Feminism

Over the centuries, physicians have placed migraine in various positions along the mind / body spectrum. Headache experts currently consider migraine a somatic disorder rooted in the brain. But this is a break from the past. Up until thirty years ago, doctors primarily viewed migraine as having both a psychological and a somatic basis. In what follows, I trace these historical understandings of migraine from the nineteenth-century understanding of migraine as a disorder of upper-class intellectuals, to the influential concept of the “migraine personality” in mid-twentieth-century America, and finally to contemporary theories of comorbidity.

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I pay close attention to how, at each historical turn, biomedical discourses come to enact and reinforce cultural narratives about gender, class, and pain via the encoded inclusion of moral character. After all, the credibility and the legitimacy of a disorder — and how much we, as a society, choose to invest in its treatment — is intimately tied to how we perceive the moral character of the patient.

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/17341975

Kate has always stood loud and proud as a voice for body positivity and feminism.

Archived version

They think they can insult women’s intelligence and then win over women voters by pretending to be moderate on reproductive rights. How’s that for dumb?

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have made it abundantly clear that they think Kamala Harris is dumb. But apparently they think that women voters are even dumber.

Never mind that Harris is a law school graduate who was later elected San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator, and vice president of the United States. Trump commonly casts his opponent as intellectually lacking, calling her “dumb as a rock” and “low IQ” at his rallies, and advancing crude, sexist tropes suggesting that Harris used sex to get ahead professionally. And last week, his running mate took the insult to a crueler level, with collateral humiliating damage.

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Vance on August 29 tweeted a 2007 viral video of a Miss Teen USA contestant who flubbed a question about geography, and added this comment: “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.” The contestant, Caite Upton, was only 17 at the time, and was so mortified by the video and the ensuing mockery that she had considered suicide. After Vance’s post dredged up her past, threatening to subject her to more humiliation, Upton posted on X, “Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop.” She then deleted her account—for reasons we can probably guess. But Vance, when confronted with the troubling history of the video he resurfaced, was unmoved. “I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke,” he said.

It is fair to say, at this point, that Vance and his would-be boss don’t see women as equal in any way to men. They are punch lines. They are targets of insult and ridicule and disdain. Their purpose is to satisfy men sexually—“You can do anything” to them—and provide children. Those who don’t provide children are loathsome cat ladies.

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Earlier this year, Trump referred to his primary opponent Nikki Haley—a woman he once selected as ambassador to the United Nations—as a “birdbrain” and called MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski “dumb as a rock.” Trump is particularly fond of demeaning Black women who have challenged him, calling California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters “a seriously low IQ person” and saying New York Attorney General Letitia James has “a big, nasty, and ugly mouth”—and, of course, “is a Low IQ individual,” as well. Vance, meanwhile, barely finished fielding backlash against 2021 comments about “childless cat ladies” before two more past interviews surfaced in which he lambasted women who refuse to reproduce. The pair have become a tag team of misogyny.

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Trump’s frantic efforts to finesse his ever-changing position on reproductive rights isn’t helping either. Asked last week how he would vote on a Florida referendum enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, Trump appeared to back it, saying, “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” which is the current cutoff for abortion access in Florida. But after blowback on the right, he said he would oppose the referendum. And on protecting access to in vitro fertilization—an emotional, powerful issue even for some in the anti-abortion camp—Trump is flailing, trying to thwart concerns that so-called “pro-life” state laws will imperil it.

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Trump’s problem with women voters this year, compared to previous election cycles, is that he has both a governing record and a legal record, having been found liable in 2023 for sexually abusing and defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll. Trump may have felt emboldened after winning the 2016 election even after the notorious Access Hollywood tape, but his presidential legacy, including appointing the pivotal Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, can’t be dismissed as locker-room talk.

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Another factor is turnout among women. Reproductive rights ballot initiatives in 10 states in November could motivate more women to vote. Tom Bonier, who analyzes voter registration and turnout, reported a jump in registration among women voters in 13 states that have updated their voter files since July 21, with the increase more than twice that for male voters. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis found that in the three and a half weeks after Harris got into the race, registrations were higher than at the same point four years previously—largely because of women voters.

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But thinking you can hoodwink women voters into believing you respect them and will protect their reproductive rights, after a litany of insults and flip-flops? That’s just dumb.

When a woman starts bleeding out after labor, every second matters. But soon, under a new state law, Louisiana doctors might not be able to quickly access one of the most widely used life-saving medications for postpartum hemorrhage.

The Louisiana Illuminator spoke with several doctors across the state that voiced extreme concern about how the rescheduling of misoprostol as a controlled dangerous substance will impact inpatient care at hospitals. Misoprostol is prescribed in a number of medical scenarios — it’s an essential part of reproductive health care that can be used during emergencies, as well as for miscarriage treatment, labor induction, or intrauterine device (IUD) insertion.

