California NOW

Hoo Wants a Kids' Menu?

Hoo wants to see the kids’ menu? At noon on Tuesday, November 23rd on the steps of the San Francisco City Hall, the California chapter of the National Organization for Women announces a national action to be acted upon locally everywhere there is a Hooters Restaurant serving and marketing to children. NOW has chosen the annual ratify CEDAW event to announce the launch of the Hoo Wants a Kids' Menu task force because the culture of discrimination begins during childhood.

In the late 90’s, Hooter’s Inc. told the EEOC that their main function is not providing food, rather their executives characterized Hooter’s Restaurants as primarily a provider of, "vicarious sexual entertainment." Despite this, Hooters advertises themselves as a family restaurant where kids eat free on Tuesdays. They locate themselves in shopping malls and near child-oriented stores. They have high chairs, booster seats and kids' menus. They sell child sized t-shirts with "Future Hooters Girl" printed across the front.

Hooters cannot have it both ways. Hooters requires the young, pretty women they hire to wear sexually provocative uniforms and to sign a release against what would otherwise be considered a hostile work environment of blatant sexual innuendo, commentary and jokes. If they can claim to the EEOC that they should be allowed to discriminate in hiring because they are a provider of “vicarious sexual entertainment” rather than a restaurant, then they should not be allowed to market to children and families, thus exposing children to a sexualized atmosphere.

"Marketing to young children and creating a family restaurant atmosphere amounts to the legalization and normalization of sexual discrimination and a hostile work environment," says Patty Bellasalma, president of the California chapter of NOW. "Every local county or city with a Hooters should consider a ban on marketing sexual entertainment to minors, and require that sexual entertainment businesses check IDs at the door."

Kid’s can’t always choose where they are taken for a meal, let’s make good choices for future generations. Let’s educate kids about gender equality! Millions of child meals have been served up by Hooter's Restaurants. Demand a ban serving minors in establishments of "vicarious sexual entertainment."

Download the flyer to take your own action!

Monday's Action Checklist

We're mad, we're sad! The Paycheck Fairness Act came to the Senate floor last week and was defeated in a procedural vote. This is pathetic. Not only does this hurt working women today, it also sends a dangerous message to employers that it's safe to pay women less for equal work. Outrageous! Sign on to this short letter to all the Senators who voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act asking them to explain to their daughters, and ours, why in 2010 women don't deserve the right to equal pay for equal work.

When the new Congress is sworn in, we’ll face at least 79 new anti-choice members in the House and 13 in the Senate. These numbers tell me one thing: we need to make important pro-choice gains for women now. Please ask your senators to end the ban on our servicewomen’s access to abortion services. Your action today can help a woman serving in our military overseas. Unless we win this fight now, a woman in the military serving overseas will continue to be in dire straits if she faces an unintended pregnancy. This ban doesn’t even allow a woman to use her own money for abortion care at a military hospital where it’s safest. And if she is stationed in a country where local health-care facilities are inadequate or unavailable, or where she doesn’t speak the language, what choice does she have? Take action today for the thousands of women serving in our military stationed abroad.

Congress is facing two big decisions: Extending George Bush's tax cuts, and extending unemployment benefits for just some of the almost one in ten American workers who haven't been able to earn enough, or any, income for months on end. If congress doesn't act by November 30th, emergency unemployment benefits will expire for almost 3 million Americans by next year. Many Republican senators have had the audacity to say we can't afford these benefits, while demanding even more costly tax breaks for millionaires. Unlike tax cuts for the rich, these benefits — $300 a week to workers who haven't been able to work for more than 6 months — immediately help the economy because it is money that will be spent. But if the benefits expire, as they did this summer at the hands of obstructionist Republicans and corporatist Democrats, our economy takes a hit. Tell your Senators: Extend emergency unemployment benefits, not tax cuts for millionaires. 
Then call Senators Boxer & Feinstein, and urge them to vote against extending tax cuts for the rich. (Senator Dianne Feinstein Phone: 202-224-3841; Senator Barbara Boxer Phone: 202-224-3553) Then, let us know what happened.

Last week, the United States Senate held a hearing on the importance of ratifying CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This is a momentous step forward in our push to ratify this landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women and girls around the world. Tell the Senate that women and girls cannot wait any longer, that the U.S. must ratify CEDAW now!

