Get Real. Speak Up: Join Women and Men Busting Abstinence Myths

Tired of letting Reality TV, Porn and Abstinence Programs dictate how we talk about Women’s Sexuality? Let’s create some honest conversation for a change!

Federally funded Abstinence-Only programs must teach “that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects”

~For more examples of what this taxpayer-funded $1.5 billion dollar program is teaching, watch talking bears share abstinence lessons.

What’s the biggest abstinence myth you ever heard? Did somebody tell you if you that women who had sex before marriage were dirty toothbrushes? Or that condoms were ineffective in preventing STDs?

Tell us today and we’ll publish your answers as part of our Get Real Survey. Help create shame-free, loud and proud information on sex and stop women’s lives being dictated by whispered myths.

What’s the biggest Abstinence Myth you ever heard? Share your answers

Watch Purity Ball scenes in the new “How to Lose Your Virginity” trailer here

Enjoy ‘Abstinence Week’ at the blog.We’re reprinting one of our favorite posts about ridiculous and dangerous US abstinence-only programs. It starts here.

Donate today in honor of honest and comprehensive sex education to support the completion of “How to Lose Virginity.” here

Next week’s conversation: Older Virgin Myths.

Want to keep talking? Join us on Twitter, follow us on Facebook or Tumblr, and submit your own anonymous First Person virginity story for the Blog. Watch the new trailer and tell your friends to join in as well!!

Thanks from Therese & Team Trixie
info@trixiefilms.com
http://www.trixiefilms.com

Visions in Feminism Conference on March 24th!

Greetings!

Each year, Visions in Feminism seeks to provide a forum for diverse perspectives within a feminist framework to keep the movement relevant, inspire action by its attendees, and destabilize patriarchy and other forms of oppression. The ‘2012 Visions in Feminism Conference on March 24th still has workshop slots open, and we have extended our submission deadline until 2/17/2012!

2012 Theme: Reclaiming Our Bodies:  Confronting Oppression & Celebrating Ourselves
No matter where you go, or the body you inhabit your body is supervised, policed, governed, judged, legislated, assumed upon and about. This year’s conference seeks to interrogate expectations, explore solutions and share successful strategies.

To submit a workshop please provide the following to visionsinfeminism@gmail.com:
A synopsis and outline of the workshop
How would you describe this workshops direct relevance to this year’s theme;
What applicable skill will you be presenting and teaching;
What steps will you take to ensure inclusivity of all bodies no matter gender or sexual identity, ability, race, religion, etc;
a brief biographical paragraph on your workshop’s facilitator(s) and their relevant experience to the topics presented;
a draft of any hand-outs and presentation materials (audio/visual slides, etc).

Also include your: contact info, audio-visual needs and any other information you deem relevant

Thank you,
Laura Craig Mason
on behalf of the Visions in Feminism Collective

February 9-12 at Barnard College: 2nd Annual Athena Film Festival

The 2nd Annual Athena Film Festival: A Celebration of Women and Leadership takes place February 9-12 at Barnard College.  The festival will showcase over 25 films highlighting the wide diversity of women’s leadership in both real life and the fictional world: women firefighters and aviators; women who challenged conventions, broke barriers, and opened doors for others; women who made peace, who made music, and who used their naked power (literally!) to stand up to injustice.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: Please first add a Badge to your Facebook page http://athenafilmfestival.com/buttons/.  Then LIKE us on Facebook and FOLLOW us Twitter. Each day we will be highlighting a film, sharing the trailer and encouraging partners and friends to rePost.

FESTIVAL DETAILS: All the details about the festival including screening times (films begin Friday evening February 10 and run through Sunday evening February 12), easydirections, the list of GREAT FILMS playing and amazing Female Awardees, and ticket prices ($12 adults, $7 students) are available on the website.

TICKETS can now be purchased here.  All Access Passes (for $65 and below) are also available.
GROUP RATES: We can also discuss ways to offer your constituents Group Discounts.
FREE FILMS: Two of the films — Gloria: In Her Own Words  and Education of Dee Dee Ricks– will be free to the public – though tickets will be required to attend.

