
I got so swept up in the glacial pace of this weekend's Nevada caucuses, I totally missed this:
On the eve of Saturday's Nevada caucus, Ron Paul sits down with Piers Morgan for a revealing interview, during which the Republican from Texas shares his views on rape and abortion: "If it's an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room, I would give them a shot of estrogen."
Ron Paul has always been absolutely terrible on women's rights, but: Seriously? "Honest rape?" Jessica Pieklo asks:
I guess I would start by asking Paul to follow-up on just what exactly constitutes an “honest” rape. What kind of evidence would we need to show a lack of consent? Does a woman need to have signs she resisted? How much resistance counts before a rape goes from being “fraudulent” to being “honest”? Can spousal rape ever be “honest”? What about other forms of familial rape? What exactly is the bright line here?...About that shot of estrogen. What exactly is this shot of estrogen supposed to do? Paul is purportedly an ob/gyn, so he must know a shot of estrogen won’t do a thing to prevent fertilization and implantation. So what’s that shot for?I’m not sure what is the most dangerous aspect to come from Paul’s statements here: that is platform is built on a criminal disdain of women or as a doctor he doesn’t know his ear from his elbow.
I was going to write, "Ron Paul is the worst Republican candidate when it comes to women's rights." But then I remembered that Rick Santorum exists.
Some of us (and by "us" I mean "you") aren't quite as lucky as HannahMiller9927 at getting middle-school boyfriends. HannahMiller9927 gets a lot of them, and while her current main boyfriend Robert (who is super cute and not crazy because HannahMiller9927 hates "crazy") is awesome, she's been asked out on dates by THREE other boys this week—soooooooo this obviously makes HannahMiller9927 the world's leading authority on how to snag a middle-school boyfriend. Watch and learn from HannahMiller9927, world. Watch and learn.
I'm in love with this woman:
Irked by abortion bill, Va. senator adds rectal exams for menThe state Senate this afternoon gave preliminary approval for legislation that would require pregnant women to undergo ultrasound imaging before an abortion, but not before rejecting a Democratic senator’s attempt to add what she described as “ a little gender equity” to the bill. Democrat Janet Howell of Fairfax County proposed requiring men to undergo a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before getting prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra. “This is a matter of basic fairness,” Howell said.... “It’s requiring [women] to have unnecessary medical procedures, it’s adding to the cost and it’s opening them up for emotional blackmail,” she said on the Senate floor today. “And I was upset because it’s disrespectful of doctors. It’s forcing them to perform procedures they don’t think is necessary.”
She said she was watching television in her hotel room that evening and saw an ad for an erectile dysfunction drug that included a recitation of “all the serious things that could happen to a man who was going to take this medication.... So, I said, it’s only fair, that if we’re going to subject women to unnecessary procedures, and we’re going to subject doctors to having to do things that they don’t think is medically advisory, well, Mr. President, I think we should just have a little gender equity here,” Howell said, explaining her amendment.
Send her an email, tell her she's awesome: SenHowell@gmail.com. (And, no, I haven't looked into her positions on other issues because, at least for right now, I don't want to know.)
As a worldly man o' the times, I like and support women's issues. However, there are certain things... I mean... I DON'T EVEN. Ya know? Like the following video which demonstrates "Fur and Feather Bikini Glamour" in which REAL fox fur (which has been dyed pink) is glued to a gal's nethers. Apparently there's something to do with feathers as well, but... but... I JUST DON'T EVEN!!! Someone please explain this to me! I JUST DON'T EVEN!!!
Oh hey, look. AXE Body Spray has new products for women! The smell will make you feel like, um, an anarchist! Or maybe a street cop that can't keep her clothes on, or do her job! I bet it smells like success...

So today is my last day at the Mercury offices*; my internship is over! I’d mock-up an exit interview, but I think I already did that. For what it's worth, everything is the same, except they started paying someone else to do most of the intern work.
Instead, I present a one-off, one-night-only column that I will call LADIES!.
Today in LADIES!:
- In fake lady news, the excruciating and unbearably tone deaf Work It is set to premiere on January 3rd, but not if GLAAD has anything to do with it. The gay rights organization took out a full-page ad in Variety asking ABC to pull the show before it even airs, arguing that treating the idea of men trying to pass as women as laughable is damaging to transgender individuals. Beyond how baffling it is that a dated and significantly more offensive Bosom Buddies remake could have gotten green-lit to start with, can we talk about how the idea that women have an easier time finding work in a tough economy, and even getting paid equally for that work, is completely absurd?

