Happy New Year California and Oregon!!!

The Birth Control Pill Is Now Available Without a Prescription In Oregon and California

Oregon this week allowed women who are at least 18 to buy over-the-counter birth control pills. In March, California will become the second state to implement a similar policy.

Since Jan. 1, women in Oregon who are over the age of 18 are allowed to get birth control without a doctor’s prescription. The bill was signed into law on July 1 by Gov. Kate Brown.

At the pharmacy, women are required to fill out a health questionnaire that pharmacists will use to fill the prescription, KOIN reported.

California’s law is set to start in March and has some differences — notably there are no age restrictions.

Senators from Colorado and Washington have also introduced bills that are similar to Oregon’s new law.



Source: BuzzFeed

Korean Singers Mistaken for Prostitutes and Detained at Airport

Question: What does a prostitute look like and what specifically triggered security to detain them in hopes of preventing a "terrorist attack" and was detaining them sexist or [stereotypically] racist???

Kesha Johnson-Clark

K-Pop Band Oh My Girl Mistaken for Sex Workers and Detained at LAX

 

The eight members were travelling to America for an album cover shoot but were detained for 15 hours in customs. A statement from the group's record company, WM Entertainment, said authorities held them after going through their costumes and props.

"They seem to have mistaken them as sex workers," said a spokesman.
Oh My Girl, who formed in March, are thought to be back in South Korean capital Seoul after being released by officials at Los Angeles International Airport. WM Entertainment says it is taking legal advice in the US to find out whether the band's detention was legal.

The record company also said there might have been an issue with the type of visa the band members presented. They had also been booked to perform at a gala event in Los Angeles on Saturday.
It's unclear if they will try to return to America to complete their album cover shoot.

Oh My Girl (or OMG) brought their debut single Cupid out in April with a second mini-album and title track Closer released in October. The band members are all aged between 16 and 21.
South Korean pop music, known as K-pop, is dominated by girl and boy bands whose members are sometimes as young as 13 or 14 years old.

In 2012, the government clamped down on over-sexualised performances by threatening to give higher age ratings to films, music videos and TV shows which exaggerated the sexuality of younger singers and bands.


Source: BBC

Is Vagina Probing Sexual Assault???

In light of recent police brutality cases and suspicious deaths of Black [female] Americans while in police custody, is vagina probing sexual assault??? 21 year old Charnesia Corley says, "I felt like they sexually assaulted me." Please read about her case in Texas.

-Kesha Johnson-Clark, Founder of SisterHood Inc/Green Afro Honey
San Francisco, California



A woman has accused sheriff’s deputies in Texas of sexually assaulting her at a gas station by stripping her and conducting a body cavity search without her consent during a traffic stop.
Charnesia Corley, 21, who is African American, said officers with the Harris County sheriff’s department held her down in a Texaco parking lot and probed her vagina in a search for marijuana.

“They did a manual cavity search. It’s the most serious search you can do under our constitution and should be done in a sterile environment. You sure can’t do it in public by the side of the road. It’s unbelievable,” her attorney, Sam Cammack, told the Guardian on Tuesday.

Corley, who has no criminal record, will file a complaint to the Internal Affairs Division, her attorney said. “I’m doing it right now,” Cammack said, adding that he hoped there was video of the incident.

 

Corley was pulled over at around 10.30pm on 21 June near Ella Boulevard and Barren Springs Drive in Houston while driving to a store in order, she said, to fetch something for her sick mother.

According to the Harris County sheriff’s office, a deputy pulled her over for running a stop sign. Upon smelling what he believed to be marijuana he handcuffed Corley, placed her in the back of his patrol car and searched her vehicle in vain for the drug.

Upon returning to the patrol car he then allegedly smelled marijuana, concluded Corley had it hidden on her person, and summoned female deputies. One was African American, the other white.

One ordered her on the ground and ordered her to pull her trousers down, Corley told ABC13. “I told her, I said: ‘Well ma’am, I don’t have any underwear on.’ She says: ‘Well that doesn’t matter. Pull your pants down.’”

