A couple of weeks ago, a young woman was sexually assaulted and killed while walking home from a bar at four in the morning. This happened in Milan, only a few feet away from my old high school. She was chatted up by a man she'd seen collecting bottles at the bar she'd been to, and she assumed that he worked there and was thus 'safe'. He wasn't.

That was the second such attack within a short period of time, and sparked renewed discussion on women's safety. One of those discussions took place in the 'opinion' section of Milan's Metro newspaper, where a female reader shared her experience of sexual abuse and whose letter had been entitled "Men are Monsters" (and while I can't swear to this, I am fairly certain it's the paper who titles the letters, not the readers). This prompted several replies by enraged men who felt misjudged and misunderstood. One particularly appalling letter was from a man who felt that women use the word 'abuse' to easily and that, at least within marriage, it is a woman's duty to pleasure her man. Another writer complained that women are too ungrateful and do not know how good they have it. This exchange took place over the course of a week, and every time I read the letters, I had to remind myself that this is indeed the 21st century.

In the past few months since my house burned down I have lost weight. I am not sure how much since I don't own a scale, but I bought pants in size 4, 3 and 1 for work. My size 4 pants I can take off without unbuttoning, my size 3 pants keep falling down even with my belt on and I just noticed my size 1 pants are starting to be big around the waist as well. Actually, my belt isn't small enough anymore.

I'm not proud of my weight. I'm proud of the muscles I have now that I carry around heavy things at work and chasing around my toddler at home. But the skinny look, I just didn't work for it. If anything it's probably a sign that I am not healthy. I don't always eat three meals a day and I should probably be eating closer to 6 since I am still nursing my daughter. It doesn't help that the food where I work sucks and some days my dinner is an orange and a yogurt. At least some science leans towards calorie reduction as the way to live past a 100, so maybe I will live longer?

The latest incident in Florida, where a group of teenage girls attacked and beat a fellow class,ate and video taped it to put it on Myspace saddened me greatly. Girl's beating up other girl's. Just the thought of that really bothers me. Women physically overpowering another woman, and often, as I found out from a number of teenage girls (and boys) who work with me the fight is about a guy who both girls are interested in or something along those lines.

I never experienced girl's at my high school actually physically fighting with each other, although sadly we had a whole lot of verbal bashing and rumors going on, which really is no better.

I am fat. When I say this, I'm describing one particular aspect of myself. I am not criticizing or judging, nor am I inviting other people to do so or asking for assurances that I'm pretty. In my mind fat is a descriptor like any other. It is not a judgment.

I have a very active life. I skied almost every other day this winter, and had an eight hour ski patrol shift every Saturday. I walk everywhere it is practical to do so and some places it is not. My kayaking season started today and will last until it is too cold to do anything but look forward to skiing. My fat body can do all of these things as part of my routine.

While shopping for some stuff for my boyfriend, we decided that Rosalynn needs summer clothing. She really doesn't have very many t-shirts and not a single pair of shorts. So while gawking at stroller prices we found that we had walked all the way into the toddler boys section. Nik found shirts he liked right away, including one that had a picture of microphones and guitar headstocks. Then we found some shorts, not too much different from the shorts I just bought for myself and picked up three pairs of them. We moved into the toddler girls section hoping to find more of the same, maybe in some different colors. Instead we found shorts that would barely cover her diaper, shirts that had a low neck line and bikini bathing suits. Did I mention my daughter is only 16 MONTHS old?

Thomas Beatie is legally married, legally male and pregnant. His pregnancy has caught the attention of numerous media outlets, even Oprah and People magazine. Originally thought to be a hoax, his ultrasound on Oprah along with an interview with him and his wife, seems to have convinced the public that this man is pregnant.

Thomas Beatie is transgendered man. The biology behind is pregnancy is pretty simple. By stopping testosterone injections Thomas Beatie was able to get pregnant through artificial insemination. It's hard for me to believe Thomas Beatie is the first pregnant man for this reason. Some websites claim the first pregnant man was a transgendered, homosexual man about 20 years ago. Some intersex individuals who live as men can also have children, so it's very possible Thomas Beatie is not the first pregnant man.

The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, also known as “Wombfest” or simply “Michigan,” has been held annually in early August in a northern Michigan forest since 1976 (“General… Information”).The festival’s central goal has been to create a woman-centered atmosphere where women can celebrate being women in an area free of male presence and patriarchy (“Out and About“). Although Michigan is not the first festival to celebrate women (“A… History“) , it is the longest running, looking to celebrate its thirty-second anniversary in August 2008 (“Rebuttal… Straight”).

