Spotted Elephant's New and Better Prize!

Spotty, you get this prize just for being so Bumbliciously lovely and an all round great Rad Feminist. Enjoy!




Bonus prize for being nice to know:

Arrested!!!

They have someone! A man. It may or may not be the right man, but it seems like a good start.

Now, how long before the armchair psychologists and general misogynist media spewers start blaming his mother for his behaviour? Anyone want to place a bet? I reckon by nine PM my time (GMT) there will be something, somewhere that points the finger of blame at a woman. There's BOUND to be a humiliating experience with at least one woman in his past:

A bad time with a shrew of a girlfriend who mocked his (lack of) manhood... A particularly aggressive schoolmistress who shamed him in class...A drunken and unloved mother who took out her frustrations on her son...A woman friend who said no to his sexual advances...

Because, you know, it can't just be that he hates women. It couldn't be society in general that fosters hatred of and violence towards women. It must somehow be our own fault. We ask for it. We provoke and exacerbate it. How could he be expected to turn out any different?

I feel sorry for him already.


UPDATE: A second man has been arrested. A 48 year old man with no apparent connection to the first suspect. Fingers crossed that the police have got their men.

Happy Monday!!

I thought long and hard about this, whether it was appropriate to post a Happy Monday this week. I think it is.

I think that given the appalling news from Ipswich, it is important to remember that women can have enormous power.
We resist.
We fight back.
We stand in solidarity with our threatened sisters and we remember with love and dignity those who have been taken from us.
This makes me unreservedly happy.
I hope you feel it too.

Not Prostitutes

Not prostitutes. Not girls.* Not asking for it. Not deserving of it. Not dirty. Not addicts. Not weak. Not stupid. Not delicate. Not rough. Not disposable. Not unloved. Just women. Just human.






* On last night's Sky breaking news report, Ipswich MP Chris Mole and the Sky correspondent repeatedly referred to these murdered women as "girls". In these circumstances, this word is not appropriate, nor is it respectful.

Abortion in Ohio

Ohio has passed a bill preventing access to public funds for abortion. The poorest of Ohio's women will be affected by this decision. I quote from Feminist Daily News: "House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty (Democrat) decried the bill for cutting off funds to clinics that, in addition to providing abortions or abortion referrals, also provide treatment for sexually transmitted infections and other reproductive health care" Well, Duh.

It should be obvious even to hardened Radfems like me that if the government can restrict access to public funds for abortion for the women most likely to desperately need it, they don't really care overly-much about treating and preventing STIs within this same social group. It's all about the control and the humiliation of women, folks!

Quote continues: "Beatty also criticized the bill for not allowing exceptions for poor women seeking abortions for mental or physical health reasons. "If a woman's pregnancy is a threat to a woman’s mental health, she is out of luck....If a woman’s pregnancy is a threat to her physical health, and would even leave her disabled, that is too bad. This bill shows no mercy for women in any kind of desperate situation." Again, I have to ask, did you really expect anything different? Is there ever likely to be any room for negotiation within a bill that wants to deny medical care to financially and politically powerless women? The answer is a resounding No, and here's why: Exceptions for any reason leave potentially exploitable loopholes and the women-hating, anti-choicers who drafted this bill know that. Exceptions lead to opportunities, opportunities lead to choice and choice often leads to power. And for now, that power is the single thing that the anti-choicers most wish to deny the impoverished women of Ohio.

The anti-choicers have clear goals: to control and humiliate, to neglect and weaken. It's tactical warfare against women and we need to fight back hard.

Happy Monday!!

You can mock my Radfem joy but you can't stem it!

This is fabulous news, and about time too.


This kind of honest, delightful video clip just makes me excited to be pro-choice, pro-abortion, pro-woman:



That's your lot for today women, now let's do it to them before they do it to us...
(shameless Hill Street Blues reference.)

Salfordian to the End...

I love love love my city. I enjoy the life, the people and the landscape. Salford has an amazing history, a thriving and valiant community, and a burgeoning sense of cultural pride. We are absolutely amazing. I am so all-consumingly proud to be a Salfordian that I have long thought of changing my name to Pippa Salford. I won't, because that would be excessive. But I think about it...

Anway, this campaign garnered huge response from my fellow Salfordians, desperate to keep at least one maternity unit in our great city. Our city that has been growing and developing for over a thousand years. A city older and with more cultural resonance than her showy neighbour, Manchester. A city that provided a free public library and museum before anywhere else in Britain. A city with 216,000 residents. A great city. My city. And, because the "Hands Off Hope" campaign failed to influence the almighty Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, a city soon to be without a maternity unit or neo-natal services.

