Mmm, tastes like feminism! Via sajbrfem @ Flickr.
Sorry, there will be no pictures of Christian Bale in this post. 
Instead, I’m doing a round-up of news items that have relevance for those with feminist goals.
1. April 29 marked Obama’s first 100 days in office, and in his official address, I couldn’t help but note his problematic statement about abortion policy, calling it “not my highest legislative priority”) and stating that it isn’t “simply an issue about women’s freedom.” Mm-hmm. Women’s freedom…who give a shit about that? At least he noted that:
I don’t think women take that position casually. I think that they struggle with these decisions each and every day, and I think they are in a better position to make these decisions ultimately than members of Congress or a President of the United States — in consultation with their families, with their doctors, with their clergy.
I’ll take that, but I’m not going to fawn all over it. You don’t get a cookie for “letting” women make up their own minds about their own bodies.
2. In other news, Kathleen Sebelius was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, completing the administration’s cabinet. Sebelius is one of 4 women in the Obama cabinet, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Three other women hold cabinet-level rankings: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, head of the EPA Lisa P. Jackson, and Chair of the Council on Economic Affairs Christina Rohmer. We don’t have parity yet, but Sebelius will have a lot to say about health care reform that is so desparately needed in the US.
3. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is changing his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat, and will be running in 2010 on the Dem ticket. Specter has served as a Republic since 1980, and there is plenty of speculation about his motivations (a rat leaving a sinking ship, or a man officially detaching from a party that had already left him?). Regardless, if Norm Coleman ever gets the hell out of Al Franken’s way in Minnesota, Specter’s defection will give the Dems 60 seats in the Senate, and if Party Whip Dick Durbin does his job, this may make them filibuster-proof.
4. Lastly, news came out that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will be retiring at the end of the year. Souter was appointed by Bush pere in 1990, but in later years seemed to shift more to the center-left. I for one am crossing my fingers that the Dem-heavy Congress and President Obama will find a female Justice to join the bench, since O’Connor’s retirement in 2005 and Ginsberg’s ongoing struggle with pancreatic cancer may soon leave us without female voices and perspectives in the judiciary. I don’t know who might be in the running, but if we end up with another middlin’ white dude, I’m gonna scream my fool head off.
I’ve been distracted this week looking for work (anyone need a tutor? an ABD professor? a personal chef? Email me!), so let me know in comments if I’ve missed anything.
P.S. Happy May Day to flower lovers, and Happy International Workers’ Day to all you unionized laborers!
P.P.S. Okay, here’s some Christian Bale…
Barack, you know I love you. As presidents go, you are my heart’s delight.
BUT
Abortion rights actually IS simply an issue of woman’s freedom. That doesn’t mean that many other factors don’t come into play–women’s lives and choices are not uncomplicated–but they absolutely have the right to terminate a pregnancy. If they do not, they are not free. It’s that simple.
How weird is it that we don’t celebrate International Worker’s Day? It makes me feel like I live in a scary capitalist regime…oh wait.
to be fair Obama said the Freedom of Choice Act is not his first legislative priority, which I think is fair because I understand it is a pretty flawed bill. He didn’t say it about choice issues in general. That “not just about womens freedom” thing is bullshit though. He is just trying to appease the angry Catholic masses protesting his speech at Notre Dame.
JD, we don’t celebrate International Women’s Day either. Hmm….
I understand Barack Obama the legislator has done right by women, but listening to him speak always makes me nervous. On Wednesday night, he paused after talking about women consulting their doctors and I was like, “don’t say ‘pastor,’ don’t say ‘pastor…’” CLERGY. Great.
I think ultimately he will be good for reproductive rights in this country, but I don’t get the sense he feels strongly about it.
But presidents day, for sure!
Spark, even the most religious women I know don’t collaborate with their fucking clergy before deciding whether to end a pregnancy. It’s so irritating to have to drop all these little rhetorical head nods to pro lifers.
When we live in a world in which a woman’s reproductive capabilities and implicit responsibilities (contraception, fertility, pregnancy) are an inescapable part of her daily life (see aforementioned 43-year-old ass-weasle, etc.), YES a woman’s reproductive freedom IS an issue of a woman’s freedom.
However, if President Obama’s current goal on the choice front is to attempt to “tamp down some of the anger surrounding this issue” I think that acknowledging “families, doctors and clergy” as the other parties that have a place in a decision about abortion was well-placed. I would prefer it to be shouted from the rooftops that it is between a woman and her doctor alone, but you can’t always get what you want.
That being said, fundies are never going to concede that people should make their own choices about ANY topic that they deem “moral” or “having an impact on the community(/won’t someone think of the children?)”… so good luck with that, Mr. President.
Also, hi, Pursuit of Harpyness! This is my first comment here!
Hi Kelsium!
I just can’t get past the fact that this post has nothing to do with the movie Newsies. ARISE AND SEIZE THE DAAAAAAY!!
HistoricUpstart, I got you a present.
Also: Hi, Kelsium! Thanks for coming over to play.
Sorry I’m late, I was letting my rabbi counsel me about my vagina. . . What have I missed?
Bella-
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I can die happy now, thank you.
To be fair, I have known women who have consulted clergy about abortion, but in both cases it was a wanted pregnancy gone wrong, not an unwanted pregnancy. I think they’re very different issues. I can’t imagine talking to my rabbi about my family planning. Or my vagina, bella, but you made me giggle.
I might discuss an abortion with my (awesome feminist female) rabbi, although I suspect I’d do it after the fact. A lot of women–maybe not the ones we all hang out with–have close relationships with their pastors/rabbis/imams, and for many, the clergy takes the role of therapist, for better or for worse.
I also protest the assumption that clergy=misogyny. Sometimes it does, but often it does not. As a religious Reform Jew and niece of a former (female) Methodist minister, I have met a LOT of caring, compassionate pastors/rabbis who absolutely have the best interests of women at heart (and are pro-choice as well). Many of them–particularly in mainline Protestantism and Reform/Conservative Judaism–are women themselves.
Ms. Sharper: Of course! I think the jokes are more sad-funny than ha-ha-funny because there is an important place for religion in people’s lives, and we need more members of clergy who care more about women as individuals and less about our fecundity.
Those pastors/rabbis/imams, etc exist and should be celebrated and their names should be passed around like good hairdressers.
I agree with Kelsium… Obama strikes me as the type who’d at least try to understand the opposition. But I’ve only worked for the guy, so what the hell do I know?