Carolyn Kennedy: the Feminist Choice?

Responses from Feminist Groups to Kennedy
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/nyregion/06demwomen.html?bl&ex=1228712400&en=87713734acb711c3&ei=5087%0A

A Criticism of Kennedy's Bid:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6172370.html

Obama: Feminist in Chief Part II

A Site from UVA FLF Member Gabe!

The economic stimulus is a great place to start addressing gender inequality. In a recent Boston Globe op-ed, "The Macho Stimulus Plan," economist Randy Albelda points out that the jobs Obama talks about--building roads, bridges and schools, developing eco-friendly technologies--are overwhelmingly held by men. It would be nice if suddenly half of construction workers were female, but given that they're now 2.7 percent, realistically that is not going to happen. Even doubling or tripling the small number of women in the relevant job categories would be a stretch. Albelda proposes an additional stimulus plan, for the female side of the economy: "Caring for those who cannot care for themselves, healthcare, and primary education are the very foundation of a civil society. Investing in these outcomes is as vital to our long-term economic health as airports, highways, wind turbines, and energy-retrofitted buildings." Not only do these jobs disproportionately employ women, she points out, but "investments in direct care, education, and healthcare would also go a long way in alleviating poverty."

"We need to put pressure on him now, about concrete policies," historian Linda Gordon, co-founder of Feminists for Obama, told me. "You can be sure that's what the right is doing."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081222/pollitt

Top Obama Aide in Sexist Photo

Sexist Photo is no Laughing Matter
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/12/favreaus-sexist-photo-is-no-laughing-matter.html

Sketches of Michelle Obama?

An interesting post from Slate.com's XX Factor on the inability of fashion designers to draw Michelle Obama. Also within the post are links to the drawings themselves.

http://slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/12/03/how-hard-is-it-to-draw-michelle-obama.aspx

Feminist in Chief

Chicago Tribune Article on President-elect Obama and Feminism
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1208pollittdec08,0,4881068.story

Women Trapped by Army's Protection of Abusive Soldiers

Despite Army Assurances, Violence at Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/23abuse.html?_r=1&hp

Feminism's Third Wave? Fourth Wave?

Michelle, Our Belle
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-bristow/michelle-our-belle_b_145300.html

"At first glance, it may seem that the feminist movement took a major blow with Clinton's primary loss, but a deeper look may spotlight a different female voice emerging, one that is personified by our incoming first lady. A Cum Laude graduate of Princeton University and holder of a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, Michelle Obama is hardly a woman who struggles with proving herself in a "man's world." Yet she has demonstrated over and over that by harnessing our feminine strength as the nurturing hubs of our families and communities, we wield a genuine power that has the simultaneous ability to inspire and affect (as her husband has admitted many times) even the decisions of our President."

Jennifer Aniston=Feminist

Apparently this is all it takes to be a feminist.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1227332/jennifer_aniston_shows_her_feminist.html?cat=9

Feminist Party in European Parliament Election

This website is about the Feminist Initiative, billed as the world’s first feminist party.
http://feministsupport.com/

Link to the policy platform of the Feminist Initiative
http://feministisktinitiativ.se/engelska.php

Sociobiological Gender Assumptions in Recent Mental Health Research?

In Novel Theory of Mental Disorders, Parents' Genes Are in Competition
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/health/research/11brain.html

"Anti-Gay, Anti-Family"

With Proposition 8 front and center, Arkansas' Proposed Initiative Act No. 1 flew under the radar. The proposition bans people who are “cohabitating outside a valid marriage” from serving as foster parents or adopting children. "While the measure bans both gay and straight members of cohabitating couples as foster or adoptive parents, the Arkansas Family Council wrote it expressly to thwart “the gay agenda.”" See below for the link to the NY Times Op-Ed on the Proposition.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/opinion/12savage.html?em

The Blame Game

An interesting conversation on whether blaming the McCain loss on Palin is sexist or "calling a spade a spade" can be found on Slate.com.

Two excerpts:
"I couldn’t help but balk a little at the substance of the McCain campaign's criticisms: Palin is described as colossally stupid. And a diva (prone to tantrums and throwing things). And someone who opens her hotel room door in just a bathrobe (inappropriately sexual) and also a shopaholic who already had far too many clothes to begin with. Just wondering if the sexism threaded through all that doesn’t make it a little less juicy and a lot more worrisome? "

"So Sarah Palin is not the only diva out there. I'm not saying this is acceptable political behavior, and I certainly do expect the runner-up leader of the free world to know that Africa is a continent. But I'm wondering if all this diva-labeling is truly sexist, or are we just calling a spade a spade? I wonder if female politicians act out in ways that are particularly feminine and unpleasant. And I'm hard-pressed to think of a story of a male politician behaving this way from friends who've worked for high-profile ones, these kind of grande dame demands that make the average Jane think, "What??" I'm just wondering: Do we not hear about men throwing things in a rage because there's a sexist tendency to point such ticks out only among women or because women are the only ones who indulge in such extreme behavior?"


http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/tags/sarah_2700_s+fault/default.aspx

Blog Dedicated to Fashion of Michelle Obama?

a new site dedicated to chronicling Michelle Obama's wardrobe might be complementary most of the time and "encourage visitors to contribute tips, photos and commentary, and share enthusiasm for the budding style icon, Mrs. O", yet i find myself saying.....really?!!??? a whole site??!!???

i love fashion too, but it seems like every profile of our new first lady focuses on fashion.....and then how she is going to change the nation.

First Female Solicitor General?

Speculation for top spots in Obama's Administration so far has not produced many female lawyers....but not that many nominations have been solidified yet so maybe there are more women in the ranks. One interesting note:

"• Solicitor General: No woman has ever served as solicitor general, but a number have been mentioned as candidates for the job in an Obama administration. Stanford Law School professors Kathleen Sullivan and Pamela Karlan and Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan are possibilities, as well as Morrison & Foerster partner Beth Brinkmann and MetLife litigation counsel Teresa Wynn Roseborough. They could also be considered to lead of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which produces legal opinions on complex matters for the attorney general and the president. Lawyers who have held both positions have gone on to become Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Justices Stanley Reed and Thurgood Marshall were solicitors general. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and current Justice Antonin Scalia once headed the Office of Legal Counsel. That experience could come in handy should one or more Supreme Court justices step down in the next four years."

From Law.com (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425821824)

Welcome UVA Law Feminists!

This blog is our space to have conversations, share articles, pose questions, and share our thoughts with each other. Please feel free to make it your own!

Right now, I am compiling interesting links of relevance to the site. If you have any suggestions, please send them to virginiaflf@gmail.com.