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| News October 2007 |
News October 2007
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BRISBANE FEMINISM ONLINE – OCTOBER 2007
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Hi People
Welcome to the October newsletter.
October is a big month in the feminist calendar and the Reclaim the Night committee have been working tirelessly to get the rally and festival together for the 26th – not to be missed. Other activities this month include cabaret shows, a talk with Yvette Holt - aboriginal women’s studies lecturer, and pink ribbon fundraising. You can also book tickets for Children by Choice’s movie fundraiser next month and attend one of the ongoing feminist discussion groups.
See you at the march …
Kitty
2007 BFO Editor
Feedback welcome to editor@brisbanefeminismonline.net
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. RECLAIM THE NIGHT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
2. FEMINIST DISCUSSION NIGHT
3. REAL ADVENTURE WOMEN (RAW)
4. MEOW MEOW
5. QLD MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL
6. WONDER WOMEN!
7. PINE RIVERS WOMEN IN BUSINESS EXPO
8. ANTI-POVERTY WEEK LAUNCH IN BRISBANE
9. A NIGHT BY THE FIRE WITH YVETTE HOLT
10. FEMINIST MOTHERHOOD DISCUSSION NIGHT
11. MAKE INDIGENOUS POVERTY HISTORY FORUM (BRISBANE)
12. PINK RIBBON DAY
13. WOMEN IN BIOTECH SYMPOSIUM
14. RECLAIM THE NIGHT RALLY
15. ONE-DAY CONFERENCE MELB "THE PORNIFICATION OF CULTURE: A FEMINIST RESPONSE".
16. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT BRISBANE?
17. HUMAN TRAFFICKING FORUM (MARGATE)
18. WHISPERS OF THIS WIK WOMAN
19. 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
20. CBYC MOVIE FUNDRAISER: ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
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LOCAL NEWS
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1. RECLAIM THE NIGHT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Wed 17th October
There are jobsjobjobs for feminists at this years reclaim the night event. There are two more Wednesday meetings before the night or alternatively you can give half an hour before or after the rally. All welcome. Email heidi@brissc.com.au for more info.
2. FEMINIST DISCUSSION NIGHT
Wed 10th October
The topic for October is "Female Friendship". Think Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, do you have an experience of a toxic female friendship - especially from high school? Are your female friends closer to you than your partners? What are the boundaries of female friendship? Why can girlfriends include sexual and non-sexual relationships but boyfriends mean sexual? Or is there a sexual component to platonic girlfriends? Email kitty@brisbanefeminismonline.net for more details.
3. REAL ADVENTURE WOMEN (RAW)
Oct 2007
RAW is a women's adventure recreation activity program giving women aged 16 years and over the opportunity to experience sporting and recreational activities in a friendly, supportive and non-competitive environment. Enjoy our fabulous city from the road, river, mountains and air while developing skills and forming new friendships. Where possible, RAW activities are instructed by women and all equipment is supplied. Activities are designed to suit both beginners and those with more experience. The list of RAW activities varies between programs. It includes a range of indoor, outdoor and water sports from archery to sailing to tai chi. All RAW activities offer fantastic value for money.
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:WHATSON::pc=PC_1263,in_type=eevent,in_search2=46
4. MEOW MEOW
Fri 12 - Sun 14 Oct 07
After sell out performances during Queensland Music Festival, international singing sensation and exotic performance artist, the ‘annihilatory’ Meow Meow, is back to fill the Powerhouse Theatre with her ‘voix inhumaine’ in a spiralling journey of obsessional love songs, minor multimedia, tired old tricks and gorgeous suicide ditties. Stranded somewhere between the middle ages, 1930’s Shanghai show tunes, 60’s French pop, witty, wicked Weimar and post-punk thrash, the darling of the dungeons of the euro jet-set brings us a quixotic *bleep*tail of kamikaze kabaret, performance art exotica, opera ‘brut’ and karaoke splendour.
