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Week of
March 29, 2012 | | FALLOUT The Susan G. Komen foundation, the powerful charity in the throes of controversy, has canceled one of its most important events of the year: its annual “Lobby Day” in Washington, D.C. The move is significant because it indicates that Komen’s problems could impact an array of women’s health initiatives that reach well beyond the ones the charity sponsors itself. At the annual lobbying day, activists push for government programs, not for Komen programs. These government programs focus on cancer research and early detection and treatment for underserved women, reports Abigail Pesta of The Daily Beast. The foundation been reeling in recent weeks from its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood amid pressure from Catholic bishops; the move caused a national backlash, and Komen reversed the decision. Several Komen officials have since departed, and some Komen affiliates around the country have reported struggles with fundraising. Said spokeswoman Leslie Aun, “We know folks have been upset with us. We get that, and we are sorry. We hope that people don’t turn their backs on women.” HEARTFELT Rep. Gwen Moore made a very personal speech on the House floor in support of the Violence Against Women Act on Wednesday, publicly recounting her own experience with rape and abuse. Although the Violence Against Women Act was renewed in 2005 nearly unanimously, money to continue its funding has become contentious for the first time since it first passed in 1994. New provisions to include gays and lesbians, as well as illegal immigrant women, in the act have riled the GOP and led eight Republicans, all men, to vote against the act in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Once again, for some reason in this 112th Congress, there has been a preoccupation with putting women in their place,” Moore told Patricia Murphy in The Daily Beast. DISTURBING The plight of Afghan women was supposed to improve with the Taliban’s ouster, but a new Human Rights Watch report shows that massive injustice persists. The report details the cases of 60 women and girls in prison for “moral crimes,” such as fleeing an abusive husband or having premarital sex. Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch, who interviewed Afghan detainees for the report, told Jesse Ellison of The Daily Beast that incarceration isn’t the only hurdle for these women. She said, “Just the fact of being arrested for a moral crime is very likely to create a situation where your family won’t take you back.” She added, “One of the things that was the most heartbreaking was how grateful some of these women and girls seemed to be for these prisons. One of the women said, ‘I chose this prison as my safe place.’” SOUNDING OFF Why has feminism become a dirty world? Erica Jong defends the feminist and sexual revolution, saying we cannot be complacent about birth control, abortion, the vote, or our daughters’ and granddaughters’ future. Just when things look rosy for women, she says, there will be a Rick Santorum waiting in the wings. Just when colleges graduate more women than men, the press will trot out female quislings to announce that women’s problems have been solved. “Rubbish,” she writes. To get involved, check out the Ms. Foundation. CONTROVERSY Manhattan socialite Dara-Lynn Weiss sparked widespread outrage by putting her 7-year-old daughter on a diet, writing about it in Vogue and getting a book deal. But her daughter, Bea, who last 16 pounds during her transformation, faces potentially damaging consequences from the experience, experts say. Aside from the notoriety and her mother’s newfound infamy, Bea may have body image issues for years to come. “When we send those messages, they’re not about health but they’re very much about looks. And that’s the dangerous part right here. When [Bea] enters the age of puberty, when it’s natural and normal for a child to gain 25 pounds, she could be very uncomfortable with the weight gain,” one expert told Isabel Wilkinson of The Daily Beast. | | 
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