Majikthise

Phylis Schlafly: rape denier

KathyG excoriates Washington University for offering an honorary doctorate to anti-feminist crusader Phylis Schlafly:

[V]ery rarely—in fact, almost never—do you see a great university honor someone who, throughout her public life has shown nothing but contempt for the values of the academia, values such as intellectual honesty and integrity, rational discourse, and the dispassionate pursuit of knowledge. Who has been, not a champion of human rights and human progress, but rather, at every turn, sought to thwart the aspirations of millions of female and nonwhite Americans and deny them equal justice under the law. Who has attempted to leave the world a far worse place than it was when she came into it, and in many ways has succeeded at this.

Schlafly is a very talented political operative, but she's not a deep thinker. Feministing excerpts an recent interview with Schlafly in which she argues that marital rape is a contradiction in terms because a woman issues blanket consent to sex by getting married:

Could you clarify some of the statements that you made in Maine last year about marital rape?

I think that when you get married you have consented to sex. That's what marriage is all about, I don't know if maybe these girls missed sex ed. That doesn't mean the husband can beat you up, we have plenty of laws against assault and battery. If there is any violence or mistreatment that can be dealt with by criminal prosecution, by divorce or in various ways. When it gets down to calling it rape though, it isn't rape, it's a he said-she said where it's just too easy to lie about it.

Was the way in which your statement was portrayed correct?

Yes. Feminists, if they get tired of a husband or if they want to fight over child custody, they can make an accusation of marital rape and they want that to be there, available to them.

So you see this as more of a tool used by people to get out of marriages than as legitimate-

Yes, I certainly do. [Student Life]

Schlafly believes that a husband is entitled to extract sex from his wife against her will, as long as he doesn't physically hurt her in the process.

Schlafly also implies that we can't have laws to protect wives from their husbands' sexual demands because someone could make a false allegation. If you take Schlafly's logic to its ultimate and logical conclusion, all rape laws should be struck down because of the mere possibility of spurious allegations. She's advocating the sex crime analog of tort reform: Alleged victims don't deserve the right to arbitration in the courts because someone might eventually bring a frivolous case.

I'm very disappointed that WashU has chosen to reward such a morally reprehensible alum.

Anti-choicers want to ban the Pill

At least they finally came right out and said so.

So, happy Griswold v. Connecticut to you too, American Life League. You're cranks, but you're forthright cranks.
 

Citizen journalist kicked out of McCain rally for asking about "cunt" incident

A man attending a McCain event as a registered member of the press was kicked out of the Des Moines town hall meeting for asking a question that working press should have asked him weeks ago: Did you call your wife a "cunt"? 

The headline, below, is typical of the kid glove treatment McCain gets from the media. McCain didn't "field the question" he kicked a member of the press out of his Potemkin Village town hall meeting for asking a question:

McCain fields audience question on whether he called wife an expletive

REGISTER STAFF • May 1, 2008

A Clive man drew gasps from fellow audience members at today’s presidential candidate forum by using a four-letter word in a question to Sen. John McCain.

A member of the audience, identified as Marty Parrish of Clive, asked McCain during the event at the Polk County Convention Complex about a rumor that McCain had once used a profane word referencing female genitalia to describe his wife.

A book, “The Real McCain” by Cliff Schecter, accuses McCain of using the word in an exchange with his wife, Cindy, in 1992.

Here’s a transcript of today’s remarks:

PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a (expletive)?

MCCAIN: Now, now. You don’t want to … Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.

The audience gasped at the question and applauded at McCain’s handling of it. Parrish was escorted from the event and questioned by Secret Service, but not charged. Parrish had checked in to the event as a member of the press.

Parrish, a 45-year-old Baptist minister and technology business owner, said he attended the event specifically to confront McCain about the rumor.

“This is about character,” Parrish said, when reached by telephone afterward. “And in a moment of intemperance, he called his wife the most despicable name a person can call a woman.

Notice McCain didn't have the guts to answer the question. The word "no" is not, last I checked, considered profane, even in Des Moines.

It's not like the McCain campaign has a policy of not responding to the cunt allegation. McCain had his spokeswoman accuse Schecter of fabrication in the New York Daily News when the Schecter's book came out:

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker brands the book "trash journalism" and tells us, "The story is completely fabricated." [NYDN]

McCain was implicitly warning the rest of the media not to ask him questions that make him mad.

