How We're Using It, How It's Influencing Us, Internet Etiquette (or Lessons Learned the Hard Way) and What We Believe the Internet Can Do for Feminism

Blogs:

• Great space for reactions to news.
• Lots of potential to inform, persuade, and incite.
• Comment sections can be incredible!
• Downside: It can be hard to draw readers to your blog.

http://www.bust.com/

www.thefbomb.org

Facebook:

• Lots of untapped potential.
• Making connections, publicizing events, sharing articles, videos, petitions through the newsfeed which is largely unfiltered.

Twitter:

• Like facebook, you can share things instantly.
• Lots of potential for activism: you can get the attention of hundreds in hours.
• Also a way to potentially promote blogs/share interesting or important blog posts.

http://www.twitter.com/

Tumblr:

• Comparable to Twitter and to Facebook.
• Can share quotes from articles, which link back to the original article.
• Great for roping people into articles they might otherwise pass up.
• Potential to be the favorite option of young feminists.
• Also a way to get people back to your blog.

http://www.tumblr.com/

Why the Internet is Great for Feminism:

• Consciousness-raising is taking place online.
• Alienated girls can become connected.
• The option to pick and choose our media diet.

http://heyfatchick.tumblr.com/

Why it Sometimes Sucks:

• Comment-sections can also be brutal.
• Older feminists are not always welcoming.
• Sometimes, we really do make asses of ourselves (opportunity for a learning experience!!)

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/

Other Concerns:

• Does being able to hash things out online lead to complacence? A lack of real-life activism?
• Can creating your own universe of feminist-friendly media make you lose track of the way things REALLY ARE and what needs to change??

Cool Links:

www.postsecret.com

www.monthlyinfo.com

Is anyone else as horrified about Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell's "feminism?" Are they taking advantage of discrepancies between the ideals of (real) feminists? We need to redefine, clarify, broaden what feminism truly means! This article, How We Can Fight the Right-Wing's Absurd Hijacking of Feminism, is a very good read on this topic. It definitely gets you thinking about how absolutely necessary it is for feminists to show what we're really about!

40 Days of Life is back in Champaign peacefully keeping 24hr vigil on the Planned Parenthood in the community. Here is a link to the 40 days for life web page for Champagin. They spend the 40 days, today September 23rd through November 1st, protesting the work of our Planned Parenthood in this comunity. Here is their statement of peace that every member must sign before participating in this event.

1. I will only pursue peaceful solutions to the violence of abortion when volunteering with the 40 Days for Life campaign
2. I will show compassion and reflect Christ’s love to all Planned Parenthood employees, volunteers, and customers
3. I understand that acting in a violent or harmful manner immediately and completely disassociates me from the 40 Days for Life campaign
4. I am in no way associated with Planned Parenthood or its affiliates by way of employment, informant, volunteer, client, or otherwise

While standing in the city right of way in front of or near Planned Parenthood:

1. I will not obstruct the driveways or sidewalk while standing in the public right of way
2. I will not litter on the public right of way
3. I will closely attend to any children I bring to the prayer vigil
4. I will not threaten, physically contact, or verbally abuse Planned Parenthood employees, volunteers, or customers
5. I will not vandalize private property
6. I will cooperate with local city authorities

I'm happy that they're peaceful. That's all fine and dandy, but what about twisting the facts? There is a 40 minute video on the homepage of the link I posted on here, and it makes me upset. I've listened to it all and heard how things are changed ever so slightly.

They call Planned Parenthood an abortion chain. They don't talk about the maternity care, the family planning, the sexual health care that is provided by Planned Parenthood to women who sometimes can't afford it at sliding scale prices. 40 days state that 1.2 million abortions happen each year, and that in 2007, 289,750 happened in Planned Parenthood's across the country. 24% of the abortions happened at Planned Parenthood. I understand that this is a large number, but it's not close to the majority. Are you protesting at the wrong place? Maybe the statics of 1.2 million abortions a year is a bit off? They say that 50 million abortions have happened since Roe v. Wade was passed. Could we have supported 50 million more people in this country?

In this video, pregnant women are equated to women with young children that have fallen off of a boat and into a turbulent ocean, that are struggling to survive. Young women are faced with this horrible tragedy, they get pregnant, and that her family will immediately tell her that she must get an abortion and that her boyfriend has abandoned her, leaving her alone with this burden, and that it's 40 days of life that must reach out to her and save her.

Perhaps it's having the child during a time when she is unable to support it that the women needs to be saved from. Maybe it is losing her job because she's pregnant, because she can't do physical labor under her condition. Maybe she was raped, and she will forever remember her horrid experience. Maybe she just can't do it. Maybe she has to be saved from pregnancy... Maybe it's her choice.

I know of an unmarried woman who got pregnant, many years ago, and the father wanted nothing to do with the child. She didn't have a steady job, she didn't have any savings, she wasn't prepared to for a child. But she made a choice. She decided to keep the baby and, with her families support, she gave birth to a baby girl.

This is my mom's story, and the baby was me. I wanted to tell this story because I wanted to say that she had a choice. She had a supportive family that cared for her and supported her decisions. She had friends that helped and cared about her. She made the choice that was hers to make. It's not the scenario that 40 days portrays in their video.

Planned Parenthood is there to help women make the right choices that are the ones for them. They are not there to promote abortions, they are their to promote choices. There are procedures put into place so that the mother has time to think about what she wants to do before she makes a decision on abortion. It's not black and white. Planned Parenthood isn't the evil thing they describe on the video.

I'm not against people who are pro-life. That is their choice and I respect the choices they make for themselves. But remember that it is a choice that everyone has to make for themselves, and we must be respectful of the choices others make. There is not a right and a wrong choice, only that there are choices.

Ashley

"Don't ask, don't tell" has recently become a huge topic recently. DADT was recently deemed unconstitutional by federal judges on September 9th. On the 17th of September, Lady Gaga sent a youtube message to urge people to call the senators and ask them to vote against DADT. Lady Gaga had a rally against DADT this past Monday 9/20 and gave a speech against DADT. Here are the youtube videos, part one and part two, and here is a full transcript of her speech. McCain and other Republican Senators are against the repeal of DADT, and are hoping to postpone the subject until a Military Study is released, due December 1st, that will judge how the repeal of this will effect moral of the troops.

I'm sorry for all the links, but I hope you enjoy them.

Ashley

Here's a graph showing a history of polls taken about same sex marriage. It shows what percentage of people were for and against same sex marriage in specific years starting in 1988. It brings the "warm fuzzies" to my heart to see that more people are becoming in favor of same sex marriage to the point that one poll has shown that majority of people are in favor.


This graph came from this website which has more information on the details.

Enjoy!

Ashley

Ella, the new pill that prevents conception up to 5 days after unprotected sex, is now going to be available in the U.S. Unfortunately, unlike Plan B, it is only available by prescription. It was approved this past Friday evening, the 13th. I guess the 13th isn't as unlucky as one would think.

Here's a link an article by the New York Times.

~Ashley

Though we are taking a summer break, things still happen in the world *Gasp!* Here is an article about the new alternative to Plan B, called Ella. Exciting stuff!