2 SPECIAL EVENTS: Hollywood Conversation with Winnie Holzman and Savannah Dooley (Moderated by Emily Nussbaum) and Half The Sky Sneak Preview and Discussion. Times, Tickets, Info.

FREE FILMMAKER WORKSHOPS: Know a great female filmmaker? Athena is providing workshops on Producing Films in Tough Times and Building an Audience in the Digital Age. http://athenafilmfestival.com/program/2012-special-events/workshops/

ABOUT: Films have power: the power to create conversation, to reveal truths and to inspire. But for too many generations, women’s voices and women’s stories have not been appropriately represented in mainstream films. The stories of women as change agents and heroes who have made a difference in their countries and communities have the power to spur social change. When young women see role models on screen, they better understand their own potential to bring freedom and justice to their communities. When women activists witness remarkable women in action, they better understand that they too can change the world for the better.

The Athena Film Festival highlights the wide diversity of women’s leadership in both real life and the fictional world. Through feature films, documentaries, and shorts directed by both women and men, the Festival explores women’s leadership across race, class, and culture. More than that, the Festival serves as a forum for robust dialogue about women and leadership: what it takes to excel, collaborate, and lead.  The Festival was launched in 2010, is a joint partnership between Barnard College, The Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard and the acclaimed Women and Hollywood.  We know film is a medium known to almost all people in nearly every part of the world. And films have power. They create conversation. They reveal truths. They inspire. Through feature films, documentaries, and shorts, the Athena Film Festival will explore what makes a leader.

This Thursday, 1/26, Permanent Wave Presents: Men at 285 Kent

MEN ARE PLAYING LIVE!
YAY!

WITH:

MAKING FRIENDZ – http://www.myspace.com/makingfriendz

+

CLAIRE’S DIARY – https://www.facebook.com/clairesdiary

ALL AGES
$10

at 285 Kent

also, fantastic queer- and lady-positive organizations tabling and educating!

**HOLLABACK: YOU HAVE THE POWER TO END STREET HARASSMENT! http://www.ihollaback.org/
***SUPPORT NEW YORK: a collective dedicated to healing the effects of sexual assault and abuse – http://supportny.org/
****PARADIGM SHIFT NYC – New York City’s Feminist Community – USE THE F WORD – CHANGE NYC – CHANGE THE WORLD – http://www.paradigmshiftnyc.com/ one of our very own, Coco Papy, will be tabling!
*****RIGHT RIDES: offering women, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming individuals a free, late-night ride home to ensure their safe commute to or through high-risk areas – http://rightrides.org/

also, a bake sale! yum.

CHECK OUT MORE ABOUT PERMANENT WAVE HERE…

http://thepermanentwave.wordpress.com/
http://thepermanentwave.tumblr.com/
http://facebook.com/thepermanentwave
http://twitter.com/permanentwaveNY

Permanent Wave is a network of feminist artists and activists. If you want to help challenge the gender binary as it manifests itself in art, politics, and our personal lives, we want you to join. We believe that women, queer, and trans people should see each other as collaborators and inspirations, not rivals. We want to finish the conversation about equality that started generations ago and change the way women are treated.

wanna join the listserv? send an e-mail to thepermanentwave@gmail.com

Demystifying Abortion: A Panel Discussion and Q&A

The Planned Parenthood of New York City Activist Council & The New School’s Global Health Student Organization Invite You to

Demystifying Abortion

A Panel Discussion and Q&A to learn more about the abortion experience

How can I get access to care? What is the process really like? How much does it cost? What happens afterwards?

Hear from The New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), The Doula Project, Planned Parenthood of New York City, a patient, a health center escort, and more as we explore the abortion experience and the various aspects involved, including funding, medical care, and support during and after the procedure.

Ask questions and share stories in a safe space.

