My parents took me to a pro-choice march when I was in elementary school. My mother explained to me what the procedure was before we went. I was a bit confused as to how it all worked scientifically but readily accepted that women could make a choice. As the years went by, I learned what the “pill” was and what condoms were. I hit puberty after Magic Johnson admitted to being HIV+, the homosexual man Pedro on the Real World died of AIDS, and gay rights became a regular point of debate in regards to many American agencies such as the military.

I grew up well aware what my rights and options were years before they applied directly to me. Each of these choices and rights were debated endlessly in the government, the media, and adults older than me who never had to deal with the AIDS epidemic and other issues confronting my generation. Today’s young women deal with similar issues: unwanted pregnancies, AIDS, questions of sexual orientation, and a whole range of STI’s and STD’s. However, these issues are fraught with even more question than answers as more sexually transmitted maladies become known and more intense debates erupt over women’s right to not only to choose but also how she chooses.

Last week, Plan B, the morning after pill, was finally available over the counter. Young women or men have to be over 18 to buy it. Several articles claim that Plan B’s effectiveness is anywhere from 70 to 90% effective in keeping a pregnancy developing if taken within 72 hours after intercourse. Of course, there is the whole issue of whether pharmacists would sell Plan B if he or she considered themselves morally opposed to it. There is a question of whether having availability to Plan B will convince young women to take more sexual partners but many agree it will allow women to avoid taking other measures to avoiding pregnancy. It also cuts the wait time of going to see a doctor out. “Limiting access by requiring that an adolescent to find a doctors office to go to delays them getting assistance they need after unprotected sex,” Leslie Rottenberg of Planned Parenthood said in a recent article about the release of Plan B. This means relief to many women before who had to get their hands on the morning after pill over the weekends. We still have to wait and see if women across the country will have equal access in obtaining Plan B.

Gaining access to the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil, has also become problematic but for slightly surprising reasons. In a Washington Post article from November 7, a mother uses her daughter’s innocence as a way to evade dealing with the availability of the HPV vaccine. “We haven’t even talked about the birds and the bees yet,” Groff said. “She needs to be innocent a little bit longer.” The article did bring up significant factors such as that Gardasil is a brand new vaccine and its effectiveness is not entirely known. Yet, the mother’s hesitation also brings to the light the idea that young women’s sexual purity can be lost in a blink of an eye or a shot of a vaccine.

It is well known that HPV has 100 different strains, some of which cause cervical cancer. More than one third of your women who develop cervical cancer will die form it. That fact seems a lot more scary than a loss of one’s innocence. I am not saying it is wrong for a parent to try to protect their child from the realities of the grown up world, but a child grows up one day and they must know how to confront these issues to combat them successfully.

It is still a battle for young women to receive the sex education and preventative measures they deserve and need. Today young women have to worry about not only what to do if the condom breaks but if they will be able to find a pharmacist that will readily fill Plan B for them (this depends on geographics, rural or urban location etc.)
The reactions to Gardasil are still developing but so far not all insurers are rushing to cover the costs of the new vaccine. This can become a huge obstacle for women who do not have access to the same economic advantages as their wealthier peers.

Despite the latest strides in scientific research, women still have to fight for ways to guard their sexual safety. The most disturbing aspect of this scenario is that young women may be pushed into making decisions about their sexual health when they do not have all the necessary information known to them putting their lives in jeopardy.

(1) First woman to lead house elected:

Nancy Pelosi spearheaded the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, positioning herself to become the first woman to lead the chamber — and President George W. Bush’s worst political nightmare. (From NYTimes)

I don’t know what’s better first woman to lead congress or Bush’s worst nightmare!

(2) Dems win the house!

(3) Rumsfeld gets the boot!

(4) Looks like we got the senate.

(5) And a personal favorite–Granholm holds onto Michigan.

Because there is always something going on…

(1) Colorado University student Max Carson wrote a newsletter that attempted to address woman and sexuality in a satirical tone. Some direct quotes from Colorado Daily article:

I told her to perform oral sex on me every day instead of us having intercourse, because it was a lot easier for me to enjoy myself if I didn’t have to see her face,” wrote Karson in his biweekly newsletter, The Yeti.

“Women aren’t supposed to like sex,” wrote Karson. “The clitoris has no function at all, like an appendix.”

According to Karson, he decided to write this newsletter because he was really pissed off that his female friends kept having bad sex and wanted to shed light on women and sex. However, many female students cited the newsletter as “misogynistic, “violent,” and “rape-supportive.”

Karson had a meeting with the director of the campus’s women’s resource center to discuss his newsletter but backed out at the last minute even though he claimed to be supportive of women.

I can’t help but wonder how many dates this guy will get?

(2) Forgotten Women’s Suffrage Advocate encourages voter activism and participation almost 90 years after death

(3) Author claims Freud is a Feminist

(4) And my personal favorite: TV Women Shape Our Lives i.e. Carrie Bradshaw, Mary Tyler Moore, Donna Reed, Roseanne Barr etc. (only a snippet of the larger piece)

(5) media girl sums up her feelings on this election night (early AM)

On November 2, Michigan mom Melinda Leazer stopped at the Hartand Township hall on her way to the hospital to pick up an absentee ballot.  She did this while she was in labor with her second child.   Her daughter Chloe Rose was born later that night around 7 PM.