http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/meow-meow/
5. QLD MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL
14 October 2007
Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier will headline the festival in 2007 alongside Bobby Flynn. There will be something for everyone with World music, dance, craft, food stalls, children and family activities, roving artists and more. Roma Street Parklands 9am – 7pm Contact: call 07 3224 5481 or visit:
www.multiculturalfestival.qld.gov.au
6. WONDER WOMEN!
October and Nov One Day Workshops
Have you ever watched one of those TV makeover programs where some wonder woman manages to build a new front fence and remodel the kitchen all in an afternoon? Are You a Potential Wonder Woman? We cannot promise to give you the skills to achieve a television style makeover of your home and garden, but you are invited to become a participant in one of our popular Wonder Woman workshops. This TAFE accredited program brings together up to six women and gives them an opportunity to work with experienced teachers and skilled tradespersons, Kevin Larsen and Shane Smith. The program is designed to build self-confidence in working with hand and power tools and to develop practical timber construction skills that will allow you to address simple timber-related repairs in the home and garden.
http://www.bn.tafe.qld.gov.au/courses_and_careers/topics/viewpublishtext.php?courseid=3811
7. PINE RIVERS WOMEN IN BUSINESS EXPO
Sun 14th October
Come along and be inspired by Pine Rivers' business women. Sunday 14 October 2007 from 10 am to 4 pm, Strathpine Community Hall, Mecklem Street, Strathpine. (We'll be there -- come and say hello!) An opportunity for Pine Rivers women in business to get to know other local businesses and business women. If you're in business, or interested in business, this is a great event to see what's out there and get ideas and inspiration. Presented by the Zonta Club of Pine Rivers.
http://www.prccc.com.au/wotson/zonta-business-expo.htm
8. ANTI-POVERTY WEEK LAUNCH IN BRISBANE
Mon Oct 15th
Anti-Poverty Week runs from October 14-20 and will be launched: When: October 15, 9:30am
Where: Jagera Arts Centre, 121 Cordelia St, South Brisbane The Governor, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC will officially open the week of events. Morning tea will be provided. RSVP Thursday October 11 to Allyson at QCOSS on 3004 6900 or e-mail allysons@qcoss.org.au.
http://www.yanq.org.au/content/blogcategory/0/28/
9. A NIGHT BY THE FIRE WITH YVETTE HOLT
Tues 16 October 2007
Yvette Holt descends from the Bidjara and Wakaman Nations of central and far north Queensland (Atherton Tablelands). She grew up in the Brisbane community of Inala, where her family have lived for more than 40 years. A night by the fire with...is a monthly night by the campfire with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. These gatherings give the general public an opportunity to sit and yarn with local Indigenous people and have discussions. 16 Oct, 6.30 pm (no booking required.) Talking Circle, kuril dhagun, level 1, State Library of Queensland. A night by the fire with Yvette Holt. An award-winning poet, Yvette won the David Unaipon Award Queensland Premier’s Literary Award (2005). Her collection of poems titled Anonymous Premonition will be published by the University of Queensland Press, in March 2008. A graduate from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), in 2003 Yvette received the UTS Human Rights Award in the category of ‘Reconciliation’ - ‘for her outstanding contribution towards the elevation of social justice for Indigenous Australians’. A researcher at AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature, University of Queensland, Yvette researches all genres of Indigenous Australian literature as well as associate lecturer for Aboriginal Women’s Studies at the University of Queensland. Yvette has worked in areas including advocating human rights for Indigenous Australians, counselling, and speaks nationally and internationally on Indigenous Australian women’s issues. Venue: kuril dhagun, level 1 Date: Tue 16 Oct, 6.30pm Entry: Free, no booking required
10. FEMINIST MOTHERHOOD DISCUSSION NIGHT
Friday 19th October
The topic was inspired by the novel "We Need To Talk About Kevin". The topic is The Bad Mother. Good mother vs Bad mother. We all feel like we're being bad mothers from time to time but when are we really crossing the line? What makes a bad mother? What coping strategies can you use to pull back from the edge? Email kitty@brisbanefeminismonline.net for more details.
