Yo, What's the Big Idea?

Don't Talk to the Sex Speaker (The Heathens Might See You) and other May News

- Lesbians (as in residents of the Greek isle Lesbos) are taking LGBT organizations to court to prevent them from using the term "lesbian" in a homosexual context. "Evangelia Vlami, who is representing the Gay and Lesbian Community of Greece, said: 'We will be laughing in court. This is ridiculous. The term has been accepted by society, by scientists, historically, and by the United Nations.'" While I understand why these islanders are upset are victim to many misunderstandings, this seems a little harsh. At least they don't live on the island of FartFace.

- Ecuadorian assembly member, Maria Soledad Vela, proposes adding "women's right to sexual pleasure" to their constitution. In conservative Ecuador, this is a big move, a move that will help advance women's rights, sexual and not, in the law. [Via IBTP]

- Pam Stenzel, close-legged warrior for justice and doppelgänger for Kathy Bate's character in Misery, speaks to youth on the perils of pre-marital sexing in an enjoyable romp for the whole family [Via Feministing]:

Moly Ringwald Wouldn't Have Stood for This BS

I'm an ardent supporter of gender-based, not gender-discriminatory, health care; women's health issues are often marginalized by standard medical care. Just because I support prescribing different but equally-effective medications to men and women based on biology, however, does not mean I support the sexist marketing of this "for-women" sleeping pill.


Sleep Pretty in Pink is a women's "natural sleep formula" packaged in a flowery, cardboard purse. Without debating the actual merits of the drug (which undoubtedly are mooty moot moot), it's important to note this marketing is highly sexist. In addition, portraying healthy sleeping habits as a fashion statement to improve beauty, and not a medical necessity, is deplorable.

Don't you know there's not a war going on?

Afraid the Democratic party will shatter after the nominee is chosen? Afraid a Republican will enter office in 2009? Afraid of divisiveness? Big Brother? Poor word choice?

Then stop calling Pennsylvania, Indiana, or any other state having a primary or caucus a freaking battleground!

This means you, Wolf Blitzer.

We're Not Gonna Take It Any Moore

Hot on the heels of the NYT's profile of the Harvard Chastity Club comes a new crusader for close-legged justice, University of Illinois student and motivational speaker Taylor Moore. Moore's speaking engagements, which encourage kids to become lawfully-wedded coupes before they, as she puts it, "release the beast." Why? "For this is the will of God," of course.

Unlike the leader of the Harvard Club, J. Fredell, Moore's reasons for staying a virgin are slightly moot. While Fredell waxes poetic about God, feminism, and falsified statistics, Moore's speeches are more emotional. She talks of being the daughter of a single parent, an unwillingness to form bonds both platonic and sexual, and the same devotion to God of which Fredell speaks.

The article is mainly about abstinence-only education and funding, so the profiling of Moore is a tad out of place. Nevertheless, she's an interesting figure, and perhaps more of an accurate representation of the abs-only crowd than her Ivy-League compatriot.

NEXT Stereotype, Please

You know what I love to do? I love to watch shows where frat boys can whip through skanky girls like tissue paper. Many of you might have heard of the MTV show "Next," but if you take a minute to stop laughing at the horrendous rhyming and styling, you'll find something much more disturbing than any quantity of hair gel.

On each episode, there is always AT LEAST one young woman who grabs at her breasts, smooshes them together, and says, "I'm sure to win. I mean, just look at these things!" These women are voluntarily objectifying themselves. Voluntarily. I cannot stress enough how women are perpetuating their own oppression through turning themselves into living sex dolls.

ATTENTION ALL WOMEN! ATTENTION ALL GIRLS! You do not need to show your cleavage and act like a prostitute to catch a guy's eye!

(I seriously have got to stop watching MTV)

The Fifth Question: Modern Day Slavery

Today marks the first day of Pesach ("Passover" to you goyim), a Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, ending 400 years of slavery. On a day when my family and I come together to recognize both the struggles we face and the freedoms we have as Jews, it is essential to recognize the oppression and enslavement of people all over the world.

An enslavement by patriarchal traditions that oppress and degrade, the rarity of breaking free, and the consequences to those who do.

An enslavement by fear, when desperate times and forced ignorance lead to desperate, painfully ignorant measures.

And and enslavement by a culture in which every woman must be encased in silicone to become her true self, a bondage that seems so appealing that children willfully enter the shackles.

A Passover tradition is to speak of four different son (wise, wicked, simple, and the one who does not know how to ask) and the dialogues they engage in about Passover: "And the one who does not know how to ask, you start for him, as the Torah says: "And you should tell your son on that day, saying 'It is for the sake of this that Hashem did for me when I left Egypt.'"

Please initiate meaningful dialogues about slavery with the sons who cannot ask and do not know.