The NationStates Feminism Thread IV: Fight Like A Girl!

[Alcala-Cordel]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

[Suriyanakhon]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

Soon™.

[Esalia]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

Girlboss dictatorships, because your gender shouldn't stop you being a ruthless, bloody dictator routinely engaging in the murder of innocents.

[Stellar Colonies]

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

Soon™.

That video is simultaneously funnier and sadder each time I watch it.

[Fahran]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

Based and poggers.

[Kowani]

At the CIA, you can now establish military dictatorships in the third world girl style

Based and poggers.

Dies of cringe

[Kowani]

SCOTUS declines to hear case of a former cadet who claims to have been raped at West Point...and somehow, Clarence Thomas is on the right side

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the appeal of a former West Point cadet who said she was raped at the academy, but Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should have taken the case to correct decades of injustices.

The woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, sued two senior officers who were West Point administrators, arguing that the U.S. Military Academy's sexual assault policies were inadequate, failing to protect students from sexual violence. She said a fellow cadet raped her when they went walking late one night in 2010 during her second year at West Point.

But lower courts threw her case out, citing a 1950 Supreme Court decision that said military personnel cannot sue for injuries "incident to" their military service, even though the federal law specifying when the federal government can be sued carves out injury claims arising out of "combat activities" in wartime.

Thomas said Monday that the 71-year-old case, known as Feres v United States, was wrongly decided. Jane Doe "could have brought these same claims had she been a civilian contractor employed by West Point instead of a student."

Because of the earlier decision, "if two Pentagon employees, one civilian and one a service member, are hit by a bus in the Pentagon parking lot and sue, it may be that only the civilian would have a chance to litigate his claims on the merits," he said. During the seven decades since the Feres case was decided, other members of the court have criticized it, including Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens.

A group of law professors, including Laurence Tribe at Harvard and Steve Vladeck at the University of Texas at Austin, had urged the court to take the latest case.

"At the time of her rape, Ms. Doe was not a soldier engaged in combat or on base; she was, in fact, not yet even obliged to enter into military service," they said. "Nor was Ms. Doe doing anything characteristically 'military.' The only thing connecting Ms. Doe’s rape to military service was her enrollment at West Point. Yet under Feres, that alone was enough to make her rape incident to military service."

[Fahran]

Based and poggers.

Dies of cringe

Rest in peace, Kowani. I'm sorry you were so cringe.

Also, that's awful. Why didn't they accept the case?

[Luminesa]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

Maybe my brain is running on two hours of sleep, but this reeks of corporates trying very hard to be relatable, while behind the mask they are Eldritch abominations we cannot even begin to fathom.

[Fahran]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

Maybe my brain is running on two hours of sleep, but this reeks of corporates trying very hard to be relatable, while behind the mask they are Eldritch abominations we cannot even begin to fathom.

Lumi, please proceed to the HR Department. They would like to have a little "chat" about your criticisms so they can be taken into account when... um, improving corporate culture and employee satisfaction.

[Kowani]

Dies of cringe

Rest in peace, Kowani. I'm sorry you were so cringe.

are you truly sorry, though

Also, that's awful. Why didn't they accept the case?

Unclear
SCOTUS does not actually have to give a rationale for refusing to accept a case
sometimes they do, but it is not guaranteed
The only opinion i could find was thomas' dissent

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

Maybe my brain is running on two hours of sleep, but this reeks of corporates trying very hard to be relatable, while behind the mask they are Eldritch abominations we cannot even begin to fathom.

i am not certain if "relatable" is the right word, but the rest of this is accurate

[The Rich Port]

CIA attempts to co-opt intersectional feminist language for recruitment drive

Maybe my brain is running on two hours of sleep, but this reeks of corporates trying very hard to be relatable, while behind the mask they are Eldritch abominations we cannot even begin to fathom.

This is, surprisingly or not, more common than you think.

Corporations and agencies don't care about actually being tolerant or accepting or politically correct, they only care about, well, making a profit or accomplishing a mission, so more often than not they half-ass a lot of their sensitivity training.

Coca-Cola had a anti-racism campaign that went so overboard it was basically racist against white people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKL4aDL ... nnel=Vaush

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Maybe my brain is running on two hours of sleep, but this reeks of corporates trying very hard to be relatable, while behind the mask they are Eldritch abominations we cannot even begin to fathom.