11. MAKE INDIGENOUS POVERTY HISTORY FORUM (BRISBANE)
Sat 20th October
Queensland Churches Together Indigenous Peoples Partnership will present Make Indigenous Poverty History, a forum and action planning day. When: Saturday 20 October, 10.00am to 5.00pm Where: the Aspinall Centre, St Bernard’s Catholic Parish, Klumpp Road, Upper Mt Gravatt (Brisbane).
http://www.yanq.org.au/content/blogcategory/0/28/
12. PINK RIBBON DAY
Mon 22 October
http://www.pinkribbonday.com.au/Home.htm
13. WOMEN IN BIOTECH SYMPOSIUM
Thursday, 25 October 2007
This Symposium - the first of its kind in Australia - is proudly presented by WiT|Biotech and AusBiotech and held in conjunction with the AusBiotech 2007 National Conference To be held on Thursday 25 October 2007 at the Brisbane Convention Centre, the Symposium is aimed at all individuals working in the life sciences and allied professions.It comprises a full day of sessions including keynote addresses from renowned national leaders: CEO of the ARC, Professor Margaret Shiel and Managing Director of J&J Research Dr Susan Pond. Distinguished men and women from the biotech sector will share industry knowledge and provide professional development opportunities. Then you should definitely place the 2007 Women in Biotech Symposium as a 'must attend' event on your calendar! Grab your early-bird registration now!
http://www.brisbanetechnologypark.com.au/?pid=128#list2_item4
14. RECLAIM THE NIGHT RALLY
Friday 26th October
A Women's Annual Global March to Protest Men's Sexual Violence. The philosophy of Reclaim The Night encourages grass roots participation in the organisation of events by as many women as possible. In this way it is able to draw together women from diverse backgrounds and experiences to work together in addressing issues of sexual violence against women and children. Brisbane Rally and Festival 6pm – 8pm Queens Park City
www.brisbanefeminismonline.net
15. ONE-DAY CONFERENCE: "THE PORNIFICATION OF CULTURE: A FEMINIST RESPONSE".
Saturday 27 October 2007, 9.30am - 5pm.
At the Gryphon Gallery, 1888 Building, University of Melbourne. To register - email here. Please note that places are limited. The aim of this conference is to move the discussion of pornography beyond free speech/censorship to a consideration of how pornography is constructing the culture in which women and girls live their lives. The growth and normalisation of this industry is now creating the standards for how women and girls all over the world will experience sex, fashion, beauty and identity. This conference will examine some of the changes that the industry has wrought in the last two decades.
http://www.feministagenda.org.au/specialEvents.htm
16. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT BRISBANE?
31st October
OUR FUTURE/YOUR SAY The Brisbane Institute in conjunction with the Courier Mail and Griffith University's Centre for Urban Research Title: What's so special about Brisbane? What: Public seminar When: 31 October 2007 at 5.30 pm Where: The Long Room, Customs House 399 Queen Street, Brisbane Cost: Free admission RSVP: 30 October 2007 The Brisbane Institute Tel. 3220 2198 RSVP Online
http://www.brisinst.org.au/calendar/20071031_98.html
17. HUMAN TRAFFICKING FORUM (MARGATE)
12 November 2007
An opportunity to be informed about what is happening in Australia regarding human trafficking.
Guest speakers include representatives of Queensland State Police, Australian Federal Police, international and Australian migration law and others working with survivors of human trafficking.
Light supper provided. Date:Time:6:30pm Location: Golden Ox Reception Rooms, 330 Oxley Ave, Margate Cost:small donation appreciated Organiser:Zonta Club of Redcliffe Contact:Ronnie Turner 0407 149 622 Alternate: ronwyn.turner@bigpond.com http://www.women.qld.gov.au/?id=30
18. WHISPERS OF THIS WIK WOMAN
Tue 13 - Sat 24 Nov
Kooemba Jdarra proudly presents the premier of ‘Whispers of this Wik Woman’ by Fiona Doyle as part of the company’s 2007 program. This is a true story of a proud woman’s life in remote Western Cape York. Fiona brings to life her love and influences her granny shared with her as a child through to adulthood. This story begins in a time when culture and tradition, along with the clothes on your back, was enough to survive. A story of determination and loyalty to the teachings of her people and Country. Judith Wright Centre.
19. 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
25th Nov
Begins 25 November (the United Nations International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women) and goes through till 10 December (Human Rights Day).