Sorry I haven't posted for the longest time, and I'm definitely going to make up for it. For instance, from a recent Newsweek article about pregnant surrogates:

"many conservative Christians decry the practice as tampering with the miracle of life, while far-left feminists liken gestational carriers to prostitutes who degrade themselves by renting out their bodies."

What? I have literally never heard that once in my years (admittedly few, but whatever) as a feminist. Of course, there were no sources to accompany this bold statement. On examining the statement, I found that the only source to really condemn the practice was an old edition of OBOS. And we all know that the Boston's Women Health Book Collective, while a group that I am immensely grateful for and respect deeply, certainly does not speak for all feminists.

When I am in the US or talking to Americans, I am often told how lucky I am to be living in Europe where people aren't all prudes and where sex is not a taboo topic. I always end up wondering where that myth comes from, as there are so many ways in which it is not true.

I was reminded of this again yesterday, when I stumbled across a study on contraception use among teenagers in Italy. An article on the study (found in yesterday's edition of the Milan Metro paper) stated that 30% of youths do not use any method of birth control at all and 20% use the 'withdrawal method'. Also prevalent amongst teens are urban myths about ways to prevent pregnancy, such as having sex standing up or washing out the vagina with coca cola afterwards. Too, 8 out of 100 women of all age groups do not use any birth control at all, and according to the organization of Gynecologists in Italy, the main reason women give for not using the pill is a fear of gaining weight.

Woah, When was the last time I stopped by?

Fired!

Anyway. Ended up moving in with an ex boyfriend turned roomate. Bad situation which I do not recomend. He was never even home at that. So I had the place mostly to myself.

Ladies. I cannot stress this enough. Every time someone tells you a story. (In this case about some insane violent tenancies) If during said story you think to yourself, "Man, I hope that never turns out to be me." Chances are that is your inner voice tell you to get the frick out.

So having a threat made on my life for no apparent reason by a man who's clearly off his rocker and I never really even wanted to date in the first place I got the heck out of there. I am now living with a butch lesbian who's so awesome I don't want her to move away when she might. Not having a terrible living situation is kind of new to me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself.

I don't know how many of you know about this, but the House of Representatives here in the US introduced a bill on December 18th that will designate the first week in may as "American Religious History Week." Here's what they're hoping to accomplish:

"Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives----

(1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day;

(2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;

I've been researching the controversy between Michfest and Camp Trans lately, because I read somewhere that Bitch and Animal weren't going to be allowed to perform because Animal is transgendered. This really upset me.

Michfest holds that it is open to only "womyn-born-womyn" who have lived their whole lives as womyn. I get what they're aiming for with the principle of creating a solely womyn oriented space, but by not allowing transgendered people to attend... it's a little too exclusionary for my taste. I was planning on attending Michfest this year, but when I read about all of this controversy, I was totally turned off. I was looking forward to a womyn only space as an exhilerating and life-changing experience... I still would like to experience it, but I'm turned off by the fact that they won't allow womyn to attend if they haven't been womyn their whole lives.

Ugh. I am so tired of "feminist" and members of previous generations telling mine how to act, think, vote, raise our children, how to exist in this society. So here is my response to Robin Morgan and people who share her point of view:

Stop insulting young women! Stop embracing the stereotypes that surround us that have been created by a sexist media and a sexist society. Stop calling us stupid. Stop calling us sluts. Stop calling us ignorant. Stop trying to divide us based on our age, race, class or sexuality.

Look around you. Look at the women in my generation who have graduated from college or are going to college. Look at the number of young women you see behind and in front of you in line when you go to vote. Look at the number of young women at protests defending a woman's right to abortion access and contraception. Look at the number of young women defending the right for gay couples to get married and adopt children; for gay couples to work in the military. Look at the number of young mothers who have attended rallies defending women's rights to breastfeed in public and in the work place, who have defended the right of midwifes to practice their profession (and all of the women who are not mothers, but still defend those rights). Look at the women who are active in civil rights and race equality in the workplace, on college campuses and in the court system. Look because we are not just women, we are members of various communities who are also looking for equal rights. Look at my generation as a movement of people, a movement of women and a movement of feminist.

When women took over Rat press in 1970 Robin Morgan sat down to write an editorial that would resonate way beyond that time. In it she took on and dispatched quickly with "female chauvinist pigs" and hypocrtical men who called themselves revolutionaries.

"Goodbye to all that shit that sets women apart from women; shit that covers the face of any Weatherwoman which is the face of any Manson Slave which is the face of Sharon Tate which is the face of Mary Jo Kopechne which is the face of Beulah Saunders, which is the face of me which is the face of Pat Nixon which is the face of Pat Swinton."