CHURCH:
In a Nope for Pope, Maureen Dowd has a plan for how the Catholic Church could start to fix itself, and it starts with women:
If the church could throw open its stained glass windows and let in some air, invite women to be priests, nuns to be more emancipated and priests to marry, if it could banish criminal priests and end the sordid culture of men protecting men who attack children, it might survive. It could be an encouraging sign of humility and repentance, a surrender of arrogance, both moving and meaningful.
Sinead O’Rebellion I MEAN Sinead O’Connor writes in The Washington Post today about the Pope’s totally lackluster response to recent sex abuse revelations:
Irish Catholics are in a dysfunctional relationship with an abusive organization. The pope must take responsibility for the actions of his subordinates…
Almost 18 years ago, I tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on an episode of “Saturday Night Live.” Many people did not understand the protest …. I knew my action would cause trouble, but I wanted to force a conversation where there was a need for one; that is part of being an artist. All I regretted was that people assumed I didn’t believe in God. That’s not the case at all. I’m Catholic by birth and culture and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation… As Ireland withstands Rome’s offensive apology while an Irish bishop resigns, I ask Americans to understand why an Irish Catholic woman who survived child abuse would want to rip up the pope’s picture. And whether Irish Catholics, because we daren’t say “we deserve better,” should be treated as though we deserve less.
In an ironic reversal of the religious community’s fear that their leaders might be punished for not performing same-sex marriages, Presbyterian minister Rev. Jane Spahr is in fact being sanctioned by her church for the opposite. While other ministers and justices of the peace have been reprimanded for performing illegal same-sex marriages before, this is different; the marriages Spahr performed were actually within the period in California when gay marriage was legal, her church is the one saying that same-sex marriages are “expressly prohibited.” (@theadvocate)
To give this story a little context, Joe My God has a horrifying comprehensive list of religious leaders accused of sex crimes just in the past seven days, many of whom were enabled or protected by their religious institutions – because while marrying two consenting adults is “expressly prohibited,” apparently the rape of fifteen-year-old boys isn’t! (@joemygod)
And in light of all this, Jodi at RH Reality Check asks an important question: Why is the Catholic Church, given its history, allowed any kind of say or influence in women’s issues or choices? “You know that doctrine that they enforce? The one that makes women lower on the totem pole than a fertilized egg? The one that in Nicaragua has a woman whose life is threatened with cancer, hospitalized at 8 weeks pregnant, refused either an abortion or cancer treatment because the egg, embryo, fetus is so much more important than that woman’s life (or the future of her 10-year-old daughter)? …Why is that Congress allows a pedophilia-ridden, pedophilia-hiding, child-abusing Church allowed to write laws about women’s rights?” (@rhrealitycheck)
Basically if any of you think that feminism isn’t relevant anymore (or pay attention to the manufactured postfeminism) or that we live in a post-feminist age, WAKE UP! We are still letting men who are unable to police their own bodies tell us what to do with ours, and that’s fucked up!!
As Dowd pointed out in that first article up there, “American bishops have gotten politically militant in recent years, opposing the health care bill because its language on abortion wasn’t vehement enough, and punishing Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights and stem cell research. They should spend as much time guarding the kids already under their care as they do championing the rights of those who aren’t yet born.”
DADT:
In the ongoing debate over DADT, people are continuing to act like they’re in the third grade. “General James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, told Military.com that an ”overwhelming” number of Marines would be opposed to bunking with someone of a different sexual orientation. As a result, he said, the corps might have to ditch its double-bed rooms and offer single rooms to everyone.” Things that an overwhelming number of Marines (and Congress) do not appear to be concerned about: the fact that one-third of women who join the army are raped or sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier, that militarized sexual violence (overwhelmingly against women) is still on the rise, and that thousands of soldiers military rapists have gone without any punishment whatsoever. As the Ms. Blog brings to our attention, it turns out that personal safety and fear of sexual assault only matter when it’s about straight men afraid of predatory gay men. (@theage)(@msblog)
FILM:
By now you may have heard about the film Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives in the Tribeca Film Festival. GLAAD has campaigned to have the film removed from the festival because “its title and its marketing misrepresent the lives of transgender women and use grotesque, exploitative depictions of violence against transgender women in ways that make light of the horrific brutality they all too often face.” Queerty argues that GLAAD’s campaign is off base, and that the issue is more complicated than just shutting down any cultural production with less-than-perfect representations of transgender people or any other part of the queer community. (@queerty)
Autumn at Pam’s House Blend, however, has some choice quotes from the film’s director that make it seem like his use of the word “tranny” might be exactly the hugely offensive blunder it appears to be. “These characters will be so empowering, so strong, so amazingly-kick-ass hot and fierce… I don’t feel that TICKED-OFF PRE-OP TRANSITIONING M2F SEXUALLY REASSIGNING WOMEN WITH KNIVES would be as appropriate.” (@pamshouseblend)
CENSUS:
Does the census form allow for transgender people to be fully counted? Kalil Cohen at the Progressive Media Project says no. (@mcclatchydc)
DISCRIMINATION:
A two-year-old case brought against a stand-up comedian who allegedly discriminated against a lesbian and her girlfriend in the audience is now being brought to trial in the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. (@nationalpost)
CHRISTINE DANIELS:
There’s a new piece in the LA Times about Christine Daniels, the transgender sportswriter who committed suicide four months ago. Pam’s House Blend discusses the piece and what Daniels’ death says about the trans community and the hardships of transitioning: “Within the program, Gumbel stated that the number of transitioners that experience death by suicide is about one in three. I thought that ratio sounded high, so when I talked to my therapist last Wednesday about that statistic, I told her that. She corrected me, saying the ratio sounded about right to her.” (@pamshouseblend)
Why Women Don’t Want Macho Men: “In countries where poor health is particularly a threat to survival, women leaned toward “manlier” men. That is, they preferred their males to have shorter, broader faces and stronger eyebrows, cheekbones and jaw lines.”
