer in their possession. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says that the honor system “doesn’t work and has never worked.”

This shooting comes a day after the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and several teachers were killed—making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history since the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The gunman was also legally able to purchase his gun, an AR-15, due to several policies Trump rolled back, making it easier for dangerous individuals to purchase guns.

Since the Parkland shooting on February 14th last year, there has been one mass shooting every day and since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, there have been over 2,000 mass shootings. However, federal gun laws have not changed since 1994 when President Bill Clinton temporarily banned assault weapons.

 

Media Resources: Washington Post 2/17/19; CNN 2/18/19; CBS News 2/18/19; Feminist Newswire 2/16/19; NY Mag 2/15/18; Vox 2/14/19; Vox 3/14/18; Bustle 2/13/19

Iowa State Will Not Seek Appeal to Fetal Heartbeat Court Ruling

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Governor Reynolds of Iowa stated Monday that the government will not seek an appeal after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the “fetal heartbeat” law passed last May was unconstitutional. This unconstitutional law, if had it gone into effect, would have been one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the United States.

Those against the law exclaimed their victory as a win for women seeking medical abortion across Iowa. Clinics, such as the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, will be permitted to continue providing first and second trimester abortions. The rejection of this law will allow Iowa women to continue to access legal abortion care from healthcare professionals.

The case was brought before the Iowa Supreme Court by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa on grounds that it violated state constitutional law. Last June, the Iowa State Supreme Court ruled that Iowa’s constitution ensures the right to abortion, and as such, “imposes strict scrutiny on all our abortion laws.” Those in favor of the law had anticipated that Governor Reynolds would seek an appeal in hopes of escalating the case to the United States Supreme Court, a body which has been expected to make conservative-leaning rulings with the addition of Justice Kavanaugh.

The law, signed by Governor Reynolds last May, would have banned abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat could be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland warned that if this bill was allowed by the court, women would be unable to seek abortion services before many women even knew they were pregnant, well before viability. This would essentially outlaw legal abortion in practice.

 

CNN 2019; WOWT 2019; ABC Nine 2019; Planned Parenthood of the Heartland 2019; ACLU Iowa 2019

Trump Announces State of Emergency for Border Wall Funds

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This morning, President Trump announced that he will declare a national emergency over the nonexistent “border crisis” in an attempt to secure up to 8 billion dollars in emergency funds to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a press conference this morning, Trump announced that he “can do the wall over a longer period of time. [He] didn’t need to do this.” Trump is using a state of emergency unnecessarily in an attempt to fund a border wall after Congress appropriated roughly $1 billion for border security, not a wall.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have both released a statement that “The President’s actions clearly violate the Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution.” Signing the declaration does not mean Trump will immediately get the funds; both the California and New York Attorney Generals have said they will sue Trump for the declaration.

Announcing a “state of emergency” diverts money away from real emergencies, such as hurricane and wildfire relief, issues that are exacerbated by climate change and the Trump administration’s unwillingness to support disaster prone areas.

This is the Trump Administration’s most recent attempt to criminalize migrants at the southern border in order to build the wall. This announcement follows last week’s conviction of four humanitarian aid workers for leaving water near the border for migrants. Migrants seeking asylum in the United States and their advocates are being criminalized under the Trump administration.

 

Media Resources: CNN 2/15/19, Washington Post 2/15/19, NBC News 2/15/19; Politifact 2/15/19; Politifact 12/20/17; The Guardian 2/15/19

Virginia ERA Advocates Rally In Support of Rule Change

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Thursday, prior to first readings of the rule changes set forth by Virginia Delegate Hala Ayala (D-Prince William) and Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), a rally in support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was held on the steps of Virginia’s Capitol. Advocates heard from local and national speakers on the importance of the ERA, which ensures constitutional gender equality.

Among the speakers were Toni Van Pelt, President of the National Organization for Women, and Kelli Musick, Feminist Majority Foundation National Campus Coordinator.

Musick states, “We have the incredible opportunity to change that by passing the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia, but not just for Virginia women, but for every single woman and girl across the United States who needs and deserves constitutional protections against gender discrimination,” she continues, “… It’s time to support the will of 81% of all Virginians! Adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution will unequivocally strengthen protections against discrimination in the workforce and help to advance economic justice for all women for centuries to come.”

Since 1972, when the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, the Virginia House has never been able to vote on its ratification. The Virginia Senate has passed the ERA six times but the House Privileges and Elections Committee has refused to allow the ERA to come to the House floor for a vote.

