<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^>^<^> .....................Catt's Claws # 86 December 10, 1995...................... ..................... A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber...................... ................................................................................ To subscribe: email >listserv@Netcom.com< and in the body of the note type >subscribe Catts-Claws and your full name< -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A British doctor who raped a woman at a medical conference in Quebec has been struck from the General Medical Council - Britain's AMA. How refreshing to know that somewhere in this great big planet someone is forcing a man to pay in the pocketbook for his actions. Dr. Michael Bowler, 43, a father of four, jumped Canadian bail and fled back to England. He was extradited and is serving 30 months in a Canadian prison. As usual in so many rapes, he demanded oral sex FIRST. That happens to be common because a lot of rapists can't get turgid in a normal way. One wishes someone would teach women how to bite with their back morals - we mean BITE deep - and grab the testicles and twist, hang on, and keep twisting. The nicey-nicey lack of practical sex education is not to the woman's advantage. Men learn in locker rooms and on street corners (and in mags, books, and movies) all sorts of terrible things to do to womenbut women are never taught how to defend themselves. Also, poke their damned eyes out with your thumbs. ....................... * ........................ Phillip Donney - an attorney and Santa Clara University law school official - claims he tripped and fell while carrying a box and a knife and that was how he stabbed his wife. And it was because she panicked and struggled, that he inflicted a total of 19 stab wounds including four deep slashes across her chest. Their 7-year-old son testified he'd heard his mother begging for her life. An autopsy also shows she was hit on the head about four times with a blunt object. ....................... * ........................ Oh, for the love of mercy! These guys in the medical field had best wake up and smell herstory. A new study given all sorts of trumpets and bows says that women can only get pregnant six days a month. For GAWD's sake, the Roman Catholics formulated the rhythm method based on Old Wives knowledge a LONG time ago ... and a standard joke says that the proof of its effectiveness is a long string of children ... Also, the study, as most of these studies about women, don't take into consideration the differences in women. Some women have double ovulation and could get pregnant two times in a month ... there are differences. By the way, the nine months (270 day pregnancy period is also an average) not a firm biological rule. And right on the heels of this new "pregnancy" study that turns out to be a marketing ploy to sell a new kind of "can I get pregnant kit?" comes a Harvard study that show that pizza and spaghettie sauce can protect against prostate cancer ... ten or more servings a week !!! ....................... * ........................ Isn't it strange that the news media makes such a to-do about the misnomered Christian Coaltion that supports the cutting of socially responsible programs and ignored completely the peaceful, praying demonstration in the Capitol Rotunda that resulted in the arrest of 55 evangelical Christian preachers who were protesting the budget cuts to the poor. While Ralph Reed, head of the Christian Coalition, was feted when he visited the Capitol, not one single Congressional Representative met with them with the real Christians. "To simply slash and burn and dismantle all systems and safety nets without anything in their place is immoral," Rev. Jim Wallis said. "It's a sin and we reject it." ....................... * ........................ Catt's Claws finds the National Organization for Women's officers choice of December 6, 1995, to make a statement AGAINST a strong stand regarding domestic violence particularly repugnant since it was the anniversary of the Montreal massacre. As we wrote in memoria in our 12-03-95 CC, "On this day, December 6, 1989, at the University of Montreal's school of engineering, fourteen women were murdered in cold blood by a lone gunman. They were all shot because they were women. The killer shouted obscenities during his rampage, "You're all fucking feminists. You're women, you're going to be engineers. I hate feminists, I'm against feminism. That's why I'm here." Instead of remembering women who have died as a result of sexist violence, National NOW officers and the Board of Directors chose to announce censorship and a Sieg Heil! adherence to a party line. The National Organization FOR Women has become, in our opinion, the National Organization OF Women - and no longer the organization it was intended to be. The grab for power started by Ellie Smeal some years back and continued by her handpicked national slates of officers of NOW since then appears to be complete. Smeal's stand-in Patricia Ireland, last Dec. 6, 1995 (for GAWD's sake, couldn't you have waited until 12-07, or done it 12-05?) offered an apology to "repudiate racially insensitive