The New Abortion Providers

July 12, 2010 – This was never the feminist plan. “The clinics’ founders didn’t intend them to become virtually the only settings for abortion services in many communities,” says Carole Joffe, a sociologist and author of a history of the era, “Doctors of Conscience,” and a new book, “Dispatches From the Abortion Wars.” When the clinics became the only place in town to have an abortion, they became an easy mark for extremists.

Women of ‘The Daily Show’: Jon Stewart isn’t sexist

July 7, 2010 – Following a recent report that the popular Comedy Central series and its host, Jon Stewart, are sexist, female staff members are fighting back. More than 30 women at the satirical news program – including new correspondent Olivia Munn – signed off on an open letter on the show’s website.

Human rights activist tries to stop death by stoning for Iranian woman

July 5, 2010 – Ashtiani, 42, will be buried up to her chest, according to an Amnesty International report citing the Iranian penal code. The stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately. Ashtiani, who is from the northern city of Tabriz, was convicted of adultery in 2006. She was forced to confess after being subjected to 99 lashes, human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei said Thursday in a telephone interview from Tehran.

The Palin Effect: Why We Sexualize GOP Women?

July 3, 2010 – Something pretty creepy has been happening to conservative women lately. There seems to be an insistent, increasingly excitable focus on the supposed hotness of Republican women in the public eye, like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, and Nikki Haley—not to mention veterans like Ann Coulter. The sexual references are pervasive: they come from left, right, and center, and range from gushing to highly offensive. The Atlantic asked, “Is Sarah Palin Porn?” as others quizzed the former governor about whether she had breast implants. Right Wing News compiled a list of the hottest conservative women in new media. Playboy even ran an outrageous piece titled “Ten Conservative Women I’d Like to Hate F–k,” which read like a sick attempt to make rape cool. “We may despise everything these women represent,” wrote the author, “but goddammit they’re hot. Let the healing begin.” Moron.

A U.N. Agency for Women? Yes! But Those Names…

July 2, 2010 – (T)he new umbrella organization for women, which was unanimously approved by the General Assembly on Friday after years of haggling, seemed off to a rocky start, given that its acronym would be Unegeew.

Women: We were child brides in U.S.

June 23, 2010 – Jeanne says that when she was 15 years old Alamo, who was 59 years old and her pastor at the time, forced her to become his spiritual wife and have sex with him. Amy says Alamo made her say vows and submit to his sexual desires when she was 14. Then, Alamo reportedly did something that reportedly shocked even his most devoted followers. Desiree says Alamo made her his youngest spiritual wife when she was just 8 years old. Desiree says Alamo then forced her to have sex with him. Nikki says she was 15 years old when she realized Alamo planned to make her his next “wife.” Nikki escaped the compound and fled before Alamo had the chance to act.

South African doctor invents female condoms with ‘teeth’ to fight rape

June 21, 2010 – The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man’s penis during penetration, Ehlers said. Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it – a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest…Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some wearing extra tight biker shorts and others inserting razor blades wrapped in sponges in their private parts. Critics have accused her of developing a medieval device to fight rape. “Yes, my device may be a medieval, but it’s for a medieval deed that has been around for decades,” she said. “I believe something’s got to be done … and this will make some men rethink before they assault a woman.”

Push to Market Pill Stirs Debate on Sexual Desire

June 16, 2010 – Ever since Viagra met blockbuster success in 1998, the drug industry has sought a similar pill for women.

Ban on gay men donating blood upheld

June 14, 2010 – A federal committee recommends maintaining the policy preventing gay men from donating blood in the United States, provoking disappointment and anger from gay activist groups.

Behind the Veil

June 11, 2010 – HEBAH AHMED (her first name is pronounced HIB-ah) was born in Chattanooga, raised in Nashville and Houston, and speaks with a slight drawl. She played basketball for her Catholic high school, earned a master’s in mechanical engineering and once worked in the Gulf of Mexico oilfields. She is not a Muslim Everywoman; it is not a role she would ever claim for herself. Her story is hers alone. But she was willing to spend several days with a reporter to give an idea of what American life looks like from behind the veil, a garment that has become a powerful symbol of culture clash.