Takes a big man to send out your spokesman to defame an author and kick a preacher/citizen journalist out of your town hall meeting.

McCain is a petty little coward whose toadies are crying "ambush" for a question about an allegation that was published over three weeks ago, addressed by a campaign spokeswoman, and discussed extensively in the media and online.

This is exactly the kind of bullying that lends further credence to Cliff Schecter's account and the many other examples of McCain's peevishness, intimidation, and rage that Schecter chronicles in his book, The Real McCain.   

Also, why does John McCain is hate the use/mention distinction?

HT: Eric.

Update: Watch the video.

The woman who would be CEO of Morgan Stanley

New York Magazine has an interesting story about the fall Zoe Cruz, the woman who came within striking distance of becoming Morgan Stanley's first female CEO--only to be fired last November after 25 years of distinguished service.

It's impossible to tell from the article whether Cruz was penalized for being as abrasive and competitive as her male colleagues. It seems her career plateaued because she was much better at making money for Morgan Stanley than at playing office politics.

As a trader, she gravitated towards foreign exchange where her accomplishments could be measured in dollars and cents. But as Cruz rose further in the ranks, politicking became an increasingly important part of her job. For whatever reason, she wasn't successful at building the alliances she needed.

The central question of the article is whether Cruz was at an unfair disadvantage in the networking game because of her gender.

There's no question that Cruz had an aggressive personal style and a tendency to alienate people--which could itself be a legitimate performance-related reason for not making her the CEO. Management decisions should be based on results. If an executive can't get the people around her to do what she wants-- whether out of love, obligation, fear, or whatever--that person isn't likely to be a good CEO.

The article hints that Cruz was personally vilified and resented for her sharp elbows in a way that her male colleagues weren't.

The article hints at a deeper question that many ambitious women have asked themselves: Do we face a Catch-22 in professions where advancement requires a fair amount of assholish behavior? If you need to be ruthless to be good, are women systematically penalized for having what it takes?

Gay smooch on Birmingham bench prompts 911 call

As a social experiment, ABC's 20/20 dispatched same-sex couples to kiss in public in various US cities.

The sight of two men nuzzling each other on a park bench in Birmingham, Alabama prompted one concerned citizen to call the police:

Operator: “Birmingham Police operator 9283″

Caller: “We have a couple of men sitting out on the bench that have been kissing and drooling all over each other for the past hour or so. It’s not against the law, right?”

Operator: “Not to the best of my knowledge it’s not.”

Caller: “So there’s no complaint I could make or have?”

Operator: “I imagine you could complain if you like ma’am. We can always send an officer down there.”

An officer was actually dispatched to investigate the situation.

As Pam Spaulding points out, the "experiment" itself was kind of a silly exercise, even if it did succeed in eliciting some outrageously homophobic behavior and making some bigots look really stupid.

Journalists aren't social psychologists. These kinds of staged events are basically publicity stunts masquerading as research.

Tolerance and nonchalance don't make good TV. So, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the 20/20 segment was going to be about the biggest homophobe that ABC could catch on tape. I agree with Pam that it's not really fair to the people of Birmingham to set up a performance art piece like this and call it news.

That said, "To Catch a Bigot" is a much better premise for a reality TV show than "To Catch a Predator."

"Abortion as art" a hoax? Update: Yes

What do you want to bet that this is a hoax?

Art student Aliza Shvarts claims that she induced multiple miscarriages for her senior project at Yale--according to a story in the Yale Daily News, linked above.

Allegedly, the sperm came from donors whom Shvarts declines to identify. She says she used  "legal", "herbal" preparations to induce these miscarriages "as often as possible" over the course of nine months, but never consulted a doctor about her plan.

The "fabricators," or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.

Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself. [Yale Daily News]

The Daily News was unable to reach Shvarts' senior-project adviser before press time. So, really all we have to go on is the Daily News' account of the student's description of her project. It just so happens that there is no medical record of her experiment. She claims that she inseminated herself, but she won't say where she got the sperm. (Even if the events unfolded exactly as described, there would be good medical reasons to doubt whether she ever conceived.)

This whole story seems tailored to whip up conservative hysteria. It's as if someone came up with a formula that incorporated all their favorite bugbears: Irresponsible sluts, frivolous abortions, liberal academia, and self-indulgent performance art.

