Donie O’Sullivan from CNN reports:
A web developer and long-time activist, Sinreich grew suspicious when she noticed the page was posting what she recently called “weird, partisan memes that seemed totally out of character.” Then she saw that the event page was promoting the wrong date for the 2019 march.
While the vast majority of the pages and events had no followers or attendees, some of the fake events promoting the wrong march date became popular. Fake events for Philadelphia and Chicago received more than 10,000 RSVPs; the event posted for Seattle picked up more than 20,000. (As ever with numbers on social media sites, it is possible that at least some of the RSVPs came from fake accounts used to make a page seem more popular).
A Women’s March spokesperson told CNN that “many of these fake pages are used to sell merchandise, with the proceeds benefiting individuals instead of our movement. The efforts to capitalize on movement work isn’t new, but it is frustrating, particularly as we make an effort to only sell ethically sourced and produced merchandise — a rule these imposter pages don’t abide by.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/17/tech/womens-march-facebook-scam-bangladesh/index.html
Author: fem4admin39
Cursed: witches are planning a public hexing of Brett Kavanaugh
Sam Wolfson for the Guardian reports:
A coven of witches will gather in an occult bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday to place a hex on the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. Tickets to the event, which cost $10, with half the proceeds going to women’s and LGBT charities, have already sold out.
The ceremony has become a talking point for some rightwing commentators, who see it as part of a pattern of leftwing attacks on leading Trump allies. On Fox News last Friday, Tucker Carlson discussed the coven’s plans, taking particular umbrage with their idea to donate 25% of proceeds to Planned Parenthood, which he said would “help them continue to fund their human sacrifice rituals”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/15/witches-public-hexing-brett-kavanaugh
Ritual to Hex Brett Kavanaugh Eventbrite Invitation
Please join us for a publich hex on Brett Kavanaugh and upon all rapists and the patriarchy which emboldens, rewards and protects them. We will be embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised and it’s history as often the only weapon, the only means of exacting justice available to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him.
He will be the focal point, but by no means the only target, so bring your rage and and all of the axes you’ve got to grind. There will also be a second ritual afterward – “The Rites of the Scorned One” which seeks to validate, affirm, uphold and support those of us who have been wronged and who refuse to be silent any longer.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ritual-to-hex-brett-kavanaugh-tickets-51031211728
White Ribbon Australia Has Withdrawn Its Support For Reproductive Rights
Gina Rushton for Buzz Feed writes:
White Ribbon Australia no longer advocates for safe and legal abortion and has withdrawn a statement that said “all women should have complete control over their reproductive and sexual health”.
“We have withdrawn it because we are agnostic until our stakeholders tell us it is important to most of them,” the anti-domestic violence charity’s new chief executive Tracy McLeod Howe told BuzzFeed News.
“My job is to represent a movement of diverse members of a community who range in age and gender and religion and viewpoints.”
White Ribbon Australia did not announce the retraction, but BuzzFeed News understands members of the organisation contacted a number of pregnancy option counselling and sexual health providers to notify them of the shift on Thursday, the morning after politicians voted to decriminalise abortion in Queensland.
McLeod Howe told BuzzFeed News the decision had been coming for at least two weeks when “senior management” were “fielding calls from so many places”.
“I’ve been in my job for probably eight weeks and [White Ribbon
Australia’s reproductive rights statement has] come up again and again around Australia,” she said.
Multiple Christian parishes condemned the statement late last year, but McLeod Howe insisted the organisation hadn’t “buckled to Catholics” and that there were people from all facets of the community who didn’t agree with the statement.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/white-ribbon-australia-reproductive-rights-abortion
The push for peace sees Ethiopia's Cabinet become half female
Angela Priestley for Women’s Agenda reports:
In pursuit of peace and stability in his country, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has managed to do what very few around the world have done: appoint a Cabinet that’s half female.
The reshuffle comes as part of extensive reforms across the country, and sees women appointed to 10 of the 20 Cabinet roles. Abiy said that women are “less corrupt than men” when explaining the overhaul.
