Look Who’s Talking (About Women) Now!

Here at Feminist Philosophers, we love Margaret and Helen, two righteous old ladies who are continually tearing strips off anti-woman asshats. Today, they take John Boehner to task for invoking sex-selective abortion, and pretending to care about women. Writes Helen, “The Republican party caring about women?  Margaret, that dog just don’t hunt.”

Excerpt:

A sex-selective abortion is just the symptom.  The actual problem is a sex-selective society where men like Boehner and other Republican leaders continue to make women second-class citizens.  Many of the bill’s supporters have rejected equal pay for women and have tried to slash funding for programs that serve women and children.

And, speaking of “sex selection,” it bears observing how many of the bill’s supporters (Boehner included) are men — men who are on the whole getting way more airtime than women when the media turns its attention to women’s issues, as this useful, depressing graphic from 4th Estate makes all too clear:

 

(Thanks, DF!)

 

 

Fiction, Reproductive Rights, and Teens

Worth reading: “The New Handmaids: The future of reproductive rights, as seen in three young adult novels,” by Chelsey Philpot.

Excerpt:

“Welcome to the future, when condoms are illegal, orphaned teens are forced to bear children, and 16 is the mandated age to get knocked up. Is this what America will look like 25 years from now? In several recent post-apocalyptic young adult novels, young women aren’t battling to the death in a televised game or hiding from Big Brother. They’re fighting for control of their wombs.

Megan McCafferty’s Thumped is the second book in a satirical series, set in 2036 Princeton, N.J., about twin sisters with very different opinions of the patriotic obligation to “pregg.” Anna Carey’s Eve and Dan Wells’ Partials, meanwhile, have darker takes on the subject. All three stories portray a future of state-mandated pregnancies that seems all too plausible in a time when states force women into unnecessary ultrasounds and new abortion laws redefine when life begins.”