20. CBYC MOVIE FUNDRAISER: ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
Friday 30th November, 2007
Our last fundraising event for the year. Reprising the roles they originated in seven-time Academy Award®-nominated Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush return for a gripping historical thriller laced with treachery and romance - Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Joining them in the epic is Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh, a dashing seafarer and newfound temptation for Elizabeth. Elizabeth: The Golden Age finds Queen Elizabeth I (Oscar®-winner Cate Blanchett) facing bloodlust for her throne and familial betrayal. Growing keenly aware of the changing religious and political tides of late 16th century Europe, Elizabeth finds her rule openly challenged by the Spanish King Philip II (Jordi Molla) with his powerful army and sea-dominating armada determined to restore England to Catholicism.
6.00 - 6.30pm Arrival for Nibbles & Glass of Bubbly 7.00pm Movie Screening at the Palace Centro Cinema 39 James Street, Fortitude Valley Tickets $20.00 (inc. glass of bubbly & nibbles on arrival) Bookings and money in by 23rd November, 2007 Enquiries to (07) 3357 9933 (option 2) or info@childrenbychoice.org.au CHILDREN BY CHOICE ASSOCIATION INC. Elizabeth: The Golden Age Movie Fundraiser Booking Order Form Bookings & money in by Friday 23rd November, 2007 Limited tickets available at the door. Your support with the correct change is appreciated on the night. N.B. No refund will be available if bookings are cancelled after 5pm Tuesday 27th November, 2007.
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ARTICLES AND PROMOTIONS
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WOMEN NEED REAL CHOICES
June 16 , 2007
VISITING American women's advocate Marie Wilson has some great lines. "Show me a woman without guilt about balancing work and family and I'll show you a man," she told Brisbane women this week.
http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/newsroom/inthenews/2007/june/20070616-CourierMail.php
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Scotland, more women facing sex history court ordeal
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1463182007
Five years ago, following a series of high-profile cases - including one where a teenage rape victim killed herself after giving evidence - the law was changed. Now lawyers must make a special application to the court before questioning female victims about their previous sexual activity. But instead of protecting women, the move has led to an increase in the number of women interrogated in court. The Scottish Government report found more than three-quarters of rape trials and over half of trials of other sexual offences include an application to delve into the alleged victim's sexual history. Overall, almost three-quarters of sexual offence trials include an application compared to a fifth before the new law was introduced. (09/13/07)
Pope accelerates attack on abortion
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/world/europe/08pope.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Pope Benedict XVI confronted Friday the shadows of Europe’s past, praying at a Holocaust memorial here, as he spoke with worry about its future. Europe, he said, may extinguish itself, in numbers and spirit, if it embraces abortion and rejects Christianity, which he said “profoundly shaped the continent.” (09/08/07)
Saudi sidewalks for women only
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=84a355ba-3083-40d2-9f12-1752c72f968d
The country's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, tasked with enforcing Sharia law, believes men and women should not be allowed to mix on the streets of the Islam's second holiest place, where the Prophet Muhammad is buried. The clerical police, or Mutaween, are authorized to arrest unrelated men and women caught socializing, anyone suspected of being homosexual or a prostitute, and to enforce Islamic dress codes. (09/01/07)
2 women beheaded in Pakistan
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/24hour/global/story/3694375p-13106963c.html
Suspected Islamic militants beheaded two women in northwest Pakistan after accusing them of being prostitutes, police said Friday. A note found with the bodies identified the victims as Bannu residents and accused them of "doing acts of obscenity," a term meaning prostitution, said the official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. (09/07/07)
Women can remain veiled for Canadian vote
http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C22377806-1702%2C00.html?from=public_rss
MUSLIM women who are completely veiled will still be allowed to vote in Canada, despite a new law tightening requirements for voter identification, a federal elections official said today. The new requirements will be tested for the first time on September 17 in three federal by-elections in Quebec. (09/07/07)
HHS toned down breast-feeding ads
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083002198.html?hpid=topnews
In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign. (08/30/07)
MADRE condemns killing of Clara Luz Lopez