Corley said she was ordered to open her legs but said she did not wish to do so. “So she says: ‘Well if you don’t open them, I’m going to break them,’” Corley said. “All I could do was just lay there. I felt helpless.”

She told KTRK she felt violated. “I feel like they sexually assaulted me. I really do. I feel disgusted, downgraded, humiliated.”

Corley was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana after deputies allegedly found .02 ounces of marijuana.

The Harris County sheriff’s department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. But a spokesperson told local media the deputies did everything as they should and that Corley had assented to a strip search.

Cammack disputed that and said an officer’s report of the incident, which he had obtained, corroborated his client’s version. The attorney declined to say where the marijuana was found but said police claimed to have found it on Corley’s person. Police usually chose not to prosecute for such tiny amounts of marijuana, he added.

Regardless of what was found, the search violated privacy and the constitution, said Cammack. “They could’ve found a kilo of cocaine insider of her and still should not have done it.”

Rebecca Robertson, legal and policy director of the ACLU of Texas, said a cavity search without a warrant was a “blatant” violation of the fourth amendment, and that an orifice probe was the most invasive search possible.

“A body cavity search without a warrant would be constitutionally suspect. But a body cavity search by the side of the road ... I can’t imagine a circumstance where that would be constitutional,” she told the Houston Chronicle.

She noted previous controversies over cavity searches in Texas. In 2013, the Department of Public Safety was forced to pay $185,000 to two women who alleged troopers had conducted cavity searches by the roadside, illuminated by patrol car headlights, in full view of passing traffic.

Police in Texas came under renewed scrutiny last month over the case of Sandra Bland, an African American woman found dead in her Waller County jail cell after being detained during a traffic stop.


Source: The Guardian

Psst...Planned Parenthood Is Not Selling Baby Parts!!!

http://youtu.be/DUT1u8ePmVY

It’s weird for those of us with two brain cells to rub together, that this is even a thing. Because first of all, obviously Planned Parenthood doesn’t sell BABY PARTS. Jesus fucking christ, get a hold of yourselves. Baby parts!

3% of all Planned Parenthood’s activities are abortions, and more than 90% of those are in the first trimester when it’s about size of a kidney bean, so they do see some pieces of fetal tissue. Which are just going to be thrown away in the garbage, but which the patient can instead choose to donate to important medical research.

HOW DARE THEY! How dare Planned Parenthood allow women to aid in the research and treatment of conditions like H.I.V. and Parkinson’s disease, when instead those women could just be throwing that tissue in the garbage!

So yeah, there’s the fact that Planned Parenthood obviously isn’t “selling baby parts.” And then there’s the fact that the group releasing this video are some of the same people who worked for the group Live Action, which is best known for…editing together misleading videos attacking Planned Parenthood.

So despite the fact that this is an obviously made up and ridiculous accusation, actual politicians are taking it seriously. If you live in the US, your tax dollars are now going toward Congressional Republicans calling for a formal investigation, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced they’ll launch a probe. A probe for baby parts! Good luck, guys!

This all reminds me of a course I took in college on heresy. I remember learning about how multiple times throughout human history, various groups of people have been accused of the very specific act of gathering together and hosting orgies, and then taking the resulting babies from any past orgies and burning them into ashes, which are then formed into cakes, which are then eaten. Usually it’s supposed to be the Jews doing this but plenty of other marginalized groups have been accused as well. And it always baffled me to think that people could really, truly believe that their fellow humans were doing something so obviously stupid and made up.

Well, now it’s 2015 and an organization that is mostly responsible for making sure poor women have access to basic medical care including cancer screenings, checkups, and birth control, are accused of convincing women to abort their babies and then tearing them into parts and selling them on the black market.

And I realize, that if it helps you achieve your goals — whether they be persecuting people of a different faith or cutting funding for poor women’s health care — it becomes surprisingly easy to believe something unbelievable.


