Feminist Events Calendar

October: Breast Cancer Awareness Month & Domestic Violence Awareness Month
-11th: National Coming Out Day
-19th: Love Your Body Day
-20th: National Young Women's Day of Action
-28th-29th: South Atlantic FMF Regional Conference

November:
-4th-5th: Midwest FMF Regional Conference
-7th-11th: EC Week of Action
-11th-12th: South Central FMF Regional Conference
-11th-12th: West Coast FMF Regional Conference
-13th-19th: National Education Week
-25th:International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
-25th-Dec. 10th: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

December:
-1st: World AIDS Day
-10th: International Human Rights Day

Contact Us!

Call us toll free at either the East coast office (1-866-444-FMLA) or the West coast office (1-866-471-FMLA). You can also email us at campusteam@feminist.org. We are always happy to hear from you and answer any questions or concerns!

What do you think?

This is your E-zine, and we are always updating and changing to fit your needs, so please let us know what you think of our new format! Email campusteam@feminist.org with any suggestions, ideas, or comments.

Regional Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conferences
Register Today!

South Atlantic Conference: Oct. 28th-29th, Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) Registration Deadline: Oct. 21st!
Midwest Conference: Nov. 4th-5th, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH)
Featured Speaker: Hauwa Ibrahim
South Central Conference: Nov. 11th-12th, University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
Featured Speaker: Dr. Sarah Weddington
West Coast Conference: Nov. 11th-12th, Claremont Colleges (Claremont, CA)
Keynote Speaker: Dolores Huerta

Organizations that will be represented at the conferences include: Feminist Majority Foundation, UNFPA, SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, Center for Global Development, National Center for Human Rights Education (NCHRE), Population Connection, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), Free the Slaves, Sierra Club, Women's Actions for New Directions, Women's Edge Coalition, and many more!

October's Recommended Book Pick
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month we are spotlighting two books about coping and living with breast cancer, which will appeal to women of all ages:

Breast Cancer: Daughters Tell Their Stories
by Julianne S. Oktay

This insightful book tells the stories of women whose mothers had breast cancer. It uses their own voices to express the common fears and expectations of daughters in the periods before and during their mothers' illnesses, involving genetic risks, death and dying, and changes in their relationships...Read More!

Living Beyond Breast Cancer: A Survivor's Guide for When Treatment Ends and the Rest of Your Life Begins
by Marisa C. Weiss

Living Beyond Breast Cancer will help you understand and manage the tough issues you face as you go on beyond treatment, and well into the future...This empathetic book, filled with comprehensive medical information, practical advice, and the voices of survivors who have lived through everything you're going through, will help you celebrate your second chance at living beyond breast cancer...Read More!

NEW ecards!
Check out our Feminist eGreeting page with new ecards for National Coming Out Day and Breast Cancer Awareness month!

University of Montevallo
The University of Montevello hosted an Indulgence Party last week as a part of their Love Your Body campaign. They are focusing on body image issues and the media bias against women and thought that an Indulgence Party would be an excellent way for the FMLA to confront body image issues while getting to know each other better! Members were all encouraged to bring something to eat (healthy or not), wear whatever made them comfortable, and eat shamelessly. They said the turnout for the event was "amazing!" Great idea!

Temple University
Temple University's FMLA was fast to act and hosted a table at the Temple Student Kickoff Carnival on September 4th to encourage students to: TELL SENATOR SPECTER TO VOTE "NO" ON ROBERTS! From 11-2:00, TFMLA handed out over 300 fliers with the phone number of PA Senator Arlen Specter(R) and urged students call Senator Specter on the spot with cell phones to oppose the nomination of John Roberts.

New FMLAs!
We would like to welcome new FMLAs at Long Beach City College, Palomar College, Pasadena City College, and Los Angeles Vallery College (all CA), as well as affiliate groups LUCY at Rowan University (NJ) and Feminists Unite! at Riverside Community College (CA) to the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance community!

Harriet Miers Nominated to Fill Justice O'Connor's Supreme Court Seat
October 3, 2005--President Bush today nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by Sandra Day O'Connor. "The good news is that Bush appointed this time a woman to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. "It took two tries, but he finally got that part of the equation right. The bad news is that Harriet Miers at this point in time is essentially a stealth candidate for the Supreme Court." More

VAWA Expired Due to Lack of Senate Vote
October 3, 2005--Despite the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as part of the Department of Justice Reauthorization in the House of Representatives, the Senate failed to vote on the measure (S 1197) on Friday. Thus, VAWA expired on October 1. More

Roberts Confirmed as Chief Justice 78 to 22
September 29, 2005--John Roberts was confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court today by a vote of 78 to 22 in the US Senate. Roberts was opposed by leading civil rights, women's rights, civil liberties, disability rights, labor, separation of church and state, and lesbian and gay rights groups, including the Feminist Majority.

"I do not believe the vote would be the same if women made up half the Senate and African Americans and Latinos were represented in adequate numbers," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. "We are not discouraged, however, and we are ready to fight any stealth candidate or opponent to women's rights for the Supreme Court." More

IL Judge Upholds Rule Requiring Pharmacists to Fill EC Prescriptions
September 28, 2005--Illinois Judge John Belz on Thursday denied a petition to block enforcement of Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich's emergency order requiring pharmacies to fill emergency contraception prescriptions. The suit was brought by Americans United for Life, on behalf of two pharmacists. Judge Belz found they had not met legal requirements necessary to temporarily block the law. More

More Feminist News

Portugal Agrees to Hold Abortion Referendum
September 30, 2005--Portugal's parliament on Wednesday voted to hold a referendum to decriminalize abortion during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. For the referendum to be accepted, not only must it gain a majority of votes, but also more than half of the nation's registered voters must cast a ballot. A date for the poll has not yet been set. This is the second Portuguese abortion referendum to come to a vote. The first, in 1998, was defeated by a narrow margin of 51 to 49 percent, and voter turnout was low. More

Iraqi Women's Rights under Daily Threat
September 27, 2005--Women's rights activists in Iraq are sounding the alarm that certain freedoms, particularly freedom of dress and movement, exercised by women even under the regime of Saddam Hussein, are being degraded and threaten to disappear. Iraqi feminist activist Ban Jamil, who runs the Rasafa Branch of Assyrian Women Union, told Agence France Presse that "women cannot walk freely out in the street...[they] face a lack of respect when they walk uncovered." Jinan Mubarak, who directs the Iraqi Center for Training and Employing Women, told AFP that now Iraqi women "cover and change the way we dress unwillingly due to pressure." Those who are not willing to wear a veil are now unable to walk through certain neighborhoods. More

Women in South Africa Far More Likely Than Men to be HIV-Positive
September 27, 2005--A recent study conducted by researchers in the US and South Africa has found that HIV infection is three times more common in South African women ages 15 through 24 than in men of the same age group. Researchers anonymously tested nearly 12,000 South Africans for the disease in 2003, as well as conducted household surveys. They found that 15.5 percent of the women tested positive, but only 4.8 percent of the men. More

More Global Feminist News

Human Trafficking
The Feminist Majority Foundation is partnering with Lifetime TV to encourage you to tune-in for the premiere of Lifetime's first-ever miniseries, Human Trafficking, a two-part film, on October 24 and 25, at 9PM ET/PT. This miniseries, starring Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino and Golden Globe-winner Donald Sutherland, brings to light the often hidden, but growing problem of the international sale and trade of human beings into modern day slavery.

We hope that this miniseries serves as an awareness-raising tool for activists in communities and on college campuses nationwide. We encourage you and your friends to host viewing parties on the 24th & 25th and tune-in at 9PM ET/PT to watch Human Trafficking and to visit LifetimeTV.com and download a viewer's guide.

Free Public Education Materials/Videos on Lack of Access to Abortion for Poor Women from To The Contrary
The PBS program, To The Contrary (the only woman-owned news analysis program on national television) is pleased to offer, free of charge, VHS or DVD copies of its coverage of how even while Roe vs. Wade is national law, there are many places in the US where abortion is difficult or impossible to obtain.

To the Contrary's cameras showed, in heart-breaking detail, the barriers women seeking abortions go through to obtain legal medical services. In the piece, the Women's Health Organization's director describes her typical patient as being "between the ages of 16 and 25, low-income, not many work skills, not much education, 4-5 children at home already, the only provider for those children, no vehicles, and no money to afford the abortion."

To The Contrary's special coverage aired nationally on PBS and includes a panel discussion led by host Bonnie Erbé, with expertise from NARAL Pro-Choice America President Emeritus Kate Michelman, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Former Rep. Pat Schroeder and the Republican National Committee's
Tara Wall.