In the November 5th Livingston Daily article, her husband Richard Leazer said “We always vote and we think it’s a very important thing to do, and we want to make sure (we do) our part.”

So follow Melinda Leazer’s lead and vote tomorrow because if she could do it while in labor, the rest of us have no excuse not to vote.

 Go out and vote!

I did something last night I wasn’t proud of…I decided to go see a movie on opening night. I hate doing this because moviegoers in NYC are crazy. They physically fight over seats, yell at each other over spilt popcorn, talk throughout the whole film, and just make life hell in general. Instead of being antisocial and rushing home on a Friday night to order Japanese food and watch tv, I decided to go to the movies with a bunch of people from work.

So I saw Borat last night. I laughed. I sat in shock. I held my hand over my mouth. It was a true movie experience.

But I’m not done. I was also appalled. Extremely appalled. When the previews started, I was excited because I like other people love to see whats coming up (i.e. if there is a film worth is to waste money on.) Halfway through the previews I started to notice a disturbing trend: making fun of obese women. Eddie Murphy’s latest film preview for Norbit featured a large black woman bossing around her nerdy boyfriend, strutting around in a tiny bathing suit, dancing obnoxiously, and otherwise acting completely oblivious to the fact that she is fat. Of course that’s where the comedy lies–laughing at someone who doesn’t understand what is wrong with them.

During one of his exploits, Borat calls a 1800 number for a prostitute. Luenell a black, overweight woman in skimpy clothes that reveals her fat rolls shows up. First of all its understood that while the character of Borat makes anti-Semitic, misogynist, racist, homophobic and generally offensive comments throughout the film, that it should not be taken seriously. OK. Fine.

People have been making fun of fat people for as long as forever. Yet, it’s hard to deny that there is a high emphasis on “looking hot naked.” And those who don’t look “hot” naked are there for the other people to make fun of. Of course, it is good for us to get in shape, stay in shape, avoid bad foods, exercise, and lead healthy lives.

I couldn’t help but wondering what the young women there thought of these images of silly, fat women. Were over weight women wondering if they were the object of ridicule like these fictionalized characters? Were thin women secretly thanking their lucky stars they weren’t fat? Or were they were just laughing along with others?

According to an Ebony article from October 2004, 50 percent of African-American women are obese while 40 percent of Mexican-American women and 30 percent of White women are obese. Americans live in an over weight world. Mostly everything is huge, super-sized, and maxed over the edge. Instead of focusing on how we look and who we can make fun of, we need to start focusing on positive images. Of course a film like Akeelah and the Bee isn’t going to be huge weekend opener because people generally won’t go see movies about smart young people or young people trying to educate themselves and improve their lives. If these were the images beamed across the movie screen, computer screen, and tv screen, then there would probably be a lot less emphasis on shape and more attention paid to achieving academic and professional success. It’s safe to say that if people were pushed to focus on their creativity and intellect first and image and popularity second they would be healthier in general. Healthy in mind, spirit, and body.

I enjoy a good laugh like everyone else, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t disheartened by my latest movie experience.

Last night, I handed out candy to a trick or treaters between the ages of probably 4 to 12. This was the first time I ever handed out candy as an adult.

On the way home, when all of the little trick or treaters were probably heading to bed, I saw all of the older trick or treaters were heading out to the bars. One set of costumes in particular caught my eye. There were about four or five girls in their early twenties dressed as girl scouts. Girl scouts with pouty lips, fake eye lashes, eye liner, and teeny tiny skirts.

Leading up to this year’s Halloween, I noticed a few articles about how the holiday allowed women to dress provocatively who normally would not. A New York Times article from October 19 entitled “Good girls go bad, for a day” depicts images of young women sexing up otherwise innocent costumes like Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood. The articles reaches a semi conclusion that women dress up for Halloween to escape the boring attire they wear for work. A more interesting conclusion from the article for me was that it allowed for women to flirt with their sexual sides. In a day and age where women who have more than one sexual partner are considered sluts, it makes sense that some women would feel inhibited.

So this begs the question…can this new trend to let out the inner vixen be a feminist move?

In the San Mateo County Times article “Racy costumes: Just for fun or feminist backlash?” Debra Condren, a psychologist asserts that the sexy costumes are an “unconscious backlash against feminism and harms a woman’s self image.” But I beg to ask how can a woman’s self image be harmed if she feels a sense of empowerment from dabbling with her sexuality. Of course, an outside source may think the choice to unleash an inner sexiness once a year is ludicrous. But there is also the argument that not experimenting is ludicrous. The falls back to the popular notion that it is better to take a chance on something even if you are unsure of the outcome.

For some, wearing a sleazy version of a child’s costume like Cinderella could be unthinkable. The women who choose to the “cross” the line are pushing boundaries, not just the boundaries of what an acceptable Halloween costume is but boundaries about what is considered liberating for women.