This Week in the War FOR Women: Women ROCK Edition

It hasn’t escaped our notice, that female presidential candidates haven’t been getting anywhere near equal treatment by the media as their male counterparts.  I.e.,

Women candidates for the Democratic nomination are consistently receiving tougher coverage than their male counterparts, according to a recent study of 130 stories from the nation's top news websites.

The study –Storybench 2020 Election Coverage Tracker by the Northeastern University School of Journalism – examined the positive and negative terms used in campaign stories from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, CNN and Fox News.

Thus, I will do my small part to counter & correct this unfortunate trend… 

In fact- there’s so many female contenders in this particular election, that I feel we can afford to be a bit choosy, and just focus on our very favorite, shiniest of shining stars.  Specifically, I’m omitting two: Tulsi Gabbard (who just has too much, “baggage”), and Amy Klobuchar (being as she’s “the most unapologetic hawk of the senators in the race”- which doesn’t sit too well with me, as an unapologetic peacenik...)

And now, the women who rock:

Kamala Harris- my personal fave (and not just among the women, but among them all).  And I’m in some pretty good company, in thinking this.  I believe she would eviscerate (figuratively, of course) the Orange Beast.  What she offers us-  

Kamala has been a key voice in the fight to hold the Trump administration accountable,asking the tough questions on behalf of the American people. She serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Select Committee On Intelligence, and the Committee On Budget.

I have long felt that a core part of feminism, is to judge women fairly, on their genuine merits. Superficial qualities (like youth, and beauty) shouldn’t be excessively valued (as they so often are), but they also shouldn’t incur negative bias, either (by say, not taking a woman seriously, just because she might happen to be young/pretty/thin, etc.)

Of course, matters of taste are entirely subjective- but in my honest opinion, this gal’s band (The Pretty Reckless, fronted by Taylor Momsen) has produced some of the hands-down, absolute best music I’ve heard in quite some time:

Just because Kamala may be my #1, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be so ecstatic that you’d have to peel me from the ceiling, if Elizabeth Warren were to be our next POTUS.  She’s nothing short of a towering progressive icon…

Elizabeth is widely credited for the original thinking, political courage, and relentless persistence that led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As an assistant to President Barack Obama and special adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury, she led the establishment of the consumer agency to protect consumers from financial tricks and traps often hidden in mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products.

This next video tells a story- of how Joan Jett had been unable to get any record label to sign her, so she ended up starting her own, which turned out stupendously for her:

Twenty-three labels passed on releasing her first solo album, Joan Jett. So, together with producer Kenny Laguna, she founded the record label Blackheart Records. That was in 1980. The label has since released nine additional Joan Jett and the Blackhearts albums as well as albums by other bands.

Kirsten Gillibrand is another woman who would make a thoroughly outstanding president, her rock-solid record reflecting her impeccable principles:  

She has the strongest anti-Trump record in the Senate, and she’s voted against more Cabinet and judicial nominees than any other senator has. She’s refused to back down, even when others bend—whether that’s to protect Dreamers and keep immigrant families together, to take care of 9/11 first responders or to defend reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood.

I’ll never forget how mesmerized I was during this scene, seeing it at the age of 13- as I’d never heard anyone sing quite this amazingly before (in my youthful ignorance, I hadn’t realized who the singer was… And I also remember laughing hysterically at her saying that the Blues Brothers looked like a couple of “Hah-SEE-dic diamond merchants”…)

Reproductive Rights

Oh Alabama, you’re not such a “sweet home” now…on Tuesday the Alabama legislature passed- and just a couple of days later, their governor signed- a law outlawing abortion in all virtually all cases (pregnancies conceived by rape and incest, included.  The only exception these self-styled fountains of compassion for “life” evidently deemed acceptable to grant in the law, is when the pregnancy is a danger to the life of the mother.)  And the law stipulates that doctors who perform abortions could face up to 99 years in prison.

And this comes right at the heels of the “fetal heartbeat” law that was passed just last week in Georgia, outlawing abortion at a mere 6 weeks of pregnancy- before most women even know they’re pregnant.    

And as if not wanting to be left out of this macabre parade- on Friday Missouri’s House and Senate voted to pass a bill that prohibits abortion after 8 weeks of pregnancy.

