I still haven't figured out how to paste my rough draft in here. But I will keep trying different ways today.

I found an organization called WASH while I was looking for solutions to sexual harassment.  The group is Women Against Sexual Harassment. It is made for changing the way men and women think about harassment.  The publish a newsletter called THE WASH RAG with information about the issues in it.  There is a lot of information on the web site.  I hope you check it out.  There are things on why the person started it, how to get help, and there are a few funny jokes too.

I also found an article about women and harassment in the military.  It said that one in seven female soldiers who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and later required health care reported being sexually assaulted or harassed.  And that only .7% of male soldiers reported similar experiences. The article talked about how that is unacceptable and that women have been a valuable addition.  It also said that statistics like that turn women away from joining and that is not what should be happening.

I don't know about you but I didn't find this weeks readings very uplifting.  A few of my last posts haven't been that happy either.  But today I was very excited I found this article. It was about a lawsuit involving three female former police detectives.  They won a one million dollar  verdict. It said in 2006 the employees had accused more than a dozen male employees or posting pornography, making lewd remarks and disobeying orders from women.  It made me happy for there to be some sort of punishment for the men's behavior even if it took them 2 years for it to be finished. 

I found a video about harassment in Egypt.  Its called Sexual Harassment on the Streets of Cairo.

Its a pretty short video so it doesn't drag on and on.  It caught my attention because two and a half years ago I went to Cairo for my sixteenth birthday.  Before we went we were talking to different people and reading up on what to do to respect their culture.  Quite a few times we heard to keep our eyes down and to not look at the men.  They said that sexual harassment was a problem.  I was disappointed to hear that this was still a problem.  One thing it said was that " over half of all women living in Egypt experience some form of harassment on a daily basis."

I found an interesting article today.  Women experience more sexual harassment in work groups with male, female balance.  I thought it was interesting because when I thought about it I assumed that a woman would be harassed more if she was the only woman because every man would notice her.  But the article said "There is a lot more opportunity in these groups because you have a lot of men who have contact on a regular basis with a lot of women, and that's going to great more opportunities for sexual harassment.  When women are less represented or when hey are mainly working with other women, there is simply not as much opportunity."  Their studies said that harassment happened when there were either a lot of women or very few women, but the highest numbers was when it was equal.  I just thought it was an interesting article since it proved what I thought wrong.

I was on the website NOW and I found a page that was titled Violence Against Women in the United States.  It says that everyday four women die as a result of domestic violence.  It also said that 132,000 women report that they have been victims of rape.  Also that two to six times women who are raped don't report it. I think that part of preventing violence and rape against women is being informed.  The website also has a page about stopping the violence.  I think that we can all work together and help make people aware of the things that are happening.

Having quite a few of my past articles have been about harassment and bad relationships.  I found a website called Fresh Start.  It helps all kinds of women.  Women going through divorce, don't have a job, live with abuse, have self esteem issues, and many other issues women go through. The place is in Phoenix.  It opened in October of 2002 and is the first self help center for women in the country.  IT was made for women over 18 who want help and information for emotional and financial independence.  One thing that I like about the program was that there is no qualifying criteria to get assistance so any one can get help.

I also found another article about sexual harassment in Egypt.   The article was called Date me or lose your job!  It was about a women that was being harassed by her boss at the end it said that she learned to put up with his harassment and twisted games.  An activist working said that the main reason women don't say anything is because they don't want to damage their reputations.  Women need to feel that they can speak up and there needs to be someone ready to listen.  No one should put up with harassment because they are afraid of what will happen if they tell someone. 

I'm sorry that I did my blogs on the last day, I know it is very helpful when people don't post ahead of time.  I read this article yesterday called Fighting for Muslim women's rights.  It was about how some of the worlds leading feminist got together to discuss issues women face around the world.  There were women from Pakistan, Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, US, and Egypt.  In Oman women can were what ever they want and choose their education.  But if a woman marries a foreign man she can pass her nationality to her children.  Their big problems are with divorce and marital status.  In Indonesia the big problem is that Muslim women aren't very involved in politics because it isn't feminine to do so.  In Egypt their main issue was sexual harassment, the men think that the control of women's bodies involve them.  All the issues are that women have these roles embedded into them of how to act.  But changes are happening all over the world and it is amazing.

