Wendy McElroy's blogspot
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
You are cordially invited to visit the homepage and blog of individualist feminist and libertarian Wendy McElroy. For a selection of articles on individualist feminism, please click on articles in the toolbar and, then, navigate to the category that appeals to you.

MySpace suicide case not yet dismissed
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Wired
A federal judge has tentatively rejected two motions to dismiss charges against a Missouri woman accused of opening a MySpace account that was used to bully a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide. The judge is still considering a third motion and plans to make a final ruling on all three motions next week. Lori Drew was indicted last May in Los Angeles County, where MySpace is based, in the wake of public outrage that stemmed from the failure of authorities in Missouri to charge her with a crime. Authorities in that state had said their hands were tied since there were no laws prohibiting cyberbullying. So federal prosecutors charged her with one count of conspiracy and three violations of the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. (09/05/08)

Aussie abortion debate heats up
Topic: Abortion
Source: The Age
Thousands of anti-abortion campaigners stopped traffic as they marched down Melbourne's Bourke Street and overflowed onto the steps of parliament to protest against the new abortion laws now before state parliament. Across the road a few hundred pro-choice campaigners chanted slogans calling for abortion to be decriminalised. The protesters are sending their messages as the Victorian Parliament begins debate on legislation to remove abortion from the Crimes Act this week. Abortion is currently permitted in the state under a common law ruling only if it is to protect the woman's health. (09/06/08)

Married at 9, slain by parents at 17
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: News.com.au
Despair among human rights workers in Pakistan over a rash of so-called "honour killings" intensified yesterday when it was disclosed that a girl forced into marriage with a 45-year-old man at the age of nine had been killed by her parents because she asked for an annulment. The girl, 17, who had been fighting a lonely but successful legal battle, was coming out of court in the Punjabi city of Sahiwal after being granted the annulment by a judge when she was surrounded by a group of men and shot in view of police. (09/06/08)

NJ sex offenders to register email?
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Philly Burbs
New Jersey sex offenders , who already must tell state authorities where they live and work , would be required to divulge their personal e-mail addresses and share their passwords as well, under a proposal sponsored by a lawmaker who represents the district where Megan's Law began. Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Mercer, said the new restrictions would allow parole officers to monitor convicted sex offenders' e-mail use. The current bill, A-1554, would extend Megan's Law restrictions on paroled sex offenders, including those under lifetime supervision. (09/07/08)

Alleged victim expresses affection for Tolen
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
An alleged victim of Town and Country lawyer Eric Tolen testified Friday that he had taken part as a minor in sex acts too numerous to count with the defendant in the 1990s — but still feels affection for Tolen.
But, on cross-examination at Tolen's trial in St. Louis County Circuit Court, the man, now 26, admitted that he had denied to police any sexual advances by Tolen on at least one occasion, had recanted his allegations against the lawyer on another occasion and even tried unsuccessfully to tape-record police at Tolen's behest. [Ed.: this illustrates one of the key problems of prosecuting people for underaged sex.] (09/06/08)

UK plans to criminalize prostitution
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: politics.com.uk
The criminalisation of prostitution has become increasingly likely following the release of government figures today showing 58 per cent of the public support a ban on the profession if it reduces human trafficking. The Home Office has been conducting a review of prostitution laws for several months, visiting countries like Holland, where the profession is legalised, and Sweden, where buying sex is banned, before seeing what changes might be made to British law. Vernon Coaker, home office minister, is understood to be sympathetic to full-scale criminalisation if there are signs of national consensus. (09/04/08)

Nifong wants to auction guitars
Topic: Men's Movement
Source: WRAL
Court documents, filed Wednesday, list him as wanting to sell a Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, a Martin D-41 and a PRS Custom 24. According to bankruptcy proceedings in February, two of the instruments are worth about $5,000. If the motion to auction the guitars is approved, the auction will take place Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. at 361 Ja-Max Road in Hillsborough. Nifong filed for bankruptcy in January, listing a debt of $180.3 million. Almost all of that is estimated damages from pending civil litigation that stems from the 2006 case in which, as Durham district attorney, he had three Duke University lacrosse players indicted on false accusations of rape. (09/03/08)

FLDS leaders daughter must keep her lawyer
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Houston Chronicle
Texas District Judge Barbara Walther ruled late Thursday, after hours of fighting among the attorneys, that Natalie Malonis would continue to represent the 17-year-old girl. Malonis won special restrictions prohibiting the girl from contacting her father, who was convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and awaits trial on charges in Arizona and Texas. The girl claimed to never have been married, something documents seized from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contradict. (09/05/08)

Iranian reporters charged for cyber feminism
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Hub Canada
An Iranian court in Tehran has ruled against four cyber-feminist reporters for writing material deemed contrary to the government. Reporters Without Borders is outraged since the government is giving all of the women six-month prison sentences on charges of “publishing information against the government” under article 500 of the Islamic criminal code. The four reporters; Parvin Ardalan, Jelveh Javaheri, Maryam Hosseinkhah and Nahid Keshavarz were prosecuted for writing articles for two online newspapers that defend women’s rights in Iran. All four reporters are still free since they appealed their cases, but were previously arrested. Reporters Without Borders wants the Tehran government to immediately drop the proceedings against them. (09/05/08)

