Do Nothing Male Privilege Struggles with Stunning Eco-Rebuke from Greta Thunberg

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Greta Thunberg image composite via HarpersBazaar.com.

The world’s men — especially white men -- says Jennifer Wright, are not accustomed to having a 16-year-old climate activist read them the riot act. This is exactly what happened on Monday, September 23 when climate activist Greta Thunberg, now nominated for a Nobel price, delivered a stinging rebuke to the patriarchy from the stage of the UN.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be standing here," she said, addressing world leaders. "I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"

Responding to Greta’s occasion physiological responses from her Asperger’s condition, FOX News host Michael Knowles said that the influential activist is mentally ill. In response Thunberg tweeted: “I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And—given the right circumstances—being different is a superpower.”

Not only did Greta respond with self-confidence, but she may be right about superpowers. When Hans Asperger first diagnosed the disease, he referred to kids with Aspergers as “little professors” owing to their enormous vocabularies, seemingly precocious interests, and tendency to lecture people. Abraham Lincoln, Nikola Tesla, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are all thought to have had Aspergers, says Wright.

Comparing Greta Thunberg’s First Climate Strike with Mass Demonstrations One Year Later My Modern Met

Women Have Been The Fueling Energy Of Christian Right Demands For Decades

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Women Have Been The Fueling Energy Of Christian Right Demands For Decades

By Emily Suzanne Johnson, Assistant Professor of History, Ball State University. First published on The Conversation

Alabama’s new abortion restrictions were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. But more has been said recently about the fact that the bill was passed by 25 white men in the state Senate. Media reports have pointed to how this law will disproportionately affect black and poor women.

Only four women currently serve in Alabama’s state Senate. Three voted against the bill, while one abstained.

In response to the Alabama vote, Democratic State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison compared men’s votes on abortion legislation to “a dentist making a decision about heart surgery.”

“That’s why we need more women in office,” Coleman-Madison said.

Across the country, women are underrepresented in legislatures. But the question is: Would voting more women into office necessarily shift the politics of abortion?

Big Gods Came After The Rise of Civilizations, Not Before, Finds Study Using Huge Historical Database

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Big Gods Came After The Rise of Civilisations, Not Before, Finds Study Using Huge Historical Database

When you think of religion, you probably think of a god who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. But the idea of morally concerned gods is by no means universal. Social scientists have long known that small-scale traditional societies – the kind missionaries used to dismiss as “pagan” – envisaged a spirit world that cared little about the morality of human behaviour. Their concern was less about whether humans behaved nicely towards one another and more about whether they carried out their obligations to the spirits and displayed suitable deference to them.

Nevertheless, the world religions we know today, and their myriad variants, either demand belief in all-seeing punitive deities or at least postulate some kind of broader mechanism – such as karma – for rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked. In recent years, researchers have debated how and why these moralising religions came into being.

Now, thanks to our massive new database of world history, known as Seshat (named after the Egyptian goddess of record keeping), we’re starting to get some answers.

Samar Badawi + Brother Raif Badawi Remain In Saudi Arabia Dhahban Central Prison, As Saudi Arabia Disallows Any Dissent

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Samar Badawi + Brother Raif Badawi Remain In Saudi Arabia Dhahban Central Prison, As Saudi Arabia Disallows Any Dissent

Coming to grips with the horrors of Saudi Arabia’s torture of women’s activists at the same time Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud — or MbS — lifted the ban on women driving in the kingdom is no more complicated than following the daily mental machinations of Donald Trump.

Jailing the Saudi women activists behind the women driving campaign seems irrational, but only if one fails to understand that machinations are not rational thought processes. Perhaps this is why MbS and Donald Trump have such a lovefest. It takes a self-absorbed schemer to know one, which is precisely why they end up so often hanging out together as the world’s leading autocrats.

Updating AOC two days ago about the jailed women’s activists, I zeroed in on the name Samar Badawi, knowing her to be the sister of jailed liberal blogger Raif Badawi. In 2015 Raif was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for his writings. After receiving the first 50 lashes — which nearly killed him in front of the entire world — Raif Badawi has languished in Saudi prison.

