did we all catch that?

ms. flory clark points out that nytimes put the women's business article in the style section, and Anonymous concludes that ms. flory clark ergo believes that the times ghettoizes "everything". that's fascinating. baseless and completely unsupported, but fascinating nonetheless.

anonymous then goes on to ask a presumably rhetorical question about the writer's looks, and the preferential treatment she may or may not have been given as a result of them. what ms. flory clark's appearance has to do with her work or even the nytimes article is left up to the imagination.

this is why i dislike video blogs. the viewer now focuses on the looks and the delivery. not the message.

the fact that an article on women in business went into the style section is an indication of the fact that there exists a special type of issue called a woman's issue. there are "women's issues" and then presumably all other issues--those concerning the other 50% of the population--are just issues.

don't get me wrong; i love broadsheet. but the very fact that it exists reflects the continuing labeling of women as a special interest group. it's unfathomable to me that over 3 billion people worldwide conceptually consist of a special group with special needs and special concerns that wouldn't interest the other three billion people.

those that male circumcision to female genital mutilation clearly don't really know what female genital mutilation entails. there are exceptions. but in many instances, the practices is as follows: the girl is held down by female relatives as the practicioner, usually another female relative, procedes to remove the inner labia and clitoris with a knife or razor. the outer labia are then sewn shut, leaving a small opening for menstruation, urination, and eventually sexual intercourse and then childbirth. this procedure is performed without any pain killers or anesthesia. the stitches are not removed and the girl's legs are bound together until the wound can heal. when the girl becomes a woman-- assuming she hasn't died from a resulting infection--she will be forced to have sexual intercourse and give birth through that small hole. if she survives the birth but her vaginal canal ruptures, she will be rendered incontinent. unless she can get medical care to repair the damage from the birth, she will be shunned by her community and divorced by her husband.

sure, once a woman's clitoris is gone, it's gone. it can't ever be taken from her again. but the fact that she lost it in the first place, and at the hands of her own family, speaks volumes about the life to which she will return if she is not granted asylum. the pain of having sex and bearing children through a mutilated vulva and vagina must be at best unbearable and at worst torture. the knowledge that one must repeat the torture to ensure that a daughter can get married must be equally unbearable. in far too many cultures and economies, an unmarriageable woman is doomed to a life of begging, prostitution, or both.

i doubt the denial of asylum to sufferers of genital mutilation is the result of intentional, willful sexism or misogyny; but rather it is most likely due to ignorance about what the procedure entails, and the culture in which it is allowed to not only exist, but flourish.

I've been on the pill since i was 16. Not just to protect against pregnancy, but to keep migraines and PMDD in check. PMDD, for those of you who don't have the pleasure, is PMS on steriods. I went off the pill once, when i was 22, because i was single and celibate. I had forgotten what would happen when i got my period: i became depressed and despondent. I deleted all my pictures off Myspace because I was convinced I was ugly. I had cramps so bad that i spent two or three days in acute pain. My breasts were swollen and achey, and even my skin ached so bad that my clothes touching my skin was occasionally enough to bring me to tears. I went through for three months, and then unable to stand it, went back on the pill.

I am not alone in experiencing PMS this bad. The responsibilities of school and work are such that one just cant take four days a month off to lie in bed crying and feeling ugly and in intense pain.

I feel like the medical benefits of the pill are left out of the discussion far too frequently. Yes, the pill protects you from pregnancy. No, i don't have to be sexually active. But I don't have the option of losing a week of my life every month.

i'm not going to even read that op ed piece suggesting that female circumcision is a cultural activity that should be respected. i'd like to see him argue the same for a culture that lops litte boys' balls off.

female circumcision/genital mutilation usually inolves completley sawing off, or trimming down, the clitoris so as to minimize women's sexual desires. in many cases, the inner labia are shorn along with the clitoris. the outer labia are then sewn shut with a hole left for menstruation, urination, and eventual childbirth.

the idea behind it is to mute or dull women's ability to enjoy or want sex, ergo guaranteeing that she will make a virtuous and honorable wife.