Battle lines drawn in Tuesday’s primaries

June 9, 2010 – Voters in 12 states held primary elections Tuesday night, highlighted by women who won key races: Blanche Lincoln, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Sharron Angle.

Rowing across an endangered ocean

June 8, 2010 – World Oceans Day, June 8, arrives this year at a time when people are especially focused on the safety of waters threatened by the Gulf oil disaster. Yet it is also a time when more people are committing to work to preserve the oceans than ever before. Among them is Roz Savage, who last week completed the third and final leg of her effort to row across the Pacific Ocean.

Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests

June 7, 2010 – A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers.

Reality TV breeds new body ideals

June 3, 2010 – For those unaware, there’s been a typical standard of beauty dominant in the media for decades, said Tina Pieraccini, professor of communications at State University of New York at Oswego. “Beginning in the late 1960s, there was pervasively a single standard of beauty which was increasingly thin; that was the standard by which society judged beauty. Even now, it’s tall, thin, blond, [and] blue-eyed,” Pieraccini said.

In Camouflage or Veil, a Fragile Bond

May 29, 2010 – Three months ago, Corporal Amaya was one of 40 female Marines training at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in an edgy experiment: sending full-time “female engagement teams” to accompany all-male foot patrols in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan to win over the Afghan women who are culturally off limits to American men.

Pressure for female genital cutting lingers in the U.S.

May 21, 2010 – The United States has outlawed female genital cutting, but cultural and religious pressures to circumcise girls linger among some African and Muslim immigrant families.

Why did Yeardley Love have to die?

May 17, 2010 – Love’s death puts a microscope on the underreported domestic violence among college students. While national statistics are hard to come by, the issue seems disproportionately to implicate athletes. Many of the qualities that make campuses so attractive — ­freedom, trust, community — also make them “a paradise for stalkers,” says Amy Barasch, executive director of New York State’s Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Students’ class schedules, practice times and contact information are easily obtained. Young men and women who have been involved romantically and have broken up live in close proximity. Security is less than airtight. (Love’s front door was unlocked when Huguely entered her apartment.) “We think of stalking — the red flag for domestic violence — as the guy in a trenchcoat in an alley,” says Barasch. “No, it looks like 100 text messages or someone [lurking around] a classroom or dorm room.

“Anyone can be a perpetrator, anyone can be a victim. It’s about power, about people who exhibit controlling behavior. This case might look aberrant, but sadly, it’s not.”

New British government includes first Muslim woman minister

May 13, 2010 – Chalk up another “first” for the new British government. Not only does it have the youngest prime minister in almost 200 years and the first peacetime coalition government in nearly 70, it has the first Muslim woman to be a full member of the Cabinet.

Obama to Nominate Kagan as Justice

May 9, 2010 – President Obama will nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country’s future, Democrats close to the White House said Sunday.

Celebrate: Save a Mother

May 8, 2010 – Happy Mother’s Day! And let me be clear: I’m in favor of flowers, lavish brunches, and every other token of gratitude for mothers and other goddesses… And because so many people feel that way, some $14 billion will be spent in the United States for Mother’s Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That includes $2.9 billion in meals, $2.5 billion in jewelry and $1.9 billion in flowers. To put that sum in context, it’s enough to pay for a primary school education for all 60 million girls around the world who aren’t attending school. That would pretty much end female illiteracy. These numbers are fuzzy and uncertain, but it appears that there would be enough money left over for programs to reduce deaths in childbirth by about three-quarters, saving perhaps 260,000 women’s lives a year.

What Every Girl Should Know

May 7, 2010 – A thousand years ago, popular birth control methods in the Western world included spitting into the mouth of a frog, eating bees and wearing the testicles of a weasel. In Córdoba, Spain, which was supposed to be on the scientific cutting edge, women were told to leap up and down vigorously after sex, and then jump backward nine times. This is by way of saying that on Sunday we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill. We live in troubled times. But let’s give thanks that we avoided the era of the weasel testicles.