http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0829-08.htm
MADRE, an international women's human rights organization, today categorically condemned the recent assassination of Clara Luz Lopez, a candidate for local council in the upcoming September 9 Guatemalan elections. Lopez was a member of Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum's political party, Encuentro por Guatemala. MADRE supports the work of the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Organization, working for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. (08/29/07)
Chinese parents fight forced abortions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_re_as/china_forced_abortion_1
Seven years after the dead baby was pulled from her body with forceps, Jin remains traumatized and, the couple and a doctor say, unable to bear children. Yang and Jin have made the rounds of government offices pleading for restitution — to no avail. This year, they took the unusual step of suing the family planning agency in court. The judges ruled against them, saying Yang and Jin conceived out of wedlock. Local family planning officials said Jin consented to the abortion. The couple's appeal to a higher court is pending. The one-child policy applies to most families in this nation of 1.3 billion people, and communist officials, often under pressure to meet birth quotas set by the government, can be coldly intolerant of violators. (08/29/07)
NC, alleged rape victim faces court-martial
http://www.newsdaily.com/TopNews/UPI-1-20070829-09082900-bc-us-airforcerape.xml
Airman Cassandra Hernandez, 20, complained she had been at a party in May 2006 and drank too much. She told officers despite having a fuzzy memory, she recalls being sexually assaulted by three other airmen at their dorm. The men denied the charges, saying the sex was consensual, and by the time the hearing took place in December, Hernandez told CBS she lost her nerve and didn't testify. The charges against the men were dropped. Hernandez has since been charged with dereliction of duty for underage drinking and indecent acts for engaging in sexual activity with an airman in front of two other airmen. (08/29/07)
UK, Iran lesbian wins stay
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070826-034309-8567r
A gay woman who is facing deportation from Britain to her native Iran has had her removal deferred, pending a legal challenge, her supporters said Saturday. Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, was arrested in Sheffield, northern England, earlier this month, after being refused asylum following her arrival here in 2005. She is being held in a detention center, and had been due to be deported Monday. (08/26/07)
China, to ban sex-selection abortion?
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/6247783.html
A regulation is expected to be made to ban sex-selection abortion in China against the increasingly larger gender imbalance, according to the State Council (08/25/07)
Sudan, no investigation of Darfur rapes
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/21/news/UN-GEN-UN-Darfur-Rapes.php
The U.N.'s top human rights office on Tuesday released gruesome new details of rapes of Darfur women, reportedly by soldiers and government militia, and accused the Sudanese government of failing to investigate. "The abuses may also constitute war crimes," said the report by the office of Louise Arbour, U.N. high commissioner for human rights. (08/21/07)
Student cracks Aussie's $84m porn filter
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-421,00.html
A MELBOURNE schoolboy has cracked the Federal Government's new $84 million internet porn filter in minutes. Tom Wood, 16, said it took him just over 30 minutes to bypass the Government's filter, released on Tuesday. Tom, a year 10 student at a southeast Melbourne private school, showed the Herald Sun how to deactivate the filter in a handful of clicks. (08/26/07)
Sales soaring for morning-after pill
http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=121002K5SXN9
Barr began distributing the over-the-counter version of the morning-after pill last November, and all national pharmacy chains now stock it. Barr projects that sales of Plan B will total about $80 million for 2007, almost double the total for 2006 and up eightfold from 2004, when Barr acquired the product as a prescription-only drug. In the year since it was approved for over-the-counter sales, the morning-after pill has become a huge commercial success for its manufacturer, but its popularity and solid safety record haven't deterred critics from seeking to overturn the milestone ruling. (08/23/07)
Studies of male-female diffs often flawed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082101337.html
Claims of male-female differences in how genes affect disease often lack proper documentation or validation, experts report in the Aug. 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Claims of male-female differences in how genes affect disease often lack proper documentation or validation, experts report in the Aug. 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. (08/21/07)
Aussies to decriminalize abortion?