I was born at Eccles and Patricroft Hospital in 1971, a year before that unit was closed and all of Salford's maternity care was moved to Hope. (There's a pattern here.) I gave birth at Hope hospital in 1988 when I was sixteen and scared. It was a safe and caring place and I got amazing support from the midwifery team.

Today, like many other Salford women I am heartbroken, but still ready to fight for what I believe in. Because that's what Salfordians do best.

I Should Think So....

This ought to have been a no-brainer, surely? But how great that logic eventually prevailed. To my mind, he should have been immediately incarcerated the moment he selected the laughable moniker "Atomic Dog".

Mohammed Halim

I don't mention men much here; I think of this blog as a woman space. But today I feel that we should think about, celebrate and remember this human. (WARNING: THIS LINK CONTAINS A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TORTURE)

Happy Monday!!

Monday rolls around so fast at the moment. I have so much work to do, so many words to write on feminist standpoint epistemologies...! However, I want to make time to do this Happy Monday thing. I think it's hugely important to try and remember Feminist joyfulness and agency. It's too easy to feel down and overwhelmed by the patriarchy; we need to tap into our sources of power and let delight and rage flood out of us, into the surrounding air...

Get some inspiration here!

Then have three minutes to watch this and feel fabulous! Happy Monday! Let's kick this week's ass...

Happy Monday!!

Three things for you contemplate today:

First and foremost, read and enjoy and identify completely with Audre Lorde's poem Portrait from her collection The Black Unicorn:

Strong women
know the taste
of their own hatred
I must always be
building nests
in a windy place
I want the safety of oblique numbers
that do not include me
a beautiful woman
with ugly moments
secret and patient
as the amused and ponderous elephants
catering to Hannibal's ambition
as they swayed on their own way
home.


Then with woman and power and patience on your mind, go to http://laurietobyedison.com/index.asp and revel in her stunning photos of sizeable, touchable, space-claiming women. Good God Almighty these photos make me feel valued and energised and just sooooo happy to be a big, generous radfem woman.


Then get your party hats on and get ready for Wednesday the 29th of November... this radfem turns 35 on that day! Older and wiser and wrinklier, Yay! Aging turns me on.

Enjoy your week, and whatever shit gets thrown your way, fling it back.

More Abortion Jiggery Pokery...

I see that I'm a bit behind on this gem of a news article but Oh, this can't be good.

Will someone please explain to me HOW these inane decisions go unchallenged? I see that this appointment did not require congressional confirmation (the WHY of that escapes me), so Bush gets to go ahead and put anti-choice, godbag-wingnut Eric Keroack in charge of all the cash for 4,600 family planning clinics across the US. Good call. Except that Keroack thinks contraception ought to be redundant. He thinks that abstinence is super-cool!! And you know what else he thinks? Yes, that's right:

the "crass commercialization and distribution" of contraception is "demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness...

and

promiscuous women will not be able to form long-lasting relationships because they have used up all of their "bonding" hormone on casual sex...

Call me cynical but I'm sensing a potential problem here. Read the whole article and then donate anything you can afford to your local pro-contraception, pro-abortion women's group. This is getting to be the thin end of the wedge.

Happy Monday!!

Before you do anything else today, go here http://www.cherylrainfield.com/ and choose an affirmation to whisper, sing, shout out loud all day! Send an affirmation to a woman you care for.

If you have some time, go here http://www.marlysmagazine.com/ and starting on the home page, scroll down to "Past Strips" and get stuck in. These small strips are amazing; I particularly like Imaginary Friend, My Reflection and Tell Her No. If you don't have time, bookmark and return when you do!

And finally, because YouTube is just too easy to use and sooooo goooood, here's a song to get your toes a tappin'. Have a great week y'all!

Spot the Deliberate Mistake: Anti-abortion Feminists Have a Website

To be filed under the "oh my god what fresh bollocks is this?" section:

http://www.feministsforlife.org/

Have a good look round, spot all the glaring inconsistencies (the utter repudiation and dismissal of women's personal choice and autonomous thinking for one) then add to your list of Internet Misogynists...

Yes, Patricia Heaton, women experiencing unplanned pregnancy deserve to experience unplanned joy. However, it is offensive and presumptuous for you to decide that said joy comes solely in the form of a successful confinement. Is it really so hard for you and your ilk to understand that women deserve to make choices about childbirth? Feminists for Life, my fat freckled arse.

Happy Monday!!

I said I would, so here's some things to enjoy, appreciate or just not be too sad about.

First and foremost: Alyx is back! It's lovely to have a new post Alyx, I miss you.

Second: Here's my boy!!
Isn't he adorable? And old. And yes, that's my hand and leg in the second pic.

