BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Patricia Garrison The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda . How many times must females be killed because they are female, before we start decrying these horrific acts for what they are: hate crimes? Although gender is included as a category in the federal hate crimes bill signed into law last year, the recognition that women and girls are targeted and murdered solely because of their sex has yet to infiltrate our cultural framework or spark any sense of collective outrage. The media have yet to cover these crimes as acts of growing anti-women violence. Given the pervasive sexism in news and entertainment, that should come as no surprise. To be sure, our vulnerability as females is nothing new. At all ages, females are 90% more likely to be the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment and rape. While not all crimes targeting women can be classified as hate crimes, what does appear to be a serious a...

This study doesn't surprise me at all. There are far too many smart, independent, college-educated women in the workforce and public life these days for this not to be the case. Bullies always threaten what scares them. Usually its someone who is more competent, perhaps perceived as being smarter, and even people whistleblowers. And when you can't find some character flaw to pick on - pick on their gender. Bullies also hate truth tellers. Truth tellers must be eliminated, defamed and silenced at all cost! When I was working I had this happen to me more times than I could count. I would end up working for someone (sometimes another woman) when it became apparent they weren't as intelligent or intuitive as me. And if I tried to better my position, they'd pick on me as a woman. I've been called a lesbian, a castrator, a man-hater, overwrought female, and asked if I 'had PMS' because of a management decision someone else didn't agree with. I am going...

From Hillary or Bust: With the latest Sarah Palin hatefest happening among female comics (Sandra Bernhard wants Palin to be raped by a gang of black men; a confused Margaret Cho hates her but wants to have sex with her) , I have had it. Listen to me, crazy liberal Palin-hatin’ women, and listen to me good: Keep it up. Because if this sort of misogyny, from women, by women, against Sarah Palin continues, I will not only vote for Palin this November, I will vote for her in 2012 if Hillary is not the Democratic nominee. I will then vote for Palin AGAIN as long as she is on the Republican ticket and there is no female Democrat to vote for. I have had it. I am absolutely shocked, disgusted, appalled, and sickened by the far left right now. As a former member of not only NOW but the very radical Women’s Action Coalition (WAC) in the 1990s, I am amazed at how far the feminist movement has fallen. If this misogyny is what you really stand for, I will fight against it with my vote. And not only...

Restoring Virginity Becomes Risky Business By Sandy Kobrin / WeNews correspondent Many women who seek hymen-repair surgery do so under threat of death if family members in religious fundamentalist households find out they are not virgins. Now, the U.S. doctors who help them are also being intimidated . LOS ANGELES (WOMENSENEWS)--Some doctors perform these specialized surgeries on women late at night when there's no one else in the waiting room. The patients are most often women of Middle Eastern descent, some with origins from countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. They frequently give false names and pay in cash. They arrive alone, faces hidden, under elaborate hats, wigs, scarves and sunglasses and, afraid, say doctors. They are there for hymenoplasties, or the repair of hymens, which, when intact, are widely recognized as evidence of virginity. The surgeries could save their lives, noted the physicians who perform them, because, according to some interpretations of Islamic law...

FEMALE CANTORS SEEK RECOGNITIO N This article below ties in very nice with something my blogger friend Lemon posted about on her blog , the full article which can be found here . Food for thought. A lot of thought. Women's voice is indecent - or is it? Female cantors slowly emerging as national-religious sector's next big trend, but face criticism, accusations of indecency by Smadar Shir In recent years, the world of national-religious women has been slowly but surely revolutionized. It started with female litigators who appear before rabbinical courts, which was unheard of just a decade ago, and continued with women attending Torah and Gemara classes in yeshivot, which produced women scholars who are already viewed as halachic rulers. The next big trend, though still evolving in secret, is women cantors. The odds are against them. Since early childhood, they have been told that hearing a woman sing is indecent. If they were men, their destiny would have been different, but t...