The Obama Administrations decides to challenge Federal Judge Korman’s order to make the Morning After Pill available to women of all ages, without having to show ID
According to the National Women’s Law Project, at age 75, before the first bump-up begins, the cut from the chained CPI would reduce her monthly benefit by an amount equal to the cost of five days’worth of food each month.
The Great Gatsby Still Gets Flappers Wrong–by Lisa Hicks http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-great-gatsby-still-gets-flappers-wrong/
The trouble with “Gatsby” is, as beautifully as F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the opulent world of 1920s high society in his novel, he gets flappers all wrong. That’s because he portrays this liberated “New Woman” through the eyes of men…The flapper movement wasn’t simply a fashion trend–it was a full-blown, grassroots feminist revolution. After an 80-year campaign by suffragists, women were finally granted the right to vote in the United States in 1920…When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, many women entered the workforce, and when the soldiers returned in November 1918, their female counterparts were reluctant to give up their jobs.
As a result, young, unmarried women experienced far greater financial independence than they’d ever had before.
What it’s like to have REAL family friendly policies as a mother–affordable daycare, etc–a mother’s day commentary
In brief, the French government provides: 1) inexpensive municipal day care, 2) tax breaks for families employing in-home child care workers, and 3) universal free preschool beginning at age 3. Together, these make quality child care so affordable—even in expensive Paris—that we’re actually considering extending my husband’s work contract and staying in France until our daughter is school-age just to take advantage of them.
Israel moves to end gender segregation of women and seeks to limit rule by religious fundamentalists
Renowned Singer/songwriter Judy Gorman* (who sings our theme song) will make a live appearance and sing for us in the early part of the show. Members of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra will drop by and we’ll hear a live report from activists about the feminist actions that will take place in 12 cities across the country on Tues., May 14, to protest the Obama Administration’s attempt to continue to restrict women’s access to the Morning After Pill.
We’ll thank listeners who pledge to support WBAI during our show with great music CD’s by Judy Gorman and The Rude Mechanical Orchestra.
And–as a special offering, listeners will be able to receive a DVD of an historic short film of the 1968 Miss America Pageant Protest that put the feminist movement on the map (this is where we are supposed to have “burned our bras”). It’s an historical treasure, that includes footage of the disruption of the Miss America Pageant inside the hall where women hung a banner declaring “Women’s Liberation”–as well as actions on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. We have exclusive rights from musician and documentation-artist Bev Grant, who shot and produced the film (which cannot be gotten anywhere else).
The pledge amounts to get the above gifts will be extremely reasonable.
* Pete Seeger sums up Judy Gorman like this: “She came, she sang, she conquered. No two programs that she gives are the same. She is always thinking how to find the right phrase, the right song to hit the nail right on the head, to shoot the arrow straight to the heart of the matter.”
Click on triangle above to listen to audio of show
Joy of Resistance is heard on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month @WBAI, 99.5 fm in NYC (& the tri-state area) & streams at wbai.org. Follow JOR @ twitter.com/joyofresistance
An encore presentation of a 2011 conversation between Fran Luck (Joy of Resistance Producer) and Stephanie Coontz, author of “A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960′s” (this program was supposed to air on April 3, but for technical reasons, was not able to be heard at that time).
The discussion will center not only on the ways in which Betty Friedan‘s watershed book “The Feminine Mystique” (1963) changed the conceptual landscape for American women–but also on the nature of the conditions that prevailed for women in the 1940′s ’50′s & early 60′s), when “Help Wanted: Female” ads, “Head and Master” laws (which gave men all legal control in marriage) and a Freudianism that diagnosed neurosis in women who possessed ambition–proscribed women’s lives.
We’ll examine how the feminist history of the 1920′s was erased and images of earlier feminists were distorted so that women of the 1950′s were denied their feminist history–just as the backlash against the feminists of the 1960′s that is going on today is denying today’s generation their real history. We’ll look at how women were pushed out of the good jobs they held in the 1940′s (when men were fighting World War ll), sold a bill of goods that the only path to “true womanhood” was through being stay-at-home wives and mothers–and how these images of American womanhood were then used as part of the “Cold War.”
We’ll look at the evidence for feminist periods running in cycles, with each feminist upsurge, followed by a period in which a “crisis in masculinity,” caused by “women going too far” is declared–followed by attempts to take away women’s gains.
The show will be accompanied by period music from the 1950′s, including “Sincerely,” sung by The McGuire Sisters; “How Much is That Doggie in the Window?” sung by Patti Paige; “Mr. Sandman,” sung by The Chordettes and the “I Love Lucy” themesong, sung by Desi Arnaz.
