ProgressWomen

courtesy of www.contraceptionblog.com

By Megan Carpentier for The Raw Story 

Siri, the new iPhone 4S voice-activated assistant, has answers for everything from where to find Viagra and escorts to where to dump a body.

One thing Siri won’t help you find, however, is an abortion.

If you ask where to get one in D.C., Siri directs you to an anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Center instead of Planned Parenthood. Ask in New York City, and Siri says, “I didn’t find any abortion clinics.” Asked about emergency contraception in New York City, Siri says it doesn’t know what Plan B is.

Siri mines Internet data to come up with its answers, but Google searches find many abortion clinics and sellers of contraception.

OUR OWN RESEARCH FOUND THAT SIRI COULDN’T FIND ANY BIRTH CONTROL IN ST. LOUIS.  WHEN WE ASKED SIRI TO FIND VIAGRA SHE LOCATED 20 DRUG STORES IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA.   Read more of the story here.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Though I disagree with Michele Bachmann’s politics… You know what? No. I’m not even going to preface this. Rep. Michele Bachmann was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week. The show’s house band, The Roots, thought they’d be “snarky”with their choice of song for Bachmann’s entrance.

I’d say they missed the mark. They played “Lyin’ A** B*tch” by Fishbone. Though the band did not sing the lyrics (they played an instrumental version), the message was pretty clear.

It is beyond frustrating that a member of Congress and presidential candidate would be subjected to such a sexist and offensive outburst. If Jimmy Fallon or The Roots want to take issue with Rep. Bachmann’s policy positions or fact-check her statements (and yes, she has made false statements), fine. Do that. It needs to be done. But lets address the merits of these issues rather than reducing Rep. Bachmann to a sexualized object, shall we?

Jimmy Fallon has apologized. The Roots & NBC owe Rep. Bachmann an apology as well.

ABC’s Brian Montopoli has the story for ABC’s Political Hotsheet here.

courtesy of www.womensissues.about.com

By Kathleen Sharp – New York Times

Not long ago, truckers pulled off highways across America and tuned in to someone whose CB handle was “Troublemaker.”

“I’m barely hanging on,” one driver lamented. His employer, the U.P.S. freight unit, was turning to nonunion drivers — people outside the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , he said.

image from weheartit.com

Do you want women candidates to have a fair shake in 2012?  Do you wish women running for office would have their stance on issues and policies covered in the media instead of stories on what brand of high heels they are wearing?

Every day, Name It. Change It. points out sexist media coverage.

In just the last month, they have called out a men’s magazine for their list of the “50 Hottest Women in Politics” (which included terms like “slutty,” “big-boobed,” and “uber babe” to describe female candidates), a newspaper that speculated whether Nancy Pelosi had plastic surgery, and online media that claimed Elizabeth Warren was “playing up her femininity” just because she mentioned her grandson.  Name It. Change It. would be remiss if we didn’t mention the countless examples of media coverage devoted to female politicians’clothing and hair.

As the 2012 election season begins to heat up, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Name It. Change It. will not stand by as pundits, radio hosts, bloggers, and journalists damage women’s political futures with misogynistic remarks.

You  can help by reporting unfair attacks or  problematic coverage of women candidates in the local or national media - just click here.

Remember…a sexist attack against one woman is an attack against all of us.

Image from Tracy McCreery for Missouri

By Kathy Groob, Publisher of ElectWomen Magazine

Tracy McCreery didn’t let her local Democratic Party shut her out of an opportunity to run in a special election that was held Tuesday to fill an open House seat in St. Louis County Missouri.  No primary was scheduled when the House seat was vacated; it was left up to the Republican and Democratic Parties to select their nominee.  That’s when Tracy felt the door slam in her face.

The good old boys network didn’t stop Tracy from running, the long-time progressive Democrat filed as an independent and on Tuesday, she beat both of her Republican and Democratic opponents by gaining 44% of the vote and a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Despite her lack of a party label, McCreery energized voters who were motivated by her work as a former Planned Parenthood fundraiser and PROMO volunteer.  She had also worked for State Senator Joan Bray and Governor Bob Holden and knew well the political system for winning elections.

“I am thrilled to welcome our newest member who has shown the backbone to stand up with and for the progressive community in her hard fought victory against the hand picked Democratic candidate,” said House Progressive Caucus Chair, Stacey Newman.

For news coverage about Tracy’s election, click here.

Image via marketplace.publicradio.org

Elizabeth Warren, who is running to be the next Senator from Massachusetts, makes a great argument defending progressive economic policies and debunking accusations of “class warfare.”

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.” [emphasis added]

Conservative columnist George Will responded in The Washington Post by claiming that Warren is advocating a “collectivist political agenda” at the expense of individual autonomy & control of the fruits of one’s own labor.

E.J. Dionne, Mr. Will’s colleague at the Post, wrote an insightful response, which follows:

“[To sum up Warren's argument] there are no self-made people because we are all part of society. Accomplished people benefit from advantages created by earlier generations (of parents whom we didn’t choose and taxpayers whom we’ve never met) and by the simple fact that they live in a country that provides opportunities that are not available everywhere. The successful thus owe quite a lot to the government and social structure that made their success possible.

“… My colleague has brought out his full rhetorical arsenal to beat back a statement that he grants upfront is so obviously true that it cannot be gainsaid. Will knows danger when he sees it.

“What Warren has done is to make a proper case for liberalism, which does not happen often enough. Liberals believe that the wealthy should pay more in taxes than “the rest of us” because the well-off have benefited the most from our social arrangements. This has nothing to do with treating citizens as if they were cows incapable of self-government. As for the regulatory state, our free and fully competent citizens have long endorsed a role for government in protecting consumers from dangerous products, including tainted beef.

Read the rest here