What I’m Reading – July 19, 2015
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in What I'm Reading
Criminal Justice System
“The prosecution team placed veteran informant Michael James Garrity in close jail proximity to Rodriguez in June 1999, coached him on what questions they wanted answered, and pretended the snitch accidentally stumbled upon information so it could be used in trial.” Hidden Injustice: County Counsel Works To Keep OC’s Snitch Scandal Under Wraps (h/t @RadleyBalko)
Cultural Appropriation
– “As the 16-year-old again captures the hearts of feminists across the Internet for wise-beyond-her-years thoughts on cultural appropriation and the Black female image (the first time was with this video just weeks ago), Jenner fans and others who could care less about Black girls have been extremely harsh in responding. The social media trolling is at predictable levels of mercilessness—which would technically make this the second time Stenberg was subject to racist abuse online.” Amandla Stenberg Didn’t Attack Kylie, Leave Our Princess Alone! (via @JamilahLemieux)
Homophobia
– “Shielded from the eyes and ears of major media, speakers at the Future Conference expressed the kind of casual homophobia that would otherwise offend mainstream audiences. More importantly, they discussed their plans for dealing with a country seems increasingly determined to protect LGBT people from discrimination.” Inside The Conservative Plan To Continue The Fight Against LGBT Equality (via @gaywonk)
Police Violence
– “But while officials say Sandra Bland committed suicide in her cell, an online campaign led by her friends and family is questioning that account. The woman’s family will hold a news conference in Chicago’s Loop at noon. A news release from a law firm representing the family says, “The family of Sandra Bland is confident that she was killed and did not commit suicide. The family has retained counsel to investigate Sandy’s death.”” Woman from Chicago area found dead in Texas jail cell (h/t @theonlybaccus)
Reproductive Rights
– “Planned Parenthood responded similarly, dismissing accusations that they are trying to sell remains at a profit. “In health care, patients sometimes want to donate tissue to scientific research that can help lead to medical breakthroughs, such as treatments and cures for serious diseases,” said Eric Ferrero, vice president of communications, Planned Parenthood Federation of America in a written statement. “Women at Planned Parenthood who have abortions are no different.” That Planned Parenthood Video Isn’t the Scandal Abortion Opponents Are Making It Out to Be (via @RobinMarty)
– “Abortion is a medical procedure, and the reality of medical procedures are not pleasant. But that’s not a reason to make abortion illegal, or nearly impossible to access, which is the the goal of this video.” Abortion is a medical procedure. The reality of those often isn’t pleasant (via @JessicaValenti)
– “Unlike what anti-choice rhetoric warns, abortion doesn’t haunt all women and transgender men like a ghost. And why is that? Because even when it was difficult to decide, women knew they were making the best decisions for themselves and their families (62 percent of the study’s participants were already mothers). Full stop.” 95% of Women Don’t Regret Their Abortions & the Reason Is Simpler Than You’d Think. (h/t @momstuffpodcast)
Seattle Elections
– “But what we didn’t dream about when we were dreaming about district elections was having to do candidate interviews with 47 fuckwits hopefuls running for city council, plus a few more running for Seattle’s port commission and school board. (Ah, the Seattle School Board, that graveyard of good intentions and political aspirations. Every few years, we toss a few goo-goo lambs into that wood chipper only to have more goo-goo lambs show up at our next round of endorsement interviews.) The Stranger’s Endorsements for the August 2015 Primary Election! (via @strangerslog)
Women in Sport
– ““Lots of us watch sports because of how it makes us feel as part of a collective, an identity to latch onto that really has no risk of hurting our actual identities,” author and sportswriter Jessica Luther told me. “And for a lot of men, that has been for them a very masculine space.” Given how historically fragile the male ego is, this is unsurprising. But while the misogynist’s grasp on sports is tight, it’s not inescapable.” There’s Nothing Boring About Women’s Sports (via @JamilSmith)
– “Flynn did not commit to equal pay. But he said he had met with top officials from Canada’s soccer federation during the World Cup’s final weekend to discuss the preparation of a post-event report about different issues around the Canada tournament. In those conversations, he said he brought up compensation and other areas that had drawn criticism, including the housing of opposing teams in the same hotel (which doesn’t happen with the men’s teams).” Top U.S. Soccer Official Pledges To Push For Better Pay For Women (h/t @maxwellstrachan)
– “The key thing to understand is that FIFA agrees on a price with the sponsors and TV broadcasters that’s based on their (i.e. their mostly male top executives’) perceptions of the value of the WWC. Those perceptions are tainted by sexist assumptions, primary among them being that 1) there is less of a market for women’s soccer and 2) that the women’s game is of a lower quality. Therefore, all parties agree to prices for sponsorships and TV rights that are far below those for the men’s tournament. The TV broadcasters then go on to sell ad spots for the games that again, are valued much less than the equivalent ad spots would be for a men’s game. This sexism, built directly into the economics of women’s soccer, leads to several results: the sponsors and broadcasters, having paid less for their rights, don’t market the WWC as aggressively as they do the men’s tourney. Additionally, different companies sponsor the women’s tournament, often makers of specialty products sold exclusively to women, such as Tampax.” Soccer’s Sexist Political Economy (h/t @EdgeofSports)
…And finally