UPDATE: This same article has also been posted on Kabulpress. (The link is on the right side of this page)
I submitted an article for publishing on two blogs and it was accepted on both of them. Feministing published my piece on it's "community" page a few days ago and RH Reality Check has agreed to publish it early next week. Hooray!!
Here it is again, (I guess this makes three blogs now).
The military is very fond of parading little tokens of femininity. They point to female mascots such as Molly Pitcher and Margaret Corbin. Being the spouse of a soldier is touted as the “toughest job in the army.” They like the idea of women’s service. They like to toast the spouses at formal dinners and applaud them at deployment ceremonies. Like yellow ribbons on the backs of cars, these gestures mean little. The military is less appreciative of and less willing to accommodate women’s actual service. A female helicopter pilot within the army recently told me that her male colleagues often made her feel unwelcome by “forgetting” to make her aware of last minute changes in plans and refusing to sit with her at meal times. A naval officer I spoke with confided that he did not approve of integrated (meaning men and women) crews and attributed higher rates of violence within such integrated crews to “[so many] women with synchronized cycles.” It is unsurprising to learn that women who serve in the military and female family members of service members have their reproductive rights significantly curtailed. A woman facing an unwanted pregnancy who is tied to the military by marriage or by contract faces restricted access to the choices that were rightfully and legally hers before she got married or signed a contract. When I married my husband, a soldier, I knew that I was joining a community that was largely disinterested in the female experience, I didn’t know that they would have such a profound effect on women facing an unwanted pregnancy.
While condoms are widely available for sale (and often given out for free in the Navy), base and post pharmacies are not required to stock emergency contraception and the majority of state side facilities choose not to, to say nothing of overseas installations. Because there is no law requiring that it be available, the choice in this instance is up to the base commander. In places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait emergency contraception is nearly impossible to obtain, while condoms are still relatively easy. The ubiquity of condoms compared to the rarity of emergency contraception is telling. While the military is very interested in protecting its male members from the risks of intercourse, they are clearly less invested in protecting their female members.
Female service members have almost no privacy when it comes to this issue. Pregnancy tests, while easily available stateside, are not reliably available to women serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. If a woman suspects she is pregnant and cannot get a home test she has to go to a medic who will prescribe one and if the results are positive, the medic will inform her chain of command. Whether or not she intends to continue the pregnancy is irrelevant. Pregnant service members who are deployed are immediately sent back to their normal duty stations. (I knew one woman serving in Iraq who took a pregnancy test in the morning, found out it was positive and was on a plane back to the United States that evening.) If she miscarries or terminates the pregnancy she will be sent back to wherever her unit is serving, thus providing plenty of fodder for the military’s incessant rumor mill. She will likely be “slut-shamed” or shamed for making a choice with which her superiors might disagree. This in turn, damages her cohesion with her unit and raises her stress level, which raises her risk for suicide, something the military knows a lot about.
It’s well known that the military has appalling rates of sexual assault particularly for women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a woman living on an army installation, I had a much higher chance of being raped and murdered by my husband than anyone else. According to statistics released by the Department of Defense, the rate of sexual assault rose eight percent worldwide between 2008 and 2009 but rose 26% for women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though alarming, these are just the numbers for reported assaults. According to the Department of Justice, 60% of sexual assaults are unreported. One has to wonder, how many rapes resulted in unwanted pregnancy? How many of those could have been prevented by emergency contraception? Why is the military so unwilling to make it available? Why are they so uninterested in protecting their sisters-in-arms? More importantly, why is the military so slow in creating a safe working environment for women? Why is it so hard?
