United Kingdom: Crown Prosecution Service To Strengthen Support Victims Of Female Genital Mutilation  

The Crown Prosecution Service reports:

“The justification for the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is often cited as a tradition, an initiation into adulthood or a religious practice. It is in fact, a serious crime which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.” says Manjula Nayee, Senior Policy Advisor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The Crown Prosecution Service has today issued new guidance that sets out the legal elements of FGM and the challenges prosecutors may face in bringing a case to court, particularly when a victim may retract her evidence due to social and cultural pressures.
Ms Nayee said: “We are working, as part of our commitment to the cross-Government action plan to end Violence against Women, to reassure communities that if those affected by FGM come forward, we can help.”
The practice, often known as female circumcision, is estimated to affect up to 140 million girls and women worldwide with over 80,000 who could be at risk in England and Wales.
Ms Nayee continued: “This guidance gives prosecutors a better understanding of the cultural background surrounding the illegal practice, which has been carried out for many years.”
The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 makes it clear that if any British Citizen or UK resident involved in arranging or carrying out this crime abroad will be liable for prosecution.
Ms Nayee said: “Our aim is to bring strong cases to court, with prosecutors working closely with the police to investigate where appropriate whether victims have been taken abroad.
“Prosecutors should also consider  evidence from social services, schools or Local Authorities, who may have crucial information to help build up a case.
“Some defendents may claim they have carried out this crime for medical reasons. Prosecutors will look for expert advice from medical professionals on this issue.”
Sue Inwood, Detective Chief Inspector in the Continuous Improvement Team in the Metropolitan Police Service said: “Project Azure, the Metropolitan Police’s response to FGM, welcomes these new guidelines which will serve to heighten awareness amongst prosecutors of this practice and also to clarify best practice in this challenging area of investigation.”
Ms Nayee concluded: “The Crown Prosecution Service hopes that publication of this guidance will both raise awareness of this serious crime and help prosecutors bring perpetrators to justice.”

(Tipped by The Aha Foundation)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali On Islam

For me, there’s no braver person than Ayaan Hirsi Ali. To be a woman, an atheist/ ex-muslim,  a feminist and very outspoken about it, it tells you this: she has balls.

She talks about Islam on various points, but here’s 2 of them that might interest you the most:

• Women’s role within Islam at 28:50.
• Islam’s stand on the Gay Community at 30:00.

Thou if you’ve got an hour to spare, spending it on watching the while clip is more than worthy.

Chris Matthews: Abortions Currently Illegal in Kansas

Rachel Maddow Remembers George Tiller 

Manal al-Sherif, Saudi Woman, Detained For Defying Driving Ban

The Huffington Post reports:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Authorities detained a Saudi woman on Saturday after she launched a campaign against the driving ban for women in the ultraconservative kingdom and posted a video of herself behind the wheel on Facebook and YouTube to encourage others to copy her.
Manal al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” which urges authorities to lift the driving ban. She went on a test drive in the eastern city of Khobar and later posted a video of the experience.
“This is a volunteer campaign to help the girls of this country” learn to drive, al-Sherif says in the video. “At least for times of emergency, God forbid. What if whoever is driving them gets a heart attack?”
Human rights activist Walid Abou el-Kheir said al-Sherif was detained by the country’s religious police, who are charged with ensuring the kingdom’s rigid interpretation of Islamic teachings are observed.
Al-Sherif was released hours later, according to the campaign’s Twitter account. The terms of her release were not immediately clear.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women – both Saudi and foreign – from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.
Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, and no woman can sit on the kingdom’s Cabinet. Women also cannot travel without permission from a male guardian and shouldn’t mingle with males who are not their husbands or brothers.
The campaigners have focused on the importance of women driving in times of emergencies and in the case of low-income families. Al-Sherif said unlike the traditional argument in Saudi Arabia that driving exposes women to sinful temptations by allowing them to mingle with policemen and mechanics, women who drive can avoid sexual harassment from their drivers and protect their “dignity.”
Through Facebook, the campaigners are calling for a mass drive on June 17 and more than 12,000 people viewing the page have indicated they support the call. To encourage women to get behind the wheel, al-Sherif went for a drive on Friday as another activist filmed her.
Dressed in a headscarf and the all-encompassing black abaya all women must wear in public, al-Sharif said not all Saudi women are “queens” who can afford to hire a driver. She extolled the virtues of driving for women, saying it can save lives, and time, as well as a woman’s dignity. Al-Sharif said she learned how to drive at the age of 30 in New Hampshire.
“We are humiliated sometimes because we can’t find a taxi to take us to work,” she said.
On their Facebook page, the group says women joining the campaign should not challenge authorities if they were stopped and questioned, and should abide by the country’s strict dress code.
“We want to live as complete citizens, without the humiliation that we are subjected to every day because we are tied to a driver,” the Facebook message reads. “We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities, we are here to claim one of our simplest rights.”

