Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Ok, Correntians, this is one of these long and substantial posts of mine where one of you shows up in the comments and summarizes the whole thing in 2 lines… making me look like a blabbering fool!

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts on reports - most of the time by IRIN - on the deplorable conditions under which women and girls live in many parts of the world. However, the articles have been piling up in my Newsreader, so, it’s time for one. So here we go:  Read more 

AL catches this interesting development about Saudi women:

The kingdom’s first hotel exclusively for females opened yesterday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities for ladies to pamper themselves, away from the accusing eyes of a male-dominated society.

“Inside this physical structure, we are all women,” said the Luthan Hotel’s executive director Lorraine Coutinho. “We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer.

I see potential for a lot of subversion in something like this. Not that I ever will, but let’s say I’m a moderate Western businessperson and I have need to do something in the Kingdom. I’d patronize this place just for the statement it makes. I’d like to believe some of the women who own it also encourage other women to strike it out for themselves. Kingdom women are so restricted, but I bet they are just as competitive businesspeople as men. What do you think? Can anything good come from “gender apartheid?”

Scratch the surface of any anti-choice man, and you’ll always find the same thing:

Aubert looks startled. “I never really thought about it for the woman,” he says slowly.

But she’s supposed to be thinking of your pathetic needs every hour of every fucking day?

Of course you didn’t think of her, you sick fuck. What is it with these men? Oh, that’s right- they believe there are only two heads that matter in the world, and both of them are attached to their bodies.

Grrr. Sorry, I’m too angry to post on this in detail. I think it’s been around for a while and I just missed it, forgive the link-only post. Blah, Blah, women are chattel, men their Gawd-appointed owners, no man should be denied the right to his use of my womb.

/erasing rage-filled invective towards men who are so insecure they feel compelled to control women to compensate/

So while I didn’t exactly keep up with blogs and politics while I was gone, I confess to reading a few sites now and again, as old habits die hard and working in the rain isn’t always fun. One site I’ve come to enjoy a great deal is Twisty’s “I Blame the Patriarchy.” She’s as hard core as they come on feminist issues, and hard core about keeping her blog free from those who don’t share her views. This may or may not be a good idea, but it surely has created one of the more rollicking places on the net for women to go and bitch about how Life Sucks for Teh Wimmin. Twisty calls it “advanced blaming” and never seems to have any problem finding topics upon which she and her community can comment.

Anyway, I got into a huge fight with a friend over this post, in which I found myself agreeing with Twisty’s perspective and that of most of the commenters.  Read more 

I am virulently pro-choice. Reproductive freedom is one of the most basic and essential aspects in a free society. Of course, we don’t really live in one of those. SLToday:

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A St. Joseph woman who has three children says she was shocked when a judge ordered her not to have any more children out of wedlock while she is on probation for three years.

Mandy Nelson, 26, was given the unusual requirement by Buchanan County Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg as part of her probation in a forgery case. Other conditions of her probation include community service hours, paying restitution and obtaining a GED or high school diploma.

“I was shocked,” Nelson said. “I only have three kids. He made it seem like I was just having kids, kids, kids.”  Read more