These very humble origin stories make athletes intoxicating heroes. And that’s why they must be held accountable when they stumble or fall. They must be made an example, because they are the what we wish we could be on our best of days.

And we’ve seen that play out in almost every major sport:

• Football star Michael Vick‘s animal abuse
• Basketball star Kobe Bryant’s recent hate speech directed at a ref
• Baseball’s Mel Hall is currently serving a sentence of 45 years for rape and sexual assault
• In fact, see a list of crimes by pro athletes across multiple sports here

Surely, in huge professional sports clubs like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, there will be a few bad apples or bad scenarios from time to time. What matters is how those events are handled. And whether it’s because of a sense of right and wrong or merely a glance at the bottom line, major sports franchises, players, and organizations are looking at the issues of hate speech, sexual assault, and even bullying with a critical eye. Last year, NBA Commissioner David Stern said that professional athletes are role models and that hate speech cannot be tolerated.

The fact that professional sports organizations are publicly saying that hate speech is wrong is important. And meaningful. This is the responsibility part of being a hero.

And this is why it’s time for the UFC to step up.

In November 2011 I joined the fight to get the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to enact a code of conduct, following a rape joke tweet by fighter Forrest Griffin. But since then, there’s been a spate of offensive tweets and public comments joking about rape and the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State. Meanwhile, they have had what can almost be called a legacy of anti-gay public remarks and outbursts.

The UFC has signed a reported $700 million deal with FOX Sports and will premier in prime time this year. Their ubiquity is a sign that they are entering the Big Leagues of sports. I can’t turn on the TV or drive down a freeway without seeing some sign of the UFC. So it is time that they act like they are in the Big Leagues and enact a code of conduct, similar to those of other major sports organizations including the NFL and NBA.

As the survivor of sexual violence, this cause is very personal for me.

You see, UFC fighters are rewarded for the popularity of their tweets and the effectiveness of their use of social media. There are monetary bonuses, in fact. So, when Forrest Griffin, Miguel Torres and Rashad Evans joked about rape — each of them making direct or indirect illusions to the Penn State scandal — it is more than just offensive (although that would be enough). It is as if the UFC is rewarding the behavior of perpetrators of sexual violence. (Interestingly, Griffin was rewarded as one of the most creative users of twitter!) When Rashad Evans joked that he was going to, “put my hands on you worse than that dude did to them other kids at Penn State,” well, that was like joking about the man who put his hands all over my body. Look me in the eye, Mr. Evans, Mr. Griffin, Mr. Torres, and yes, even Mr. UFC President Dana White, and tell me how it’s funny that a man put his hands all over me when I was a child.

The only way we change attitudes about sexual violence is through public discourse and to act as a society to stop it. And there is evidence that awareness campaigns and calls for greater societal standards does change minds — just look at the evolution of “wife beating” to domestic violence and the Violence Against Women Act. In fact, VAWA has been helpful on the sexual violence front, too. (Report, PDF)

Joking about rape and off-color remarks about sexual violence are not only offensive, but they are deeply hurtful to those who have survived such experiences. It can be a trigger for survivors to feel a whole host of difficult emotions, including anger, sadness, depression, shame, and frustration. For society as a whole, it is a terrible marker for the pervasiveness of rape culture and its bullying effect on the hearts and minds of women, men, girls, boys, transgendered individuals, LGBT people and more. Joking about rape and sexual abuse is an admission that taking away someone’s power is not only “funny” but somehow acceptable and even encouraged.

If you feel like me, that it’s time the UFC grew up and enacted a code of conduct, please take a moment now and sign this petition.

PPSN’s Voices for Choice event is this Saturday January 28th!

Saturday January 28th 7 – 9 pm

PPSN on Charleston (3220 W. Charleston Blvd.)

Celebrate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by stepping up and speaking out about what having the right to choose means to you!

Express yourself through poetry, art, music – whatever you want!

Feel free to bring, display or perform your pro-choice works of art!

$5.00 donation suggested

Refreshments and Wine will be provided!

If you would like to display art at the event, or if you have any questions, please contact Annette Magnus at annette.magnus@pprm.org.

I know from first-hand experience how pivotal an internship can be in shaping a burgeoning career. When I was in college, I got an internship at a magazine that gave me a foundation in journalism and taught me skills I still use today! I feel that I am ready to pay that forward to the right candidate.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• One-on-one mentorship with a professional writer/journalist/blogger (me).
• The chance to have your work appear on a nationally syndicated blog.
• Hands-on experience ranging from writing, editing, social media, and grassroots organizing.
• Networking opportunities with other professionals in the field and other activists.

