ALTER NET/By Andy Wright

The 6 Weirdest Things Women Do to Their Vaginas

What the hell is vaginal rejuvenation? Who would want their vagina bleached? Here's a list of the strangest ways to make your genitals meet the demands of the beauty industry.

January 30, 2010 |

What's wrong with your vagina? If you answered "nothing," you're probably wrong. According to the beauty-industrial complex, it's ugly, and it smells bad. But don't worry-- there's nothing that money can't fix.

1. Problem: Your Vagina Smells Bad
Solution: Vaginal Deodorant

In the seventies, Massengill tried to marry feminism and its vaginal deodorant spray ("With Hexachlorophene") in an ad that declared the product to be "The Freedom Spray." It was "...the better way to be free to enjoy being a woman. Free from worry about external vaginal odor." Because you're going to need that time you used to spend worrying about your vaginal odor to flirt your way through the glass ceiling. Oh, and Hexachlorophene? It's a disinfectant that can be lethal when absorbed through the skin. In 1972, it was added to baby powder in France due to a manufacturing error and killed thirty-six children.

In case you think vaginal deodorant is a relic of the past, just take a trip to the drug store. (I did, and I took notes. The staff of my local Walgreens is convinced that I'm both very thorough and that my vagina smells really bad.) There are several kinds of vaginal deodorants still for sale (Walgreens even manufactures a generic version). You can buy scented vaginal suppositories called Norforms in Island Escape and Summer's Eve Deodorant Spray in Island Splash. (Norforms contain something called Benzethonium chloride, which is also used as a hard surface disinfectant for fruit and classified as a poison in Switzerland. Exotic!) And you can buy FDS (Feminine, Discreet, Sensual) Spray ("For the woman who cares.") in a myriad of scents including Sheer Tropics and Fresh Island Breeze.

Because if you really cared, you'd make your vagina smell like a poisonous island.

2. Problem: Your Vagina is Dirty
Solution: Douching
Douching, the act of forcing a mixture of fluids up into the vagina with a tube and pump, was first promoted as a form of birth control (it doesn't work) and has continued to be used for vaguely medical reasons: to prevent STIs (sexually transmitted infections), to clean the vagina after menstruation and, of course, to rid it of that disgusting vagina smell. Douching has been repeatedly discouraged by the medical community, which not only doesn't attribute any health benefits to the act, but believes that it can actually harm women. A government Web site run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discourages douching by answering a series of hypothetical questions, one of which is: "My vagina has a terrible odor, can douching help?" The answer: No. Get thee to a doctor.

Despite health concerns, manufacturers still churn out vaginal douches. Pick up a box of Summer's Eve Douche, and you'll find warnings that douching has been associated with PID (Pelvic Inflamatory Disease), ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Right next to the suggestion that women douche after their menstrual period, after using contraceptive jellies and creams and to "clear out any vaginal secretions." So basically, any time your vagina isn't as dry as a British sitcom.

3. Problem: Your Vagina is Too Loose
Solution: Vaginal Rejuvenation
Let's face it. Nature really screwed up when it made the vagina. Never mind that that it accommodates the birth of a child or that it's fundamentally better designed than male genitalia. (Who wants to carry their most sensitive reproductive organs on the outside?) While nature was busy dishing out things like multiple orgasms, it forgot to make vaginas vice-tight. Luckily, plastic surgeons have stepped in to put an end to womankind's collective suffering.

Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation is a trademarked phrase that refers to a practice developed and popularized by Dr. David Matlock, who's made several appearances on the E! channel's plastic surgery reality show, Dr.90210. Matlock and other doctors who carry out LVR claim that the $4,000 to $20,000 procedure makes women's vaginas tighter, thus increasing sexual pleasure.

But many doctors disagree. The American Urogynocology Society won't endorse it. And the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cautioned in a 2007 statement that women seeking "designer vaginas" should be "informed about the lack of data supporting the efficacy of these procedures and their potential complications, including infection, altered sensation, dyspareunia, adhesions, and scarring." Sexy!

4. Problem: Your Vagina is Ugly
Solution: Labiaplasty

If your vagina is tight enough (and let's face it, it's probably not) you've still got to deal with the labia. And by "deal with," I mean remove. Labiaplasty drastically reduces the labia, the protruding lips that surround the opening of the vagina. Why would you want to do this? Because your labia are "unequal," "elongated," "large," "irregular," "floppy," and "unfeminine." These are just some of the unflattering adjectives bandied about on the Web sites of surgeons who offer this procedure. Luckily, with the use of lasers and scalpels, your vagina can be made "prettier," "better proportioned," "youthful," and achieve "the true Playboy aesthetic look." How much will it cost you to make your labia proportional and feminine? About $5,000 or more.

5. Problem: Your Vagina Tastes Bad
Solution: Vagina Mints
If your partner is reluctant to give you oral sex, it's not because of pervasive cultural belief that cunnilingus is complicated to the point of being impossible and that vaginas are inherently icky (thus the need to uncomplicate them and un-ickify them with, oh, say, labiaplasty) it's because your vagina tastes bad. Enter the Linger Internal Vaginal Flavoring, or Altoids for your vagina. Linger assumes you already feel bad about your nether regions, stating on its Web site that the mint-flavored pill "decreases self-consciousness" and tosses out the unattributed statistic that 72 percent of women feel self conscious about their taste and odor. Dubious marketing practices aside, the Linger mint isn't just a harmless, if asinine, oddity. Mother Jones magazine did some digging into the origins of Linger and discovered that the vagina mint is no different from a regular mint. In other words, it's made out of sugar. And putting sugar-based mint directly into your vagina is a recipe for a mint-flavored yeast infection.

6. Problem: Your Vagina is the Wrong Color
Solution: Vaginal Bleaching and Dying

Many women are under the impression that it's OK to have a vagina colored vagina. They're wrong, of course. They should be pink, and exceptionally so. What's a woman with a vagina colored vagina to do? Bleach it. Accomoclitic Laser and Wax Studio in Lakewood, Colorado, purveyors of an anal bleaching product called "Pink Wink," also sell something called Bleach Babe, a cream that promises to do away with the "natural discoloration surrounding the exterior of the vagina." Bleach Babe contains Kojic acid, the same ingredient that keeps salmon meat pink. South Beach Solutions sells a similar lightening product with Sodium hydroxide, which can also be found in drain decloggers and septic tank cleansers.

If bleaching fails to render your vagina the color of a Barbie Dream House, you can try My New Pink Button, billed as a "Genital Cosmetic Colorant that restores the "Pink" back to woman's genitals." Because vaginas that aren't vibrantly pink are old and sad. My New Pink Button is meant to be painted onto the vagina (it comes in powder form and must be scooped up with a moist Q-tip like device) and lasts 48 to 72 hours. After which, one supposes, users must reapply in order to maintain the youthful status of their genitals.

