To subscribe or unsubscribe: irenestuber@delphi.com !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! ! Catt's Claws ... a feminist newsletter #29 ... April 04,1995 ! !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! Tell me that we aren't losing the public relations battle ... These results are what happens when the leaders of the socially responsible organizations fail to earn their salaries... * Three of four Americans oppose affirmative action programs that give preference to minorities and women in hiring, promotions, and college admissions, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Some 28 percent would totally abolish the programs meant to compensate for the effects of past discrimination, and 47 percent would change them. Of those surveyed 75 percent -- including 81 percent of whites and 46 percent of blacks -- opposed preferences for minorities. PREFERENCES FOR WOMEN WERE OPPOSED BY 73 PERCENT, INCLUDING 76 PERCENT OF MEN AND 69 PERCENT OF WOMEN, THE POLL FOUND. For the poll, 1,524 adults were interviewed by telephone from March 16-19. (ITN News) ....................... * ........................ Susi Beveridge told us about the bumper sticker she saw. Like Susi, "I want! I want!": > That's Ms. Bitch to You < ....................... * ........................ Good news from IN%"lemur@u.washington.edu": Seattle has posters on the side of some its city buses reading "Control is not love - respect is" and lists resources for battered women. Might be an idea for your local battered women's centers in your city ... local ad agencies should be able to help. ....................... * ........................ IN%"amptmeye@sage.cc.purdue.edu" writes: "I tried this, and it worked. Obtain information from the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights about the proven connections between anti-abortion groups and Neo-Nazis. Then compose a short letter and publish it in your local paper. "BACORR will let you use their research under three conditions: "1. You e-mail them a copy of your letter before you print it, "2. You attempt to get BACORR and their phone number cited in the letter, and "3. You snail-mail them a copy of all letters published. "I got this accomplished in Lafayette and Logansport, Indiana. The South Bend paper refused. Two out of three ain't bad. "BACORR: tburghardt@igc.apc.org (415) 252-0750." -->> BACORR is a radical, in your face anti-abortion group whose methods sometime bother me a lot - confrontational politics with madmen who carry (and use) guns is dangerous to innocent people. However, BACORR has done a lot of good work with uncovering the politics of anti-abortion groups and their ties with the Neo-Nazis, the KKK, etc. The Gay and Lesbian Task Force has also done a lot of good work on the subject although they're more concerned with hate crimes against gay men rather than abortion or women's rights. NOW has filed a lawsuit claiming collusion between the anti- abortion groups that has been cleared for trial by the U.S. Supreme Court, but little has been done other than that. The Feminist Majority emphasizes clinic defense and abortion rights. None - READ THAT NONE - of the women's rights groups are doing anything about disseminating information about the far right agenda although the number one target of the religious supremacists are women. Go figure! The best I've read is a book _The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America_ A publication of the Anti- Defamation League, 823 United Nations Plaza, New York 10017. Your local women's book store should have copies; if not, they can order. The books are inexpensive. AGAIN: Letters to the editor with xeroxes to the politicians involved makes a *really* strong message and is second-best in effect to a signed check. ....................... * ........................ From: IN%"MMHH@db1.cc.rochester.edu": An exhibition entitled _Upstate New York in the Women s Rights Movement_ is currently on display in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Rochester Library. The exhibition, which commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the passage of the nineteenth amendment, continues through August, the month the amendment was ratified. Highlights include the printed proceedings of the first women s rights convention held in Seneca Falls in July 1848; the original manuscript minutes of the meeting called in Rochester one month later; copies of the women's rights newspapers _The Lily_, _The Una_, and _The Revolution_; letters,speeches, and photographs of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other leaders of the suffrage movement; broadsides, postcards, and buttons - and much, much more. The exhibition, open to the public without charge, can be viewed in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections from 9-12 and 1-5 Monday through Thursday. -->> Oh, how I envy anyone who can see that exhibit! I'm going West this summer instead of East. Dang! To see this exhibit and then go to Seneca Falls for the Women's Rights Memorial and exhibit .... what a way to celebrate 75 years of women's right to vote. ....................... * ........................ Nina Beth Huntemann, nbh@comm.umass.edu, Dept. of Communication; UMASS Amherst writes: HELP!! HIGHLY CAPABLE AND ENTHUSIASTIC GRAD STUDENT SEEKS SUMMER INTERNSHIP "I am a Master's student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in search of an internship for this summer. I had plans to work at a women's human rights organization as their primary computer support intern responsible for maintaining and developing their database, electronic newsletter, Web pages, on-line conferences, general email correspondence, NGO networking, etc... But staff changed, budgets were cut - we all know the hardships of NGO work. Anyway, I am interested in finding a similar opportunity SOON." ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy water and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>> Send your ideas, comments, and news to irenestuber@delphi.com for inclusion in the Catt's Claws feminist newsletter which will be emailed three times a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. This is NOT an interactive discussion net but an exchange of information and is NOT sponsored by any organization. <<<