Here are some of the attributes I’m looking for:

• A belief in reproductive choice (aka being pro-choice) and the equality of all people (including the LGBTQ community) is a must.
• Some demonstrated writing ability -AND/OR- a demonstrated ability to do graphics/photography. *Note: Work samples do not have to be previously published, but I do need something I can see. Bonus points if you have actual clips.
• A desire to learn and/or expand your knowledge of the editing and writing process from a professional point-of-view.
• Some experience in grassroots organizing. It’s not required, but will come in handy.
• An ideal candidate will have some combination of experience with writing, editing, activism (and possibly photography).
• The ability to work autonomously and without the need for me to manage your schedule. I can barely manage my own schedule, I will not manage yours.
• Strict adherence to deadlines. Like all people I have faults but in my 17-year career, I can still count on just one hand how many times I have missed a deadline. Missing deadlines is an absolute deal-breaker with me. Period.
• Some college experience is helpful but not required.
• English does not have to be your first language but the ability to work in English is a must, as I do not speak enough of any other language to sufficiently help someone with writing in any other language.
• The goes-without-saying stuff: Punctual, respectful, reliable transportation, hygienic (I deal with dirty diapers. My stink quotient is already met.), motivated, adventurous (grassroots organizing and blogging are not necessarily “in the box” kind of spaces), ability to deal with a toddler at times when childcare falls through, and other stuff I’m probably forgetting right now.

If this internship sounds interesting to you please submit the following by JAN. 27, 2012:

• A cover or introduction letter
• Resume
• List of at least three references (with at least two of them being academic/professional)
• Links/PDFs/image files to no more than three clips (hard copies will only be considered because of mitigating factors and on a case-by-case basis). DO NOT SEND ME LARGE FILES. If you have large files, contact me first and we’ll go from there.

Send materials by email to thesincitysiren[at]yahoo[dot]com. Please make sure to have a subject line that identifies you as an internship candidate to avoid getting filtered to spam. And make sure to provide me with the means to contact you. **DO NOT CALL ME.

Good Luck!

True, there was the one gem quote: Women should get equal pay for equal work.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

I think I can speak for my long-dead grandmother — an OBGYN nurse and a single mother who raised three daughters on a Midwestern cattle farm — to say, “You mean you still don’t have equal pay in 2012? What are you people doing?!”

What indeed.

For one thing, we’ve been working our asses off trying to protect against attacks on the most basic of human rights from the men (it’s pretty much always men) who would see a genocide of women before they would acquiesce one iota to respect the personal bodily autonomy and the right to make medical decisions for ourselves. I don’t seek laws to stand between a doctor and an erectile dysfunction patient or someone seeking life-saving cancer treatment, why is it that when the debate shifts to the uterus, all hell breaks loose? And this fight has been brutal, sometimes bloody, and yes, sometimes deadly.

True, we’ve managed to hold off the religious right — for now — on the issue of birth control coverage. And we did manage to get universal contraceptive coverage in the new health care law.

So, to recap: We can have sex but the buck stops there on the freedoms and autonomy we have over our own bodies.

Not that any of that was mentioned in the State of the Union…

So if the only bone Obama was willing to throw to women was a reference to pay inequality in 2012 — or rather, that we shouldn’t have pay inequality — where was the follow-up statement declaring what he was going to do about it? He mentioned quite a few new task forces and crack-downs on waste and government inefficiency. He mentioned programs to put veterans back to work as cops and firefighters. He mentioned investing in teachers. In fact, he spent the lion’s share of his speaking time discussing the ways we should all pitch in to help get the economy back on track.

So, where’s the task force on pay equality? Where’s the program to invest in the income equality of women? Where’s the tax breaks to businesses who not only bring jobs back from overseas, but bring wages to an equal standard between their male and female employees? (My apologies to my transgender readers, but the pay equity discussion is difficult to do without the gender binary.)

A large body of research shows us that when women are paid fairly and equitably, it raises the standard of living in communities across the board — from groceries on the table to raising the national GDP — because women are more than just people who (might) have a uterus and boobies. Women are also part of the tax-paying, home-owning, economy stimulating population. In fact, women make better investors than men.

There are other things I didn’t like about Obama’s speech tonight and some things I did. But far and away, the most glaring omission of the night was virtually ignoring half of the population. One throw-away admission is not enough! Especially when that issue — equal pay for women — would make a substantial difference in the biggest problem our country faces right now: The Economy!