If this is a hoax, someone is playing a very dangerous game. There are a lot of violent "pro-lifers" out there. The story has gone viral. It's been picked up by the likes of Michelle Malkin. I've already seen one blog post calling Shvarts a "murdering Jewess."

I have to question the editorial judgment of the Daily News for running this piece without at least getting an official comment from the art school or Shvarts's supervisor about the nature of her project.

[HT: Jill at Feministe.]

Update: The Washington Post published a story on the Shvarts case this afternoon. It's a rehash of the Daily News story with a few new comments. Still no word from the academic adviser.

Update II: Josh Gerstein of the the New York Sun got an official reaction from Yale. The  Shvarts abortion project is a hoax:

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, said. "She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body."

Ms. Klasky went on to suggest that Yale would not have permitted a project of the sort described in the student newspaper. "Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns." [NYS]

The anti-abortion zealots, the Washington Post, and half the Internets got got by an undergraduate performance artist. Sweet.

Update III: According to the Yale Daily News, Shvarts maintains that the Yale officials didn't get it quite right in their press release. She claims she injected herself with sperm, but she admits she had no evidence that she was ever pregnant. I'm still not buying the DIY insemination story. She says she never went to a doctor. I doubt a college student can just wander into a sperm bank and pick up a monthly batch of gametes. What did she do, take up a Dixie Cup collection in the dorm? Or, maybe you really can buy Formula 401 from the Colbert Report... Sure, whatever. Meanwhile, the project supervisor is still AWOL.

 

Paying our respects: Journalist Frances Lewine (1921-2008)

Journalist Frances Lewine has died at the age of 86. Lewine covered six administrations at the White House for the Associated Press and went on to serve as an assignment editor and field producer for CNN for nearly three decades.

Lewine was a lifelong champion of women in journalism:

Lewine's wrote that she was often frustrated at being "relegated to social and family stories and sidebars while male colleagues covered the president."

She wrote that it was a "source of disappointment and anger" that the AP never considered her an equal to male White House colleagues.

That anger, she wrote, energized her "to become a leader in the movement of women journalists in the 1950s, '60s and '70s to protest discrimination against women in their jobs and assignments."

To protest the Gridiron Club's policy against women, Lewine founded the "Counter-Gridiron." A group of women reporters and sympathetic male reporters met regularly at her home to organize protests, she recalled. Eventually, she was the second woman invited to join the Gridiron.

Lewine was one of six plaintiffs in a sex-discrimination suit filed against the AP, which was settled out of court for $2 million and changed the news organization's policies.

Lewine was also a member of the National Press Club, Executive Women in Government and the Society of Professional Journalists. She was elected to the Washington Society of Professional Journalists' Hall of Fame and to the Hunter College Hall of Fame. [CNN]

She had been expected to return to the office next week, following surgery.

Lewine's legacy will not be forgotten by future generations of women in media.

Straight Talk Excess: John McCain called wife "cunt", "trollop"

John McCain called his wife Cindy a "cunt" in front of at least five witnesses on the campaign trail in 1992, according to Cliff Schecter's new book:

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days. [The Real McCain, PoliPoint Press, 2008.]

A "trollop"? John McCain, is indeed vying to be our first Ancient American president.

Citigroup to pay $33 million to settle sex discrimination lawsuit

Yesterday, Citigroup agreed a $33 million to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit launched by a group of female brokers:

Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay $33 million to about 2,500 current and former female brokers at the company's Smith Barney subsidiary to settle a discrimination lawsuit.

A federal judge in San Francisco still has to approve the proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed by four women in 2005 that accuses company managers of doling out clients disproportionately to male brokers.

Citigroup also agreed to change the way it awards bonuses and partnerships and alter how accounts are assigned, according to court documents. [AP]

Heroine of WWII not considered leadership material

A female agent of WWII was assessed as "not having the personality to act as a leader" before she was parachuted into France, files have revealed. 

Pearl Cornioley, who died in February, ended up in command of 3,000 French resistance fighters.

Documents released at the National Archives say Mrs Cornioley was later commended for "colossal bravery" and "outstanding powers of leadership".

She was eventually given her Parachute Wings at the age of 92. [BBC]

Cornioley was nominated for a Military Cross after the war, but she was ineligible to receive it because she was a woman. They tried to offer her a civilian decoration instead, but she refused. Finally, she was given a military decoration through the air ministry.

Women are still not allowed to serve in the American Special Forces.