<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws # 144 ... February 07, 1997......... ........ A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber......... istuber@direclynx.net is solely responsible for its content <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> Women in the earliest stages of cervical cancer need not have a full hysterectomy according to a panel of physicians under the auspices of the National Institute of Health which met in the spring of 1995. The stage (1A) cervical cancer may be treated by a cone biopsy since the cancer is located entirely in the cervix at this stage. The National Cancer Institute published the findings more than a year LATER. . . . . . . . . . . c C c . . . . . . . . . . In olden days before men saw gold in the birthing process, most women had the companionship of compassionate women during the birthing process. Today it is medical sterility even though the hospital birthing rooms are a bit better than the operating rooms of the near past, but the attentive support of trained midwives is still missing. A new book by Margaret Charles Smith and National Women's Health Network board member Linda Janet Holmes _Listen to Me Good: The Life Story of an Alabama Midwife_ relates not only the life and experiences of Margaret Smith the legendary midwife, but to use of herbs, massage, and other methods used by midwives and largely ignored by modern medicine as well as the black experience of the era. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Alice Graybill adds this chapter to the exploration of the yet unknown numbers of women who have been murdered or raped because they stopped for flashing blue lights in deserted areas. Frankly, from the things I have been hearing, the attack on women by "blue-light" rapists is more common than any of us imagined - and more than not, the perps are horny/sicko cops. Of course, law enforcement people don't keep tabulations of such things and the male-dominated legislatures don't seem willing to do much about it. There should be warnings along all roadways telling women (all motorists) not to stop for blue lights in deserted areas, but to proceed at a safe, legal speed to where there are lights and people. We have warnings about slick roadways, sharp turns, but not the potential of murder ... and rape. But then, it's only women ... Every legislature in this country should pass laws enabling a person being stopped by a blue light or a police officer to drive at the legal speed to a place where there are other people - day or night. If the woman is charged with trying to escape a lawful arrest while driving to a safe, inhabited place (no speeding please) let us know and we'll set the hounds of hell after those bloody-assed cops. Alice writes: "About 5 years ago, a college student by the name of Candace Harms was raped and killed (I won't say "brutally" because that would be redundant) by Scott Barney and Roger Bjorkland. Seems Bjorkland approached Candace Harms as she was getting in her car, flashed a badge and ordered her to let him drive her out to a remote spot in the country. Barney followed in another car. They were eventually caught and convicted but this points up something that might save some women's lives. "First of all, if somebody flashes a badge (or a blue light) and claims to be a cop, don't stop if you don't feel comfortable. If it's really a cop, they won't object if you proceed on to a "safe" area. If somebody comes to your door claiming to be a cop, ask him for his "commission", which is basically an ID card. If he doesn't have one, tell him you're calling the police. If he's legit, the people at the police station should be able to tell you: "Yes, Officer So-and-so is there to discuss with you . . .(whatever)." We can never repeat this advice enough. Too many women have an unquestioning obedience to authority that makes them easy prey for sickos. Just 'cause he _says_ he's a cop, doesn't mean he _is_ a cop." HOWEVER, just because he's a cop doesn't mean that a woman is safe. When I was a reporter in South Florida, the "Catch Me Killer" turned out to be a cop - and there is a good chance that some of the cops covering the case actually KNEW it right from the beginning. The murderer was uncovered when one of his victims who had been in a coma was being shipped OUT OF STATE. A radio reporter, with tape recorder in hand, walked into her room and found her dressed and awake - her police guard with orders to keep reporters out was either in the john or smoozing the nurses somewhere. She proceeded to tell him the story and he came back to the newsroom at the courthouse in a state of shock with a tape recording that blew the roof off things. The number of women who were/are raped by policemen on duty is legend. They will go out of their way to stop women for fake speeding tickets, crossing yellow lines, etc., and then threaten them unless they consent to sex. After several graphic phone calls and meetings with victims of one piece of shit wearing a badge, I finally him kicked off the force in Hollywood, FL but he never had to serve time. The boyz in blue do stick together. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . The newspapers in the U.S. used to "print all the news that's fit to print," so I guess they've decided what's going on in Afghanistan isn't fit to print. Why worry. It only concerns women. Since the Taliban militia took over Kabul, Afghanistan, women are no longer allowed to leave their homes without a MALE escort. They cannot work and earn a living, and they must obey hejab, the full head-to-toe covering. The Talibans have forbidden girls from attending school to get any kind of an education. Women are to be neither seen nor heard except, of course, as sexual and housekeeping slaves. The Taliban have brought a version of Islam more puritanical than anything found elsewhere in the Muslim world and packs of gun-totting militia - often seminary students - enforce the rules by beating any women found not abiding by their code. Yet the United Nations is silent. It's only women ... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Austin writes: "Although I know you didn't use the term "rare" when referring to abortion, I take issue with the mainstream idea that abortion is an abhorrent act. This is implied, in my opinion, when we talk about it in terms of being "rare." Forget the statistics, abortion is a reality as an option to every woman of child-bearing years. With 35 or so years of the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy, any woman, at some time, might be faced with making a life choice. "I think pro-choice advocates support the notion that abortion is "bad" by suggesting that it should be "rare." Of course, if more time, money, education, and thought was given to birth control methods, unplanned pregnancies would lessen. But abortion would still be a reality. "Might I suggest abortion be referred to as "normal" rather than "rare" and that the mainstream ideas about abortion stop implying that it is "bad?" For many, many women, the choice of abortion IS a responsible, good choice. In a perfect world, abortion would be unnecessary or rare, but since we don't live in that world, can we begin a dialogue that acknowledges the need and values the decision?" AGREED, Austin! As we have said, the fact that today's burned-out airhead PC feminist leaders have not been able to come up with a defense against the inaccurate term "pro-life" or against the "late term abortion" argument is proof that we need new visions from new leaders. As we have said, PC doesn't mean politically correct, it means Pouring Cement into our brains... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . An African Network for the promotion of adolescent and youth reproductive health was created at the end of a five-day African forum on adolescent reproductive health. A spokeswoman said the area is currently plagued by a myriad of adolescent health problems, including AIDS and STD, sexual harassment, and the "defilement of young girls by elderly persons." This spreading of American culture is getting out of hand ... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra continues to exclude women musicians from membership. Rumors started by the VPO that women WOULD be admitted have proved false. However, there has actually been a woman musician - the harp player who is not listed on the programs as an orchestra member and cannot vote as part of the orchestra. In other words, she is an insult not a musician. The VPO will be performing on tour in the United States March 4 & 5 in Costa Mesa, CA and March 7, 8, & 9 in New York City. There will be protest demonstration held outside the concert halls at each performance. For information about the Costa Mesa demonstrations contact Nora Graham at NORAZG@aol.com; for information about the New York demonstrations contact Monique Buzzarte at buzzarte@dorsai.org. Concerts in Southern California should be protested to the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Dean Corey, Executive Director, 2082 Business Center Drive, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92715-1113, voice (714) 553-2422, fax (714) 553-2421, Email: psmail@ocartsnet.org Web page: http://www.ocartsnet.org/philharmonic/index.htm Concerts in New York City on March 7, 8 & 9, 1997 are being presented by Carnegie Hall, Judith Arron, Executive Director, 881 Seventh Avenue New York, N.Y 10019, Tel: (212) 903-9600, Fax: (212) 581-6539, Email: feedback@carnegiehall.org The false rumors about women joining the orchestra were evidentally fueled by the realization that AMERICAN women were going to boycott the performances and the VPA desperately needs American $$$$... A pox on thy house, Vienna, they who think that beautiful music starts with the downbeat of pants' zippers ... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . A catt's Claws reader recommends http://members.aol.com/besafenow/main.html, a web page for stalking victims. Contained are * The eight identify traits of the stalker that every victim should know * The information the stalker needs to set the trap. * Twenty available options to end the stalker's pursuit. * Gathering the evidence ... The TOP TEN points required by law to build an air tight case against a stalker and get a conviction. The site is worth a stop - there is commercialism, of course - but it does centralize a lot of information that women have gathered about men who abuse women. Oh yes, the profiles of controlling men who abuse, rape, and stalk are all very similar! . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . April Martin, Ph.D., psychologist and author of _The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook_ is looking for stories on the needs of gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender parents in the school systems. Contact her at aprimartin@aol.com. Dr. Martin is reliable. By the way, check out the PERSON (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) web page jammed with information: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . A few people have said that the press is disinterested in feminist subjects and won't cover them anymore. Why? Because they can get away with ignoring them. Hey, the press is no different from any one else. They are not going to waste their writing/ covering stories no one cares about. Most of the feminist demonstrations and causes of today are merely repeats of things the old tymers thought up in 1912, and 1970. Boring. Boring. Snooze. Look girls - IF you REALLY want publicity, then hire or tap into the resources of a good public relations people - look at what Lady Godiva was able to generate when women's actions didn't get coverage ... (yeah, pun intended.) She uncovered new interests. Somehow - and this always confuses me - some feminist leaders seem to think they are experts on everything. Hey, a law degree teaches the corkscrew kind of thinking that drones on and on and on without resolution except by a man in black ... PR trained people think in explosions - skyrockets - they know how to grab the public interest by the gonads and squeeze. There are THOUSANDS of highly trained, highly successful women in PR who would LOVE to help feminism and the ERA. But they have been snubbed and ignored through the years by the know-it-all failures of NOW. And thus the entire movement is being snubbed and ignored by the media. PC - pouring cement into brain cavities. Look at what Ellen Malcolm has been able to do with her Emily's List - Early Money is Like Yeast - that has become the single most potent force in the American political scene in only a few years. It is the one single cause of more women being elected to political office, the placing of women in the seats of power. Because of Ellen Malcolm women elected a president and more women than ever before across the nation ... We bow to a true American feminist hero. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Keeping his campaign promise, President Clinton has proposed to let workers take time off to take their children or elderly relatives to the doctor or attend parent-teacher meetings as part of the expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act. It would allow workers an additional 24 hours of unpaid leave a year. What a boon this would have been to me when I was raising my three kids alone ... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Sure jails are overcrowded but they aren't overcrowded with sex offenders who make up about 10% of the prison population. According to the Justice Department, nearly 60% of convicted sex offenders have been release on parole or probation. In 1994, an estimated 134,300 offenders were released with 99,300 remaining in local jails or state or federal prisons. Wanna read that first line over again? TEN percent of the PRISON population is made up of sex offenders ... What does that translate to in the male population as a whole since so many sex offenders are never charged or go to trial? And most rapes are never reported ... WE ARE RAISING OUR SONS WRONG !!! These stats mean that at least one out of every EIGHT readers of Catt's Claws has a husband, father, or son who is a rapist or sex offender ... That's a very horrifying reflection on the morality of our men. And see the next item! . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . According to the federal health officials, American children are murdered at a rate FIVE times higher than other industrialized countries and 12 times more likely to die because of gunshots. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . One of the things women's health clinic defenders get used to - albeit are constantly sickened by it - is the way the anti-freedom-for-women forces use babies and little children as battering rams in their attacks on clinic doors. We once begged police to do something about babes in strollers who were left outside in 100 degree weather without head coverings while their parents preached against a woman's right to choose. So now, since so many of their violent ADULT MALES are heading for prison, the cowards are using juveniles for the really bad stuff. Guess they figure juvs won't go to jail... A 15-year-old boy was arrested recently in connection with three bomb and gunfire attacks at a Tulsa abortion clinic. Surely they will prosecute the adults who supplied him with such weapons. A group in California which was known to supply adults with weapons some years back went unprosecuted. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . You web browsers may have been shocked recently to find an anti- abortion web site claiming to be part of Planned Parenthood - at least using its name. Well, a federal judge has issued a temporary stop order to prevent Richard Bucci from identifying his home page as "Planned Parenthood's Home Page" and using "plannedparenthood.com" as a domain name. How can anyone respect someone or their cause who lies and lies and lies and lies and lies, and murders, and threatens, and bombs, and lies ... The only parenthood these kinds of men are guilty of planning are forced. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Did you know this: Recent studies in Britain published in the Lancet medical journal indicate that stopping the normal functions of ovaries helps breast cancer sufferers live longer. Up to 250,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer but heart disease remains the number one killer of women in the United States. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Supporters of Benazir Bhutto, deposed Pakistani prime minister, protested in front of the Supreme Court in Islamabad while the court upheld the dismissal and ordered the new elections. It is the second time Benazir Bhutto has been removed at prime minister in moves that were the forked attacks of anti-woman and anti-liberal with anti-woman leading the way. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . And he stopped on the way home from the courthouse to buy EXACTLY the same kind of ice cream that Nicole had bought moments before she was murdered. The melted ice cream was found inside her apartment ... He said it was for his daughter. That chills me to the bone. That child looks so much like her mother and is coming up on an age where she is beginning to look like a woman. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . In a conversation I had last night with an AIDS expert, he stated that all research on the effectiveness of Nonoxinal 9 against HIV/AIDS was stopped about three years ago, probably because it started to become known outside the MALE homosexual community and is being used in a spermicide environment by women - which means birth control - and the CDC opposes ANYTHING that would stop fertilization of a woman, even the cost of her life through HIV/AIDS infection. . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Any of you following that case of the ex-FBI male agent who is claiming that the idea of his wife having an affair with a WOMAN drove him to repeated attempts on her life? Eugene Bennett is claiming that his years of work as an FBI agent shattered his mental health and he cracked under the humiliation of knowing his wife left him for a woman. (That strikes me as very, very funny. Poor baby. Would it have been better if it had been a man?) He kidnapped his wife's minister to lure her to him. Fortunately his wife was also a trained FBI agent and bet the crap out of him. The "other" woman is mystery writer Patricia Cornwell who has two books coming out this spring. The one that has been released and which we haven't read yet, has been panned (surprise!) by the same critics who praised her other books. They didn't know she was a lesbian before... . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Talk about crazies -- a 73-year-old woman filed suit against her local Catholic church claiming a BINGO board fell on her and every since she has been having spontaneous orgasms and has been unnaturally drawn toward other women in a romantic way. Ummmm. The judge dismissed the case but did not file charges against the attorney who allowed an obviously deluded woman to take such an outlandish position. As so many said, "What's her complaint?" . . . . . . . ^c^c^ . . . . . . . Remember, if one utilized the criteria used in France and other civilized countries instead of the false criteria of the (American) Centers for Disease Control, the rate of pregnancy-related-deaths in the United States would be 23.5 per 100,000 births (not 10 as the CDC says). This translates to 935 deaths of women in 1994 due to pregnancy - OR - 2.5 deaths of women due to pregnancy EVERY SINGLE day. Five women in the United States with its so-called great medical system die of pregnancy-related problems every two days! Over a ten-year period that comes to at least 9,350 women who have died of pregnancy-related problems. The figures are inexact because birth rates fluctuate. How women are being lied to in this country is beyond belief! Pregnancy IS dangerous. Five women die every two days from giving birth, something that men protecting their sperm have been propagandizing is as easy as a man having an orgasm. But what is even MORE damning is that nearly 25% of all deliveries (actually deliveries) result in serious complications for the mother. That means: in 1994 (the latest figures available from the CDC) covering 3,979,000 live births, almost ONE MILLION women suffered serious medical problems because of birthing. WHY ??? ONE MILLION !!! Can you imagine ANYTHING that could happen to a man - including getting bald - that involved one million of them per year that wouldn't get millions upon millions of dollars worth of research per HOUR? Our deepest thanks to now retired U.S.Representative Pat Schroeder (D-Colo) for commissioning the study that uncovered these terrible figures. Now, kiddies, do you think maybe someone in the feminist movement might get off their duff$ and start a fight for mother's lives? Or even publicizing these horrendous figures? ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy hypocrisy and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to istuber@direclynx.net for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed up to three times a week. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information. Catt's Claws is NOT sponsored by any organization. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting Catt's Claws and archiving them. Copyright 1996, Irene Stuber. PO Box 6185, Hot Springs, AR 71902, email istuber@direclynx.net<<<< To receive Catt's Claws by email, write and in the body of the note We thank Jennifer Gagliardi for handling the madding subscription list through her listserv.