“Our women ministers will disprove the old adage that women can’t lead,” he told Parliament. “This is to show respect to the women for all the contribution they have made to the country.”
A number of women have been appointed to leadership positions for the first time in history during the reshuffle, including Aisha Mohammad, who becomes Ethiopia’s first female defence minister.
Abiy has also created a new peace ministry, led by Ethiopia’s first female speaker of Parliament, Muferiat Kamil (pictured above), leading Africa News to ask if she is now the most powerful woman in the country.
Incredibly, just over a week ago there were fears of a coup, after dozens of armed soldiers approached Abiy’s residence demanding pay rises. The soldiers were invited inside, without their weapons, and were able to meet with top officials. Abiy was later photographed doing push-ups with the soldiers.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/the-push-for-peace-sees-ethiopias-cabinet-become-half-female/
Help the Feminist Library build its new home, a Community Crowdfunding Project in London, Greater London, England on Crowdfunder
It’s official! The Feminist Library needs to move in Spring 2019!!!
We now need your support more than ever. We have found a potential new space but we urgently need to raise £30,000 to cover the basic costs of our move to a new home, as we need to leave our current premises in Spring 2019.
The Library has had various homes over the years, but has never had both a stable and adequate space for its valuable collection.
In 2016 we weathered the most recent crisis when we were faced with eviction. Thanks to massive community support we had a reprieve.
The Feminist Library is much more than just a library! It has been around for over 4 decades now, saving women’s histories – with over 7,000 books, 1,500 periodical titles and countless archives, pamphlets and ephemera – and providing a space in London for feminists and community groups to meet, organise, learn, create, or just have fun. We are a vitally important community space.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-the-feminist-library-build-its-new-home/
Abortion legalised in Queensland after historic vote
The New Daily reports:
Queensland women have been granted the right to opt for an abortion after the Senate voted to abolish the nineteenth-century laws which made terminations illegal.
The law changes passed state parliament 50 votes to 41 on Wednesday night after a two-day long debate.
Under the changes, abortion will be removed from the criminal code and made a health issue.
Women will be allowed to terminate pregnancies up to 22 weeks’ gestation with the approval of two independent doctors.
The changes also establish safe zones around clinics and medical facilities offering the procedure to stop staff and patients being harassed by anti-abortion activists.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/qld/2018/10/17/abortion-legalised-queensland/
Dennis Hof is dead, but his legacy lives on through those who advocate to legalize prostitution
Meghan Murphy for Feminist Current writes:
Prostitution does not exist for women’s benefit, it exists for men’s benefit. Exploitation is not an accident that happens, it is the point. Everyone knows — especially the pimps and brothel owners — that the women don’t want to be there. While those outside the trade — the middle class liberals and third wavers who rail on about “sex worker rights” — as well as the johns who wish to maintain the ridiculous fantasy that a woman they are paying to fuck really does desire them, may delude themselves into believing otherwise, the truth is obvious. People who desire each other don’t pay the other for sex acts.
Hof, one of America’s leading advocates for the legalization of prostitution, acts as a warning to us all. When asked what lessons he brought with him, via his previous experience working in the gas station and real estate industries, to brothel-ownership, he said, “First of all, believe in the product and then go out and sell it.”
This is what women are in prostitution: products to be bought, sold, and used by men. This is how pimps see them, how brothel-owners see them, and how johns see them. Not only does this view not change under legalization, but it is reinforced.
So-called leftists and feminists who promote the legalization of prostitution are nothing more than capitalists and misogynists in disguise. And while Dennis Hof may be dead, these “progressives” are carrying on his legacy.
https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/10/16/dennis-hof-dead-legacy-lives-advocate-legalize-prostitution/
The reality for front line workers in the fight against domestic, family and sexual violence
Joanna Holcombe at UNSW Newsroom writes:
Workers in services used by people affected by domestic and family violence and sexual assault are predominantly female (83%). They’re also ageing, with a quarter of staff set to reach retirement age in the next decade.
While almost all of the workers surveyed feel they’re making a difference in people’s lives, less than half of those surveyed feel they’re being paid fairly, and 2 in 5 worry about the future of the job.