Just a reminder to y’all on what women in the Middle East are fighting for and against. Many of them ain’t asking for the right of “voting” or “freedom of speech” but the right of mobilizing freely by themselves. Here’s another example on how religion keeps on reinforcing misogyny, among other social issues based on hatred and bigotry.   

Lawrence O’Donnell Tears Up While Emotionally Defending Planned Parenthood In Government Shutdown Fight

FRANCE: Burqa Ban Begins Today

Donald “Bad Toupée” Trump Against Gay Marriage

And against Women’s Rights, for Militarizing the US-Mexican Border and supports Wisconsin’s Anti-Unions Governor Scott Walker. 

This guy is a douchebag. And a bigot.

For Those With Vaginas

Daniel Craig Does Drag For International Women’s Day

Missed to post something on International Women’s Day, but here’s a brilliant videoclip by “We’re Equals” from the United Kingdom. Just think about this: If this is still the reality in First World countries like the UK, can you imagine how things are in the Third World and elsewhere?

A Hag has something to say to her Fags:

Dear Gays: You look fabulous. Have you been working out? Your hair is amazing right now, did you know that? Anyhoo.

We’ve been through a lot, you and I. I’ve been your loyal Hag for as long as I can remember. I broke with the Church after a long and very pointed conversation with my priest about the condemnation of gays in the midst of the AIDS crisis in the 80s. I’ve helped you in your coming out process. I’ve walked the walks with you. Attended the parades with you. Occasionally been a beard for you. Gone to the fundraisers and political rallies with you, and made my voice a very vocal one in support of your civil rights to retain affordable health care, decriminalize the intimacy you share with a partner of your choice, solidify the punishments for violence against you, ratify the right to raise a family how and when you would like, and recognize that, quite simply, you are equal under the law, and entitled to live your life as an intelligent person who makes the right choices for him/herself.You know what, gays? All your Hags need that same support from you, RIGHT NOW.

[The US House of Representatives] has passed, or at least attempted to pass, laws that essentially criminalize women for deciding to have control over her own body. Example: denying all funding for Planned Parenthood—not just for abortion (the legislature already took care of that), but for pap smears, birth control pills, routine mammograms, anything to keep a woman healthy at an affordable price. Also: the bill in Georgia which states that, essentially, miscarriage of a fetus is punishable by the death penalty. Let’s not forget the ol’ chestnut of practitioners “practicing their conscience”, instead of following concrete medical guidelines (and let’s get real, no one uses “conscience” for anything except terminating a pregnancy). The “rape rape” argument was finally abandoned, but not until after it was brought to the House and actually argued.

In the last few weeks, there have been more attacks on women’s health than ever. It is patently clear that our legislature has an absolute hatred of women that goes way beyond any sense of decency. Women’s intelligence in making her own medical choices are being questioned. Her motivation for suffering abuse, questioned. Her ability to think outside of a “housewife and mother” lifestyle, questioned. And questioned heavily, with significant bias.

I ask you this, Gays, because this is what your Hags are up against, right now, in 2011. Obtaining affordable health care, the legality of my intimacy with a partner of choice, punishment for violence against me, the right to raise a family how and when I would like, and the recognition that, quite simply, I am equal under the law, and entitled to live my life as an intelligent person who makes the right choices for herself.

We can’t do this without you.

Hey, fags: go to IStandWithPlannedParenthood.org and sign the petition. It’s something you can do right now—it’s quite literally the least you can do—and if you can’t invest a minute to sign an online petition, well, you don’t deserve the love and support of the hags in your life.

(Via Savage Love Slog)

Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders

To the wonderful women in my life and elsewhere: Three pieces of advice from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to working women:

1. Sit at the table
2. Make your partner a real partner

1. Don’t leave before you leave