Check out this directory to find a food bank in your community that could use your help this weekend. Helping others in need is a great way to show your thanks for the food, family and friends you get to enjoy this Thanksgiving. And if you can't volunteer this weekend, food banks are open throughout the year and could always use your help.

Despite the recent passage of healthcare reform, Medicare doctor payment cuts were completely ignored, again. Now doctors that accept Medicare are facing a 23 percent cut in December and an additional 6 percent cut in January. This not only means that doctors won't be able to serve Medicare patients, but it also jeopardizes access to healthcare for seniors, disables and military families. Let's stop playing games » Sick patients can't wait any longer: Congress must replace the broken payment system before the damage is irreparable. Tell Congress to stop the Medicare payment cuts.

Methyl iodide is a known neurotoxin, disrupts thyroid function, damages developing fetuses, and has caused lung tumors in laboratory animals. California already classifies it as a human carcinogen. Fumigating fields with the gas — even with the strictest regulations — would no doubt still result in unacceptable exposures to farmworkers and surrounding populations. If that wasn't enough, there's plenty of evidence that both the federal and state approval processes have been flawed. The best way to get to a final decision keeping methyl iodide away from our food is to make sure Jerry Brown takes a stand against the pesticide now. Click here to automatically sign the petition asking the governor-elect to pledge to ban methyl iodide as soon as he takes office.

Since 2004, Democracy for America (DFA) has been building the progressive movement by training thousands of progressive activists and candidates every year. They've brought our training program to over 100 cities across the country and trained over 12,000 progressive activists. A DFA Campaign Academy is more than just a series of interesting lectures. They are gatherings of like-minded and passionate progressives where we assess what's worked before, learn cutting edge campaign skills and make plans for the future. We bring the best political talent in the country to your city to fire up the local progressive movement. Democracy for America's National Field Organizers are working with grassroots activists like you right now to organize dozens of weekend campaign trainings in 2011. And you have the power to bring one of these great trainings to your city. Apply to host a DFA Campaign Academy in 2011.

In the business world, spending billions of dollars to seize control is known as a hostile takeover. That's precisely what's happening to our democracy today. The only difference is that when companies attempt hostile takeovers of other businesses, they can't do it anonymously. But in elections today, a corporation or union can spend unlimited amounts to elect or defeat a candidate, without having to disclose who they are. But the Senate can change that. Tell your Senators to pass the DISCLOSE Act into law before the end of the year!

Veterans Day is behind us, but gravely wounded veterans are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq every day. Can you pledge to write a letter of support and encouragement to a veteran who is celebrating his or her Alive Day? It will let them know we appreciate them and support them in their efforts to build a successful future.

There should be no question: the only thing the TSA's new "groping" policy is meant to impact is people's willingness to go through these machines, which render images of people's naked bodies so graphic one mother called it "child pornography." New aggressive "pat downs" started on November 1, to punish people who refuse to go through the scanners. Neither the scanners nor the aggressive pat-downs make us any safer. Experts call it "security theater," to insure the market for this new, expensive boondoggle doesn't dry up when the public refuses to participate. Say no to TSA's intimidation, and demand Congress investigate TSA's new porno scanners and aggressive groping.

Speaker Pelosi wants to move the DREAM Act, and Harry Reid promised to bring it to a vote in the upcoming weeks! Now's the time for them to hear from us. Some of the young people who would benefit from the Dream Act are valedictorians, some are computer programmers, some are future nurses or soldiers. The bipartisan DREAM Act would put them on a path to citizenship instead of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars rounding them up and deporting them to countries they do not know. Tell Reid and Pelosi that you support DREAM and want a vote ASAP!

Civil liberties: Now with more privileged people

 


(stix cartoon by Eyeteeth - original at Small Peculiar)

Which is pretty much my take on it, but of course I've gotta dig in a little deeper.

Patricia Calhoun at Westword started reporting on women being singled out for inappropriate groping in 2001, just weeks after 9/11.

For the next year, I wouldn't fly in anything other than a sports bra (and being a woman with large breasts, spending any significant amount of time without an underwire was a literal pain).  Then the "zealous" screeners at DIA apparently eased off.  I started wearing underwires through security again, but not without trepidation.