Women activists arrested in Saudi Arabia include Loujain al-Hathloul, who I considered to be a major face behind the driving ban. Samar Badawi has campaigned for years against the most discriminatory of all the Saudi laws against women’s rights — as if it’s possible to enumerate them in order. Badawi opposes against the male guardianship system, under which women require the permission of a male relative to travel, marry, or work in certain jobs. In this article ‘Saudi Arabia: Where Fathers Rule and Courts Oblige’, Human Rights Watch details the mutual litigation of Badawi and her father against each other.

It was for this work that Samar Badawi received the US State Department International Women of Courage Award in 2012, when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Note that Waleed Abu-al-Khair, Samar’s former husband and Raif Badawi’s lawyer, is also jailed for 15 years.

As Saudi Women Activists Suffer Horrific Torture, Kingdom Puts Women In Cockpits + Main Cabin

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YASMINE AL-MAYMANY IS AMONG THE CERTIFIED SAUDI WOMEN PILOTS WHO TOLD ALARABIA IN AUGUST 2018 THAT SHE HOPED TO SOON BE IN THE COCKPIT WITH A JOB SANCTIONED BY THE SAUDI GENERAL AUTHORITY OF CIVIL AVIATION.

As Saudi Women Activists Suffer Horrific Torture, Kingdom Puts Women In Cockpits + Main Cabin

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is promising to not only put women in the cockpit as co-pilots but to train them as flight attendants as well. In January, 2018 Eqbal Darandari, a member of the Saudi Shura Council, called on national airlines to empower women by creating jobs. “We’ve seen Saudi women piloting aircraft outside the kingdom. Now it’s time for [Saudi Arabia’s aviation authority] to take the initiative. Saudi women deserve to find work in their own country,” he said at the time. 

Soon Saudi Arabia’s Oxford Aviation Academy opened it doors to women to train them as pilots. Six months later, Flynas, a domestic airline in Saudi Arabia, announced that it would be hiring female flight attendants after proper training. In the new year, a Saudi air hostess will fly this month, in another move forward for the severely-limited in rights Saudi women, writes Vogue Arabia.

The magazine’s website writes that Flynas will also hire women as co-pilots. “The move aims to enable Saudi women to have a greater role in supporting the Kingdom’s economy,” stated Bander Al-Mohanna, CEO of Flynas.

On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

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On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

Writing just now about the Louis Vuitton x Grace Coddington collab called Catogram, inspired me to reflect on my mouse shoes and their Manhattan intersection with a so-called master of the universe.

On this epic voting day in America, we have 1) a chance to smash rudeness, lies and white nationalism in the face in a blow to Donald Trump; 2) to stand for feline truth. You ALWAYS know where you stand with a cat, and there is no such thing as emotional fakery; and 3) love for humanity with a devoted dog who has your back.

While America is a nation with many faults, today will tell the world whether or not America still has a soul. Is she really the nation of promise I’ve fought for all these years, or does she have a fundamentally racist, angry, white nationalist, cold and frozen heart.

America’s true values are on the ballot today, so let me share a smile-worthy moment with a New York man with a heart — unlike Trump’s empty tin can contraption that keeps him alive, but has never in life had a real tuneup.

A Master of the Universe Meets My Parisian Mouse Shoes by Anne Aug. 11, 2011

These ‘Smoking Cat Wedges’ come from London-based luxury accessories designer Charlotte Olympia. Mine were mice. I bought them in Paris during the 80s, and I positively adored them. My mice shoes were fully fitted with eyes, whiskers and tails.

Wearing them on the sidewalks of New York, I knew my mouse tails weren’t long for this world. A sensible woman would have kept her Parisian mouse shoes for special occasions, but mine were pounding the pavement in days. Within weeks, one tail was AWOL.

Whose NYC Sidewalk Is This?

I have a major pet peeve with aggressive men in New York. You know the guy — he walks in the wrong direction on your side of the sidewalk, assuming that you will get out of his way, in order to avoid a major collision. It usually works, and women not only defer but say ‘I’m sorry’ as a Manhattan master of the universe mows the little people down.

MGM.Lot18 Pull Table Wines Inspired By Women Slaves In 'The Handmaid's Tale'

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Handmaids across America turned sour this week when Lot18.com announced a wine collaboration with MGM, producer of the Hulu series 'The Handmaid's Tale'.  As Trump Republicans move against American women, MGM got the novel idea that creating three wines based on characters in Hulu's critically acclaimed adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel was an inspired business opportunity. 

