Teenage Girls may have made pact to get pregnant:

The girls showed up repeatedly at the high school health clinic, asking for pregnancy tests. But their reactions to the test results were puzzling: high-fives if they were expecting, long faces if they weren’t.School officials in this hard-luck New England fishing town say an alarming 17 girls — four times the usual number — became pregnant this year. And even more disturbing: Some of the girls may have made a pact to have babies and raise them together. via

One conclusion as to why these young women would make such a pact is the glamorization of pregnant celebrities in the entertainment media. “Baby bumps” are treated like a great purse or clutch, an awesome accessory every cool person must have. While this is probably not the only reason these girls decided to get pregnant–if they did–it shows we’re still not on target with discussing the long term circumstances of unprotected sex and teenage pregnancy. Jaime Lynn Spears anyone?

To commemorate thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe V. Wade, it’s Blog For Choice Day!

This year’s theme is why it’s important to vote pro-choice…

Why I vote pro-choice:

• To ensure that we maintain the legacy of American feminism started by women before and after Seneca Falls by allowing women to have complete freedom over their bodies.
• To ensure women have complete access to health care which includes reproductive rights.
• To ensure that there is comprehensive sex education available to women of all backgrounds, ages, races and socioeconomic stations.
• To ensure that women and men know what options are available to them.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade is upheld by congress and the government.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade decision is respected by the government.

These are just some of the many reasons, I support and vote pro-choice.

- Ms. Rose

tomorrow is Blog for Choice 2008! Yeah!

I’m proud to have joined Blog for Choice  Day on January 22, the thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Yeah!

I saw the movie Juno and have a post to write!

Some article’s on Juno’s portayal of abortion:

A’ not OK: Current U.S. films avoid abortion option offers a close look at the three big pregnancy films this year: Waitress, Knocked Up and Juno. This article provides an in depth look and timelines of how abortion has been shown in films like Dirty Dancing and beyond.

The L Magazine’s I saw Juno Last Night and it Made Me Really Mad is quick to get the real point of it all with this one line: “Um, how come she and her sorta-boyfriend didn’t just use a condom?” This post gets into the real nitty gritty details of the film’s relationship with abortion, safe sex (or lack there or), and all other relevant details.

Entertainment Weekly columnist Lisa Schwarzbaum wishes Juno spent a bit more time on question of to have or not to have the abortion.

The NYTimes claims that Juno and Knocked aren’t anti-abortion they just follow a young woman on a certain path that includes not having an abortion. (Emphasis mine.)

Hollywood’s Got a Case of Baby Fever has an excellent point: it is shocking that someone as articulate as Juno has almost nothing to say about the possibility of an abortion. This also shows a HUGE weakness in the overall plot, Juno’s reasoning not to have an abortion is rushed and does not provide a real explanation as to how she reached that decision.

There is also a slew of articles that claim Juno decided not to have the abortion because of a singular protester outside of the clinic in the film. Um, I didn’t walk away with that feeling at all after seeing the movie.

MY TWO CENTS: The role of the parents in this film was completely unrealistic. They’re upset with her for a minute and then they get over it. The stepmom briefly brings up abortion but then dismisses it when Juno does. The boyfriend doesn’t even broach the subject. What’s going on here? I think what this film offers is a decent look at the OTHER great option: adoption. BUT to have little to zero open and honest discussion of ALL of the options is irresponsible. If you’re going to take on the topic of an unplanned TEENAGE pregnancy like Diablo Cody did, you need to offer the full story. The full story is that people are not only having abortions BUT TALKING ABOUT IT. On the reverse, out of Waitress, Knocked Up, and Juno, this is the only film that even entertains that thought. It’s funny the 16 year old has a more thought out plan than the married woman and career woman in the other films. Ultimately, Juno was a cutesy movie in the vein of films like Garden State with pregnancy as the back drop to a romance story instead of a funeral.

and I can’t figure out if its true or a half true or what…

Owner of Curves a big contributor to anti-abortion groups?

From here:

In 2003, Heavin and his wife gave away $10 million — 10 percent of their company’s gross revenues — to charities. At least half of that money went to three Texas organizations to fund “pregnancy crisis centers” supported by Operation Save America — the same organization that blamed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on God’s retribution for abortions and whose purpose, as described on its Web site, is to “unashamedly take up the cause of pre-born children in the name of Jesus Christ.”