Joy of Resistance: Multicultural Feminist Radio @ WBAI airs on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, at 9-10 PM. We cover the “ongoing worldwide struggle of women for full liberation, equality and human rights.” You can tweet us at twitter.com/joyofresistance and follow/read our blog at joyofresistance.wordpress.com and also communicate with us through the “comments” section on our blog. Programs stream live @ wbai.org where they are archived there for 90 days.
WBAI @ 99.5 FM broadcasts to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and is part of the Pacifica Radio Network, one of the few alternatives to the corporate-controlled media that dominate the airwaves–and it needs your financial support to continue broadcasting!
Please consider going to www.wbai.org and contributing whatever amount you can to help keep alternative radio alive. If you join as a “WBAI Buddy” you can help sustain the station permanently for as little as $10. a month (automatically taken out of your bank account/credit card) and be entitled to a range of gifts. Go to Give2WBAI.org to become a WBAI Buddy or find out other ways you can support the station. If you join as a “Buddy” in the name of Joy of Resistance your contribution will be counted as a “listener vote” for continued and expanded feminist programming at WBAI.
Morning After Pill to be Made Available Without Age Restrictions
On April 6, a U.S. federal judge ordered that the Morning-After Pill be made available “without a prescription and without point-of-sale or age restrictions within thirty days.”
Judge Edward R. Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued his Memorandum Opinion and Order in Tummino v. Hamburg which reversed a prior decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS).
Judge Korman found that “[t]hese emergency contraceptives would be among the safest drugs sold over-the-counter.”
Citing the Obama administration‘s “unjustified departures” from established policy to make safe medications available to the public, the court found that the administration invoked arguments that were an “excuse to deprive the overwhelming majority of women of their right to obtain contraceptives without unjustified and burdensome restrictions.”
Referring to “political interference” from the White House, the judge stated “the motivation for [Secretary Sebelius'] action was obviously political. … [I]t was an election year decision that ‘many public health experts saw as a politically motivated effort to avoid riling religious groups and others opposed to making birth control available to girls.’”
And, according to the press release from National Women’s Liberation (NWL): For over a decade, grassroots feminist activists with National Women’s Liberation – who include the lead Plaintiffs in the Tummino case – have been waging the most important fight on expanding access to birth control in decades in the United States: to make the Morning-After Pill available over-the counter without any restrictions on age or how it can be sold. Today’s ruling is a significant victory in the fight for reproductive rights.
Ten years of speakouts, consciousness-raising, petition gathering, phonebanking, flashmobs, sitting-in and putting pressure on the Food and Drug Administration helped make this court decision possible. Women cannot be on equal footing with men if we can’t decide when and if we will bear a child. Morning-after pill over-the-counter gives women an enormous freedom. Organizing pays.
Plaintiff and NWL-New York Chapter organizer Erin Mahoney said, “The Morning-After Pill was already available without a prescription in at least 63 other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and Ghana. We are glad the U.S. has finally caught up to women around the world, but it shouldn’t have taken over a decade of pressure from feminists, our allies and a lawsuit.”
According to a recent article in RH Reality Check, Abortion restrictions have have once again been in the forefront of bills introduced in many state legislatures in 2013, as they were in 2011 and 2012.
But unlike in recent years, when many laws were aimed at regulating abortion (for example, requirements that women undergo an ultrasound, clinic regulations or insurance restrictions), this year, legislators seem to be focusing on banning abortion outright—either by declaring that “personhood” begins at the moment of conception or by prohibiting abortion even during the first trimester of pregnancy.
During the first three months of 2013, legislators in 14 states introduced provisions seeking to ban abortion prior to viability.
These bans fall into three categories: measures that would prohibit all abortions, those that would ban abortions after a specified point during the first trimester of pregnancy–as little as 6 weeks into the pregnancy in the case of North Dakota–and those that would block abortions at 20 weeks after fertilization.
All of these proposals are in direct violation of U.S. Supreme Court decisions including Roe versus Wade.
France to Implement Free Abortion and Birth Control
On April 1st The French state began reimbursing100 percent of the cost of abortions–and giving girls and women aged between 15 and 18 access to free birth control. They are able able to access it anonymously, to avoid embarassment.
Until now, French women over 18 could only receive up to 80 percent of the cost of an abortion. The move to full reimbursement, which was one of French President François Hollande’s 2012 campaign promises and is part of the 2013 social security budget, is designed to improve women’s access to abortions.
And by coupling it with free contraception for younger girls and women, France hopes to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and thus the number of abortions.
Abortion was first legalized in France in 1975, though access was limited until 2001.
Despite the expanded access to abortions, France still limits how late in the pregnancy the procedure can be performed, setting the termination deadline at 12 weeks after conception.
These women will be the first generation to experience sex in a society where “sex” itself is not demonized and where protection is not only expected but made readily available.