Abortions in military hospitals cannot be performed except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. If the woman happens to be living or working stateside then she may be able to travel to a civilian provider to have the procedure. However, many military installations are in rural areas that have poor access to reproductive health care services already. Out of the five states with the highest number of military installations, four were given a grade of “D” or lower by NARAL Pro-Choice America regarding the availability of reproductive health care. The difficulties for women do not end there. If said woman is living or working in one of the many, many overseas installations, she can try to obtain an abortion in that country (if it’s legal and available), or she can travel home, losing time and money in the process. Furthermore, military health insurance only covers abortions performed to save the life of the mother. Rape and incest victims have to pay for any abortions themselves. (On a side note, the military’s health care provider also refuses to cover forensic rape kits.) Abortion is legal for all American women unless that woman is living or working on an American base within a foreign country. It’s a common joke that once you sign the papers to join a service, (or marry a service member), then that service “owns” you. This seems to be more true for women than it is for men. The ability to create life is one of the ways we define “woman,” and the military seems determined to inflict its arbitrary rules upon the lives of the women it owns.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Another Art Form
Beading! I made the necklace and the earrings today because I needed a distraction before the LSAT tomorrow. Beading, like knitting, is soothing to me and the results are just as pleasing.
The red beads are carnelian which focuses mental abilities, inspires confidence, motivation and determination. Ancient warriors carried it with them into battle. I will wear it with me tomorrow.
The red beads are carnelian which focuses mental abilities, inspires confidence, motivation and determination. Ancient warriors carried it with them into battle. I will wear it with me tomorrow.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Mingus Socks
I made these socks from a Cookie A pattern called "Mingus." This is the second pattern I've bought from this designer. The first one made me cry and caused me to think very bad things about Ms. Cookie A. My experience with Mingus was much more positive, though. Presumably, they're named for Charles Mingus who was an avante-garde jazz bassist during the 1950's and 1960's. Like a lot of jazz musicians he had quite a temper and was known as "the angry man of jazz." Amanda tells me that well-rounded jazz musicians are hard to come by. She once attended a concert in which the performer lowered his horn to ridicule a late-arriving audience member.
Anywho... the socks are quite beautiful even if their namesake robbed a trombonist of his career by punching him in the mouth. They took an eternity to make, (almost two months). I finished them today and am glad to be done with them.
In other knitting news... my local yarn shop is hosting Cookie A at the end of July. She's teaching four or five classes and I signed up to take two of them. I am really, really excited.
Anywho... the socks are quite beautiful even if their namesake robbed a trombonist of his career by punching him in the mouth. They took an eternity to make, (almost two months). I finished them today and am glad to be done with them.
In other knitting news... my local yarn shop is hosting Cookie A at the end of July. She's teaching four or five classes and I signed up to take two of them. I am really, really excited.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thank you, Captain Obvious!!
The Guttmacher Institute just released a study stating that mandatory "counseling" and delays before a woman receives an abortion don't work. They studied Mississippi, which has mandatory waiting period as well as "counseling" laws on the books. They found that there was a decline in abortions within the state, however there was an increase in women going out of state to seek abortions and an increase in delays in accessing abortion services. Eighty-seven percent of counties within the United States do not have abortion providers and there is only one abortion provider in the entire state of Mississippi.
This study reminds me of that one done a few years ago that said women really do have cramps, headaches and fatigue during their periods. (Hooray!!! We weren't all making it up! Don't you feel relieved?) My response to this study was "um... doy." Smart people everywhere already knew this. I am not saying that anti-choice people are not smart. They are very smart - they know that they cannot change women's minds about abortion so they chip away at access to it. They're saying, "Sure!!! you can have an abortion just as soon as you drive several hours to a provider, find out there's a mandatory delay, spend money on a hotel room, call the babysitter and beg her to stay overnight, thus spending more money. Oh, and you'll need to call your employer and tell them you're going to miss another day, while hoping and praying that they don't fire you. Then, right before you finally have the abortion, you'll be treated like a child and have to listen to someone tell you shit you already know, like that the thing in your stomach is actually a baby, and have you really, REALLY thought about the consequences of your actions today? Hmm? But sure, you can have an abortion. What's the big deal?"
They cannot legally stop women from having abortions but they can gum up access to it. I wonder if there's a correlation between people who support waiting periods for abortions but oppose them for guns... that's a study I'd like to see.
