This Week in Ladybits
TRAP laws and probes are still all the Republican rage. As always Rachel Maddow and the good folks over at the MaddowBlog are on the case.
On Wednesday night, Rachel covered TRAP (targeted regulation of abortion providers) laws designed to make a legal right illegal in certain states.
Thursday night, The Rachel Maddow Show covered Indiana Republicans’ attempt to make women who want abortions to get not one but two medically unnecessary ultrasounds.
Is there any context in which requiring a woman to get a medically unnecessary ultrasound – especially after an abortion – is anything other than punitive rape? It seems pretty transparent to me: Think you have control your own reproductive organs? We’ll prove to you that you don’t.
The TRAP laws and rapey ultrasound laws make me think that we need to start funding “shopping excursion” bus tours that start in red states and happen to end up near clinics in blue states.
Hey, and some actual (potential) good ladybits news! Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Access to Birth Control Act – legislation that would stop the current nonsense of pharmacists deciding that birth control, a legal product, is too immoral to dispense and thus refusing to do so. If you’ve ever lived in a rural area, you know that “just go to another pharmacy” isn’t necessarily an easy proposition. But even if you live in a densely pharmacied city and have infinite lunch hours, screw those pharmacists for deciding that their religious beliefs trump a woman’s health care decisions.
Maloney and Lautenberg have your back. And your bits.
This Week in Thinky
The Mary Sue had an interesting article on a (sadly unsurprising) academic study on how daring to be female while gaming leads to more harassment.
Annika Penelope wrote about 10 things she wished she had known before her transition.
16-year-old Brit Lauren Marbe scored a whopping 161 on a MENSA test, which, assuming you put any faith in MENSA tests, puts her on a par with some of history’s greatest geniuses. The Frisky was just as interested by the fact that people can’t seem to deal with the idea of a pretty blond teenage girl being a genius.
The Daily Mail ran some amazing photos of World War II women on the job. (h/t to Jezebel)
Forbes celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Feminine Mystique with some thinkiness.
This Week in Progress
Yesterday Jennifer Vanasco broke the news that, in response to last week’s huge LGBT brouhaha, the highly influential AP Style Guide has issued an entry indicating that “husband” and “wife” should be used regardless of sexual orientation.
When bigots complained and threatened to cancel subscriptions over coverage of a heartwarming lesbian wedding, Jim Cegielski, the owner of Mississippi’s Laurel Leader-Call, wrote a kickass editorial defending the newspaper’s right to report and telling hypocrites where they could put their antigay hysteria. (When you follow that link, flip to page 5 and enjoy the paper-turning sound as you do so.) It’s not so much a defense of The Gay as it is a defense of being reasonable, but it’s still very much worth including. And it shows how you can be a conservative and not have to be a total creepwad.
This Week in Ugh
Former Senator Pete Domenici has a secret son that he had with a fellow senator’s daughter. You will never, ever guess who voted to impeach President Clinton and supported the Defense of Marriage Act and gay marriage bans.
Former First Lady Laura Bush supports (or supported?) gay marriage, but doesn’t want a clip of her saying that to be used in an ad.
Bob Beckel of Fox’s The Five doesn’t think rape happens on college campuses. To their credit, his co-hosts were aghast. He’s supposed to be a “liberal” commentator, on there, by the way. (Via Buzzfeed)
Later in the week, Beckel said that he did, in fact understand that date rape is still rape (though he doesn’t seem to in that clip), but doesn’t seem to have acknowledged the huge problem of sexual assault on college campuses.
This Week in Awesome
Zora Ball is 7 years old. She’s also a mobile app programmer.
Danica Patrick became the first woman to win the Daytona 500 Pole on Sunday. Congratulations, Danica! Now maybe think about becoming a woman who stops associating with the vile sexists at that ripoff domain hosting company.
Oh, my goodness gracious. Watching Senator Elizabeth Warren kick some bank examiner butt at her first – HER FIRST – Senate Banking Committee hearing is the feel-good movie of the winter. I still can’t decide on my favorite part. What’s yours?
Have a great weekend. Get out there and ask a few pointed questions of your own.
