Weekly round-up and open thread

IMG_4654.JPGImage shows a pitcher plant

Good morning, and welcome to the weekly thread of links! (And there are a lot of them this week.) Comments are open for you to post anything we missed or just have a feminist chat. As always, a link doesn’t necessarily imply agreement or endorsement, and some links may be triggering.

  • Sorry, Shirley Williams, but I have to nail your health bill myths (Guardian CiF)
  • The Hypocrisy of International Women’s Day (Blackfeminists)
  • Gaslighting, power and differences of opinion (Another angry woman)
  • Women on Boards: One-Year-On (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
  • Should sex offenders be chemically “castrated”? (Guardian Politics)
  • Linda Grant’s Twitter Tales of Sexism (Guardian) – which has led to A Thousand Reasons
  • A strange wind this way blows (UK Legal Feminist Group)
  • “You got a couple of ’em!” (The Hairpin)
  • Betty Reintroducing the Electric Vibrator as a Pleasure Device (Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross)
  • Anti-abortion activism escalating, warns clinic targeted by vigil (Guardian)
  • Feminist icon glitter-bombed for transphobia (Gay Star News)
  • Once we start to sexualize our M&Ms, we know something’s wrong
  • Coverage Of Political Conference Comes In Form Of “Beautiful Female Journalists” Slideshow (The Jane Dough)
  • City Council Charges Women Twice As Much To Use Gym, Women Shockingly Not Thrilled (The Jane Dough)
  • Anti-abortion campaigners like 40 Days for Life have resorted to intimidation (Guardian)
  • Transgender activist Agnes Torres found dead in Puebla, Mexico (2B Magazine)
  • The Female Face of Farming
  • http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/14/falsely-retracted-rape-claim-questions (Guardian CiF)
  • Vintage Advice for Girls Having Their Period (1951) (Rockalily)
  • New Rape Crisis Centres Announced
  • Arizona Law Will Allow Employers to Fire Women for Using Whore Pills (Jezebel)
  • 3,500 women in Europe that are ready for the boardroom
  • Moroccan girl commits suicide after being forced to marry her rapist (Al Arabiya News)
  • How we can connect with feminism’s global future (Guardian, Cif America)
  • I’m not racist, some of my colleagues are white – what is ‘diversity’ anyway? (Guardian Cif)
  • Ministry of Justice funds five new rape support centres (Ministry of Justice)
  • PIP implants: Welsh health minister issue new advice (BBC News Wales)
  • A cleaner conscience: the politics of domestic labour (Guardian)
  • Dear Fathers 4 Justice
  • Welfare reforms to hit poorer working mothers, pushing 250,000 children deeper into poverty (Save the Children)
  • Assange ‘to run for Australian senate’ (Al Jazeera English)
  • Kira Cochrane interviews Rosario Dawson (Guardian)
  • Fathers for Power and Control (Left at the Lights)
  • Why the Smooth Mound? (Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross)
  • How to be a feminist man (Feminist Action Cambridge)
  • Fascist reunion under the BMW logo in Bucharest (brecht-o-rama)
  • Anna Ford criticises BBC over ageism and sexism (BBC News)
  • Hipster Misogyny (Freethought Blogs)
  • Jessica Jones is the first girl to be named UK Young Engineer of the Year (BBC)

    …and you’ve made it to the end! Here’s something a bit lighter – the trailer for the new Hunger Games film, which is out this week. Plenty of grist for the feminist mill in the books; let’s hope it survives the transition to the big screen.