Wendy McElroy's blogspot
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
The homepage of Wendy McElroy offers commentary and articles on individualist feminism. Click on articles in the toolbar and browse the categories that apply to individualist feminism...or browse according to your interests.

10 more FLDS children to be dropped
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Deseret News
At the close of court on Tuesday, Child Protective Services filed to "nonsuit" 10 more children taken in the raid on the Utah-based polygamous sect's YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, Texas. The decision means the children would be out from under court jurisdiction, but does not end CPS' investigation. The reasons to nonsuit vary, Crimmins said. In some cases, there may be no evidence of abuse. In others, the parents have taken appropriate steps to protect the children. Some have also turned 18 and aged out of the system. (08/26/08)

Mass. abortion buffer zone law OKed
Topic: Abortion
Source: Boston Herald
A Massachusetts law that expands buffer zones around abortion clinics was ruled constitutional Friday by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro. Tauro said the law "passes constitutional muster under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Due Process Clause." He added added that the law has a "plainly legitimate sweep" and is not "impermissibly overbroad" Anti-abortion protesters had filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 35-foot buffer zone law that took effect in November. (08/25/08)

Airport humiliates big breasted woman?
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: The Dallas Morning News
When Nancy Kates arrived at Oakland International Airport to board JetBlue flight 472, she thought she was heading off on a routine journey to visit her mother in Boston. Instead she ended up in a standoff with Transportation Safety Administration officials over her bra. Kates said she plans to talk to her family lawyer as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women and decide how to pursue the incident. Barry Steinhardt, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, said Monday of federal security officials: "They can't find bombs in checked luggage, and they're essentially doing a pat-down of private parts. This is a security apparatus that is out of control." (08/26/08)

DNC, prolife sign is largest in world
Topic: Abortion
Source: WorldNetDaily
American Right to Life Action, a pro-life organization, has successfully captured a Guinness world record by displaying a 530-foot tall and 666-foot wide abortion protest sign weighing more than 2,700 pounds, sewn together with four miles of stitching linking 2,400 twin sheets. The sign features bold vertical letters that read "DNC." Each letter is 160 feet tall – roughly the size of a of a junior high school gym. White letters stretch horizontally, reading "Destroys uNborn Children." (08/26/08)

AZ FLDS seek to block land sale
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Deseret News
During an emergency hearing Monday in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, lawyers for FLDS members Willie Jessop, Dan Johnson and Merlin Jessop sought to halt the sale of any property under the control of the United Effort Plan Trust. Lawyers for both sides agreed to hold off on any transactions until the judge rules on it next month. "Such sales pose an immediate and fundamental threat to the religious communal lifestyle and beliefs of the community because they threaten its self-sufficiency, and thus are contrary to law, constitutional rights, and the best interests of the people who live on Trust property and rely on it for their sustenance," FLDS lawyer Rod Parker wrote in court papers. (08/26/08)

More blacks homeschooling
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Houston Chronicle
"Ten years ago, there were not that many people of color home schooling," said Brian Ray, president of National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Ore. General dissatisfaction with public schools and increased awareness about home schooling are motivating blacks to change course, experts said. Concerns about children missing associating with other students and the loss of a spouse's income, however, keep many blacks who are interested in home schooling from taking the leap. An estimated 220,000 black students were home schooled in 2007, according to the institute. In comparison, 84,000 were home schooled in 1999, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics. (08/25/08)

Denver archbishop slams Pelosi
Topic: Abortion
Source: Catholic News Agency
In a statement eloquently titled “On the Separation of Sense and State,” the Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., and his Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley harshly criticized Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, for giving a confusing view of the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion, during a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” During the Meet the Press interview on August 24, Pelosi responded to a question about when human life begins by saying that “as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition . . . St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose.”(08/25/08)

Gay adoption ban to appear on ballot
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: WorldNetDaily
A ban against unmarried couples becoming foster or adoptive parents is scheduled to appear on Arkansas ballots this fall – and some say the measure is geared at denying homosexuals the chance to raise children. The Arkansas Family Council Action Committee submitted 85,389 of the required 61,974 voter's signatures to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot, according to Associated Press reports. Family Council President Jerry Cox said getting the proposed act on the ballot is a significant step for families. In 2006, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled against a state policy preventing "gays" from becoming foster parents. The Family Council reacted by acquiring enough signatures to place the initiative on the Arkansas ballot. (08/25/08)

IN, Cops charged with rape, organizing prostitution
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: WorldNetDaily
After one cop was charged with raping a woman while on duty last week, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is having trouble with two more of its officers – bringing the number of arrested, jailed or investigated cops to 10 in the past four months. The two recent cases come after Monday's suspension of Officer Anthony Smith. He has been charged with seven felonies including rape, criminal deviate conduct, sexual misconduct and official misconduct and two misdemeanor counts of intimidation after he allegedly pulled a 19-year-old over and threatened arrest if she didn't get into his car and have sex with him. (08/25/07)

Woman forced from fed building for lesbian shirt
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Fresno Bee
Lapriss Gilbert said she was picking up a Social Security card for her son when the guard was offended by her "lesbian.com" shirt and threatened her with arrest. She was eventually allowed inside after her mother called police, according to a Los Angeles Daily News story. The guard, whose name was not immediately available, works for Paragon Security, which contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Lori Haley, a spokeswoman within the Homeland Security Department, said the guard's actions were inappropriate and unacceptable. (08/25/08)