This study reminds me of that one done a few years ago that said women really do have cramps, headaches and fatigue during their periods. (Hooray!!! We weren't all making it up! Don't you feel relieved?) My response to this study was "um... doy." Smart people everywhere already knew this. I am not saying that anti-choice people are not smart. They are very smart - they know that they cannot change women's minds about abortion so they chip away at access to it. They're saying, "Sure!!! you can have an abortion just as soon as you drive several hours to a provider, find out there's a mandatory delay, spend money on a hotel room, call the babysitter and beg her to stay overnight, thus spending more money. Oh, and you'll need to call your employer and tell them you're going to miss another day, while hoping and praying that they don't fire you. Then, right before you finally have the abortion, you'll be treated like a child and have to listen to someone tell you shit you already know, like that the thing in your stomach is actually a baby, and have you really, REALLY thought about the consequences of your actions today? Hmm? But sure, you can have an abortion. What's the big deal?"
They cannot legally stop women from having abortions but they can gum up access to it. I wonder if there's a correlation between people who support waiting periods for abortions but oppose them for guns... that's a study I'd like to see.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Things that Grow
As you may or may not know, Evan was recently home on leave. We had a wonderful time until he left early yesterday morning. I feel like I've been dropped back into the days shortly after he left in December. I love it when he comes home on R&R but it throws off my rhythm. After he leaves, I have to work hard at re-acclimating myself to living on my own.
Today, to distract myself from my feelings, I went and bought plants for my balcony. It is much nicer out there now - it was all concrete and metal before. I bought one large palm and two red hibiscuses. (Also, I checked in the dictionary - the plural of hibiscus is "hibiscuses" not "hibisci" which would be better, I think).
The very grizzled man who helped me select plants, sold the palm to me as a "palm." He neglected to mention the noun that "palm" modifies which is "tree." I bought a palm tree completely unawares (but at a very good price, I would have thought that trees would be more expensive). The tag stuck to his leaves informs me that this palm tree is a moderately fast grower and that he can reach up to 40 ft. tall. Oh dear.
Today, to distract myself from my feelings, I went and bought plants for my balcony. It is much nicer out there now - it was all concrete and metal before. I bought one large palm and two red hibiscuses. (Also, I checked in the dictionary - the plural of hibiscus is "hibiscuses" not "hibisci" which would be better, I think).
The very grizzled man who helped me select plants, sold the palm to me as a "palm." He neglected to mention the noun that "palm" modifies which is "tree." I bought a palm tree completely unawares (but at a very good price, I would have thought that trees would be more expensive). The tag stuck to his leaves informs me that this palm tree is a moderately fast grower and that he can reach up to 40 ft. tall. Oh dear.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Can I Just Say...
One of the major problems with feminism today is that there is no consensus on what feminism is. There is no central party platform. There is no real definition of a feminist. People like Sarah Palin can call themselves feminists and we cannot authoritatively deny them. We can't agree about what a pro-female society should look like. There are anti-abortion feminists and pro-choice feminists. There are "pro-sex" feminists and "anti-pornography" feminists. (Guess which group I'm in). None of this even touches the huge debate about sex workers who call themselves feminists. Are these women playing into the preset patriarchal conditions by making themselves available to men "on demand?" Or are they just rejecting the ideas that a woman's sexuality is something that needs to be controlled through institutions such as marriage and slut shaming?
My point is that we are not an organized bunch. I dream of the day that we are. In the meantime, however, a plurality of feminists can unite through our hatred of mediated images of women, with television commercials being the worst offenders. Have you ever noticed that birth control commercials market birth control as "period control" (you'll have shorter, lighter periods!!) instead of actual birth control? Pads and tampons are marketed as feminine "hygeine." This makes me irate. My cunt is not dirty. Stop trying to clean it with your wads of bleached, white cotton and your images of bright, spring days and flowers in bloom. It does what it is supposed to do, it smells the way it is supposed to smell and it looks the way it is supposed to look. I could go on and on and on and on and on some more about how terribly women are portrayed in the media. In my first year of college I wrote a paper about mediated images of women. I made an A.