Third: because these children just make my day every time I see this video...




Have a wonderful week, women. Remember that even when it all seems shitty and futile, there are some amazing things happening. I'll find them... I really will...

Woohoo, It's Monday!!

My new "thing" is going to be Happy Monday Blogging. Each and every Monday (unless I forget and/or it gets old) I shall be finding something special, something fun, something happy or something positive and empowering to share with you all. (Yes, all six of you.) Here's today's entry, enjoy and have a great week!

Something Complicated...

As a pro-choice, pro-abortion radical feminist, I spend some considerable time in any given week thinking about abortion. I contemplate the possibility that one day, in the UK, abortion may not be legal. It's already difficult to come by, too expensive for most women and still has an air of irresponsibility attached to it. I consider the multiple arguments put forward by the anti-choicers: the "right to life", a foetus feels pain, abortion hurts women, and on... I am never convinced by these people and rarely find their arguments intelligent or even well thought out.

Then I think about the various processes of abortion. It's not a pleasant procedure, it's messy and difficult but statistically it's not as dangerous as childbirth. I think about the indignity of the procedure and the inappropriate questions that often accompany any consultations. I dwell on the morality of paying to make a choice to end a pregnancy. It worries me that people make a profit on these procedures.

I think about my own pregnancies. I dig about in my brain for the sense memory of my daughter scrolling around in my belly. I remember the thick clot of my second pregnancy's sudden and convenient end. There are personal and political reasons for my thinking about and understanding responses to abortion.

I am always appalled by the rhetoric and motivation of the anti-choicers; the sanctimonious placard wavers show little interest in exploring the realities of women's lives. They accuse women of heartlessness, selfishness and a callous disregard for life. In my experience this is just not true. Abortion is a huge and difficult decision to make, and in my experience women who choose abortion feel somewhat conflicted about their decision. Some women believe that their foetus is a living thing and still make the brave decision to terminate their pregnancy. Some women abort for financial or health reasons and feel terrible grief for what they feel is their lost baby. Some women have no feelings about the foetus and abortion is a relief. Every experience is different and every experience is valid. For these reasons, I believe in being careful about how I talk about termination. One woman's parasite is another woman's heartbreak.

I absolutely support every woman's decision to abort. I can not stress this enough: termination should be free, on demand and easily accessible.

I'm Listening To:

Despite Our Differences, the Indigo Girls new album! Yay!! I finally got my copy. I'm swaying to Last Tears. Buy your copy and sway with me.

This Bears Repeating...*

If a woman is drunk, don't rape her.
If a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.
If a woman is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.
If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.
If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape her.
If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.
If a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.
If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.
If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.
If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.
If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.
If your step-daughter is watching TV, don't rape her.
If you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.
If your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.
If your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an unconscious woman upstairs and it's your turn, don't rape her, call the police and tell the guy he's a rapist.
Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it's not okay to rape someone.
Don't tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
Don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x.
Don't imply that it's in any way her fault.
Don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.
Don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, re-post it. It's that important.


*Hat-tip to Jared and Lost Clown et al.

Speaking of Pole Dancing...

Over at Twisty's there's a post about Tesco's astonishing decision to stock the Peekaboo pole Dancing Kit. Yes, folks, you too can be sexually liberated in your own home! As if women and girls weren't already vulnerable to sexual assault by family members, now we can make them dance for money! Fantastic, empowering, liberated stuff.

I was out shopping in the centre of Bolton today when I was approached by a tall, heavy-set man who was carrying an umbrella. Now, like all good RedFems I am always on my guard against any male approach, and I must have looked a touch wary, because he said as he approached me: "Don't worry love, I'm not going to stab you. I haven't got a knife." Ah, the old "murder" gag. Can you see how he started to use humour to put me at my ease...

He then leapt into a cheeky chappy, havin' a laugh, geezer character. He followed up with "Do you like fashion, love?...We're looking for women to be pole dancers...no, not really, ha ha ha" For which read: laugh at me, I'm young, male and over-familiar. I'm hysterically funny and I might just fancy you, isn't the new mainstream sports activity of pole dancing a laugh... Oh, you get the drift.

He seemed less enthusiastic about inviting me to gyrate for him when I snarled at him that I didn't want what he was selling and then pounced on him, beat his face to a raw mess, grabbed his pathetic shrivelled balls and ripped them off and smashed the bloody remnants into his mouth and broke his teeth.

OR: I growled "that's not even funny, dick head" and walked away as he yelled after me (his enormous ego bruised) that I have no sense of humour and EVERYONE ELSE does, therefore, I am somehow defective.

Yes, people, I AM a humourless crone. Tell me something I don't know. Wanker.