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Feminist Friday: Guess What’s off the Menu in Virginia

This Week in Ladybits

Both houses of the Kansas legislature may be voting today on a monster anti-abortion bill that defines life as beginning “at fertilization.” Members of the Kansas GOP have already laughed down exemptions for little things like rape and incest.

Hey, Rachel Maddow. Anything else going on with Kansas and/or ladybits? As a matter of fact, yes. The late Dr. George Tiller‘s Clinic is reopening.

…And there are some terrifying people who think it’s just ducky to use deadly means to try to stop others from exercising their Constitutional rights or to perform a legal service.

Feministing knocked it out of the park with this piece on how the principle of personhood is criminalizing pregnancy.

Ohio’s attorney general still does not care for science or want ladies to get birth control. Sigh. You know what? We’ve played the high road on this one long enough. If anti-birth control loons get to just make up the idea that birth control causes abortions, which, I must stress, all available science says it does not, and still be taken seriously as political entities, then we get to make up random bullsnot to mess with their lives too. From now on, I am a firm religious believer that Viagra and Cialis and all other boner pills cause angels to explode. TINY LITTLE ANGELS. The very cutest one. Little blue pill equals little blue kaboom and they are GONE. Can I start a White House petition about this?

Wait, I can? OK, I did it. I started a White House petition about this. Please sign. As long as dingleberries keep trying to prevent women from getting birth control, believe along with me that all boner-sproinging meds cause tiny angels to explode.

And finally, for some good news about ladybits, the state of Washington may actually require insurance companies to cover abortion services. What’s that about the monolithic culture in the United States again?

This Week in Manbits

Jon Hamm is, understandably, tired of people talking about his trouser chimes in public. It is an entirely reasonable point of view. Alyssa Rosenberg in Slate’s XX, however, points out that Hamm is upset about being treated in a way that is routine and expected for actresses. Is he really bringing that kind of attention on himself? Aren’t members of the media just being modern and fun when they crow about how we saw his junk, even when it wasn’t in the context of filming a scene that was intended to be sexy?

This Week in 1953

Virginia Attorney General (and probable candidate for Governor) Ken Cuccinelli is trying, ironically, to use a back door to start enforcing the state’s unconstitutional sodomy laws again. Just a reminder to any straight folks reading: Cuccinelli sure does not care for The Gay, but the law he’s after can apply to the sexytimes of couples of any gender, and “sodomy” in this case includes oral sex, which is normally everyone’s pal. (Except for Ken, apparently.) So before you cuddle up for the consenting adult act of your choice, be sure to take a moment to imagine Ken Cuccinelli between you. Especially if you’re a dude, just so that Cuccinelli knows that you are. He’ll know. Somehow, he’ll know.

Meanwhile, a bill has been introduced in North Carolina that would impose a two-year waiting period on divorce and heighten the legal requirements for being granted one, including taking classes. Whoopsie! Looks like the Traditional Family police are coming for married folks too.

And what is it with these dizzy dames, huh? Did you know that in the middle of the cooking and the child-rearing, they can also design automatic propulsion systems that keep communications satellites in orbit? What minxes! The New York Times led its obituary of rocket scientist —— as in actual rocket scientist on whose technological innovations we still depend — Yvonne Brill‘s obituary with a line about her mean beef Stroganoff and awesome wife-and-mothering. All of those, I wish to stress, are really cool things to be good at, but maybe not your lead in an obituary of a scientist of such importance? Maybe more in the adding-some-color-to-a-great-person’s-life part on the back end? The Times changed the offending opener, but, as Amy Davidson pointed out in The New Yorker, the thinking and phrasing of the amended piece was hardly ideal. While we’re talking about how to write a scientist obit, Jennie Dusheck wrote one for a man who conceived of relativity and made great chili.

This Week in Thinky

Mathilda Gregory at The Guardian took a look at the need for more female writers on Doctor Who.

LGBT activists are concerned that a new Kansas bill could allow the quarantining of people who are HIV-positive. Kansas lawmakers dispute the interpretation. What the hell, Kansas?

Feministe featured a guest post by Aoife O’Riordan on complaints about LBGTQAlphabet soup.

And The Mary Sue featured some female comic book costumes redesigned to show less skin. How do you feel about these? Hit the comments and lay your thoughts bare.

This Week in Ugh

Tyler Perry’s Temptation apparently should be called Tyler Perry’s Lack of Consent. Descriptions of the film’s plot and “moral” message are disturbing.

Rick Ross included a lyric about drugging and raping a woman on Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O” and then issued a non-apology indicating that Ross, a grown adult human (and Reebok spokesman) does not know that drugging a woman and raping her still counts, amazingly enough, as raping her. Ross issued a second apology attempt on Thursday.

Ross seems to have a lot in common with economics professor Steven Landsburg, who wants to know what the big deal is with rape as long as the victim is passed out and isn’t impregnated or infected. Landsburg seems to be kind of bad at these little thought experiments.

And former Australian Vogue editor Kristie Clements says that models are still eating tissues to keep the hunger pangs away while maintaining their industry-required unhealthy weights.

This Week in Good

Here’s a clip of Yeardley Smith, the voice of one of everyone’s favorite feminists, Lisa Simpson. Today, Yeardley takes us into the writers’ room to pitch material!

Eeee, the smart, smart Karen Finney is going to have a new weekend afternoon show on MSNBC. (On a grody note, some goobers decided, upon that announcement, that they should helpfully define Ms. Finney’s race for her. Ugh.) Goobers aside, I suspect imminent show goodness. This is going to affect my popcorn budget.

Nice going, Uruguay — marriage equality looks set to become law.

Holy biscuits. A new edition of Mark Twain‘s subversive Advice to Little Girls is out this week.

Feministing gave the duh to New York magazine’s “Can an Asian woman be taken seriously in rap?” question and in the process introduced me to Awkwafina. Just in case you haven’t seen it — and you need to — here is “My Vag.” Good luck not quoting it to your friends all weekend.

To end on a much more dignified note, check out this incredible picture of an equestrian of 1891 from the Black History Album tumblr. (Hat tip to the always wonderful Hark! A Vagrant!)

Have a great weekend. Get out there and set your own style.

And, for real: Sign my White House petition.

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