Near the end of his speech Obama said one of the things that makes America great is that we “got each other’s backs.” I agree! But Mr. President, I don’t feel like you got my back right now. Where have you been on the issue of women’s reproductive health? Barely present. And the one issue you deemed fit to include in your SOTU, you gave less than cursory interest to.

Women deserve better! President Obama, you need to have our backs!

But the more I’ve been thinking about it, the more it makes sense. After all, politicians use music all the time to evoke certain feelings and convey messages — from Bill Clinton’s use of Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop as an anthem during the 1992 presidential campaign to Michele Bachmann’s (illegal — turns out “free market” doesn’t mean everything is free) use of Tom Petty’s American Girl. These songs are touchstones to deep wells of emotions in the voting public. They tap into the kind of image candidates want to project. They usually have a good beat. And most of the time, there is something about them that makes you feel validated and good about backing that candidate. You know, I don’t want to stop believing in tomorrow, Bill Clinton! And, hey, I’m an American — why wouldn’t I want to vote for an American Girl?

But you know, sometimes anthems are picked by the people, not the candidate. Kind of like nicknames, eh Mr. Ass Juice Santorum? To that end, I’ve selected my own soundtrack for the (current) top contenders for the Republican nomination. And if they should be playing these songs as the candidates roll through town in the run-up to the Feb. 4 Republican caucus here in Nevada… well you’re welcome. (And I hope you get permission first.)

1. Newt Gingrich — Womanizer, Britney Spears: I know. I know. You’re thinking this is the obvious choice, given Newt’s track record with wives, but hear me out. Newt is not just trying to play all these women. (By the way, how much does he wish that South Carolina governor had waited just a little while longer to go on his trip to Argentina.) He’s also trying to play voters. He’s trying to make us all forget just enough, or rather, remember just enough about the old Contract with America days and buy into his shiny new branding: The conservative statesmen. And while I would never call him progressive, it’s pretty obvious that he only signs on the dotted line of the hard-core conservative doctrines when his back is against the wall and pandering is his only card left to play. Let’s face it, Newt must have something going for him, cause it ain’t his rugged ham-faced looks and it ain’t money. Look at you, gettin’ more than just a re-up/Baby, you got all the puppets with their strings up/Fakin’ like a good one but I call it like I see ‘em/I know what you are, what you are, baby… And PS: No need to fear that Britney might cringe at this pairing. She has raised money for the GOP… Plus, tell me you don’t think of Newt with these lyrics: You say I’m crazy/ I got your crazy.
2. Mr. Ass Juice Santorum — Stranglehold, Ted Nugent: If you didn’t already want to burn me at the stake for pairing Britney and Newt, I’m pretty sure you are sending someone out for the pitchforks right about now. How could I give Santorum such a, well, juicy rock song? It’s true, Stranglehold may be one of The Nuge’s best-known songs besides Cat Scratch Fever and possibly one of the greatest guitar lines in American rock. (For my readers who are not about to rock, Stranglehold is the guitar line in the latest Volkswagen commercial in which a boy grows into a man always on the search for a faster ride.) But like The Nuge, Santorum brings misogyny, homophobia and hatred for everything that is unlike him wherever he goes — including the lyics of the iconic song, which are quite literally about domestic violence against a woman who ran away from him. You ran that night you left me/You put me in my place/Got you in a stranglehold now baby/Then I crushed your face. Seriously. It’s disturbed. And not unlike our friend, Mr. Ass Juice, who would have condemned his own wife to die rather than have an abortion. So, you know, you can take your personhood pledge and shove it because Mr. Ass Juice is HARDCORE when it comes to hating women! But also, I pick this song for Santorum because I think it would be hilarious to see a pinhead white guy in a sweatervest try to “rock” to The Nuge (who is a raging Republican, in case you didn’t know).
3. Mitt Romney — Stayin’ Alive, The Bee Gees: I admit, I was a little stumped with Mittsy. I mean, what can you say about him that is categorically that different from the other two. He’s a rich white guy who hates women and gays. He’s Mormon, which for some conservative Christian circles is pretty revolutionary. So there’s that. But really, the attack on Mittsy has pretty much been, “But Gosh darn it he is just soooo rich!” I mean, when I see soundbites of Newt declaring himself the “people’s grassroots candidate,” which I saw on the nightly news tonight — well, I had to double-check we weren’t in the Bizarro Universe. Mittsy does have the best head of hair of the leading Republican contenders — especially now that The Hairdo is gone (remember him?). He’s got a lock on the actual family values set with his glossy campaign ads where he charmingly “forgets” he’s been married 25, oops, 42 years. Aw. Cue: Footage of happy couple walking in a field while the voice over says he’d defend God and/or country if president. Because I guess it’s important to distinguish that if it came down to a choice between America and God, Mitt has already made up his mind. I mean, the ad is pretty amazing. In one fell swoop he knocks out Newt for infidelity and takes a swipe at Santorum’s Christian bona fides. (I mean, he says he loves Jesus, but does he really love Jesus?) But when it came down to it, Mittsy is just too pretty. Come on, wouldn’t you like to see him dazzling a gold medallion in a swath of chest hair? And, let’s face it, the violent mood swings of this Republican primary/caucus season could see a dazzling Romney clawing his way back just to stay alive.
4. Ron Paul — My Prerogative, Bobby Brown: Like the Ross Perot of this election cycle (they crop up like weeds every few presidential cycles) Ron Paul is the scary candidate that we all can’t believe is still actually in this thing. I mean, even I had Bachmann out-pacing Ron Paul. But like Perot, Ron Paul is just out there with his crazy. They say I’m crazy I really don’t care/That’s my prerogative… need I really say more?