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/brumby-takes-stand-on-abortion/2007/08/20/1187462178132.html
ABORTION appears certain to be decriminalised in Victoria next year, after Premier John Brumby yesterday seized control of the divisive issue and declared his Government would legislate. The new Premier's intervention ends eight years of inaction from the Government and came 24 hours before a doomed private member's bill to decriminalise abortion was due to be debated in the upper house. Under Mr Brumby's plan, endorsed by cabinet yesterday, the Law Reform Commission will be asked to advise the Government on how to remove abortion offences from the Crimes Act and to clarify under what circumstances terminating a pregnancy would be legal. (08/21/07)
Amnesty ends abortion neutrality
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6952558.stm
Amnesty International has confirmed its controversial decision to back abortion in some circumstances, replacing its previous policy of neutrality. The human rights group will campaign for woman to have access to abortion in cases including rape and incest. The initial decision was taken in April, but Amnesty delegates meeting in Mexico gave it overwhelming support. (08/18/07)
NY recognizes Canada's same-sex marriages
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=7f7342bb-18fe-4704-bf96-0e894f058a62
In a landmark case, an American court has ruled that gay couples who tie the knot in Canada can be treated as legally married in the state of New York. Justice Joan Lefkowitz of the New York Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex marriages performed outside the country are valid, even though gay New Yorkers cannot be legally married in their home state. This is the first time Canadian same-sex marriage laws have triumphed in U.S. court, according to Alphonso David, a lawyer for the gay rights group Lambda Legal, which intervened in the case. (08/17/07)
Camel No. 9's are anti-feminist?
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352405390&path=!business&s=1037645507703
Many women’s and public-health organizations have called on R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to remove its Camel No. 9 cigarette brand from retail shelves. Reynolds introduced the brand in February. It says that the cigarettes are aimed at adult female smokers, a market segment where Camel has performed poorly. (08/17/07)
Japan, naked news stripped of subsidy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070817/od_nm/japan_naked1_dc
An embarrassed Japanese government has cut the subsidy, but a Tokyo TV company said on Friday it would carry on making a striptease news show with sign language for hearing-impaired viewers. The government made grants totaling 400,000 yen ($3,500) to help cover production of the weekly five-minute program on satellite TV, which features a newsreader who removes her clothes between news items that she delivers in sign language. The funding dried up when the government, under fire for supporting "Naked Sign Language News," changed funding guidelines for programming aimed at the disabled to exclude pornography, local media reported. (08/17/07)
Abortion pill no risk for later pregnancy
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1524732820070815?sp=true
Abortion pills pose no apparent risk to a woman who later decides to have a child, according to a study of nearly 12,000 women in Denmark who had a chemical or surgical abortion. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine found no difference in the rates of subsequent tubal pregnancies, miscarriages, premature births or low birthweight births for women who had previously had surgical abortion, usually through vacuum aspiration, or those taking any of the three drug regimens that eliminate a fetus (08/16/07)
Canada, little truck of horrors
http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/city/little-truck-horrors/
The pro-life group that yesterday deployed a box-body truck baring giant images of aborted fetuses has been disowned by one of the city’s top spiritual leaders. Bishop Fred Henry has branded the images “a violation of human dignity” and has withdrawn his support of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR), which launched the Reproductive Choice Campaign to show the public what they call the “horrors of tax-funded abortion.” In a Canadian first, the truck, plastered with photos of miniature bodies covered in blood, was due to take to the streets, stepping up a battle that is normally heavily supported by the Catholic Church. (08/09/07)
Hamas recruits women officers
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/me_hamas_08_14.asp
In August, the Hamas regime has cracked down on Fatah-led demonstrations in the northern and central Gaza Strip and has decided to recruit women police officers.. Officials said the police force in the Gaza Strip would recruit women. They said the women would be trained for a range of duties. "We plan to add 100 women officers to the Gaza force," an official said. (08/14/07)
China punishes nearly 350 porn sites
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070814-104435-6806r
Chinese authorities have punished 348 Internet Web sites for publishing "pornographic novels" online, citing social order concerns, state media reported Tuesday. Some of those Web sites have even been closed down, said Xinhua news agency, without stating the exact number. Publishing pornographic novels online "causes great harm to the psychological development of young people" and violates China's laws on Internet and publishing, Xinhua quoted the state press watchdog as saying. (08/14/07)