Source: Skepchick

Action: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (San Francisco)

Demonstrators took to the streets of San Francisco to draw attention to the police-related deaths of black women. The movement was spurred by the recent report “Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women.” Nearly 300 protesters on Thursday gathered in San Francisco’s Financial District to draw attention to unarmed black women who have been killed by police in recent years. And, in an unexpected departure from the rest of the nationwide movement, many of the activists did so topless.

The Bay Area protest was just one of at least 17 other movements taking place in other metropolitan areas, including Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. Chinerye Tutashinda, a founding member of the BlackOUT Collective, told BuzzFeed News that the decision to carry out the protest by exposing their bodies was a local one, and that she did not expect other demonstrations in other cities to follow suit. She added that the reasons behind the bold choice ranged from ancestral homage to social critique. “We wanted to be able to say ‘enough is enough’ and draw on traditions from Nigeria, Gabon, Uganda, and South Africa, from women who bare their chests and other parts of their bodies in protest,” she said.

Exposing their breasts also served as a statement on the societal tendency to fixate on black women’s physical bodies, but not when those same bodies face violence. Rose Berry works for the local chapter of the Black Youth Project 100, and described the disconnect to BuzzFeed News. “When it’s in the name of pop culture, and what’s expected in mainstream society, people applaud it, but when it’s in the name of peace and justice and liberation, they ignore it,” she said.

The organizers also talked about the third, more personal impact of protesting topless: For black women who had been victimized by various forms of violence to reclaim their bodies in public space. Tutashinda said some of the women who removed their shirts “were women who’ve been survivors of rape, who’ve had abortions, who’ve lost children.” “Putting yourself out there makes you very vulnerable,” she said. As someone who also protested with her chest exposed, Tutashinda said she was terrified.

According to Berry, the protest, while relatively small compared to other related demonstrations, still made a sizable impact. “There were black women on their way to work who stopped and cried, thanked the women who were protesting,” she said. Some men joined the demonstration, and while they experienced a few unpleasant words from frustrated commuters, the police were cooperative, Berry added. “We wanted to kick off the day, give them a dose of black women’s liberation with their morning coffee,” she said. “We won’t be ignored anymore. We’re not invisible. We’ve never been invisible.”

Source: BuzzFeed UK

#SayHerName

International Women's Day 2015

Observing International Women’s Day 2015

As I acknowledge and join fellow W.O.R.D SF members in celebration of International Women’s Day with the theme of “Still Fighting for Our Rights & Equality”, I look to the women around the globe who struggle every day for justice in countries such as El Salvador where reproductive freedom and access to abortions are forbidden back to right here in the United States where human rights and the legal system are not equal from Florida with the Stand Your Ground Law to California with Yes Means Yes. Also let us not forget that in 2015, this celebration also encompasses our comrades within the transgender community and those who identify as such to provide an array of international diversity.

Specifically, as I speak of Carmen Guadalupe Vasquez Aldana’s case, Marissa Alexander’s case, Meggan Sommerville’s case and the SB967 Student Safety Sexual Assault Bill-let us rally together loud and proud to “say no to the status-quo…full equality for all women”…thank you!!! -KJC


For those wanting to participate in International Women's Day in the Bay Area:

San Francisco, CA
Still Fighting for Our Rights & Equality
Sunday, March 8, 2 p.m.
24th and Mission Streets
Sponsored by W.O.R.D SF

UPDATE: California SB967

And we have great news...California legislature passes YES Means YES Sexual Consent Bill!!!

The Senate unanimously passed SB967 as states and universities across the U.S. are below pressure to alter how they manage rape allegations. The bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not indicated his stance on the bill. Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, stated his bill would start a paradigm shift in how California campuses avoid and investigate sexual assault. Rather than utilizing the refrain no signifies no,the definition of consent below the bill needs affirmative, unambiguous and conscious choice by each celebration to engage in sexual activity.

Advocates for victims of sexual assault supported the alter as a single that will supply consistency across campuses and challenge the notion that victims have to have resisted assault in order to have valid complaints. Some critics say the legislation is overreaching and sends universities into murky, unfamiliar legal waters. The bill would apply to all California post-secondary schools, public and private, that obtain state money for student economic aid. The California State University and University of California systems are backing the legislation after adopting comparable consent standards this year.

