If you find yourself near Tufts University in Medford, MA this Friday, COME HEAR ME SPEAK at 4pm! Admission is free and there’s food afterwards. I’ll be speaking at the 2nd Annual Women’s Center Symposium on “the sex and sexist layers of the wedding cake” and giving a small performance after the event but before the reception. See below for details! If you can’t make it no worries, I’ll be posting the video of it later.
Happy Birthday Elizabeth Cady Stanton. You are 200 years young! Born on November 12, 1815, you were the mother of the suffragist movement and a pioneer for all women’s rights. You’re great but I have to wonder what you spent all your birthday wishes on cuz we’re still fighting for some of the same damn things you were!
It’s important to think about how women in relationships and in marriage are portrayed too! Wives are often pitched as nags and ragged or sexy trophies. Brides are crazy, weight obsessed, vain control freaks. Miss Representation – OFFICIAL MOVIE TRAILER – Sundance Film Festival 2011 – YouTube.
This chart has been circling the Internet. What’s interesting about wedding tradition today is that it is mostly shaped by pop culture and media, whereas back in the day it was influenced mostly by religion. This chart lays out the various verses that relate to marriage, sex and women’s issues. While a lot of these practices are not as commonly practiced, I thought I might address ones that are:
Man + Women (Nuclear Family) bride who could not prove her virginity was stoned to death – this still happens in the middle east and sub-Sahara in what is justified as an honor killing. Honor killings are not limited to stoning but can also include burning, acid burning and other forms of abuse. For example, in Iraq 2007, a 17-year old girl, Du’a Khalil Aswad, was stoned to death in an honor killing because she fell in love with someone outside her religion. She was from a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, and the boy was a Sunni Muslim. Iraqi Security forces stood by and watched as she was dragged into a square and publically flogged until her death. Pools of her blood collected around her body in the middle of the street. Not one person in the crowd tried to save her. The entire event was captured on camera and released on the Internet (Warning: Graphic Violence)
Man + Woman + Woman’s Property – This was called coverture and wasn’t outlawed until 1933.
Man + Woman + Woman + Woman – An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people live a polygamist lifestyle in the US.
Rapist + His Victim – While no one forced a victim to marry their rapist, one parallel issue that could be drawn is how state abortion laws treat pregnant victims of rape. First, states that outlaw abortions outright are leaving little choice for its constituents, along with the states that limit the victim’s freedom to chose the outcome of their pregnancy and have control over their own bodies.
Male Slave + Female Slave – The Department of Justice estimates that more than 250,000 American youth are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Each year an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold, or forced across the world’s borders [2003 U.S. State Department estimate]. Among them are hundreds of thousands of teenage girls, and others as young as 5, who fall victim to the sex trade. in 1999 that more than 200 international matchmaking services operated in the United States, arranging 4,000 to 6,000 marriages annually between American men and foreign women, mostly from the Philippines and former Soviet Union.
While many of us fret over unimportant issues related to our own weddings or believe that our freedom of choice on how to marry is a sign of progress, we must remind ourselves that equality and humanity in marriage is seldom enjoyed in other parts of the world. From the denial of gay marriage to the following issue of child bride, we must remember that many existing forms of marriage violate basic human rights. It is up to us who are privileged enough to enjoy healthier forms of marriage to not turn our backs on those who still need help.
Before you start getting all shy and reserved, this is not about a nudist colony wedding. A “naked marriage” is a new Chinese term to describe newlyweds who forego all the consumerist, expensive tradition of a typical Chinese wedding. Do you think you can strip away all the wedding traditions that require you buy a dress, rings, a lavish ceremony and just marry on your merits of love?
On August 18th, women celebrated the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920 stating that is is unlawful for any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. Women have been enjoying the right to vote for 91 years. And today, women are celebrating Women’s Equality Day, which honors not only the 1920 amendment, but also “calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.” But don’t pop that champagne just yet, we haven’t accomplished full equality yet.
An interesting turn by a conservative leader, Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, is proposing a law that would give unmarried partners many rights now enjoyed only by married couples. Singlism is a new concept which addresses concerns that laws, employers, etc. discriminate against those who are not married by providing special benefits to those that are. If Chile’s president manages to pass this type of legislation is gives singles and unmarried partners important rights that are currently being unmet. Unfortunately though, Pinera is still against gay marriage, meaning this law would then only hinder and delay it ever being approved.
While everyone is focused on gay marriage rights these days, we forget that the institution of marriage still has a lot of it’s old broken and quirky issues. While the right for interracial couples to marry passed in the 1967 in the case of Loving vs. Virginia (the last state to remove its ban on interracial marriage was South Carolina in 1998).
It seems the relationship battle for black women is still on going. In a WSJ article had an eye-opening account of the black women’s dating prospects,
Apparently Michele Bachmann, who is attending an anti-gay marriage campaign with National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and is reported to be running Christian counseling centers run with her husband Marcus Bachmann where people practice so-called “pray away the gay” therapy, gets all tight-lipped with less conservative news sources about gay marriage. To them, she describes the issue as “frivolous,” but to eager ears on her side, she’s willing to speak her mind. Seems Ms. Bachmann is only willing to speak with those who will agree with her, sounds like great conflict resolution and diplomatic skills for a potential future leader. She’s also pretty quick to quote constitutional amendments and her belief for freedom, but in her book those freedoms don’t seem to apply to everybody. Seems not everyone is invited to her tea partay.