This is, surprisingly or not, more common than you think.

Corporations and agencies don't care about actually being tolerant or accepting or politically correct, they only care about, well, making a profit or accomplishing a mission, so more often than not they half-ass a lot of their sensitivity training.

Coca-Cola had a anti-racism campaign that went so overboard it was basically racist against white people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKL4aDL ... nnel=Vaush

My job values each and every one of us for our race, gender or sexual orientation. They just don't value us as people.

[Kowani]

Georgia legislature passes paid parental leave, Gov Brian Kemp (R) expected to sign bill

After two years of legislative wrangling, Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday is expected to sign a bill that would give a quarter-million state employees paid parental leave benefits for the first time.


House Bill 146 grants three weeks of paid time off to workers following the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child.

The legislation, which passed the General Assembly in March with minimal dissent, is a milestone for Georgia, which has long ranked among the bottom of states in terms of providing family benefits. Until four years ago, many Georgia workers couldn’t use earned sick leave to care for an immediate family member. “I think it’s an important step that’s going to help a lot of young families across our state,” said state Rep. Houston Gaines, the Athens Republican who sponsored the parental leave bill. His district includes portions of the University of Georgia, home to many professors and state employees who’d benefit from the measure.

But critics say the bill does not go far enough, especially after the pandemic illuminated discrepancies in the country’s child care system. State Rep. Kim Schofield of Atlanta was one of eight Democrats to vote against the measure when it came before the House for final approval. She said parents need at least six weeks of paid leave to care for new children.

“We can’t continue to take baby steps when we need giant steps,” she said.

Currently, state employees qualify for 12 weeks of unpaid leave, the minimum required under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. When Georgia workers give birth to or adopt a child, many must cobble together vacation days, short-term disability and other leave to take time off. For private sector workers, benefits differ by company.

[Ostroeuropa]

Dies of cringe

Rest in peace, Kowani. I'm sorry you were so cringe.

Also, that's awful. Why didn't they accept the case?

Apparently you can't sue the military for stuff arising as a result of you being on duty. (Which, to be fair, almost makes sense. "No, you cannot sue the military because you got shot by the enemy".).

The issue with this as some lawyers have pointed out is that this is only meant to apply to unavoidable and expected consequences of the job and which the military does in fact have a duty to try and minimize "You can't sue us because the enemy shot you" -> "I know that. I'm suing you because you knew that would happen, and you didn't give me body armor despite having some on site.", and is not meant to cover things like "The military put asbestos in our bunk-room, then refused to remove it when told, and instead bought a pinball machine for the officers lounge. Now I am ill." or the aforementioned body armor example.

One would think that this would then obviously apply to sexual assault (excepting if it occurs from enemy troops, and in those cases given that it's outside legal acts of war, one might expect a lawsuit against their miliitary would have merit).

The other issue is that the judges invoking this exception ignored that...

She wasn't a member of the military. As Judge Clarence Thomas points out, she was still a civilian studying for a degree in military stuff at a military academy, but wasn't a member of it and was under no obligation to be so yet.


All in all the ruling relies on two errors, one particularly sinister and one perhaps forgivable. Firstly that a person training at a military academy to be an officer is a member of the military. They aren't, though it's understandable why one might think they would be and this error of fact might be something that would arise because nobody informed the judge this isn't the case. The other being that, legally speaking, the judge is arguing that being sexually assaulted by your peers is an expected and unavoidable part of being in the military.

An analogous situation might be something like "Oh it's expected that boxers might get injuries in the ring, you can't sue for that, it's what you signed up for".

1. This wasn't in the ring. This was a boxing coach who just randomly assaulted me when I went to talk to them about management skills.
2. I am not a boxer.
3. You can sue if they don't provide the safety equipment.
4. I wasn't punched. I was sexually assaulted. I am pretty sure sexual assault is against the rules, even in a boxing match.

->

"I didn't hear and/or understand any of that, case dismissed.".

[Kowani]

Ant Species in Ecuador, Strumigenys ayersthey , receives the first gender neutral scientific name

A newly discovered species of ant from Ecuador has been named with the suffix “-they”, rather than a traditional gendered Latin suffix, to celebrate gender diversity.