The bill also requires colleges and universities to adopt victim-centered sexual-assault response policies and implement complete applications to avoid assault. The bill passed the state Assembly on Monday by a 52-16 vote. The 23-campus Cal State University endorsed the legislation in an Aug. 25 letter to de Leon.
Read the full article here...



Source: Daily News

Yes Means Yes and No Means No

California Senate Bill 967

What Does It Mean???

This bill requires the governing boards of post-secondary institutions in the state to adopt policies concerning campus sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. The governing boards must adopt detailed and victim-centered sexual assault policies and protocols based on best practices and current professional standards including an affirmative consent standard in the determination of whether consent was given by a complainant. At a minimum, the policies and protocols must include: a policy statement on how the institution will protect the confidentiality of victims, an initial officer response to a report of sexual assault, a preliminary victim interview and followup interview, an interview with the accused, medical forensic examinations and coordination with the forensic examiner, participation of victim advocates, and procedures for anonymous reporting of sexual assault. The bill requires these governing boards to adopt certain sexual assault policies and protocols, and requires the governing boards, to the extent feasible, to enter into memoranda of understanding or other agreements with on-campus and community-based organizations to make services available to victims. The bill also requires the governing boards to implement comprehensive prevention programs addressing sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. A comprehensive prevention program includes a range of prevention strategies, including, but not limited to, women’s empowerment programming, awareness raising campaigns, primary prevention, bystander intervention, and risk reduction.



Source: ALICE Law

Wendy Davis Wants to End Statute of Limitations on Sexual Assault & Rape

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis proposed ending the state’s statute of limitations on sexual assault at a press conference on Wednesday, during which she criticized opponent Greg Abbott for failing to advocate for rape victims. Davis presented the proposal as an expansion of her past legislative efforts on behalf of sexual assault survivors, following up on a recent statewide attack ad on Abbott accusing him of “siding with a corporation over a rape victim.”

"To turn around and make survivors pay the price for our failure ... is almost criminal in itself" says Davis.

Read the full article here...

New Birth Control Rules for Non-Profits

The new accommodation will allow religious nonprofits, such as Catholic schools and hospitals, to opt out of covering birth control by notifying the Department of Health and Human Services of their objections. HHS and the Department of Labor will then arrange for a third-party insurer to pay for and administer the coverage for the nonprofits' employees so that women still receive the contraceptive coverage guaranteed to them by the Affordable Care Act.

“Women across the country deserve access to recommended preventive services that are important to their health, no matter where they work,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “Today’s announcement reinforces our commitment to providing women with access to coverage for contraception, while respecting religious considerations raised by non-profit organizations and closely held for-profit companies."

The original accommodation required religious nonprofits to directly ask a third-party insurer to pay for and administer the contraception coverage if the nonprofit objected to covering it. But several nonprofits sued the administration over the rule, claiming that the act of filling out a form violated their religious beliefs by serving as a "permission slip" for its employees to use contraceptives.

The administration developed the new accommodation to pre-empt those lawsuits, which legal experts expected the Supreme Court to take up next year. The court already ruled in June against the administration's contraception coverage rule, which requires most employers to cover the full range of 20 contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration at no out-of-pocket cost to women. The court decided that closely-held for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby, a craft-supply store owned by a family of Christians, should be able to opt out of covering birth control for religious reasons.

Read the full article here...

Video: Hobyy Lobby Protest (San Francisco)

This video is from the Hobby Lobby protest on 7/3/14 at Union Square in San Francisco, California organized by W.O.R.D and also features our very own Kesha Johnson-Clark. Thank you to all who marched there and continue to support the movement!!!

Alert: Justice for Jada

Watch 16 year old Jada speak about her rape and how she was mocked on Twitter once photos of her were viciously posted online with the hashtag #JADAPOSE...

