Another Reason I Love the Internet

As I have mentioned before, I am working on a paper examining the imagery in Gonzales v. Carhart, the US Supreme Court's recent opinion upholding a federal statute banning so-called "partial birth abortion." In particular, I am thinking about the almost complete disappearance of "the woman" whose physical and emotional well-being, present and future, depends on the Court's decision. Almost complete, because she leaves her vagina behind and subject to intense scrutiny as she otherwise vanishes from the Court's view, like a bizarre Cheshire Cat. Now, I have a friend who I know from an internet forum who includes a picture of this carving as part of her signature:

Parochial mid-American bumpkin that I am, I had no idea what this was until she told me it is a sheela na gig, one of hundreds found in nooks and crannies of old Norman churches all over Ireland, England and Wales. Whatever its origin, which is lost in the mists of time, the sheela na gig is a wonderful image to compare to the Court's crotch shot for many reasons I haven't even had time to explore yet, among them the fact that the sheela's alert and cheerful face is as prominent as her pudendum, over which she is clearly exercising control.

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Feminism, Abortion, Law, Mothers, Internet

Just Talk Among Yourselves

In the past 10 days I have finished grading my exams, wrapped up a student disciplinary matter, caught up with the laundry, moved everything back into my newly remodeled kitchen, moved everything out of the rest of the living/dining room and hallway to get the wood floors sanded, ridden along while my son learns to drive, and bought a hiking pole, hat and boots for my upcoming trip hiking in the rain in Wales and England (as well as some theoretically wrinkle-proof, more-or-less presentable clothing to wear at the two conferences paying for the trip). All I need to do in the next two weeks is write up two papers, one of which has been festering in my mind for so long that actually expelling it will be an event on the order of Zeus giving birth to Athena. That should be worth a few SSRN downloads.

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Navel Gazing

Her Eyes Follow You Around the Museum

Another theft from Natalie at Philobiblon: But What Does It Mean?

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Feminism, Art

Cradle or Grave

Cradle or Grave is a review by Michele Pridmore-Brown of three books on childbirth in the May 30, 2007 Times Literary Supplement. Looking at birthing through history and internationally, these books show "the extent to which birth is in fact not just some timeless event, but culture- and class-mediated," subject to religious manipulation, scientific vigilantism and expensive and often harmful fads. The review also focuses on the appallingly high rate of infant and maternal mortality in the US:

Proof that things are amiss in the US: it has the second worst newborn mortality figures in the industrialized world, despite having the most expensive maternity system. Women are 70 per cent more likely to die in childbirth in the US than in Europe.

In his book "Born in the USA" Marsden Wagner wonders how Americans continue to be duped by the obstetrical industry:

Obstreticians are still too much “like priests in white robes”, writes Wagner, practising in insular “cathedrals”; continuing the metaphor, pregnant women are then faithful parishioners when they should be sceptics. Wagner enjoins pregnant women to shun any birth book that advises “trusting your doctor” or “listening to your doctor”. Such phrases are red flags. Instead, they should trust the scientific evidence and “trust their bodies”. I am not sure what trusting one’s body means, given that interpreting bodily signs is itself a culturally mediated, indeed often faddish, affair – as Cassidy’s book makes abundantly clear. But, certainly, basing decisions on scientific evidence is sound advice – that is, assuming the evidence is robust. And Wagner does marshal plenty of evidence that midwives are the safest attendants for low-risk births – because they are trained to wait patiently for and facilitate birth, rather than to intervene in and/or hasten it. Evidence also suggests that when the C-section rate goes over 15 per cent, the maternal mortality rate increases. And evidence also shows that planned home births for low-risk patients are as safe as hospital births. But Wagner’s trump card when it comes to policy is probably the bottom line: acting on this evidence in the US would not only lower death rates but save vast sums of money.

Read the whole review, and support your local midwife.
HT Natalie at Philobiblon

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Feminism, Mothers

The Carnival of Feminists is as old as Jack Benny!

The 39th Carnival of Feminists is up at Laurelin in the Rain, one of my favorite blogs. Check it out today and every day.

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Feminism, Carnivals

2d Carnival of Radical Feminists!

