Where do Virginians stand on reproduction? Yesterday, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia released its legislative scorecard charting local legislators' opinions on everything from fetal personhood to mandatory ultrasounds to abstinence-only education. Reps with an exclusively pro-choice record earned a score of 100 for the group; the most committed anti-abortion voters got zeroed. NARAL is a pro-choice organization, but its ranking is equally instructive for politicos on both sides of the reproductive aisle: Michelle Bachmann touts her NARAL rating of zero as a confirmation of her pro-life bonafides.
Above, I've charted the distribution of opinions on reproduction across the state, with the tiny women icons representing pro-choice legislators, those big red things indicating pro-life reps, and the dainty pink dots standing in for those who fall somewhere in between.
And after the jump: A sample of proposed legislation included in NARAL's calculation:
"Ladies, please don’t go there," Petula Dvorak implored women in her obligatory royal wedding column yesterday. "No 4 a.m. watch parties in jammies and tiaras. No scones, no cucumber sandwiches. No swooning."
"Aren’t we all just a little too smart, sage and savvy to get swept up in the hype and the unreasonable hope of the royal wedding?" Dvorak asks. "Just this week, the Census Bureau told us that not only are women outpacing men in college enrollment, but—for the first time ever—women now hold more advanced college degrees and bachelor degrees than men. So, Misses Smartypants: What’s up with all these vapid, royal wedding princess parties?"
I don't know: Pajama parties are fun? Silly hats are neat? Scones taste good?
OVER 130,000 PEOPLE have signed a petition to hold McDonalds accountable for the attack on trans woman Chrissy Lee Polis inside a Rosedale, Md. location last week. One employee filmed the minutes-long attack that sent Polis into a seizure. Though the video shows the store's manager attempting to intervene in the beating, other employees, well, stood around and filmed it, some apparently laughing at the incident. Change.org wants the fast food chain to adopt an anti-discrimination policy that's inclusive of gender identity and to provide employees with diversity training. Interestingly, the tape has been central to the incident's traction as a rallying point for LGBT rights. I can't imagine this level of national outcry had the incident not been widely circulated on YouTube; it certainly wouldn't have gained so much traction on TV, where there just isn't a story without a visual.
AFTER THE JUMP: STD education of yore; Albert Haynesworth and black athletes who date white women; Dept. of labor rethinks "sex"; the FBI should rethink "rape":
Advice on padlocks, HIV-positives, and never-the-bridesmaids. (Photo: Associated Press)
Truncating the week's advice columns:
If your growth hormone deficiency leads authorities to believe that your husband is sex trafficking you, carry your passport, marriage license, and a doctor's note on your person at all times. Tell the recipient of your bone marrow donation to stop calling. The person who arranged the date should reach for the check; at the third date, it's acceptable to suggest you go dutch. If you reconnected with your estranged friend on Facebook only to find that she was not sick on the day of your wedding but rather refused to attend because you did not make her a bridesmaid, silence is an acceptable response. [Dear Prudence]
When adult boutique KK's Temptations set up shop in Manassas, Va. last fall, the town's conservative set met the mother-daughter outfit with fire and brimstone proclamations. Despite the inauspicious welcome, the shop has nevertheless made pains to fit in on the city's quaint Old Town strip. Owners Kim and Kristina Skokan tuck the shop's cock rings and anal beads behind a protective swinging door. They banish the typical black plastic bags for tissue-lined pink ones. They raise money for breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's. And they relegate more extreme material to their online shop.
Also available exclusively online: Merchandise for the gender non-conforming set. KK's online store includes a "transgender apparel" section, which sells women's shoes in men's sizes, butt-building panties, and removable breast forms with matching see-through bras. Kim Skokan says the shop sees "tons" of gender-nonconforming drop-ins at the shop; she's available to special-order items for them online.
D.C. police hate crimes town hall falls on victims. (Photo: Samuel Corum)
VICTIM BLAMING at D.C.'s recent hate crimes town hall: "The most obvious misstep occurred during the first five minutes of the meeting," writes Michael of The New Gay. "During the introductions, police officers walked around the room clumsily and noisily handing out pieces of paper. While distracting us from the speakers, these sheets were filled with tips on how we could avoid being victims and contact numbers for the MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit. From the second I cast my eyes on the paper, I realized what would be the focus of the meeting: accepting the existence of crimes against the queer community, educating individual members of that community on how to avoid the inevitable and invariable violence attacking us, and how the district and federal courts are using bias enhancements to increase the penalties of the offenders."
