So many people were truly terrible this week, but we’ve got a few awesome people to try to balance them out. And if you somehow missed the worst Photoshop ever, you’re gonna love this week’s TWiM! (As usual, trigger warnings for pretty much everything apply.)
Terrible people of the week!
- Judge Mike Maggio. I’m not usually a fan of outing Internet commenters’ real names, but when you’re a sitting state judge and you’re posting horrifically racist, sexist, and homophobic “jokes” (and rape jokes!), I’m not gonna feel bad for you. The people of Arkansas deserve to know what a shit you are.
- Ann Coulter, who told the crowd at CPAC that changing demographics in the U.S. weren’t “a natural process,” rather that the country is getting “raped” by Democrats. (My eyeballs have rolled right out of my head. Pls advise if found. ~ed.)
- Michele Bachmann, also at CPAC, stated that gays have “bullied the American people.”
- New Hampshire State Rep Kyle Tasker, who posted a domestic violence joke on his Facebook page and tagged fellow representative Mark Warden, who came under fire last year for saying that “a lot of people like being in abusive relationships.”
- Louisiana Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson, who has introduced a bill to set up a state database of women who’ve had abortions along with instituting other shitty regulations. You know, I expect this shit from Republicans and men, but you call yourself a Democrat and a woman and then pull this shit? No. (Unless she’s trolling, since there are a lot of anti-choicers who would have to have their names listed too and this might freak them out. But that’s probably overly optimistic.)
- Whoever the fuck is responsible for this atrocious photoshop fail on Target’s website.
- Christian radio host Kevin Swanson. Frozen is “indoctrinating” young girls to become lesbians? Disney is Satanic? Mmmkay. (And of course, he’s not the only one in a gay panic over the movie. Simma down, people.)
- “Princeton Mom” Susan Patton, whose new book Marry Smart is full of terrible advice and whose appearance on The Today Show made me want to throw things through my television.
Awesome people of the week!
- Mariska Hargitay, who founded a nonprofit dedicated to convincing law enforcement agencies to work through their backlog of untested rape kits and is currently working with Detroit officials to pass a bill to improve the way they’re processed in Michigan.
- UT student Lenzi Scheible, who founded a nonprofit dedicated to helping Texas women travel to get abortions.
- Mumbai thrash-metal band Sceptre, who just released a concept album about “the plight of women in Indian society.” All proceeds from the album will be donated to an orphanage for girls. (And one member said he realized just how big the problems were when his daughter was born. Hooray for feminist fathers!)
- New Jersey’s Judge Sohail Mohammed, who ruled that of course women have the right to say their ex can’t be in the delivery room, even though it’s his child being born.
- Canada’s Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that poking holes in condoms in the hopes of getting your partner pregnant against her wishes is sexual assault.
And now for the rest of the week’s news.
I know the Lean In movement has its detractors, but I love that Sheryl Sandberg has teamed up with the Girl Scouts for the Ban Bossy campaign to point out why it’s harmful to call little girls “bossy” but little boys “leaders.”
An update to a story we covered last week: Upskirt photos are now illegal in Massachusetts. Thanks, state legislature!
The Michigan law that requires women to buy separate riders to get insurance coverage for abortions went into effect, and only a select few employer-based plans even offer the riders (meaning that if you buy your own insurance or if your employer doesn’t use those insurers, you’re SOL).
Missouri lawmakers are considering 32 separate provisions to restrict abortion access in the state, even though there’s only one abortion clinic left in the state.
Dartmouth College is considering a new sexual assault policy in which rapists would face mandatory expulsion. The new policy is a response to a federal probe into the school’s mishandling of previous sexual misconduct charges within the student body.
There’s some really creepy (and factually WRONG) anti-contraception rhetoric in the amicus briefs filed in support of Hobby Lobby’s anti-Obamacare lawsuit that will go before the Supreme Court later this month.
Oregon body-acceptance blogger Rachele Cateyes was angered to learn that a photo her boyfriend had taken of her in a bikini at the beach was being used without her permission as the “before” in a diet ad.
When 9-year-old Grayson Bruce complained that kids were bullying him at school, he was told that he couldn’t bring his My Little Pony lunchbox to school because it was a “trigger for bullying.” Good job blaming the victim instead of telling the bullies that their behavior was unacceptable and that it’s OK for boys to like “girl” things! (Autoplay warning!)
I’m torn about BetaBrand’s spring women’s campaign, which uses PhDs and doctoral candidates instead of professional models. On the one hand, yay for showing that cute women can still be smart! On the other, the women they chose are all thin and most are white, so it can be seen as “We like smart women so long as they’re still conventionally attractive!”
Ragestroke. Even when women perform exactly as well as men on math tests, men are more likely to be hired.
Another day, another company forced to apologize for an employee being a dick to a breastfeeding mother. And it’s not even the first time IKEA has had to do so!
Chloie Jonsson is suing CrossFit after she was barred from competing as a woman because she’s transgender.
Recommended Reading
- International Women’s Day was last Saturday. The Independent has the statistics that prove why the day is still so important.
- Five ways the Republican war on women is about far more than just reproductive rights.
- Charles M. Blow with more on Susan Patton and how our misogynistic society harms women and men.
- The logical fallacy of saying women should demand respect from men.
- And then there’s “Man Who Treats Women With Respect Asked What His Secret Is,” via The Onion.
- On rape culture and mansplaining.
- Nope, MRAs, you don’t have abortion rights.
- Why the hand-wringing about a Duke student who’s paying for her education by acting in porn is actually a class issue.
- Four ways universities could support women in the sciences and prevent them from leaving academia.
- Any of you ladies want to try your hand at video game design? Fine Young Capitalists has a contest for you; no experience necessary!
- Sady Doyle on how Hannibal manages to make horror feminist.
- Spoilers! I’m curious to see if/how this will be addressed in future episodes, but Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may have really mishandled a storyline in which a male character had sex with a woman who brainwashed him. (Though Mae had plenty of reasons beyond just “Ward had sex with Lorelei” to punch him in the face, and it was sadly a realistic depiction of how most people react to men getting raped by women.)
- Amazing — Female Armor Bingo, for all the ridiculous depictions of warrior women in metal bikinis. (And I love the inevitable follow-up bingo card for the excuses people make as to why it’s OK to put warrior women in metal bikinis.)
- Finally, let’s listen to Rebecca Watson explain why, no, she will not stop talking about feminism.