But because it is used for abortion, misoprostol has been targeted by conservatives in Louisiana — an unprecedented move for a medication that routinely saves lives. A controlled dangerous substance has extra barriers for access, which can delay care.

The differences between the U.S. vice-presidential candidates highlight how misogyny in politics fuels the rollback of important rights and democratic freedoms. But it also shows how important it is for male politicians to step up to support rights of women and LGBTQ+ people – not least because men continue to dominate political institutions in most parts of the word.

Archived version

The co-publisher of hit Chinese video game "Black Myth: Wukong" this week sent guidelines to foreign streamers urging them against discussing politically touchy topics like Covid-19 or feminism, players said.

Released globally on Tuesday, "Black Myth" rapidly became one of the most successful Chinese-made games ever, as measured by the number of players on gaming platform Steam.

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But in the run up to the game's release, video streamers reported receiving a document from co-publishers Hero Games warning them to avoid topics including "feminist propaganda" or "politics" when they received a passkey to play the game, an email exchange seen by AFP showed.

Gamers were also warned against any reference to "Covid-19", "isolation" or "quarantine" -- likely a reference to China's pandemic-era policies that placed millions under arbitrary lockdowns and sparked civil unrest.

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Benoit Reinier, a French video game content creator, confirmed [...] that he had received the guidelines and shared his email exchange with the firm's representative.

In a YouTube video, Reinier said he would not stream the game on his channel in response to the guidelines, he described as "censorship".

"I have never seen something so shameful," he said in the video.

"It is very clearly a document which explains to us that we must censor ourselves and we must not talk about subjects considered negative such as politics."

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But Chinese gamers have rallied to the game's defence, with some painting any criticism of China's first "Triple A" title -- some of it focusing on the lack of diversity in the game -- as evidence of foreign bias.

"Feminists have always tried to achieve their anti-China goals by smearing and suppressing traditional Chinese culture, but I believe they will definitely fail," read a post on Weibo, an X-like platform, which defended the game on Wednesday.

Other Chinese social media users also targeted reviews by foreign media that awarded scores considered low.

A review by Canada-based Screen Rant was ridiculed for marking the game down for "lacking in inclusivity and diversity".

"How can it be lacking diversity when it has so many monsters?" read one Weibo comment under a post about Screen Rant's score of 3 out of 5.

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Another post accused foreign gaming review platforms of "joining the ranks of those smearing China".

"Seeing that China has released a hugely successful game, they start relentlessly pushing ideologies like LGBTQ and feminism," the user added.

The vice and virtue laws on Wednesday that cover aspects of everyday life such as public transportation, music, shaving and celebration, are set out in a 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press and are the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover.

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Article 13 relates to women. It says it is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. Clothing should not be thin, tight or short.

Women are obliged to cover themselves in front of non-Muslim males and females to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting or reading aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

Article 17 bans the publication of images of living beings, threatening an already fragile Afghan media landscape.

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According to the ministry website, the promotion of virtue includes prayer, aligning the character and behavior of Muslims with Islamic law, encouraging women.

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Last month, a U.N. report said the ministry was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

It said the ministry’s role was expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.

“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of the human rights service at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2076602

Extreme misogyny will be considered for the first time under UK Government plans to combat the radicalisation of young men online.

Yvette Cooper, the UK Home Secretary, has ordered a review of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy to urgently address gaps in the Government’s stance, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

It will look at tackling violence against women and girls in the same way as Islamist and far-Right extremism, amid fears that current Home Office guidance is too narrow.

This could mean teachers will be legally required to refer pupils they suspect of extreme misogyny to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terror programme.

It comes after warnings that misogynistic influencers are radicalising teenage boys online.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1953431

Archived link

The Taliban’s discriminatory policies towards women, and their strict implementation, amounts to a deliberate attempt to erase women from public life, the NGO Afghan Witness (AW) finds in a report.

"These policies have resulted in the systematic exclusion of women from many public spaces in Afghanistan, including education, the work force, and even online. Most significantly, these policies have resulted in gender–based violence and femicide, an absolute erasure from female participation in Afghan life."

• Taliban policies have resulted in a reported 25% increase in the rate of child marriage, and a 45% increase in the rate of early childbearing, alongside associated negative inter-generational social and economic consequences.

• Reports monitored by AW between January 2022 and June 2024 found that at least 840 women and girls were the victims of gender-based violence, many at the hands of the Taliban. Of these women and girls, at least 332 were killed. These figures likely significantly understate the scale of gender-based violence in Afghanistan, as these issues often go unreported, further underscoring the erasure of women and girls from Afghan society.

