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KBR to Jamie Leigh Jones: Your Rape Lawsuit Was Frivolous, Give Us Money

Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 by s.e. smith

The sordid saga of Jamie Leigh Jones, a Halliburton employee who famously highlighted the hostile working environment for women working with US military contractors overseas when she filed a high-profile suit demanding damages from her employer, KBR, after a gang rape, continues. This week, yet another chapter broke in her case, when KBR filed a claim (link via Liz Henry) to demand that she pay their court fees, arguing that her suit was frivolous and taking advantage of laws in the United States that allow defendants to receive compensation for court fees in cases that are clearly unjust or unreasonable. KBR wants $2 million (hey, attorneys are expensive!) in a pretty classic example of an abuse of a system designed to limit abuses of the system. Good work, KBR.

Jones’ case unveiled such a panapoly of abuses, it’s kind of difficult to know where to begin, but we’ll start below the fold, with a cautionary note to readers that her rape, and the subsequent explosion of victim blaming and general shenanigans, will be discussed here.

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Vulnerable Populations: Agency, Identity, and Incarcerated Women

Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 by Katherine Craft

In nonprofits that provide social services, we like to classify and index groups of people as if we are scientists. There’s at-risk, high need, barrier to whatever, specific needs, people with disabilities, under-represented, and on and on. We might as well just group everyone as people who might need some stuff for some good reasons. But it would be hard to write about that in grant applications.

My focus is working with incarcerated women, a vulnerable population. Incarcerated people are thought to be especially vulnerable because of their lack of freedom and the near impossibility of making their voices heard outside of facility walls. (I’ll be using the term “incarcerated women” and variations thereof instead of “inmate,” “prisoner,” “convict” or “offender,” because of the dehumanizing aspects of those labels. For more info, read Tina Reynolds’ “Glossary of Terms” in Interrupted Life.) Incarcerated women are thought to be even more vulnerable than men because many of their crimes are related to substance abuse, which stems from severe and repeated trauma in their lives, such as sexual, emotional and physical abuse and domestic violence.

Every time I think the statistics are too grim, that I’m over-generalizing by passing on this information, I talk to another incarcerated woman who tells me a story that humanizes and confirms the numbers. And then she tells me that her breakfast that morning at the jail was white rice, two sugar packets and some sausage. Texas, you are my homeland and I love you, but white rice? For breakfast? With sugar? That is diabetes in a bowl.

That’s heavy stuff – the numbers, the sorrow, the rage, the rice – so what on earth do you do with it when you walk into a jail classroom full of women?

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Right-wing memes ahoy – “pregnancy is not a disease”

Posted on Monday, August 22, 2011 by Emily McAvan

At Religion Dispatches , Sarah Morice-Brubacker traced the emergence of a new right-wing anti-contraception meme, “pregnancy is not a disease” which has recently been deployed in response to the recent announcement that insurance plans in the US will be required to cover contraception without co-pay.  Morice-Brubacker quotes rightwinger Bob Laird,”a fellow at Human Life International and a board member for the Couple to Couple League, an organization that promotes Natural Family Planning based on Roman Catholic principles,” giving a quote that seems fairly indicative of the new ostensibly pro-woman right-wing meme.

Contraception does not fall within the category of preventative health services. These drugs, devices, and procedures prevent the bringing of children into the world. Contraception only prevents disease or serious illness if one considers pregnancy to be a disease or serious illness. Pregnancy is not an illness or disease, nor are children the side effect or the unintended by-product of disease.

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The Help is a model of the most unhelpful cinematography

Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2011 by Flavia Dzodan

I didn’t want to see it. I knew it would most likely infuriate me and it would make me sad (and I try to avoid sad because sad is an emotion permanently lurking and waiting to make a jump and get hold of me; and then it sends me into this spiral of more sadness and anxiety). I didn’t want to see it because I knew some of it would hit too close to home for personal reasons. Mostly, I wanted to spare myself the potential heartbreak. I am, of course, talking about The Help.

Lots have been written about this movie in the past few days. Lots by many smart people (people way smarter and more knowledgeable than me). AfroLez has compiled the most comprehensive list of critiques I’ve seen so far and I truly believed I would have nothing to add to them. But then I saw the movie. And it seems I have something to say. Plenty to say, in fact.

