According to Fox News, women’s groups are calling for President Obama to fire former Senator and current co-chair of a federal debt commission board, Alan Simpson, for hostile and sexist remarks made by Simpson in an e-mail to Ashley Carson, the executive director of the National Older Women’s League. Carson claims that Simpson’s language showed that he had a “negative attitude toward women and seniors.” The result of Simpson’s inflammatory language resulted in the following conference call:

Friday, four women’s groups and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Simpson’s sexist attitude and misguided view of Social Security make him unsuited to inform decisions about America’s financial future.

So what exactly did Simpson say that was so inflammatory? That Carson should get back in the kitchen? That Carson didn’t know what she was talking about because she was a woman and/or a senior?

No, Simpson’s supposedly hateful and sexist comment compared Social Security to a “milk cow with 310 million tits.”

After sending the e-mail, Simpson then issued a jokey apology:

“Over the last 40 years, I have had my size 15 feet in my mouth a time or two. To quote my old friend and colleague, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, when I make a mistake, ‘It’s a doozy!”‘

But for Carson, the damage had been done.

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Cycling, here in the UK, can be a bit of a contentious issue. Whilst more and more of us are being encouraged to walk or cycle to work, those who refuse to ditch the car for a ‘greener’ way of traveling seem to have a bit of a problem with those on two wheels.

The problem is seemingly at its greatest in London, where traffic flow is massive and congestion is a recurrent problem. Those in a car, finding themselves stuck behind a cyclist and unable to overtake can often get, well, a little angry. Though our politicians are often seen out on their bikes, trying to set a good example (Boris, anyone?), it would seem the cyclist is a bit of a target for pedestrians and motorists alike.

Dawn Foster, a UK blogger and female cyclist has had, it would seem, her fair share of aggressive behavior from other road users whilst she’s been out on her bike. In a recent article in the UK’s Guardian, Dawn revealed that she’s had her top pulled down when stopped at traffic lights and, when struggling up a hill, been asked if she puts in as much effort in the bedroom. Hideous behavior from the perpetrators, but Dawn has found a great way of dealing with this type of conduct – naming and shaming the culprits on her blog, 101 Wankers.

Dawn describes the blog as ‘a catalogue of the insults and comments I get shouted at me whilst riding my bike, placed on a map to create a London Wankermap.’ I love this so much – succinct, precise – and funny.

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Living alone costs single people an extra £250,000 over a lifetime, it has been claimed, in a new study commissioned by UK price comparison website uSwitch. Researchers compared the spending of people living alone with couples, and found that carrying the full burden of a mortgage, holidays and bills all adds up and that single people actually spend more than £250,000 over the course of their life because they are not part of a couple.

Added importance has been given to the findings by the projection that the number of single-person households in the UK could reach 9.5 million over the next decade.

The biggest aspect of what has been dubbed the ‘singles tax’ is housing, with people who live alone having to pay an average of £7,080 a year on mortgage or rent compared with £3,804 for someone living with a partner. On top of this there is the full cost of household bills, not shared, and council tax. Here in the UK, lone residents can claim a rebate on council tax, it is only 25% rather than the 50% it should be to equal what a couple pays.

Expensive single hotel rooms and the lack of opportunity for bulk buying at the supermarket were noted as additional ‘penalties’ faced by singles. Ann Robinson, of uSwitch, stated that:

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I made a really clever analogy the other day. One of my summer school kiddos was talking about how MySpace is so vastly inferior to Facebook, and I said, “Yeah, sort of like the Beta was to the VHS tape.” The kid looked at me blankly, so I had to explain what I meant … but it got me thinking a lot about Facebook.

Social media sites—and Facebook is definitely at the head of the class, at least for the moment—have opened up many, many doors. It’s allowed old friends to reconnect and has even played a role in birth parents finding the children they gave up for adoption (although there is some controversy there, natch).

I love Facebook. I do. It gives me great pleasure to know exactly what’s going on in the lives of my friends without having to pick up the phone (I deplore the telephone), and the “like” feature is just genius.

Now, the largest school department in New Hampshire is joining some other districts nationwide in creating a Facebook policy for its teachers, and I’m really kind of pissed off about it. (Note—I do not work in this district)

From WMUR:

Teachers and administrators in New Hampshire’s largest city are going to be warned about what they post to social networking sites such as Facebook and to avoid online contact with students.