• Since girls are banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade (ages 11-12), and women from pursuing higher education in, a reported 80% of school-aged girls and young women in Afghanistan do not have access to education. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to have banned girls’ education.

• Between 2020 and 2023, according to the World Bank, women’s labour force participation rate fell from 16% to 5%. Afghan women have been restricted in the types of government positions they are allowed to hold, being banned from working in the civil service, and have been prohibited from working for NGOs.

• In January 2024, the Taliban initiated a campaign to arrest women and girls for non-compliance with mandatory hijab rules. Dozens of women and girls were taken into Taliban custody, with many reporting degrading treatment, torture, and even rape. The arrests led to widespread fear among Afghan women and girls, and reports of families preventing women and girls from leaving their houses due to safety concerns, as well as social stigma surrounding women held in Taliban custody.

Despite increased restrictions on women’s rights, women’s protests remain active in Afghanistan. However, over the past three years, the number of outdoor protests sharply decreased, while ‘indoor protests’ in private spaces has risen, indicating that women are prioritising their safety amidst a wave of Taliban suppression and intimidation of protesters,

Afghan women have also established libraries, secret schools, and underground beauty salons. Moreover, those in exile have launched campaigns, protests, and newsrooms, giving a voice to those severely suppressed inside the country.

[alt text: a screenshot from the 2023 Barbie movie, where America Ferrera's character is monologuing about being a woman. The caption says, "'And you're supposed to be strong, but not TOO strong or suddenly JK Rowling, Logan Paul, and JD Vance will start to say you're actually a man.'"]

"The rise of social media and cyber-bullying have impacted women in the public realm in general, and many scholars believe it’s an attempt to silence women and keep them out of power," writes Meredith Ralston, Professor of Women's Studies and Political Studies, at the Canada's Mount Saint Vincent University.

Women have suffered from continuing double standards and double binds, but this time Kamala Harris has momentum in terms of record-breaking support, finds Ralston. "As someone quipped on social media about [Trump’s running mate J.D.] Vance’s old cat-lady remarks, those childless cat ladies might just have their claws out."

United States Vice President Kamala Harris is making a bid for the Oval Office, replacing President Joe Biden to square off against Republican Donald Trump. She may become the first woman and second racialized person to become U.S. president.

It won’t be an easy road. [...] The gloves, in fact, are off, with Harris being subjected to both sexism and racism. She has been called a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) candidate, the implication being she’s unqualified to be president. There have also been insinuations that she has “slept her way to the top,” a classic way to undermine the accomplishments of successful women.

In 2021, JD Vance, now Trump’s running mate, criticized her and several other prominent Democrats as being “childless cat ladies” with no stake in the future of the country. Harris does, in fact, have stepchildren, but more importantly, the idea that childless people are less than those with children goes to the heart of Republican policy and lies behind the drive to eliminate abortion rights for women.

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While many positive changes have happened for women in politics over the past 20 years — including, for instance, more women in federal politics — many aspects of a politician’s life are worse than before because of social media, cyber-bullying and political polarization.

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A flourishing democracy needs representation from all demographics.

While it won’t be easy for Harris to win in November, and anything could happen over the next four months, she has momentum in terms of record-breaking fundraising and widespread support from many Democrats and Independents. Most importantly, she’s appealing to citizens who said they weren’t going to vote if it was a choice between Biden and Trump — and are now indicating they’ll cast their ballots for Harris.

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As someone quipped on social media about Vance’s old cat-lady remarks, those childless cat ladies might just have their claws out.

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/15146556

Each year, an estimated two million women and girls – equivalent to one in 12 women in England and Wales – are victims of violence perpetrated by a man, according to the first national analysis on the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Released today by UK's National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing, it has led officials to declare that such 'staggering' numbers constitute a 'national emergency'.

Key data:

• Violent crime perpetrated by men against women and girls spiked 37% between 2018 and 2023, rising from an estimated 789,703 recorded in 2018-9 to 1,080,157 in 2022-23.
• One in six homicides, or 100 out of the 590 homicides in the year to March 2023, in England and Wales are linked to domestic violence.
• Almost a million violent crimes against women and children were recorded between April 2022 and March 2023, averaging 3000 daily offences in England and Wales, or one in five of all police-recorded crimes, excluding fraud.
• In the year ending March 2023, there were over 2 million cases of sexual harassment, 1.4 million instances of domestic abuse, and 851,000 reports of stalking.
• Child sexual abuse also increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2022, with the age of suspects averaging just 15.
• An estimated one in 20 adults (2.3 million) in England and Wales will be a perpetrator of VAWG every year (2.3 million perpetrators).