Salon.com > Tedra Osell

Abstinence only strikes again

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:10:00 +0000

File under "no shit, Sherlock": Despite mounting research showing that abstinence-only sex ed doesn't work, the right wing still wants to spend tons of taxpayer money "teaching" damaging lies. As we've discussed in Broadsheet before, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that "one in four American girls has a sexually transmitted infection." And while there's plenty of evidence that abstinence-only "education" is worse than no sex education at all, the Family Research Council has decided to stick its fingers in its ears and shout "lalala," saying that "the CDC study illustrates why abstinence education is crucial." Because, apparently, it's crucial that those sluts who decide to have sex right in front of God and everyone get STDs and, hopefully, an unwanted pregnancy to boot. That'll show 'em.

Is women’s studies dead?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:10:00 +0000

Oh, look -- is feminism dead? Again? That's what two British papers would have you think. "Farewell to 'predictable, tiresome and dreary' women's studies," read the U.K. Independent’s headline, while the London Times posed a false dichotomy: "Women's studies is about to disappear as an undergraduate degree in the UK. But is it because it is no longer relevant or because it has done its job by putting the issues in the mainstream?"

Or maybe it's that, in fact, women's studies is actually a fairly young and dynamic discipline, one that has given rise to queer studies, men's studies and gender studies, and that these departments are simply being renamed to reflect the field's widening -- not shrinking -- range.

Looking for kick-ass female heroines?

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Maybe you want good book ideas for a niece, daughter, young friend or expecting mama. Or maybe you actually want some good feminist reading for the -- gasp -- boys in your life. Regardless, you should check out the Amelia Bloomer Project, six years (and counting) of book awards to "honor the authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers who give life to books that encourage readers young and old to push the envelope and challenge what it means to be a woman, regardless of ethnicity or social-economic background."

The list includes both fiction and non-, from beginning readers all the way through young adults. To my eye, it's a little heavy on biographical nonfiction -- but then again, that's kind of a nice corrective to the Caldecott and Newbery awards, both of which emphasize fiction. And given that elementary education still emphasizes dead white males, it can only be valuable to introduce girls and boys to real feminist heroines. The list also tends to emphasize stories that celebrate determined women overcoming explicitly sexist obstacles; depending on your approach to nonsexist child rearing (and the age and temperament of the kids you're buying for), the Amelia Bloomer Project's definition of feminist content might seem a little didactic.

But given that even today children's stories continue to rely heavily on male protagonists (Harry Potter, anyone?) or to emphasize girly girls ("Fancy Nancy"), a certain amount of sober-minded reading and a reminder that feminism's about more than pink "girl power" T-shirts can't hurt.