In 2003 I was almost arrested when I set off the metal detector because I was wearing a garter belt.  I was pulled aside for the wand-down, which I didn't object to.  I told them they'd get a small positive on the front and back of each thigh from the clips, which they did.  The screener then demanded that I go to a "private screening room."  "Not until my bags are done being x-rayed," I said, aware that I had a couple thousand dollars worth of technology in my carry-on.  "You'll get them afterwards," they told me.  I refused to go and asked for the "private screening" in view of my bags, even if that meant in view of other passengers.  They threatened to arrest me.  I lifted my skirt to show them the garter clips, flashing the entire terminal in the process, and the screener started to grab my arm, but the supervisor waved her off and said "let her go."  I grabbed my bags off the conveyor and stalked off.

I have no illusions about what would happen today.

The thing is that nothing about this is new.  Private citizens being arbitrarily singled out for intrusive searches and rough treatment by authority figures because of their appearance, their "attitude," or just a momentary need for an endorphin rush by a small-minded bureaucrat?  Welcome to the phenomenon of Driving While Black, the lives of women,  of people of color, of transpeople, of disabled people (oh hi, Canada!).  Intrusive searches and civil rights violations were happening to people on the margins well before 9/11.

It is no accident that women have been complaining about being pulled out of line because of their big breasts, having their bodies commented on by TSA officials, and getting inappropriate touching when selected for pat-downs for years now, but just this week it went viral.  It is no accident that transgender people have been violated by searches for years, but just this week it went viral.  It is no accident that CAIR identified Islamic head scarves (hijab) as an automatic trigger for extra screenings in January, but just this week it went viral.  What was different? 

Suddenly an able-bodied cis-gendered white man is the one who was complaining.

It is also no accident that the rhetoric around "enhanced" pat-downs has immediately triggered a flood of racist, classist, ableist comments about TSA workers whom I've seen referred to as morons, retards, garbage collectors, high school drop-outs, and more.  The fact that almost half of the TSA workforce is made up of POC?  Purely coincidental.  The fact that Republicans insisted that the bill creating the TSA also contain a clause saying they can never be  unionized, and thus most of their force will never make more than working-class wages?  Surely that has nothing to do with the public's contempt.  Oh look, the homophobes are already beating their drums, and they always make for great bedfellows.  Let's not jump on the bandwagon of blaming the workers, instead of their bosses, for what is ultimately a systemic problem of policies and attitudes.

Ratify Women - Sign CEDAW!

The United States remains one of only seven countries in the world that have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Which other countries haven't ratified this landmark treaty? Iran, Sudan, Somalia, and three small Pacific Island nations. Every major industrialized nation has signed, and even many countries far behind the U.S. in terms of women's equality.

This important treaty has been used around the globe to help women claim property rights, address systemic sexual violence and increase our representation in both public and private leadership.

The CEDAW treaty has been waiting 30 years for U.S. ratification, and in the past eight years there has been no movement on it. Now we finally have a chance for the U.S. to join the rest of the world in affirming women's rights and basic human rights. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has agreed to hold a hearing in his capacity as chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. In order to get the CEDAW Treaty floor vote that women around the world have been waiting for, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) must hold a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Today, Thursday, November 18th, the United States Senate will hold a hearing focused solely on the importance of ratifying CEDAW. NOW will be testifying, but we need widespread support to urge action on this treaty so that the U.S. can remain a world leader on human rights issues. You can watch the webcast at 11 am, PST.

Take Action NOW! Tell your Senators to urge Sen. Kerry to hold a vote on CEDAW without restrictions or delay. 

Then click here to tell your Senators that the women and girls of the world can't wait any longer — we need CEDAW now!

Day of Action for Don't Ask, Don't Tell

After this morning's defeat of the Paycheck Fairness Act, we haven't given up.  We're still pushing for major legislation to be completed during this final lame-duck session, before control of the House of Representatives switches.

One of our major pushes is to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military, which has already been declared unconstitutional, and which 78% of the public and a majority of servcemembers and military leaders have said should be repealed.

Don't Ask Don't tell forces gay and lesbian servicemembers to lie about themselves and their lives, not only on the job, but throughout their lives. When our armed services value honor, honesty, and forthrightness, how can we tell our gay and lesbian troops that they must lie in order to serve the country they love? The policy has also been used by abusive spouses to retaliate against, coerce, and blackmail gay and lesbian servicemembers, and even to harass them into giving up custody of their children.

Send your message to the Senate now! 
Then, whether you are a veteran, or just want to sign on in support, please click one of the following two links: Sign here if you a military veteran, a member of a military family, or know a veteran.
If you are NOT a veteran, sign here.