Category: Women’s Rights

Calling All Feminists Near Dallas Texas for a Protest

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Hooters exploitation

An energetic young feminist from Texas has initiated a protest in front of  the Hooter’s “breastaurant” on July 15th at 2201 N. Lamar St., Dallas, TX at noon.  Ever hear of the term “breastaurant?” It was a new term to this feminist writer.  Apparently, it is a recognized term for those eating establishments that use young women’s bodies to attract customers.  The term has even been used in lawsuits as the following Instagram post points out.  The feminist activists behind the planned protest are on Twitter and Instagram as “WomenOverWings,” they demand men respect women and get their wings elsewhere.

Breastaurants use a whopper of an argument and have the nerve to cite the Civil Rights Act: If your business is based on sexism then you have the right to objectify women’s bodies as a bona fide occupational qualification!  And they got away with it, what a legal system we have in this country…

 

#WomenOverWings was inspired by the 1968 protest against the Miss America Pageant as this tweet shows:

 

#WomenOverWings asks provocative questions:

Oppose Injustice

The climate crisis has made Texas a real furnace, so be sure to take precautions against the sun and heat if you attend.  And send your impressions of the demonstration to feministstruggle@protonmail.com!

FIST Speaks at Abortion Rights March in San Diego

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On January 22, 2023, the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Ann Menasche, member of the Coordinating Committee of FIST, spoke at a San Diego rally for abortion rights.  Ann framed the abortion issue as one of women’s rights, called for the restoration of abortion rights in all 50 states and that women rely on ourselves and not the politicians to win back our rights.   She was well received by the crowd. The spirited demonstration of a few hundred was organized quickly by grassroots feminist activists when the Women’s March failed to organize anything locally. FIST also distributed 60 half page flyers with our statement on abortion rights on one side and our thirteen principles on the other.  The rally was followed by a march through downtown San Diego.   San Diego FIST members and supporters look forward to future local feminist work.

Building Hope for the New Year

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It’s been a tough year for women’s rights.  We lost abortion rights (even though access had been eroded for years) when the decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health was issued this past June with our reactionary Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade and 50 years of precedent to give a green light to states to outlaw abortion.  Now 13 states ban all or virtually all abortions and only 17 states and the District of Columbia broadly protect abortion rights. No doubt, many women’s lives and liberty now hang in the balance.

Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has continued to fight in the courts against adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, even though already ratified by the requisite 38 states. See Maura Casey’s article, Publish ERA, let skirmishes begin and watch Equal Means Equal’s video: Joe, Do It!

The ERA would establish sex as a protected category, with the same weight as race, which would make it far easier to challenge all kinds of discriminatory practices in every state in the union, including jobs discrimination, violence against women, and yes, abortion bans. See and share our Why We Need the ERA brochure.

And then the coordinated worldwide effort to deny the existence of sex, and to remove sex-based protections including the ability of women to organize against our oppression and to even have language to talk about ourselves, has continued apace in 2022.  California passed two horrific bills this year, SB 923 and SB107 and would respectively indoctrinate the medical and mental health professions in gender identity ideology and make the state a magnet for minors seeking sterilizing and mutilating so-called “gender affirming care.”  See our post about these dangerous bills.

Indoctrination in our schools and universities is endemic.  Feminists are losing jobs and livelihoods and facing civil rights complaints for refusing to deny the existence of two biological sexes. A lesbian in Norway was even facing criminal charges and up to three years in prison for supposed “hate speech” for stating that men could neither be lesbians or mothers.

And most recently, Scotland passed a gender self-ID law, the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, that will allow any male, including convicted sex offenders, to enter women’s spaces and programs simply on his say-so, disregarding concerns about women’s safety.

So, there is plenty of reason to despair.  But there is also reason to hope.

Women can and are fighting back.  Women in Scotland protested and sang a rendition of Auld Lang Syne outside of parliament during the vote, “women’s rights are human rights.”  Their struggle is not over.

Rise-Up for Abortion Rights has done amazing organizing in response to the overturning of Roe.

Two women who challenged their sacking in the UK for their gender critical views were vindicated in court:  Allison Bailey  and Maya Forstater.

Our Duty, a non-partisan group of parents opposing child medical transition, organized a successful “First Do No Harm Unity Rally” of 100 people in Anaheim California in front of a national convention of pediatricians.  The central organizer is a mother, lawyer, and liberal Democrat.  The Tavistock Gender Clinic in the UK has been shuttered following the investigation headed up by Dr. Hilary Cass revealing dangerous invasive procedures being recommended for gender dysphoric youth with little screening or oversight.