Desegregation pioneer dies at 90
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070813/ap_on_re_us/obit_kirkaldy
Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a black woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to white passengers led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision more than a decade before Rosa Parks gained recognition for doing the same, has died at 90. Kirkaldy, born Irene Morgan in Baltimore in 1917, was arrested in 1944 for refusing to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus heading from Gloucester to Baltimore, and for resisting arrest. (08/13/07)
Canada, new hearing on 'abortion' refugee
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=fc232470-8ada-4634-afb1-120f81affc76&k=46526
The Federal Court of Canada on Monday ordered that Xiu Ying Cao, 23, receive a new hearing on her claim that she would be subjected to forced sterilization if she returned to China as an unmarried mother. Last year, the Immigration and Refugee Board rejected Cao’s claim for refugee status, saying there was no evidence she would be persecuted under China’s one-child policy, as she argued. (08/10/07)
Spread of HIV-AIDS linked to FGM
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3273
Female genital mutilation and the feminization of HIV-AIDS are slowly being linked, especially in the three African countries--Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan--where the most extreme FGM is predominant. (08/10/07)
'Hate crimes' don't require 'hate'
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57057
A judge in New York has ruled evidence of "hatred" is unnecessary for a prosecutor to pursue a "hate crimes" case against three men arrested for the death of a homosexual man. The written ruling came from Judge Jill Konviser of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, and concluded prosecutors only need to show that the man, who was beaten and then hit by a vehicle in a robbery attempt, was picked because of his sexual orientation, according to a report in the New York Times. (08/07/07)
Maine's new DV law
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4123871.html
The law distinguishes "domestic violence assault," "domestic violence criminal threatening," "domestic violence terrorizing," "domestic violence stalking," and "domestic violence reckless conduct" from offenses that are similar but do not occur in a household. The domestic violence crimes will be categorized as Class D offenses, for which violators may be imprisoned for up to a year. However, a crucial part of the law stipulates that the crimes become more serious Class C offenses if committed more than once by the same person, or by someone who has been served with a protection order within the previous three years. Accordingly, repeat offenders may face up to five years in prison. "For years and years, women activists have been trying to figure out how to really make it possible for prosecutors to really talk directly about what's happening with domestic violence," said Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Cumberland County, who sponsored the bill. (07/25/07)
Iran bans paper for 'interviewing homosexual'
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070806095526.00m0bz7t&show_article=1
Iran has shut down a leading moderate daily for the second time in less than a year after it published an interview with a woman accused of being a homosexual activist. "I have been told that the press watchdog has ordered the ban. We have not been officially notified yet," Mehdi Rahmanian, Shargh's licence holder and managing director, told AFP. "We had an article which was an interview with an expatriate writer. They said she had moral problems, they say she is homosexual and promotes that in her weblog. But we talked to her as a poet," he added. (08/06/07)
Job market out of sync with women?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003822060_parttimemoms05.html
In an eye-catching national survey from the Pew Research Center released last month, fully 60 percent of working mothers now say part-time work is their ideal rather than full-time, compared with 48 percent a decade ago (08/05/07)
China bans crude birth control slogans
http://www.examiner.com/a-864639~China_Bans_Crude_Birth_Control_Slogans.html
China's top family planning agency has cracked down on crude and insensitive slogans used by rural authorities to enforce the country's strict population limits, state media said Sunday. Slogans such as 'Raise fewer babies but more piggies,' and 'One more baby means one more tomb,' have been forbidden and a list of 190 acceptable slogans issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. (08/05/07)
India, protests v. sex-selection abortions
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyid=2007-08-01T132555Z_01_SP15334_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDIA-FOETICIDE.xml
Hundreds of women marched through the streets of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar to protest at a growing number of cases involving female feticide, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. Waving placards that read "hang the murderers" and "spare the girls" the demonstrators called on authorities to crack down harder on private clinics accused of being involved in illegal sex determination and abortion of female fetuses (08/01/07)
Pratibha fights for unborn girls
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/26/d707261301105.htm
India's first woman president was sworn into office yesterday and promised to fight for the rights of women and an end to the widespread practice of aborting female foetuses. (07/26/07)