The policy proposed by Manchester Superintendent Thomas Brennan Tuesday would prohibit teachers from inviting students to be friends on social networking sites or agreeing to student friend requests.

Um … okay, the focus here seems to be on teachers being “Facebook friends” with students. I’m sure that was intentional as it is inflammatory enough to make the reader miss the “warned about what they post to social networking sites such as Facebook” part.

You know, I have a Facebook. I love my Facebook. I am not friends with any of my students on Facebook. That’s just common sense and should go without saying. It’s frankly kind of insulting that a school district would feel that teachers have to be told this.

What bothers me even more, though, is the insinuation that what a teacher posts on Facebook is anybody’s business other than that teacher’s and his or her friends.

There’s some pretty crazy shit on my Facebook (well, for a 33-year-old schoolteacher). I also have an apparent affinity for posting while intoxicated, which comes out when I do things like post, “Oh, Captain, my Captain!!!!!!” during a rum and coke fueled evening or taking pictures of phallic art created from drink garnishes and swords (it was not my idea). Oh, and then there was the notable “Texas Ropadhouse is good,” [Ed. Note: Ha! I caught that one.] which actually happened right around the time my piece on menstrual art ran on ZL.

So, yeah, me, a BlackBerry, and alcohol are not a fantastic mix … unless, of course, you’re on the other side and then it’s evidently pretty entertaining.

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Marks and Spencer, the most trusted brand in the UK and one of the mainstays of the British High Street, has faced harsh criticism in the UK this last week for the introduction of a new range of plus-sized school uniforms for children as young as three. The line, which has been brought out in response to demand from parents, has fuelled fears that Government efforts to counter childhood obesity are failing.

The retailer has been ‘trialling’ the new range of uniforms in response to customer demand, a spokesman for the company said, adding that the range had not been advertised in mainstream media and had been introduced ‘quietly.’ The range includes school trousers and blazers for four-year-olds with waistbands of 23 inches – the size that would normally be found on a garment for an eight-year-old, according to the store’s sizing guide. Girls’ clothes in a size equivalent to an adult size 18 (UK sizing, US size 14) are also being stocked.

Sales of the ‘Plus Fit Range’ are said to have been overwhelming since the launch of the range at the end of last month. With one …

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American Apparel knows that the primary objective of business is to make money, right? Apparently not. While the company continues to bleed money on its downward spiral to bankruptcy (God willing), they have often espoused their “No Fat Chicks” mantra and they have a simple message for their applicants: If you don’t look like one of the girls in the above photo, don’t bother giving us your resume.

A tipster over at Gawker went to apply for a job at an American Apparel location to see experience hiring practices first-hand and got the full photo shoot treatment.

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The constraining of pregnant prisoners during labour and delivery is a practice so hidden that few people know it exists – but a number of lawsuits relating to this have made the national media in the US recently, and these have ignited debate over the practice, both in relation to human rights and regarding whether the convention is constitutional.

This isn’t something I was aware occurred (indeed, it sounds more like something out of Dickens novel), but the practice is reportedly ever-present and widespread in contemporary America. Last month, the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates condemned the shackling of pregnant inmates and advocated the writing of model statutes to serve as templates for states that have yet to restrict the practice.  However, currently only ten states actually have anti-shackling laws and, in most states, incarcerated women have their legs shackled, stomachs chained and wrists cuffed when being transported from prison to hospital for delivery, and reportedly often, despite the …

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Sabbar Kashur has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for “rape by deception” after telling a Jewish woman that he was also Jewish in order to get her to have sex with him. Although the judge stated that the sex was consensual, his ruling makes it clear that the Jewish woman would not have agreed to the sex if she knew the Kashur was not Jewish. While it is clear that Kashur did deceive the woman and was wrong to do so, the idea that this somehow constitutes rape is ridiculous, especially when one considers the circumstances under which the sex occurred and the racial and religious dynamics surrounding this case.

The woman in question claims that she only had sex with Kashur after he told her that he was a Jewish bachelor who wanted a serious relationship. If this were true, then why would she have had sex with him in a public place only a few hours after meeting him? This does not seem like the sort of behavior that indicates one would be seeking a commitment, which may be exactly why Kashur lied, since he knew the magic words “Jewish bachelor” and “serious relationship” would help him get into her pants more quickly. Indeed, what it seems that the woman was not angry about the sex, but the fact that she had it with …

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With Constance McMillen back in the news again for her recent appearance as a grand marshal in New York City’s Gay Pride March, it’s a perfect opportunity to look at how far the South has come. And yes, I’m serious. There’s this stereotypical notion that everyone living south of the Mason-Dixon line is a bigoted, racist, toothless, cousin-marrying, Republican-loving maniac. However, in the wake of the McMillen tragedy, the South is actually becoming … progressive. Well, kind of.

