THANK YOU TO ANONYMOUS SPONSOR
Topic: Individualist Feminism
For the past few years, ifeminists has been sustained by the generosity of a sponsor who worked through the Independent Institute on the conditiion that II maintain his/her anonymity. I have wanted to write a personal note of thanks for a long time and, now that the sponsorship has ended, it seems wrong NOT to render proper thanks. Alas, this public note must suffice. Your support has made this site and its amazing growth possible. It has been much appreciated and I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Should you change your mind about remaining anonymous and, so, write in, I would love to thank you in person.

BBC in another sex row
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
Porn actor Ron Jeremy said he would "love" a three-some with bisexual actress Lohan, 22, and her partner, DJ Samantha Ronson, 31. Jeremy, 55, added more explicit detail of his fantasies involving the Hollywood couple. During BBC3's celebrity review of the year 'Most Annoying People 2008', another interviewee, DJ Spoony, also referred to lesbians as "munters and mingers". Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe demanded to know who sanctioned broadcast of the pre-recorded programme. She accused the BBC of learning nothing from the scandal over Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's obscene phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs, describing the Corporation "institutionally indecent". (01/06/09)

KS, Abortion hearing resumes
Topic: Abortion
Source: NBC
Former Attorney Phill Kline is expected to testify when a pretrial hearing resumes in a criminal case against abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Tiller faces 19 misdemeanor charges in Sedgwick County. The Wichita doctor is accused of violating a law requiring a second opinion from an independent physician for some late-term abortions. His attorneys hope to get evidence suppressed or the charges dismissed. They allege Tiller is the victim of an overzealous prosecution. (01/06/08)

Roman Polanski seeks to move sex case
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Star Tribune
An attorney for fugitive movie director Roman Polanski is seeking to move the venue of his notorious sex case after accusing the Los Angeles County Superior Court of bias and prejudice against Polanski. Polanski has been a fugitive in France for 30 years after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. His attorneys filed a request last month to dismiss the charge against him because of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct that was detailed in a television documentary. (01/05/09)

FLDS mother wants jury to settle custody
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Deseret News
Texas child welfare authorities are seeking permanent conservatorship of a 14 yr old girl .Barbara Jessop's attorney, Valerie J. Malara, filed a demand notice in an Eldorado, Texas, court, seeking a jury trial to decide custody over her three children. The demand was filed in advance of a permanency hearing scheduled Thursday in San Angelo, Texas, where child welfare authorities were to update a judge on the girl's status in foster care. The girl, believed to have been married at age 12 to Jeffs, was ordered back into foster care in August after a judge ruled Jessop failed to protect her from abuse. (01/05/09)

Abortion rule draws 200K protests
Topic: Abortion
Source: Chicago Sun Times
Under the so-called "conscience rule," scheduled to take effect Jan. 19, any health care provider can refuse to disclose information or provide services to clients without disclosing such actions to supervisors, even if the individual's actions counter the mission of the organization in charge. The rule is backed by some religious and anti-abortion organizations including the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Despite 200,000 comments opposing the action, HHS issued the new rule Dec. 18. It will take effect the day before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Those supporting the new rule expect a battle with the Obama administration over its implementation. (01/05/09)

US, Homeschooling grows
Topic: Children and Family
Source: USA Today
The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999, and up 36% since 2003. The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled increased from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007. Traditionally, the biggest motivations for parents to teach their children at home have been moral or religious reasons, and that remains a top pick when parents are asked to explain their choice. The 2003 survey gave parents six reasons to pick as their motivation. (They could choose more than one.) The 2007 survey added a seventh: an interest in a "non-traditional approach," a reference to parents dubbed "unschoolers," who regard standard curriculum methods and standardized testing as counterproductive to a quality education. (01/05/09)

Prop 8 backers take on AG argument
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Sacrameto Bee
The sponsors of California's voter-approved gay marriage ban say Attorney General Jerry Brown is advancing a far-fetched legal theory to justify overturning Proposition 8. Lawyers for the Protect Marriage coalition on Monday answered the about-face Brown took last month in urging the state Supreme Court to strike down the new marriage law. In a filing with the California Supreme Court, they called his claim that voters lacked the authority to deprive a minority group of a basic civil right "a hoary message" that invites "judicial triumphalism." (01/05/09)

Airline pays for T shirt ban
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: News.com.au
AN airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed Arabic script has been awarded $337,000 in compensation. Raed Jarrar received the pay out from two US Transportation Security Authority officials and from JetBlue Airways following the August 2006 incident at New York's JFK Airport. "The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling," said Aden Fine, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Mr Jarrar, a US resident, was apprehended as he waited to board a JetBlue flight from New York to Oakland, California, and told to remove his shirt, which had written on it in Arabic: "We will not be silent." (01/06/09)

Claims of FLDS welfare fraud wrong?
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Allegations that members of a southern Utah polygamous sect are guilty of widespread welfare fraud were raised repeatedly this summer during a U.S. Senate judiciary committee hearing. They surfaced frequently, too, in messages sent to Texas Gov. Rick Perry after an April raid on the Eldorado ranch occupied by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But welfare data from Utah, Arizona and Texas do not support the claims. None of the 600 or so residents of the Yearning For Zion Ranch received any form of welfare, according to state officials. (01/04/09)