The Houston teen, identified only as Jada, said she went to a party with friends where the host gave her a drink she now believes was spiked with a drug. She passed out, and doesn’t remember anything from when she was unconscious. It wasn’t until Jada saw disturbing pictures and tweets on social media, that she believed she’d been raped. “Everybody knows,” Jada told KHOU 11. “And everybody’s texting me are you OK? You’re going to be OK, and I was like alright.” (TIME doesn’t usually identify rape victims, but we are making an exception in this instance because Jada wanted to come forward.)

It’s not immediately clear who originally tweeted the photos, because the photos have been mostly removed and some Twitter handles of people close to the incident have been de-activated. But the pictures soon went viral under the hashtag #jadapose, allegedly referring to the position of her body in the photographs. The alleged rapist was reportedly denouncing Jada and her story before his Twitter account was deactivated, including one tweet that said “HOW ITS RAPE? YOU HAD 2 MONTHS TO SAY SOMETHING BUT YOU AINT SAY [SH*T] TILL YOU GET EXPOSED?”

The circumstances of Jada’s decision to come forward are truly horrific and no teenager should have to endure the double violation of a rape and then a social media maelstrom at her expense, and no victim should feel she has to identify herself in order to stop abuse. But maybe there’s a silver lining in this strategy for survivors. By coming forward, Jada traded her anonymity for a face and a voice, and with identity comes a certain kind of power.

Source: TIME Magazine

Action: Protest the Hobby Lobby Decision & Attacks on Women's Rights!!!

In light of the Burwell v Hobby Lobby decision, we will be joining our commrads at WORD in protest of the attack on women's rights and reproductive freedom!!!

Below are the national locations that will hosts speak-outs during the week of July 3rd thru the 13th, should your area not be listed, reach out to WORD and/or create an event along with other women's organizations for a greater impact. Thank you!!!



Los Angeles, Calif.
Date/Time/Location TBD
Info: la@defendwomensrights.org or 323-394-3611

San Francisco, Calif.
Thurs. July 3, 5:30 p.m.
Powell and Market Sts. (near Cable Car)
Info: sf@defendwomensrights.org or 415-375-9502

Sat. July 5, 10:00 a.m.
Info: ct@defendwomensrights.org or 203-787-8232

Washington D.C. area: Laurel, Maryland
Meet across the parking lot from Hobby Lobby (near Chik-fil-A)
3333 Corridor Marketplace, Laurel, Maryland
We will walk to Hobby Lobby as a group after we assemble
Info: dc@defendwomensrights.org or 240-487-WORD (9673)

Albuquerque, N.M.
Mon. July 7, 4:00 p.m.
Hobby Lobby, 4315 Wyoming Blvd NE
Info: abq@defendwomensrights.org or 505-249-1768

New York City, N.Y.
Date/Time/Location TBD
Info: nyc@defendwomensrights.org or 347-292-WORD (9673)

Seattle, Wash.
Sun. July 13, 5:00 p.m.
Future Hobby Lobby site, Aurora Ave N at N. 130th
Info: seattle@defendwomensrights.org or 206-568-1661

Action: Sign Petition to Drop Charges Against Marissa Alexander!!!

Marissa Alexander is an African American working mother and a survivor of domestic violence. On August 1, 2010, she was attacked by her abusive ex-partner, Rico Gray, just days after giving birth to their child. Trapped in the home, Marissa fired a single warning shot toward the ceiling to protect herself. Now she faces criminal charges, and the State of Florida is trying to imprison her for at least 60 years. Marissa injured no one–she had the right to self-defense and to be free from abuse.

The State of Florida calls Gray the victim, but he is the culprit. Gray had a history of violence against her and other women, both psychological and physical. Gray was under a court order to refrain from further violence against Marissa. The prosecution of Marissa Alexander is taking place under the same laws that allowed George Zimmerman to run free without arrest for nearly a month and a half. Zimmerman, the confessed murderer of 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin, was charged with second degree murder rather than first degree murder. He was acquitted and set free.