AFTER THE JUMP: L&O takes on Gabby Giffords; the lasting effects of gay bashing; the dangers of sex blogging:
The Albert Haynesworth sex abuse case thickens: The government has now detailed its full account of what went down the morning of Feb. 13 on the W Hotel's rooftop lounge. And there are plenty of issues of consent to unpack in the filing.
According to court documents, a 23-year-old waitress working Haynesworth's table claims that the Redskins defensive tackle inserted a debit card into her bra and then groped her before paying his bill. Haynesworth has been indicted on a charge of misdemeanor sexual abuse in the incident; his attorney has called the charge "disappointing, regretful and a difficult case for the government to prove."
Below, teasing out consent in a high-profile groping case:
A waitress at the downtown D.C. W Hotel claims that on Feb. 13, Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth sat at her table, then allegedly groped her breast without her consent. Haynesworth "tried to pay his bill by giving [the waitress] his credit card," an incident report in the case reads. "However he asked if it would be OK to stick the credit card in her blouse near her breast area. [The waitress] nodded her head yes. [Haynesworth] then placed the card into [the waitress]’s blouse then gently began sliding the card further into her left breast and then began to caress her breast.”
MICHIGAN HANDGUN AD: Step right in to the NRA instructor's lair, ladies: "Gun control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound." THOUGHTS: (a) So this is how to end rape: By individually exterminating all rapists before they rape us, and all for the low, low price of $79 (plus range fees). (b) I'm not convinced they didn't get that from a zombie movie. (c) Since the vast majority of rapes are committed by acquaintances, it's more likely that you'll be explaining to police how your husband got that fatal bullet wound. (d) That gun's more likely to kill you than him, also. (e) Shouldn't they update this with "leggings" at some point? (f) I still kind of want to take this class. BONUS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY: "Men Who Support Women Against Gun Control."
AFTER THE JUMP: Vince Orange on LGBT issues; Aaron Sorkin, Keith Olbermann, and Olivia Munn together at last; gay judges:
Fashion Fantasy, a Manassas sex shop with a lower profile. (Photo: TBD Staff)
The most vociferous critics of Old Town Manassas sex shop KK's Temptations claim that the adult boutique attracts "real perverts," "pedophiles," and "disease" to their community. What community is that, exactly?
Below, I've graphed the spread of listed addresses of the 60-plus critics who spoke out publicly against the store in a Sept. 7, 2010 town hall meeting. Here's what I found:
Last fall, Kim Skokan and daughter Kristina announced plans to open KK’s Temptations, an adult boutique offering lingerie, porn, and sex toys to Manassas’ historic Old Town district. Before the shop opened its doors, the city of Manassas clamped down.
In September, the city hosted a marathon town hall meeting granting hundreds of nearby residents a platform to air their grievances. It commissioned a $70,000 study [PDF] on the secondary effects of shops hawking “adult” materials. And it passed emergency legislation placing strict zoning requirements on businesses that trade in entertainment "characterized by an emphasis on specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas," including “less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttock, or female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola; or human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered."
Chrissy Lee Polis, the trans woman beaten inside a Maryland McDonalds (YouTube)
DISPATCHES from last night's vigil for Chrissy Lee Polis, the trans woman beaten inside of a Rosedale, Md. McDonalds last week: ''It shows that the community does care, and people are willing to step up and stand up and make a difference. This is, I believe the beginning,'' Maryland trans activist Dana Beyer said. ''I think our legislators, they always ask, 'What's the need for this legislation? There's only a dozen of you. Why do we have to pass civil rights legislation?' And the response to that is if there is one person, you still need to pass legislation. . . . But this shows that we are a very large community. Family and friends are willing to stand up with us to protest violence, hate and injustice . . . I hope that Chrissy is going to know that she's got even more friends than she knows she has.''
AFTER THE JUMP: Ohio's contribution to the abortion debates; President Obama nixes promising to the gay community; Rachel Maddow weighs in on outing anchors:
Parents, teachers, sex reporters, and other adults looking for a creepy window into the sex lives of our nation's youth! Welcome to TBD's digest of local college sex columns:
GEORGE WASHINGTON STUDENTS prefer to have sex 5.5 times a week, making the school the third most sexually-obsessed institution of higher education polled in a recent OKTrends analysis. GW was outsexed only by Sarah Lawrence and the University of Vermont. Here's the relevant correlation: "Generally speaking, the more your parents are paying for your education, the more horny you are." Sha-wing.