Reebok has dropped an endorsement deal with rapper Rick Ross, after much pressure from feminists through protests and social media, including, an online petition with 70,000 signatures, massive tweeting and Facebook ads, a phone campaign and a demonstration at Reebok’s headquarters with signs reading “Hey Reebok: Want my business? Stop promoting rape.” A letter was also sent to the company on behalf of 550 rape survivors. The day after the protest the University of Ottawa cancelled their end-of-the-year concert in which Ross was scheduled to perform
.
At issue is a lyric by artist Rocko, in which Ross is featured, that goes:
“Put molly all in her champagne/ She ain’t even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that / she ain’t even know it.”
Molly is a form of MDMA, that distorts the senses and reduces inhibitions.It is considered a date-rape drug
The rapper denied he was alluding to raping a woman after drugging her drink, calling it a misinterpretation and claiming that he had never mentioned the word “rape.”
Reebok fired Ross on April 12, saying: “While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse,”
Rocko has since released a new version of his song without Ross and absent the offending lyrics.
Hip Hop Activist and former Green Party candidate for Vice President, Rosa Clemente, called the firing of Ross “a victory for hip hop culture” and said: “We in hip hop culture say NO to rape culture and anyone who thinks it is appropriate to rhyme about rape.”
A number of rappers, such as Talib Kweli have also come out against Ross’ rape lyrics.
Clemente pointed out that 44% of Black and Latina women are sexually assaulted by the time they are age 18.
Russian Orthodox Leader Warns of the ‘Danger of Feminism’
Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, warned members of Union of Orthodox Ukrainian Women that feminism is “very dangerous” and could threaten the stability of Russia.
He went on to claim that feminist organizations proclaim the pseudo-freedom of women, which he described as “outside of marriage and…the family” and that while “man must turn his gaze outward” in order to support a family, “woman must be focused inwards, where her children are, where her home is.”
Patriarch Kirill has become a close ally of Vladimir Putin, a connection that was challenged by feminist punk band Pussy Riot in the iconic performance for which they were later found guilty of “hooliganism.”
Krill’s statement takes place against a background of a declining birth rate in Russia, that is not meeting the replacement rate for the population. Putin has called the declining birth rate “Russia’s biggest problem” and vowed to fight with a program he dubbed the “Mother’s Capital Project.” It includes a policy of giving a cash bonus of about $9,000. to each woman who has a second child and for each child after that–as well as increasing childcare services. His goal is 3 children per family–currently the average is 1.3 children per couple.
In 2006, Putin cited the reasons for the low birthrate as being “low incomes, lack of housing, a low level of medical services and the lack of quality education.”
A low birth rate was not a problem in Russia when it was part of the former Soviet Union.
Below are links to two important stories we wish we’d been able to cover on our April 17 Joy of Resistance show.
1) Issues raised by the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell:
As the Dr. Kermit Gosnell murder trial proceeds in Pennsylvania, the Right Wing is trying to make hay out of it by putting out huge amounts of propaganda to the effect that conditions at Gosnell’s clinic are common and raise questions about abortion in general. RH Reality Check took on this issue and JOR recommends articles of theirs below (others can be found at their website).
On Wednesday April 17, between 9 and 10 pm, Joy of Resistance will feature an examination of the recent victory for women that has been called the greatest pro-active advance in reproductive justice since Roe v Wade. We will examine in depth, the 10 year campaign that resulted in the landmark April 6 decision by a Federal Judge to make the Morning After Pill available without any restrictions to women of all ages–thereby accomplishing the long-term goal of making it truly over-the-counter and eliminating the need for every woman to show an ID and go through a pharmacist in order to get it.
Our guests will be National Women’s Liberation organizers: Annie Tummino, lead plaintiff in the suit Tummino vs Hamburg; Allison Guttu, arrested in 2005, (along with 8 other women) for blocking entrances to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Brooke Eliazar-Macke, and Alex Leader, one of the campaign’s originators.
Our program will fill in the parts of the story that have been consistently left out of mainstream–and even feminist–media coverage, which focused only on the legal aspects of the victory. Consistently left out was a 10-year grassroots campaign that put pressure on the legal system and “created the space” for the Judge to hand down a positive verdict. This campaign included civil disobedience actions: the 2005 sit-in to block the entrance to the FDA in Washington DC, in which 9 women were arrested; over 5,000 women publicly defying the prescription requirement (which existed prior to 2006) by taking a pledge to “give the Morning After Pill to a friend if she needs it”–and then faxing their names to the FDA in a public challenge to the restrictions; a “flash mob” at a pharmacy, where, in a’direct action’ women placed the Morning After Pill directly on shelves in the Family Planning section.
The entire campaign was built on a grassroots strategy of holding consciousness raising sessions to find out how lack of access to the Morning After Pill actually affected women’s lives–and public speak-outs in which women told these stories.
