Misogyny and Sexism in the News

[Kobi]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood warns that a U.N. declaration on women's rights could destroy society by allowing a woman to travel, work and use contraception without her husband's approval and letting her control family spending.

The Islamist movement that backs President Mohamed Mursi gave 10 reasons why Muslim countries should "reject and condemn" the declaration, which the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women is racing to negotiate a consensus deal on by Friday.

The Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party propelled Mursi to power in June, posted the statement on its website, www.ikhwanweb.com, and the website of the party on Thursday.

Egypt has joined Iran, Russia and the Vatican - dubbed an "unholy alliance" by some diplomats - in threatening to derail the women's rights declaration by objecting to language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the declaration would give "wives full rights to file legal complaints against husbands accusing them of rape or sexual harassment, obliging competent authorities to deal husbands punishments similar to those prescribed for raping or sexually harassing a stranger."

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice last week touted at the commission - a global policy-making body created in 1946 for the advancement of women - progress made by the United States in reducing the rate of violence against women by their partners.

"All 50 states in our union now have laws that treat date rape or spousal rape as just as much of a crime as rape by a stranger," Rice said. "We cannot live in truly free societies, if women and girls are not free to reach their full potential."

The contrasting views show the gap that needs to be breached in negotiations on the declaration, which this year is focused on urging an end to violence against women and girls. The commission failed to agree a declaration last year on a theme of empowering rural women due to similar disagreements.

WORLD IS WATCHING

Egypt has proposed an amendment, diplomats say, that would allow countries to avoid implementing the declaration if it clashed with national laws, religious or cultural values. But some diplomats say this would undermine the entire declaration.

The Muslim Brotherhood warned the declaration would give girls sexual freedom, legalize abortion, provide teenagers with contraceptives, give equality to women in marriage and require men and women to share duties such as child care and chores.

It said the declaration would allow "equal rights to homosexuals, and provide protection and respect for prostitutes" and "equal rights to adulterous wives and illegitimate sons resulting from adulterous relationships."

A coalition of Arab human rights groups - from Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Tunisia - called on countries at the Commission on the Status of Women on Thursday to stop using religion, culture, and tradition to justify abuse of women.

"The current positions taken by some Arab governments at this meeting is clearly not representative of civil society views, aspirations or best practices regarding the elimination and prevention of violence against women and girls within our countries," said the statement issued by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies.

Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and head of U.N. Women, which supports the commission, said the commission was unable to reach a deal a decade ago when it last focused on the theme of women's rights and ending violence against women.

"Ten years later, we simply cannot allow disagreement or indecision to block progress for the world's women," Bachelet told the opening session of the commission last week. "The world is watching ... the violence needs to stop."

http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-islamis...020322994.html

[Soon]

CNN's Steubenville Coverage Focuses On Effect Rape Trial Will Have On Rapists, Not Victim

[Kobi]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A judge being interviewed for a Supreme Court job jokes that women might enjoy rape. A local official takes a 17-year-old second wife, then quickly divorces her by text message.

Both cases reflect attitudes toward women's rights and safety that have persisted for years in this Southeast Asian archipelago nation of 240 million people. The difference now: Both officials are at risk of losing their jobs.

Women in this social-media-obsessed country have been rallying, online and on the streets, against sexist comments and attacks on women. The response is seen as a small step for women's rights in Indonesia, where the government is secular and most people practice a moderate form of Islam.


http://news.yahoo.com/social-media-g...065228116.html

[Toughy]

I'm so frigging mad at CNN I cannot see straight. Those poor boys will suffer the rest of their lives................SPIT..........fuckers need to stay in jail til they are 21........

I also cannot believe not one single kid....boy or girl... stepped up and stopped this from happening. The little shits were way to busy taking pictures and posting them on-line..........they need some jail time also......it's despicable all around......

A great blog:

http://blackgirldangerous.org/new-bl...he4zc46go4awsu

[Greyson]

High-skilled immigration debate grows over stark gender imbalance, favoring men for H-1B visas

By Matt O'Brien
mercurynews.com
Posted: 03/19/2013 06:28:07 AM PDT

The long-overlooked disparity is beginning to attract attention on Capitol Hill, where activists demanded Monday that the federal government take a closer look at whether U.S. visa policy discriminates against women.