The Second Carnival of Radical Feminists is up at Feminist Law Professors!( Can a law professor be a radical feminist?) Check it out.

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Feminism, Carnivals

Support Domestic Workers' Bills of Rights

From Salty Femme:

June 5th is Blog for Domestic Workers day! The event is in conjunction with a massive Town Hall meeting and accountability session at Judson Memorial Church in New York City on Thursday, June 7th. Domestic Workers United (DWU), an organization of nannies, housecleaners, and elderly care givers, is pushing a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights through the state legislature in Albany. If passed, it would be the first legislation of its kind, guaranteeing basic rights to domestic workers in New York state. Domestic workers have been excluded from most federal and state labor laws, including the National Labor Relations Act.

Read more about the action in New York here.

Last year, members of the California Household Workers' Coalition co-wrote Assembly Bill 2536, requiring overtime compensation for household workers and protecting them from employers who fail to pay workers or abuse them. The bill passed both houses of the California legislature but was vetoed by the Governator.

Domestic workers are singularly in need of protection. Working conditions of household workers were surveyed in 2004 by three grassroots organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mujeres Unidas Activas, the Women’s Collective of La Raza Centro Legal, and People Organized to Win Employment Rights.

From Race, Poverty & the Environment: A Journal for Social and Environmental Justice:

The surveys revealed that most Bay Area household workers typically support two adults and two children on average, but more than 80 percent of them do not earn enough to support a family of this size. One in three workers reported that in the last two months they had worked more hours than agreed. There were also claims that employers shame and bully their workers, so they are too intimidated to fight effectively for their rights. . . .
The surveys reflect the extreme marginalization experienced by domestic workers: More than 95 percent of the surveyed women attested to the dire need for better wages, safer workplaces, paid overtime, sick days, holidays, health benefits, and the right to unionize and protect their rights. Other concerns expressed included not being paid on time, or being paid less than the agreed amount. And almost 10 percent reported that they had been sexually harassed or experienced some sort of violence on the job, while about a third reported being insulted or threatened by employers.

Despite the overwhelming predominance of women among domestic workers and the thoroughly gendered nature of their work, mainstream feminists have paid shamefully little attention to these issues, perhaps because so much mainstream feminism is made possible by the exploitation of household workers. This is no excuse.

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Feminism, Justice, Immigration, Mothers, Domestic Workers

SisterSong Celebrates 10th Anniversary

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and Second National Conference in Chicago this weekend. The conference, in Chicago, is entitled "Let's Talk about Sex":

Why?: Since the right to have sex is a topic rarely discussed when addressing reproductive health and rights issues, SisterSong believes that sexual prohibitions are not only promoted by moral conservatives in this country, but also by reproductive rights advocates who fail to promote a sex-positive culture. We believe that sex for pro-creation or sexual pleasure is a human right, and we are striving to create a pro-sex space for the pro-choice movement.

In preparation for presenting a paper this summer examining the language and imagery of Gonzales v. Carhart I have been trying to get some measure of what I don't know about reproductive justice, explained by SisterSong as

reproductive health integrated into social justice. . . . an intersectional theory emerging from the experiences of women of color whose communities experience reproductive oppression. It is based on the understanding
that the impact on women of color of race, class and gender are not additive but integrative.

To that end I have spent several humbling and enlightening hours--and will spend many, many more--reading SisterSong's newspaper Collective Voices. I was already aware how the "abortion debate" distorts what is at stake for women and men in the assault on reproductive rights, and of the ways anti-choice legislation, with the help of the Supreme Court, has systematically restricted the availability of abortion and reproductive choice generally to educated, urban, affluent women. But I'm learning that restrictions on abortion can't really be combatted or even intelligently discussed without broadening the focus to include forced sterilization, criminalized pregnancy, "population control" and eugenics. By contrast, the Supreme Court's focus in Gonzales v. Carhart narrows to exclude women altogether,

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Feminism, Justice, Abortion, Mothers, Race

Wisdom on Gonzales and Race

Here is an interesting piece by XicanoPwr on the complexity of latino/a support for Alberto Gonzales: Well, It’s About Time: Latino Civil Rights Groups Finally See The Light.

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Race, Alberto Gonzales