RSVP Today

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Theresa Lang Center @ The New School (55 West 13th Street, NYC)

7-9 pm

RSVP is required for this event

If you have questions regarding the event, please email activists@ppnyc.org

Sign up! Gender Trouble: Radical creative inquiry and the ‘aesthetics of resistance’

Gender Trouble
AHC-2191-A
M, Jan 23 – Apr 16
Hours: 06:30PM – 09:30PM
3.50 CEUs; $470.00
Location: 133/141 West 21 Street

Radical creative inquiry and the ‘aesthetics of resistance’ that occur when the gendered body speaks in the visual will be investigated in this course. Presentations of slide and video work by key contemporary and historical figures will help students situate their creative production in relationship to contemporary discourses around race, class, gender and sexuality in art. How do we make sense of feminist art of the past and present-its contradictions, slogans and symbols? What content is lost in translation during art’s shift from private practice to public locus? Students will complete weekly reading assignments by a range of critical theorists including Helene Cixous, Julia Kristeva, Elizabeth Grosz, Roland Barthes, bell hooks, Fred Moten, Susan Sontag and Slavoj Zizek, as well as bring in work in any media for weekly critique. Guests lectures and a special section in Hip Hop culture.

Katie A. Cercone
KatieCercone.com
Visual artist, curator, writer

Education: BA, Lewis & Clark College; MFA, School of Visual Arts

Group exhibitions include: DODGEgallery; Vox Populi, Philadelphia; Apexart; White Box Gallery; Honfleur Gallery; Local Project; Figment Festival

Publications include: Bitch Magazine, N. Paradoxa, Women’s Art Journal, Utne Reader

Space is limited, sign up through the SVA Website:

http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/ceCourseFinder/app?sDay=0&sTime=0&sLoc&sDept&sCourse&sInstructor=cercone&sKeyword

Low Lives: Occupy! Announcement and International Call for Artists and Co-Presenters

Dear Artist,

I hope this email finds you well and that your year is off to a great start!

We’re pleased to announce that we have partnered with Occupy with Art and The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics to launch a new program called Low Lives: Occupy!

On March 3rd, 2012, Low Lives: Occupy! will stream live performances, actions, and happenings online by artists, artist collectives, Occupy groups, and presenters in alliance with the Occupy movement.

Artists:
All artists, artist collectives, individuals, and creative groups in solidarity with the Occupy protests are invited to submit proposals. Low Lives: Occupy! seeks projects including, but not limited to, live performance art, public actions and interventions, happenings, acts of protest and civil disobedience, taking place in both real and virtual spaces.
All Artists who have participated in previous Low Lives projects are eligible to submit a proposal.

Co-Presenters:
Low Lives: Occupy! invites any person, group of people, and presenters to “plug in and project” the broadcast in their homes, building facades, venues and other public spaces for their local communities.

Submission requirements and other important info attached.

Important Dates:
February 6: Submission Deadline
February 10: Submitting Artists/Groups notified
March 3: Low Lives: Occupy!  6:00pm – 10:00pm EST

Selections Committee:
Jorge Rojas- Low Lives Founding Director, Producer, Curator, Artist
Christina deRoos- Low Lives Co-Producer, Artist, Activist, Nonprofit Administrator
Juan Obando- Low Lives Co-Producer, Artist, Professor of Art and Art History at Elon University

Presenting Partner and official NYC venue:
Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics
New York University, 20 Cooper Square, Fifth Floor, New York, NY
Hemisphericinstitute.org

Presenting Partner and Online location:
Occupy With Art  –  Occupywithart.com

Note- Low Lives 4, our annual Networked Performance Festival, is scheduled for April 27 – 28, 2012. A separate call for proposals will be issued on January 30, 2012.

Please help us get the word out by sharing this announcement with anyone that may be interested.

We look forward to seeing your proposal!

Wishing you a great 2012!

Jorge Rojas
Founding Director
Low Lives

NEW YORK COALITION FOR ABORTION CLINIC DEFENSE

NEW YORK COALITION FOR ABORTION CLINIC DEFENSE
Facebook: New York Coalition for Abortion Clinic Defense
Email: nyc.acd1@gmail.com              Phone: 212-222-0633

Calling All Feminists:  Pro-Choice March in the South Bronx to Defend Reproductive Freedom
Celebrate Roe v Wade – 39 Years of Choice
Saturday January 21, 11:00 am.

Dr Emily Women’s Health Center 560 Southern Blvd, in the Bronx.
(6 train to E. 149th or BX-19 bus to Southern Blvd./E. 149th).