But then there are some corrections to the article that state:

The column specified that the money went to “three Texas organizations to fund ‘pregnancy crisis centers.’ ‘’ Only one of the recipients, Care Net, operates pregnancy crisis centers that are designed to dissuade pregnant women from having abortions while offering other support services to encourage adoption. Heavin has pledged to give Care Net $1 million over the next five years, according to a Curves spokeswoman.

So what gives?

I found this while perusing some feminist blogs. Its a few years old but I had NO idea that this even came up in the media. Guess I had my head buried in the sand for that one.

So, I’ve been wanting to write about the films Waitress and Knocked Up for a week now but I haven’t found the time.  Well, The NYTimes beat me to it! Well, duh, it’s such an obvious connection but they mostly talked about the reluctance of Hollywood to show a movie with a woman even seriously pondering an abortion.

The aspect of Waitress I enjoyed was that it shows how pregnancy can interrupt a married woman’s life as well.  It helps break the myth in popular culture that if you’re married, any pregnancy is a wanted–even if unplanned– pregnancy.   Knocked UP offers the usual fare of “oops we’re having a baby.” Don’t get me wrong, it was hilarious but the ending didn’t surprise me at all.  I thought it presented a much more honest portrayal of marriage than pregnancy.

But yeah neither film even mentioned the word abortion.  I have researched and written about this topic immensely these past few months, the way abortion is portrayed in pop culture.  So the message is loud and clear, no woman is having an abortion on TV or film.  Sure there’s an abortion storyline every few years on TV but thats every FEW years.  Not matching up with statistics at all.

I watched Children of Men last month on a transatlantic flight.  I knew what it was about but kept thinking that the pro-lifers (the scary ones) must have loved the premise of the film.  Of course, the crazy liberals and their abortions would cause all the women in the world to suffer from infertility.  I did like Children of Men but couldn’t help think of all the hidden (unintended?) messages in it.  And what is it with every “end of the humanity” movie taking place in the UK?  28 Days later…anyone?

I HATE repeating point especially here but I don’t get why fictional TV and movies will deal with EVERY controversial subject except this one.  Or maybe its every American movie…a foreign film that features an abortion, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, just won the Palme d’Or.  But even Maria Full of Grace had its heroine carrying cocaine (i think?) in her belly next to her embryo across the border.  I mean if a drug smuggler can’t have an abortion on film, who can?

Excuse the absence but work has become all consuming and I’m taking two evening classes. Yes, I’m crazy.

But I found some news stories today that are even crazier.

(1) Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play
The article claims these virtual sites are a step below myspace and facebook, but some of the web site heads don’t like this comparison.

Millions of children and adolescents are spending hours on these sites, which offer virtual versions of traditional play activities and cute animated worlds that encourage self-expression and safe communication. They are, in effect, like Facebook or MySpace with training wheels, aimed at an audience that may be getting its first exposure to the Web.

Lane Merrifield, chief executive of Club Penguin….Mr. Merrifield also bristles at any comparison to MySpace, which he said is a wide-open environment and one that poses all kinds of possible threats to young people.

You should go look just for the creepy picture of the girl staring at the computer.

(2) Meanwhile, over at USAToday, Karen Thomas wonders what is happening to Hollywood’s young “talent” like Hilton, Lohan and Spears in this article. I personally liked the comparison to Shannon Doherty and other 90210 cast members not making nearly as much trouble as the hot twentysomething stars today. At least my generations starlets aren’t f*ckups.

And on this subject the LATimes ran an article comparing the Hilton hotel in Paris to Ms. Hilton’s new accomodations.

Rooms at the Hilton Paris have minibars, hairdryers in their bathrooms, electronic door locks with keycards and remote control TVs with cable. About half have balconies. Pets are allowed.

The Paris Hilton cell has two bunks, a table, a sink, a toilet and a small window. Its occupant can leave for about an hour a day to watch TV in a day room, talk on the telephone, exercise outside or shower. No pets.

You get the point. Our major daily papers can both ponder why we’re so obsessed with these young stars and their bad, bad behavior AND can report on it too adding to the obsession.

I love how the media works.

(3) And…. As they gathered Tuesday for a national strategy session, antiabortion activists faced an unexpected revolt in their own ranks.

woah!

PS I should really discuss the primary debates but that deserves its own close analysis/ post.

Happy Birthday Pill!

Totally learned this from feministing.

Lets put the wife in charge of the husbands!

What this says about birth control is very, very interesting.