Corporate hiring practices, outdated U.S. visa policies and entrenched gender discrimination in immigrants' home countries are all contributing to the disparity. The hearing marked the first time this year that lawmakers specifically addressed how reform of the immigration system will affect women.

While the Obama administration came under fire at the hearing for not revealing how many men and women hold H-1B visas, the nation's centerpiece program for highly skilled workers, the data requested by the Bay Area News Group provided the scope of the imbalance: The U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics recorded 347,087 male H-1B visa holders entered the country during the 2011 fiscal year compared to 137,522 women.


http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_228190...r?source=email

[Kobi]

Lou Piniella has never been known for his way with words. The ex-manager is a master of the malaprop and his difficulty with the English language caused more than a few press conference chuckles during his skipper days.

What Piniella said while he provided commentary for the YES Network during Wednesday's Red Sox-Yankees game though, was far from funny.

After being asked in the eighth inning about last year's lopsided trade between the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins, Piniella's apparent initial impulse was to describe it as a sexual assault. And while Sweet Lou never technically used that description, he still completely stepped in it by even saying the word.

Here's a transcription of what Piniella said (via Larry Brown Sports) and here's the awkward audio via Deadspin:

“Well they just, I don’t want to use the word ‘raped,’ but they basically took a lot of talent from the Miami Marlins,” Piniella said. “Toronto will probably be picked to win the (AL East) by a lot of people.”

Here's the thing: Letting the word pass his lips constitutes using it, even if he followed it by saying that wasn't his intention. It's why Piniella — who currently draws paychecks to speak publicly for a living — might want to look into a better filter when describing a trade that was heavy on prospects for pros.

Because, yes, there are words so crude and offensive that they can't be laughed away as humorous misspeak from a crusty old lifer.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...7041--mlb.html

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Thank you Kevin Kaduk for having the gonads to call this what it is.

[DapperButch]

http://www.aol.com/video/outrage-aft...6pLid%3D286675

Somehow I doubt that if this was a male that he wouldn't be included in the National Memorial.

[Kobi]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The officer in charge of the U.S. Air Force effort to curb sexual assault in the military was arrested over the weekend for allegedly grabbing a woman by the breasts and buttocks in a parking lot not far from the Pentagon, officials said on Monday.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, was arrested on Sunday and charged with sexual battery after the alleged incident in the Crystal City area of suburban Arlington, Virginia, officials said.

An Arlington County Police spokesman said the woman fended off Krusinski, who was under the influence of alcohol, and when he attempted to grab her a second time she was able to call the police, who arrived a short time later and detained him.

Krusinski initially was held on a $5,000 unsecured bond. He has since posted bond and been released from the Arlington County Detention Facility, said the spokesman, who confirmed Krusinski's name and arrest but did not have his rank or title with the Air Force.

The Air Force said that Krusinski, whom it identified as a lieutenant colonel, had been removed from his job as chief of the service's sexual assault prevention and response branch after his arrest. The branch is responsible for overseeing the Air Force's sexual assault prevention effort.

News of the arrest came as the Pentagon is preparing to release its annual report on the problem of sexual assault in the military.

A total of 3,192 cases were reported in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2011, a 1 percent increase in reporting from the previous fiscal year, according to last year's report.

Pentagon officials have said the actual number of sexual assaults, including those that go unreported, is much higher, possibly as many as 19,000 a year.

The Air Force has faced a series of embarrassing sexual assault scandals over the past year. An investigation at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, that began in 2011 has so far turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of military recruits by drill instructors.

General Mark Welsh, the top Air Force officer, called the scope of the case "stunning" during a congressional hearing earlier this year.

In another case, the top general in charge of an Air Force court martial at Aviano Air Base in Italy overturned the sexual assault conviction of a lieutenant colonel, threw out his one-year prison sentence and reinstated him to duty.

That case has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to recommend that Congress alter the military justice system to limit the ability of a military commander to throw out court-martial verdicts.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/head-u-air-...223841205.html