Anyway, what I've been wanting to say is that commericals suck. But every now and then there's one that markets to women as well as portrays them, respectfully. Voila, exhibit A:
This commercial is for a Spanish mattress company and it ran in Spain. The couple is talking about how their bed is special to them because it's where their son was born and it's where they would like their daughter to be born as well. The slogan at the end says "Your bed; the most important place in the world." This ad makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and I had to share. (If you need more warm and fuzzies, check out this non-heteronormative ad that ran in France. The text says "And you? How do you sleep?" It's a play on words, because it sounds similar to "Comment-allez vous?" which is the formal way of asking how a person is doing.)
In other news... you may have heard that scientists in China have completed trials for a male, hormonal contraceptive shot. So far, the study shows that it works and that it could be as effective as the female pill or condoms. This is good news; we seem to be quite a bit closer to male contraception. I wondered though, since female birth control is marketed as "period control," how will this pure contraceptive be marketed to men? Evan thinks that since it is "normal" and acceptable for men to not want children, the marketing might be very straight-forward. This makes sense, since society is pretty suspicious of women who don't want children. Feministing has some ideas for commercials and wouldn't you know it, so do I. Here's my vision:
It's a bright, sunny day and a group of four to six men of all age ranges, laughing and talking stroll up to an outdoor shooting range with rifles and pistols in hand. They take cover behind barriers and begin to fire at a variety of targets, some are concentric red and white circles and some are outlines of a large man. As shots are fired none of the targets are impacted. After some time, the men get up and walk away clapping each other on the back and congratulating themselves. As they leave the field the tagline appears : Shooting blanks... sometimes it's what you want to do. Then a female voice over says "Talk to your doctor about Testonex."
I think I'm clever.
My point is that we are not an organized bunch. I dream of the day that we are. In the meantime, however, a plurality of feminists can unite through our hatred of mediated images of women, with television commercials being the worst offenders. Have you ever noticed that birth control commercials market birth control as "period control" (you'll have shorter, lighter periods!!) instead of actual birth control? Pads and tampons are marketed as feminine "hygeine." This makes me irate. My cunt is not dirty. Stop trying to clean it with your wads of bleached, white cotton and your images of bright, spring days and flowers in bloom. It does what it is supposed to do, it smells the way it is supposed to smell and it looks the way it is supposed to look. I could go on and on and on and on and on some more about how terribly women are portrayed in the media. In my first year of college I wrote a paper about mediated images of women. I made an A.
Anyway, what I've been wanting to say is that commericals suck. But every now and then there's one that markets to women as well as portrays them, respectfully. Voila, exhibit A:
This commercial is for a Spanish mattress company and it ran in Spain. The couple is talking about how their bed is special to them because it's where their son was born and it's where they would like their daughter to be born as well. The slogan at the end says "Your bed; the most important place in the world." This ad makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and I had to share. (If you need more warm and fuzzies, check out this non-heteronormative ad that ran in France. The text says "And you? How do you sleep?" It's a play on words, because it sounds similar to "Comment-allez vous?" which is the formal way of asking how a person is doing.)
In other news... you may have heard that scientists in China have completed trials for a male, hormonal contraceptive shot. So far, the study shows that it works and that it could be as effective as the female pill or condoms. This is good news; we seem to be quite a bit closer to male contraception. I wondered though, since female birth control is marketed as "period control," how will this pure contraceptive be marketed to men? Evan thinks that since it is "normal" and acceptable for men to not want children, the marketing might be very straight-forward. This makes sense, since society is pretty suspicious of women who don't want children. Feministing has some ideas for commercials and wouldn't you know it, so do I. Here's my vision:
It's a bright, sunny day and a group of four to six men of all age ranges, laughing and talking stroll up to an outdoor shooting range with rifles and pistols in hand. They take cover behind barriers and begin to fire at a variety of targets, some are concentric red and white circles and some are outlines of a large man. As shots are fired none of the targets are impacted. After some time, the men get up and walk away clapping each other on the back and congratulating themselves. As they leave the field the tagline appears : Shooting blanks... sometimes it's what you want to do. Then a female voice over says "Talk to your doctor about Testonex."