The Morning After Pill is safe (according to the FDA’s own scientists), and if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex is an effective tool for preventing pregnancy. It works best within 24 hours, which is why the prescription requirement was a grave obstacle for women–especially since unprotected sex–i.e., a condom breaking–was more likely to happen on a weekend, making it is harder to find a doctor to write a prescription in time for the drug to be effective. As a result of the Tummino vs Hamburg suit, in 2006. the prescription requirement was lifted– in itself, an incredible win during the Bush Administration, when the fight for reproductive rights was being pushed seriously backward and there was an active anti-birth control movement.
But there was a compromise within this victory. MAP would be available only to women 18 and over (later changed to 17 and over) and it would be kept behind the counter, subject to approval by pharmacists, and all women would have to show ID to get it. NWL activists decided they could not live with this compromise and persisted in organizing and continuing the lawsuit to overturn it. The results they fought for were finally achieved on April 6.
Civil disobedience actions are historically linked to the fight for birth control–from Margaret Sanger being arrested for giving out information on birth control (then illegal) in the early 20th century, to Pat McGinness, arrested in the 1960′s for dispersing information on where to get an abortion (when that was illegal). The fight for the vote was also peppered with arrests. With so many laws restricting women over the centuries, defying unjust laws was and is a necessary part of feminists winning more freedom. NWL activists drew on, and were inspired by, this tradition, in their fight for the Morning After Pill.
The show will also include our regular “Feminist News Roundup.”
On Tuesday, March 26, the New York Chapter of National Women’s Liberation, along with feminist allies led a flash-mob inside of a busy pharmacy in NYC (Duane Reade at 14th Street and 7th Avenue) where more than 20 women defied regulations and placed the Morning-After Pill on the shelf, right next to the condoms in the ‘Family Planning’ section of the store..
For over 10 years, members of National Women’s Liberation have been fighting to make the Morning-After Pill available over-the-counter in the United States. This birth control is most effective when taken within 24 hours after sex. Having it at our fingertips would be a huge leap forward for women and girls.
Scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agree that the Morning-After Pill is safe to be over-the-counter for women of all ages. But for years the Bush White house blocked access.
In 2006, because of a suit filed by NWL against the FDA, the prescription requirement was lifted. However, a medically unnecessary age restriction was put into place, making the pill physically inaccessible to everyone because it is kept “behind-the-counter” at pharmacies and an ID must be shown to buy it.
Currently, Health & Human Services (HHS), with the full support of the Obama Administration, is blocking over-the-counter access.
National Women’s Liberation members are part of a lawsuit against the FDA and HHS, Tummino v. Hamburg, which could remove all restrictions to the Morning-After Pill. The Judge in the case has indicated that he will make a decision by the end of the month. We are in the home stretch of a long battle – join us and send a message that women won’t accept any more compromises!
A video of the action on Tuesday is getting lots of views and organizers would like to make it “viral” to the point that word of it gets to the Obama Administration. This can be especially important as a verdict in the suit may be handed down any day. You can participate in this part of the action by passing on the link to the video.
Joy of Resistance is proud to have been one of the handful of media given advance notice of this “surprise” event. We are posting here the sounds of the demo recorded inside of the Duane Reade store while the action was taking place, in the street afterwards and three interviews that explain the history and thinking behind this action–conducted by Fran Luck of Joy of Resistance and played on our show the next night–Wednesday, March 27 between 9 and 10 pm (@WBAI, 99.5 FM, airing 1st & 3rd Wednesdays).
Sally Roesch Wagner called our 3-part Roe Anniversary Package“an historical treasure”–and so it is. What’s in the Package. Below are links through which you can order the entire package or each part individually (links will take you to a page for each part of premium on the WBAI website). Thank you from Joy of Resistance!
Note: Joy of Resistance is a radio show that covers the “ongoing and worldwide struggle of women for full equality.” It is broadcast on listener-supported non-commercial radio station WBAI (99.5 FM in NYC and streaming @ wbai.org) on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the month, at 9-10 PM. Several times a year we participate in fund raising for WBAI in order to keep alive this precious non-commercial alternative to the corporate-controlled media. At these times we offer the best “feminist premium” we can put together, as a “thank you” for supporting WBAI–and the continuation of feminist radio!. The Roe v Wade Anniversary Package is our offering for WBAI’s 2013 Winter Fund Drive.
For Entire Roe v Wade Anniversary Package Click Here(and scroll down)
For each separate part
1) DVD: Lori Hiris’ FilmWith a Vengeance: The Fight for Reproductive FreedomClick Here
2) Book: Intimate Wars by Merle Hoffman: Click Here
3) Long-playing CD: Best of Joy of Resistance Repro Justice Coverage Click Here
To place an order, you must open an account on the WBAI website Click Here