Now that’s keeping it classy — and focused on the family!

Speaking of classy — Marianne points out in her interview that at the same time that Newt was asking for an open marriage, he was also the leader of the Clinton Inquisition. As I recall, family values and morals played a big role in the media blitz that surrounded that whole circus, with Newt proudly out front as the self-appointed, pontifical ring-leader. But, naturally, Newt is asking us not to pay any attention to that history behind the curtain.

Last March when asked on Fox News about the glass house he might be living in these days he said:

“I thought to myself if I cannot do what I have to do as a public leader, I would have resigned,” he said. “Now, look, I think you have to look at whether or not people have to be perfect in order to be leaders. I don’t think I’m perfect. I admitted I had problems. I admitted that I sought forgiveness.”

Well, Newt, you’re right — you are not perfect.

But just for giggles, I have been pondering this truly amazing spectacle of narcissism and hypocrisy. I was struck by a thought: What if Newt’s desire for an open marriage actually represents a progression along the feminist continuum? I mean, if Newt represents an absolute zero of feminism, any amount of growth he has in a feminist way would be practically a miracle! I’ve got to investigate this idea further!

On the one hand, we have a man who clearly loves sex. He has demonstrated that he is not ageist — his first wife had been one of his teachers in high school(!). But he did leave her because she was not pretty enough to be First Lady (definitely not because she had cancer). And he’s definitely pro open-marriages, which if true is a paradigm shift from the hetero-normative  “man+woman=marriage” thinking normally supported by staunch Republicans. Could this be the kind of “non-tradition” thinking that Wonder Woman creator and bondage enthusiast William Moulton Marston lived by (he was in an open marriage, too)? Well… that’s probably a generous take on the situation. Even a sex-positive, feminist approach to open marriages has to start with equality of all participants — and their willing participation, which we know Newt did not have.

Now that I think about it, Newt’s pattern of adultery and, basically, disposing of wives is a sign of his deeply entrenched beliefs that women have no value and are merely a commodity (aka looking good on a podium) and there to serve men’s needs (aka sexy time). Let’s look at the record: Newt’s policies as Speaker of the House in 1990s was atrocious for women. He voted against women’s issues and to eliminate Title X funding as often as possible (72 out of 74 voting opportunities)!

Clearly, Newt hates his wives. He hates marriage. And he hates women.

And this got me thinking about the famous JFK quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

Indeed, isn’t it time that we all took action to do what we can to end the War on Women?

Here in Nevada, things are just heating up with a third attempt at a anti-choice ballot initiative. Because when the first round of two similar personhood initiatives (that were struck down in court) came down the pike… that just wasn’t enough. If you thought that Mississippi burned with the personhood debate, it looks to get pretty hot here in the Silver State (among several others) as I’m sure Republican candidates are going to start falling all over themselves to declare their absolute hatred of women’s autonomy over their own bodies and their access to health care in all forms.

Let’s face it, none of the Republican presidential candidates are even remotely interested in women having control over their own bodies. All of them are pro-life. You know so because they signed the pledge, after all. And from defunding Planned Parenthood to declaring all abortions illegal, without exception to codifying abstinence-only mis-education in our schools — it feels like the Republican primary season is merely a boot camp for the next throes of the War on Women, filled with vitriolic hatred for half of the people on earth. Despite his pandering this way and that, Romney is clearly anti-choice. In Iowa, Newt and Rick Perry were tripping all over themselves to break to the front of the anti-choice line. And Mr. Ass Juice Santorum is so hard-core that his politics would have killed his wife, if he had successfully gotten laws he backed in place. Oh, and then there’s Ron Paul, who is an OBGYN himself (proof that the universe has a wicked sense of humor, indeed)!