Attacks on a woman’s right to control her body are on the rise, from daily harassment at abortion clinics to regressive legislative maneuvers.
Join us for a Pro-Choice march from Dr Emily Women’s Health Center, through the South Bronx neighborhood, to one of the nearby “Crisis Pregnancy Centers.”  This center is the hub for many of the anti-choice organizers who harass women outside of Dr Emily clinic on a daily basis.

We’ll be gathering at Dr Emily Women’s Health Center at 11 am (come earlier if you wish, escort training will be provided) and setting off on the march at around 12 pm.

Sponsored by: The New York Coalition for Abortion Clinic Defense
Facebook: New York Coalition for Abortion Clinic Defense
E-Mail: nyc.acd1@gmail.com
Phone: 212-222-0633

Job Opportunities at Political Research Associates

Job Opportunities at Political Research Associates

Happy New Year! As 2012 begins, PRA has three new job opportunities on our research team: Director of Research, Lead Researcher for Gender Justice and Research Consultant for our International LGBT program. Please help us find talented new staff people by forwarding this announcement to your networks and colleagues!

Director of Research
PRA’s core research program is organized around racial justice and immigrant rights; gender justice, including reproductive and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) rights; civil liberties; and economic justice.

The Director of Research has lead responsibility for managing PRA’s research program and works closely with the Executive Director to develop, implement, and evaluate that program.

Primary areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to:

Manage all aspects of PRA’s research program, including supervising program staff and freelance investigators, facilitating regular team meetings, and guiding all aspects of investigations and publications;
Continually support the skill and intellectual development of the research team;
Serve as a key member of PRA’s strategy team that shapes our research program, relationships with partner groups, and communications efforts for maximum impact;
Participate in fundraising efforts, including proposal writing;
Serve as media spokesperson and liaison with organizational partners;
Assume lead research and writing role for one or more core areas of our research program;
Generate high-quality research products for publication in various PRA vehicles, including our quarterly, The Public Eye, reports, and www.publiceye.org; and
Serve on editorial board of The Public Eye.

For more information, please visit our online job description.

Lead Researcher: Gender Justice Program
PRA produces research that 1) informs the strategy and tactics of key gender justice leaders, organizations, and networks and 2) influences public and opinion-leader perception regarding organized gender justice opponents, their ideologies, and their strategies.

The Lead Researcher: Gender Justice Program has the responsibility for completing research and writing assignments in areas related to the U. S. political Right’s opposition to women’s and sexual minorities’ activism. The Lead Researcher will work on site in our Somerville office.

Primary areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to:
Conduct research as assigned though the identification reading of primary and secondary source materials and interviews;
Produce accessible and reliable written research materials in a timely fashion;
Author or co-author articles and reports;
Conduct presentations and media interviews;
Communicate regularly with supervisor and other staff.

For more information, please visit our online job description.

Research Consultant for International LGBT program
Countering organized assaults on gender justice, including homophobia, the Right’s “family values agenda,” and especially the Christian Right, has been an organizational priority since PRA’s founding.

The Research Consultant: International LGBT Program has the responsibility for collecting on-the-ground research related to our international LGBT program. Reporting to the Research Associate for Religion and Sexuality, the Consultant will be based in a Latin American country.

Primary areas of responsibility include but are not limited to:
Conduct research as assigned through the reading of primary and secondary source materials and in-person interviews;
Advise PRA on conservative groups and their current trends and strategies in several to-be-determined Latin American countries;
Communicate regularly with PRA through SKYPE or other formats as assigned;
Produce on-time periodic English language summaries of research and co-author articles and reports on research activities as assigned;
Present results in public forums and be available for media interviews.
For more information, please visit our online job description.

Political Research Associates (PRA) is an independent, nonprofit, progressive research center for activists defending democracy, building equality, and challenging bigotry and oppression promoted by sectors of the Political Right.

SAVE THE DATE: 2012 National NOW Conference (Friday, Jun. 29 – Sunday, Jul. 1)

*Save the Date*

2012 National NOW Conference

“A Feminist Wake-Up Call”

When:        Friday, Jun. 29 – Sunday, Jul. 1

Where:        Baltimore, Maryland

Hotel:        Hilton Baltimore BWI Airport
1739 West Nursery Road
Linthicum Heights, MD 20190
Visit the hotel website

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