Since being signed into law in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act has been a landmark piece of legislation. Thousands have been helped — even saved — by programs funded by VAWA. Likewise, the cultural consciousness about the issue of domestic violence has shifted to such an extent that we don’t talk about wife-beating in…
Alright, let’s talk about guns. Everyone from coworkers at holiday parties to President Obama are talking about guns, gun violence, and gun control. I suppose with my reputation as an opinionated feminist with some pretty liberal tendencies, you imagine me a pretty anti-gun sorta gal. Not so fast. In truth, I’m somewhere in the not-quite-ambivalent…
Reeling from the tsunami of sadness that came with the release of photos and stories of the victims of the tragic Newtown shooting, I want to swear-off the internet, print media, and television for a week. But, alas… this is my job, people. So let’s try and pick ourselves up and get through today, stepping…
Like all of you, I am horrified by the violence that took place this week. Men with violence in their hearts and unstable minds stormed the public sphere — in an Oregon shopping mall earlier this week and today at an elementary school in Connecticut — bringing with them death, destruction, shock, fear, anger, and…
Perhaps it is the natural out-growth of keeping an eagle-eye out for Tired Marketing Fails or it is just the nature of being a feminist parent, but I find shopping for my toddler to be the hardest of my entire holiday gift list. We do our best to keep give our daughter an environment that…
Free to be you and me: Starting Dec. 1 the DSM-5 — the official guide-book in the psychiatry community — has stopped listing transgender as a mental illness! This, coupled with the UN Secretary General’s speech imploring the global community to stand with the LGBT community, will be marked in history as no less significant…
After participating in a KNPR panel on feminism in Las Vegas on Friday, how could I resist taking a peek at TLC’s new reality show Sin City Rules, which follows five so-called power women in Las Vegas? It follows a familiar format, minted by Bravo’s “Real Housewives” brand: Throw a handful of women with big…
Enjoy The Sin City Siren with an entirely different sense: hearing! (Sorry, no smell-o-vision for SCS.) I will be talking about Feminism in Las Vegas — is there such a thing? — on KNPR (88.9 FM) Friday around 9:30 am. (Hint: The answer is YES!) So please tune in, or better yet, CALL IN and…
*TRIGGER WARNING* Canada’s Edmonton Police Services, working with rape-prevention non-profit groups, has decided that the only way to go in a campaign about sexual assault awareness is: Go big or go home. The new ads, released as part of a two-year-long campaign, give some graphic representation to so-called “date rape” scenarios with the tag line:…
With December 1 comes World AIDS Day. The timing of this commemoration of those gone, those still fighting, and our hopes at prevention (and dare-we-hope an end?) to this epidemic always strikes me as curious. For Americans, World AIDS Day comes on the heels of Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) and nearly smack in the middle…
The Sin City Siren 