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Feminism Tag

Alan Sorrentino wrote a Letter to the Editor of his local newspaper, the Barrington Times in Barrington, Rhode Island. It was a letter, accordingly to Sorrentino, intended to be tongue-in-cheek, somewhat humorous in intent, critical of women wearing yoga pants outside the yoga studio (and men in Speedos). Little did Sorrentino realize that not everyone appreciated or understand his sense of humor, particularly some women who took offense to his yoga pants comments. And therein started what is one of the most bizarre stories I've seen, in which Sorrentino became so vilified that it resulted in death threats and a protest called a "Yoga Pants Parade" attended by hundreds of people who marched past his house in protest as police stood watch. We told the background of the story in my prior post, New object of hate: Guy who complained about older women in Yoga pants.

The internet moves from object of hate, to object of hate. Perhaps a prime example was Justine Sacco, who after tweeting an ambiguous, clearly satirical message about AIDS that some people interpreted as racist, found herself the subject of an internet hunt -- all while she was on an airplane to Africa. By the time she landed, she had been fired from her job, and people tracked her airplane and confronted her at the airport when she landed. The writer for Gawker who started the whole thing apologized years later. Certainly there have been many other such examples, but the Sacco incident stands out. I don't know if it will reach Sacco proportions, but there is an internet "outrage" gaining momentum against a guy in Barrington, RI, who wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about older women who wear yoga pants:

Despite feminists tearing down posters for the event last week, Christina Hoff Sommers finally spoke at California State University, Los Angeles. She was invited to speak by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the school and much to the chagrin of leftists, drew a sizable audience. Of course, like all non-progressives who attempt to make their voices heard on American college campuses today, her event required heavy security.

The Young America's Foundation chapter at the University of California Los Angeles is hosting a lecture by conservative feminist Christina Hoff Sommers but campus feminists find that offensive and took it upon themselves to tear down campus flyers. The YAF blog reports:
WATCH: CSULA Feminists Tear Down YAF Fliers for Sommers Lecture Thursday morning, members of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter at California State University- Los Angeles (CSULA) caught a pair of disgruntled feminists on camera tearing down flyers advertising the group’s lecture with Christina Hoff Sommers scheduled for Oct. 4.

You can always count on progressives to hate on wives and motherhood, and to find any excuse to demean the family unit. A post published at Salon took issue with using the descriptors of "wife" and "mother" to describe women Olympians. Yes, really.
Did you hear that women’s trap shooter Corey Cogdell-Unrein won her second career Olympic medal for the U.S. team in Rio this weekend? Did you cheer for Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú, who won the gold and broke a world record in 400-meter individual medley? Or were you too distracted by the media commentary about their husbands?
Yes. And no. The fact that they're wives didn't cause a blip on my radar.

Western feminists are happy to talk about the ever growing threat of the patriarchy and trivial issues like mansplaining, but are often curiously silent about the plight of women in Muslim countries. Author and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali has noticed this silence and has a few questions for feminists.

The White House held a State of Women Summit this week and for some reason, chose Vice President Joe Biden to represent the Obama administration at the event. Joe Biden isn't guilty of any crimes against women but he does have a demonstrable habit of being a little too intimate with ladies. Wired has a report on the summit:
VP Biden: Changing Rape Culture Will Take All of Us Biden, speaking today at the White House State of Women Summit, made two things abundantly clear: violence against women is an epidemic, and the country is a long, long way from eradicating it.

Qatar has released a Dutch woman after holding her for three months because she had the nerve to be raped and report it. Blunt, but true. This is life for women who live under Sharia law. The woman only known as Laura reported her rape to officials, but they in turn arrested her for adultery because she had sex outside of marriage:
The woman, on a vacation with a friend, went out for drinks at a hotel bar in the Qatari capital in mid-March, lawyer Brian Lokollo previously told The Associated Press. While at the bar, she believes someone “messed with her drink” and her memory became hazy, Lokollo said. She later awoke alone, her clothes torn and the victim of a rape, he said. She was immediately detained after reporting the attack, Lokollo said. She previously appeared three times in court, he said.

A civilian fighter in Nigeria has rescued one of the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. The fighter with the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) recognized Amina Ali Nkek in the Sambisa Forest, located near the Cameroon and Nigeria border. Officials believe the radical Islamic group has held the girls in the forest since the kidnapping. The kidnapping launched the #BringBackOurGirls campaign across the world and social media, including First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Supreme Court unanimously pushed the Little Sisters of the Poor contraception case back to the lower courts, meaning they do not face fines if they do not provide contraception coverage. Ashley E. McGuire, Senior Fellow at The Catholic Association, released this statement in a press release:
"Today the Supreme Court made it clear that the government still has not done enough to accommodate the conscience rights of the Little Sisters, whose plan they have tried to hijack for things like abortion pills. For now, this is an interim win for the nuns, who just want to get back to their work caring for the poor without interference from government bureaucrats."

Brazil's senate voted to begin an impeachment trial for President Dilma Rousseff over alleged budget violations. She must relinquish her presidential duties for at least six months. Rousseff said the actions amount to a coup and called herself a "victim of a great injustice."