PA, help for sex offenders offends town
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
The former tough-on-crime state legislator quietly opened his doors to the men in June, shattering the serenity of the borough of 2,700 and scattering his own family. "I'm not happy having sex offenders living next to my children," said Wendy Alkinburgh, a mother of four children younger than 7. "I used to let them play in the backyard, with me at the kitchen window. I can't do that anymore." After residents packed community meetings, circulated flyers with the men's pictures, and pressed officials for action, the borough zoning board ruled that Armstrong had violated an ordinance limiting the number of unrelated people who can live together. (08/26/08)

Male backlash in India
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Washington Post
In India today, women are working in lucrative retail and technology jobs, sometimes in cities far from their home towns. Economic independence has, in some cases, allowed them to delay marriage and early childbirth. Social mobility among India's young is also undermining the country's traditional joint-family system, in which couples are expected to move in with the husband's parents. The shift has empowered the modern Indian wife, freeing her from the scourge of the bossy, nosy mother-in-law. At the same time, however, the number of reported instances of domestic violence, rape and dowry killings is spiking in South Asian cities, according to women's groups, demographers and sociologists. (08/25/08)

Is college worth it?
Topic: Children and Family
Source: WorldNetDaily
Author: Walter Williams
Dr. Marty Nemko has researched that question in an article aptly titled "America's Most Over-rated Product: Higher Education." While colleges have strong financial motives to admit unsuccessful students, for failing students the experience can be devastating. They often leave with their families, or themselves, having piled up thousands of dollars in debt. There is possibly trauma and poor self-esteem for having failed, and perhaps embarrassment for their families. Dr. Nemko says that worst of all is that few of these former college students, having spent thousands of dollars, wind up in a job that required a college education. It's not uncommon to find them driving a taxi, working at a restaurant or department store, performing some other job that they could have had as a high school graduate or dropout. (08/27/08)

Edwards, wife criticized for his affair
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: CNN
While fellow Democrats converge in Denver, Colorado, to nominate Barack Obama for president, Elizabeth Edwards remains in seclusion in North Carolina. It seems an odd way to treat a woman with incurable cancer wronged by a cheating husband, the latest in a series of deep hardships in life that includes the death of a teenage son. But some former followers have questioned the recklessness of keeping the affair under wraps even though her husband -- a former U.S. senator, two-time presidential candidate and the 2004 vice presidential nominee -- said he confessed the affair in 2006, before the campaign began in earnest the next year. "I think she's complicit," said Brad Crone, a Raleigh-based Democratic consultant. "Obviously, she knew. While she's the victim, she clearly didn't stand in the way of the cover-up." (08/26/08)

Hillary courts her own supporters
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Slate
Author: John Dickerson
In the two and a half months since Barack Obama won the nomination, he's been trying to convince Hillary's supporters—but his standing with them has gotten only worse. Roughly 30 percent of Clinton voters say they won't vote for him, and this is not a one-poll anomaly. The number is the same in the Pew, ABC, and CNN polls. That's as bad as it was during the heat of the Democratic primary. Polls will go up and down, Obama aides will tell you—and they're right. But Obama's poll numbers have been going in the wrong direction on this score—and not for lack of effort on the part of both the Obama and Clinton camps. Historical factors should also help: After eight years out of power, Democrats should be very motivated to support their candidate. Nevertheless, since June, Obama has lost 10 points among Clinton supporters. McCain has picked up 10 points. (08/25/08)

India, pro women laws misused
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Mangalorean
Lashing out at the National Commission for Women (NCW) a day before Women Equality Day, two civil society groups Monday said that the pro-women, progressive legislations in the country were being misused, and demanded that the legislations be made gender neutral. The Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI) and All India Forgotten Women (AIFW) in a joint statement said that the laws for the protection of women and their rights - like the legislations against rape and sexual harassment, adultery or domestic violence, divorce or child custody - should be made gender neutral. (08/26/08)

Obama on abortion should worry voters
Topic: Abortion
Source: Chicago Tribune
Author: Dennis Byrne
Can we just listen to ourselves? We're debating whether some babies born alive have a right to medical attention. How have we come to this? Can't we all agree that everyone whose heart beats, brain functions and lungs respire at birth should have a chance to live? If we're a compassionate, rational and just society, we would say, "Of course, every infant has a right to lifesaving medical attention. Even if it's not wanted." But an unthinkable debate is raging as a part of the presidential campaign, centering on how Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama voted while he was an Illinois state senator on legislation designed to protect the lives and health of all newborns. The debate over Obama's voting record has grown so arcane that we've lost sight of why this question ever came up: Some infants that survive abortion are denied medical assistance. They are left to die. (08/26/08)

The Feminine Mystique revisited
Topic: Women's Studies, Scholarship, and History
Source: Daily Times
Author: Stephanie Coontz
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Today, many social conservatives still blame Friedan and feminism for inducing women to abandon the home for the workplace, thus destabilising families and placing their children at risk. But feminism was always more of a response to women entering the labour force than its cause. In Western Europe and the United States, early capitalism drew huge numbers of young, single women into industries like textiles. Mill owners often built dormitories to house young female workers. Many of these workers became early supporters of both the anti-slavery and the women’s rights movements, while middle-class women were energised by (and sometimes envious of) working women’s vigorous participation in the public sphere. (08/25/08)

Most overrated product: higher education
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Marty Nemko
College is a wise choice for far fewer people than are currently encouraged to consider it. It’s crucial that they even-handedly weigh the pros and cons of college versus the aforementioned alternatives. Their life will depend on that choice. A useful Q&A on whether you or your children should consider college to be a good investment.