News.com.au Want To Show You What They Think A Late-Term Abortion Looks Like

My initial instinct was to title this piece “WHAT THE F-CK, NEWS.COM.AU”, because for the first five minutes after reading the piece, my level of rage meant I found it hard to come up with anything more eloquent than that. However, instead I would like their “work” to speak for itself.

They have run a piece from the Herald Sun (who had better hope this little bit of photo editing only appeared online) today about a “legal loophole” that means women could theoretically still receive the baby bonus if they had a late-term abortion. More on that in a tic, but let’s just marvel at the gobsmacking insensitivity and idiocy of the news.com.au photo team, shall we?

No explanation is given for the choice of the photo, which pictures a preserved foetus in, I assume, an anatomical museum, being gazed at by a young-ish child.

Just a warning, you may find the image disturbing.

I’m A DIY Cupcake Feminist

I quite enjoyed this article in The Guardian recently by Viv Groskop. It’s about the apparent ‘resurgence’ of feminine pastimes such as baking, knitting and sewing. The article details the ‘rise’ in retro and ’50s kitsch and pastimes traditionally enjoyed by stay at home mums such as tea parties, baking cakes and having a liking for tablecloths and aprons and debates whether this is a throw back to pinny imprisoned women of years past or an example of women spending time together engaging in ‘feminine’ crafts because they want to. I have divided opinions on this.

I should state my personal bias up front. I have always been crap at sports and elected to participate in all things crafty from an early age as a sanctuary from physical exertion. I run my own craft business and I run workshops on crafting. I’m in the middle of organizing a sewing bee making pads for women in Africa. But onto the article…

Firstly, the article offers numerous examples of ’subversive’ crafting such as a cupcake drop, burlesque and naked afternoon teas and the like. Is there anything that can’t be made sexy? Sexing craft up doesn’t necessarily make it any more subversive an activity if the focus is still on the fetishised, sexualised women. But is it any better if the crafty burlesque is for a female audience? Is the wearer of those DIY nipple tassles a crafty crusader or does her presence serve to offer women yet another opportunity to compare their body to other women’s and find their sadly inadequate? But fear not readers, there’s a whole spectrum of subversive and radical crafts out there that you could do knitted or otherwise really (here’s a pattern for a knitted vagina if you feel the urge and you might enjoy this site whilst waiting for the GST on tampons to lift.

Secondly, there the issue of context as the author offers the typical contrast between second and third wave feminists. Is baking such great fun if you have to do all the cooking?.

According to a 2008 study by the [UK]Institute for Social and Economic Research, for instance, men do four to five hours of housework a week, compared with 12 hours for married women and live-in partners (single women do seven hours a week). And when it comes to cooking and washing-up, 2005 figures from the Office of National Statistics show that women spend double the amount of time in the kitchen that men do.

I can’t say this is my experience. My feminine crafting hardly extends to an immaculate house of my own efforts. Actually, my partner kindly vacuums up my dropped threads from the carpet and makes me cups of tea whilst I’m crafting. But I do agree that some crafts such as knitting and cross stitch can take a long time. I think that in some respects traditional female crafts are the luxury of middle class women who are meaningfully employed. With time to go and trawl the charity shops for their ‘reusable’ materials of course. Any woman who’s checked out the prices of Japanese or retro fabrics knows that it isn’t a cheap hobbby.

I would have liked the article to go a bit further into the ethical considerations of crafting. Is DIY baking and crafting still a valiant attempt to have a social conscience? Is it better to buy handmade if it is made from fabric woven in sweat shop factories? Are my labours as a crafter any more valued since I don’t have to sew to survive? (Perhaps not, judging by the masses of painstakingly cross stitched dollies residing in charity shops all over Australia).

I agree with Jazz D Holly statement that craft is about

”a chance to carve out their own space away from men, a place where they can gather to celebrate and enjoy traditionally female crafts”.

It can also be a good time to talk about your vaginas and plans for anti-beauty burlesque.

Yes, Sarah Haskins Is Still A Goddess

Some Mondays just don’t seem to be able to get started – and then you remember, Sarah Haskins has a new Target: Women vid online! About chick flicks!

Is there nothing this woman can’t expertly spear? I’m going to send her a fan letter suggesting we be best friends.

(By the way, Sarah, nice haircut! In a non-stalky way.)