And then there are the women of Iran, who are leading a struggle against an extremely repressive and misogynist fundamentalist regime.  In response to the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody of the morals police for not wearing her headscarf properly, and at great risk to themselves, our Iranian sisters have poured out into the streets again and again.

The song, Baraye, has been the anthem of the protests:

For the sake of dancing in the street

For the fear felt in the moment of kissing

For my sister your sister, our sisters

For changing the rotten minds

For shame, for pennilessness

For the yearning for an ordinary life

For the sake of the children that mine the garbage and their dreams…

For women, life, liberty

 

For women, life, liberty!  If they can do it, we can do it!

Happy New Year, sisters!

Why We Need the ERA!

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The ERA would end women’s second-class citizenship by finally giving women equal standing in the federal CONSTITUTION, thus would ensure women’s equal TREATMENT under all laws, regulations, and policies of state and federal governments.

The ERA would afford women equal treatment under the DUE PROCESS CLAUSE and the EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE, which affect all other rights including everything from obtaining a dog license to the First Amendment, LIBERTY, etc. These fundamental constitutional rights ensure that all people enjoy the most basic freedoms: autonomy, self-determination, authority over the self,  bodily integrity, etc. Without the ERA, women cannot be assured that any rights will apply equally to them.

The ERA would require courts to use strict scrutiny when reviewing claims involving different treatment of women. Without the ERA, courts are allowed to use only intermediate scrutiny, which, unlike strict scrutiny, permits infringements on rights.

The ERA would protect abortion rights and literally save women’s lives by making it clear in the text of the Constitution, for the first time in history, that women are fully equal persons who can no longer be subjected to unequal treatment under any laws, including abortion laws.

The ERA would allow us to fight and reverse any sex discriminatory state or federal law, regulation or policy. The ERA specifically states that the Congress may pass legislation to enforce the ERA, which would mean Civil Rights laws would be amended to ensure women’s equal legal stature. Without the ERA women do not enjoy equal treatment under civil rights laws. For example, aside from employment, women are excluded from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ERA would fix this

Under the ERA and strict scrutiny, women would still enjoy separate spaces and sex-based preferences that serve a compelling state interest, such as a need to address a history of discrimination.

The ERA would allow women to sue the government for unequal enforcement of rape and domestic violence laws, bias against women in family court, and courts enforcing laws requiring equal pay for women would have to construe the word equal to mean actually equal. Without the ERA courts can interpret laws requiring equal treatment to mean something less than fully equal. The ERA would enable women to assert stronger legal arguments against the commodification of women by surrogacy, pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking.  

According to Wendy Murphy, attorney for Equal Means Equal, “The ERA is more desperately needed in 2022 than ever before because of Dobbs” (the decision that overturned Roe). “Women’s pervasive status as second-class citizens enabled the Supreme Court to cavalierly take away all personhood rights of pregnant women. Women are literally the lifeblood of this nation, yet they are vulnerable to dystopian court rulings solely because they lack basic equality in the Constitution. The only solution is to fix the Constitution. The ERA does that.”

The ERA was ratified by the 38th state in January of 2020 and is now the law of the land, but, just like the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration is blocking the ERA from being published in the Constitution. Biden is also fighting against the ERA in federal court the same way Trump did.    #PublishERANow!

Four lawsuits are currently pending in NY, MI, RI and DC that seek to validate the ERA. The DC case is scheduled for oral arguments at:

DC Circuit Court of Appeals on September 28th.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

  • Come to DC and help us protest Joe Biden’s opposition to Women’s equality. WE DEMAND EQUALITY NOW!!
  • Call/text the White House Comment Line: 800-456-1111
  • Tweet #PublishERANow!  @SCOTUS and @JoeBiden
  • Call your Senators and urge them to demand Biden publish the ERA!!

Distribute our ERA-FIST brochure

WE SUPPORT RISEUP4ABORTION RIGHTS!!

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We wish to voice our full-throated support for the group, RiseUp4AbortionRights and commend them for leading the fight against the reprehensible Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade.  RiseUp4Abortion Rights has been on the ground working for years to build grassroots resistance to the attempt by the religious right and extremist politicians to pass restrictive, punitive laws regarding abortion and we wish to acknowledge them specifically as the driving force demanding the right to abortion with no apologies!  We agree with their core message, that this is a fight for women’s lives, and that we need to exercise solidarity and sisterhood, get in the streets, and not wait for elections!! We wish to thank Sunsara Taylor, Merle Hoffman, and Lori Sokol for their leadership and for calling for unity of all women’s groups and people of conscience to join the fight!!

Read the Open Letter for Unified Action

Demand Legal Abortion Nationwide

Sign up for RiseUp4AbortionRights Actions

WE DEMAND NOTHING LESS THAN FULL EQUALITY AND ABORTION ON DEMAND, NO APOLOGIES!!

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Well, we knew this was coming.  The wrongheaded, misogynist decision by the highest court today to overturn Roe v. Wade was expected, but still is a brutal blow to the basic human rights of half the population.  Such a blatant attempt to restrict women’s autonomy, agency, and freedom could only be accomplished in a system devoted to the institution of patriarchy and promotion of male supremacy.  The court showed its callous disregard for the suffering and brutalization of women and girls in its 6-3 decision to upend 50 years of precedent, ending an ugly week of attacking the separation of church and state, elevating gun rights over human rights and public safety, with the disastrous decision to dismantle Roe.  As one female abortion protester’s sign read, “Guns have more rights than I do.”  As do churches, one might add.

Apparently the current Supreme Court thinks it knows best and is above the law, but it is in error.  This court is an illegitimate travesty of injustice by any rational person’s standard, completely out of touch with the majority of the populace who want legal, safe abortion, more gun control (not less), and which is increasingly secular. It is time that we consider imposing strict standards of conduct, eliminate lifetime appointments, expand the number of justices, institute citizen oversight and input into the selection process, and facilitate and streamline impeachment procedures in order to be able to recall justices who defy the Constitution, disregard decades of legal precedent, and substitute spiteful partisanship and sanctimonious religiosity for fairness.

It’s past time that we women stand up and seize our rightful place of honor and respect, and that we demand full citizenship by inclusion in the founding document of this nation, the Constitution, that we have earned as the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified and is now law.  All that’s needed is for the Biden Administration to stop giving lip service to women’s rights, get off their collective derriere and publish the ERA!  Legislation is needed to protect women’s reproductive rights as well, but with the ERA in the Constitution, we can adjudicate all the unfair laws at the local, state, and federal level, including abortion restrictions, and we are on much firmer ground than with only legislation.

One good thing about this ruling, it has stirred the sleeping Tiger that is WOMAN, and WE WON’T GO BACK, WE WON’T GROVEL, WE WON’T ASK PERMISSION, WE DEMAND NOTHING LESS THAN FULL EQUALITY AND ABORTION ON DEMAND, NO APOLOGIES!!

The Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women and Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine

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Feminist Forum March 26th 11-1 PST on Zoom

Go to our YouTube channel in order to watch the video.

Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women Resource List

Have you ever wondered why women have become so devalued and debased that we are degraded routinely as pornographic images, driven into prostitution, sold as property, coerced into child marriages, our bodies violated and mutilated, our right to bodily sovereignty and self-determination threatened or non-existent?  Has it always been this way?  Is prostitution “the oldest profession”?  Have we always been told we must be pure and virginal while men are allowed sexual license and even excused for rape?  Or have we been systematically groomed to be subservient and obedient, taught that our only choice is between Madonna or whore, that we are to blame for the “fall from grace”, intimidated and silenced by belief systems that teach us we are inferior, and punished severely when we defy these messages?

Most people believe that there has always been patriarchy, that women have always been treated like sex objects and chattel, blamed for men’s violent behavior, disrespected, dispossessed, disregarded, and treated like lesser humans unworthy of equality since the dawn of time.  This is not the case.  Once there was a Goddess, and things were different.

Join us for an examination of the role patriarchal religion has played, and continues to play, in the subjugation and oppression of the female sex.  As the U.S. veers toward becoming more and more a patriarchal theocracy, it is time that we gather our courage and finally look this beast in the eye.  And it is high time for women to reclaim our birthright:  the Mother Goddess. 

Featured speakers:

Max Dashu: 

Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research women’s heritages in the global cultural record and make them visible. She uses images to teach about matricultures, ceremony, medicine women, witches, female rebels and untamable women, as well as patriarchy, conquest, and systems of domination. She is the author of Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, a forthcoming book on women in Hellenic mythography and patriarchy, and two videos: Women’s Power in Global Perspective, and Woman Shaman: the Ancients. Her current course is Matricultural Eyes via Teachable. See more at Suppressed Histories Photo Essays

Ava Park:

Ava cares about only one thing: nourishing the primal power of Woman to guide the world to goodness. Ava is the founder of The Museum of Woman, revealing the hidden history of Woman from the Paleolithic to the present through the stories and statues of Goddesses, Queens and Wisewomen; the founder of The Goddess Temple of Orange County, the women’s spiritual circle of The Museum of Woman; and the author of The Queen Teachings for Women with Ava, © helping women access their Four Powers of Woman, © Maiden, Mother, Queen and Wisewoman, with emphasis on the Powers of the Queen Archetype, the most denied, dismissed and demonized of the female archetypes. When the Queen shows up in Woman, patriarchy melts.  Enjoy her inspiring YouTube videos on her channels: Museum of Woman, Goddess Temple of Orange County and Queen Coach.