Whether or not you’re a feminist, you should know the name “Gloria Steinem.” Even if you are a woman and think you don’t agree with feminist politics, your respect is still needed. Feminists, like Steinem, fought for the rights for you have to disagree with them. That thanks, however, is often never said.
HBO is airing a documentary on the Ms. magazine founder, Gloria Steinem: In Her Own Words, that explores her early years to her ones as the face of feminism. It airs August 15th.
It seems Facebook is causing a stir amongst Indonesia’s youth
, by facilitating liasons between very young users, which result in unplanned pregnancies and therefore marriages. Officials from the Gunung Kidul region are claiming the increase in teenage pregnancies align with Facebook’s inception in the country. Interestingly, 66% of divorces caused by social networking, specifically blame Facebook too.
“Facebook is easy access, even in rural areas, and leads to teenage girls getting pregnant outside of marriage,” Gunung Kidul Religious Court junior legal secretary Siti Haryanti told The Jakarta Post.
via Facebook Blamed For Underage Marriage And Teen Pregnancies.
Since the 1950’s studies show that childless couples are more likely to divorce then families with children; and the more children decreases the chance of divorce. It seems that the emerging books on this topic, scrutinize over the childless couples a little bit more unfairly then those with kids – because they don’t have kids how could they possibly be as fulfilled compared to those who have them? Creating the notion that kids and a classic family and white picket fence is still the preferred cultural push. But for those who don’t want kids the article had this little ray of hope to share…
Everyone’s got an opinion on how us women should treat our uteruses. With a recent push by the fed to make insurers to cover birth control, the most widely used prescription drug by women 18 -44, most women are pretty happy. Catholic institutions and other conservative religious groups that provide health insurance, however, are not. They are looking for religious exemption, except the concern is that this would exclude female non-followers who work or access benefits under these institutions. An umbrella approach to religious exemption doesn’t work for the fed and Department of Health & Human Services who want to make sure all women get the fair services they need and want, especially since some of the free services are not just pregnancy prevention medication. For now though, it’s a step in the right direction and further away from the legacy Comstock laws women have been plagued by for over a century.
For More: Feds Order Insurers To Cover Birth Control Free Of Charge To Women : Shots – Health Blog : NPR.
Despite the recent repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” gay service members still face considerable discrimination. While other states are providing equal marriage benefits to gay couples as we speak, the US military and Pentagon will maintain its stance on gay marriage based on the “1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage for federal program purposes as a legal union between a man and woman” Meaning legal gay marriages will not and can not access the same rights as straight married couples through the Defense Department such as subsidized costs of medical care, travel, housing and other living expenses.
A recent study revealing that skinny wives, or wives with a lower BMI (Body Mass Index: a person’s height to weight ratio) enjoy happier marriages. Funny thing is there’s an increase in women who marry shorter men… So before you start handing your bowl of ice cream over to hubby, the University of Tennessee study only used a sample group of 169 married couples under 35, which is not much of a study to make serious conclusions. But thanks for putting it out anyway, your inadequate findings should really help wives feel better about their body image and state of their marriage.
To read more: Thin wife key to happy marriage! – Times Of India.
A website called SeekingArrangements is causing a huge stir because it hooks up college kids, down on their luck economically and professionally and in desperate need of some student loan assistance, with wealthy sugar daddies. Since the site acts merely as a facilitator and connection to these two people and because there is no talk or money negotiation on the site (that is an arrangement left to the couple once they meet) the site is walking a barely legal fine line.
New Jersey is D.T.A.G.M.! In Jersey speak that’s “Down To Approve Gay Marriage.” In a recent poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, found 47% of voters wanted to legalize marriage between same-sex partners, while 42% wanted to keep it illegal. It’s pretty great that Jersey’s neighbor to the north, New York, just approved gay marriage andJersey’s neighbor to the south is also jumping on board so that Jersey should feel the squeeze to do the same.
Yes, Virginia [Woolf] dowries so still exist! The writer who insisted women must have their own income would be upset about this law decision and the culture leading up to it in all capacities. Our Canadian neighbor’s B.C. Supreme Court turned down a petition for payment of a dowry under a marriage contract authorized in a sharia court of Amman, Jordan. Seems that the dowry and sharia were contracted by the bride’s uncle, leaving her to live in poverty after her divorce.
(CNSNews.com) – Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), a Catholic, said he supports gay marriage and added that the
recent bill passed in New York showed that the government could redefine marriage while still protecting religious liberty. Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown decided to sponsor same sex marriage legislation in the 2012 legislative session.
Tired of overnight bags? Arguing with your partner that you need a drawer for your toothbrush or tampons? Chances are if your relationship is somewhere between dating and cohabiting you’re doing all these things. If the monotony of schlepping your crap from work to your boy/girlfriend’s house is getting old or if you can’t stand the thought that you’re wasting a lot of money on rent for a place you in never sleep in, don’t worry academia nerds have created a name for spending more time at someone else’s apartment than your own, you’re having a “Stayover Relationship” So next time you’re irritated about doing the adult walk of shame, feel better, there’s a better name for it now!
To read more of the Reuters article, click on link – Young adult dating trend slows road to marriage | Reuters.