If the Stand Your Ground law used to delay Zimmerman’s arrest were not racist to the core, it would have been used to protect Marissa on the day of the attack. Yet the State of Florida has continued to abuse and prosecute Marissa for nearly four years.

Marissa Alexander’s case is not an isolated one. Women around the country are facing similar conditions. Domestic violence is lethal – approximately one-third of all female murder victims were killed by partners or ex-partners. Since the expansion of mandatory-arrest laws in domestic violence cases, more and more women survivors are being arrested. Approximately 12,000 women have been murdered in the United States alone since 2001 as a result of domestic violence. Marissa’s imprisonment and prosecution are symptoms of these broader problems of sexism and racism against African American women who fight back!!!

With Marissa Alexander's new trial now just months away, it is increasingly urgent to take to the streets demanding that her case be dismissed.

Racist and sexist Duval County State Attorney Angela Corey has moved full speed ahead with Marissa’s prosecution. Marissa was convicted after a bogus trial in which the prosecution mischaracterized the law to influence the jury. Through the growing movement to free her, she won a second trial on appeal. But the State has thrown the book at Marissa, seeking the maximum term of imprisonment—60 years!—for defending her own life and the lives of her children.

Women around the world will not sit silent as Marissa is prosecuted for a second time. Marissa is not guilty of anything, and should not have served one day behind bars. She should not be facing a retrial. She should be free!!!

Sign the petition to Free Marissa Alexander in support of women's rights. Click here to find out where supporters are meeting to speak out and call to action for change Friday, June 20th and Saturday, June 21st!!!

Kesha Johnson-Clark Speaks at SF City Hall

Kesha Johnson-Clark, 34 made public comments/questions at the 4-14-14 Land Use & Economic Development Committee meeting for Late Night Transportation SAFETY concerns...agenda item 3 [140079] Supervisors: Kim, Cohen and Wiener in attendance hearing with the Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Alameda-Contra Consta County Transit District, Transportation Network Companies, the Taxi Industry, the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the Entertainment Commission, to discuss the city's late night transportation needs and progress towards developing a Late Night Transportation Plan, with specific areas of focus, including ease of access, speed and safety.

Kesha: "Hi and good afternoon to all in attendance, my name is Kesha Johnson-Clark and i'm speaking today as a resident, a working person and one who utilizes public transportation on a regular basis. My comment/question is in regards to safety, what percentage of crimes are captured on public transportation video such as taxi, BART and MUNI...and is there any research to support the correlation between crimes such as robberies, hate crimes, sexual assaults, rapes during late night transportation that would justify having an emergency transportation division option in the city if there isn't one in place already and if so, who is the contact person??? Thank you."

Follow Up: off camera...Dillon Auyoung, SFMTA Manager, Local Government Affairs


Source: Facebook

Love Is Not Abuse...

Love Is Not Abuse is a grassroots coalition focused on educating and preventing teens about the dangers of dating abuse. Check out the 10 Warning Signs of Abuse here and join the coalition today!!!

National Call of Unity 2011

On 10/4/11 this free national call, we'll hear from survivors, advocates, national experts, and government officials working to end domestic and sexual violence. Together, we'll share in a collective moment of silence for all the women, children, and men who have lost their lives to intimate partner violence and we'll hear a dramatic recitation from nationally renowned spoken word artists Sunni and Asia Rainey.

Register for this event ASAP!!!










Source: National Resource Center on Domestic Violence

The Purple Ribbon Initiative

Display a purple ribbon to raise awareness about domestic violence. Ribbons are symbolic to show support to stop violence and to initiate awareness. Click here to download display cards!!!






















Source: The Domestic Violence Awareness Campaign

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month!!!

What is Domestic Violence???

Domestic violence is best understood as a pattern of abusive behaviors -- including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion -- used by one intimate partner against another (adult or adolescent) to gain, maintain, or regain power and control in the relationship. Batterers use of a range of tactics to frighten, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, often injure, and sometimes kill a current or former intimate partner...

For more information, please click here





Source: The Domestic Violence Awareness Project

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