These workers are important to Australia’s capacity to end gender-based violence. Recent ABS data tells us that 1 in 6 Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner, and 1 in 4 has experienced emotional abuse.
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/general/reality-front-line-workers-fight-against-domestic-family-and-sexual-violence
Contract Pregnancies Exposed: Surrogacy Contracts Don’t Protect Surrogate Mothers and Their Children
Jennifer Lahl for Stop Surrogacy Now writes:
The crux of the disagreement is over what should be done in order to minimize the harms to those women who serve as surrogates and to the children who are produced from these contract arrangements. How can we protect all the stakeholders, including the intended parents? Many trust that regulations, laws, and contracts will provide sufficient protection. My position, however, is that regulations, laws, and contracts do not—in fact, they cannot—protect women and children. The only way forward is to pass laws to stop surrogacy now.
Most contracts explicitly control the surrogate’s diet, exercise, living arrangements, travel, and activities. I’ve seen language requiring the surrogate to consume a vegan diet or only eat organic foods. Some intended parents do not permit the surrogate to dye her hair. One contract stipulated that “The Surrogate and her Husband agree that they will neither form, nor attempt to form, a parent-child relationship with any Child the surrogate may bear.” Contracting against maternal-child bonding, as if such a thing is even possible! . . . All of the surrogate’s medical information is available to the intended parents, who are often total strangers. . . . Contracts also regulate when the surrogate can engage in sexual activity and with whom.
Contracts also contain an Abortion/Termination Clause:
“Surrogate specifically agrees to terminate prior to eighteen weeks at the election and discretion of the Intended Parents.”
Fetal reduction is addressed as well:
“The Intended Parents reserve the ultimate and sole legal right to selectively reduce before the completion of twenty (20) weeks of gestation”
As a nurse, I have to confess that when I read this clause on end-of-life decision-making, my blood ran cold:“If the surrogate is in her second or third trimester of pregnancy and in the event that medical life support equipment is required to preserve and maintain the life of the Surrogate and if requested by the Intended Parents, the Surrogate and her husband agree that the Surrogate’s life will be sustained with life support equipment for a period to achieve viability of the fetus taking into account the best interests and well-being of the fetus
I’m often asked, whether these contracts are legal. If they are written and executed in a surrogacy friendly state, they absolutely are legal. But do surrogacy contracts violate aspects of the common good? How can they not? Take your pick—privacy, doctor/patient confidentiality, bodily integrity, medical decision-making power, and more. Surrogacy contracts are written to protect the Intended Parents, not the surrogate mother nor the child.
People often ask me why a woman would sign a contract that surrenders so much of her personal life—her very bodily integrity—to strangers? The short answer is “money.” Financial motives often compel women to become involved in a marketplace that is, frankly, predatory. Surrogacy is presented to potential surrogates as an opportunity to “give the gift of life,” and the risks are minimized. This is exactly why it is illegal to buy and sell organs. We know that if organ donation were to become a commercial marketplace, the need for money combined with the opportunity to help someone in need would drive people to take serious risks with their health. Money undermines the informed consent process. It will always be the people who need money who are selling; the wealthy will be the consumers/buyers.
http://www.stopsurrogacynow.com/contract-pregnancies-exposed-2018/?
Abuse survivor groups urge PM to strip former governor-general of pension
Tim Shepherd for The New Daily reports:
A coalition of sexual abuse survivor groups has urged the prime minister to strip former governor-general Peter Hollingworth of his taxpayer-funded pension and entitlements.
Dr Hollingworth became governor-general in 2001 but was forced to resign in 2003 after a series of scandals over his handling of sexual abuse allegations against priests and teaching staff while he was the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane in the 1990s.
Documents provided under Freedom of Information show that in 2015–16, Dr Hollingworth spent more than $275,000 on office and travel expenses, on top of his pension for that year of $328,000.
The group would like to see a Code of Conduct attached to the legislation, linking ongoing payments to a character test, and a provision to cease payments to a former governor-general if it’s no longer considered to be in the public interest.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/10/15/peter-hollingworth-pension/?
