Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross

Better Orgasms. Better World.

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I was reading the NY Times magazine this weekend when I came across this stat:

17% of the members in the House of Representatives are women - compared with 25% in the Iraqi parliament.

With all the revolutions happening in the Middle East, it's going to be interesting to see our feminism unfolds in the region.  It may be easier to advance feminist ideals in a new system rather than trying to combat hundreds of years of misogyny.  Half of me wants that to be true and the other half doesn't.   

I was cruising sexbodygender.com last night and I couldn't believe that Barack Obama appointed Chai Feldblum to the EEOC (the EEOC is the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.  I worked on joint cases with them when I worked at the
AG's office).  She's a powerhouse Harvard grad, Georgetown Law professor who is OPENLY GAY. She drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act and she's all over gay and transgender rights *sigh*

What's even more amazing is that Ms. Feldblum is pro-polyamory rights stating publically that:

Marriage is not the only worthy form of family or relationship, and it should not be legally and economically privileged above all others.

Christine Quinn is the openly gay Speaker of the New York City Council. She's my favoriate New York politician. Not only is she living her life out in the open but last year she adopted a baby girl - no husband, no marriage, no problem. And you know what? No one dared challenge her right to be a single parent. Love her.

Now, she's quarterbacking same sex marriage legislation in the New York Legislature. It passed the Assembly and now we need to get it passed in the Senate before they break for the summer. I feel so positive about this and so does Quinn, who spent time in Albany this past week meeting with undecided senators:

"It was amazing how much openness there was," she said of private meetings with lawmakers who are undecided and even a few who have said they are likely to oppose the legislation. "We just all have to create a moment for them to step forward. So I really think it is going to happen this month, before the legislative session is over."

Reading this truthout piece on how women have shaped American law has me itching to dust off my JD and get into one of those black robes.  By the time I got to law school, women did make up 47% of the class; however, your professors were male, in their 70's, and reminded us that when they went to school the 3 token women sat together in the front row.  I'll never forget Professor Crea.  My standard school uniform was overalls, a lace tank top, and black converse sneakers.  He would beg me to wear a skirt incredulous that "such a beautiful woman wouldn't show her legs".

And now we may have one more woman on the Supreme Court.  Time to reshape some American law ladies:

In May 1972, while driving home, California secretary Sally Armendariz's car was rear-ended by another car. Armendariz had never taken a sick day in her ten years on the job, and was proud of her record. She went right back to work the day after her accident. However, after a few hours, she began to feel sick, and her doctor advised her to go home. Armendariz was four months pregnant with her second child - no sense in taking chances. That night, she began to feel labor pains. She and her husband were rushed to the hospital. Come morning, Armendariz had miscarried.

I didn't even know that you can get your legs stretched...thought it was a Sci-Fi movie thing.  I had to cut my hair and dye it black to be taken seriously but having both your legs broken OMG:

An Australian politician had her legs broken and stretched to become 3in taller in a bid to be taken seriously.

After nine months of excruciating pain, Hajnal Ban, 31, a councillor with Logan city council in Queensland, became a 'normal' 5ft 4in. "A lot of young females have insecurities about their weight or their nose; mine was my height," she told Brisbane's Courier Mail.

Ms Ban was taunted at school and feared her height would damage her credibility as she entered the legal profession and later went into local politics.

So she paid the Ilizarov orthopaedic clinic in Kurgan, Russia, £19,000 to break both legs in four places and stretch them slowly for 1mm every day for nine months. "From the time I flew to Russia to the time I was able to wear high heels again was about a year in total, but at least nine months of that was excruciatingly painful," she said.

Swoon.  First, she starts off answering the abortion question by admiring the anti-choice legislators "passionate beliefs".  Then, she gives the perfect answer: family planning prevents abortions. And "keeping men and women in ignorance" ie no sex ed "consigns women to a life of oppression".

I've always had this fantasy about arguing before the Supreme Court with Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Ginsburg nodding me on, believing that the Constitution confers sexual freedom of choice.  At least, we still have Ruth the woman who coined the term "gender" discrimination leaving "sex" discrimination to fall by the way side. Betty hates when we sully the word "sex" with negative connotations such as "sexism" etc. Ruth Ginsburg turned 76 this week:

Ruth Ginsburg told law students at a symposium at Ohio State University that she misses her former colleague Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired in 2006.  "It's lonely for me, not that I don't love all my colleagues. I do," Ginsburg said. Women bring a life experience to the court that men can't, she said.

When members of the public visit the court to watch the proceedings, Ginsburg said she can't help but wonder what they think. "There I am all alone, and it doesn't look right," said Ginsburg, who was appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

The Supreme Court of Canada has four women, including the chief justice, and the United States could benefit by looking at the legal systems of other countries, she said.

I'm starting to really love Michelle Obama.  It's so important to let any young girl that's in your life know that she is loved...she is strong...and she will "take the reins": 

Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Pharaoh, renowned for her beauty, was part African, says a BBC team which believes it has found her sister's tomb. Queen Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great.

But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton. The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. "It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said.

"That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe." They lived at a turbulent time when the Roman empire was extending its power across the Mediterranean.

Sandra Day O'Connor's interview on the Daily Show was perfection last night.  My favorite moments: asked how she dealt with Scalia on a day-to-day basis she replied, "you learn to disagree agreeably"; she just said it - most Americans can't name the 3 branches of government; and I love that she has a new site dedicated to teaching people how our courts work www.ourcourt.org.