France denies a woman citizenship because she is "too Muslim".

On Friday, it was revealed that the nation's highest administrative authority has denied a woman's naturalization application on the grounds that she's effectively too Muslim.

The July 27 decision was revealed in Le Monde, which began its story asking whether "the burqa is incompatible with French nationality" The story suggested the answer is apparently yes, and unfurled that tale of a 32 year-old native Moroccan woman identified as Faiza M. as evidence. Though married to a French citizen and the mother of their three, French-born children, Faiza M. was denied citizenship on the grounds that she has "adopted a religious practice incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes".

via.

France has gone even farther than not allowing religious symbols in the classroom (effectively discriminating against Muslim women who wear the veil) by actually denying a woman citizenship, because she is Muslim. Wow. Besides the fact that this is clearly the imposition of the religion of secularism by the French state onto this woman, I am appalled at the exploitation of the rhetoric of feminism. I am certainly not the guardian of feminism, but my definition of feminism certainly does not justify xenophobic and discriminatory treatment of women and completely deny their agency as individuals.

Restoring virginity

I read this article about hymen restoration becoming more and more common among France's muslim women.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl

The NY Times had an article on a new series that will be shown on Showtime called the Secret Diary of a Call Girl. When the series first came out in the UK there was a lot of fury within soume groups as the show seemed to glorify prostitution and make it "appealing" to young girls.
I am curious to see what the reaction will be in the US, especially given the country's religiosity.

What do you think?

Latent Biases Against Women

Cathy Tinsley, a professor at Georgetown (woot!) and executive director of the GU Women's Leadership Initiative, wrote this editorial in the Washington Post featuring work that she has done which has shown gender bias in the corporate world. She specifically uses two examples from her research where women are judged more harshly than men when it comes to being assertive and taking time off for an emergency. Check it out.

Alice Walker and Rebecca Walker

Rebecca Walker, one of the pioneers of third wave feminism, has written an article "How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart." It delves into her personal relationship with her mother, Alice Walker, and how besides being inattentive when Rebecca was growing up, also taught her that "motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman." Rebecca describes her happiness at being a mother herself and how Alice Walker's feminism has caused a generation of women to dismiss their biological clocks.

Though Alice Walker may not have been the best "mother," I disagree with her Rebecca Walker's view that women nowadays don't focus nearly enough on their biological clocks. People in our generation do. We do think about when we're going to have kids along with our careers and still have godlike images of soccer moms coloring our perspectives.

I agree with Rebecca Walker that motherhood should not be viewed as something bad--certainly it should be celebrated--but with caution, because Mother's Day, while offering some sort of symbolic recognition does not hold up to the truth that childcare providers who do the work of "mothering" everyday are paid far less than most other professions. Alice Walker's feminism really did exclude a lot of women who chose to be feminine, etc, and thus is far too ideological, but I think that that generation's feminism's attempt to wrest motherhood out of its sacred stranglehold was important for women. Has it gone too far? I would say no, but perhaps others would disagree.

Student Protest of Phyllis Schlafly

I'm sure many of you have heard about the protest of Phyllis Schlafly, professional anti-feminist and conservative leader, as the graduation speaker at Washington University. Here is a clip from CNN that summarizes it quite well and highlights her opinion that marital rape is not rape (refreshing!). Fortunately, around half of the student body was estimated to have turned their backs in protest. Go WashU!

Via.

Contraceptive pills

Chile banned the distribution of the morning-after pill in the country's public health system. Chile is a Catholic country and abortion is illegal, so many women resort to unsafe underground abortions. Well, banning the morning-after pill will for sure increase the number of the latter.


Article

Little greek island

I came across this article and I thought I would share.

Abuse in Juvenile Detention Centers

This article from CNN discusses the horrendous conditions of juvenile detention centers in the U.S. The images that start off the analysis are appalling:
"Girls as young as 13 say they were shackled for weeks at a time in Mississippi."
"A Texas teen was allegedly offered birthday cake in exchange for sex."

Reports about this type of abuse have been public for many years and yet this horrendous abuse still persists, because these teens and children are some of the most vulnerable people in our societies, with no one to speak for them.

On another note, it is interesting how abuse of girls is almost always presented as sexual and abuse of boys is almost always physical, when in reality the children in these jails suffer from both, regardless of their gender.

Vegan Strip Joint?

In a recent NY Times article I discovered something oh so interesting. There are an increasing amount of strip clubs that pride themselves on being vegan and/or vegetarian. Dancers wear animal friendly outfits and the menus offer a wide array of healthy food items. Article author Kara Jesella writes, "At his Casa Diablo Gentlemen's Club, soy protein replaces beef in tacos and chimichangas; the dancers wear pleather, not leather" (NY Times March 27, 2008: E1 Thursday Styles).

Jesella continues, "Casa Diablo is just the latest example of selling veganism with a "Girls Gone Wild" aesthetic" (NY Times). What do you all think about this?
check out the article!