Five best and worst places to be a mom

May 7, 2010 – What are the best and worst countries for moms? Just in time for Mother’s Day, Save the Children has ranked the countries with the best and worst maternal health.

U.N. Says Congo Rebels Killed Scores in Village

May 1, 2010 – United Nations officials said Saturday that the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel force killed up to 100 people in a previously unreported massacre in the remote northeastern corner of this country… One of the people (John Holmes) met was a young woman whose lips had been sliced off last month. She was attacked by rebels while working in her field, she said Saturday, sitting in a hospital bed, her face a mask of gauze and tape.

Rescuing girls from sex slavery

April 30, 2010 – According to the U.S. State Department, some 10,000 to 15,000 women and girls from Nepal are trafficked to India and then sexually exploited each year.

Women to begin serving on Navy subs in 2011, officials say

April 29, 2010 – The first women to serve on U.S. Navy submarines are expected to be on the job by fall of 2011, Navy officials said Thursday, ushering in a policy change to what has been an elite service open only to men since the start of the modern Navy’s submarine program.

Court: Wal-Mart gender pay lawsuit can go to trial

April 26, 2010 – A federal appeals court has certified the largest class-action employment lawsuit in U.S. history, in a long-standing dispute against retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. over alleged gender bias in pay and promotions.

More women than men get advanced degrees

April 20, 2010 – As a growing number of young women obtain advanced degrees, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts more women than men are expected to become doctors, lawyers and professors.

Civil rights activist Dorothy Height dies at 98

April 20, 2010 – Height, who had been chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, worked in the 1960s alongside civil rights pioneers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., future U.S. Rep. John Lewis and A. Philip Randolph. She was on the platform when King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington. President Obama called her a hero, saying she “served as the only woman at the highest level of the civil rights movement — witnessing every march and milestone along the way.”

From hate to peace: Lessons from a woman of Kosovo

April 16, 2010 – Feka, now 22, is an internationally known peace advocate who travels around the world talking about reconciliation. Yet she admits that talking about forgiveness is far easier than practicing it.

Obama Widens Medical Rights for Same-Sex Partners

April 15, 2010 – President Obama on Thursday ordered his health secretary to issue new rules aimed at granting hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners. The White House announced the rule changes, which will also make it easier for gay men and lesbians to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners, in a memorandum released Thursday night. In it, the president said the new rules would affect any hospital that participates in Medicare or Medicaid, the government programs to cover the elderly and the poor.

Buying beauty in Baghdad

April 13, 2010 – Beauty salons are popping up on the scarred streets of Iraq’s capital and as the violence recedes, more people are looking for cosmetic surgery to give them a lift… Women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed says that while these types of procedures are still too expensive for most citizens, it’s a worrying trend, especially for Iraqi women. “In a society where you are bombarded by images from the media that you need to look like a model, your nose needs to be small and your eyebrows do not look good, you need to replace them by synthetic eyebrows and your lips are not big enough – you cannot live in peace with yourself as a woman,” explained Mohammed.

Yemeni child bride dies of internal bleeding

April 9, 2010 – A 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of internal bleeding following intercourse three days after she was married off to an older man, the United Nations Children’s Fund said… Child brides are common in Yemen, where the United Nations estimates that one in three girls are married before age 18. Most are married off to older men with more than one wife, according to a study by Sanaa University.

5 charged in New Jersey child rape case

April 4, 2010 – Police in Trenton, New Jersey, on Saturday announced more arrests in the case of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly allowed men to have sex with her and her 7-year-old stepsister for money.

‘RapeLay’ video game goes viral amid outrage

March 31, 2010 – As you continue to play, “friends” join in and in a series of graphic, interactive scenes, you can corner the women, rape them again and again. The game allows you to even impregnate a girl and urge her to have an abortion. The reason behind your assault, explains the game, is that the teenage girl has accused you of molesting her on the train. The motive is revenge.