If you’re thinking, “wait a minute- wouldn’t these state laws be unconstitutional, because Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, and so these laws flagrantly criminalizing abortion are in direct violation of superseding law?”, then I would say you’re absolutely correct… So, I think it’s pretty clear where this is most likely headed- court, where these laws will be contested.  But this very well could just be part of their grand two-pronged plan- the first line of attack being creating these laws & getting them in court, and the second, is trying their best to stack the courts with judges who are similarly reactionary as themselves, to ensure the court decisions will be in their favor.  

But we can attack right back, and halt their diabolical plot in their tracks.  My gal Kamala responded by raising $160,000 for pro-choice groups (which Meteor Blades described & provided links to in this diary, so that we can all support them as well).  And please also see the Action Items section towards the end of this diary.

One of my all-time favorite instrumental intros, by any musician, of any gender:

The following song was written & originally performed by males (Simon & Garfunkel), but I personally prefer this cover of it, by an all-female band:

Violence against Women

I’ve railed against Nepal’s deadly “menstruation huts” before, asking “how many more people have to die before they finally stop that insane practice”- well (infuriatingly) that death threshold evidently still hasn’t been arrived at:

Every year in Nepal, women die while sleeping in a shed outside their home because they are on their period. The cause of death is often smoke inhalation from lighting a fire to stay warm.

The practice, called chaupadi, is linked to Hindu beliefs around religious purity and the idea that menstruation is spiritually polluting. In much of the country, this means that a woman who is menstruating will avoid temples, prayer rooms and kitchens — places important to keep pure in the Hindu religion.

In parts of the remote west, an extreme version means nights sleeping outside in a hut or shed.

      …

Four people have died in sheds since the start of 2019, including two children sleeping beside their mother — all three reportedly died from smoke inhalation after lighting a fire inside the confined space of the shed.

For the remaining songs featured in this diary, I thought I’d present examples of a reversal on the standard male lead/female backing vocal combo, as I feel the following songs show how male voices can complement female ones, just as beautifully as vice-versa:

A minister who raped his daughter for several years starting when she was just 14, was sentenced to 12 years in prison- a much lighter sentence than what crimes that monumentally heinous normally receive, which the judge justified by citing the “good work” this incestuous pedophile rapist had done in the community… Additionally,

…over 30 parishioners from the church came to court to show support not for the victim, but for the rapist.

I’m not Christian myself, but I just can’t imagine how these people could really believe In their hearts that Jesus would be hunky-dory with what that man did to his young daughter.  

On The Bright Side

Thankfully, it hasn’t been all doom & gloom lately…

On Friday the House passed the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics (and I think it’s also worth noting that all of the House Democrats voted for this bill, which accounted for 228 of the 236 total votes in favor of it).

And last Friday a federal judge struck down a Kentucky law limiting abortion.

(Yes her band gets two spots in this diary, because she’s just that good…)

Action Items

Regretfully, not all women rock- some are confoundingly expediting our descent into Gilead (which was supposed to be fiction, not a documentary…)  This Daily Kos petition is targeted at Kay Ivey, the Republican (surprise surprise) governor of Alabama, denouncing her for signing Alabama’s anti-abortion law.  

And this petition from the Daily Kos and several other organizations is in support of the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Woman Act, to ensure health coverage of abortion regardless of where a woman lives, or what her financial and insurance situation is.

This petition is from MomsRising.org in support of The Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2019, to make essential period products more accessible. 

And lastly there are two petitions from the National Women’s Law Center- one in support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and the other in opposition to the nomination of Wendy Vitter to a lifetime position on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  To quote our illustrious ShowerCap:

And the Senate GOP, including allegedly pro-choice Lisa Murkowski, decided to make Froth-Mouthed Conspiracy Geyser Wendy Vitter, who thinks birth control and abortion cause cancer, and is basically “meh” on Brown v. Board of Education, a federal judge for life. They have to run out of these lunatics at some point, right? Maybe Michele Bachmann can host some sort of demented reality show where they probe the comments sections of Breitbart and InfoWars to find the biggest maniac in all of Cult45, and Mitch McConnell installs the winner on the D.C. Circuit.

...but don't call it a War on Women, right?

Of course, I couldn’t even possibly pretend to begin to scratch the surface of all the fabulous female musicians there are in this world… But, here’s a bunch more (of a variety of styles & eras, some more well known than others), in a “virtual jukebox” (all the names are links to videos):

And please feel free to share your own favorites, in the comments! ♫♀✊