Meet the Scientists Who Think the G-Spot Doesn't Exist

Meet the Scientists Who Think the G-Spot Doesn't Exist By Dr. Susan Block, CounterPunch Posted on February 1, 2010, Printed on February 2, 2010 http://www.alternet.org/story/145504/ I'm not surprised when politicians, religious leaders, military chiefs, mafia bosses, corporate CEOs or media pundits make ignorant, misleading statements with great and somber certainty. But when people who call themselves "scientists" spout toxic stupidities with similar conviction, it is rather more unnerving. One current case in point: a team of British "scientists" at King's College London claims to have determined "fairly conclusively" that the G-spot does not exist. Even before I finished reading about Dr. Andrea Virginia Burri (I'm not kidding; that's her given middle name) and Dr. Tim Spector's "G-Spot: Fiction or Friction" study, my personal Malarkey Meter was careening off the charts. Burri and Spector's study is ill-conceived, poorly analyzed, illogically interpreted and -- dare I say -- just plain wrong. Nonetheless, that "scientist" label must have gotten to me because, the first chance I had, there I was, licking my middle finger and hooking it about an inch or so into my vagina in the "come here" gesture, pressing that sensitive, spongy, bean-shaped area on the anterior wall, just to make sure it hadn't somehow vanished overnight. Then, before I could say "bogus findings," I was enjoying a nice, pulsating G-spot orgasm. Well, at least there are some silver linings in this black cloud of bad science. Could we say that Burri and Spector's anti-G-spot report stimulated my G-spot orgasm that day? Regardless, it was a case of friction, not fiction. How did Drs. Burri and Spector reach their snarky, international, headline-screaming conclusion that the G-spot is "probably a myth," a "fiction" virtually forced upon innocent, G-spotless women by nefarious "magazines and sex therapists"? They did a survey of 1,804 British female twins aged 23-83 who answered questionnaires about whether or not they had G-spots. Or thought they had them. Or could find them. Or enjoy them. Or something. What a way to run a treasure hunt. Dr. Burri Would Bury Our Hands in the Sand Some of my colleagues have dismissed the survey participants just for being British. I wouldn't disregard English lassies; they may keep their "stiff upper lip" even in the throes of passion, but they are just as likely to be able to locate their G-spots (or not) as American, French, Indian or Saudi Arabian women. Indeed, 56% -- the majority! -- of Burri and Spector's particular lassies maintain they do indeed have G-spots and they know exactly where they are. Apparently, that's not enough to stop Burri and Spector from issuing their proclamation that the G-spot is a "myth." Burri goes even further, stating that she was eager to remove feelings of "inadequacy or underachievement" that might affect women who feared they lacked a G-spot." She continued, "it is rather irresponsible to claim the existence of an entity that has never really been proven and pressurise [sic] women -- and men, too." Is this science or is this nursery school for anxiety-ridden adults? It certainly is going into research with a blatantly biased, not to mention silly, ax to grind. It's reminiscent of 1850s-era gynecologist William Acton writing, "The majority of women (happily for them) are not very much troubled with sexual feelings of any kind." When are some people, especially people who call themselves "scientists," going to accept that making great love does not always come as naturally and easily as a teenage wet dream, just as making gourmet cuisine is not as simple as stuffing a Big Mac into your mouth? And what exactly does Dr. Burri mean by her sloppy, condescending concern over "pressurising" all these poor, fearful, sexually underachieving women and their lovers? If all the gals can't find theirs, then just sit down and shut up about yours! Of course, religious extremists can get quite patronizing about what they feel is "okay" sexually or "sanctioned by God." But people who call themselves "scientists" should know better. They should know that sex, especially where a woman's pleasure is concerned, is a learning process. Since women's bodies constantly change, it's a never-ending learning process. And maybe that "pressurises" some women and their partners. Poor babies! Would it be better for them to be ignorant and out of touch with the sexual capabilities of their miraculous, complex bodies? According to Dr. Burri, yes, it would. Dr. Burri wants all of us to just bury our hands in the sand. Bad Science Dr. Spector also has some choice words for women who believe they have G-spots: "This is by far the biggest study ever carried out and shows fairly conclusively that the idea of a G-spot is subjective. Women may argue that having a G-spot is due to diet or exercise, but in fact it is virtually impossible to find real traits." I've interviewed and read the works of many G-spot experts, but none has said "having a G-spot is due to diet and exercise." Talk about fiction; Dr. Spector just made that one up out of the London fog. Actually, you can be fat or thin, in good shape or bad, carnivore or vegan and "have" a G-spot, just as you can be any of those things and still "have" a clitoris or a cervix. Having a body part is not a question of eating seaweed or doing kegels. It's a question of finding it. Maybe that takes a little effort, so being in decent shape is a minor plus. I personally have seen many obese ladies who squirt from G-spot stimulation, as well as many healthy, athletic women who just aren't interested. The biggest plus is knowing where to go and having the patience and desire to experience the sensations. Back to the "science" of questionnaires. They are fine for measuring fantasies, memories and psychological desires. But they are almost useless for determining the existence of an internal, anatomical spot or area of which not every woman is aware. Better to conduct a Masters & Johnson-like study on the same group of women, measuring their physiological responses to different types of stimulation of the area we call the G-spot. How to Find Your G-Spot Keep in mind that this "spot," or area, is located just an inch or three inside and under the roof of the vaginal cave. Thus, most common sexual activities like regular deep thrusting intercourse and cunnilingus -- let alone daily life -- tend not to stimulate it. Fingering does the trick, if the woman is very wet, and you hook a clever digit just inside. You can tell you've hit a woman's G-spot not only because you hear her moans of pleasure, but because the rest of the vaginal walls tend to feel smooth. The G-spot is spongy (this is its most salient "real trait," Dr. Spector), especially when wet (and you shouldn't touch it unless it's wet). Not that you always have to stimulate it directly to experience G-spot pleasure. But if you simply want to find the thing, well, there it is. If you want to see it very clearly, you might want to watch my Squirt Salon(s): Secrets of G-Spot Female Ejaculation wherein several G-spots, including my own, are shown in extreme close-up in states of pre-arousal, high arousal, orgasm, G-spot female ejaculation, and the post-ejaculatory refractory period. If you'd like a clear, easy-to-read description, there are many, including Deborah Sundahl's seminal Female Ejaculation & the G-spot. If Burri and Spector's twins could just see or read this instructional literature, I'd wager another 30% would locate their elusive G-spots. Early History of G-Spot Research: Aristotle to Skene Despite the modern proliferation of G-spot media, the G-spot is not some new idea hatched by "irresponsible" ladies "pressurising" their hapless troubadours into searching for a "mythical" Holy Grail of female pleasure. Since the day of Aristotle, at least, many men and women have described the G-spot personally and scientifically. In the first century, Galen, considered the Father of Modern Medicine, referred to it as the "the female prostate." Many Renaissance scientists, including Realdo Colombo and Regnier DeGraaf, wrote about the area we now call the G-spot and the fluids that might be emitted when a woman had a particularly powerful orgasm through stimulation of that area. In 1880, Dr. Alexander Skene found two glands on the anterior wall of the vagina, around the lower end of the urethra. These glands are surrounded with tissue, including the part of the clitoris that reaches up inside the vagina, swells with blood during sexual arousal and emits prostate fluid through the urethra. These paraurethral glands are now called the Skene's glands, and most G-spot experts say that they are within the area popularly known as the G-spot. Are Drs. Burri and Spector saying that the Skene's glands don't exist? The G-Spot is the Inner Part of The Clitoris! Most G-spot experts agree that the G-spot can be considered a kind of internal extension of the clitoris. If you press up on a woman's G-spot while pressing down on her clitoris, you can usually feel the connection, as can she. You could say that the G-spot is a part of the clitoris that you can only reach from the inside. Well, usually. I've known women, including myself, to have such a wild squirting orgasm that their G-spot pushes out beyond their inner labia. As such, you could conceivably touch the G-spot without penetration, though only in moments of extreme arousal. As science writer Natalie Angier writes in Woman: An Intimate Geography, "the roots of the clitoris run deep, after all, and very likely can be tickled through posterior agitation. In other words, the G spot may be nothing more than the back end of the clitoris." Nothing more, and nothing less. Thus Dr. Spector's conclusion that G-spot is a "myth" because it is probably "just" an internal extension of the clitoris is ludicrous. The internal part of my genitalia is called the vagina and the external part is the vulva. So why can't the internal part of the clitoris be called by a different name? After all, a woman and her lover have to approach these two parts of a woman's pleasure system in different ways from different directions. What's wrong with calling this interior section of the clitoris "the G-spot"? Why Bother? I can just hear the Neanderthals, including the "scientists" among them, grumbling "first, these demanding bitches make us focus on their clitorises, which do our penises very little good when what we really want to do is to plunge inside and pump away. Now they've come up with this damn G-spot which, though tantalizingly inside our favorite hole, isn't conveniently located to be easily stimulated by our natural, thrusting moves." 'Tis true. G-spots are really only good for those men or women who enjoy giving their female lovers a very special type of pleasure. Those deep, thrusting moves of regular intercourse are marvelous for vaginal orgasms and that awesome feeling of being filled and banged (sometimes causing a cervical orgasm). But they just don't usually stimulate a pure G-spot orgasm, at least not directly, and not as precisely as a finger. G-Spot Modern History In 1950, a German obstetrician, Dr. Ernest Gräfenberg found a very sensitive spot inside the vagina which he immediately named after himself. Dr. Gräfenberg's G-spot was handily located in the same place that Skenes, Aristotle, DeGraaf and all the others had discovered. Dr. G found that stimulation of the G-spot could lead to expulsion of fluid from the urethra. "Large quantities of a clear, transparent fluid expelled not from the vulva, but out of the urethra in gushes…" he gushed, "At first, I thought that the bladder sphincter had become defective by the intensity of the orgasm. But the fluid was examined and it had no urinary character [rather it was] secretions of the intra-urethral glands correlated with the erotogenic zone along the urethra in the anterior vaginal wall." Sounds like Mrs. G was a gusher… Despite Dr. G's discoveries, G-spot fever didn't take hold of 1950s Western society. Even the sex-positive feminists of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and '70s pretty much ignored it. Feminists proclaimed women's essential equality with men in and out of the bedroom, but somehow missed the fact that a woman can squirt like a man, sometimes with even greater force. Most women who did ejaculate were quiet about it, often mistaking it for urination. In the 1980s, the bestselling book The G-Spot by Dr. Alice Kahn Ladas, Dr. Beverly Whipple and Dr. John Perry broke through the dykes and a wealth of information about women's sexuality, including G-spot female ejaculation, gushed forth. Since the 1990s, several studies have been done by Perry and Whipple, as well as Dr. Milan Zaviacic, Dr. Gary Schubach and Dr. Cabello Santamaria, regarding the liquid expelled during female ejaculation to determine the chemical makeup, reported to contain fructose and sucrose, two natural forms of sugar. It also includes very low levels of creatinine and urea (the two primary chemical components of urine, found in high levels in pre- and post-ejaculatory urinalysis). Most interestingly, it contains prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the fluid produced by males in the prostate gland, which forms the base of male ejaculate. In 2002, Dr. Emmanuele Jannini of Italy's L'Aquila University conducted a study that found that the Skene's gland openings vary in size from one woman to another, and some women appear not to have them at all. If Skene's glands do cause G-spot female ejaculation, this may explain why some women can do it profusely, while others can't at all, or just produce a little spurt (though a little spurt can feel mighty good!). It also explains why some women feel their G-spots very intensely, and others not at all. It’s not just Westerners that appreciate the G-spot. Throughout Eastern history, the G-spot has been recognized as an important area of normal female sexual physiology. Tantric sex practitioners often refer to the G-spot as the Goddess Spot or sacred spot. Twinology and The G-Spot Burri and Spector hypothesized that if there is a G-spot and it is a physiological/anatomical phenomenon (as opposed to psychological or the result of conditioning), then there should be a genetic component to it. So they did a standard type of genetic analysis, surveying identical and non-identical twins. If the G-spot is biological, they theorized, then identical twins should be more likely to share the presence or absence of a G-spot than non-identical twins, since identical twins share more DNA than non-identical twins. This idea might have come to them partly because twins are all the rage in "scientific" surveys since they are born with exactly the same anatomy, and Burri and Spector happen to be "twinologists" with "the UK’s only adult twin registry and the most detailed clinical adult register in the world." I imagine they were tired of using that impressively huge registry of female twins for obscure studies in eyesight and arthritis, and wanted to study something that might grab some big, sexy headlines, like G-spots. Why might identical twins not be able to feel their G-spots with identical ease and intensity? Because though they have the same anatomy, they have had different sexual experiences and levels of desire to explore their sexuality. G-spot co-author Dr. Beverly Whipple put it succinctly when she said that "the biggest problem with [Burri and Spector’s] findings is that twins don’t generally have the same sexual partner." Recreation, Not Procreation And so the Great G-spot Debate thunders on. You can tell what side I’m on. Those of us who have experienced the power and glory of G-spot orgasms -- giving or receiving -- know that it exists. This is not a matter of faith. G-spot female ejaculation has been documented, researched and chemically analyzed. You can see it and you can hear it on our videos and others’, and if you’re fortunate enough to have or be with someone having a G-spot orgasm, you can smell it and you can feel it. And it feels good. This *feel-good* aspect of the G-spot is perhaps another reason that naysayers like Burri and Spector have held sway, over the years. G-spot orgasms are a pure recreational pleasure that have no apparent direct role in procreation, except that women who have them may, over the millennia, have procreated more, simply because we tend to enjoy sex more. Then again, since we can experience our G-spots sometimes more easily through masturbation or lesbian sex, maybe not. G-spot orgasms are not "necessary" for female sexual pleasure or marital happiness. That said, the G-spot is real and G-spot pleasure is a healthy, normal, natural, feminine experience that some women have without even trying. But just because it's "natural" doesn't mean any woman can have one without help. Just as many women (like me) needed to learn how to have a *regular* orgasm, most of us need to learn how to have a G-spot orgasm. We need to learn a combination of technique and relaxation. And partners who are interested need to learn how to help. It’s a bit of work for most of us, at least in the beginning, and another motivation to forget the whole thing and focus on shopping, prayer or raising the kids. But just because you don’t want to put in the time and energy to find and feel your G-spot doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist! Just like how most of us don’t want to put in the time and energy to get "killer abs" doesn’t mean we couldn’t have those abs if we worked at it. And maybe some people just don’t have the physiology to get themselves a washboard stomach, even if they work out every day. But that doesn’t make killer abs a "myth" any more than the unpracticed inability to find the G-spot makes it a "myth." Drs. Burri and Spector, who interviewed women aged 18–85, say that the women who can locate their G-spots tended to be younger and more sexually active. Well, duh. No offense to seniors, but most ladies over 80 (Dr. Betty Dodson notwithstanding) are more concerned with finding their medications than their G-spots. Young people tend to be sexually curious and more likely to read the literature, experiment sexually, attend classes on the subject, or have sex with partners who have learned where the G-spot is. As for G-spot owners being "more sexually active" than those who can’t find theirs, well, that’s just too obvious to even answer. Spurn the Debunkers, Join the Spelunkers! Why would "scientists" carry out a dumb, misleading study like this? First, so that they can get the keyword "G-spot" into their titles and catch the attention of people like you and me in an attempt to make their own names famous. Second, so they can "debunk" sexually revolutionary discoveries and make their conservative, not very sexually adventurous patrons, not to mention their mothers, happy. Women of the world: Don’t let them take your G-spot away from you, like some sort of anatomical repo-men! Tonight or tomorrow morning, go spelunking in your vaginal cave with someone you love (even if that someone is you). Make sure it’s nice and wet, feel that spongy area on the anterior wall and make your own discoveries. © 2010 CounterPunch All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/145504/

Army Sends Mom to Afghanistan, Infant to Protective Services

Found on ALTERNET.COM

This is so NOT right!

Army Sends Mom to Afghanistan, Infant to Protective Services

By Dahr Jamail, AlterNet. Posted November 21, 2009.

"This would do irreparable harm to her child. I think they are doing this to punish her."

VENTURA, California - U.S. Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother, was threatened with a military court-martial if she did not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, California, is currently being confined at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, after being arrested. Her son was placed into a county foster care system.Hutchinson was threatened with a court martial if she did not agree to deploy to Afghanistan on Sunday, Nov. 15. She has been attempting to find someone to take care of her child, Kamani, while she is deployed overseas, but to no avail.

The military backed off from deploying her on Nov. 15, after enough media attention came to Hutchinson's case. She is still to be deployed, likely immediately after she is able to find someone to care for her infant while she is in Afghanistan.

Kevin Larson, a spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield, told the Associated Press he didn't know what Hutchinson was told by her commanders, but said the Army would not deploy a single parent who had nobody to care for his or her child.
"I don't know what transpired and the investigation will get to the bottom of it," Larson said. "If she would have come to the deployment terminal with her child, there's no question she would not have been deployed."

According to the family care plan of the U.S. Army, Hutchinson was allowed to fly to California and leave her son with her mother, Angelique Hughes of Oakland.

However, after a week of caring for the child, Hughes realized she was unable to care for Kamani along with her other duties of caring for a daughter with special needs, her ailing mother, and an ailing sister.

In late October, Angelique Hughes told Hutchinson and her commander that she would be unable to care for Kamani after all. The Army then gave Hutchinson an extension of time to allow her to find someone else to care for Kamani. Meanwhile, Hughes brought Kamani back to Georgia to be with his mother.

However, only a few days before Hutchinson's original deployment date, she was told by the Army she would not get the time extension after all, and would have to deploy, despite not having found anyone to care for her child.

Faced with this choice, Hutchinson chose not to show up for her plane to Afghanistan. The military arrested her and placed her child in the county foster care system.

Hutchinson was scheduled to fly to Afghanistan on November 15 for a special court martial, where she then faces up to one year in jail. However, now the military has backed away from the threat, allowing Hutchinson more time to find someone to care for her child before she deploys.

There is currently no firm date on when that might happen.

Hutchinson's civilian lawyer, Rai Sue Sussman, told IPS, "The core issue is that they are asking her to make an inhumane choice. She did not have a complete family care plan, meaning she did not find someone to provide long-term care for her child. She's required to have a complete family care plan, and was told she'd have an extension, but then they changed it on her."

Asked why she believes the military revoked Hutchinson's extension, Sussman responded, "I think they didn't believe her that she was unable to find someone to care for her infant. They think she's just trying to get out of her deployment. But she's just trying to find someone she can trust to take care of her baby."

Hutchinson's mother has flown to Georgia to retrieve the baby, but is overwhelmed and does not feel able to provide long-term care for the child.

According to Sussman, the soldier needs more time to find someone to care for her infant, but does not as yet have friends or family able to do so.

Sussman says Hutchinson told her, "It is outrageous that they would deploy a single mother without a complete and current family care plan. I would like to find someone I trust who can take care of my son, but I cannot force my family to do this. They are dealing with their own health issues."

Sussman said that the Army's JAG attorney, Captain Ed Whitford, "told me they thought her chain of command thought she was trying to get out of her deployment by using her child as an excuse."

Major Gallagher, of Hutchinson's unit, also told Sussman that he did not believe it was a real family crisis, and that Hutchinson's "mother should have been able to take care of the baby".

In addition, according to Sussman, a First Sergeant Gephart "told me he thought she [Hutchinson] was pulling her family care plan stuff to get out of her deployment."

"To me it sounds completely bogus," Sussman said, "I think what they are actually going to do is have her spend her year deployment in Afghanistan, then court martial her back here upon her return. This would do irreparable harm to her child. I think they are doing this to punish her, because they think she is lying."

Sussman explained that she believes the best possible outcome is for the Army to either give Hutchinson the extension they had said she would receive so that she can find someone to care for her infant, or barring this, to simply discharge her so she can take care of her child.

Nevertheless, Hutchinson was and is simply asking for the time extension to complete her family care plan, and not to be discharged.

"I'm outraged by this," Sussman explained, "I've never gone to the media with a military client, but this situation is just completely over the top."

Rape Culture 101

Just read this, it's an amazing article. The only thing it lacks is more emphasis on the fact that men get raped too, it is mentioned in passing though.

Originally posted HERE

FAQ: Rape Culture 101

Posted on October 19, 2009 by shakesville

This post was written by Melissa McEwan and originally published at Shakesville on October 09, 2009
Editor’s note: this post does not follow the usual FF101 FAQ conventions, but it’s being included in the FAQ list anyway.

[Trigger warning.]

Frequently, I receive requests to provide a definition of the term “rape culture.” I’ve referred people to the Wikipedia entry on rape culture, which is pretty good, and I like the definition provided in Transforming a Rape Culture:

A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm.

In a rape culture both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable as death or taxes. This violence, however, is neither biologically nor divinely ordained. Much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change.

But my correspondents—whether they are dewy noobs just coming to feminism, advanced feminists looking for a source, or disbelievers in the existence of the rape culture—always seem to be looking for something more comprehensive and less abstract: What is the rape culture? What are its borders? What does it look like and sound like and feel like?

It is not a definition for which they’re looking; not really. It’s a description. It’s something substantive enough to reach out and touch, in all its ugly, heaving, menacing grotesquery.

Rape culture is encouraging male sexual aggression. Rape culture is regarding violence as sexy and sexuality as violent. Rape culture is treating rape as a compliment, as the unbridled passion stirred in a healthy man by a beautiful woman, making irresistible the urge to rip open her bodice or slam her against a wall, or a wrought-iron fence, or a car hood, or pull her by her hair, or shove her onto a bed, or any one of a million other images of fight-fucking in movies and television shows and on the covers of romance novels that convey violent urges are inextricably linked with (straight) sexuality.

Rape culture is treating straight sexuality as the norm. Rape culture is lumping queer sexuality into nonconsensual sexual practices like pedophilia and bestiality. Rape culture is privileging heterosexuality because ubiquitous imagery of two adults of the same-sex engaging in egalitarian partnerships without gender-based dominance and submission undermines (erroneous) biological rationales for the rape culture’s existence.

Rape culture is rape being used as a weapon, a tool of war and genocide and oppression. Rape culture is rape being used as a corrective to “cure” queer women. Rape culture is a militarized culture and “the natural product of all wars, everywhere, at all times, in all forms.”

Rape culture is 1 in 33 men being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is encouraging men to use the language of rape to establish dominance over one another (”I’ll make you my bitch”). Rape culture is making rape a ubiquitous part of male-exclusive bonding. Rape culture is ignoring the cavernous need for men’s prison reform in part because the threat of being raped in prison is considered an acceptable deterrent to committing crime, and the threat only works if actual men are actually being raped.

Rape culture is 1 in 6 women being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is not even talking about the reality that many women are sexually assaulted multiple times in their lives. Rape culture is the way in which the constant threat of sexual assault affects women’s daily movements. Rape culture is telling girls and women to be careful about what you wear, how you wear it, how you carry yourself, where you walk, when you walk there, with whom you walk, whom you trust, what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it, what you drink, how much you drink, whether you make eye contact, if you’re alone, if you’re with a stranger, if you’re in a group, if you’re in a group of strangers, if it’s dark, if the area is unfamiliar, if you’re carrying something, how you carry it, what kind of shoes you’re wearing in case you have to run, what kind of purse you carry, what jewelry you wear, what time it is, what street it is, what environment it is, how many people you sleep with, what kind of people you sleep with, who your friends are, to whom you give your number, who’s around when the delivery guy comes, to get an apartment where you can see who’s at the door before they can see you, to check before you open the door to the delivery guy, to own a dog or a dog-sound-making machine, to get a roommate, to take self-defense, to always be alert always pay attention always watch your back always be aware of your surroundings and never let your guard down for a moment lest you be sexually assaulted and if you are and didn’t follow all the rules it’s your fault.

