Salon.com > Katie Rolnick

Fighting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:51:00 +0000

On March 19, 1st Lt. Dan Choi, an infantry leader with the New York Army National Guard, appeared on "The Rachel Maddow Show" and stated, "I am gay." Choi is a West Point graduate, Iraq combat veteran, and Arabic language specialist. He is also a founding member of the independent organization Knights Out, a group of LGBT West Point alumni who, in openly declaring their sexuality, are actively fighting against the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

Thursday night, Choi returned to Maddow's studio (video below) to explain the repercussions he's experienced since then. To no one's surprise, Choi has been asked to withdraw from the Army National Guard. Maddow showed pieces of the letter sent to Choi, which stated, "You admitted publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct ... Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard."

Choi explained that he can resign and receive honorable discharge or fight the action, which is what he intends to do.

Remembering Marilyn French

Wed, 06 May 2009 18:00:00 +0000

On May 2, feminist writer and theorist Marilyn French died at the age of 79. Not someone to shy away from a challenge, French once declared, "My goal in life is to change the entire social and economic structure of Western civilization, to make it a feminist world."

French, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., first gained notoriety with her 1977 debut novel, "The Women's Room," which follows the character Mira Ward, an American housewife in the 1950s, on her path to feminist awakening. Although a single line -- falsely attributed to French -- has lingered longest, "All men are rapists, and that's all they are," spoken by a character whose daughter has been gang-raped, the Guardian describes the book's deeper impact: "The novel spoke not just to French's contemporaries but also their daughters, who passed it hand to hand with the same enthusiasm they had shown four years earlier for Erica Jong's upbeat feminist novel, 'Fear of Flying.'"

Slipped through the cracks

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Here are a few of the stories we missed this week:

Justice is served: On Wednesday, a Colorado court sentenced Allen Andrade to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of transgender 18-year-old Angie Zapata. Andrade was also found guilty of a hate crime; as Tracy Clark-Flory has previously written about on Broadsheet, the case marked the first time the hate-crime statute was used to prosecute the death of a transgender person. You can watch the heartwrenching statement from Zapata's family here.

French women still thin, not satisfied: Yes, they're the thinnest women in Western Europe, with the lowest average body mass index, but French women don't consider themselves slim and worry more about their weight compared with other Western European women. Oh, go bask in the sun of the Mediterranean coast and eat some fromage already!

The storm, it’s a’coming!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Much to the chagrin of the National Organization for Marriage, it seems that a storm of support for gay marriage has hit New England. Today, Maine is holding a legislative hearing to debate a bill to repeal a state law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman. Led by Democratic Sen. Dennis S. Damon and supported by 60 legislative co-sponsors, the bill would make Maine the fourth New England state to legalize gay marriage along with Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Also up for debate today in front of the State Senate Judiciary Committee is a bill backed by Republican Rep. Leslie Fossel that would expand the rights and responsibilities offered by a domestic partnership registry that was introduced in 2004.

Who will decide the fate of the gay marriage bill is still undetermined; the Legislature has the option of sending the issue to voters or they could simply approve it, at which point opponents could initiate a "people's veto." According to the AP, "The earliest a Judiciary Committee vote is expected would be April 28."

Today in sexting

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Attention parents, school administrators and other concerned citizens: The sexting phenomenon has reached danger level orange. Or red. Or whatever color indicates full-blown, media-crazed alert. Even Tyra recently spent an entire show discussing the topic (which she emphasized is a "very, and I mean you guys, very graphic new phenomenon"). And I would plunk down what's left of my savings on a bet that "Law and Order: SVU" is putting the final touches on a sexting script.

Let's take a trip through recent headlines: An 18-year-old from Orlando, Florida, has been sentenced to five years and forced to register as a sex offender after sharing a naked picture of his 16-year-old girlfriend with his friends. He is fighting to get his name removed from the registry, but for now, will remain on it until he's 43 years old. Over at CNN, Mike Galanos, host of CNN's "Prime News," adds his name to the list of critics concerned that labeling kids as adult pedophiles might be taking all of this a bit too far. As he writes, "It's clear we need to change our laws to catch up with technology."

Isabella Rossellini gets it on with sea animals

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:30:00 +0000

When Isabella Rossellini sees that we have a video camera, she calls for her makeup artist. It's just after lunch and she says, "I ate my lipstick," in her ambiguous but succulent accent, a remnant of her childhood in Italy and France with her cinematically celebrated parents, director Roberto Rossellini and actress Ingrid Bergman. We're used to seeing Rossellini looking flawlessly glamorous in her movies (and as the face of Lancôme cosmetics for 14 years). But, recently, the actress has taken to wearing strange and unconventional disguises: a snail, an earthworm and a spider, among others.

