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February 28, 2013 - Today's the last day to get cheaper T-Shirts. Overall the sale has now gotten me to finally break even on their production, but it'll probably be a little ways before I make more merchandise. If I do, though, I'll probably set up a pre-order first.
Meanwhile, as of like noon yesterday CNN ran seven different stories related to women's rights on their site not including stories about Quvenzhané Wallis. Some of these seem way more pressing than others, and overall make me wonder if the stories weren't run all simultaneously so anyone reading them would get overwhelmed and ignore them, which if true is the most disconcerting about all of this.
Overall, they are well written, and if you can take the time to read all of them, it could offer some interesting insights, but feel free to pace yourself. Unlike CNN, the links won't gradually disappear to the point you can't find them and they'll be forgotten. You'll be able to find permanent links to them on this page pretty easily.
First up are two articles that are really curious to publish simultaneously regarding reactions to people identifying as transgender. The first is about parents in Colorado attempting to sue a school for making their transgender daughter use the boys' room. I can't see them winning the case at all considering the school's willingness to make gender-neutral bathroom's available, but it calls to question whether bathrooms are divided by biology or mentality and how schools reinforce and educate about differences between the two. Meanwhile the second article shows a much more positive story about a fraternity accepting a transgender student as one of their members and helping him fundraise the money to pay for desired surgery not covered by his insurer.
Next up are contrasting social networking stories about dating services designed to pair old rich men with poor young women, and pimps using social networking sites to lure naive young women into becoming prostitutes (I have no idea why this is in the Business section). I'm hopeful most people are cautious about their online behavior, especially when it comes to dealing with strangers. I've seen some valid arguments in favor of prostitution, but most of them focus on self employed women that can choose their clientele. None of them ever seem to come up with strong arguments from a buyer's position. I can't understand a good reason to pay for sex (which was by far what I found most frustrating about The Sessions as it seemed to completely gloss over this idea). Generally most people willing to pay for sex, likely need some form of therapy to address their inability to express their sexual desires without paying for them, rather than reinforcement that paying for such things is okay. But maybe that's just me?
Meanwhile in China, A minor having premarital Sex is still a crime punishable by 100 lashes. But even here in America you can still be fired over it. Not really giving women a lot of hope if you damn women for becoming pregnant and don't make any effort to promote realistic alternatives. Why aren't the men who had sex with these women being equally punished? Because they can hide it more easily, or just because such an idea is horribly sexist and no one wants to admit it? This article on the amount of teen pregnancies in rural parts of the US presents the idea that many women seem to become pregnant over shame of the idea of getting contraception and further misconceptions about how much responsibility the father will offer to care for children born under such circumstances.
Ultimately all this comes down to a culture that seems to think women's rights are only an issue women need to address. The last article features a discussion of condescending suggestions for women to avoid sexual assault from a Colorado University. Like many institutions there seems to be an assumption that to way to prevent rape is to advocate how "not to get raped," rather than stress the importance of "not raping." I think I mentioned it before, but there's been a fantastic series of ads in Canada telling people not to rape. And the best part about it is that it seems to be working.
Okay, I guess that's nine articles, but only eight of them are from CNN and only seven of them went up over the past two days. Thanks for taking the time to read all of it. Hopefully, all the links work.
-D
SHIRT (on sale for the month of February):
Click the image below or visit the store.
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