I think I'm clever.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Knight in Shining... Kevlar?
Yesterday a very suspicious package was mailed to the Texas NARAL office. It was heavy and cylindrical and had no return address. The police are investigating and the package has not been opened. I was working from home and heard about this second-hand and after the fact. Evan was online shortly after I heard about it and I mentioned it to him. Our conversation went something like this:
Bethany: Someone mailed a possible pipe-bomb to our PO box.
Evan: WTF???? Call a bomb squad and get out of the office!!!
Evan: Actually, get out of the office and THEN call a bomb squad!!!
Bethany: The Executive Director hasn't opened it; the police are going to scan it on Monday.
Evan: You all take classes about handling suspicious objects, right?
Bethany: umm... no...
Evan: Why the **** not???
Bethany: I don't know... probably because they cost money and/or are hard to come by...
Evan: I'm going down there and giving one then!
Bethany: Are you really qualified to do that?
Evan: Ummm, I'm a hell of a lot more qualified than the person who's giving them now! And, there was that year I spent looking for suspicious objects and rendering them null.... And then there was last week.... and the week before that..... **** yes, I'm qualified!
Bethany: Well, alright, I'll email the ED
Evan: I mean, do you guys even have a poster up from the post office or anything?
Bethany: no
Evan:WTF???
Evan: You guys are like pre-9/11 America!! Those ******* have declared ******* war on you, dear!! And they are squatting in their caves dreaming of death and destruction!!!
Bethany: ...I don't think the anti-choice-crazies live in caves... I think they live in suburbia...
Evan: their basements, then
Evan: Email your boss. Tell her I am coming down there and teaching them how to deal with IEDs and UXO. I'm totally doing this.
Evan: For the **** of ****, I have a project now.
Bethany: You're very sweet. I love you.
Evan: I love you too.
I did email my boss and she is ecstatic. She is inviting representatives from other organizations who receive occasional threats. I'll let you know how the class goes.
Bethany: Someone mailed a possible pipe-bomb to our PO box.
Evan: WTF???? Call a bomb squad and get out of the office!!!
Evan: Actually, get out of the office and THEN call a bomb squad!!!
Bethany: The Executive Director hasn't opened it; the police are going to scan it on Monday.
Evan: You all take classes about handling suspicious objects, right?
Bethany: umm... no...
Evan: Why the **** not???
Bethany: I don't know... probably because they cost money and/or are hard to come by...
Evan: I'm going down there and giving one then!
Bethany: Are you really qualified to do that?
Evan: Ummm, I'm a hell of a lot more qualified than the person who's giving them now! And, there was that year I spent looking for suspicious objects and rendering them null.... And then there was last week.... and the week before that..... **** yes, I'm qualified!
Bethany: Well, alright, I'll email the ED
Evan: I mean, do you guys even have a poster up from the post office or anything?
Bethany: no
Evan:WTF???
Evan: You guys are like pre-9/11 America!! Those ******* have declared ******* war on you, dear!! And they are squatting in their caves dreaming of death and destruction!!!
Bethany: ...I don't think the anti-choice-crazies live in caves... I think they live in suburbia...
Evan: their basements, then
Evan: Email your boss. Tell her I am coming down there and teaching them how to deal with IEDs and UXO. I'm totally doing this.
Evan: For the **** of ****, I have a project now.
Bethany: You're very sweet. I love you.
Evan: I love you too.
I did email my boss and she is ecstatic. She is inviting representatives from other organizations who receive occasional threats. I'll let you know how the class goes.
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