- In geeky lady news, actress and full-time amazing person Helen Mirren would like to be the Doctor, please.

- And in even more geeky lady news, it sounds like the Whedon-less Buffy reboot movie that everyone was bemoaning last year might be DOA. Sources close to the project say the script was so terrible as to be scrapped completely; The Powers That Be are shopping around for a new writer, but it doesn't look good. But don't worry, slaying fans: there's still that Buffy porn!

- And finally, in historical lady news, hey! Did you know that ladies, just like men, have two legs and can actually wear pants in public? But this was not always the case! In 1969, Rep. Charlotte Reid became the first woman to rock a pantsuit on the House floor. Everyone harrumphed a bunch and said cute things like, "I was told there was a lady here in trousers, so I had to come over and see for myself," but she wasn't sanctioned and life went on, now with pants. Incidentally, she wore them once, then decided pants weren't for her.
You and me both, sister.
* Snark aside, I've had a great time here at the Mercury. Thanks to the entire office, especially everyone down in editorial, for making me feel welcome and putting up with my endlessly dorky blog posts. And thanks to all you commenters out there for never once making me cry. See you on Twitter!
I could go into a long lengthy explanation why this guy thinks his sign and everything on it is a good idea... but, as he says himself, "Read Bible for Details."

Hey, did you read my very interesting post on how The Walking Dead delivered some very wrong info on the "morning after pill" in their latest episode? If you didn't, read it here and now. I'll wait until you get back.
(... humm hummm... hummm... hum... hummm... hummmm...)
You're back? Good. So this issue has raised a fairly large hubbub among pro-abortion advocates and even the ACLU. So much so in fact, Walking Dead executive producer Glen Mazzara has issued a public response:
"The producers and writers of The Walking Dead are fully aware that the morning-after pill would not induce an abortion or miscarriage. We exercised our artistic creative license to explore a storyline with one of our characters, not to make any pro-life or pro-choice political statement. We sincerely hope that people are not turning to the fictional world of The Walking Dead for accurate medical information."
Mmmmm-okay, but that still doesn't address my previous concern that they could've given the correct information later in the episode by simply having a character say something like, "Jesus, you are a dumbshit, Lori! The morning-after pill doesn't work like that!" Done, done and done. Anyway, this fairly lame excuse from Mazzara has gotten even more people grumbling and wondering if The Walking Dead is a "pro-life" zombie show. Kate Aurther of The Daily Beast had this to say:
What’s also troubling is that this discussion coincided with a storyline in which Lori’s hosts—at an idyllic farm seemingly untouched by the zombie apocalypse—are discovered to be keeping a group of “walkers” alive in a nearby barn. When asked why, one of the characters responded, “They’re people.” The show’s heroes, however, accused of “murdering” such people, had a much more limited definition of what life is. “These aren’t people,” responded Glen (Steven Yeun). The timing is especially disturbing, as Lori and her husband debated whether to bring a child into this messed-up world. While the words “fetus” and “embryo” aren’t uttered, the “walkers” may as well be standing in here for Lori’s unborn child.Is it murder? Has The Walking Dead become a parable about the sanctity of all life, hidden behind the window dressing of a horror story?
What say you? Is this molehill an unnecessary mountain? Or is your bullshit detector tingling?
I remember raising my eyebrow about this during last Sunday's The Walking Dead, but promptly forgot about it because this particular episode was so GODDAMN BORING. That being said, do you remember the scene where Rick's wife Lori discovers she's pregnant, and sends poor Asian errand boy Glenn off to the zombie-infested pharmacy to pick up some "morning after" pills? Lori then gobbles down a few with the intention of inducing abortion, before succumbing to the time-honored modern TV rule that "NO ONE MUST EVER MAKE ABORTIONS EVER," and forces herself to vomit them up. A new life is saved! (Sighhhh!) To be eventually gobbled up by a zombie. (Ulp.)
ANYWAY. Now a bunch of people are riled up about the scene, because... well, "morning after" pills don't quite work that way. Amanda Marcotte of Slate explains:
The problem with this storyline, outside the tedious fear of getting letters from irate anti-choicers that dictates TV's near-absolute approach to unintended pregnancy, is simple: Morning-after pills are not abortion. You can't even get abortion pills from a typical pharmacy, since RU-486, the actual abortion pill, is dispensed mainly at doctor's offices. Morning-after pills are contraception, and they work by stifling ovulation before any sperm can make their way toward the Fallopian tubes. Anti-choicers claim they work by preventing fertilized eggs from implanting, but there is no scientific evidence for this claim, and strong evidence against it. But even if you mistakenly believe this is how emergency contraception works, that still has no bearing on pregnancies that have already begun and show up on pregnancy tests, as portrayed on this show. She might as well have been sucking down candy cigarettes in hopes of causing an abortion.
Agreed. And for those who are saying, "Well, just because the character believes faulty information, that doesn't mean the writers do." To that I'd say, HORSE KNUCKLES. Misinformation can be used to further a plot, as long as it's recanted later (especially necessary if it's important medical information). For example, if the writers wanted the world to know that they actually know how these pills worked, they could've had some other character say, "HEY DUMMY! That's not the way those pills work! Sheesh!" Anyway, read the rest here.