The ant was discovered by Philipp Hoenle at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2018. He sent a photograph to taxonomic expert Douglas Booher at Yale University, who recognised it as a new species in the genus Strumigenys.

In contrast to traditional species-naming practices, which only recognise one of two distinct genders with the suffixes “-ae” for women and “-i” for men, Booher suggested using the gender non-binary identifier “they” instead, naming the ant Strumigenys ayersthey after artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers.


Ayers was a protégé of Andy Warhol in the 1970s under the pseudonym of Silva Thinn. He died in 2016. “He identified as a gay man outside of his Warhol character, but I’m naming it after him with the suffix added to include all non-binary people for his activism,” says Booher.

Booher also asked Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the band R.E.M. and a mutual friend with Ayers, to join him in writing the etymology section of the paper outlining the new species.

According to Booher, there are 853 species in the Strumigenys genus, but the new ant was immediately identifiable as unique. “It’s very different from any ant in the genus,” he says. “There’s a lot of convergent evolution, so a lot of species in different countries look alike but aren’t related. So it was a special ant and I was waiting for something like this to represent gender diversity and biological diversity.”

Asked whether he will use the -they suffix to name future new species, Booher says he will use a female, male or non-binary suffix depending on the wishes of the person the species is named after.

[New haven america]

I have an assignment about privilege in one of my classes and I'm trying to come up with an explanation on it that won't get the liberal art majors on my ass.

Conservative dude tried it earlier. He's more confident than I, he had stupid and discriminatory ideas, but he was confident in them.

[The Blaatschapen]

Ant Species in Ecuador, Strumigenys ayersthey , receives the first gender neutral scientific name

A newly discovered species of ant from Ecuador has been named with the suffix “-they”, rather than a traditional gendered Latin suffix, to celebrate gender diversity.

The ant was discovered by Philipp Hoenle at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2018. He sent a photograph to taxonomic expert Douglas Booher at Yale University, who recognised it as a new species in the genus Strumigenys.

In contrast to traditional species-naming practices, which only recognise one of two distinct genders with the suffixes “-ae” for women and “-i” for men, Booher suggested using the gender non-binary identifier “they” instead, naming the ant Strumigenys ayersthey after artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers.


Ayers was a protégé of Andy Warhol in the 1970s under the pseudonym of Silva Thinn. He died in 2016. “He identified as a gay man outside of his Warhol character, but I’m naming it after him with the suffix added to include all non-binary people for his activism,” says Booher.

Booher also asked Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the band R.E.M. and a mutual friend with Ayers, to join him in writing the etymology section of the paper outlining the new species.

According to Booher, there are 853 species in the Strumigenys genus, but the new ant was immediately identifiable as unique. “It’s very different from any ant in the genus,” he says. “There’s a lot of convergent evolution, so a lot of species in different countries look alike but aren’t related. So it was a special ant and I was waiting for something like this to represent gender diversity and biological diversity.”

Asked whether he will use the -they suffix to name future new species, Booher says he will use a female, male or non-binary suffix depending on the wishes of the person the species is named after.

Latin stealing words from English.

When did we end up in opposite world?

[Northern Socialist Council Republics]

I have an assignment about privilege in one of my classes and I'm trying to come up with an explanation on it that won't get the liberal art majors on my ass.

Conservative dude tried it earlier. He's more confident than I, he had stupid and discriminatory ideas, but he was confident in them.

Let the NationStates hivemind fill your presentation slides.

[Washington Resistance Army]

Ant Species in Ecuador, Strumigenys ayersthey , receives the first gender neutral scientific name

A newly discovered species of ant from Ecuador has been named with the suffix “-they”, rather than a traditional gendered Latin suffix, to celebrate gender diversity.

The ant was discovered by Philipp Hoenle at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2018. He sent a photograph to taxonomic expert Douglas Booher at Yale University, who recognised it as a new species in the genus Strumigenys.

In contrast to traditional species-naming practices, which only recognise one of two distinct genders with the suffixes “-ae” for women and “-i” for men, Booher suggested using the gender non-binary identifier “they” instead, naming the ant Strumigenys ayersthey after artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers.