statements made or ATTRIBUTED to local NOW leaders, particularly NOW Los Angles Chapter President Tammy Bruce." The national officers have been battling for some time to take the maverick Los Angeles NOW chapter away from Tammy (LA NOW happens to be the LARGEST NOW chapter in the country) and to silence a woman who was sadly the ONLY NOW voice raised about the violence aspects in the OJ Simpson verdict debacle - and a woman who has been a terrible thorn in the side of NOW's ever-growing more conservative leadership. Another rebel fighting for women's rights outside the Washington, DC, beltway is being silenced in what WAS ONCE a grassroots organization, i.e., an organization that took its orders and direction from the membership. Obviously, no more. Sieg Heil! In a resolution adopted by the National NOW Board of Directors, it was stated (hangonto your law books all ye true believers of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution): "THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NOW recognizes the need to coordinate its public statements and actions so that they consistently represent NOW's priorities." Also note in the above statement of apology that Ireland bases her condemnation on statements "ATTRIBUTED to local NOW leaders..." In other words, gossip is swallowed by the national leaders and made a weapon against a group of duly elected NOW local leaders who dare to speak out. NOW just what is president of LA NOW Tammy Bruce supposed to have done to warrant being officially censured by the National Board and its officers? We quote NOW's OWN PROBLEMATIC STATEMENTS AND ANGRY RESPONSES: 1) Statements made by or attributed to Tammy Bruce: -- "In a chaotic Nightline segment Oct. 4, the day after the verdict, transcripts show Bruce said, "What we need to teach our children is ... not about racism, but is about violence against women." (CC-->> In a recent study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine showed that one in three women have been victims of domestic abuse and half wer assaulted before the age of 18.) -- "In an Oct. 11 statement carried by wire services and major TV networks, Bruce said her message to O.J. Simpson was, "You are not welcome here, you are not welcome in this country, you are not welcome on our airwaves, you are not welcome in our culture." (CC-->> This is bad? OJ was obviously guilty and his actions SINCE the trial are pretty damming. As the joke goes, he pledged to spend all his time looking for the killer(s) of Nicole and he must think it's a golf caddy.) -- "In an Oct. 18 profile in the Los Angeles Times, Bruce was quoted as saying that her domestic violence message provided "a needed break from all that talk of racism." (CC-->> Yes, racism has drowned out the talk about domestic violence and become the top issue even for NOW who leadership has remained strangely silent on the issue.) -- "In a Nov. 17 story the Associated Press reported that, in refusing to appear on a TV talk show devoted to the Simpson case, Bruce told a producer she did not want to "argue with a bunch of Black women" and made other inflammatory comments that Bruce told the AP were inaccurate or taken out of context." (CC-->> NOW censored the remark. It was actually "argue with a bunch of Black women, we've moved beyond that.") 2) Responses: --"Leading national civil rights leaders contacted NOW leaders expressing anger and betrayal about how these statements were being received by people of color." (CC-->> how about the many NOW chapter leaders who contacted NOW and demanded some sort of statement regarding domestic violence?) -- "Local coalition partners, particularly in the fight against the anti-affirmative action ballot measure in California, took NOW to task publicly for the statements." (CC-->> Isn't this a democracy. Don't duly elected officials of a chapter have the right to speak for *that* chapter???) -- "Chapters in rural areas of one state reported receiving calls from Aryan Nation groups saying, "Way to go!" (CC-->> a couple of crackpot calls? No proof of who they came from? Two calls??) -- "An African American state legislator who had been a strong ally refused to attend a NOW event because it might jeopardize her bid for Congress." (CC-->> Oh really? Who is putting racism over feminist? Will she be wanting money from NOW again?) -- "One regional coordinator said all six states in her area received complaints that NOW was racist over the statements." (CC-->> These same complainers have been saying NOW is racist for the past umpteen years that I know of. This is nothing new. The membership of NOW is probably between 90 and 95% white. I know that in the Mid-South region which includes Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas they had to get a woman who resides and works in Washington, DC, (but was born in Louisiana) in order to get the required black representation on the National Board.) -- "One state leader said the coordinator of their hotline quit over the deluge of hostile phone calls protesting the statements." (CC-->> ONE?) -- "A chapter leader in a major city diffused a planned picket of NOW's offices over the statements." (CC-->> So what's another picketing by a small group in the life of