Lot 18 announced the MGM collaboration as Trump announced his new candidate to the US Supreme Court U.S. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh. While Judge Kavanaugh has stated that he regards abortion rights case Roe v. Wade as binding precedent, Kavanaugh ruled against a prominent case of a 17-year-old immigrant's request for an abortion. 

Within this reality for American women, Lot18.com thought it would be a brilliant marketing opportunity moment to offer two reds inspired by Elisabeth Moss and Alexis Bledel's characters, Offred and Ofglen and a Yvonne Strahovski character Serena Joy white.  The idea was born of an effort to sell "table wine based on one of the most tragic and disturbing shows on TV."

Darkness reigns on Lot18.com/thehandmaidstale.  The Washington Post headline by Avi Selk summed on the reaction of women to this bottom of the barrel marketing idea:'Similarly seductive:' Someone decided to brand wine after slaves from 'The Handmaid's Tale' says it all. 

Will Vogue Arabia's June 2018 Celebration Of Saudi Women Speak To Current Arrests & Imprisonment Of Saudi Women Who Led Driving Campaign?

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Will Vogue Arabia's June 2018 Celebration Of Saudi Women Speak To Current Arrests & Imprisonment Of Saudi Women Who Led Driving Campaign?

Vogue Arabia's June 2018 issue celebrates the TRAILBLAZING women of SAUDI ARABIA, featuring HRH Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud on its cover. The image is meant to celebrate the and of the Saudi kingdom's ban on women driving that will take effect on June 24, applying to women of all nationalities. 

The entire June 2018 issue of Vogue Arabia will be dedicated to Saudi Arabia. HRH Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud, an artist, mother of three and the daughter of the late King Abdullah, who was the ruler of Saudi from 2005 until his death in 2015, sits behind the wheel of a vintage red 1980s Mercedes 450 SL, making it clear that she will join the new movement of Saudi women drivers.

Boo George shot the cover in the desert outside Jeddah.

There is a negative side to the celebrations around the new women drivers campaign in Saudi Arabia. In what feels like a giant contradiction to the new freedoms for Saudi women, the activists who made the movement happen are being arrested. 

Over the past two weeks, about 13 women's rights activists have been arrested. Including Loujain al-Hathloul, an activist with a large social media presence; Eman al-Nafjan, a blogger and activist; and Aisha al-Manea, a veteran driving activist. All three women were public leaders of the campaign, which AOC has long supported.

Ireland Votes 2-1 To End Ban On Abortion, Expecting Full Rights To Be Extended To Women Until 12 Weeks

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Ireland Votes 2-1 To End Ban On Abortion, Expecting Full Rights To Be Extended To Women Until 12 Weeks

Voters in Ireland decisively decided to repeal one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the world, moderated only slightly after the death in 2012 of Savita Halappanavar who was mandated to die by the Catholic Church, rather than give her medical abortive treatment for the septic miscarriage that was poisoning her body and ultimately killed her. 

The referendum in Ireland was decisive, with two-thirds of voters overturning the ban on abortion. Ireland “is taking the proper steps to separate church and state and to move forward as a more progressive country,” said Conor Flynn, a 22-year-old student.

Until now thousands of Irish women had traveled to England or bought pills illegally to terminate their pregnancies, risking a 14-year jail sentence if discovered in Ireland. The Times  notes, and we confirm, that the willingness to challenge the sanctimonious demands of the Catholic patriarchy have accelerated in recent years, given the endless sex scandals that have dominated Vatican headlines in recent years. Ireland has the additional disgrace of not only their share of pedophile priests, but "thousands of unwed mothers who were placed into servitude in so-called Magdalene laundries or mental asylums as recently as the mid-1990s", writes The New York Times.  

Essentially, the law in Ireland has been so restrictive as to be a personhood law mandating that the legal rights of the mother are the same as those of the zygote or fertilized egg that she is carrying. Pro-life advocates prefer the term 'baby', but most women do not equate a fertilized egg with their own fully-developed selves and their expanded roles as mothers, wives, workers, and leaders. Historically fertilized eggs were not equated this status, not even when monotheism first planted its roots in the western world. 

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

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A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

In an appalling act of absurdity, The UN Economic and Social Council voted days ago to award Saudi Arabia a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women. beginning in 2018 

“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd.”

“Every Saudi woman,” said Neuer, “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars.”

“I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal,” tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.

Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley  U.S. forced an election, to China’s chagrin.

Male Supreme Court Justices Mansplain Judicial Law To Female Justices, New Study Concludes

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Male Supreme Court Justices Mansplain Judicial Law To Female Justices, New Study Concludes

If you thought America's female supreme court justices are spared the growing epidemic of 'mansplaining', think again. A new study of oral arguments from Northwestern University researchers found that as more women have joined the Supreme Court, "the reaction of the male justices and the male (lawyers) has been to increase their interruptions of the female justices."

Interruptions are often regarded as an assertion of power through verbal dominance, according to the study's authors Tonja Jacobi, a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and Dylan Schweers, a J.D. candidate at the school. If that's the case, then women in positions of power should be interrupted less. Yet at the pinnacle of legal power, female Supreme Court justices "are just like other women," they write for Scotusblog, "talked over by their male colleagues."

FEMEN Activist Grabs Trump's Crotch At Madrid's Statue Unveiling

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Oh dear Goddess! Donald Trump must be seething. Perhaps his children can keep the president-elect from seeing this FEMEN activist grabbing the crotch of his highness -- sorry -- his likeness unveiled today at the Museo de Cera Madrid.  FEMEN is known in the women's rights community for its topless protests 

The unnamed FEMEN member shouted "grab patriarchy by the balls," as she ran towards the statue of his highness and grabbed him by the balls.  

Would Frida Kahlo Call Donald Trump 'Chimp' & Hillary Clinton 'Bonobo'?

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Would Frida Kahlo Call Donald Trump 'Chimp' & Hillary Clinton 'Bonobo'?

Bonobos are by definition progressive Democrats and -- upon reflection -- perhaps the Democratic party should schedule a presentation on patriarchal chimps and matriarchal bonobos at the upcoming July presidential convention. With a prime time night presentation, the DNC could give the nation Mother Nature's best reasons for supporting Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

Simply stated, bonobos rock and Frida Kahlo would have found the species to reaffirm her feminist beliefs around cooperative culture and our human roots in Africa. Coming out of Philadelphia and heading for November's presidential election, we must be sure that a bonobo rules. ~ Anne

Pierre de Vallombreuse Photographs Gender Equality In Southeast Asia Indiginous Cultures

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Pierre de Vallombreuse Photographs Gender Equality In Southeast Asia Indiginous Cultures

"Most of the cultures in Southeast Asia are more based on equality than domination," the photographer explained. For this series 'Souveraines', which was commissioned by Arthaud Publishing, de Vallombreuse "selected four remote cultures where women play decisive and central roles in governance and spirituality—the Khasi, a matrilineal and matrilocal society in northeastern India; the Palawan, a non-hierarchical community in the Philippines; the Mosuo ethnic group in China; and the Badjao, a sea-dwelling group that prefers boats to houses."

It should be noted that female sexuality is more more embraced in these societies, as we've written on AOC, and often it is women who choose their sexual partners, if only for the night. These realities dovetail back to our historical understandings of women's lives before the deterioration of women's rights, escalating dramatically after 10,000 BC.

De Vallombreuse says one of the most striking things he observed in these societies included "fluidity, simplicity, and normality" between men and women. "This should be normal everywhere," he said.

'Radical Grace' Tells Stories Of 3 Defiant American Nuns Under The Vatican Gun

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‘Radical Grace’ Tells Stories Of 3 Defiant American Nuns Under The Vatican Gun

This film comes at a major crossroads in the Catholic Church, and the nuns are everything that’s right with the institution. They stand with the marginalized, and won’t be bullied by the hierarchy. I feel a deep connection to the women featured in ‘Radical Grace’. ~ Susan Sarandon, ‘Radical Grace’ Executive Producer

RedTracker | Femen Feminist Arrested At Vatican | Quiet End To American Nun Investigation | Pope Francis Rebuke

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RedTracker | Femen Feminist Arrested At Vatican | Quiet End To American Nun Investigation | Pope Francis Rebuke

FEMEN activist Iana Aleksandrovna Azhdanova is chilling out in a Vatican cell, awaiting possible trial for “disturbing the peace, obscene acts in a public place, and theft.” Her crime? Naked from the waist up in traditional Femen fashion, Azhdanova stormed the Vatican’s nativity scene and plucked the baby Jesus statue out of its crèche. The message “God Is Woman” was written on her torso.