Ayers was a protégé of Andy Warhol in the 1970s under the pseudonym of Silva Thinn. He died in 2016. “He identified as a gay man outside of his Warhol character, but I’m naming it after him with the suffix added to include all non-binary people for his activism,” says Booher.

Booher also asked Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the band R.E.M. and a mutual friend with Ayers, to join him in writing the etymology section of the paper outlining the new species.

According to Booher, there are 853 species in the Strumigenys genus, but the new ant was immediately identifiable as unique. “It’s very different from any ant in the genus,” he says. “There’s a lot of convergent evolution, so a lot of species in different countries look alike but aren’t related. So it was a special ant and I was waiting for something like this to represent gender diversity and biological diversity.”

Asked whether he will use the -they suffix to name future new species, Booher says he will use a female, male or non-binary suffix depending on the wishes of the person the species is named after.

Cringey, ngl

[Fahran]

I have an assignment about privilege in one of my classes and I'm trying to come up with an explanation on it that won't get the liberal art majors on my ass.

Conservative dude tried it earlier. He's more confident than I, he had stupid and discriminatory ideas, but he was confident in them.

I'd recommend going with the definition usually employed by sociologists and progressives, with the caveat that it's often highly situational and layered/nuanced rather than static and embedded in some narrow oppressor-oppressed dichotomy. They likely won't care for that overly much, but the argument is one that can be well-supported by empirical evidence and application of the concepts.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

I have an assignment about privilege in one of my classes and I'm trying to come up with an explanation on it that won't get the liberal art majors on my ass.

Conservative dude tried it earlier. He's more confident than I, he had stupid and discriminatory ideas, but he was confident in them.

"Explain to us in 500 sentences why Sarah, a young Jewish American bisexual girl from a family of upper middle class lawyers in West Bloomfield, is actually an oppressed minority."

I had to deal with this shit in my sociology class. It was annoying and cringe and full of so much self pity, I struggled to not scream "STOP BEING A PROFESSIONAL VICTIM, HALF OF YOU DONT KNOW HARDSHIP AT ALL." I'll pray to the God I don't believe in that you do well on this assignment.

[Esalia]

Ant Species in Ecuador, Strumigenys ayersthey , receives the first gender neutral scientific name

A newly discovered species of ant from Ecuador has been named with the suffix “-they”, rather than a traditional gendered Latin suffix, to celebrate gender diversity.

The ant was discovered by Philipp Hoenle at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2018. He sent a photograph to taxonomic expert Douglas Booher at Yale University, who recognised it as a new species in the genus Strumigenys.

In contrast to traditional species-naming practices, which only recognise one of two distinct genders with the suffixes “-ae” for women and “-i” for men, Booher suggested using the gender non-binary identifier “they” instead, naming the ant Strumigenys ayersthey after artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers.


Ayers was a protégé of Andy Warhol in the 1970s under the pseudonym of Silva Thinn. He died in 2016. “He identified as a gay man outside of his Warhol character, but I’m naming it after him with the suffix added to include all non-binary people for his activism,” says Booher.

Booher also asked Michael Stipe, the lead singer of the band R.E.M. and a mutual friend with Ayers, to join him in writing the etymology section of the paper outlining the new species.

According to Booher, there are 853 species in the Strumigenys genus, but the new ant was immediately identifiable as unique. “It’s very different from any ant in the genus,” he says. “There’s a lot of convergent evolution, so a lot of species in different countries look alike but aren’t related. So it was a special ant and I was waiting for something like this to represent gender diversity and biological diversity.”

Asked whether he will use the -they suffix to name future new species, Booher says he will use a female, male or non-binary suffix depending on the wishes of the person the species is named after.

I can understand making things gender-neutral, but "the name of a species that doesn't give a shit what we decide to call them" is not one of those things, even if it's "to celebrate gender diversity" (I can think of better ways to celebrate gender diversity than the Latin name of an ant that 99% of us will never know).

[Kowani]

Puerto Rico approves the use of $7 million to combat gender-based violence

More than 100 days after declaring a state of emergency, Puerto Rico finally will have some funding to address an alarming rise in gender-based violence on the island.

