Femme NYC

I will no longer be updating this blog.  I can be found at http://profoundsarcasm.blogspot.com

Consider me new and improved.

Not feminism related, I know, but it's near and dear to my heart.  I want Michael Vick (and anyone else who participates in the horrific and cruel "sport" of dogfighting) to get the maximum possible punishment.  Jail time, fines, community service, everything possible.  Someone on a dog site recommended using him as bait to train police dogs.  Not a bad idea.

So imagine my glee when I saw this article.  He's been suspended indefinitely, which is just a nudge away from an out-and-out firing.  I know the NFL has to be careful not to violate their part of his contract, so this is a great step.  I'd like to see it extend into a lifetime ban from professional sports.  He's already lost so many sponsors that he's not exactly lucrative anymore.

This is suspension WITHOUT pay, by the way.

So I guess to sum up, you go, Roger Goodell.

I suppose that I should warn you, if you haven't read all of the Harry Potter series (including book 7), there will be spoilery plot points here.

Allow me to be a nerd here for a few minutes.  The recent release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has had the wizarding world on everyone's mind, including my own.  Something I have noticed in reading all of the Harry Potter books is how incredibly awesome and feminist the character of Hermione Granger is.

Take the third book for example (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  She is issued a time turner, which could easily be abused, but she uses only to get to class, and then at the end of the story she uses it to go back in time and save the lives of two innocents.  Also, during this life-saving mission, she completely takes the lead.  She is most likey terrified out of her mind, but she keeps her cool.  She also demonstrates here and throughout the series and amazing ability to think rationally under pressure (Devil's Snare, anyone?). 

But she's not perfect.  Like everyone else, she is flawed in many ways.  Her incredible intelligence makes her somewhat of a know-it-all (though that is a trait that has saved the asses of her, Ron, and Harry on several occasions).  She also loses her head a little as her feelings for Ron grow.  Think about the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Or Ron's relationship with Lavender Brown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  Or Ron's betrayal in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  But she still manages to pull herself together and get on with the task at hand.

Think about Deathly Hallows for a moment.  At this point we've established that she's madly in love with Ron, even if they haven't officially gotten together yet.  When Ron walks out on she and Harry while they are in hiding, she could easily betray her mission to follow the man she loves.  But she doesn't.  She risks that relationship for her friendship with Harry and the fact that what they are doing is what will ultimately save the wizarding world. 

With all of her strength, she is not simply a female version of male heroes.  She is a unique character, and is incredibly feminine in her own way.  Her strength isn't "justified" by making her a tomboy, she is smart without having to play the stereotypical nerd.  She is allowed to be strong and intelligent while still being attractive and having friends.  She is even shown as being attractive to boys in the stories, something that is usually not given to intelligent female characters.  She blurs the line between the "pretty girl" and the "smart girl," showing a sampling of both that actually reflects real life.  Hermione is an empowering character and a good role model to young female readers who can learn that it's perfectly OK to be pretty and feminine while still being the smartest kid in school.

Besides, she can hide out in the woods for weeks at a time with nothing but a little beaded evening bag.

An Ohio bill will require women to have permission from the father of their embryo to get an abortion

Sickening.

Women will be required to have a note of permission for abortion from the father.  In cases of rape or incest they will have to provide a police report for proof.  If she is unsure who the father is, she must submit a list of possibilities and a paternity test will be given and THEN permission will be requested.

Not only is this a blatant attack on human rights, it is downright insulting to the intelligence of women.  It implies that we are not capable of making decisions about our own bodies.  We must have a man to make these important decisions for us even though we are the ones who have to deal with the consequences.  You know, being pregnant, giving birth, raising the kid.  The "logic" here?  Because a man will have to pay child support, he "deserves a say."  OK, he can weigh in an opinion if the woman asks, but he should not get final say as he is not the one saddled with all the responsibility.

Basically we will need signed permission slips because, you know, it's not like we're adults or anything.

Contact this idiot to tell him what you think of this bill.

Read the full story here.

A woman was recently kicked off a Continental flight for refusing to drug her toddler.  The boy kept babbling "bye bye plane" which apparently sparked the ire of a flight attendant.  When the woman refused to give her son baby Benadryl, the flight attendant lied and told the pilot that the woman was threatening her.  Thus, the plane turned around and went back to Houston, where the woman and her kid were removed, leaving them in the airport with no luggage and no diapers or food for the baby. 

Now, I don't particularly like children.  In fact, I try to avoid them whenever possible.  However, if one is on a plane babbling silly little phrases I wouldn't advocate kicking him off.  My child-disliking self would actually have joined the other passengers on this flight and spoken up on the woman and her baby's behalf. 

I am sick of crabby flight attendants.  I can't tell you how many flights I have been on where they have been rude, impatient, and slammed into my arm or foot with the drink cart.  I was even on one flight where a male flight attendant made a sexist comment about a female one.  She was pushing the beverage cart with some difficulty up an unclear aisle and he said "watch out, woman driver coming through."  I seriously regret not telling him where he could put his drink cart, but I was half asleep and not prepared for a battle.

This isn't exactly feminism-related, but it's something I feel I need to address.

Atlanta Falcon Michael Vick indicted on dogfighting charges.

This may be a leap from my last entry about tampon crafts, but let's get serious for a moment here, folks.

There is nothing cool about dogfighting.  It is a cruel, gruesome, inhumane, amoral practice.  The dogs involved, usually Pit Bulls, are trained to be vicious.  How do you train a dog to be vicious?  You act viciously toward the dog. 

Sidebar:  Dogs aren't inherently mean.  Not Pit Bulls, not Rottweilers, nada.  In a loving environment, almost any dog will flourish and become a caring pet.  Sure, like with humans, there are a few individuals that have an innate problem and will become nasty, but there is no single breed or class of dog that is better or worse than any other.  The dogs that have the reputation have it because of the people that own them.  They are frequently owned by people that will train them to be mean, or mistreat them, which perpetuates the stigma that certain breeds are meaner than others.  Here's an article I wrote a while back about Pit Bulls.

Anyhoo, back to dogfighting.  It's not a harmless sport.  It is violent, and I personally believe that if one finds something like that entertaining, they are in need of professional help.  The dogs used for the 'sport' of fighting are treated cruelly to make them fighters.  They are often chained in the same room as each other, just out of their reach, so that they become aggressive toward each other.  Dogs that are injured or deemed unworthy fighters are euthanized.  When I say euthanized, I do not mean they go to the vet and get the humane lethal injection that you would get for your poor sick dying pet.  Fighting dogs are killed in brutal, awful ways.  A few of the ways alleged in the Vick case include hanging, electrocution, gun shot, strangulation, and beating.  What a way to go, no?

If you suspect anyone you know is involved in this awful practice, REPORT THEM.  Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states; in 48 of them it's a felony (it's a misdemeanor in Idaho and Wyoming). Read the Humane Society of the United States' dogfighting fact sheet. 

One more heartbreaking picture to leave you with: