Feminist Friday: Women win the Nobel Peace Prize, Sarah Palin steps aside, sex workers have feelings, too

As you know, we cover a lot of stuff here on AfterEllen.com, but even with Morning Brew and Afternoon Delight and all of our blog posts and TV recaps and interviews, we can’t cover everything. So we thought we’d try a new thing where we run down some of the top stories in feminism from the week.

Here are the stories we think you’ll be talking about over the weekend:

 

Three women win the Nobel Peace Prize – Most Nobel Peace Prize winners of the last 100 years have been men, but this year, three women are being celebrated for their contributions to humanity: “President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia – the first woman to be elected president in modern Africa – her compatriot, the peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakul Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner.” They are the first women to be recognized as Nobel Peace Prize winners since 2004.

Sarah Palin isn’t running for president, after all – After years of hemming and hawing about whether or not she would seek a White House bid in 2012, Sarah Palin has decided to sit this one out. It’s a really smart choice for her, actually: She’ll make a bazillion more dollars a year as a celebrity political commentator, and she won’t be tasked with that pesky thing called “governing” that citizens seem to want their leaders to do.

Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant! is a NYT #1 Bestseller – It’s a tough world out there for female comic creators, but Kate Beaton from the wildly popular literary romp of a comic strip “Hark! A Vagrant” topped the New York Times hardcover list this week with her new book. It is a well-deserved victory for a whip-smart, super-talented lady.

 

Bitch magazine examines “The H-Word” – This week, Bitch rolled out a new blog series that is “dedicated to evaluating, challenging, and re-presenting sex worker portrayals in the media from a feminist, pro-sex worker (though not necessarily pro-sex work) stance.” So far, they’ve published two columns: an introduction to the topic, and a look at Rachel Lloyd‘s quest to stop Joan Rivers‘ “Starlet or Streetwalker” segment on her show, Fashion Police. It’s a really interesting subject written from a really interesting perspective.

Posters for Girls – I’ve been redecorating my office, and this week I was charmed into buying these posters from Switcheroo. It’s like the opposite of decorating a room in Disney Princess garb.

 

The National Organization for Women thrashes Scott Brown – Democratic senate candidate Elizabeth Warren made a dig at Republican incumbent Scott Brown earlier this week, saying she didn’t have to take her clothes off to pay for college. (Brown posed as a Cosmo centerfold in his 20s.) When asked about her comment on a radio show, Brown laughed and said, “Thank God [she didn’t take off her clothes]!” Women’s rights groups were livid after the comment. NOW president Terry O’Neill told Politico:

This is the kind of sexist misogynistic attack that we have very sadly come to expect from politicians whenever there is a strong woman who is capable and really dedicated to the betterment of all the people. And I really think that the biggest apology he owes is not to Elizabeth Warren – she is strong, trust me, she can take it – he owes an apology to the women of Massachusetts.”

The ladies of Parks and Recreation participate in a serious candy taste test – Now, kick off your weekend with a hilarious video from one of the female-friendliest shows on TV, Parks and Recreation: