Friday Femme Fatale: Never A Dull Moment

Published February 20, 2009 @ 10:53AM PT

This week's Friday Femme Fatale covers a few interesting, upsetting and then encouraging moments in the fem-o-sphere. Here is what you might have missed or want to remember in the past seven days:

First off, an inspiring interview with Mika Brzezinski from "Morning Joe" where she explains on wowOwow with Lesley Stahl about her how her departure from CBS was pretty ugly and that after more than a decade in the news business she said, "I could not pay someone to hire me. I was damaged goods."

However, it only takes a quick reminder to realize that how poorly many women are treated outside the United States with the unfortunate incident reported this week where the founder of Islamic TV station has been accused of beheading his wife. The article states: "Muzzammil Hassan was charged with second-degree murder after police found the decapitated body of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, at the Bridges TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, said Andrew Benz, Orchard Park's police chief."

In other disturbing news, a measure was approved this week by the North Dakota House legislature gives fertilized human eggs the legal rights of a human being, which is a step that would essentially ban abortion in the state.

Sigh. Never a dull moment in the world of women's rights, eh?

On a more positive note, Change.org blogger Loryn Wilson writes about Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue this week over at Black Girl Blogging. The cover defied typical editorial decisions for the famous fashion magazine according to CNN:

Traditionally, Vogue has thrown a spotlight on very few faces of color. In the last decade, only five covers have featured blacks: Oprah in November 1998, Halle Berry in December 2002, Liya Kebede in May 2005, Jennifer Hudson in February 2007, and Lebron James in April 2008. And during the past 80 years, only 18 of Vogue’s covers – that’s less than 2% — have featured black women.

Finally, it's time for the ladies of the world to work on their libidos. Consumer Reports featured the apparent disconnect between men and women when it comes to sex with nearly 60 percent of the men in the survey saying they thought about sex at least once a day, compared with only 19 percent of the women. According to the survey, men are also far more likely than women to say that sex is highly important to them (64 percent vs. 47 percent). Amanda Marcotte over at RHReality Check writes about the survey and how "once again women's on-average lower sexual desire is treated as an unfortunate but largely inexplicable phenomenon."

Also, check out this new campaign that launched last week, Why Moms Matter, which again confirms why women are the target market, not the niche market and will give you yet another reason to get engaged with moms in social media.

Photo credit: rebeccaunfried

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Comments (5)

The North Dakota development is worrisome on so many levels - including the prospects for stem cell research AND donation of fertilized eggs to other couples. Will it become an act of abandonment or adoption then?? Very worrisome...

Posted by Lisa Smolen on 02/20/2009 @ 10:07PM PT
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What does the Mika Brzezinski thing have to do with womens rights?

She was fired because she acted unprofessionally.

Posted by Connor D. on 02/22/2009 @ 06:58PM PT
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Why is it so disturbing to call a fertilized human being "human"? You guys are for animal rights, womens rights and human rights, but believe its okay to kill innocent unborn humans. To you, a convicted criminal or even a dog has more rights than an innocent unborn human being.

Posted by Patti Crick on 02/22/2009 @ 09:49PM PT
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They're EGGS, remember? not "fertilized human beings". Do you call chicken eggs and embryos full blown chickens too?

Posted by Erika L. on 05/16/2009 @ 03:00PM PT
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I feel very strongly that people should be able to donate fertilized eggs to couples that could use them - rather than see them incinerated or left forgotten. So what sort of legal problems would couples run into if they chose this route?

These are fertlized eggs in a lab, not inside a woman, and I can't speak for Jen here, but what I find disturbing about the issue is that destruction of these eggs could constitute abortion in the future. Will the parents of the eggs have to pay for their continued storage lest they be charged w/abandonment? If the freezer breaks down & the eggs die, will the facility be sued?

It's not about dogs or criminals, it's about the man & woman who have to decide what to do with these eggs once they are fertilized and what sorts of ramifications their decisions will have.

Posted by Lisa Smolen on 02/23/2009 @ 01:10PM PT
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Author

Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.