Rape culture is victim-blaming. Rape culture is a judge blaming a child for her own rape. Rape culture is a minister blaming his child victims. Rape culture is accusing a child of enjoying being held hostage, raped, and tortured. Rape culture is spending enormous amounts of time finding any reason at all that a victim can be blamed for hir own rape.

Rape culture is judges banning the use of the word rape in the courtroom. Rape culture is the media using euphemisms for sexual assault. Rape culture is stories about rape being featured in the Odd News.

Rape culture is tasking victims with the burden of rape prevention. Rape culture is encouraging women to take self-defense as though that is the only solution required to preventing rape. Rape culture is admonishing women to “learn common sense” or “be more responsible” or “be aware of barroom risks” or “avoid these places” or “don’t dress this way,” and failing to admonish men to not rape.

Rape culture is “nothing” being the most frequent answer to a question about what people have been formally taught about rape.

Rape culture is boys under 10 years old knowing how to rape.

Rape culture is the idea that only certain people rape—and only certain people get raped. Rape culture is ignoring that the thing about rapists is that they rape people. They rape people who are strong and people who are weak, people who are smart and people who are dumb, people who fight back and people who submit just to get it over with, people who are sluts and people who are prudes, people who rich and people who are poor, people who are tall and people who are short, people who are fat and people who are thin, people who are blind and people who are sighted, people who are deaf and people who can hear, people of every race and shape and size and ability and circumstance.

Rape culture is the narrative that sex workers can’t be raped. Rape culture is the assertion that wives can’t be raped. Rape culture is the contention that only nice girls can be raped.

Rape culture is refusing to acknowledge that the only thing that the victim of every rapist shares in common is bad fucking luck. Rape culture is refusing to acknowledge that the only thing a person can do to avoid being raped is never be in the same room as a rapist. Rape culture is avoiding talking about what an absurdly unreasonable expectation that is, since rapists don’t announce themselves or wear signs or glow purple.

Rape culture is people meant to protect you raping you instead—like parents, teachers, doctors, ministers, cops, soldiers, self-defense instructors.

Rape culture is a serial rapist being appointed to a federal panel that makes decisions regarding women’s health.

Rape culture is a ruling that says women cannot withdraw consent once sex commences.

Rape culture is a collective understanding about classifications of rapists: The “normal” rapist (whose crime is most likely to be dismissed with a “boys will be boys” sort of jocular apologia) is the man who forces himself on attractive women, women his age in fine health and form, whose crime is disturbingly understandable to his male defenders. The “real sickos” are the men who go after children, old ladies, the disabled, accident victims languishing in comas—the sort of people who can’t fight back, whose rape is difficult to imagine as titillating, unlike the rape of “pretty girls,” so easily cast in a fight-fuck fantasy of squealing and squirming and eventual relenting to the “flattery” of being raped.

Rape culture is the insistence on trying to distinguish between different kinds of rape via the use of terms like “gray rape” or “date rape.”

Rape culture is pervasive narratives about rape that exist despite evidence to the contrary. Rape culture is pervasive imagery of stranger rape, even though women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street, making what is commonly referred to as “date rape” by far the most prevalent type of rape. Rape culture is pervasive insistence that false reports are common, although they are less common (1.6%) than false reports of auto theft (2.6%). Rape culture is pervasive claims that women make rape accusations willy-nilly, when 61% of rapes remain unreported.

Rape culture is the pervasive narrative that there is a “typical” way to behave after being raped, instead of the acknowledgment that responses to rape are as varied as its victims, that, immediately following a rape, some women go into shock; some are lucid; some are angry; some are ashamed; some are stoic; some are erratic; some want to report it; some don’t; some will act out; some will crawl inside themselves; some will have healthy sex lives; some never will again.

Rape culture is the pervasive narrative that a rape victim who reports hir rape is readily believed and well-supported, instead of acknowledging that reporting a rape is a huge personal investment, a difficult process that can be embarrassing, shameful, hurtful, frustrating, and too often unfulfilling. Rape culture is ignoring that there is very little incentive to report a rape; it’s a terrible experience with a small likelihood of seeing justice served.

Rape culture is hospitals that won’t do rape kits, disbelieving law enforcement, unmotivated prosecutors, hostile judges, victim-blaming juries, and paltry sentencing.

Rape culture is the fact that higher incidents of rape tend to correlate with lower conviction rates.

Rape culture is silence around rape in the national discourse, and in rape victims’ homes. Rape culture is treating surviving rape as something of which to be ashamed. Rape culture is families torn apart because of rape allegations that are disbelieved or ignored or sunk to the bottom of a deep, dark sea in an iron vault of secrecy and silence.

Rape culture is the objectification of women, which is part of a dehumanizing process that renders consent irrelevant. Rape culture is treating women’s bodies like public property. Rape culture is street harassment and groping on public transportation and equating raped women’s bodies to a man walking around with valuables hanging out of his pockets. Rape culture is most men being so far removed from the threat of rape that invoking property theft is evidently the closest thing many of them can imagine to being forcibly subjected to a sexual assault.

Rape culture is treating 13-year-old girls like trophies for men regarded as great artists.

Rape culture is ignoring the way in which professional environments that treat sexual access to female subordinates as entitlements of successful men can be coercive and compromise enthusiastic consent.

Rape culture is a convicted rapist getting a standing ovation at Cannes, a cameo in a hit movie, and a career resurgence in which he can joke about how he hates seeing people get hurt.

Rape culture is when running dogfights is said to elicit more outrage than raping a woman would.

Rape culture is blurred lines between persistence and coercion. Rape culture is treating diminished capacity to consent as the natural path to sexual activity.

Rape culture is pretending that non-physical sexual assaults, like peeping tomming, is totally unrelated to brutal and physical sexual assaults, rather than viewing them on a continuum of sexual assault.

Rape culture is diminishing the gravity of any sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, or culture of actual or potential coercion in any way.

Rape culture is using the word “rape” to describe something that has been done to you other than a forced or coerced sex act. Rape culture is saying things like “That ATM raped me with a huge fee” or “The IRS raped me on my taxes.”

Rape culture is rape being used as entertainment, in movies and television shows and books and in video games.

Rape culture is television shows and movies leaving rape out of situations where it would be a present and significant threat in real life.

Rape culture is Amazon offering to locate “rape” products for you.

Rape culture is rape jokes. Rape culture is rape jokes on t-shirts, rape jokes in college newspapers, rape jokes in soldiers’ home videos, rape jokes on the radio, rape jokes on news broadcasts, rape jokes in magazines, rape jokes in viral videos, rape jokes in promotions for children’s movies, rape jokes on Page Six (and again!), rape jokes on the funny pages, rape jokes on TV shows, rape jokes on the campaign trail, rape jokes on Halloween, rape jokes in online content by famous people, rape jokes in online content by non-famous people, rape jokes in headlines, rape jokes onstage at clubs, rape jokes in politics, rape jokes in one-woman shows, rape jokes in print campaigns, rape jokes in movies, rape jokes in cartoons, rape jokes in nightclubs, rape jokes on MTV, rape jokes on late-night chat shows, rape jokes in tattoos, rape jokes in stand-up comedy, rape jokes on websites, rape jokes at awards shows, rape jokes in online contests, rape jokes in movie trailers, rape jokes on the sides of buses, rape jokes on cultural institutions…

Rape culture is people objecting to the detritus of the rape culture being called oversensitive, rather than people who perpetuate the rape culture being regarded as not sensitive enough.

Rape culture is the myriad ways in which rape is tacitly and overtly abetted and encouraged having saturated every corner of our culture so thoroughly that people can’t easily wrap their heads around what the rape culture actually is.

That’s hardly everything. It’s merely the tip of an unfathomable iceberg.

The 'Perfect' Porn Vulva: More Women Demanding Cosmetic Genital Surgery

At the risk of sounding like a militant feminist, I love my vagina. I love being a woman. I like the way it looks and wouldn't change anything about it. I've heard of genital mutilation women, but naievely thought this primariy happened in Asia and Africa. Well apparently the practice has moved to North American shores. The only difference, and a fact that makes it worse in my opinion, is that they are brainwashing women into consenting to such atrocities. Please see the article below.
ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE

The 'Perfect' Porn Vulva: More Women Demanding Cosmetic Genital Surgery

By Rebecca Chalker, AlterNet. Posted August 11, 2009.

Women are risking their lives to achieve an unrealistic and unnecessary ideal.

Type "labiaplasty," "vaginoplasty" or any of nearly a dozen female genital cosmetic surgeries into any search engine, and a flurry of doctors' Web sites will pop up touting the self-esteem, sexual enhancement, comfort and fashion benefits of female genital cosmetic surgery.

These sites, typically decorated with airbrushed pictures of lovely women in various states of undress or even nude, are replete with before-and-after photos of trimmed-down labia and gushing quotes from satisfied customers.

Many of these sites promise ecstasy, plus: "Laser vaginal reconstruction can accomplish what ever [sic] you desire."

Some patients seem happy with the results.

"When my husband and I had sex, well, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before," a 40-year-old woman reports, six weeks after a three-hour combination labiaplasty, vaginoplasty and clitoral unhooding, costing at low estimate of $15,000 (a high estimate: at least double that). "I had an orgasm probably within three minutes. … I feel like I've found what I had lost ... I feel like I'm 25 again!"

Her surgeon reports this case study as "Strengthening Our Love For Each Other."

Dig a little deeper though, and you find stories tinged with grief and regret about genital "enhancement" surgeries gone wrong.

"Had the surgery 1/07," one woman reports. "Can't say enough [about] how much I regret it. The problems I had it done for can't even compare to the pain and discomfort I'm having now. The surgeon, who has extensive experience, doesn't know why this is happening."

One of the newest wrinkles in the business of sex is the explosion of genital cosmetic surgery.

Not surprisingly, women constitute 90 percent of patients requesting these surgeries. Both physician and popular Internet sites prey on women's sexual insecurities by promoting appearance and alleged sexual benefits, but pay scant attention to the wide range of normal genital appearance, the variability of sexual response and possible harm.

The New View Campaign Working Group on Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery, a project that I participated in, identified unresearched claims made about female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) and analyzed how the rhetoric used by the body-modification and sexual-medicine industries has co-opted core feminist concepts of empowerment, self-determination and choice for profit.

Our review of medical, academic and popular literature, and a survey of physicians' promotional materials provides a disturbing picture.

There are nearly a dozen genital "remodeling" procedures.

The most popular by far is labiaplasty, the trimming of one or both sides of the inner lips or labia minora, or cutting out a V-shaped wedge. As a part of the clitoral system, the inner lips are sexually sensitive, so removal of this densely innervated tissue to get better sex seems, well, counterintuitive.

The next most popular surgery is vaginal tightening: vaginoplasty or vaginal rejuvenation, which involves removal of part of the vaginal lining and tightening tissue and muscles surrounding the vaginal opening.

The question about the development of scar tissue and disruption during future vaginal births is typically left unaddressed.

Reduction of the glans or tip of the clitoris (clitoropexy) for is done for purely aesthetic purposes. The only function of the glans is sexual sensation, so trimming can in no way enhance sexual pleasure. The protective clitoral hood (or "unhooding") is rarely requested, but is often offered (for additional cost) along with labiaplasty. The idea that reduction or removal may enhance clitoral sensation is pure mythology.

Hymen restoration or repair (hymenoplasty) is done to provide the illusion of virginity when the hymen has been broken through normal activities or intercourse. Some women are having hymenoplasty as a "Valentine's present" to their lovers.

Removal of a tough or "imperforate" hymen for functional reasons is variously called hymenotomy or hymenectomy.

The wildly controversial "G shot" is an injection of a quarter-sized dollop of human-engineered collagen through the vaginal wall into the urethral sponge, the spongy tissue surrounding the urethra.

Developed and franchised by Dr. David Matlock of Dr. 90210 fame, this procedure must be redone every few months. According to Matlock's Web site, and unpublished data, this injection results in "enhanced sexual arousal and sexual gratification for 87 percent of normal sexually functioning women."

Many women sing the praises of the shot: "After my G shot, I get sexually aroused performing yoga." But comedian Margaret Cho reported no sexual enhancement at all and says it felt like she was "sitting on a hemorrhoid donut."

Other procedures include pubic mound reduction, reducing or poofing up the outer lips or labia majora and "building up and strengthening" the perineal body.

Regarding the ecstatic reviews, psychologist Carol Tavris notes that "One of the most well-documented findings in sociology is called the 'justification of effort' effect: The more time, effort, money and pain that people invest in a procedure, program, surgery, or other activity, the more motivated they are to justify it.

"How easy would it be for you to find a Marine willing to say that cadet hazing and suffering were unnecessary and brutal?" Or "… to get George Bush to say 'Gee, I guess going to Iraq was a bad decision?' "

All women by far are not enthused. "Perhaps the only rejuvenation going on is the doctor's wallet," an anonymous contributor to the Wall Street Journal blog opined. On Women's Health News, Rachel Walden observed "… spending $3,500 to $20,000 cutting up your hoo-ha isn't going to fix what's wrong with you."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists noted in 2007 that these "procedures are not medically indicated, and the safety and effectiveness … have not been documented. No adequate studies have been published assessing the long-term satisfaction, safety and complication rates," although the college dropped the ball by failing to institute regulations or sanctions.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons informally agrees with this policy, but does not have a formal policy of its own.

Women may believe that their doctors are proficient in these techniques, but ob-gyns, family-practice physicians and urologists are promoting and performing these lucrative surgeries with minimal training.

By Matlock's estimation, doctors in all 50 states, and around the world, operate as "franchisees" of his business. Although he has been asked repeatedly for documentation on safety and effectiveness, Matlock has refused to publish any outcome studies, citing his need to "protect his intellectual property."

The most reliable evidence of the possible negative after-effects of genital surgeries is reported in follow-up reports on children with intersex conditions. In many cases, labia reduction removes sexually sensitive tissue, may cause lifelong hypersensitivity or numbness, pain on intercourse, infection, adhesions and scarring.

Some doctors acknowledge the downside of these putative enhancement procedures.

"We have seen many unfortunate examples of terrible, scarred, uneven results of labiaplasty from other physicians who have attempted labia-reduction surgery with typically poor results, which are usually permanent," Dr. Robert Roh, a New York City gynecologist, reports on his Web site.

Dr. Red Alinsod, an Orange County, Calif., gynecologist, concurs: "The numbers of patients requiring labiaplasty revisions have dramatically increased over the past several years. It is not a common procedure but one that is steadily on the rise as more surgeons attempt to perform labiaplasty surgery without knowledge of the basic tenets of aesthetic vaginal surgery."