More students disciplined following girl’s suicide

March 30, 2010 – More students have been removed from a Massachusetts school in the investigation of the alleged bullying campaign against a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide, a school official said Tuesday.  In the indictments, returned Friday but not made public until Monday, the Hampshire County grand jury charged Sean Mulveyhill, 17, of South Hadley with statutory rape, violation of civil rights with bodily injury resulting, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly. The indictments charged Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield with statutory rape. Kayla Narey, 17, of South Hadley was charged with violation of civil rights with bodily injury resulting, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.

Subway Blasts Kill Dozens in Moscow

March 29, 2010 – Female suicide bombers set off huge explosions during rush hour Monday morning in two subway stations in central Moscow, officials said, killing at least 37 people and raising fears that the Muslim insurgency in southern Russia was once again being brought to the country’s heart. More than 100 people were injured.

China Bars Noted Scholar From Planned Trip to U.S.

March 26, 2010 – The scholar, Cui Weiping, 54, a poet and professor at the Beijing Film Academy, said that she had planned to lecture at Harvard and attend a conference sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies in Philadelphia, but that the director of her school called this week to say she had been forbidden to travel… Communicating through her superiors at the film academy, she said “they” — an unseen entity she described as “the authorities” — had repeatedly rebuked her for perceived sins: posting social criticism on her blog; sponsoring a seminar on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests; and sending out Twitter messages about the jailing of Liu Xiaobo, a writer who was convicted of subversion last year for demanding increased liberties.

Ben Affleck launches foundation to aid victimized women and children in eastern Congo

March 22, 2010 – The new foundation – the Eastern Congo Initiative – will support community-based, Congolese groups, said Affleck on the heels of his fifth trip to the country.

Woman Is the Youngest to Cross an Ocean Alone

March 14, 2010 – Katie Spotz completed her mission Sunday, becoming the youngest person to row an entire ocean solo, and the first American to row a boat without help from mainland to mainland. After 70 days 5 hours 22 minutes in the Atlantic, Spotz, 22, arrived Sunday in Georgetown, Guyana, in South America.

D.C. handing out 500,000 female condoms to fight HIV

March 14, 2010 – Faced with an HIV infection rate six times higher than the national average, District of Columbia officials are launching an unorthodox campaign to halt the spread of the disease. They will hand out 500,000 female condoms at salons and community centers and offer informal training sessions to teach women how to use the little-known product.

Annie Lennox trying to get world to see changing face of AIDS

March 13, 2010 – Singer and activist Annie Lennox wants the world to know that the HIV virus and the debilitating condition it causes, AIDS, are the leading killers of women of reproductive age in the world.

Unemployed Women Selling Their Wedding Rings On Craigslist

March 12, 20 – There are thousands of ads on Craigslist for things like used appliances, furniture, and cars from people who need a little quick cash to get by, with the seller frequently revealing a glimpse of the problems necessitating the sale. For upfront desperation, few ads are more poignant than the ones for wedding or engagement rings from people in financial straits. When contacted by HuffPost, sellers typically said they posted their ads in an effort to take care of their children.

Authorities seek help identifying people in serial killer’s photos

March 12, 2010 – Hoping to solve numerous cold cases, authorities on Thursday released hundreds of photos of unidentified women and children found in a storage unit that belonged to a serial killer who appeared on “The Dating Game.”

Woman to be high school’s head football coach

March 11, 2010 – A high school in Washington, D.C., is set to name a former women’s professional football player as its head varsity football coach Friday, a move that a national women’s sports advocacy group calls historic.

Obama to give Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charities

March 11, 2010 -President Barack Obama will donate his $1.4 million 2009 Nobel Peace Prize award to 10 charities, the White House announced Thursday…The list of charities includes…$100,000 to the Central Asia Institute, which backs education and literacy efforts for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Can talent outweigh size in Hollywood?