NOW? Does the fact that someone wants to picket make the reason for the picketing right?) ========================================================================= In a message to National NOW the author of Catt's Claws (who has been a member of NOW longer than Patricia Ireland) I have stated I will NOT renew my NOW membership which is due January 1. I am a firm believer in the first amendment; I am unalterably opposed to censorship; I believe in the basic statement of purpose under which NOW was formed in 1966; I have seen the present slate of officers installed in a hand- me-down fashion that precluded fair elections and the elimination of the democratic form of elections; I have seen the National Organization FOR Women gradually became spokespeople for every other kind of social ills except that for the rights of ALL women; I have seen a once proud organization become ineffective and self-perpetuating, foundering without leadership; I have seen petty, personal bickering replacing honest debate; I have seen NOW disintegrate into an organization that protects itself rather than women and I therefore I can no longer respect or have a part in it. ============================================================================= The full statements by NOW on the Tammy Bruce matter are available on their WEB home page (which was formed after I FORCED, FOUGHT, BATTLED, ARGUED for years for NOW to get an Internet presence. It was MY resolution at San Antonio which forced the issue. Prior to that I had fought a losing battle to have every NOW chapter (especially state chapters) hooked into a fax network which would save National thousands of dollars in yearly phone calls and mailing costs as well as provide fast communications. Catt's Claws began because there was NO way for NOW feminists to communicate with one another because everything had to be filtered through the national offices. In fact, because of claims of budget constraints, NOW officers lopped off one of the National NOW Times so that it comes out three times a year instead of four. GAWD (God, a woman deity) forbid the membership should be told of what's going on. During the 1970s when feminism was bright and proud, one of its brightest lights told about a CR discussion about domestic violence and the lack of respect women get from their husbands. The writer saw a white woman break down and cry and Florynce Kennedy, one of our earliest and strongest feminist leaders, cradled her and said, "They does it to us all, honey." Oh yeah, Flo is black. And that is what the present-day leadership of NOW has forgotten. Remember, when our Black neighbors get their full rights (long overdue and I marched for Black civil rights risking my job and my children's food because it was the right thing to do) Black women will still be women and be without human rights. Are Black women any better off in Black countries in Africa's Black nations than they are in this so-called racist America? As Flo Kennedy said, "They does it to us all, honey." ========================================================================= Why, many of us ask, was it NECESSARY for Tammy Bruce to become THE ONLY spokeswoman on the matter of domestic violence? Why is NOW paying its officers those salaries? What have they been doing for the 1.5 months since that OJ decision and Tammy began speaking out? A pox on National NOW for allowing women's reactions to the OJ decision to be perceived as a racist issue and not as a protest against the approval of domestic violence. ....................... * ........................ If any of you would like to contact Tammy Bruce, she may be reached at . ....................... * ........................ For those of you who object to my remarks about NOW and the Tammy Bruce censorship, may unsubscribe by emailing and in the body of the note write and your name. There is no ' and the hyphen is necessary. ....................... * ........................ Our monthly reminder: Medical authorities are saying the use of two already approved drugs that induce abortions when used in combination has produced a surge in abortions but no one will realize it for several years because they are being prescribed quietly and in private in doctor's offices. Dr. Richard U. Hausknecht of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York published a study of the use of the combination of methotrexate and misoprostol to induce abortion in the Aug. 31 in the New England Journal of Medicine. In yers past, several doctors, including a woman doctor released the same information and after the first news story, it was quietly ignored/supressed. Catt's Claws vows this time the information will stay available. Methotrexate is FDA-approved for use against cancer; Misoprostol is FDA approved to treat ulcers. Because both are FDA-approved, they can be prescribed by physicians today and together, they produce abortions at a better rate than the RU-486 pill. Available today at your friendly M.D. Also available for many years and never brought to women's attention, the drugs that produced abortions in women with ectopic pregnancies. ....................... * ........................ 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.<<<<