Help your neighborhood women's orgs!

The thermostat is finally registering winter, which means a) holiday/finals madness and, more importantly b) baby it's cold outside. Consequently, it's an important time to keep supporting your local women's organizations!

Here in DC, the lack of an autonomous government has profound human consequences. To make things worse, the District of Columbia slashed social services funding this fall, which has left DC organizations scrambling to keep their doors open. Direct service organizations that assist women need your help to continue providing critical resources for DC's most vulnerable women and families.

The domestic violence nonprofit Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE) ran a successful 10-day campaign this September to raise $85,000 so WEAVE could stay open. But WEAVE still needs support and volunteers to continue providing their services. Check out this list of ways you and your groups can help!

House of Ruth, a housing and shelter program for homeless women and families (many of whom are DV survivors), has been promised DC funding but does not have a dedicated funding stream to make up the $500,000 cut in their grants.

The Women's Collective, a well-regarded HIV/AIDS prevention and counseling organization, continues to lose DC funding while poorly-managed HIV programs receive millions. This, in a city with the highest HIV rate in the nation. This, in a city Congress singles out to attack needle-exchange programs that reduce the transmission of HIV.

'Tis the season to fight patriarchy and help a sistah out. Your friendly FMF campus organizers are hosting a holiday party to benefit Bread for the City. This week and next we're collecting food, used clothes, and items for the BFTC wish list. If you are interested in joining forces, drop us a line at campusteam@feminist.org. Or plan a drive or event to benefit your favorite progressive cause.

Want to donate to FMF and help us advocate for women in the US and around the world? You can do so online or with a good old-fashioned check payable to the Feminist Majority Foundation. Checks can be sent to FMF at 1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 801, Arlington VA, 22209. Call us at 703-522-2214 if you need more info!

Let us know how you're getting active this winter! Stay warm and happy activism!

Designer Dolls for Darfur

I dislike "high fashion". Now, clothes are definitely useful (especially, I'm finding, in this weird East Coast phenomenon people are calling "Winter"), but the idea that its worth paying $500 plus for a tiny "designer" bag that doesn't even fit anything in it, or the obsessive-compulsive desire to check fashion magazines to make sure what is wearing is "in style" seems like it came from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. ("Can I wear this color with that color? I saw a movie star do it so I guess that means its okay!" Oh how I wish I weren't essentially quoting an acquaintance with that one.)

Now that the skepticism is out there on the table, I have to admit that the "Frimousses de Créateurs" (Designers’ Dolls) project, coordinated by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), seems like a neat idea.

The project started small 6 years ago, according to the Inter Press Service, but has since expanded to the point that about 100 designers, some artists and entertainers have joined and started making dolls for auction.

Just last year, the doll project funded polio vaccinations for more than 160,000 kids and tuberculosis shots for 183,000 babies in Darfur. In 2010, UNICEF expects to vaccinate 260,000 babies and 195,000 pregnant women against tetanus.

The Petit Palais Fine Arts Museum in Paris will be showing the dolls from Nov. 10 to 15 (Road trip anyone? Shoot, there's a big blue wet thing in the way. Oh well.) The dolls will be auctioned off November 19, right before the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (What do you know, yet another UN treaty about guaranteeing human rights the USA hasn't signed! See PDF)

So while I would generally say, "Go, help poor people, participate!" this particular fund-raising event seems catered to a certain population (i.e. the freakishly rich one). So far the most expensive doll that's been sold as part of the project was a whopping 23,000 Euros (Gulp! College tuition, anyone?). In light of designer expenses however, thousands of french kids participate in a similar program, making dolls and selling them for only 20 euros. Their efforts have funded over 10,000 vaccinations in the last 5 years.

YAY Vaccines!

Photo credit: sagespot on flickr.com

Elmo can make everything better... (well, almost)

As someone who went to bed very hopeful about Maine, waking up to contradictory headlines was not an easy thing. Assuming that many of you are in the same zombie-drone-combo state as myself, I figured a good googly-eyed, pick-me-up was in order. Here we go:

Today the beloved children's educational television show Sesame Street turned 40 (*necessary Count Von Count laugh: HA HA HA!*) While the show is most often recognized as one of the more adorably fluffy ways to learn about counting or sharing, it is its strong stance on social awareness and incredibly progressive approach to education that makes it special.

From its conception, Sesame Street made a point to not just teach, but show and normalize an urban, multi-racial environment that apparently did not exist in TVland at the time. I mean, with the time's popular shows like Lassie, Beverly Hillbillies, the Brady Bunch and I Dream of Jeannie, you'd never guess there was a Civil Rights Movement!

Subtly pushing an underlining of social consciousness along with the learning tools, the show intentionally included interracial couples, strong female figures (particularly after talks with NOW) and age-appropriate conversations about September 11th and Hurricane Katrina.