This year, the Maryland state senate killed a bill that would outlaw discrimination against trans people in housing, employment, and public accommodation. Opposition to the bill largely focused on the toilet issue—a hysterical concern over gender non-conforming people sharing public restrooms.
Last weekend, Maryland saw that bathroom hysteria in action when trans woman Chrissy Lee Polis was attacked inside a Rosedale, Md. McDonalds after attempting to use the restroom.
District photographer makes $50,000 on errant Winfrey digit. (Photo: Associated Press)
PAPS IN D.C.make bank off Oprah's sixth toe: "A friend noticed something weird about the photo. If you looked closely—really closely—at Winfrey’s bare feet, it appeared that she had six toes. Drummond quickly enlarged the photo of the digit in question and had to agree. Drummond re-sent the picture with the enlarged toe to his photo agency in New York, after which it hit the Web like wildfire. Six-Toed Oprah ended up selling to Star magazine, gossip sites and newspapers all over the world. It was a sensation: 'Either Oprah Winfrey is rockin’ a sixth toe or that’s one mighty corn!' observed celebrity gossip site TMZ.com. In the end, Drummond says, he raked in more than $50,000 from that one image, and he’s still collecting residuals from it."
AFTER THE JUMP: Dudes don't care about royal wedding; Equality Maryland executive director is fired; Planned Parenthood tries a new marketing campaign:
How much should Montgomery County schools say about gays? (Photo: Associated Press)
How do schools decide what to teach kids about sex? For the better part of the last decade, the sex ed curriculum in Montgomery County Public Schools has been shaped in large part by political differences between two groups—those who wish to acknowledge gays in the curriculum, and those who do not.
On one side: Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, a group which "believes parents have the authority to guide the moral direction of their children, not the public schools." On the other: Teach the Facts, a group "committed to promoting tolerance and fact-based education in our public schools."
Wait for your pregnant wife to become accustomed to her breasts' ability to produce milk before you spring your breast milk spraying fetish on her. If you write to Dan Savage asking him whether you should engage in a strap-on three-some with your co-worker and his boyfriend, he's going to tell you to do it. Messes are likelier when the romantic stakes are high. The internet was invented expressly to remove guys into defecation play from the dating pool. Lots of straight men enjoy looking at male genitalia. [Savage Love]
WOMEN VICTIMIZED BY ABORTION, ANTI-ABORTION LAWS:From the Nation: "In recent years, women in several states have faced arrest and imprisonment for the crime of ending their pregnancies, or merely attempting to do so. For decades now, feminists have warned about a post–Roe v. Wade world in which women are locked up for having abortions. Antiabortion activists dismiss such fears as propaganda. 'The pro-life position has always been that women are victimized by abortion,' says the Priests for Life website, which has a page of sample letters to the editor meant to refute claims that abortion bans could lead to women being prosecuted. 'In fact, we have repeatedly rejected the suggestion that women should be put in jail, much less executed.' But as abortion rights weaken and fetuses are endowed with a separate legal identity, women are being put in jail."
AFTER THE JUMP: Entering and exiting a dungeon; the fight for gay marriage continues; body-shaming through history:
After a protracted battle with the University of Maryland, student journalists have compelled the school to release information about students who have been disciplined for sexual assaults on campus. In the past decade, they found that only four students were suspended or expelled over the offense.
According to U. of Md. student newspaper the Diamondback, "only one of the students found guilty was expelled, and the other three were suspended for a year and forced to meet certain requirements, such as staying away from the victim and writing reflective essays." The university was forced to reveal the information, including the identities of the disciplined students, when state Attorney General Doug Glanser told the university the disciplinary details were not protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Discouraging news for District domestic violence shelters. (Photo: TBD Staff)
District service providers for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will face a $3 million budget shortfall next year. According to Melissa Hook, director of D.C.'s Office of Victim's Services, the "substantial decrease in budget" is the result of several factors, including rising costs, the expiration of key federal funding, and the slow drain of the D.C. Crime Victims Compensation fund.
