BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

From this great site: The not-so-bitter truth “You’re just bitter.” This is a phrase commonly used to silence women . Another variation says, “You are so unforgiving.” The bitterness accusation is used to bully a woman and tell her how she “should” feel instead of asking her how she does feel. Someone who uses this label expects her to pretend there has been no harm, no foul. She is expected to pretend the one who hurt her is a great person, even if she knows he is a terrible person. If she does not pretend, it is because she is “bitter and unforgiving.” Abusers nearly always sling this accusation at their victims. She may have accepted him back with open arms after a dozen violent episodes, but the first time she hesitates to “forgive and forget,” he will tell her she is a bitter and unforgiving person. If only it stopped there. The world does not want to hear the voice of the abused, either. Let her speak of abuse in the divorce hearing, and the judge may roll h...

(where are the feminists? why aren't we marching in the streets to stop this heinous and barbaric practice on American soil?! Isn't FEMINISM the notion that WOMEN ARE PEOPLE TOO!) by Cinnamon Stillwell Throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, young Muslim women are being targeted for violence. Lest it be thought hate crimes are to blame, it is, in fact, their own relatives who are the perpetrators. So-calledthonor killings, whereby a Muslim male family member, typically the father, murders his daughter in order to defend the family's honor, is a growing problem. While statistics are notoriously hard to come by due to the private nature of such crimes and the fact that very few are reported, the United Nations Population Fund approximates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in this manner each year worldwide. Undoubtedly that's a low estimate, as reports from Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, among other locales, are fil...

By Tzafi Saar "Why bother?" Hedva Yehezkeli was asked time and again, as the Green Party candidate for mayor of Hadera. Yehezkeli is one of about 30 women running for mayor nationwide in today's municipal elections. Another candidate, Anat Ziv of Kiryat Bialik, was targeted by fliers that read, "Being a blonde is not enough," and, "Every housewife thinks she can be mayor. Anat Ziv - your place is in the kitchen." Yehezkeli says that at Hadera municipal council meetings, which are open to the public, she receives remarks such as, "Why are you here? Go home, you have five children." The comments come from associates of the mayor, who is running for reelection. "If I were a man, it would look different," she says between campaign meetings. "We have a chauvinistic society and men have the upper hand. But I'm very assertive. Men don't sway me. I have achieved far more than many men." She therefore feels optimistic. ...

PUMAs were screaming about this before the election! When are we going to stop letting that liar, Obama - scream racism and start calling him and all his political cronies on their RAMPANT SEXISM!? No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility. - Simone de Beauvoir Time for a Summit on SEXISM by Kirsten Powers Now that we've had a beer summit on race, how about a wine sum mit on sexism? In the latest edition of an online feature called "Mouthpiece Theater," Washington Post political reporter Dana Milbank attempted a joke about what kind of beer Hillary Clinton would drink at the "beer summit." Clad in a Hugh Hefner-style silk bathrobe, he smirks to viewers, "We won't tell you who's getting a bottle of 'Mad Bitch' beer." A photo of the secretary of state then appears. Hilarious. This isn't some random blogger or even an opinion columnist expressing vile views. Thi...

Bea Arthur was one of the reasons I became an actor. While I was in college, a couple people used to call me "Maude" because of my height, dry sense of humor and deep voice. (I am actually about 1.5 inches taller than Bea Arthur). I always admired Arthur and fellow actress Nancy Marchand - who turned their height and voice into assets for their careers. And both who played feminist-types when it wasn't terribly fashionable to do so. Arthur's acerbic wit and flawless timing is something that is unreplaceable. Arthur was born the same year as my own mother and still remained a class act to the end. Bea - where you are now - I hope you are still knocking 'em out! From UPPITYWOMAN: Bea was a successful stage and Broadway actress long before she entered the world of TV sitcoms at age 50. Among her awards were an Emmy for Maude and a Tony for her stage performance with Angela Lansbury in Mame. She also played “Bea Vecchio” in the movie Lovers and Other Strangers ....

From THE NEW AGENDA by Amy Siskind An article posted yesterday in The Huffington Post proclaiming Obama Gets Gender Right in First 100 Days has many women seeing red. Here’s the author, C. Nicole Mason’s arguments: Obama lifted the global gag rule The first piece of legislation he signed into to law as President was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act Obama’s Cabinet is also chock full of extremely accomplished stateswomen and issue advocates. With two cabinet positions still open, Obama has appointed or nominated a total of eight women to his cabinet or to high-level positions. Less than a month shy of his 100 days, Obama created the White House Council for Women and Girls. I say this to Nicole - I’ll give you one of four. Yes, President Obama did appoint Valerie Jarrett to chair the newly created White House Council for Women and Girls. The New Agenda did speak out in The Daily Beast to cheer this action on. Of course, we’ve yet to hear a peep from this new Council. But, I ...

