!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^ ! ! Catt's Claws ... a feminist newsletter #33 ... April 20,1995 ! !^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^ ! I "love" the terminology of the new frontier of human reproduction - This is from a 1990 article in the New York _Times_. "Traditional surrogacy" (traditional??? How traditional can all this in this rather new field?), but anyway, "Traditional Surrogacy" is when the surrogate mother is impregnated through artificial insemination with the sperm of the man who hired her to mother the baby. (Impregnation through physical contact without marriage is called illegitimacy and the mother instead of being praised is called a whore? Am I missing something here?) Gestational surrogacy is when the wife's eggs and the husband's sperm are brought together in a petri dish in a laboratory (in vitro fertilization and the resulting embryos implanted in a woman not necessarily related to either of the biological DNA donators. In a famed case, a woman in Pasadena gave birth to two boys and a girl of a Maracalbo, Venezualan, couple and ten days later another woman gave birth to one more baby boy of the same couple. Several of the Venezualan's DNA donor's eggs were mixed in with her husband's sperm (?) and the resultant embryos transplanted into donors (women). $10,000 is the usual fee for the woman bearing the children (no bonus for more than one child?). By the way, that breaks down to $1.53 an hour - and as the mother of three, that's a terrible lot of strain and work for a pitiful amount of money - and don't give me any of this nonsense about helping desperate people and women should be altruistic. The reality is that MEN are paid $100 or more for about 10 minutes of their time when they donate sperm (through ejaculation) which is non-intrusive, not dangerous, and certainly doesn't use up any of their body except for an orgasm or two. But the physical realities aside, just counting up the time the "surrogate mother" spends as compared to the male in the "production" of a surrogate child means the woman should be paid more than a half million dollars for her wages to be comparable to the man's. Dr. Paulo Serafina, director of the Huntington Reproductive Center, Pasadena, CA says he treats gestational surrogates only when it is medically indicated: "The hospital board is concerned that if you are a 39-year-old woman, successful and very busy, you might want to rent someone's womb as a convenience." It's OK for a man to do it but not a woman? ....................... * ........................ Can someone tell me, please, why it is artistic and accepted for a woman's naked breasts to be exhibited in art museums, etc., but wrong for a woman's naked breast to be exhibited in public doing what they were made to do, feed her baby? ....................... * ........................ Hundreds of women are suffering savage acid attacks in Pakistan according to Pakistani Legal Aid centre magazine "Slogan". Official figures are rare but at least 269 cases were reported in the press in just 4 months in 1992. Causes for the attacks vary but the victims are all women: one lady was attacked because she was behind a decision of her family to move out of shared accommodation. Another woman was attacked by a male after her relatives had assaulted him for pestering her and her friends. Yet another was attacked by her aunt for not going along with an arranged marriage. Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has now set up all-female police stations in four Pakistan cities including Multan. ....................... * ........................ In 1938 when asked how it felt to be the first woman to conduct the Boston symphony orchestra, one of the finest conductors of the world and certainly the greatest musicology teacher said: "I've been a woman for a little more than 50 years, and I've gotten over my original astonishment." -- Nadia Boulanger who was referred to as our "Alma Mater" by composer Virgil Thompson. ....................... * ........................ Ersteller: ZORICA.MRSEVIC@ZAMIR-BG.ztn.zer.de sends word on internet that a woman's human rights group has been formed for the protection of the specific rights of girls Belgrade. In existence for more than a year, it is a SOS hotline for adolescent girls with problems, mostly physical, sexual, war and all other types of violence. In addition to phone calls, there is also a meeting place open for a few hours everyday for gathering girls, to get in touch with another, speak or not speak about their problems, receiving individual or group support, and some forms of education missing in society. The coordinating person: Dr. Vera Litricin, tel/fax: 0038 111 402-283, address: djuke dinic 9, 11000 Belgrade, Yugoslavia. cc--> How many American cities have such a program set up? In my little city they have a BOY's CLUB, but there is no place for the girls to network and learn to protect themselves. ....................... * ........................ A study recently completed reports that white males constitute only 43% of the work force, yet they hold 95% of the senior management positions and show that they use their own brand of affirmative action by only promoting white males. Women, on the other hand, fill about 40% of the jobs nationwide, but they typically hold less than 5% of senior management positions. The study also found in interviews with hundreds of male managers from around the country that men felt threatened by the advancement of their female counterparts. They thought they were "losing the corporate game, losing control and losing opportunity." White men admitted to purposefully stymieing the progress of women and minorities. ....................... * ........................ From: IN%"baxter@cache.crc.ricoh.com" to whom I can only say it's a good thing I'm a nice person (who is dying of jealously because she can't go.): INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES SUMMER PROGRAM: The Greek Island of Halki, a beautiful and completely unspoiled island southwest of Rhodes, will be home to an International Women's Studies Institute (IWSI) program in June. The program will focus on creating a women's community which will, through workshops and interaction, embark on a "Creative Journey" in Greece. The Institute will take place from June 16-27, 1995. The cost of attending is $1,100, not including roundtrip airfare to Athens. The program includes housing at a hotel on the crystal-clear harbor of Halki; travel within Greece; two field trips to nearby islands; daily study programs; breakfast; and two group dinners. "The Creative Journey" will be one of discovery, to find a voice, to find a muse, in fiction, poetry, journal writing and art. No prior writing or artistic experience is necessary. In addition to daily workshops, there will be hikes to ancient hillside ruins, deserted beaches, meals at simple fish tavernas and a friendly informal village life. IWSI has been taking study groups to Greece, Israel and Kenya since 1981. For further information contact IWSI at P.O. Box 1067, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or phone 415-323-2013. ....................... * ........................ "Unbelievable today was the apologetic spirit in which tax- paying women (were) asking for a trifling betterment of laws concerning women and children (at the turn of the century). Children at that time were working 8-10 hours a day in cotton mills and the gentlemen on (Capitol) Hill were quoting scripture to prove that the system was all that it should be." -- Marie Manning, aka Beatrice Fairfax in her autobiography _Ladies Now and Then_ (1944). ....................... * ........................ Women's rights are young and tender and we must protect them from the plagues of holy water and newts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-