Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Grizzly bears are not attracted to menstruating women

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor

Grizzly bears are not attracted to menstruating women. That’s the conclusion of an academic research project, which appears to lay to rest a persistent belief that periods put women campers in the US at risk.

The National Park Service has confirmed that there is no evidence to suggest that bears are attracted to the odours of menstruation and so more likely to attack women.

From 1980 to 2011, 43 people were injured by bears in national parks and 79 percent of these were men. Of the nine women injured, there was no evidence that menstruation odours played any part in the attacks.

This has been a persistent rumour since 1967 when two women campers were mauled by bears in separate incidents.

Bitch Media argues that more women are worried about sexual assault from males rather than killer tampons and calls on the National Park Service to address this.

“I have to wonder whether this paper wasn't just another way for the National Park Service (NPS) to publicly call into question women’s ability to thrive and survive in the wilderness without addressing real issues of safety for women in the parks," writes breekessler.

As Mother Jones points out: “It implies that the wilderness is a masculine domain, and that a woman’s place is indoors – for her own safety, of course.”

But women visiting the Arctic Circle should beware polar bears. According to BearSmart tests carried out in 1993 found polar bears ate used tampons but ignored unused ones.

However, even if it is now safe to go into the woods, the National Park is still advocating caution.

It advises campers to: “Place all used tampons, pads, and towelettes in double zip-loc baggies and store them unavailable to bears, just as you would store food. This means hung at least 10 feet above the ground and 4 feet from the tree trunk.”

Pakistani Christian girl could face death penalty for blasphemy

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT

Meg Kissack
WVoN co-editor

An 11-year-old Pakistani Christian girl could face the death penalty for allegedly burning sacred Islamic texts.

Rifta Masih was arrested on 16 August following angry demonstrations after neighbours accused her of burning the texts.

This has caused communal tensions, with one senior member of the dominant Muslim community ordering 900 Christians living on the outskirts of Islamabad to leave a neighbourhood where they have lived for over two decades.

Masih’s alleged act sparked demonstrations by crowds of between 600 and 1,000 people. Eventually the police, who were reluctant at first, charged her with blasphemy and took her into custody.

There seems to be a lack of clarity around whether Masih burnt pages from the Qur’an or Qur’anic verses, and a general confusion as to whether the alleged  crime actually happened. A local mullah claims there was a witness, a young girl who caught her in the act and raised the alarm within the mosque.

While the BBC and Guardian disagree as to whether the girl has down’s syndrome, Paul Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minister for National Harmony told the BBC that it seemed “unlikely she purposefully desecrated the Koran”.

If Masih is found guilty, she could face life imprisonment or even the death penalty. However, many accused of blasphemy in the past in Pakistan have been killed by violent mobs before their cases were heard in court.

Politicians advocating reforms to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have also been targeted.

As Masih remains in custody, the Christian community of Mehrabadi say the whole thing is a plot and have conflicting views of the event. Regardless of what actually happened, the future for Masih is very uncertain.

Female miners in South Africa face violence and harassment

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Laura Bridgestock
WVoN co-editor

A new report reveals the shocking extent of the harassment, violence, exploitation and discrimination faced by women employed in the ‘macho’ South African mining industry.

The sixth Policy Gap report from the Bench Marks Foundation provides a review of the platinum mining industry in the Bojanela District, North West Province, with a focus on issues relating to corporate social responsibility.

Among the most shocking and urgent findings of the research is the widespread harassment reported by women working in the industry.

The report notes that the industry has succeeded in exceeding the Mining Charter target of women making up at least 10% of the workforce.

However, it points out that women employees remain an insignificant minority, and that little has been done to address the dominant ‘macho culture’, or the harassment and exploitation, which are rife.

One interviewee said she had applied for work in the sector five times, and on each occasion had been asked for sex. “I refused every time, which is why I am still unemployed, but I will never give in.”

Meanwhile, a female geologist is quoted as saying: “I walk with a knife in my pocket every time I go on the mine, women are not safe here.”

Women are also commonly “groped and abused” in the lifts into the mines if these get too full, a human resources officer said.

The Bench Marks Foundation says it “was not shocked” to learn of one female worker being raped and murdered at Anglo Platinum's Khomanani operation near Rustenburg in February this year.

In addition to physical violence and abuse, women in the industry face very difficult conditions and a hugely male-dominated work culture.

For example, women are often expected to undress in front of men during health tests, and report being ridiculed and – again – groped during first aid and disaster training.

The imbalance of the industry is further illustrated by the fact that of the 6,000 women employees included in the scope of the report (12% of the total workforce), the majority are employed in roles categorised as ‘unskilled’ or ‘semi-skilled’.

The Foundation has called for the South African government to investigate the conditions of women working in the mining industry.

‘Legitimate rape’ does not cause pregnancy, apparently

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 01:30 AM PDT

Meg Kissack
WVoN co-editor

That is what one Republican (obviously) thinks anyway. Todd Akin, a nominee senator for the state of Missouri, told KTVI-TV in an interview discussing his pro-life stance:

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that it [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it is a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.”

Continuing to defend his pro-life stance, he added if the body doesn’t “shut down” – and the woman does get pregnant from rape – then the punishment should be “on the rapist and not …. the child”.

The female body “‘shuts that whole thing down”?

Try telling that to the 32,000 American women who become pregnant in the US as a result of rape. Akin’s colloquial language simply dismisses victims of rape and the trauma they face.

Surely, the ‘My GP told me’ approach to medicine should have ended a long time ago? For such a staunch anti-abortion advocate, he could at least pretend to know what he’s talking about and bother to learn the facts instead of spouting blatant lies to explain his stance.

Since the interview was aired, the hashtag LegitimateRape has begun trending worldwide and the video has gone viral. Akin later claimed he “misspoke” and that his off-the-cuff remarks did not “reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year”.

Of course. But his sympathies only extend to those women who were ‘legitimately raped’ right? Whatever that means.

Claire McCaskill, who is up against Akin in November’s general election, wrote on Twitter: “As a woman and former prosecutor who handled hundreds of rape cases, I’m stunned by Rep Akin’s comments about victims this am.” She condemned her rival as “ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape”.

Either way, it seems that this offhand comment could cause him to lose his seat to the Democrats in the next election. Hopefully so, as goodness knows the US does not need any more pro-life Republican senators backtracking abortion laws.

If you can bare it, you can watch the interview here.