To begin with, I almost fell off my chair as the opening credits rolled. The first frame was a screen wide logo of DreamWorks, which considering this is a Hollywood film should not surprise anyone. The next frame, though. Oh yes, this is when I found out that the other production company behind this train wreck is actually Imagenation Abu Dhabi. Never heard of it? Oh, I cannot blame you, I wouldn’t have known it either if it wasn’t that I was actually working in Abu Dhabi when this government owned venture was being set up and looking for Hollywood projects to invest in.

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The TSA Expands Its Security Theatre Repertory With the Chat-Down

Posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 by s.e. smith

The Transportation Security Administration just keeps getting more creative when it comes to tormenting air travelers in the US. Problems with the approach to security by agencies like the TSA, which tend to focus on a reactive rather than proactive handling of security matters, have been extensively documented by experts like Bruce Schneier, who regularly profiles the latest TSA follies on his website. Many of these security measures have been implemented gradually in pilot programs slowly rolled out across the United States, so by the time people become broadly aware of them, they’re already established.

This security theatre serves a number of functions for the TSA and the US government, and not very many of them are directly related to actually making air travel safer. Citizens learn that they should not self-advocate, defend civil rights, or choose to disobey commands that are threatening or dangerous from people in uniform, even though many TSA officers are poorly trained and are unfamiliar with their agency’s own policies. The culture of fear that surrounds the security line ensures that every passenger is viewed with suspicion, and the extreme authority of the TSA means that passengers can be detained and harassed with minimal legal recourse.

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Team Tiger AWESOME

Posted on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 by s.e. smith

One thing about a group of people this fantastic is that our pure awesome cannot be contained to these pages alone. Thus, we like to keep you posted on what we’re up to elsewhere!

Emily Manuel’s been all over the place! At In These Times, she writes about the London riots. On Global Comment she discussed Amy Winehouse and the Rupert Murdoch pie incident. For Billboard, an interview with musician Patrick Wolf.

Flavia Dzodan wrote about Argentina’s economic crisis and the implications for the West on Global Comment and discussed the importance of pseudonymity for immigrants and activists for My Name Is Me.

Garland Grey is still blogging up a storm at Bitch Magazine. Check out his piece on public displays of affection.

Sady Doyle wrote about Newt Gingrich’s little Twitter overstatement for The Guardian, delved into Michele Bachmann and the ‘submissive wife’ for Global Comment, and wants you all to know that she’s in the latest edition of In These Times magazine talking about the DSK trial and Diallo, so you should buy it.

s.e. smith is at Bitch Magazine with Anna in an eight week series, ‘We’re All Mad Here’ on mental illness in pop culture; here’s the latest, on the asylum as a pop culture symbol. On The Guardian, a discussion about the Kelly Thomas case and mental health services. At Longshot Magazine, ‘There’s A Lot of Waiting At the End.’ For My Name Is Me, why it’s important to preserve pseudonymity for people with mental illness writing online, and at Global Comment, a discussion of California’s marijuana industry and Frontline’s ‘The Pot Republic.’ Yes, ou writes a lot.

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Moving away from Social Justice towards Social Wellbeing

Posted on Monday, August 15, 2011 by Flavia Dzodan

Many of us identify part of our activism (be it through writing, community engagement, online, offline, etc.) as part of the broad umbrella of Social Justice. However, most of us (or at least I) do not necessarily devote a lot of time to think of the meaning behind Social Justice and how the whole idea came to be. I did now, and I am about to share with you my findings which are, somewhat problematic and not as fair as one might expect considering the movement is devoted to the idea of fairness to begin with. This questioning of Social Justice as an idea, as a political framework has also led me to try to formulate some ideas so that I can move forward and outside of it because I believe that, in more than one way, Social Justice does not exactly represent the kind of goal I wish to advance towards.

Michael Novak, in Defining Social Justice (a concept he does not necessarily endorse, even though his essay is a good compendium of the origins of the term), elaborates:

The term “social justice” was first used in 1840 by a Sicilian priest, Luigi Taparelli d’Azeglio, and given prominence by Antonio Rosmini–Serbati in La Costitutione Civile Secondo la Giustizia Sociale in 1848. John Stuart Mill gave this anthropomorphic approach to social questions almost canonical status for modern thinkers thirteen years later in Utilitarianism.

