WMC News Brief: Avatars, Sotomayor, Maternal Morality
May 27, 2009
Are Sexy Avatars Putting Girls At Risk?
5/27/09
Salon: Researchers have confirmed that Internet-age-old wisdom with a study of how teen girls portray themselves online, and with this new report comes a host of questions about sexual rites of passage in this digital age.
U.S.: Obama Picks Latina Judge As First Supreme Court Nominee
5/26/09
IPS: In a nomination that will almost certainly be approved by the U.S. Senate, President Barack Obama Tuesday announced the selection of Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge whose parents were from Puerto Rico, to the nine-member Supreme Court.
Africa Steps Up The Fight Against Maternal And Child Deaths
5/27/09
WIP: The very survival of women and children in Africa may depend on the newly-launched Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA).
How The Media Will Smear Sotomayor
5/26/09
Huffington Post: It appears that Sonia Sotomayor shall be the nominee, guaranteeing us of the one thing we know the media can cover well: a big shiny melodramatic political battle royale in which tempers rage and garments are rent but whose outcome is already basically predetermined.
The Forgotten Market Online: Older Women
5/21/09
Washington Post: New Fashion Sites Target Youth -- Though Most Web Apparel Sales Are to Women Over 35
5/23/09
Monthly Review: T-shirts represent just one highly visible example of a shift that has been going on across popular culture for several years -- the knowing and deliberate re-sexualisation and re-commodification of women's bodies, and men's too.
5/26/09
LA Times: The mixed message sent by the California court invites same-sex marriage proponents to put another proposition on the ballot.
Verdict Forms Show Splits On Jury In Iraq Murder, Rape Trial
5/23/09
Courier-Journal: Half the jurors who tried to decide the fate of former Pvt. Steven Dale Green felt he should have been tried in a military court rather than by civilian jurors, according to verdict forms made public yesterday.
Clinton To Lift Limits On Benefits For Gay Diplomats
5/24/09
LA Times: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon announce that gay American diplomats will be given benefits similar to those of their heterosexual counterparts, U.S. officials said Saturday.
Heritage Shapes Judge's Perspective
5/27/09
Washington Post: Long before she made history yesterday as the first Latina nominated to the Supreme Court, Sotomayor had been heavily sculpted, if not fully defined, by her ethnicity.
How Are Feminists Responding To Sotomayor?
5/26/09
Salon: While feminist groups have, predictably, been more supportive of Sotomayor, they aren't all lining up to congratulate her, either.
5/23/09
NY Times: America is again caught up in a debate about the release of photographs that show our soldiers using Bush administration "interrogation techniques" at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
Contraceptive Sponge Makes A Return To Pharmacy Shelves
5/22/09
NY Times: The contraceptive sponge has bounced back - yet again. And this time it is repackaged for a younger generation who may not remember the Today Sponge.
In A Rocky Job Market, New Pressure On Moms
5/23/09
NY Times: MEN have been hard-hit by this recession, accounting for about 80 percent of United States job losses, and that is pushing more women into the work force. Many of those women are former stay-at-home mothers, thrust back into jobs sooner than they had planned.
The 2009 Best Companies For Multicultural Women
5/26/09
Working Mother: So please meet 2009's Best in Class-companies that proudly lead by example.
Iraq Tribes Are Upset By Sentence Given To G.I.
5/22/09
NY Times: Iraqi tribal and political leaders complained bitterly on Friday after an American court spared the life of a United States soldier convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and then murdering her and members of her family in 2006.
The Health Of A Likely Presidential Candidate Comes Under Brazil's Microscope
5/23/09
NY Times: Dilma Rousseff, Mr. da Silva's chief of staff, is also his chosen successor, expected to carry the banner of the hugely popular president into next year's election. But the news that she is being treated for cancer has thrown a wild card into the presidential race.
Myanmar Dissident Testifies At Trial
5/26/09
NY Times: Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi denied Tuesday that she had broken the terms of her house arrest when she allowed an intruder to spend the night three weeks ago, according to reports from the court.
Supreme Court Of Nepal Calls On Government To Make Legal Abortion A Reality
5/27/09
RH Reality Check: On May 20, Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the Nepalese government to enact a comprehensive abortion law to guarantee that women have access to safe and affordable abortion services.
Kuwait: 'Gender-Bender' Election Raises Optimism
5/22/09
IPS: Despite the reappointment of the Kuwaiti ruler's nephew as premier, the results of last week's elections - the historic victories of women candidates, and the decline of Islamist representation in parliament - are being perceived as a vote for change in the Gulf state.
Rapes Soar In Eastern Congo's Culture Of Impunity
5/27/09
Women's E-News: Military operations and rebel reprisals in eastern Congo have fueled a rise in sexual violence this year, but perpetrators face minimal consequences. An effort to drive out rebel groups has only contributed to the problem.
Where Life's Start Is A Deadly Risk
5/23/09
NY Times: Pregnancy and childbirth kill more than 536,000 women a year, more than half of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Tackling Gender Violence In Cuba
5/25/09
Havana Times: The Cuban Constitution and numerous laws assure women's equality and the protection of the family, but the abuse that occurs in the intimacy of the home doesn't always escape the fear and prejudice, nor is it reported to the authorities or tabulated in statistics.
Spain Links Voodoo To Forced-Prostitution Case
5/22/09
NY Times: The Spanish police say they have broken up a human trafficking ring that forced Nigerian women into prostitution by threatening them with voodoo curses.
5/24/09
NY Times: Even by the standards of cable news, Greta Van Susteren is an outsize personality.
Pièce De Résistance: Lila Ghobady
5/27/09
Bitch: When Iranian filmmaker Lila Ghobady left her homeland in 2002, she knew she would never be allowed to return while the current regime is in power. Ghobady chose a life of exile in order to be a "storytelling voice of the oppressed" who remain in Iran.
Forget The Ingénues; Cue The Grown-Ups
5/20/09
NY Times: HOLLYWOOD has always been a man's world, but as Pink might sing, so what? On Broadway at least, women can still be rock stars.
Tips For Runners In First Marathon
5/23/09
NY Times: Last year, the Olympic track star Kara Goucher set the United States record for an American woman's debut marathon...She spoke about what others can learn from her experiences.
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