<^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> <^> ........Catt's Claws # 97 ... January 17, 1996......... ........ A Feminist Newsletter by Irene Stuber......... ....................................................... The two days of hearings before the House Economic and Employment Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations was nothing but the public paying for the religious right's Lou Sheldon, an anti-woman, anti-gay extremist and Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition. Sheldon said the hearings were scheduled at his request to discuss the "promotion of promiscuity in the public schools." For two days, witnesses yelled and carried on about sex education, HIV prevention, youth support groups - and democracy in general. "These Congressional hearings are only the tip of the iceberg," said Beth Barrett, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force spokesperson. "The Radical Right's quest is to dismantle sex education and safe school programs by keeping quality, honest and factual information out of the hands of young people." Former Education Secretary William Bennett, one of the right wingers guides to intellectual oblivion, said U.S. schools should teach fundamental values to students along with other subjects ... his values of course. ....................... * ........................ Bcole72@aol.com writes: "What could the National Women's Political Caucus be thinking -- to present womanizing millionaire Bill Koch with a 1995 Good Guy award? All right, he sponsored a mostly female team, adding a man at last minute, in last summer's America's Cup. (CC-->> and that man actually is the one who LOST the race because of a decision he made in the race - yet the news media and Koch himself never made an issue out of it. WHY??? Because the boyz won? <-cc) Bcole continues, "But his recent tussle in Boston Housing Court with ex-love Catherine de Castelbajac overrides any points for good behavior. He lured de Castelbajac away from husband and home in France to his deluxe Boston condo, promising to take care of her for life. Instead, he had her evicted. And this guy deserves an award for enlightened behavior toward women? "Even the premise of his award, his sponsorship of the nearly all-woman team in the America's Cup race, is suspect. Reports have it the women were treated as trained seals merely performing as their male masters instructed. Koch promised the women he would never add a man to the team, but reneged just before the race. (Was it sabotage?) The women, of course, had no vote in the decision. "Bill Koch is NOT our man for the enlightened 90s. His behavior rather smacks of ordinary, boring, old-fashioned chauvinism of the variety in practice, say, in 1617: "To make a poor maiden or woman a whore, "They care not how much they spend of their store, "But where is there a man that will anything give "That woman or maid may with honesty live? -- "Joane Sharp, A Defence of Women (1617)" ....................... * ........................ Wonder how THE video tape is selling? Estimates are that he will realize $3 million in blood money. Has anyone taken the tape and done a voice stress test on it or any of the other stuff "it" has done. (I can't refer to him as a human being, just an it.) We have no idea if the protest of Denise Brown and LA NOW's censured Tammy Bruce did any good over the weekend (or our calling for supporters) but "it" didn't show for his golf game. Aw. The big, brave man didn't show, afraid of all those nasty lil ole women ... Listen up GIRLS, "it" only thinks it's fair when it is dark and he has a knife, or when the smaller woman is alone. Stop taking advantage of him! ....................... * ........................ If you recall, President Bill Clinton, whose mother was a single parent and is especially sensitive to the difficulties of raising children alone, toughened the federal regulations regarding deadbeat dads. Well, the Department of Health and Human Services released preliminary figures showing the government collected $11 billion in child support payments in 1995, up from $10 billion in 1994. The government was also able to establish paternity in 735,000 cases. And the Republicans are touting that THEY are the ones who are going to tighten up on deadbeat dads. (Yes, there are deadbeat moms, but since it's is 90% men, we'll use DAD nine times and mom once instead of using the generic "person" that seems to spread the blame 50-50.) A recent Census Department study found more than half of all families with an absent parent have child support orders in place. Of those, only 50 percent get all the money they are due, a quarter get part of the required payment and the rest get no money at all. ....................... * ........................ A Gallup poll (why in the name of all that is decent do were need a poll when common sense should be enough) showed the physical abuse rate among families with less than $20,000 per year is three times higher than the rate in families with incomes of $50,000 per year. Among mothers with an income of less than $20,000, the rate of physical abuse is more than twice the national average. Thinking (by women anyway) makes it obvious that if a woman can get away from ALL the responsibilities of raising children on next to nothing, she will be emotionally more stable. Is there a greater hell than being with children dependant on you 24 hours a day when they and you are hungry, cold, and completely without hope of things changing? ....................... * ........................ The extent of the AIDS in the sub-Sahara was dramatized in the National Research council report statistics that show that by the year 2010, AIDS will have lowered the average life expectancy in Zambia from 66 to 33 years. In Zimbabwe, the life expectancy by the year 2010 could drop from 70 to 40 years, from 68 to 40 years in Kenya and from 59 to 31 years in Uganda. And there are STILL black men in this country who claim that AIDS is a false alarm and say that black women having more and more babies is more important than anything else. Who, sirs, are the ones responsible for genocide of the black race if you don't make any effort to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS? ....................... * ........................ A woman addicted to drugs who was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of her three children has been ordered not to have any more children, or else. The sentence by Monterey County Superior Judge John Phillips against Gelenda Ballance Bosely, 25, seems to have some merit on the surface, but just consider for a itsy-bitsy second: Have you ever heard of a man being sterilized because he rapes his children? Have you ever heard of a man being sterilized because he KILLS his children? The ruling is being appealed. ....................... * ........................ About a year ago Catt's Claws published a note from a reliable person with a reliable pharmaceutical company that a new contraceptive device would be on the market within the year. It didn't appear. And now (of all places!) _The New York Times_ writes up an Alan Guttmacher Institute study that reveals companies are withdrawing from the field of reproduction control in droves - all under extreme pressure. The pressure, on the surface appears to be liability lawsuits and expensive, lengthy regulatory studies. That is not different than other drugs so it obvious the anti-abortion fanatics and their threats have made deep inroads - and, of course, there is more money to be made from a burgeoning population than a controlled birth rate. "There's clearly a need for better contraceptive methods, when well over half the pregnancies to U.S. women are unplanned," Susan Tew, a spokeswoman for the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, told the newspaper. "And we clearly need more methods that offer dual protection, from pregnancies and from sexually transmitted disease. But it doesn't look like we'll see much on the market any time soon." One wonders why some feminist doesn't encourage women to buy the stock in a certain pharmaceutical company and force them to start being responsible to women's needs. Women have the money to buy controlling interest ... and women have the smarts to run a company. ....................... * ........................ In January, Rickey Allen Bright, 41, was released from a North Carolina prison on parole after serving 13 years of a 15-to-life sentence. He was convicted in the kidnapping and attempted rape of a 7-year-old girl in 1979. In October, Bright allegedly kidnapped and raped a 9-year-old girl. ....................... * ........................ We haven't heard, but how are the efforts coming along to prevent the release of serial rapist Christopher Evans Hubbart, 44, from a California prison January 25 near Pasadena? A group called the Women's Coalition asked for some way to prevent his release (Ah, where's NOW in all this? Picking on one of its members instead of fighting for women's rights and safety?) Anyway, Hubbart is suspected of raping more than 30 women, including one woman the day he was RELEASED from a state mental hospital. (What kind of a doctor did he have? Why isn't the doctor under charges of misconduct or incompetence????) Hubbart has served his 12-year sentence. He particularly likes to force women victims into performing oral sex on him. There is a new state law that says a "sexually violent predator" can be held in a mental hospital for two more years. The Women's Coalition recently opposed the release of Reginald Muldrew, the so-called "Pillowcase Rapist," who was suspected of raping up to 200 women. Muldrew was released from prison earlier this month, despite the group's protests. ....................... * ........................ The Men's Health magazine reported that twice as many women as men say they would rather give up sex than their television remote control for a week. Men were aghast saying it proves that feminism is teaching women to hate men. However, it is obvious to us that men ought to give up the remote control, take a bath, get lessons on being attractive, and learn how to sexually satisfy a woman. What is it, 40% of all married women don't EVER experience orgasm with their husbands? No wonder they choose TV. ....................... * ........................ An 87-year-old Atlanta convalescent home woman resident was raped at least ten times by one of the home's employees, Paul Roberson, 58. The rapes were verified through tests. Rapes of women at nursing homes is painfully common, especially if the women suffer from any debilitating diseases that makes them nearly helpless because of illness or dementia. The males patients are often allowed to wander through the women's rooms at will - and of course, the orderlies and male workers such as Roberson ... Women only nursing homes are something many women should consider for their elderly mothers ... Hey, it's more common than you would like to think. It's also very common in state operated mental health facilities. Knew of a case where a severely retarded girl in a state hospital who needed a great deal of medication to keep her "calm" became pregnant through the raping of an orderly. The "calming" medication would have harmed the fetus so the doctors in charge decided she should be strapped under restraints in a cot until the baby was born. The local pro-choice group got that changed and she had an abortion. She was 14. ....................... * ........................ A reader wrote: "I disagree with your statement that NOW's agenda includes everything BUT the advancement of women's rights. For almost three decades, this organization has been at the forefront of the women's movement and many, many advances in this area can be attributed to NOW's activism at the local and national levels. NOW members, through local chapters and state organizations, have been instrumental in changing policies, laws, and heightening the awareness of the public on women's issues. I have personally spent many hours of my life defending clinics, organizing rallies, marches, political events on behalf of women candidates, all under the leadership and guidance of NOW. I am only one of thousands of activists that NOW has mobilized over the years into ACTION. Many times, while holding hands with my sisters defending a woman's right to choose, I wondered where the rest of us were... "I happen to disagree with some of NOW's stands, in particular, its lack of voice in the OJ Simpson matter; domestic violence punishes women as much as racism and sexism. I believe that a crime was committed and that another wife beater got away with murder. Tammy Bruce's leadership in Los Angeles in decrying the unfairness of the system was a welcome note in an otherwise unbearable series of events. As a NOW elected official, however, she is bound to abide by NOW policy; disagreements with policies are everyday happenings within the NOW organization. There are forums for expressing disagreements, a method through which policy can be changed, a method through which leadership can be changed, there is a system in place to resolve these issues internally without exposing the organization to public debates within their own members and elected leadership --- this tactic only hurts the overall efforts of the organization. Tammy's options were many -- first, mobilize the local chapter to pressure National NOW to change its position. "Secondly, take the issue to the state board, the national board - debate it fully within the elected NOW leadership, and thirdly, if the previous two options have failed, resign as the president of LA NOW and express disagreement with the policy as a member of the organization, not as the leader of the largest chapter in the country." The writer of this message (who has asked to remain unnamed) and the author of Catt's Claws have had a long email conversation and it turns out that the writer has pulled back from almost all involvement with NOW because of disillusionment. After the surface anger, it appears that she agrees that national NOW officers are sitting on their well paid hands and doing virtually nothing. And she is one of the women who made NOW great. My question remains: If NOW is so devoted to diversity, why is it dictating and trying to force ONE opinion on all its members. When did this need for everyone to lockstep occur? When did democracy and free speech leave the women's movement? Not even the Republican party does that ! Sieg Heil Ellie Smeal, Tricia Ireland, and me-too-Kim Gandy? ....................... * ........................ Ted Boze writes: "Please include a piece on Governor's Commission on Women in Vermont in your next newsletter. Lt Governor Barbara Snelling (Rep) from Vermont has suggested abolishing the Human Rights Commission and the Governor's Commission on Women in Vermont as a means of cutting Vermont's budget. The Governor's Commission on Women has been the state agency administering Federal and State pass-through monies for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Programs throughout the state. Volunteer Commissioners and one part-time staff member make site visits and review financial information to make sure that grant money is accounted for properly. "Please contact Sara Lee, the executive director of the GCW at 802-828-2851 for more information. The actual operating funds for the commission are $3000 above salaries and benefits. The commission employs three full-time staff and two part-time staff ( all women right now) and if it survives is looking at a 20% cut in funding and staff for next year." ....................... * ........................ Sandra Woien sends in this quote from John Stoltenberg who is a feminist: "Every religious belief system instituted by men-including Judaism, which deifies the father, and Christianity which defies the son-is designed to dehumanize the person of the mother." Yes, Sandra, I believe that as long as god is a man, men will consider themselves gods. ....................... * ........................ "There is a striking gap between the Indonesian government's pronouncements on the protection of women's rights at the international level and the grim realities on the ground," Amnesty International said in its first report on violations against women in Indonesia and East Timor. The report documents cases of political imprisonment, restrictions on labor activists, rape and torture of women in detention, ill-treatment of suspected prostitutes, extrajudicial executions and the death penalty. The report also looks at how impunity enjoyed by members of the Indonesian security forces contributes to human rights violations against women. AI says women seeking to protect their social and economic rights are frequently subjected to human rights violations including arbitrary detention, torture and imprisonment. ....................... * ........................ We obviously didn't make it clear about Rush Limbaugh's sex record. He's now on his fourth wife - but he was beginning to be looked at a bit strange by his Republican sweaty-palms friends because he stayed single for so long. There have always been rumors about him being AC/DC. So he bought another trophy wife. ....................... * ........................ A cry for a health warning on the packages of birth control pills has been ignored by the FDA since 1989. LONG TERM USE OF BIRTH CONTROL PILLS MAY BE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN YOUNGER THAN 45 YEARS OLD. ....................... * ........................ 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 up to three times a week. 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.<<<<