March 11, 2010 – Not even a full week has passed since Gabourey Sidibe attended the 82nd Annual Academy Awards as a best actress nominee and we’re already questioning whether her career is over. Despite the accolades bestowed upon the actress in the past few months, it’s unclear if the film industry can go against the norm and cast a young woman who is not only African-American, but also larger than the Hollywood standard in a non-niche role, as the romantic lead in a major film vehicle, for example.

Lesbian teen back at Miss. school after prom flap

March 10, 2010 – An 18-year-old Mississippi lesbian student whose school district canceled her senior prom rather than allow her to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo said she got some unfriendly looks from classmates when she reluctantly returned to campus Thursday.

Reese Witherspoon comes to Washington

March 10, 2010 – Witherspoon told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday about her quest to stop violence against women around the world. She said she isn’t alone in her fight.

Women fliers honored 65 years after World War II service

March 10, 2010 – Some 65 years after their service, a group of former civilian women pilots whose unheralded work was key to helping the U.S. effort in World War II were honored Wednesday with the Congressional Gold Medal.

She Didn’t Know She Was Pregnant

March 9, 2010 – Most women have nine months to prepare for the birth of a new baby. Kelly Bottom says she had about nine seconds. Last Thursday afternoon, the 32-year-old says she was doing laundry inside her Harrodsburg (KY) home when she felt like she needed to use the bathroom. Minutes later she squatted on the bathroom floor and gave birth to a 6 pound 15 ounce baby boy.

Recession no barrier to cosmetic procedures

March 9, 2010 – A bad economy only slightly deterred Americans from flocking to cosmetic procedures last year. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery released figures Tuesday: Almost 10 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2009. Despite the recession, Americans shelled out almost $10.5 billion to get pretty.

Officials: 6 New Jersey Women Hospitalized after Botched Butt Jobs

March 8, 2010 – Six women in New Jersey are recovering after they received buttocks-enhancement injections containing silicone used to caulk bathtubs. State health officials say the women, from Essex County, apparently underwent cosmetic procedures from unlicensed providers.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Big at Oscars

March 7, 2010 – “The Hurt Locker,” a little-seen war film with big backing from the critics, pushed past “Avatar” and other crowd-pleasers to win the best picture Oscar at a Sunday night ceremony here, while its director, Kathryn Bigelow, became the first woman to win the directing award.

Had Sex? Study Finds It Depends Who You Ask

March 5, 2010 – Research conducted by the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University found “no universal consensus on which behaviors constituted having ‘had sex.’” Questions in the telephone survey of 486 random participants asked about different behaviors: manual-genital, oral-genital, penile-vaginal intercourse and penile-anal intercourse. The study also looked at different outcomes and qualifiers, including orgasm in women, ejaculation in men, short duration, or wearing condoms.

Police: Jessica Canfield Dumped Baby In Trash, Went To Party

March 4, 2010 – “She’s saying that she didn’t know” she was having a baby, and she appeared “distraught over a tragic situation,” (police Lt. Joe) Hoffman said.

Parents of slain teen Chelsea King: ‘Change has to be made’

March 4, 2010 – The parents of a California girl who was allegedly raped and killed by a registered sex offender are calling for tougher standards against repeat offenders.

Jessica Simpson opens up about weight, John Mayer on ‘Oprah’

March 3, 2010 – “No one else can define beauty but me,” (Simpson) said. “Nobody’s words, nobody’s compliments, nobody’s love — it’s all what I have within myself. I finally relaxed, and I don’t care what people have to say about my weight. I think I look great.”

Divorced Before Puberty

March 3, 2010 – For Nujood, the nightmare began at age 10 when her family told her that she would be marrying a deliveryman in his 30s. Although Nujood’s mother was unhappy, she did not protest. “In our country it’s the men who give the orders, and the women who follow them,” Nujood writes in a powerful new autobiography just published in the United States this week, “I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.”