the decade for women" forward, backward, or sideways?

[niyad]

The Decade for Women: Forward, Backward, Sideways? Subject to Debate
By Katha Pollitt

How have American women fared in what seems to be everyone's least favorite decade since the Fall of Rome, which at least was fun for the Vandals? (Well, to be fair, today's investment bankers have plenty to chortle over.) Herewith some feminist highs and lows of the era that began with the Supreme Court choosing the president and ended with hope hangovers and tempests in teabags.


. . . . . . .


Reproductive Health and Rights. Mifepristone, the abortion pill, was OK'd by the FDA in 2000 but did not, as some predicted, make abortion a private matter, because states moved quickly to bring it under the same restrictions as surgical abortion. Abortion rights continued to be whittled away, with more and more state restrictions and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's shockingly patronizing 2007 majority opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart upholding a "partial birth" abortion ban without an exception for the health of the mother--an outright violation of Roe--on the grounds that the woman might regret her decision later.

On the bright side: the South Dakota abortion ban was defeated at the polls--twice. After a furious struggle, in 2006 the FDA OK'd emergency contraception, aka Plan B, without a prescription for women 18 and older. Insurance coverage of contraception went from rare to routine. Young prochoice activists founded groups like Med Students for Choice. The 2004 March for Women's Lives was one of the largest protest marches in US history--not that the media noticed. The decade closed on a sour note as antichoice Democrats united with Republicans to remove abortion coverage from the healthcare bill.

Family Life. Perhaps thanks to massive doses of abstinence-only sex ed, teen pregnancy rose in 2007 for the first time in fourteen years. By 2005 the majority of US women were not living with a husband. Single motherhood, lesbian motherhood, single motherhood by choice and births to women cohabiting with a partner all became more common. Gay marriage was legalized in five states. Despite oceans of wedding porn, women's age at first marriage rose over the decade from 25.1 to 26. Maybe those marriage-shy young ladies read the 2008 University of Michigan study showing that after marriage women with no children do seven more hours of housework; men do one hour less.

Violence Against Women. Not much to crow about here. Rates of domestic violence, murder by intimates, rape, sexual abuse or harassment barely budged, with victims no more likely to get justice. Meanwhile, the number of women in prison increased from 93,234 to 114,852, mostly because of harsher drug laws.

. . . .

Not bad, not great. On to the 2010s!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100125/pollitt

[kimmerspixelated]

1. Mark my words...

The rise of the Feminine will soon be upon us! It's just a matter of time!

Think Zardoz...Oh, wait! I can't think of Zardoz without going gaga over Sean Connery!

[Captain Hilts]

2. Sideways. They disappeared on film. They rarely get lines even in the previews.

It's symptomatic of what is going on in society.

[Laura902]

3. It sickens me to hear

about all the violence against women in this country, a lot of it happens in back-woods areas where it is hard for women to get help, there needs to be more effort focused on these victims.

[insaniaveritas]

4. The Decline of Feminism

Found a similar article:


"We are about to witness the end of feminism, as we know it. The feminist movement has lost its drive and changed into a fake monstrosity. Many people wait and hope for a recharge or a renewing of the feminist movement. But like our civilization, feminism is slowly but surly ending."

Decline of Feminism