<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ......................Catt's Claws # 89 December 19, 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< -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Sharon Bryant who originally informed us of this terrible incident has sent us an update on young Kimberly who was raped by her father at the age of 19 days. By his admission, he used BOTH thumbs to penetrate the baby's anus. Sharon writes, "According to a news interview with Kimberly's mother, age 16, she was changing Kimberly's diaper and left the room to get the baby a bottle. The father William Darrow, 21, was left in charge of the child while the mother was out of the room. Ms. Darrow said she heard the baby screaming and went back into the room to find out what was wrong. At that time, they left to take the child to the hospital, the mother was not aware what had taken place." (Sharon reports part of the TV interview she saw was cut out here.) "When questioned about her husband's confession, Ms. Darrow said he admitted to her to forcing both his thumbs into the baby's rectum. This only after he had been questioned by investigators. "The baby had been taken to the emergency room one time prior to the incident that resulted in the arrest of the father and Kimberly being placed in protective services of the Department of Human Resources. Huntsville Hospital's official statement to the press was that there was no evidence that the child had been abused at the time of the first visit to the emergency room. "William Darrow is being held in Madison County Jail and is being charged with Child Physical Abuse. "Kimberly Darrow is still in a hospital in Birmingham. She is believed to still be in the hospital as a protective act. Her exact condition is not known. "William Darrow did admit to Susan Holley, a TV reporter, during a quickie interview as he walked from a courtroom to an elevator that he had abused the child. He attributing his actions to a drug problem. This interview has already been subpoenaed by law enforcement agencies here in Huntsville." Sharon B. continues: "In addition to a piece of an interview that I saw with Ms. Darrow last night, there was a full interview with Ms. Darrow and the grandmother of Kimberly Darrow. I did not see the full interview, but will try to catch it at noon today, if it is broadcast. Jeff Raker (of WAAY-TV, channel 31 who supplied Sharon with a great deal of this information) had a lot to say about it and I think his exact description was `gripping.' He also said that Ms. Darrow and her mother are very upset about the situation. "Ms. Darrow did say during the interview last night that when she was returned custody of her child, she planned on finishing high school and then moving out of state to begin rebuilding her life. No mention was made of her husband sharing any part of her or the child's new life." Sharon then brought up a point that worries a lot of women in face of the courts now allowing visitation rights to children born of rape - and in one case allowing the rapist in the delivery room because he wanted to "share the experience." Sharon B: "I am wondering already what the court system is going to have to say about his parental and visitation rights to and with the child.... did he really think he was going to get away with it/that it wouldn't hurt her/that questions wouldn't be asked? I can't help but feel that (I don't know how to express this) there is some good in the abuse being discovered now instead of years down the line after he has made a habit of abusing the child. I don't understand this, I know it has happened but I have a hard time understanding and integrating it. My heart is still aching from it. I feel so helpless." Before anyone - ANYONE - says, "oh, it was just his thumbs..." let me reduce you to about 18" tall (the probable size of Kimberly) and insert something of the diameter of 2-3" into YOUR rectum... or to size things from an 18" baby to a 5'10" average adult male, try something about 12" in diameter. As anyone in or around police or emergency rooms knows, rapes are often committed with objects other than men's peni. Sticks, baseball bats, etc., are common because the man is frustrated because he can't get turgid, confirming (if there is ANYONE left who thinks rape is a sexual imperative) that rape is a power trip, not sexual. Anyone raping a tiny baby is keenly aware that the baby or child is completely helpless, unable to protect herself. One can only hope that one of the men's rights chapters masquerading under child protective association names doesn't take over the case and start defending Darrow as abused himself, and a fit parent after he gets over his drug problem. Way to check it out is through the attorneys who pop up in so many of the cases where the father's rights and SOLE CUSTODY are being pushed at the expense of the children's safety so that the less affluent women often drop support payment requests. ....................... * ........................ Superpatriot right-winger Rep. Enid Greene who was hailed as the brave new Republican ideal woman went on for five hours "litanizing" that "Joe-did-it" in a news conference. She blamed her husband over and over and over again for her financial predicament - blatant misuse of campaign funds, some $1.8 million in funds. Utah voters, however, are clamoring for her resignation and saying she had to take equal blame for the blatant misuse of funds. ....................... * ........................ Moonshadow from Hawaii sends greetings and a news clip about a new study (Oh, spare us from these studies by the misogynists of the world) that purports girls are hitting below the belt, forsooth! This study shows that 10% of young boys received a non-sexual genital kick by someone their own age, very often a girl. However, girls suffered the same kind of injury but not as often. It was a BOY SCOUT funded study, not exactly where you thought your donations should go, huh? Especially since it is (horrors!) Hollywood that has shown girls how effective the genital kick can be. Nothing in the study indicates WHY the girls kicked and if you read the way the study is written, the kicks can just as well be boy to boy or boy to girl as girl to boy. Other studies have indicated that boys begin sexual harassment of girls at a very tender age and is one of the big problems in elementary schools. ....................... * ........................ Fran Longmire writes: "Thanks for your support of Tammy Bruce. This is not new. I'm sure you've read Sonia Johnson's account of NOW's stifling of her views, too. "Here in L.A. most of us support Tammy and are grateful for her courage. Many of my friends have attended her candlelight vigils and said it was a very moving experience. "I am a mediawatch activist and have been very angry at the willingness of the press to turn a gender issue into a race issue as in the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill matter and the Central Park Jogger case.... I hope that feminists in other parts of the country will find out that Tammy Bruce is much more popular in her local area than most people think. Another thing about Tammy that we enjoy here that others might not know about is that she has a very wicked sense of humor and can be barrels of fun." CC-->> One minor correction, Fran. I am not "supporting" Tammy Bruce as much as saying she has the right to her opinion and that National NOW has no business trying to censor its grassroots. Firstly, however, we are censuring the present leadership of National NOW for not taking a leadership position in anything having to do with advancing the cause of women's rights, and MOST OF ALL, for allowing the OJ Simpson trial to be a victory for racists like Mark Fuhrman and Johnnie Cochran at the expense of women. Next issue of CC will have a reply from a large-state chapter president, a women we admire greatly, who disagrees with Tammy's position. ....................... * ........................ Oh LAWDIE (listen to a woman deity's intonnation of exasperation) A new study by a conservative think tank says that men and the workplace are not the reason for women earning less money; it is the woman's choice about work and family that are the causes. Check that out the next time you apply for a job and find yourself being shunted over to less paying work. Katherine Post of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy says " our work shows women are doing quite well, given the choices they have made." ....................... * ........................ A forward from a "dog" list subscriber on AOL: 'Just read on one of my other lists that someone on AOL had her *private* email returned because AOL would not process it due to the word "bitch" being used to describe her female dog. "Another person emailed back that her husband is a doctor, and recently the censors (who are they, anyway?) decided to delete the word "breast" from another list -- the American Cancer Society list. Rather hard to discuss breast cancer now on that list, I gather. "Rather a scary thing going on, this so-called censorship!" Has anyone tried to find out if the AOL censors are censoring "penis," or "dick" or "rape" or "hooters?" ....................... * ........................ Steve Forbes who is going to come to the fore in the race for the Republican nomination is using his _Forbes Magazine_ to further the lies being promulgated by the Republican ULTRA-Right-Wing Concerned Women for America, namely that the NEA is pushing the gay lifestyle in schools. It is also an attack on unions and any organizations that defend the workers. NEA president Keith Geiger states: "NEA resolutions B-9 (Sexual Orientation Education) is a resolution against intolerance, not a resolution that advocates any lifestyle." The CWA, in a blatant fund raising letter, implies that tax dollars are being used to promote the homosexual lifestyle in schools. "And none of our tax dollars must go to `celebrate' Lesbian and Gay History Months in our public schools," says Beverly LaHaye who with her far-right extremist husband have become multi-millionaires with their hate campaigns. It is amazing to Catt's Claws that so-called religious people hate so much, but as Kahlil Gibran proved in the story that got him excommunicated from the Catholic Church, that a religion to stand, it must have enemies such as the devil - and hate offshoots like CWA and Phil Gramm, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, etc., needed something to take the place of communism as the hate engine and turned to homosexuality. Most people don't give a care one way or the over. Unless, of course, Pat, Beverly, Phil, etc., you are interested in them sexually. ....................... * ........................ The novel about two girls who discover their homosexuality _Annie on My Mind_ will remain in the Olathe, Kansas high school library shelves by order of a federal judge. The federal judge found that the school board president, who doubles as president of student life at a fundamentalist college, acted solely on his own negative attitudes toward homosexuality in removing Annie the library. "Annie" was hailed by the American Library Association as a "Best Book" of 1982. "Annie" was burned in Kansas City, Mo., during the 1993-94 school year, when it was the nation's most challenged public school book, according to People for the American Way, a civil rights group. (CC-->> We've never read the book. Anyone willing to send me a copy, I promise to return it. I'm a fast reader.) ....................... * ........................ Yes, there are those who believe there is nothing wrong with adult-child sex and want the age of consent abolished to allow free consensual sex with children ... although how a child can consent is beyond our comprehension ... Gerald Moonen, chair of the Australian Man Boy Love Association, sent information about his favorite perversion over the Wellington City Council's link to Internet. The council is taking action against him. ....................... * ........................ Robert James Acremant who is accused of killing two Oregon women denies that he killed them because they were lesbians. He said he knew Roxanne Ellis, 54, and Michelle Abdill, 42, were lesbians before he killed them, but the murders were because he was frustrated because he wasn't rich. "That's someone's grandma, for God sake," he said. "Could you imagine my grandma a lesbian with another woman? I couldn't believe that. It crossed my mind a couple of times." Acremant also says he shoot a friend to death in October but police are treating the friend's disappearance as a missing person not a murder. Ellis had shown Acremant a rental apartment in Medford. Acremant made an appointment to see the apartment again on the day of the murders. Acremant described murder as "maybe a little relieving. It's interesting. "It's no different than shooting your chicken that just lost in a cockfight or putting your sick dog to sleep or shooting at tin cans." ....................... * ........................ Patricia Schroder (D-Colo) has predicted the special counsel the House Ethics committee voted to hire to investigate the wrong doings of House Speak Newt Gingrich will not abide by the strictures that the Republicans are trying to tie her/him with ... "Unless they appoint some total puppet, this special counsel is going to come back" and ask for more information, Schroeder said on ABC's "This Week With David Brinkley." ....................... * ........................ Dean Olds admitted in open court during a civil trial that he had spoken about hiring a hit man to kill her. affecting the estate of his late wife and then invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to self-incrimination when he was asked if he was responsible for his wife's death. She was bludgeoned to death after she filed for divorce from Olds, 66, who was using her money to finance a love affair with a 26-year-old German man. The young male lover was acquitted of the murder and returned to Germany. Olds had financed Hofer's attempt to flee the country before his arrest. ....................... * ........................ In answer to our question about increasing rape penalties, Martha H. Harris sent us the following summation (which we paraphrased): An attempt by North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt to make first degree rape punishable by life without parole in certain circumstances was opposed by women's groups since many juries bring in a lot of not guilty verdicts because they don't feel that what the rapist did was "that bad" -- not so bad that he should have his life/career ruined by spending some time in prison. CC-->> Rock and a hard place? Don't prosecute and punish equitably according to the crime? Of course, after the OJ decision, maybe they have a point, but it sure frosts me to see women defending lighter sentences for rape. Has anyone bothered to see if the theory of heavier sentences meaning more acquittals stands the test of study? So often these stands are just BS fed to women who don't check it out. Wouldn't it be nice if we had some sort of women watching rape trials like Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Maybe we're just too tired of excuses for not acting in a more militant manner - aggressive? - assertive? - life defending? The way we're going, we just turn belly up and nothing gets done. Even Ghandi with his passive resistance was there. Today's feminist leaders are no where. ....................... * ........................ In CC of 12-14-95, we wrote: "remember the wonderful, kind, compassionate man who was driven out of the presidential race for crying about a piece of shit written about his wife encouraged by the New Hampshire newspaper?" Sometimes we forget the generation gap; it's kind of the question "Where were you when Kennedy was shot," and the new college grad answering, "I wasn't born yet." Anyway, PolWoman wrote: "That was Ed Muskie, then Senator from Maine. He was the favorite for the nomination in 1972, and he was done in by Nixon's Watergate dirty tricks dept, which planted the "Canuck" story. If he had won the nomination, instead of George McGovern, he might have beaten Nixon, the war might have ended sooner, and the Democratic Party might have become a progressive one -- rather than turning on progressives because of the perceived failure of McGovernism." She also wrote in answer to a request to jog our memory about the New Hampshire newspaper that wrote that editorial trash: "It was the infamous Manchester Union-Leader, in those days run by William Loeb, and still run as a far-right journal by his widow, Nackey." Catt's Claws wonder why so many newspapers in this nation are operated by far-right extremists? Well, they can't control Internet - at least not yet - which is why the Republicans in Congress are so hard at work trying to set up a system of censorship. ....................... * ........................ Ogden Nash is an American poet of the previous generations who is nice to revisit once in awhile for his tongue in the cheek poetry: "Did Someone Say "Babies"? "Everybody who has a baby thinks everybody who hasn't a baby ought to have a baby, / Which accounts for the success of such plays as the Irish Rose of Abie, / The idea apparently being that just by being fruitful / You are doing something beautiful, / Which if it is true / Means that the common housefly is several million times more beautiful than me or you...." ....................... * ........................ We repeat our CONDOM ALERT - Avanti Plastic Condoms break four times more often than latex. And, of course, the "thins" for the men who claim "they can't feel anything" are VERY dangerous for women who are depending on them for pregnancy and AIDS prevention. The rate of tearing is alarming. Breakage in a two-year test showed Avanti tore at a 9.6% rate as compared to 1.6% for PROPERLY used regular latex condoms. Many men are refusing to wear latex condoms because of an unfounded rumor of impotency resulting from them. (CAN YOU REALLY BELIEVE HOW AFRAID THIS YOUNGER GENERATION OF "MEN" ARE OF THEIR POTENCY?) Evidentally the basis for this false rumor is that about 5% (2.5% are men) of the population shows some allergic reaction to latex. The allergy is to antigens - and most of the allergic reactions are from rubber gloves, etc., made overseas. Just make sure the condoms you buy are made in the U.S.A. with more stringent rules about washing away the antigens in production. Any man who refuses to use a latex condom should be refused unless he has taken the simple doctor administered latex allergy test ... Forgot? Forget it. Don't die for love. ................................................. 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.<<<<