Nina Paley:    Nina Paley is the creator of the award-winning animated musical feature films Sita Sings the Blues and Seder-Masochism.  Seder-Masochism is a film loosely following a traditional Passover Seder and events from the Book of Exodus, retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus, and the director’s own father. But there’s another side to this story: that of the Goddess, humankind’s original deity. Seder-Masochism resurrects the Great Mother in a tragic struggle against the forces of Patriarchy.  She also has written a book, The Seder Masochism: A Haggadah and Anti-Haggadah.  Her newest project is Apocalypse Animated, illustrating the Book of Revelation.

Ms. Paley has been deplatformed, banned, and blacklisted for saying penises are male.

Carol A. Bouldin, LMFT

Carol has worked in the mental health field with individuals, groups, and families in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient, corrections, substance abuse, and private practice, specializing in women abused as children. She is a longtime feminist and utilizes a feminist therapy approach in her work with women, and she has authored the Declaration of, by, and for Women. Carol has done research on Christian orthodoxy, attitudes towards women, shame, and rightwing authoritarianism, and is interested in the psychological impact of patriarchal religion on women and girls.

Role of Patriarchal Religion in the Global Oppression of Women Resource List

FIST’s Education Program, Our Radical Feminist Roots, off to great start

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We’ve already tackled Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvior, saw two great films, one on Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Not for Ourselves Alone,” and “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, an outstanding film on the women who went to work in the factories during WWII, and are moving into discussing the founding documents of the Second Wave. If you missed signing up by the deadline and would like to join us for consciousness raising and stimulating discussion as we learn our history, just fill out the “Contact Us” form at feministstruggle.org and specify that you would like to register for the series and we will make the arrangements.

Feminist Education Series: Our Radical Feminist Roots

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Feminists in Struggle (FIST) presents our women-only Feminist Education Series (part one): OUR RADICAL FEMINIST ROOTS from January through August of 2022.

We will be reading and discussing articles and books and viewing movies from our feminist herstory covering both the First and Second Waves of Feminism. There will be brief presentations and small group discussions at each session to raise consciousness and build sisterhood. We are also presenting two panels of “veterans” from the Feminist Movement sharing their experiences and where we should go from here. See this flyer or the Eventbrite page for more details!

The sessions will occur on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month on Zoom: 5:30 to 7:30 Pacific, 7:30 to 9:30 Central, and 8:30 to 10:30 Eastern. Copies of many of the written materials will be provided. We will also make suggestions about where other books and materials may be obtained free or at a reasonable price.

The series is free for dues-paying FIST members // $25 for non-members // $15 for low-income non-members – PRICES ARE FOR THE WHOLE SERIES.

Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite here.

Knowledge is power! Please join us!

In solidarity,
Feminists in Struggle

FIST MEMBERS JOIN MARCHES FOR ABORTION RIGHTS

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On October 2nd, FIST members participated in the abortion rights marches in San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other places. Here are some brief reports:

New York:
A group of gender critical feminists (FIST members and others) met beforehand and held signs with the word Woman on them. There were seven of us. We noticed other people with signs with the word Woman or with wire hangers. This was despite the fact that the Women’s march organizers In NY had instructed participants not to use the word “women” or the wire hanger symbol. I brought a wire hanger which I wore as a prop. We gave out a few flyers. The rally was well attended but a lot smaller than the prior Women’s Marches in January over the past few years..

Chicago:

The marchers’ signs carried the original words of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.” They were clear, saying we’re not going back. Not in Texas, not anywhere else. Over 2000 turned out for the rally and march Saturday, for abortion justice. The action, sponsored by Women’s March Chicago, Planned Parenthood, and Chicago Abortion Fund, mobilized women young and old, whose signs and chants reflected their anger and resistance: “Pro-choice+ pro-women”; “I am a woman, not a womb”; “Abortion is Health Care”; “Safe abortion for All”; “Down with the patriarchy”; “My Body, My Rights”; “Her Body, “Her Rights”; “Reproductive Freedom is the beginning of Women’s Liberation” were among the slogans on handmade banners.

Whatever limits were imposed in other cities (like NY) This crowd wasn’t having it. Most speakers talked about defending women’s right to abortion.  FIST supporters in Chicago marched with friends and circulated our statement on abortion rights.


San Diego:


We carried our beautiful FIST banner (“Our bodies, our spaces, our sex-based rights”) in the spirited march of several thousand along the waterfront, and distributed over 100 fliers containing FIST’s abortion statement and some FIST brochures. One woman came up to us and offered to take photos of our banner. The word “woman” was not buried at this event.

Women, their rights and nothing less. Men, their rights and nothing more!