OH, Child support cases clog jail
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Greenville Online
Among the inmates clogging Greenville County's overcrowded jail are parents serving sentences for up to a year for failing to pay child support. If all 138 were freed, the overcrowding problem would be nearly cut in half. It costs taxpayers $51.78 a day to house each one of them, or about $214,000 for that number of prisoners each month. Inmates can walk out of jail when they pay off their debts, but their options for making money are limited behind bars. (09/05/08)

EU wants to ban sexist TV commercials
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes. This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY. Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned. The new rules come in a report by the EU's women's rights committee. Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson urged Britain and other members to use existing equality, sexism and discrimination laws to control advertising. (09/05/08)

Fragmentation of families damages Oklahoma
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Tulsa Beacon
Members of the House Human Services committee heard from a wide range of experts and agency leaders during a legislative study requested by state Rep. Mark McCullough, who said the state needs to change the way it deals with family issues. “When it comes to the problem of family disintegration, we are like a deer in the headlights,” said McCullough, R-Sapulpa. “Everyone is affected by the issue, but we’re afraid to address it because we know none of us is perfect. Unfortunately, that allows the problem to grow and the price tag keeps expanding. It’s time we put more effort into enacting policies that support marriages and help families both survive and thrive.” [Ed.: the best thing government can do it get out of the marriage and divorce business altogether.] (09/05/08)

Cops strip search loitering pro lifers
Topic: Abortion
Source: WorldNetDaily
The allegations in the case sound like a Third World dictatorship: Police officers talk over before the arrests what charges they'll use, there are no explanations when the arrests are made, the suspects are denied access to legal counsel while in custody, and cops subject suspects to semi-public strip-searches. Only this was in Bel Air, Md., and the pro-life protesters subjected to the treatment now have brought a legal action against the officers and town for violating their Constitutional rights. (09/05/08)

FLDS hearing an exercise in bizarre
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Go San Angelo
I asked several attorneys and court employees if last week's FLDS hearing was the most bizarre thing they had ever seen in court. Unequivocally, the answer came back: "Yes." It's hard to say what exactly caused it. The large number of attorneys - eight of them either made arguments, questioned witnesses or testified - contributed, as did the seven or eight conflicting motions in play. On top of that, four of the eight attorneys were called as witnesses, three of them by the side seeking to have them removed from the case, which caused some tension. (09/07/08)

Prochoice politicians not above church law
Topic: Abortion
Source: The Post Chronicle
Author: Michael J. Gaynor
Speaker Pelosi prompted Archbishop Chaput's public statement by describing herself on "Meet The Press" as an ardent Catholic and then proceeding to say that her Church does not know when life begins. The truth is that Speaker Pelosi is an ardent abortion supporter and an apostate Catholic who has been permitted to receive Holy Communion for years in violation of church law. It is a scandal. [Ed. no, itis just plain old hypocrisy and/or ignorance on her part.](09/06/08)

Blaming wives for cheating husbands
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Sunday Mail
Author: Lesley-Ann Jones
Neuman’s controversial new book, The Truth About Cheating: Why Men Stray, beseeches us to forgive a wayward husband, never refuse sex, embrace his hobbies and swoon over his achievements in the workplace (even if our own efforts and earning power outshine his). Make him feel “like a man” and he’ll never dump you, is the central message. Neuman – lispy, bespectacled and bouffant-haired but strangely compelling on screen – is whipping up a storm across America, appearing on Oprah, The Today Show and Good Morning America as he tours the country promoting his book. (09/07/08)

Palin, wrong woman, wrong message
Topic: Women's Studies, Scholarship, and History
Source: Los Angeles Times
Author: Gloria Steinem
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes. But here is even better news: It won't work. (09/04/08)

Sex addiction. A disorder or pseudoscience?
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Globe and Mail
Author: Hayley Mick
"I don't believe in sex addiction," says David McKenzie, a Vancouver sex therapist who is among those who say the term "addiction" is misleading. They are backed by the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the clinical bible for psychiatrists and psychologists in Canada and the United States. Sexual addiction is not included in the manual's list of recognized conditions. "It's not in there because so-called sex addiction doesn't follow the usual characteristics of what we think an addiction is," said Paul Fedoroff, a psychiatrist and head of the Sexual Behaviours Clinic at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. Those characteristics include dependence on an external substance, an increasing tolerance for that substance, and withdrawal when it's removed, he said. (09/03/08)

Code Pink flies its colors at conventions
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Women's eNews
Author: Alison Bowen
The back-to-back political conventions offer female anti-war protesters in Code Pink a chance to showcase their particular brand of daring and endurance. This week two members tried to upstage Sarah Palin and two more disrupted John McCain's speech. Code Pink members paid their own way to the high-profile protest venues. As media and public attention to the five-year-old war in Iraq has drifted, Code Pink has stayed focused. (09/05/08)