I was skimming around on the Internet and I found this article.  It is a study about abortion.  And reasons people got them.  One thing I found interesting was that "abortion patients were offended and angered by what they had to confront after making this difficult decision.  Over half of the patients surveyed encountered anti-abortion protesters outside the clinic, and more than 80% of these patients felt that the protesters outside the clinic, and more than 80% of these patients felt that the protesters' actions constituted an invasion of privacy."  I never really thought of it that way.  A while ago I was completely against abortion and with my youth group we stood outside the abortion clinic.  Now I am pro-choice but I hope that people pick life.  I think that people need to respect other peoples decisions.  It should be each women's own choice because not everyone uses it as birth control and I think people shouldn't influence other peoples decisions.

I was talking to a person over break and they were telling me all about their relationship.  She told me some questionable things and I was trying to explain to her that it was verbal abuse and that it wasn't okay.  She didn't believe me so I got online and I found an article and it said that about one in three high school students have been or will be involved in an abusive relationship.  I have ten really good friends.  That means that about three of us will be involved in abuse.  The website also had tips on what might lead to abuse and excuses people have for it.  I think that just helping people become informed of how high the statistics are will help people.  Here is a website that has a little bit of information on what to do in situations. 

I found a blog that I really liked.  It is called Women Pathways.  It doesn't have much to do with my topic but I found it interesting and helpful.  It helped me understand a little more about the history and what we are working for.  She talked about what women rights are and what they have to do with and there is a good bit of information on the history of women's rights.  I figured it would be a good blog to look at considering the class we are in.

What I want to know is why every "teen magazine" only focus on straight girls.  I was on Cosmo Girls website here.  There are all kind of stories telling girls how to get along with their boyfriends friends, or change his style, or get him back.  I looked for a magazine for lesbians and I found this article.  I think that it is awesome that she would start her own magazine and that it would take off like that.  But I also think that there needs to be a magazine that targets both sides. Or that the magazines like Cosmo and Seventeen could have a few pages directed to lesbians.

Not only are there articles on "How to Get Your Guy Back" but there is also a lot on the girl getting the guy.  Covers of magazines tell are telling girls how to get a boyfriend and what they need to change in order to get them.  There are movies all over on how the girl tries to get the guy.  Where are all the movies where there is a strong women who doesn't need a man to help her out.  Here is one example, its not the best but its the only one that is coming to mind.  Baby Mama.  I like the movie because it shows a women who has earned her way to the top of a company and is providing for herself.  She also wants to have kinds and doesn't have a man to do it with so she goes to a sperm bank.  In the end she does end up with the guy but it wasn't what she was looking for.  I think that magazines and television shows and movies need to show more of that.  There is nothing wrong with dating and getting married, but women can support themselves and have fulfilling lives with out doing so and I think that there needs to more showing that and less of the stories in magazines and the movies that are influencing younger girls that they need to be "rescued" by "prince charming".

The article that I looked at wasn't exactly an artical but more of an entrance page to a website.  I was Googleing "breaking up" and this was one of the first links that caught my attention.

Here is the page

I didn't even feel the need to enter my information to get into the site, the first page was enough for me.

Why are there so many articles on "Getting Back Your Guy"?

Why would we want to go back to someone who obviously hurt us and doesn't even want to be with us anymore?

One line even said, "How you can win them back even if they are with someone else right now"

Why would someone want to be the type of a person to want to break up a couple so you can be with them.  Personally I think that it is just a little pathetic.

I just think that it is a absolutely ridiculous that there are so many different articles and websites and magazines and books that post all of this crap and that there are so many people who believe it.

No Idea

I know that we should have already done a set of three postings but I am still having a hard time deciding on what I want my topic to be.