Even Big Bird's revealing of Snuffleupagus to the adults had a hidden message, as it proved to kids that parents will believe them if they tell secrets, a lesson aimed at any child viewer who had experienced or was experiencing sexual assault.

With guests like Ralph Nader, Michelle Obama, Oprah and Ray Charles, the show has grown to become an international staple; causing moms to publicly take out other moms for a Tickle Me Elmo during the Christmas of 1997 and more "mature" adults like myself to still get the warm and fuzzies.

In feminism and equality, I present to you these classic clips:

Jesse Jackson:

Feminism of Today: Girls of the World

Feminism of the past (although the message still applies): Women can be anything!

Motherly Instinct

Being young, in college, and quite independent, settling down and starting a family is not on my list of top priorities. Just the thought of having babies ever gives me the creeps. I've always heard about that "motherly instinct" that women are supposed to have, but I don't think I've got it. In fact, I like to keep a good distance between me and anyone who is under the age of 8.

So what is this "motherly instinct" and why don't I have it? I've talked to other women my age and many of them say that they want to have kids, lots of them in fact. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to have babies, the thing that I do not understand is why don't I want to also. Aren't I supposed to?

Curious about figuring out what and where this "mother instinct" comes from, I stumbled upon a possible clue. The fosB gene is a kind of regulatory switch that has been found to be a crucial player in types of behavioral long-lasting changes, like the ability to nurture the young.

A study done on mice back in 1996 found that when this gene was missing in female mice, they showed no interest in their babies. While humans also posses the fosB gene, it was not certain at the time of the study if it plays any role in prompting women to nurture their young as well.

So maybe the lack of this gene is the answer that I have been looking for, or maybe it is something else? I think the biggest question might be, why is there this pressure on women to have babies when they reach a certain age? Who says that women have to first off reproduce and secondly must do it at a certain age?

There are many alternatives to having babies and being "nurture", such as adoption, being a foster parent, or just not dealing with children at all. I do not see anything wrong with any of these options. It should be up to each individual person as to whether they want to procreate or not, not some set of social standards.

Photo courtesy of D.A.K. Photography on Flikr

Witchcraft: Still Happening in 2009

Many of us associate witches with Halloween, the occasional monty python skit, or even witch doctors, but it is shocking to hear that people still believe that witches exist! BBC reported on a village called Kisii in Kenya, where those deemed to be witches are actually burned at the stake by the community at large, with support of the local police. Witchcraft is commonplace there, and in many other communities throughout Africa and parts of Asia.

One member of the Kisii community was quoted by BBC, and said, " 'In other communities, there are witches all round but in Kisii we have come up with a new method, we want to kill these people using our own hands.' " REALLY.

Naturally men are in the minority of witches, but are stigmatized for being relatives of other witches.

In 2008, a Nigerian man was arrested for killing 110 child "witches," who had been abandoned by their parents who also believed the children to be witches. The murderer had explained that he had killed the witches, not the children, creating a disconnect between a human life, and one of a "witch." The children are often used as scapegoats to explain links to poverty or pain that adults experience.

I can't honestly say that much is happening on the international level to put an end to witchcraft, as there are seemingly bigger fish to fry than stopping a superstition, although this is an issue that we need to publicize and put a stop to!

Dealing with the Aftermath of Maternal Mortality

One of the biggest issues facing women globally is maternal mortality. The New York Times has had a three part series on death in Tanzania, and has focused on maternal morality. Their first piece was about death in childbirth, and the second was about the high rates of unsafe abortions in the country. Their final piece is about the thousands of children who are orphaned and how one orphanage is trying to help these children.

According to the article, very little is known about orphan care and how poor nations are dealing with the large numbers of children whose mothers die in childbirth or due to botched abortions. Fathers cannot provide the nourishment an infant needs, and so the baby is often sent off to orphanages.

In the majority of orphanages, children can wait for years for someone to come and adopt them, which does not provide them with the emotional stability and care that is provided by a family. Research has shown that children who do not recieve enough physical touching or care form attachment problems.

In the orphanage in Berega, they want to do more than just provide their children with physical nourishment, so the children are cared for by teenage girls until they are old enough to be sent to their families. While this orphanage offers a solution for helping the millions of children who are motherless and stuggling to survive, there needs to be more work done to prevent maternal mortality.

The issue of maternal mortality is not only devastating to the women and families in the developing world, but it also undermines other international development efforts.

Listen to the children

A little boy in Colorado has proven you are never too young to be an activist. Ethan McNamee, a third grader, organized a gay marriage rights rally at the State Capitol building after hearing students at his elementary school make anti-gay remarks and learning that a gay couple living in his neighborhood could not get married.

Warning: if you're anything like me, these videos will lead you to support same sex marriage rights AND increase your desire to have lots and lots of adorable activist babies.