No guidelines for "normal" genital appearance exist. An article in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Jillilan Lloyd and colleagues notes that "Previous work has defined the labia minora as hypertrophic [enlarged or overgrown] … if the maximum distance from the base to edge was [greater than] 4 centimeters." After careful measurement of 50 volunteers ages 18 and 50, these authors report "wide variation in all parameters assessed," with the width of the labia minora varying from 7 to 50 centimeters in width.

Describing protuberant labia minora as "looking like a spaniel's ears," French surgeons reported a high patient satisfaction rate for 98 women who answered a post-operative mail questionnaire.

Although they defined labia minora hypertrophy to be greater than 4 centimeters, they concluded "… we believe that hypertrophy of the labia minora is definitely a mere variant of normal anatomy." The 7 percent dissatisfaction rate was caused by poor aesthetic or functional result, or unrealistic patient expectations. The authors concede that "… 40 percent of the patients did not respond to the questionnaire, or were lost to follow-up, thus giving a potentially lower satisfaction rate."

Normal female genitals are virtually invisible in the popular media, except through pornographic sources. Lloyd and her colleagues note, "With the conspicuous availability of pornography in everyday life, women and their sexual partners are increasingly exposed to idealized, highly selective images of the female genital anatomy."

In 2005, shock-jock Howard Stern went live on the E Channel and found that the frequent appearance of porn stars enhanced ratings. Houston, a popular porn star and strip club dancer, appeared on Stern's show and talked about reducing her labia to look better on film. Carlin Ross, of www.dodsonandross.com remembers how Stern milked the topic.

"He could see that the porn stars were good for ratings, and they would bring their labia trophies cast in clear resin like an award and auction them off on Ebay."

Surgeons have also noted the impetus behind this trend. "Some women just want to look 'prettier,' like the women they see in [pornographic] magazines or in films," one New York City ob-gyn says. Another doctor reports that his patients want their vulvas to look like "the playmates of Playboy."

Based at least partially on the porn model and on the invisibility of normal genitals in the media, on Web sites, in chat rooms and women's magazines they are establishing a narrow norm and aesthetic ideal.

These negative messages feed a long history of misogynist genital disgust, and misinformation creates an environment of dissatisfaction and a demand for female genital cosmetic surgeries that would fall within the definition of female genital mutilation articulated by the WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA in 1997:

Female genital mutilation comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons. … In some forms of Type II … only the labia minor are cut.

Women's right to choice is a core feminist concept, but choice made in the vacuum of the deficient discourse on FGCS is little more than wishful thinking.

The entrepreneurial medical and media narratives do not provide a useful understanding about the appearance and function of the female genitals, hence, informed consent is impossible.

Sexual attraction, response and pleasure are complex interactions of psychological and physiological processes that change with age, partners and experience, and regardless of the perceived short-term benefits of genital surgeries, reconfiguring the genitals is unlikely to have significant impact on sexual fulfillment.

And it's not just grown women that are drawn to the procedure.

Hosting a chat room on the subject, the Web site scarleteen.com elicited this hyperemic query: "i dont think this is normal can i just cut my labia off." ... "hello whats the younest age you can have labiaplasty sugery?" [sic]

Click here for more information on female genital cosmetic surgery and on the New View Campaign's fall protest.

Rebecca Chalker is the author of The Clitoral Truth and teaches the "Cultural History of Sexuality" through her Web site.

Vampires, Werewolves, and "Scary" Female Sexuality: the Sexist World of Twilight

MORE Twilight fun! Original article found at www.alternet.org, HERE


Vampires, Werewolves, and "Scary" Female Sexuality: the Sexist World of Twilight

By Carmen D. Siering, Ms. Magazine. Posted May 19, 2009.

Adults have an obligation to start a conversation concerning the darker themes and anti-feminist rhetoric in the extremely popular Twilight series.

In Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, a wildly popular four-book series of young adult novels, the protagonist Bella Swan -- by all accounts a very average human girl -- has two suitors. One is the unimaginably beautiful vampire, Edward, the other a loyal and devoted werewolf, Jacob. Fans of the books, and now a movie version, often break into "teams," aligning themselves with the swain they hope Bella will choose in the end: Team Edward or Team Jacob.

But few young readers ask, "Why not Team Bella?" perhaps because the answer is quite clear: There can be no Team Bella. Even though Bella is ostensibly a hero, in truth she is merely an object in the Twilight world.

On the surface, the Twilight saga seems to have something to please everyone. Moms are reading the books and swooning over Edward right alongside their teen and tween daughters. Librarians and teachers are delighted to see students with their heads tucked into books, and since Twilight's romantic sensuality is wrapped up in an abstinence message, all the kissing and groping appear to be harmless.

But while Twilight is ostensibly a love story, scratch the surface and you will find an allegorical tale about the dangers of unregulated female sexuality. From the very first kiss between Edward and Bella, she is fighting to control her awakening sexuality. Edward must restrain her, sometimes physically, to keep her from ravishing him, and he frequently chastises her when she becomes, in his opinion, too passionate. There are those who might applaud the depiction of a young man showing such self-restraint, but shouldn't the decision about when a couple is ready to move forward sexually be one they make together?

Bella is also depicted as being in need of someone to take charge, someone to take care of her. Edward isn't just protective, though, but often overprotective of Bella. Edward is jealous of Bella's relationships with other boys, going so far as to disable her car to keep her at home. He is condescending, assuming that he knows what is best for her in every situation.

Maybe it's difficult for Edward to see Bella as an equal because Bella has almost no personality. Meyer writes on her website that she "left out a detailed description of Bella in the book so that the reader could more easily step into her shoes." But Meyer fails to give Bella much of an interior life as well; Bella is a blank slate, with few thoughts or actions that don't center on Edward. If Meyer hopes that readers see themselves as Bella, what is it she is suggesting to them about the significance of their own lives?

Meyer also insists that she sees Bella as a feminist character, since the foundation of feminism is being able to choose. What Meyer fails to acknowledge is that all of the choices Bella makes are Meyer's choices -- choices based on her own patriarchal Mormon background.

In Breaking Dawn, the latest book in the series, Meyer finally allows Bella's subordination to end as she takes her proper place: in the patriarchal structure. When Bella becomes a wife and mother, Meyer allows her to receive her heart's desire -- to live forever by Edward's side, to be preternaturally beautiful and graceful, to be strong and be able to defend herself.

The Twilight saga has become something of a bonding phenomenon among mothers and daughters. But reading the books together and mutually swooning over Edward isn't enough. As influential adults, mothers (and, by extension, teachers and librarians) have an obligation to start a conversation concerning the darker themes and anti-feminist rhetoric in these tales. There is plenty to work with, from the dangers of losing yourself in an obsessive relationship to the realities of owning one's sexuality.

Director Catherine Hardwicke's film version of Twilight remains true to the novel, but there are subtle changes that make it much more feminist-friendly. Kristin Stewart's Bella is more outspoken and forthright, and Robert Pattinson's Edward is much less condescending and overbearing. Their relationship seems to be built on equality and friendship, and includes scenes of mutual sexual frustration and restraint. Here is a Bella we can root for, a Bella who stands just a little bit more on her own and is a part of the action. It will be interesting to see if the next film in the Twilight series, to be directed by a man this time, Chris Weitz, will take a similar path. Or, once again, will Bella be left without a team of her own?

For the full version of this article, pick up a copy of the Spring 2009 issue of Ms. on newsstands, or have a copy sent to your door by joining the Ms. community at www.msmagazine.com.