WA, 1,900 page draft of partnership bill
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: The Oylmpian
Another battle over the rights of same-sex couples is headed to the state Legislature this year as activists try to expand rights available under Washington’s 1 1/2-year-old domestic-partnership registry. That registry has 4,892 couples with either two members of the same gender or one member who’s 62 or older. Nearly 200 rights are included, including the right to hospital visits, inheriting through community property laws, and the power to make decisions about a loved one’s remains. Democratic Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle says he thinks it still is too early to push for full marriage rights, an effort that suffered setbacks at the polls in California, Arizona and Florida this fall. (01/04/09)

Iraq, Female suicide bomber attack
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Yahoo Daily News
A female suicide bomber infiltrated a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims and blew herself up, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 79 at a Shi'ite shrine in Baghdad Sunday, Iraqi officials said. The bomber struck a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in Kadhimiya, a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, as Shi'ites prepared for the Ashura holiday this week to mourn the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Many of the casualties were pilgrims from Iran, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said, underscoring the religious ties between the two majority Shi'ite countries. (01/04/09)

India, Women farmers fight for rights
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: News Blaze
Women farmers, despite being one of the biggest labor forces in India, are still fighting for their rights and identity. In India more than 84 per cent of women are involved in agricultural and/or allied activities. The agricultural sector provides employment to nearly 4/5 of the total women work force in India. One third of the agricultural laborers are women and 48 per cent of the women farmers are considered self employed in the agriculture sector. (01/03/09)

UK, Schools secretly give out pills
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
Morning-after pills are being given to girls as young as 11 through by health authority clinics set up in secondary schools. In Oxfordshire alone 1,081 emergency contraceptives have been issued over the past six years, despite records showing pregnancy rates in the county have risen in every year that the clinics have been in operation. Data released under the Freeedom of Information Act shows almost 1,000 such clinics are being operated across England. Staff at the clinics are not required to seek permission from parents before administering the contraception. (01/04/09)

Sex, abortion under Obama
Topic: Abortion
Source: National Partnership for Women and Families
"True Common Ground for the 111th Congress," Kay Steiger, RH Reality Check: The increased number of abortion-rights supporters in the House and Senate of the 111th Congress is "encouraging to the pro-choice community," Steiger writes. "26 Reasons Pro-Choice People Should Be Happy," Nancy Keenan, Huffington Post blogs. "Dominican Women Play (Abortion) Doctor," Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon's Broadsheet: Clark-Flory "consider[s] the extreme lengths women will go in order to obtain an abortion." Can You Hear Me Yet?" Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: "At this point, it's hard to imagine how much more data the government and Congress need to collect to come to the conclusion that just telling kids to not have sex isn't working." (01/06/09)

Should gov reduce inequality in life spans?
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Library of Economics
Author: Dwight Lee
Life expectancy is 80.4 years for American women vs. 75.2 years for men. Governments could certainly reduce this life-expectancy inequality by redistributing medical research funding on women's health to research on men's health, and general medical care funding from women to men. Consider that men are more likely to die from prostate cancer than women are from breast cancer. Yet in 2005 federal expenditures for prostate cancer research were $390 million compared to $698 million for breast cancer research, and the American Cancer Society contributed almost three times as much for breast cancer research ($98 million) as for prostate cancer research ($36 million). There are several reasons why redistributing medical expenditures to reduce gender inequality in life expectancies would not work. And there are parallel reasons for the failure of redistributing money to reduce income inequality. (01/05/09)

Invisible women
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: In These Times
Author: Susan J. Douglas
With Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the presidency, and Sarah Palin’s high profile run for veep — which maybe set women back 50 years — the spotlight remained on individual women and, inevitably, on their pantsuits, cleavage and peep toe shoes. But women’s issues? Invisible, barely uttered. Indeed, the person making the most sustained case for a focus on female-centered issues was Michelle Obama. The high visibility of all of these women (each different, of course, but nonetheless successful and financially comfortable) makes it seem as if gender equality has been achieved and that sexism — except that coming from white male pundits on cable — is a thing of the past. (01/01/09)

Jan. 20 busiest divorce day?
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
Tanya Roberts, partner at law firm Charles Russell, said: "January is the month when you tend to see an increase in the number of couples deciding to separate. Having gritted their teeth over Christmas and the New Year, and finally got the children settled into school, they call in a divorce lawyer. "It's ultimately speculation, of course, but the word on the street is that January 20 will be the busiest day this year for divorce applications." Research conducted by the law firm comparison website Takelegaladvice.com said divorce-related matters are up 30 per cent over the festive period compared to last year. (01/04/09)

Abortion woes for Obama
Topic: Abortion
Source: The Senior Times
Author: Neil McKenty
At their bi-annual meeting in November, the president of the bishops’ conference, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, said that while the bishops “rejoice” at the election of an African-American president, they should confront him over his support of abortion rights. President-elect Obama’s views on abortion are reflected in the party platform. The Democrats support a woman’s right to choose. But very significantly the abortion plank was extended this year to include measures to reduce abortion. These involve strengthening the social and economic safety net to enable more women to bring their pregnancies to term. (01/05/09)

UK, Orientation irrelevant in sexual har
Topic: Sexual Harassment
Source: Times Online
Harassment at work on the ground of sexual orientation could occur irrespective of the victim’s actual sexual orientation or the tormentors’ perception of his orientation. The claimant, engaged under a contract for personal services between October 1996 and August 2005, alleged that four work colleagues subjected him for a protracted period to sexual innuendo suggesting he was homosexual, that such cruel and puerile conduct drove him to leave his job, and he was in fact a heterosexual and happily married man with three daughters which his tormentors were perfectly aware of. (01/05/09)