Welcome back Chaise Lounge readers and hello to our newest subscribers! This week’s news updates bring a return to our Global News Updates section. I hope that you find feminist news from around the world as interesting as I do! I cannot help but notice that as Latin America begins to loosen abortion restrictions, many Western countries are going in the opposite direction. What is that about?
It’s hard to believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving, but that means Chaise Lounge will take a holiday too. I will see you in two weeks with lots of news updates.
***A quick warning to say that today’s newsletter discusses several stories involving domestic violence. Please take care of yourself and skip those pieces if you need to.***
Global Updates
Arab women work together to create online sex education
Nour Emam, a woman in Cairo, is working diligently alongside other Arab women to provide sex education to women across the Arab world via TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, and websites like Mauj. Because of religious and cultural patriarchal attitudes, there is no sex education taught in Arab schools. Women are taught to be ashamed of their periods and are not given the information they need about their reproductive organs. These social media networks and websites are examples of the way that the internet can be a purveyor of information rather than misinformation. The sites are seeing large audiences and filling a large educational gap. Brava to these women taking control!
Colombia may become the fourth Latin American country to legalize abortion
In a wave of Latin American countries legalizing abortion since last December, Colombia’s Constitutional Court is weighing whether to legalize the procedure. Mexico, Chile, and Argentina have already legalized abortion. Causa Justa argues that abortion falls under the purview of women’s health and that the law violates the Colombian Constitution and international laws. According to an article in Latino Rebels, their argument states, “Abortion is only regulated in the field of public health, … regulated as a health service to which all women and girls have rights,” says María Isabel Niño, a lawyer for Causa Justa. “In the face of that, the State has constitutional obligations to offer that service in timely, safe, and equal conditions.” A decision is expected by January.
WTA is concerned for the safety of Peng Shuai after allegations of sexual assault
Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old Chinese Grand Slam doubles champion on the WTA tour, has not been heard from or seen since she published an accusation of sexual assault by a Chinese official. Peng accused the official, former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli who is in his 70’s, of forcing her into an affair. With tennis stars Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, and Chris Evert making appeals, the Chinese government sent an email to WTA CEO Steve Simon purporting to be directly from Shuai claiming, “I’m not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve just been resting at home and everything is fine.” Simon immediately cast doubt on the veracity of the email saying, “The WTA and the rest of the world need independent and verifiable proof that she is safe,” he added. “I have repeatedly tried to reach her via numerous forms of communication, to no avail.”
National News Updates
Students walkout in support of classmate suspended after reporting sexual assault
Students at Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences in Charlotte, North Carolina walked out of class to support a female student who had been suspended after reporting a sexual assault. Both the student and her mother were flabbergasted when she received the suspension because the police had already completed an investigation where the accused admitted the assault. The school claimed that their investigation was ongoing and believed that the girl had fabricated the accusation. Since the walkout and many calls from other parents, the school has put her suspension on hold, but she still is not allowed to attend after-school ROTC training and must attend a Saturday class called “Sexual Harassment Is Preventable.” According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s website, the class is described as:
Sexual Harassment Is Preventable (SHIP) is a support program for students who have been involved in serious incidents of sexual harassment or inappropriate sexual behaviors at school or at a school activity and for whom have never completed the program. The parent/guardian is required to attend SHIP with the student. The focus of SHIP is to provide awareness for participants through discussion and focus groups to modify the inappropriate behavior.
Why does a person who has been assaulted need to attend this class?
Women in Missouri are having trouble obtaining REAL ID
Women in Missouri are coming up against a legal requirement for REAL ID that most men do not. If you have ever changed your name, most likely due to marriage, then you must produce your certified marriage certificate or divorce papers in order to obtain a REAL ID. And Missouri is not the only state with this requirement. Even if you have your Social Security card and passport with your changed name, they will not accept those, although obviously the federal government already did. This requirement is causing all sorts of issues for women in that if you don’t have your certified copy, then you have to figure out where to obtain one. To learn more about your state’s requirements you can visit this website. The deadline is in May of 2023.
Domestic Violence Survivors Spread the Warning Signs for Strangulation
The death of Gabby Petito by strangulation by her fiance brought up many uncomfortable feelings for those who have survived strangulation attempts. In a Buzzfeed article, women who had survived strangulation wanted to make sure that the publicity around the Petito murder could bring awareness to the signs ahead of time. Many of the women interviewed said that when they saw Petito tell the police on video that Brian Laundrie had held her face, they worried that she would be found strangled, as she was.
Attempted strangulation can lead to eventual homicide by intimate partners. According to research published by the National Institute of Justice, people whose partners have attempted to choke or strangle them in the past are nearly 9.9 times more likely to be murdered than others.
The women interviewed in the article want to get the information out into the world. And, they want police better trained to understand that if someone puts their hands on another person’s face or neck, the next time could be deadly.
Texas Woman Envisions “Maternity Ranch”
Aubrey Schlackman, a Christian woman in Texas, envisions the Blue Haven Ranch where she and her husband and children will live among a group of unwed pregnant women who need support. In her imagination, it will be an idyllic existence steeped in love. She recognizes that the women will need support beyond birth and plans for that. And while it is wonderful that she wants to help other women, part of her help is tied up with evangelizing to these women “to help them to see themselves as God intended.” So what happens if a woman rejects the teachings? What protections are in place to make sure these women and their children do not become indentured servants to keep the ranch going? There is a long history of pregnant women being used and abused, especially when they are in hard-to-reach rural locations. While I doubt Ms. Schlackman has bad intentions, the more important point is that the women who she seeks to “help” would not need it if the abortion law SB 8 was not in effect.
What I’m watching
If you haven’t already watched the Netflix mini-series Maid, I recommend you do. The series follows Alex, a mother of a toddler, who is in an emotionally abusive relationship with an alcoholic who is becoming increasingly more violent punching the wall next to her head. Alex flees with her daughter but has no resources from which to draw. She doesn’t believe that she is an “abused woman” because her partner never hit her directly. We watch her struggle through the social service system and difficulties finding a place to live. She has to dig deep in her personal reserves and endure many difficult people. I won’t say more except it is a real and touching exploration of what it means to have to take care of yourself and a child when you have nothing.
What I’m reading
I have just started Bewilderment by Richard Powers, author of The Overstory. While much shorter than The Overstory, I can tell already that it is going to be another romp through the mind of Powers’ observations of both Mother and human natures. The story features an astrobiologist and his son who is on the autism spectrum. The wife has recently died and the son becomes a Greta Thunberg-like character leading a climate justice movement.
What I’m listening to
One of my favorite podcasts is The Ezra Klein show. He has such a gentle way of interviewing very interesting people. Recently he interviewed Katie Haun to discuss the future that cryptocurrency could create. As someone who does not know much about crypto, I found it to be a really approachable discussion from which I learned quite a bit. Check it out here.
Just for fun
When you can’t beat them, at least have a laugh. This piece of satire gave me a chuckle, I hope it will make you smile, too.
Pregnant Texan Registers as Corporation So Government Can’t Regulate Her
And if you like this article, you can purchase an “OK, Womber” mug here. Ken Taro is donating $1 from each sale to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and enjoy your Thanksgiving!
From Sex Education in Egypt to "Maternity Ranches" in Texas: It's All Here Today