This Week in Ladybits Oh, Shesus, Wendy Davis, what are you doing? I want more progressive politicians who hold real progressive views without being weird and equivocal and a little bit ashamed of them. Even if it sometimes bothers people. Please?
Speaking of which, why aren’t TED speakers allowed to talk about abortion?
And a much-needed entry in the win column for sanity. The Virginia Senate has voted to repeal its cruel, punitive ultrasound law. Getting the repeal past the House of Delegates may be a trickier one. Unless, you know, a bunch of women (and men, and people of other genders) firmly and unashamedly speak their minds about it.
This Week in Thinky The Washington Post featured this interesting piece on same-sex marriage, using Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner ‘s relationship as a touchstone. (Thanks for the tip, Mom.)
Molly Knefel wrote about growing up gender non-conforming for Toast.
Minimum wage, women, and the fight for Senator Mitch McConnell‘s seat.
One of the largest studies ever done on mammography does not show any value in screening mammograms over manual breast exams-and seems to show that women who have them may be more likely to have unnecessary procedures. (The manual breast exams, it should be noted, were conducted by trained health professionals; they weren’t just home exams.)
Getty Images and Sheryl Sandburg are working to make better stock images of women. (Sorry if you enjoy laughing alone with salad.) (Via Adweek)
Lauren Chief Elk takes issue with the way events like Eve Ensler’s V-Day can steamroll the experiences and issues of Indigenous women.
Jennifer Aniston and Gloria Steinem chatted at the first annual Makers’ Conference and decided they are both “in deep shit.”
And Pussy Riot would like you to know that Nadia and Masha of Pussy Riot are no longer a part of Pussy Riot.
This Week in Ugh Can we please stop pretending that it is clever or bold or in any way awesome to cast convicted rapist Mike Tyson? Let’s give a couple of trained, non-rapist actors the work, OK? Thanks.
Shesus, ladies, when you invent a time machine, you’re supposed to go back in time and kill Hitler, not bring someone forward to write this.
Won’t anyone out there be bold enough to publicly defend bigotry yet so cowardly as to pretend they’re not? Yup. Way to be craven hateballs, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT).
Proud to work with @SenMikeLee to safeguard the ability of states to preserve traditional marriage for residents: http://t.co/F6OIHAQBvC
– Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) February 13, 2014
Goldman Sachs was a major sponsor of Harvard’s Women Engineers Code event. What do ladies who are serious about programming need? Mirrors and nail files, duh.
This dickknuckle from The Wall Street Journal said that sexual assault involving alcohol is just like a car crash involving two drunk drivers, so who can say who’s at fault? Yes, of course he is wrong in about 15 different ways. Criminy.
The Kansas legislature has moved a bill forward that would allow businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples. Normally I disapprove of making out in restaurants, clothing stores, and auto-body shops, but I believe I can make a statewide exception. Seriously: This law is monstrous.
Oh, and shut the fuck up, Mattel. We’re busy.
Fun game: Count the moments of horrifying unintentional creepiness in what Sports Illustrated clearly thinks is an innocently hilarious clip.
This Week in Awesome
Check out these photos of women in motorbike gangs in Morocco. (h/t to The Guardian) New Yorkers can see the collection at the Taymour Grahne Gallery through March 7.
Photo by Hassan Hajjaj/Image courtesy of the Taymour Grahne GalleryWill Ferrell, Anchorman director Adam McKay and writer-producer Chris Henchy have formed a production company with an emphasis on fostering female comedic voices. Hell. Yes.
Young animator, activist, and businesswoman Maya Penn will make you feel good about where the world is headed. (Via The Mary Sue)
O hai, Sif. Now that’s armor. The Mary Sue had a first look at Jaime Alexander on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The once-again-great (or at least getting there) Commonwealth of Virginia had its same-sex marriage ban struck down. The downstriking is stayed pending appeal, but so what? That just gives us time to get Former Governor Bob McDonnell time to plan us one of his famous chicken dinners.
Meetup for ladies who want to marry other ladies but are as yet uncommitted in front of Bob’s house as soon as the snow melts, OK?
Even a terrible corporate marketing entity can lead the way on doing a good thing every now and then. Welcome to the 58 genders of Facebook. Being able to say who you are without cramming yourself into someone else’s box can be a really big deal. Nice going.
And, wow, it looks like Ms. Marvel #1 isn’t just well-intentioned, it’s really, really good. I haven’t made it to my local comics shop yet – anyone out there read it?Have a great weekend. Get out there and do whatever the hell makes you happy.
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