From Alternet

The U.S. government has a solution for unwanted pregnancies, AIDS and cervical cancer. It's called abstinence education, and the government funds it to the tune of around $178 million per year.

The only problem is that study after study shows that abstinence education has no effect on the rates of premarital sex or STD infection. Perhaps that's because, as a 2004 report [pdf] from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., showed, over 80 percent of federally funded abstinence programs contain false or misleading information about sex and reproductive health.

But then abstinence-only education isn't about keeping teens safe -- it's about reinforcing traditional gender roles and ensuring girls are "pure."

From Slate

Get to work, Linda Hirshman admonished American women in a polemical article in the American Prospect last December, in which she argued that it's imperative for women not to "opt out" of employment to stay home with the kids. Only by working, she claimed, can women can have a fully "flourishing" life. A full-scale assault on Hirshman ensued, from conservatives and liberals alike.

What has riled everyone up isn't just Hirshman's message that only in the work force will women find fulfillment. It's that Hirshman attacked the sacred cow of the motherhood debate: the notion that it's a good thing liberated women are allowed to choose whether to work or stay at home—an intellectual paradigm Hirshman dubbed "choice feminism."

But—though I almost hate to say it—buried beneath Hirshman's overblown rhetoric is a useful idea, now set out in a short book titled Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World: namely, that our obsession with choice prevents us from asking tough questions about how to achieve further equality.

From The New York Times

It is a hidden reality of the New York City subway system, and perhaps mass transit systems everywhere since the first trolley car took to the tracks. It begins with a pinch or a shove, someone standing too close. But it can be much worse.

As the Police Department announced the arrest of 13 men charged with groping and flashing women in the subways, women around the city nodded. Yes, they said, this had happened to them. Yesterday. Last month. Last fall. Twenty years ago.

An impromptu survey of riders during the morning rush yesterday found that, for many women who have experienced it, the worst part of the crime is the sense of helplessness. What is the right way to react to a humiliating, but not life-threatening, situation? Should you announce to an entire car of strangers that you have just been violated?

From Feministing

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers, 25, has been charged with assault and battery after he assaulted his wife in front of numerous witnesses.

Courtney Knight, 26, who witnessed the alleged attack at 900 Boylston St. with two friends, said in a telephone interview that Myers seemed "really angry." "He was dragging her by the hair and slapping her across the face," Knight said. `"She was yelling, `I'm not going to let you do this to me anymore.' "

"He had her on the ground," Knight said. "He was trying to get her to go, and she was resisting. She curled up and sat on the ground. He was pulling her, her shirt was up around her neck. . . . He could have cared less that we were there."

Nice guy, huh? But here's the best part.

Mike Teevan, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said the league has no policy requiring suspension of players charged or convicted in domestic violence cases.

From Women of Color Blog

Watch out for that queer-bashing hater rolling through town. Weeks in anticipation of Lupo’s booking Beenie Man to bring his dancehall beats to Providence this week, gay and lesbian listservs strategized about what to do about this homophobe’s lyrics promoting violence against queer folk. Letters and emails were sent (and not sent), flyers went up around town, and community organizations received door-to-door visits requesting their participation in the protests.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, JB Rap, a queer African American male MC and member of Deep Dickollective, hollered at me through a text message, reminding me of the then upcoming Homohop festival.

That’s right, Homohop.