Gee, thanks.

Feministing.com:

Man apologizes for torching women's clinic.

Um, yeah. 46 year-old David McMenemy was sentenced to five years in prison Friday for trying to burn down a women's health clinic in Detroit that he thought performed abortions. (They didn't.)

Alrighty then.

Israeli president steps down, gets plea bargain in return.

Well this seems fucked.

Israeli president Moshe Katsav stepped down from his presidency yesterday due to the rape charges that have been brought against him, but only to be rewarded with the dropping of the actual rape charges.

The prosecutors, who had originally said they had intended on charging him with raping two women that could land him 20 years in jail, are now in talks with Katsav about a plea bargain which would allow him to just confess to sexual harassment. Because, you know, it's all the same shit anyway.

A protest of over 20,000 in Tel Aviv resulted in outrage over the bargain yesterday, which has been frozen for at least 24 hours before any final decisions are made.

It seems worthwhile to note that this is a country that has gender segregated buses in places for the more fundamentalist minded sorts. And when a woman gets out of line on the bus, sits in the wrong seat and doesn't want to move, what happens to her is her own fault.

But, hey, they are our ally.

Egypt bans female circumcision.

Yesterday, Egypt announced they are banning all forms of female circumcision just days after a 12-year old girl died from the procedure.

It was actually officially banned in 1997, but doctors were allowed to do the procedure for "exceptional cases." Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali has now announced that every doctor or medical professional is banned from carrying out any form of circumcision, and if the act is committed, it "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished."

But despite the "exceptional cases" rule from 1997, a 2000 study showed that the procedure was still carried out on 97% of the country's women. So how much will actually change now?

Does anyone know more about the history of FGM in Egypt?

It took them long enough to realize that this problem was still there. Hopefully the government willingness to act now reflects a change in Egyptian society. But at 97% it is hard to believe it is so.

Something's missing.

In reference to Samhita's mention in a recent post of Jessie Davis, a pregnant woman in Ohio who was murdered, I had to bring attention to its media coverage on the murder and accused boyfriend: Why isn't anyone talking about intimate partner violence? Let's look at some stats:

On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. The same year, 440 men were killed by an intimate partner.

Women are much more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner. In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men.

Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.

All the media can talk about is how horrific it is and how upset the parents are, etc. But why not talk about why this happened, talk about the bigger issues at hand here?

On the other hand, some conservatives think the bigger issues involve blaming the
victim for being a mother out of wedlock, among other "immoral" life choices. Amanda and Jill have more.

AND

Jen's Hungover Feminist Report: Supreme Court session wrap-up edition

I'll be honest, I really am hungover today, so this is going to be quick. And trust me, you do not want to look at me on video today. The Supreme Court session has ended until the fall. Let's take a moment to enjoy some of the lowlights from the last few months of decisions that we've covered here at Feministing. Feel free to add others in comments.

April 18th - Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood\

The Supreme Court decides that outlawing abortion methods is fine, even if a woman's health is at risk.

Vanessa summed it up well. "We're fucked." From the decision:

Respondents have not demonstrated that the Act […] imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion based on its overbreadth or lack of a health exception.

Congrats, ladies. Your health is irrelevant.

May 29th - Ledbetter v. Goodyear

The Supreme Court decides that you can't file a pay discrimination complaint more than 180 days “after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred.”
Ann breaks it down, " 180 days isn't much time to figure out a pay disparity exists. How many people -- especially, for example, women in nontraditional professions -- talk openly with their coworkers about how much they're earning?"

June 28th - Parents Involved v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education

The Supreme Court strikes down, K-12 voluntary integration programs in public schools. The consideration of race for admissions was determined to be constitutional in colleges a few years ago. I guess they figure kids can wait.

Chief Justice Roberts said, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Pissed off me says the way to make schools more racially diverse is to fucking make schools more racially diverse.

Samhita notes:

The policy, cultural mindset and economic racism has been in place for a long time, but today the Supreme Court made the few slightly effective attempts at desegregation, that much less possible.

Quite a year they're having down at the Supreme Court. Fuckers.