This Sicilian priest that Novak refers to was a Jesuit and he was inspired by the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Later on, the idea was further elaborated by the Catholic theologian John A. Ryan. Furthermore, yet another Catholic clergyman, Father Coughlin also used the term in his writings in the 1930s and the 1940s.

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The TV show that had ALL the complex and strong female characters: Battlestar Galactica

Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2011 by Flavia Dzodan

This week Lindsay Miller wrote about Doctor Who (and if you’ve seen the comments, you’ll notice my endless love for the many incarnations of the Doctor) and s.e. smith wrote about the portrayal of strong female characters on TV. Since I am a big sci-fi nerd (all it takes for me to watch a TV show is the promise of aliens and/ or space ships; my habit is so bad and uncritical that I am currently suffering through Falling Skies and have previously endured The Event and even the remake of V), that I thought this was as good a time as any to revisit one of my all time favorite shows: Battlestar Galactica. Because: Battlestar Galactica has an entire gamut of strong female characters. Probably more than most contemporary TV productions.

Now, let me preface this by saying a couple of things: for a start, I won’t be really original. Lots have been written about this show. However, its awesomeness deserves that every now and then we go back to it and reminiscence in its complexity and amazing story telling. Second, as much as I love the series, it was not perfect. In fact, it was far from it.

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What Do You Mean When You Say You Want ‘Strong Female Characters’?

Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 by s.e. smith

Oh, the strong female character. Holy grail of pop culture, embodiment of all that is empowerment, role model and inspiration for viewers of all genders, proof that women do not need to be shoehorned into stereotypical roles, but can instead spread their wings and fly free. She’s the characterisation many people say they do not see enough of, want more of in their pop culture. Most of those people have a list of women they think of when they hear ‘strong female characters,’ and are happy to provide that list upon request.

But what exactly is a strong female character? Who is defining ‘strong female characters’? Who, specifically, is asking for them? And who is being left out? Discussions about strong female characters have been going round and round for a very long time, both within more insular fandom communities and more public spaces. K. Beaton set off another round of discussion with this Hark, A Vagrant strip depicting one brand of strong female characters, and then there was a New York Times article, and numerous discussions on blogs, and, and, and the discussion continues, endlessly.

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LANDMARKS OF LADY-HATE Presents! American Psycho, or, Despite All My Rage I Am Still Just A Rat In A Vagina

Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 by Sady

Ladies! We of the feminist persuasion have a long and noble history from which to draw. Specifically, a long and noble history of being offended by stuff! I worry, ladies, that in this our Internet age, we are losing touch with that history. And thus, I introduce to you a new series, LANDMARKS OF LADY HATE, dedicated to revisiting outrages of days past, and asking one all-important question: Can we still get upset about this?

So, on our little tour, Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho seems like a decent place to start. Even before it was published, it was getting the ladies upset: Women at Simon & Schuster, the novel’s original publisher, reportedly “got wind” of the novel’s “content” (and a very rapey wind it was) and protested its publication. The manuscript leaked to the press, which subsequently issued dispatches along the lines of, “yeah, there is a LOT of vividly imagined vagina torture in this thing;” Simon & Schuster, despite having paid Ellis $300,000 for the book, dropped it on grounds of “taste.” And yet! The story of was not over! For the book was then picked up by Random House, thus giving Bret Easton Ellis two substantial paychecks, as well as a reason to whine about “censorship” for the entire rest of his life. And the Los Angeles chapter of NOW organized a Random House boycott, calling American Psycho “a how-to novel on the torture and dismemberment of women.”

But now, the book has been around for twenty years. And here, reader, is where you might want to consider every single trigger warning that you know of to be in effect  — racism, check! Homophobia, check! Mental-illness-means-you-kill-people, check! — and maybe apply some warnings they haven’t invented yet, and just generally jump ship if you are not ready to handle some graphically imagined descriptions of vagina torture. Because I read American Psycho twice last week, more or less just to see what the fuss was about. And my conclusions are: Eh. It’s not that great?

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