She donned these costumes for "Green Porno," an endearingly oddball series of short, educational films made for the Sundance Channel. The first season, about the sex lives of bugs, premiered last year. Created, written and acted by Rossellini, the two-minute movies were designed to be viewed on computers, cellphones and MP3 players. In each episode, Rossellini dressed up as one of those tiny insects, giving viewers a human-size look at the animal kingdom's hidden sexual dramas. With a commitment to anatomical accuracy and utmost sincerity, Rossellini played opposite giant paper cutouts, which served as inanimate partners for her vigorous copulation. On April 1, the series begins its second season, this time focusing on the sexual habits of marine animals. Rossellini talked to us about her unintentional male-animal fetish and the naughty side of nature.

WTF: Porn star Twitter

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:28:00 +0000

I remember being surprised when I first visited Amsterdam's Red Light District. Visions of outrageous prurience were replaced by a banal reality: Prostitutes talking on the phone, painting their nails and generally doing what we all do when killing time (except, you know, the sex for money part).

Now, you can experience the same phenomenon online, with Porn Star Tweet. Just when you thought it was safe to embrace Twitter, along comes a feed that will, well, bore you back to Facebook and gchat. The site boasts that you can "follow the regular and not so regular daily goings on of your favorite pornstars as they twitter away about their lives." Hmmm, does this sound interesting to you?

Eva Angelina: Running errands busy busy busy

Marie Luv: totally annoyed now...stopped at Arbys for a wrap that they don't offer anymore. A total time waster. Got an iced tea to calm m

Madison Mitchell: Just saw paris hilton driving... My life is complete.

Mine too.

Frito-Lay wants to read your mind

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:00:00 +0000

It's nothing new for a company to target women with an advertising campaign (see: beauty industry). It is, however, a bit novel when that advertising campaign is based on neurological research, an increasingly popular technique called neuromarketing. And, according to the New York Times, Frito-Lay's new approach for its calorie-conscious products is the result of digging deep into the wants, needs and fears that plague women's brains (cause we're all the same, of course).

Lipo and rhinoplasty for everyone!

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:57:00 +0000

It's one thing to look in the mirror and bemoan the effects of gravity and age. It's another thing to have a professional confirm your nagging fears -- and then point out the areas you missed. Vanity Fair's web exclusive (via The Frisky), "Plastic Surgery Confidential," details 27-year-old writer Melanie Berliet's undercover visits to three New York-area plastic surgeons. Though each doctor "prescribed" different procedures, all found ways to improve the author's 5'9", 120lb. frame -- which I mention only because the article makes sure to point out Berliet's figure, both in the text and in various scantily clad photos of the young writer. (It's meant to highlight the ludicrousness of the doctors' assessments, but would a 27-year-old with a less-than-svelte figure be a more appropriate patient?)

Pet trends that must die

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:30:00 +0000

As we are all well aware, America is currently cleaning house. We've thrown off the cynicism and done away with the irony. As President Obama said in his inauguration speech, "the time has come to set aside childish things." And so I beseech you, pet owners of all species and breeds, to move into the new era with us. Yes, we can stop treating animals like people and start treating animals like pets.

I'm not saying you can't get your dog some utilitarian booties to protect her tender paws from the elements. Nor am I asking you to stop celebrating your cat's birthday (which provides endless opportunities for everyone's favorite pastime, "kitty-in-a-bag"). But there are some pet trends that are just plain wrong.

All week we've been reveling in our pet love. We've celebrated our affection to the umpteenth degree. In an effort to maintain some level of balanced reportage, we offer the following list.

10. Celebrity pets

WTF: “The Patriarchy Movement”

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Remove thy shoes and get thee to the kitchen! According to Alternet, there's a burgeoning "patriarchy movement" that urges women to reclaim (or, rather, submit to) traditional gender roles as described in the Bible. But this isn't some wackadoo males-only organization; the movement is led and supported by women who consider themselves to be "a revolutionary body waging 'countercultural' rebellion against what they see as the feminist status quo."

So far, only 3,000 names have been signed to the "True Women" manifesto. (Hmm, "True Woman." Is that anything like "Real American"?) But they're hoping to get 100,000 women to pledge their faith to a life of "biblical femininity."

According to the manifesto, a True Woman is called to "affirm and encourage men as they seek to express godly masculinity" and responds "humbly to male leadership" demonstrating "noble submission to authority." Still hesitant to sign your name? How about the belief that "Selfish insistence on personal rights is contrary to the spirit of Christ." If that sounds like a page out of pre-feminist history, that's the point.