Egypt's "Spinsters" Fight Against Stereotypes and Discrimination

Original article posted on www.alternet.org, HERE

Egypt's "Spinsters" Fight Against Stereotypes and Discrimination

By Manar Ammar and Joseph Mayton, Women News Network. Posted May 6, 2009.

Egyptian activists are speaking out against the "spinster" concept and calling for a re-examination of how the country views women.

Cairo, Egypt – It is a challenge to be unmarried in Egypt and even more so if the woman is "growing old" according to Egyptian customs. This means any unmarried woman past her mid-twenties is seen negatively through society's lens, leaving many questions to be answered. However, a group of Egyptian female activists are speaking out against the "A'anis," or spinster, concept, calling for a re-examination of how the country views women.

Youmna Mokhtar is a young Egyptian journalist who became fed up with the use of this word in everyday life. So she founded the social group called "Spinsters for change" that aims to educate people on the use of "A'anis."

In Arabic, "A'anis" has at least three meanings – none of which have a relationship to its understood social meaning. The first is: a dull tree branch, the second is: one who looks at the mirror more often and the third is: a strong female camel. In Egypt and across the region, socially, it refers to a woman who has reached a certain age and is still unmarried.

"I started the group to initiate a dialog between women to discuss how we can change that social look," said Youmna. The group is outspoken against the social labeling and ill treatment of unmarried women. Although the word is commonplace in colloquial Egyptian Arabic, it remains a derogatory word.

Women feel the negative attachments to the word, which they argue attracts rumors, suspicion and pitying looks, as if asking; "what's wrong with her if?" (if she hasn't yet married). But, with the average marriage age continuing to rise, Mokhtar believes it is time to evaluate how language plays a role in societal perceptions.

"Although the group is called "A'anis for change," I am against the label, yet we used it to name the group [because] it is the term people use," Mokhtar explained. "First, we thought of calling it "girls for change," but it was not going to deliver the same meaning," she added with a chuckle.

"There are more important things than the name, it is the pattern of behaviors that comes with it," Mokhtar continued. The openness of the group is attracting more than just unmarried Egyptian women. Married couples and bachelors are also joining in as they explore the concepts of marriage and the intense pressure to marry cast today on a majority of Egyptian youth.

"First, in the family a lot of pressure is put on the girl to get married. Then the pressure turns into insults and condescension and they ask her why are you being snobby for refusing these men. And if that doesn't work, they use the fear factor, saying 'so what are you going to do? We are not going to live forever.' And then comes friends. All of her friends got married and she didn't, so in their eyes, she becomes the one who is going to envy them for getting married and she could even find herself not invited to one of her friends' weddings."

"A deeply rooted belief exists in the Egyptian culture that early marriage is better for girls," said a 2006 USAID report, "Preventing Child Marriage: Protecting Girls' Health."

"Pressure on women to get married often begins immediately following university. Some women have the luxury of waiting one or two years before the nagging begins. By the time a woman reaches 30-years-old, parents stop trying to force their daughters to get married, Mokhtar admitted. However, not because they don't want to see their children wed.

"They would justify it using the idea that it becomes unsafe for women to get pregnant after 35," Mokhtar said.

"Women who seek divorce in Egypt have two options, fault-based or no-fault divorce (khula)," said Cairo public prosecutor, Hassan Osman, during a 2004 interview on marriage law and legislation with Human Rights Watch. "Unlike men, women can only divorce by court action (tatliq). Regardless of which system they choose, a number of government officials are involved in the process, including judges, attorneys for both parties, and arbitrators involved in compulsory mediation between the couple. Public prosecutors are also often present in divorce cases, exercising considerable influence on these proceedings and the outcome of the case."

"What happens to women who refuse to marry in the first place?

"Many women in Egypt are married without their consent, often before they become adults," outlined Human Rights Watch. Women who do not marry, though, are often looked upon negatively as complete outsiders.

Although marriage in modern Egypt is seen as an equal contract between husband and wife, in practice it's not that easy. Many women on the edge of marriage are hesitant to ask for equal rights in the contract itself because of fear their suitor may decide to "back out" of the arrangement.

A female friend of Mokhtar, who is over 30, has turned down a number of possible suitors, which has left a mark on her village. A number of men have even taken the step to come to the friend's house, pretending to ask for her hand in marriage in order to glimpse the woman who refuses marriage past 30. Mokhtar believes this is part of the issue surrounding Egyptian society's continued wrongdoing against women.

"It shows how our society looks at women as wives and baby makers. She is born to get married and give birth no matter what kind of marriage she is in. Happily married or not, the point is to [get] married," Youmna added. The concept of a wife as "property" in marriage spans centuries in Egypt, but ancient history may point to a different story.

According to the Annenberg Foundation project, Bridging World History, the concept of marriage as a "family" identifier for parents and children in ancient times should be questioned.

"It is highly debatable whether there was a concept of [Egyptian] ‘marriage'; the sole significant family-establishing act appears to have been cohabitation for reproduction. The concept of fertility was important to social and political orders that evolved along the Nile… Like many other societies, ancient Egyptian society was patriarchal: men and their male heir controlled the majority of relationships. In the realm of the household, elite Egyptian women controlled property, business, ritual, and family matters. This is not always obvious from the surviving records," said the project.

Dr. Abdel-Halim Nureddin, professor of ancient language at the Faculty of Archeology at Cairo University, agrees that women in Ancient Egypt had numerous rights. "Ancient Egyptian traditions and laws gave much attention to women's rights in marriage, divorce, inheritance, as well as in cases of selling and buying," said Dr. Nureddin in a recent lecture.

In spite of a more liberal trend in ancient history, a majority of people view Egyptian marriage and divorce today with the belief that women are discriminated against in modern Cairo.

In Egypt an overwhelming majority (80%) thinks that divorced women are mistreated (a great deal, 38%; some, 42%), though interestingly a substantially lower number (48%) perceive this level of discrimination of widows," says WorldPublicOpinion.org, a respected global consortium of research centers from 25 nations (23 June, 2008).

Statistics prove, a greater percentage of citizens in Egypt today see marriage and women's rights under a very tight lens of societal rules and regulations. Others, like journalist, Youmna Mokhtar, see the limits of "acceptable" roles in Egypt placed constantly, and without merit, on the shoulders of women as the "barriers" to a better society.

As Mokhtar describes her recent group discussions, "Later many men joined [my] group and presented superficial cliché comments in which they blamed women for being unmarried. One man said that "girls are too romantic and they want to marry a knight or someone who looks like a movie star."

The idea goes further than simply marriage. The group addresses the discrimination against divorcees as well as unmarried women. It attempts to show the error in society's obsession with social patterns.

"People treat unmarried woman with pity all the time, praying for then to get a good man and a good home, very similar to the way they treat the disabled: with prayers and pitiful eyes," said Asma Abdel Khalek, a 30-year-old single Egyptian woman.

"In reality, women are viewed as dependents whose primary duty is to the home and the family," said a May 2008 EUROMED study on cultural perceptions of women's productive and reproductive roles in Egypt.

Youmna Mokhtar revealed that a number of people, women and men, are increasingly excited about the idea of Spinsters for Change, which has them thinking of targeting a larger audience outside the Internet. The group is planning meetings to share their experiences and hold lectures to discuss the merits of marriage in order to re-examine why people "get married in the first place."

"The label [of a'anis] shames those who fall under it no matter if it was her decision not get married or it just happened. Either way, why shame her?" explained Mokhtar, on woman's right to choose marriage.

"Another important message we try to deliver to society is please leave the a'anis alone. Let her be and don't pity her," added Fairouz Omar, an Egyptian educational and social advisor for the group.

Joseph Mayton is a Cairo-based journalist whose work regularly appears in the Middle East Times, World Politics Review and other region-focused publications.