Check out the videos on our right sidebar from the Feminist Antipornography Conference: Pornography & Pop Culture - Rethinking Theory, Reframing Activism held at Wheelock College in Boston on March 24, 2007.

Thanks to MN Valley NOW’s Media Watch Activist, Micki Lechner Riehle, for bringing these videos to our attention.

Here are direct links to the videos on YouTube and our pod at VodPod:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22feminist+antipornography%22

http://mnvalleynow.vodpod.com/

All of the videos in the sidebar to the right are now working again. Vod:pod informed us they discovered a problem on their end and repaired it for us promptly. Thanks to Scott and Mark at vod:pod for helping us out!

We’re experiencing some problems with a couple of the videos in the sidebar. The ABC News Now video with Kim Gandy and the Today Show video about the Vagina Monologues suspensions are not playing when you click on the screenshots in the sidebar. The Hillary Clinton video does work however. We’ve contacted vod:pod about the problem and will hopefully have it fixed soon. In the meantime, you can go to http://mnvalleynow.vodpod.com/ to view the videos - all of the videos are working correctly at our vod:pod site.

On March 6, 2007, Hillary Clinton spoke to viewers at her website about the equal pay issue. You can watch the video from our website, listed in the video pod on the sidebar to the right, or you can view the video at HillaryClinton.com.

The following is the complete transcript of the video:

Read the rest of this entry »

On April 24, 2007, ABC News’ “Be Seen Be Heard” program featured guests from both sides of the abortion debate who responded to viewer comments. The guests were Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women, who opposes the ban, and Wendy Long, General Counsel of the Judicial Confirmation Network, who defends the ban. View the video at our website by clicking on the video still in the sidebar to the right or at ABC News’ website.

Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues” appeared on NBC’s Today Show this morning in support of three 16-year-old students who were suspended for saying the word “vagina” during an open-mic performance at their high school.

The excerpt from “The Vagina Monologues” that the girls read at the performance, and repeated on the Today Show, reads: “My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women’s army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina’s country.”

Prior to the performance, their principal gave them two options: either perform the piece without the word “vagina”, or not perform at all. The girls chose option “C” - they performed the piece as it was originally written. The principal says the girls have been suspended because of their insubordination, not because their use of the word “vagina” itself. The girls felt it would be inappropriate to perform the piece without the word “vagina”; that it would lose its message and moral integrity.

What is interesting to note is that another student wasn’t reprimanded for using the “F-word” during his performance the same night.

I have to wonder about sex-ed at this school (if there is any) - are students allowed to use the word “vagina” in class?

To read more about the story and see the video at the Today Show site, go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17535427/ .

February 22, 2007
7:00 p.m. General Membership Meeting
7:30 p.m. Please join us for a presentation of the fascinating documentary on the life and work of archeologist Marija Gimbutas, Signs Out of Time. Gimbutas found that Europe’s origins lay in a cooperative, peaceful, Neolithic Goddess culture. Her theories challenge conventional archaeology, spirituality, theology, and religious studies, while inspiring artists, feminists, environmentalists and activists. The documentary is a joint project by author/activist Starhawk and filmmaker Donna Read, and is narrated by Olympia Dukakis. Discussion to follow presentation.
For more information, go to http://www.belili.org/marija/aboutSIGNS.html. Preview available at http://www.belili.org.