If you would like to receive a copy of this program please e-mail your request to tothecontrary@hotmail.com. Please be sure to include in the request the name of your organization, how many copies you would like to receive, and a brief explanation of the intended use of the video. We are happy to consider requests for multiple copies of the video for re-distribution to medical groups, women's rights groups, students, conferences or interested individuals.

The Clearinghouse on Women's Issues Invites You to its October 25, 2005 Meeting
UNCLE SAM AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
We are all affected by and dependent on government policies, programs and agencies to protect our health. A key agency is the Food and Drug Administration, which has been much in the news lately. We are fortunate to have as a speaker Dr. Susan Wood who recently resigned from a top women's health leadership position at FDA because of policy differences, particularly emergency contraceptives and breast implants. How much should health policies be determined by scientific research and how much by political views?

Dr. Beth Jordan will help us understand the key women's health issues she is battling for in two significant positions: Director of Health Policy at the Feminist Majority Foundation and Medical Director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. She will discuss strategies that medical and women's advocacy groups are using to watchdog the FDA and advocate for wider access and availability of emergency contraception and Mifepristone. Dr. Jordan a board-certified internist and specialist in women's health, also is a health provider at a women's clinic, serves as medical advisor to Ms. Magazine, and speaks on scientific and political women's health topics on college campuses.

TOPIC: WOMEN'S HEALTH POLICIES AND THE FDA

SPEAKERS: Dr. Susan Wood, Ph.D., former Assistant Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration

Dr. Beth Jordan, MD, Medical Director, Feminist Majority Foundation and Association of Reproductive Health Professionals

TIME: 12 noon -- 1:30 p.m. (Bring your lunch and an ID.)
PLACE: American Council on Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, 8th Floor, Kellogg Room

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER WAVE:
Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists

We don't need another wave. We need a movement.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:
So here's the concept: We want interesting, well-written stories about kneeing the privileged-patriarchal-powers-that-be in their collective groin. Specifically we need personal narrative essays that discuss everyday bits of activism in combination with analyses of the larger systems of oppression at work. (and some theory, please... but not ALL theory for the love of God!!)

From a decidedly youthful perspective. (defined arbitrarily as those who consider themselves to be part of "the next generation of feminists." So, yes, we'd like to know how old you are and why you think you're part of "the next generation,"etc.) And, please, this is 2005, people. This has got to be a representative publication that includes all races, genders, sexualities, creeds, classes, and what have you.

Some sample topics that make us smile:
*Intersectionality of race, gender, class and all manner of other identifying factors.
*Women in the Military
*Sexual assault within the progressive youth community.
*Being raised in alternative families.
*Body Image.
*What are some effective organizing strategies for the progressive movement? (and what are some that fail, etc?)
*DIY Culture
*Craftivism: a feminist perspective on knitting and other seemingly domestic hobbies that are making a comeback, especially when such activities are used to raise money for radical (in the good way) causes.
*LGBT issues across the board.
*The institution of marriage. Is it becoming obsolete or is it stronger than ever?
*Career vs. childrearing. Issues around delaying having kids.
*Dating: power relations in sex, romance, love and lust.
*Body Wars: Reproductive Freedom, Birth control, and alternative menstrual products.
*Young Women and Globalism
and, you know, a whole lot more.

Editor: Melody Berger just graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia with a degree in Women's Studies. In the not too distant future she is heading out to the West Coast for a way cool internship with Bitch Magazine, which makes her all sorts of gleeful. This past year she created the F-WORD magazine, a brand-spankin' new feminist publication for teens/youthful people. Check it out: www.thef-wordzine.com There are loads of great essays on the site which will give you a clearer sense of what we want for We Don't Need Another Wave.
Publisher: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, publishes groundbreaking books by and for women in a variety of topics.
Deadline: January 15, 2006.
Length: 3,000 - 5,000 words.
Format: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. Essays will not be returned.
Submitting: Send essay electronically as a Word or Rich Text Format file (with .doc or .rtf extension) to Melody Berger at HowlingHarpies@gmail.com. Put "We Don't Need Another Wave" in the subject line. If you'd rather send your essay via snail mail,
please submit to:
Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.,
Seal Press Acquisitions,
1400 65th Street,
Suite 250,
Emeryville, CA 94608
Payment: $100 plus two books.
Reply: Please allow until May 1, 2006 for a response. If you haven't received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been selected. Unfortunately it is not possible to reply to every submission personally.