Earlier today I was regretting not seeing either of the Wild Flag shows this week, because I kind of miss the period of time (late 1990s) where seeing a rad all-woman band was just what I did on weekends, NBD. So I liked this segment of Kate Carraway's "Girls and the Internet," a post in her Girl News series over at Vice that I really enjoy despite that it's... you know, at Vice. (I just always feel like Vice writers would be mean to me.)

Another one I enjoyed: "Girls and Growing Up." Because—I just nostalgically referenced the late '90s! It's happening.
h/t Marissa
From the NYT's long piece yesterday about Mitt Romney's tenure as a Mormon "lay leader":
Mormons oppose abortion, except in extreme cases like rape, incest or where the life of the woman is in danger—and require that church elders be consulted. In 1990, Exponent II, a Mormon feminist magazine that Ms. Dushku, the Suffolk University professor, helped found, published an article by a married mother of four who recounted her own experience after doctors advised her to terminate her pregnancy when she was being treated for a potentially dangerous blood clot. Her bishop got wind of the situation, she wrote, and showed up unannounced at the hospital, warning her sternly not to go forward. The article did not identify Mr. Romney as the bishop, but Ms. Dushku later did.Now the woman has come forward, identifying herself in Mr. Scott’s book as Carrel Hilton Sheldon. (Through Ms. Dushku, she declined to be interviewed.) “Mitt has many, many winning qualities,” she is quoted as saying, “but at the time he was blind to me as a human being.”
Lay leader? Sounds more like a Mormon enforcer—and callous piece of shit.
Look at 'em! They're creating jobs! For coroners, undertakers, florists, and funeral homes:
Today the GOP-led House of Representatives, with the blessings and encouragement of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops and extremist religious groups such as the Family Research Council, passed a bill in a vote of 251 to 172 that would, among other things, allow doctors and hospitals to "exercise their conscience" by letting pregnant women facing emergency medical conditions die.Yes. Die.
This is what the Republicans called the "Protect Life Act." And no, I am not kidding.
Go read the whole thing.
Arguably the worst medication to have unknowingly fail on millions of Americans is, oh Gawd, poised to fail on millions of Americans.
Alabama-based pharmaceutical company Qualitest is issuing a recall of 1.4 million packs of birth control pills. If you take these types of birth control pills, you may already be pregnant: Cyclafem 7/7/7, Cyclafem 1/35, Emoquette, Gildess FE 1.5/30, Gildess FE 1/20, Orsythia, Previfem, and Tri-Previfem.
The pills were packed incorrectly so that the pills go out of order during the course of the month. It's not clear whether that means women are taking the placebo pills during some days or whether they're taking the wrong dose of hormone, but either mix-up could leave a lady unfortunately fertile. If you've been using the faulty pills, switch to condoms or other non-hormonal birth control and get more info at the company's site.
Meanwhile, the countdown to massive accidental pregnancy lawsuit nine months from now begins immediately.
Comics journalism website Cartoon Movement (which is edited by local Matt Bors) has a great new comic up about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC). Artist Susan Cagle visited a couple CPCs in the Bay Area and mixed drawings of her experiences with some outside reporting.
I feigned pregnancy at Crisis Pregnancy Centers around Portland and found that while the staff was friendly and rather open-minded, the pamphlets and fliers of medical information they distribute were pure political propaganda replete with medical inaccuracies and horrifying abortion stories.
Oregon is one of only 14 states where access to abortion is not restricted by any laws (like parental notification laws, mandatory waiting days, or forced counseling). But access to abortion IS limited in Oregon by a lack of abortion providers, especially in rural areas: Eighty percent of Oregon counties have no abortion provider in the phonebook. Meanwhile, there's over 50 Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the state.
The secret of every woman? She wants to be "fascinating" to the men! She want to be out on the dance floor, gluing the eyes of the men to her. She want to hold her dog. She want the man to kiss the dog!! She want to shop at "Divine Rags" which is in the mall in the Memphis. Dress! Fascinate! LIVE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!
There are a lot of good reasons to buy Goodyear tires instead of some other brand—but the most important reason? YOUR WIFE. When she's behind the wheel, the world turns into a psychedelic nightmare of signs, and pedestrians, and exits, and potholes, and rapists that spin around and around and remind you that every second she's NOT crashing or running over schoolchildren is an unbelievable miracle. In other words, your wife drives for shit. Thanks for the reminder, Goodyear.
With apologies to our tender-hearted vegan/vegetarian readers, this is pretty funny.