The Financial Oversight Management Board, which is in charge of the island's finances, on Wednesday approved a $7 million request by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi to be used for different programs aimed at preventing gender-based violence. [...] The international nonprofit Women for Women defines gender violence as violence directed at an individual based on their biological sex or gender identity. This includes physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse. Since 2018, Colectivo Feminista had been pushing leaders in Puerto Rico to declare a state of emergency as gender-based killings increased. The government did so on Jan. 24, but the delay in approving the funding proved frustrating for local advocates, hundreds of whom took to the streets on Sunday and Monday, demanding action.

"A state of emergency only seen in paper are dead words," said Zoan Davila Roldan, a cofounder of Colectivo Feminista.

According to an analysis from GEN and Type Investigations, the intimate partner murder rate in Puerto Rico rose to 1.7 per 100,000 women in 2018, up from 0.77 per 100,000 in 2017. In 2020, 60 gender-related killings were reported, according to Puerto Rico's Gender Equality Observatory. At least 21 gender-based killings have been reported this year, among them Andrea Ruiz Costas and Keishla Rodriguez Ortiz.

According to her family, Rodriguez Ortiz had been romantically involved with Felix Verdejo-Sanchez, an Olympic boxer for Puerto Rico. Rodriguez Ortiz's mother said the 27-year-old was pregnant and had received threats from Verdejo-Sanchez, including demands to terminate the pregnancy. Ortiz went missing, and two days later her body was found in the San Jose Lagoon, near Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina.

Verdejo-Sanchez has been charged with kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death and killing an unborn child, according to the Department of Justice, and Judge Camille Vélez ruled on Monday that he would remain in jail, with no option of bail, until a preliminary hearing. A federal grand jury indicted Verdejo-Sanchez and an alleged accomplice on Thursday.

Ruiz Costas' body was found brutally burned in the town of Cayey on April 29. After her partner was identified as a possible suspect, he came forward and confessed, according to local authorities. In March, the 35-year-old twice filed for a restraining order against her partner but was denied.

"The state and the system is responsible," Davila Roldan told ABC News. "There is a failure in the system." Pierluisi held a press conference on Monday to address both cases, and he acknowledged the state's fault in Ruiz Costas' case.

"The system failed Andrea," he said.

After the state of emergency was declared and the $7 million was requested, the FOMB initially approved just $200,000. Because Puerto Rico is going through a bankruptcy that began in 2016, the FOMB has the final say in all economic decisions of the government. The island has over $100 billion in debt and pension obligations.

In an April 27 letter to Pierluisi, the FOMB wrote, in part, that the government "should further evaluate other funding sources."

"I don't want to hear excuses from the board," Pierluisi said on Monday. The $7 million, now approved, will help reinforce the work of the specialized committee called PARE, an acronym in Spanish that means Prevention, Support, Rescue and Education of Gender Violence. It was created after the state of emergency was declared and consists of organizations that work closely with experts and representatives from gubernatorial agencies.

"Organizations have been doing unbelievable work analyzing the different hurdles the system has," Vilma Gonzalez, a PARE committee member and director of the nonprofit Paz Para La Mujer, which roughly translates to Peace For Woman, told ABC News. Gonzalez said she was among those worried about the lack of urgency in approving the funding.

"There needs to be a commitment from gubernatorial agencies," Gonzalez said. She and other colleagues also said they've experienced delays in distributing paperwork needed to complete the action plan.

[Wink Wonk We Like Stonks]

I have an assignment about privilege in one of my classes and I'm trying to come up with an explanation on it that won't get the liberal art majors on my ass.

Conservative dude tried it earlier. He's more confident than I, he had stupid and discriminatory ideas, but he was confident in them.

"Explain to us in 500 sentences why Sarah, a young Jewish American bisexual girl from a family of upper middle class lawyers in West Bloomfield, is actually an oppressed minority."

I had to deal with this shit in my sociology class. It was annoying and cringe and full of so much self pity, I struggled to not scream "STOP BEING A PROFESSIONAL VICTIM, HALF OF YOU DONT KNOW HARDSHIP AT ALL." I'll pray to the God I don't believe in that you do well on this assignment.

i mean... people are oppressed for reasons besides being poor