Mississippi native McMillen, who made national news last year for wanting to go to the prom with the date of her choice, planned on attending her high school prom in a tuxedo with a female date. School officials put the kibosh on this and, following McMillen’s acquisition of ACLU representation, canceled the prom.

From Slate:

Most accounts of the McMillen case describe her as having “divided America,” in the words of the Daily Mail, or as a soldier in the “seemingly unwinnable fight in America’s deep south between gay rights and conservatives,” as the Guardian put it. The Christian Science Monitor called recent conflicts over same-sex dates the newest permutation of the “Dixie prom wars,” referring to the region’s past resistance to racially integrated proms. But, in fact, McMillen’s case, and specifically her school’s refusal to come around, is an anomaly. Her impending trial may be one of the last such battles in the South because, legally at least, the region has acknowledged and protected the rights of LGBT students.

If you think about it, the Itawamba school district is pretty stupid. As Slate points out, similar incidences in states including Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee led to the school board backing down when facing litigation claiming the violation of constitutional rights (I wonder how Janine Turner feels about this?).

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Fertility treatments have become increasingly available with breakthroughs in both medical technology and ingenuity in being able to pay.  With news that women in the UK over the age of 40 might receive free fertility treatments as a counter to potential accusations about age discrimination, though, the issue is about to get much more dicey.

From ParentDish:

The current age limit for IVF may be scrapped in favour of the trusts deciding on whether a women gets free IVF cycles bases on how many eggs they have left.

Critics have said that this could encourage women to have babies in middle age, which can put both mother and baby at considerable risk. For example, children of older mothers are more likely to be born with an abnormality, whilst older mothers are more likely to die in childbirth.

Um, yeah, why don’t we ask Rajo Devi Lohan how that worked out for her?

Comment on Reproductive Ethics’ Josephine Quintavalle is speaking out against this notion, referring to it as …

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One of the biggest talking points in the British media over the past few years has been how well young female artists are doing in music charts and sales. Women like Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse are most certainly on top when it comes to making clever and popular music, and Fiona Sturges writes about this in today’s Independent.

Sturges questions whether these incredibly successful women artists, who are topping the charts and enjoying a new level of success on their own terms, point to a new equality in the music business. She doesn’t think so, and argues that if we look behind the success of these women, we find a different story. Beyond writing and performing music, there are myriad employees that reply on the music industry to keep them afloat – agents, managers, record label employees, PRs, radio station employees, music magazine writers … and most of them are men.

Sturges, an established music journalist, says that:

‘In my 13 years writing about music I have found myself overwhelmingly outnumbered by men in both print and at music events, from gigs and showcases to music conferences. Although the male-female ratio has improved among music writers in recent years, the most cursory glance at almost any music publication… reveals that male writers still significantly outnumber female ones. The implication seems to be that the serious business of rock and pop appreciation is still a male obsession even though the female audience [for music] very clearly illustrates otherwise.’

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Quinnipiac College in Connecticut dropped their volleyball program last year in lieu of competitive cheering.  Volleyball coach Robin Sparks and several v-ball players have taken the situation to court, opening the door to some pretty serious allegations of Title IX shenanigans.

Title IX, for those of you who may not know, is actually part of the Civil Rights Act (it was added in 1972).  Championed by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, its purpose has been equality in both high school and college athletics.  It reads, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

You would think this would be pretty straightforward, but the chaos at Quinnipiac shows that this is unfortunately not the case.  You see, there’s a lot more to this story than the elimination of one sport for another.

From The Chicago Sun-Times:

Judge Stefan Underhill also will be asked to decide whether Quinnipiac improperly manipulates the size of the rosters of its other teams to get around complying with Title IX, the 1972 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in athletics.

Underhill issued a temporary injunction last year that prevented the school from disbanding the volleyball team after finding the school was over-reporting the participation opportunities for its female athletes and under-reporting the opportunities for men.

Evidence showed the men’s baseball and lacrosse teams, for example, would drop players before reporting data to the Department of Education and reinstate them after the reports were submitted. Conversely, the women’s softball team would add players before the reporting date, knowing the additional players would not be on the team in the spring.

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