Iraqi women and renewed violence
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/57844/
Haifaa Nour, 33-year-old president of the Women’s Freedom Organisation (WFO), one of the few women’s rights organisations in Iraq, said the threatening letters she had recently been receiving would not deter her from her job, even if it cost her her life. However, she acknowledged that for a woman activist the risks of doing humanitarian work were increasing daily. “After the US-led invasion in 2003, women’s rights were well recognised... but unfortunately in the past two years our situation has deteriorated and the targeting of activists and women aid workers has increased, forcing dozens to give up their jobs,” Haifaa said. (07/24/07)
Arab female journalists & press freedom
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3248/context/cover/
In a region still ruled by kings and queens and governed by gender-specific laws on roles and clothing, 60 Arab female journalists convened in Jordan to discuss two sizzling issues affecting them every day: press freedom and women's equality. (07/22/07)
Life sentences for honour killers
http://www.orange.co.uk/news/topstories/5964.htm?linkfrom=%3C!--linkfromvariable--
The father of honour killing victim Banaz Mahmod has been jailed for life. Mahmod Mahmod, 52, was told he would serve a minimum term of 20 years. His brother Ari, 51, also received a life sentence and will serve at least 23 years. A third killer Mohamad Hama, 30, was told he would spend at least 17 years behind bars (07/20/07)
Iranian crack down on dress codes
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-07-15T222821Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-284861-1.xml&archived=False
Iranian police will intensify a crackdown on women flouting Islamic dress code, a police official told a newspaper on Sunday, in the first reinforcement of regular summertime campaigns. Such crackdowns have become a regular feature of Iranian life, but it is the first time police have pledged to toughen up measures that began in April. A human rights group on Saturday criticised Iran for abuses like police crackdowns on violations of the Islamic dress code. It said some 488 men and women were detained during the first days of the crackdown. (07/15/07)
Portugal's abortion law opposed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070715/hl_afp/portugalabortion_070715190802
A Portuguese law that legalizes abortions during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy went into effect on Sunday, but local press reports indicated at least nine of 50 public hospitals in the country could not guarantee access to the procedure. Why? A large number of doctors in Portugal were refusing to carry out a law that took effect Sunday permitting abortions up to the 10th week of pregnancy (07/15/07)
India, pregnancies must be registered
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-07-13T135329Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-284547-3.xml
India plans to create a registry of all pregnancies to help curb widespread female foeticide and reduce its high infant mortality rate, although activists say the scheme will be hard to implement. (07/13/07)
China bans push-up bras
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070928/od_nm/china_bras_dc;_ylt=ApUbqbEtfFEAvvlio1aGmL4SH9EA
Days after banning "sexually provocative sounds" on television, China has now stopped networks showing "saucy" adverts for push-up bras and figure-hugging underwear ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month. Other targets of the crackdown are "low-brow and base" commercials for sex toys and those featuring famous people or experts attesting to the efficacy of medicines, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said on its Web site (www.sarft.gov.cn) Friday (09/28/07)
Iran's persecution of gays
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297982,00.html
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's seemingly ridiculous claim that "we don't have homosexuals, like in your country" masks the cruel reality that his government does far worse than ignore gays, human rights groups charge. "There are criminal laws on the books in Iran that allows for people to be killed for being homosexual," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Just how many gays may have been killed — some say the figure is more than 400 — is impossible to determine. (09/25/07)
Aussie schools to abandon Amnesty?
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/sep/07092504.html
Amnesty International is facing yet another national backlash after its recent policy decision to promote the decriminalization of abortion world-wide. All 328 Catholic schools in the Melbourne archdiocese of Australia have been counseled to withdraw all aid to Amnesty and close their school sponsored Amnesty support groups. (09/25/07)
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BFO is a not for profit project supporting feminist activities and actions in Brisbane. Thanks to ifeminists and weekly feminist news digest for the international news and to local women’s groups for the local news. Editor: Kitty has a passion for feminism and community building and combines her two loves in this newsletter. You can contact her on 0409 548 892 if you need to speak to her. Assist Editor and Feature Writer: Andrea is an economist with the State Government when she isn’t motor biking, photographing or doing some other exciting thing.
Subscribe to this monthly newsletter at www.brisbanefeminismonline.net
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