Women We Love: Christina Applegate

Breast cancer is one of those illnesses that strikes fear into my heart. Earlier this year I had a breast cancer scare that amounted to nothing; but still, my brush with ultrasounds and mammograms had me pretty damn worried. I’d be shitscared if I actually had to face down death, and lose one of the most socially and psychologically potent symbols of my femininity.

Hearing about famous women’s public breast cancer battles tends to amplify this fear we have – Crikey had an interesting piece about how the rush to cancer-screening programs, particularly among younger women, might even be counterproductive. Perhaps fear is why we often tend to read about famous breast cancer sufferers as “brave” or “courageous”. We want our boobie-cancer patients to seem unafraid, almost to reassure ourselves. But this talk of “bravery” always seems a little patronising to the cancer patient herself.

This is why I love actor Christina Applegate’s honest, no-nonsense approach to her recent diagnosis with breast cancer, and her subsequent decision to remove both her breasts – her exquisite breasts! She recently spoke about her double mastectomy in an interview on Good Morning America:

Update On Victorian Abortion Law Reform

The Abortion Reform Bill looks set to take the safer approach in what the Age reported as an overwhelming push for the “compromise” bill in Victorian State Parliament yesterday, most notably by former Victorian Premier, and veteran campaigner for Abortion Law Reform, Joan Kirner.

The “compromise” bill, states that Victorian women will be able to have an abortion free from prosecution up until the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. However what happens afterward remains murky. After 24 weeks there still exists the opportunity for women to be treated like criminals, their judgement questioned by health professionals, who will undoubtedly be hostile to performing a late-term abortion.

According to today’s Age, under the bill:

Late-term abortions would be allowed only if at least two doctors believe it is appropriate on medical grounds and with regard to “the woman’s current and future psychologial and social circumstances”

The point I’m trying to make is that women should never be considered criminals for making what is, and remains for many, a heartbreaking and life changing choice. 

For women who do choose to abort after 24 weeks, it will be a decision made under undoubtedly extreme emotional terms (very, very few women who had endured pregnancy for this long would not choose to do so otherwise).

These women should not be made to fear retribution or prosecution from moral or medical authorities.

Until women have the full right to choose, the bill will remain an indicator of “criminal” and “innocent.”

It suggests that while thankfully most women who make the choice to have an abortion are now “innocent”, women who make the choice late-term are once again rendered “criminal” and “immoral.”

For more info on the proposed Abortion Law Reform and info on how to further lobby Victorian State Government politicians visit the fabulous Pro-Choice site, prochoicevic.org.au.

The Wonderful Women & Men Of UNIFEM

If you haven’t already heard of it, UNIFEM is the women’s fund of the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality. UNIFEM Australia organises lots of interesting events I’d recommend, some highlights in the near future are:

• Dr Jean D’Cunha, Regional Director UNIFEM East & South-East Asia will deliver a talk on ‘Empowering Women in East & South-East Asia’ this month in Canberra on the 25th, Melbourne on the 26th and Sydney on the 27th.
• Alison Whitelaw, Chair of Timor Leste Visions Inc. will talk about supporting communities in Timor Leste on the 26th of August at the University of Western Australia.
• The Leadership Voice Forum in Melbourne on the 3rd of September will bring women together to create business and community connections.
• The UNIFEM Spring Walks fundraising event. Walks are held throughout Australia from the 21st of September (International Peace Day) to the 10th of October (Human Rights Day) in recognition of the fact that most women in developing countries walk more than 5kms each day to collect water and firewood. The funds raised go towards supporting the UNIFEM Peace Scholarship Program, which brings women from developing countries to Australia to study. You can organise your own walk or join someone else’s.

For more information on these events and UNIFEM Australia (including how to join) go to: www.unifem.org.au

Beach-Fest: Volleyball’s Uniform Disparity Strikes Again

Even the most casual viewer of the past few Olympics would likely have noticed the vast difference between men’s and women’s uniforms at the Games, and nowhere is this more apparent than on the beach volleyball field. The women wear tiny bikini-esque get-ups while the men dress in roomy Eddie Vedder-esque “big shorts” and a basketball singlet. If it’s so hot and sweaty on the beach (which is traditionally the excuse given for the ladies’ micro uniforms), how on earth can the blokes stand the heat?

Here are some of Sunday Mail blogger Clementine Ford’s thoughts on the topic:

[L]et’s not be fooled here. The sheer skimpiness of the bottoms themselves has nothing to do with player comfort. If it did, men would be required to wear similar outfits. Clearly, the swathes of material dudes practically bathe in while out on the court are doing nothing to hinder performance.

