!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! ! ! ! Catt's Claws ... A Feminist Newsletter #73 ... October 05, 1995 ! ! ! !.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! AW SHUCKS ! The WORMT guys had such a great story going about another woman who did nasty things to the most sacred thing a man has ... although most of them feel the amputation and scrapping away of a woman's entire genitalia right to the bone is a religious right. Well, anyway, this latest case of bobbing the penis in the Bronix turned out to be a hoax. And what is most embarrassing is that the male cops bought the story without a lot of checking and were diligently searching for that mean prostitute who cut off a man's pride and joy. (See Catt's Claws 10- 03-95) But Domingo Morales, 67, recanted and told police the missing penis was in a Tupperware container in his kitchen where he had placed it after accidentally cutting it off with his own knife. He said he was afraid to admit what happened because he thought he would be committed to an old folks home. He said he makes guitars and had one between his legs and the knife slipped. (?He was working naked??? Isn't that like playing with a kitten naked? OUCH! Of course, we're heard a lot of the guys like to use the Intenet Usenets naked, but that's another story.) The severed part of the penis was recovered too late for it to be reattached. (OK, we make joke about this, but we honestly feel sorry for Morales for his accident, but why did he have to blame a woman for his own stupidity? BTW, no, we do not subscribe to penile amputation for rapists, incestuous fathers, child molestes, etc. Unfortunately, it isn't that easy. Lacking a penis, studies have shown they will use foreign objects because control, not sex is what they want. Personally, I feel those guys should be placed in an open cell block in the penitentary with the biggest, meanest lifers and the guards on vacation ...) ....................... * ........................ Winnie Wang sent us a story from a campus newspaper in Berkeley: A total of eight men and boys were arrested in connection with a gang rape, vaginal and oral, of a 12-year-old girl - and the men and boys claim (SUPRISE!) it was consensual. As Winnie comments, and I second. CONSENSUAL? THE GIRL IS ONLY 12 YEARS OLD ! The men and boys ranged from ages 14 to 18 said the vaginal and oral copulations occurred when the girl went to one of the boys' homes on Milvia Street after school at his invitation. The eight were waiting according to the victim who said she was forced into a bedroom with an air rifle and for the next hour the boys took turns raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex acts on them. Two worried friends went to the home on Milvia Street where they found the victim partially dressed and crying. The 12-year-old girl was taken to the Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley for treatment. The news story goes on to say that the eight boys and men have also been charged with an armed robbery. The story that was dated September 15, 1995 and never made the wire services, contains the line, "She reported no injuries following the incident..." What ignorant sadist writes these stories ??? Raped by eight guys and NO INJURIES? That child will have nightmares and have panic attacks for years. Hey, how would you guys feel after eight BIG guys beat up on you? You bet your zippers that you'd run away from any gangs of guys for a long time, making damned sure you weren't caught alone... ....................... * ........................ Hillary Rodham Clinton who so successfully represented the U.S. in China and the U.N. World Conference for Women will be visiting Latin America next week, hopefully to spread her magic. She will be examining and speaking on the elimination of poverty and improve social services. ....................... * ........................ President Bill Clinton is playing hardball with the Republican Congress although you ain't readn' much about it in the newspapers. He just zipped off veto #3 and told them he wasn't going to approve their spending on themselves until they do right by the people. The Reps which are talking above emasculating social services only trimmed their budget $200 million out of a $2.2 BILLION dollars budget. "I don't think Congress should take care of its own business before it takes care of the people's business," Clinton said in his veto message. ....................... * ........................ More and more teenagers are depending on back alleys and what the guys under the football stands are saying about sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, contraception, etc., as the Christian Coalition and other religious supremacists are forcing schools to cut back or eliminate sex education classes. A survey by NARAL indicates Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas require teaching abstinence until marriage and almost nothing about AIDS and contraception. The NARAL survey also indicates that in one school district that gave the parents a choice about whether their children should be exposed to REAL sex education program, only 2.5 percent of parents of elementary school students, and 1 percent of high school students' parents choose that option. In other words, the Religious Supremacists only constitute a very small fraction of our population but the politicians are running scared. Where in the name of all that is decent and holy has leadership in this country gone? ....................... * ........................ I LOVE it. The new graffiti: "Newt Gingrich is the Fred Astaire of the foot-in-the-mouth disease. ....................... * ........................ The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case October 10, 1995 according to a release by the P.E.R.S.O.N. (email EqualityCO@aol.com or ngltf@ngltf.org): "On November 3, 1992,, the electorate of the state of Colorado voted 53%-47% in favor of passing anti-LGBT legislation, Amendment 2. The sweeping initiative gutted any chance of equal rights under the constitution for LGBT people and thus encouraged hating and hurting LGBT people. Since the campaign for the initiative began, Colorado has experienced a rise in homophobic hate violence. "The amendment also overturned "home rule" in such cities as Denver, Boulder, Vail, Telluride, and Crested Butte - all of which had adopted citywide ordinances protecting LGB (and T?) people from discrimination. "Although one cannot directly lobby the Justices, we can influence them indirectly by getting letters and opinion pieces in the major "mainstream" newspapers. "ACTUAL FULL TEXT OF AMENDMENT 2: `Neither the State of Colorado, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities OR SCHOOL DISTRICTS [capitalization added] , shall enact, adopt, or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status, or claim of discrimination.' "The P.E.R.S.O.N Organizing Manual: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/ (under construction) http://www.pride.net/pridenet/groups/person Resources: http://emanate.com/glwa/proj21 (courtesy "Gay & Lesbian Web Alliance") Action Alerts and Organizing Manual: http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/glb/person.html/ (courtesy Children's Animated Television) The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project is *always* looking for volunteer organizers." ....................... * ........................ Bob Greene, nationally syndicated columnist of The Chicago Tribune wrote about the video tape he had made: "The topic was how the police had conducted what was then called "the search without a search warrant" - the investigation at O.J. Simpson's house. One of us (Greene was on the panel) - one of the team of commentators who had been told to be objective - said: "~I think, on balance, given the exigencies of the situation, that the police probably acted reasonably and probably acted in good faith.' "Interesting," Green went on to say, "The NBC commentator who said that was Johnnie Cochran." Cochran had not yet been hired by O.J. Simpson. ....................... * ........................ To those wishing to communicate with the Brown or Goldman families may write them in care of the Los Angles District Attorney's Office, 210 West Temple St., Los Angles, CA 90012. Marsha Clark and Christopher Daren may also be contacted there. ....................... * ........................ This sure isn't the year for the men of the legal profession to shine with dignity. According to a PA news article by Rececca Maer, "Women barristers who are sexually harassed by their male counterparts are to be offered `safe chambers' and a confidential phone line by the Bar Council (in England)." The guys are NOT being reprimanded directly and told to behave or else. Bar Council chair Peter Goldsmith, 44, said "The equality code is one more step in the Bar's programme not simply to acknowledge discrimination but also to do something practical about it. "The Bar Council is determined to eradicate discrimination not only because it demeans individuals, but also because it robs the profession of talent by allowing irrelevant considerations to mask indicators of ability and potential." (Let's see, the bigots tried that separate but equal stuff with schools and decent human beings found it didn't work.) ....................... * ........................ WOW ! I just played around on Netscape last night and by typing in my name "Irene Stuber" I was led to Laurie Mann's Web page where she has webbed Women of Achievement and Catt's Claws. You get there with Catt's Claws as the query also. ....................... * ........................ To those who criticized Marcia Clark for being "too aggressive" and complimenting the "Dream Team" for being aggressive: "What men find it hard to believe is that a strong woman is not necessarily imitating a male, or wishing to play the role of one. "Strength--of body or mind or character or talent--is not a matter of sex. "A woman who knows how to be a woman not only needs and must have an active force of character and mind, but she has invariably, I have never known it to fail, an intense self-respect, precisely for herself, her attributes and functions as a female, and I never knew a woman worth herself who really wanted to be a man. "What she wants is the right to be a woman, and not the kind of image doing and saying what she is expected to say by a man who is afraid of one thing from her: "That one day she will forget and tell him the truth!" --Katherine Anne Porter, from March, 1958 Letters, p 547, submitted by Ruth Reis whose master's thesis was on Ms. Porter's Miranda stories. ....................... * ........................ The URLs to the most current weeks' worth of Catt's Claws set up on the Web by Laurie D. T. Mann, the Feminist Webitor, are: http://worcester.lm.com/lmann/feminist/cattsclaws.html FOR ANY OF THE 72 BACK ISSUES OF CATT'S CLAWS: The FTPs for Catt's Claws being archived by William Affleck-Asch, are: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/f/feminist/ (or NCFTP open ftp.eskimo.com cd /u/f/feminist/) The FTPs for Catt's Claws being archived by Dorothy Dean are: FTP.execpc.com ....................... * ........................ 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@cswnet.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. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting Catt's Claws. Irene Stuber. PO Box 6185, Hot Springs, AR 71902.<<<<