But... you can't kill him if he's wearing people clothes! (Do glasses count?)
Just when I think everyone must know what a Naked Lady Party is, I turn around and find someone (usually a dude, because as the name suggests, dudes are generally not invited) asking what the what. Fortunately, the folks down at Golden Rule have taken it upon themselves to write out these handy FAQs in advance of their own Naked Lady Party, going down tonight at the shop at 7 pm. It's open to the public, so feel free to grab your has-beens and make some new friends. (If, that is, you're a lady.)
Q: What is a naked lady party?
A: Folks gather all the clothes they don't want anymore and bring them to a designated location. Everyone dumps their clothes on the floor/furniture and start trying on stuff. At the end of the night all attendees leave with new stuff taken from other attendees, and the host donates everything that remains.Q: Will I get good stuff?
A: It depends on who comes and what they bring. Sometimes you'll score a pair of $200 jeans, or a pair of $500 shoes, other times you'll take home just a few comfy basics. The more people who come, and the more they bring, the better stuff there'll be!Q: Does it cost?
A: NO! There is no charge for admission and no cost for the clothing you take away. Basically it's a night of free shopping!Q: Do people really get naked?
A: YES! Most attendees do get naked at least down to their bras and underwear. More modest attendees might wear spandex or something to try stuff on over.Q: Is there food and drink?
A: Yes, adult beverages will be provided by the host. Attendees are welcome to bring potluck-style food for everyone to share, but it is not mandatory. Bring food if you want, don't if you don't want to.Q: What if my clothes aren't as good as everyone else's?
A: Bring them anyway. First of all, no one will know they're yours. Secondly, that saying, "One person's trash is another person's treasure," really holds true. Thirdly, who cares! This is your chance to get clothes you like better!Q: What happens to everything no one wants?
A: Sometimes attendees take their own clothes home to sell elsewhere, or they hold onto them for future naked lady parties. It is the hosts' responsibility to donate everything else.

Good day.
Everyone remember this from yesterday?

Okay. Well, unfortunately, when I tried to respond, I discovered that my new lady-penpal had blocked me on the Facebook (accidentally, I'm sure!) so that I could not write her back. So all of your wonderful suggestions were for nought. Frowny-face. Fortunately, this lady's lucky, lucky husband was still my super-close online best friend and lover, even though we have never met and I have no idea who he is. So I reached out to him! Communication is important!

His reply:

Oh, cool! Great point! Then "he" blocked me too. So I can't reply. Ohhh, strangely aggressive internet strangers calling me a slut for no reason and then not letting me write you back, I will miss you. Wife person, I will miss the protracted and incredibly hilarious internet fight we never got to have. Husband person, I will miss your genitals that I touched all those times inside your wife's crazybrain. It was brief but beautiful, and we'll always have the memories. Of all that time we never spent together. Because I LITERALLY HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHO YOU ARE. Good luck with your divorce. Love, Lindy.
You may have heard about the "The Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge" that's "dividing GOP hopefuls." It's a promise, if elected, to only appoint anti-choice justices, defund Planned Parenthood, and work to ban abortions in what could be interpreted as all instances—no exceptions for rape, incest, the health of the mother. Santorum signed, Bachman signed, Newt signed, Pawlenty signed, Paul signed. Romney and Cain haven't. They're both under pressure to cave and sign. Cain won't because he's not a serious candidate and ultimately won't have to because pretty soon he'll be out. But Romney will eventually cave & sign because that's how Romney rolls.
In response Jocelyn, one of the sharp folks blogging at the new Spreading Santorum site (check it out!), created the "The Abortion Pledge":
I pledge the following...1. If I get pregnant before the age of 21, I will have an abortion.
2. If I know anyone who gets pregnant before the age of 21, I will strongly suggest that they have an abortion.
3. If I get pregnant while still pursuing my education and cannot feasibly financially support a child, I will have an abortion.
4. If I get pregnant and am a current heavy drug user, I will have an abortion.
5. If I get pregnant and discover that my unborn child has a defect that will cause him or her [to have] a short life of unbearable pain, I will have an abortion.
6. If I am in a situation where not terminating my pregnancy is likely to kill me, I will have an abortion.
7. If I am in any other situation where I feel like an abortion is the best course of action, I will have an abortion.
8. If I am in any of the aforementioned situations and opt not to have an abortion, I will remember that my choice would have been meaningless without the right to choose and will continue to defend that right.
9. If I have the ability, I will donate to Planned Parenthood and/or other organizations that defend a woman's right to choose.
Read about "The Abortion Pledge" at Spreading Santorum. Sign "The Abortion Pledge" by clicking here. (Donate to Planned Parenthood here.)
As I previously reported—which you would already know, if you weren't so goddamn obstinate in your refusal to ever read my "Bieber Fever" posts (which you probably aren't reading now, so why am I even wasting my time?)—Justin Bieber has his own line of perfumes! SQUEEEEEEEEE!!! Unfortunately, it's a girly perfume, and doesn't smell anything like him. (Justin Bieber smells like a combination of power, estrogen, Bubble Yum, and a popcorn shrimp plate from Long John Silvers.)
Anyway! The new commercial for his new fragrance, SOMEDAY, is finally here, and this is what I learned from this commercial.
1) Wearing Justin Bieber perfume is tantamount to a million Justin Bieber kisses on one's neck.
2) Wearing Justin Bieber perfume is tantamount to awkwardly flying through the air with Justin Bieber.
3) Wearing Justin Bieber perfume is tantamount to smelling what you'll never truly have.
I'm sad now. Goodbye.

LISTEN:
Reporter - "Skin Like Fire"
Reporter plays Friday, May 6 at Branx's Ladies Night with Wampire, Arohan, and DJs Linger and Quiet. Dressing up like a lady or actually being a lady is recommended. Branx, 320 SE 2nd, 8 pm, $7 for dudes, $3 for ladies or dudes in drag, all ages
End Hits: We've been dressing in drag for YEARS just hoping for a night like this.
Planned Parenthood has been campaigning against these types of centers for years, arguing that they deceptively present themselves as medical clinics, but then distribute misleading information and refuse to refer desperate women for abortions or contraception.
In front of a Senate Committee last week, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon Executive Director Roey Thorpe announced the results of a months-long investigation volunteers conducted at many of the 52 Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Oregon. After visiting these centers in much the same way I did, Thorpe says that many presented themselves as "health clinics" through their advertising and policies (like waiting rooms, intake forms, and staff in lab coats) although they are not medical facilities at all. "The majority of the centers we visited distributed medically inaccurate information about health risks of birth control," says Thorpe.
According to a recent medical study, the reason why women supposedly get drunker faster than men is not because of their smaller stature, but because they hold less water in their bodies. A typical man is made up of 65% water, while a woman is 55%. From the Daily Mail:
Dr Marsha Morgan, of University College London Medical School, explains: ‘Alcohol is absorbed into the blood and then carried in water in cells. Because women have less body water than men, they are likely to end up with a higher blood concentration of alcohol after the same amount of drink.’
And dig this!
If a man and woman of the same weight were given the same dose of alcohol, the blood alcohol levels in the woman would be about a third higher. ‘A 65kg man will have the same blood alcohol level after a triple gin as a 65kg woman would have after a double measure,’ Dr Morgan says.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?? It means the following:
1) I shouldn't have to buy my female companions a triple gin, when a double will make her just as drunk as me. MONEY SAVING TIP, GUYS!
2) Police should judge men and women on a different DUI scale. For example, as the law stands right now, if a woman and I drink the same amount and drive, we're both punished exactly the same! The woman should be punished more, since she's a third drunker!
3) Wait... that doesn't make any sense. Okay, let me try that again. Since women get a third more drunk than men, and I get arrested for blowing a .08, then a woman's Breathalyzer result shouldn't be the same as mine—it should be a third LESS, right? So in all fairness, women should be arrested if they blow a .027.
4) Okay, I'm pretty sure that didn't make any sense either.
5) How about this: Since a woman gets a third drunker than me, I should at least get discounted drinks, or they should be charged more. Whichever works for the bar owner.
6) No? Okay, well, whatever, but I do feel that, as a man, I'm being treated unfairly in this scenario, and that somebody owes me a drink. And I think it's you women. YEAH! Women owe me a drink. ALL OF YOU! WHERE'S MY DRINK, WOMEN??
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