Man, if GW was bad, how much worse are these a-holes going to be if one of them is elected president?

Sometimes when I’ve heard so much anger aimed directly at my uterus, it really starts to get me down. My mind ventures toward the macabre and images of The Handmaid’s Tale. Sometimes it feels like if we can get through this election cycle and still have the ability to choose which tampon we like, that will be a miracle.

So maybe that’s what this Blog for Choice Day is for me: A rallying cry! A pep talk through the interwebs!

It’s clear that 2012 will be a bloody one on the War on Women battlefield. We must steel ourselves for the fights ahead. But fight, we must!

What will you do to help elect pro-choice candidates? Maybe the question should be: What won’t you do?

Wish my immune system was as resilient as this cactus!

I’m taking a sick day (my baby has brought home another cold and between me and her, life is just too miserable and mucus-filled for rational thought). But this is the perfect time to remind you of all the ways you can connect with The Sin City Siren when I fire up the old blog again on Sunday for Blog for Choice Day!

Look at all the great ways you can keep up with SCS happenings and connect with other SCS fans:

• Follow me on twitter @TheSinCitySiren for live tweet-chats, exclusive content, and real-time commentary on the latest news!
• Have you become a fan of The Sin City Siren on Facebook, yet? This is a great way to interact with me and other fans!
• Do you sometimes wonder if there are fresh SCS posts but don’t have time to surf the web? Why not sign up for automatic email updates! (See left column.) Simply enter your email address (stored by WordPress, not me) and you will get an email announcing every new blog post!
• For iPad users, I recommend trying out the app Flipbook, which you can use to aggregate all your social network sites, favorite blogs and RSS feeds. Everything’s right there in an easy magazine format.
• What about Kindle users? I’ve got you covered! As part of my syndication agreement, my blog will be featured in the Kindle Store starting in the next few weeks! Once it’s available, you can get automatic updates delivered to your Kindle in real-time!

And I don’t want to forget my other blog, The Tired Feminist, while I’m at it, which has unique content from this site!

Two last things:

• There’s one week left before the deadline for applications for the SCS internship! Have you applied, yet?
• Don’t forget to sign the UFC petition calling for an end to hate speech and rape jokes!

THE CAUCUSES ARE COMING! 

The Nevada Caucuses are rapidly approaching!

The Nevada Democratic Caucus is Saturday, January 21^st.  Registration starts
at 11 am and the caucus begins promptly at 11:30 am.

          Click here to find your Democratic Caucus site!

The Nevada Republican Caucus is Saturday, February 4^th.

Click here to find your Republican Caucus site!
PRE-CAUCUS BREAKFAST!

We will be holding a special caucus breakfast before both the Democratic and Republican caucuses beginning at 8:30 am on January 21st and 7:30am on February 4th. Please join us for breakfast treats, FREE Planned Parenthood goodies, important information about the caucus and more!

Location:
PPSN on Charleston (3220 W. Charleston Blvd.)

For more
information or to RSVP please contact Annette at Annette.Magnus@pprm.org

PRINT THESE PLATFORMS AND TAKE THEM TO YOUR CAUCUS!
Nevada Democratic Caucus

Protect Women’s Health Platform Plank

We envision a Nevada where people power our politics and the common good drives our public policy.

We believe in the fundamental right of self-determination and the constitutional right to
privacy for each individual to manage his or her reproductive and sexuality rights without government interference.

We believe women’s health must be protected against ideologically-driven policies that devalue women, such as:

• defining fetal “personhood” at a woman’s expense or
• removing or limiting access to the full range of health care from birth control to abortion care or
• impeding medically accurate sexuality education for our youth.

Nevada Republican Caucus

Winning Women Voters Platform Plank

We envision a Nevada where people power our politics and the common good drives our public policy.

We believe all individuals have the right to make personal and private health care
decisions for themselves without government interference. There are deeply held beliefs on both sides of the abortion issue. Developing a platform that truly represents the party can best be done by focusing on the core Republican values and remaining neutral on the issue of abortion.

We oppose inclusion of the issue of abortion in the Republican platform.

Women make up over half of the American work force, and 98% of all American women will use birth control at some point in their lives. Access to reliable and affordable birth control is essential not only to keeping our economy growing, but also to keeping American women and their families healthy. Taking away access to birth control costs the party women’s votes.

We oppose policies that are harmful to women’s health including those that limit access to birth control.

We support leaving private medical decisions to women and their families and focusing on jumpstarting our economy.