A must read in a series from Echidne of the Snakes' blog : ...Oh, With Gals, Too, Naturally. This is the second post in my series about the very simple and basic reasons why I became a feminist and why I still see lots of work for feminism. You can read the first post here. There will be more posts and they are not in any particular ranking by value of importance. This series differs from my usual writing style. I'm trying to let the immediate response come through and to use other parts of my mind and memory more than the analytical machine I mostly employ. I'm trying to view this planet from the outside, to ask questions about the taste of the water we drink and the color of the air we breathe. This is hard to do, because each and everyone of us is immersed in the systems in which we live and we don't see them as systems. Please remember that, especially if you start feeling that I'm accusing individual men or women of what I discuss here. Let us begin by looking ...

by Ruth Eglash There has been a dramatic increase in the size and scope of Israel's feminist organizations over the past 18 years, with 69 different groups, including nine rape crisis centers and 14 battered women's shelters, currently operational. The information was revealed in the initial findings of a national report compiled by Dorit Abramovitz, director of projects and campaigns for the umbrella organization of feminist groups in Israel. The report, which was sponsored by the German-based Heinrich Boll Foundation, compares today's feminist landscape to that prior to 1990, when only 14 such organizations existed here. It also examines the wide range of feminist activism by Jewish and joint Jewish-Arab feminist organizations, and studies their effectiveness at improving the situation in general for women in Israel. Although the report will be published in full only next January, Abramovitz presented partial data on Thursday at the country's 16th National Confere...

by Ann Althouse Cathy Young has a nice op-ed in the WSJ , "Why feminists hate Sarah Palin." Excerpt: Left-wing feminists have a hard time dealing with strong, successful conservative women in politics such as Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Palin seems to have truly unhinged more than a few, eliciting a stream of vicious, often misogynist invective.... I disagree with Sarah Palin on a number of issues, including abortion rights. But when the feminist establishment treats not only pro-life feminism but small-government, individualist feminism as heresy, it writes off multitudes of women. I wouldn't have titled this piece "Why feminists hate Sarah Palin." Young never concedes that the feminism that liberals say is the only feminism is, in fact, the only feminism. Nor would I. There was a time -- I was there -- back in the 80s and early 90s, when feminists would speak of "feminisms" and were always promoting some new version of feminism that, we'd ar...

BORN ON THE LOWEST RUNG I've been called a feminist since high school. I never ever considered myself one. I have never raised my fist or burned a bra. I find those things trite, actually. I don't dislike the term. I just considered equality common sense. As I got older I found it wasn't so common at all. I still get very annoyed at those who treat women as "less than." Or objects and a collection of parts. In my volunteer advocacy I have a few ex-escorts as clients now. I have learned a lot from them about the sickness of the sex trade and the serious mental and class problems of the people who hire them. Being reduced to ones parts is one of the more demeaning experiences. I know what its like to be used like that. It's awful. I hate myself and feel sick when I even think about it. That I even was so silly to allow some guy to coerce me by playing with my emotions. Not just when I was younger but even more recently... the attitude of "boys...

WHO IS LILITH? Lilith is a character who appears in passing in the Talmud and in rabbinical folklore . She is a figure of evil, a female demon who seduces men and threatens babies and women in childbirth. She is described as having long hair and wings (Erub. 100b; Nid. 24b). It is said that she seizes men who sleep in a house alone, like a succubus (Shab. 151b). She is also mentioned in midrashim and kabbalistic works, in which she is considered to be the mother of demons. Her name probably comes from the Hebrew word for night (laila). She is similar to and probably based on a pagan demon named Lulu or Lilu that appears in Gilgamesh and other Sumerian and Babylonian folklore. In recent years, some women have tried to reinvent Lilith, turning her into a role model for women who do not accept male domination or a rival goddess to the traditions that they think are too male-biased. For example, a number of female musical artists participated a concert tour called "Lilith Fair" a...

LADIES, STILL THINK APPEASEMENT IS THE ANSWER? A little reading for you to ponder: Western Feminist: At the Service of Radical Islam By Phyllis Chesler Middle East Quarterly Vol.XIV NO.4 Fall 2007 One might expect Western feminists to take the lead in challenging Islamic gender apartheid, but sadly, this is not the case. Rather, they tend to be more concerned with Israel’s “occupation” of Palestine or the U.S. “occupation” of Afghanistan and Iraq than with the Islamist persecution of women. They consider it “racist” to condemn gender apartheid of the most savage sort, and “racism” trumps concerns about gender. Incredibly, those same Western feminists who condemn Western patriarchal institutions of marriage, biological motherhood, heterosexuality, and religion now view Islamic veiling, the hijab (head scarf), purdah, arranged marriage, and polygamy as sacred religious rights. Those same feminists who condemn Christianity and Judaism for more minor (but still serious) misogynist practi...