All About Women
Samantha Garvey at age eighteen has had a tumultuous year. First her parents were injured in a car accident. Her mother was unable to work for six months. Samantha could not find part-time work to help with the family finances. And then they were evicted from their home. But Samantha had a personal vision: to understand the coping mechanisms of ribbed mussels. Now Samantha is a semi-finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. She has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres daytime talk show, been featured on the cover of her hometown newspaper, been offered a summer job. Things are looking up. Late update: Samantha Garvey was not in the list of forty finalists, but she got to tour the Capitol, meet Nancy Pelosi, attend the State of the Union address,and dine with the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Now she is back to work on her mussels.
A dough-modelling artist in China has won awards for her dough figurines, particularly those celebrating the Year of the Dragon. Her colorful creations have been shown throughout north China's Hebei Province.
Gena Smith has become a living pioneer in the quest for better treatment of women in the military. Subjected to both physical and emotional abuse during her tour of duty in Iraq, she has created a blog called Regular Fury which describes what she went through and openly questions her reactions to it. A retired Army Colonel, Ann Wright, has confirmed the dismissive attitude toward rape of women by military men, most of whom figure they will never get caught. Truth Dig is showing a You Tube called "The Invisible War", which focuses on rape in the military.
In the category of you gotta love 'em, seniors in walkers joined the Occupy protestors and shut down a Bank of America branch in San Francisco. Aged 60 - 82, the women used nothing more than walkers and oxygen tanks to raise their objections. The Bank Officials responded, as might be expected, by shutting down the Branch in fear of the terrorist group.
The New Israel Fund is alarmed by the demands of ultra-right religious groups that photos of women not be shown in public. In response,the Group is dedicating funds to initiatives that support women's rights, and have prepared posters to be hung in Jerusalem that say, "women should be seen and heard".
Common Dreams is supporting the cause of a twenty-one year old Afghan woman who was sentenced to twelve years in jail for "forced adultery", euphemism for rape. Unlike hundreds of other such women, she does not have to marry her attacker and has recently been pardoned and freed. More than 5,000 people signed a petition demanding her release, and her story was publicized in a European Documentary on jailed Afghan women.
Theocracy Watch reports on the Republican Party's move to the religious right. Among their quotes: "Woman is subordinate to man" (Justice James Leon Holmes, Arkansas federal court). The site is an excellent source of links to national and international articles about threats to the freedom of women.
A terrified thirteen-year-old girl gets trapped into a sex ring, not in Somalia, but in Brooklyn, New York. Nicholas D.Kristof tells us how it all happened.
The WE DO campaign is trying to put a more human face on the issue of same-sex marriage. Their video is a moving tribute to the many same-sex couples who live in graceful harmony with each other.
Discovery News presents an article called "Is this the end of men or the beginning of women?", discussing the shift in the work place toward women's employment. The question goes directly to mens' fears of strong women and the mens' anxiety about the importance of their own role in 21st century society. Also quoted is an article in The Atlantic magazine called "The End of Men".
Researchers at Stanford University have concluded that women suffer pain more acutely than men, even when describing the same condition. Although socially accepted forms of stoicism may account for some of the differences, it is suggested that biology may also play a role. An additional factor is that most pain studies are done only on males - for example, in animal experiments, during ten years of study, 79% used male subjects while only 8% studied females.
NPR reports that men may start to deteriorate mentally earlier than women. A study done by the Mayo Clinic indicates that mild cognitive impairment may manifest itself earlier in males than in females although by ages 85 - 89 the differences are not significant.
c. Corinne Whitaker 2012
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