Kati Hornung, campaign coordinator of VAratifyERA, states, “It’s alarming to see the word ‘family’ co-opted by a conservative group [The Family Foundation] intent on stopping universally supported legislation for constitutional gender equality. The letters they’ve sent our lawmakers, with overt mischaracterizations and falsehoods, are insulting to the intelligence of our policy makers. Virginians should be furious. We are grateful for the delegates willing to call-out the system as broken, and for working to force a [House] floor vote so Virginia can ratify the ERA and move past this shameful chapter.”

Along with the rally, Thursday morning, two ERA advocates held a die-in, a form of protest where participants mimic being dead, in front of the office of Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) due to his efforts to halt Delegate Hala Ayala’s rule change. The women were arrested and dragged away by police.

On Wednesday, hoping to “jump-start”ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, Delegate Hala Ayala (D-Prince William) filed a procedural rule to force a vote on ERA. However, the House majority leader, Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) attempted to halt her efforts by filing a blocking resolution, which required motions like hers to receive a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority.

Regarding the rule change, Ellie Smeal, the President of Feminist Majority Foundation, explained, “At last, after 47 years, we will get a procedural vote on from the Virginia House on the ERA. Let there be no mistake, if a delegate votes against the procedure that will allow the ERA to come to the House floor, that delegate is not pro-ERA. If the delegate votes yes to the procedure, and allows it to come to the floor, that delegate is truly pro-ERA.”

On January 15th, Virginia’s Republican controlled Senate passed a resolution to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The resolution is now the responsibility of the House. The Senate has passed the resolution multiple times in the past, but the Virginia House’s Privileges and Elections Committee has blocked the resolution from coming to the floor for a vote.

 

Media Resources: Washington Top 2/14/19; Washington Post 2/14/19; VA Ratify ERA Press Release 2/14/19; Feminist News 1/17/19

Anti-LGBTQ+ West Virginia Delegate Called To Resign

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This week, Delegate Eric Porterfield (WV-27) is facing numerous calls for his resignation after he compared the LGBTQ+ community and gay activists to the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), a white supremacist group, and called the LGBTQ+ community a “terrorist group.” Despite criticism and backlash for his homophobic comments, he refuses to resign.

These comments were made last week during a House meeting over a proposed amendment to an anti-LGBT-discrimination bill that barred cities in the state from passing non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.  Two days after the meeting, where he made his comments, the West Virginia Democratic Party called for his resignation. Porterfield victimized himself, saying he was being “persecuted” by the LGBTQ+ community because of his anti-LGBTQ+ comments.

Chairwoman Belinda Biafore released a statement regarding Porterfield stating, “West Virginia has no room for someone who expresses such hate. Let alone room for him to hold a public office where he is supposed to represent the people of West Virginia”

 

Media Resources: CNN 2/12/19; Out 2/12/19; USA Today 2/13/19; The Hill 2/11/19

Employers to be Held Accountable For Workplace Sexual Rumors

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Last Friday, the Fourth Circuit of Appeals unanimously reversed a district court’s ruling on Parker v. Reema Consulting Services, Inc.; the panel explained that the rumors involving a female employee having sexual relations with her male boss to obtain a promotion or special treatment make her employer liable under the Title VII for sex discrimination.

The Fourth Circuit reversed the ruling by recognizing that “Parker, a female subordinate, had sex with her male superior to obtain promotion, implying that Parker used her womanhood, rather than her merit, to obtain from a man, so seduced, a promotion.  She plausibly invokes a deeply rooted perception – one that unfortunately still persists – that generally women, not men, use sex to achieve success.”  This assumption reinforces the belief that women can only be successful through sexual behavior, rather than merit and hard work. The Fourth Circuit agreed that Parker’s sexual harassment claim is appropriate to litigate because this behavior along with male management caused Parker to face wrongful consequences.

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) served as an advisor to the court, leading an amicus brief in this case alongside the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP (BSF). Together, they called attention to how harmful the sex stereotypes that took place represent sexual harassment under federal law, in addition to the harmful rumors. NWLC, with the support of 43 organizational sign-ons, successfully convinced the Fourth Circuit to reverse the federal district court’s opinion, which inappropriately dismissed the case.

Evangline Parker sued for sex discrimination, and a variety of Title VII claims. Rumors suggested that Parker slept her way to the top rather than earned her position, as she got promoted six times since she worked with Reema from December 14 through May 2016. At her workplace, she was treated with hostility and was barred from advancing her career further within the company. The trial court dismissed her claims because they determined the sexual harassment was based on false allegations of conduct rather than based upon her gender.

 

Media Resources: National Women’s Law Center 2/12/19; Kollman Law 2/12/19

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