Calls to action and "quiet revolutions" -- Link Roundup 1/6/2010

January 6, 2010

Leah Berkenwald

Ruth Messinger, of the American Jewish World Service, writes a call to action about the threat to human rights in Uganda that would give the state the right to kill homosexuals.
The Economist recently reported that women are working more than ever before and that "coping with this change will be one of the greatest challenges of the coming decades." They also called it a "quiet revolution" in another article. Feministing takes issue with their claim that discrimination against motherhood is NOT indicative of sexism. (Where is the discrimination against fatherhood?)
President Obama appointed Amanda Simpson, an openly transgender woman, to the Commerce Department. An exciting first!
The New York Times said goodbye to Alice Schiller, the Jewish matriarch of striptease, who died last month at the age of 95.
What's so special about virginity anyway? Therese Shechter explores virginity as a social construct used to disempower women in her film, How to Lose Your Viriginity. View the trailer on Gloria Feldt's Powered Women blog.
At The Sisterhood, Sarah Seltzer responds to Katie Roiphe’s essay on literary sex in the works of male writers, saying "No, Katie, feminism did not kill virility."
"The Salon" on the Jewish Channel: a new TV show for Jewesses hosted by Jane Eisner, editor of The Forward. Read all about it on Rebecca Honig Friedman's blog.
Joan Rivers was recently kicked off a flight for a "suspicious passport." You can bet she had something to say about that!
Looking for a new book? Check out The Woman Who Named God by Charlotte Gordon, a non-fiction re-telling of the Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar story with a particular focus on the women's point of view.
Jezebel writes an excellent memo to the media, asking for more dynamic female characters in 2010.
Are the blue Na’vi women of Avatar Jewish? The 16thStJ finds a resemblance to artist Siona Benjamin’s blue biblical women.