The bikini uniform is a marketing strategy that revolves around T & A. It’s what’s helped propel BV to the number 3 of most watched Olympics sports. Let’s ignore for a moment the clear violation of everything scientists have taught us about skin cancer. For better or worse, beach volleyball is an elite sport with hard working athletes who train tirelessly to be the best in the world. It is not (or should not be) a glorified skin fest whose only purpose is to titillate a drooling (mostly male) public.

Disappointingly – and yet, somewhat unsurprisingly – the blog was then flooded with comments of the “you’re just jealous” variety (she details some of the worst over at her non-work blog) as stunningly original critics (and, presumably, beach volleyball fans) accused Ford of being “jealous” of the players.

But when even Today Tonight is asking what’s up with the teeny bikinis, surely something’s got to give?

Today In ‘Sweeping Generalisations Digest’: Australian Women Are “Too Timid” At Work!

Hey ladies, wondering why you just can’t get ahead in the workforce? Perhaps it’s because you keep lying down and letting yourself get walked all over? That’s the word from the latest “study” of questionable value, this time from – ahem – “US researcher Sharon Goodson”, who reckons Australian women are “too timid” in the office:

U.S. researcher Shannon Goodson says Australia’s professional women are not earning what they are worth because they “struggle with stage fright and sensitivities about appearing too forward, pushy or intrusive.”

[...]

Ms Goodson was surprised by the results, given the stereotype of the meek English woman and the brash, outspoken Aussie.

“They’re not comfortable with conflict,” she said of Australian women.

Right, so she actually thought that stereotypes were accurate reflections of her sample groups before she began the study? Gee, off to a flying start.

My experience in the offices of Australia is fairly limited given I’ve worked from home for the past four years, but in the office I did work in, the women were amongst the most outspoken members of the team. I can’t help but feel that hollow studies like this are just another way to perpetuate outdated ideas about the way women work.

I’d be interested to hear from those who do the 9-to-5. Do you think this research is accurate?

Greens MP Tells Of Abortion As Victorian State Govt Prepares Decriminalisation Bill

On the day that the State Government of Victoria is likely to introduce a bill to decriminalise abortion in this state – yes, it’s still in the Crimes Act – Victorian Greens MP Colleen Hartland has spoken out about her own experience of abortion, when she fell pregnant aged 22:

“The timing was just completely wrong,” Ms Hartland says now, almost 30 years later.

Raised a Catholic, she could never tell her family. She confided in a couple of people, stored the memory away and for many years did not speak of it again.

[...]

For several months she thought about whether she wanted to tell her story. In the end, she decided it might help shatter the taboo that remains. And she is opposed to any move to restrict access to late abortions that take place after 24 weeks, the model the Government is tipped to go for.

“Leaving it in the criminal code means that somehow when you do this it’s wrong … and I think these things should be out in the open and people should not be judged,” she says.

Ms Hartland goes on to explain that, having been raised in a poor family, she knew that there was no way she and her partner – who was 24 and working in a factory; Hartland was working as a cleaner – could support and raise a child.

I think it’s great that Ms Hartland has spoken out about this, as it demonstrates that abortion is not something taken lightly by women and their partners, and that, well, it can “happen” to anyone – even respectable politicians.

There are still so many people who see abortion as “emergency contraception”, or as something that is undertaken willy nilly by irresponsible girls who have gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle. Too few people realise that, as emotive as the idea of falling pregnant can be, a child is not necessarily a precious gift – what’s more irresponsible, terminating a pregnancy, or having a baby when you know you can’t afford to care for it (either physically, emotionally or financially – or all three)?

So Where Can I Bid On A Date With A Hot Dude?

A short “watercooler” piece to go with your coffee, courtesy of Miss Universe Australia Laura Dundovic’s announcement at the end of last week that she’s auctioning a date with herself (for charity, of course). Here’s the 411:

“It’s a bit exciting to be auctioned off as a date but it’s been three years since I last went on one, so I have high expectations and am expecting to get swept off my feet,” Dundovic said.

I realise there has been some coverage of everyday people putting themselves on eBay that includes men (whether it’s the WA man who sold his life, or the bunch of dudes who promised a wicked night out), inevitably it seems that celebrity/charity auctions are “selling” women (just recently I count quality time with Hayden Paniettiere, Scarlett Johansson and Miley Cyrus as having gone not-so-cheap).

I could just be being oversensitive but does anyone else find it mildly irksome that these sorts of stunts always find people putting a price on female celebs? Why is it always women who are auctioned off for charity?