Unapologetic Feminist

Savana Redding - AP photo

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today wrote that a public school assistant principal placed a 13-year-old girl into a “humiliating situation” when he forced her to undergo a strip search.

The Supreme Court ruled today on the case of Savana Redding who was 13 when school administrators were tipped off that Redding might be in possession of prescription strength ibuprofen. Two female staff oversaw the strip search at the directive of the male assistant principal, Kerry Wilson.

In an 8 to 1 vote, with Justice Clarence Thomas the only dissenting vote, the court held that the school was in violation of Redding’s Fourth Amendment rights. In addition, the court ruled that school officials could not be held individually liable.

Ginsburg, in a victory for feminists, has spoken about this case. Citing it as an example of why the court needs more women.

“They have never been a 13-year-old girl,” Justice Ginsburg said of her eight male colleagues, several of whom had suggested during oral argument that they were not troubled by the search.

“It’s a very sensitive age for a girl,” Justice Ginsburg went on to say in an interview with USA Today. “I didn’t think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood.”

Ginsburg understands that virtually every woman has experienced discrimination at the hands of men her whole life, and that that experience will necessarily inform any opinions about individual rights and privacy rights. Also, any man who hasn’t been the victim of such objectification and denigration will NOT be as sensitive to these issues, and will likely make the wrong decision, unless the man is a feminist.

At no point did he attempt to call her parent. Abuse of authority of that order should not be shielded by official immunity.During the April argument, Justice Ginsburg seemed taken aback by the circumstances of the case, particularly that Savana came under suspicion because of a “tip” to officials from a classmate. “And nothing is done to check her veracity, nothing is done to follow up on it at all,” the justice observed.(Source: NY Times)

In this case, the egregious and obvious trampling of privacy rights swayed the justices part-way to the correct decision. Except for Ginsburg and Justice John Paul Stevens however, they stopped short of agreeing that Redding should be able to sue for damages against these freedom-hating police-state school officials.

Stevens wrote, “it does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some magnitude.”

This case has many implications for privacy rights, public officials’ immunity, and women’s rights, but it clearly illustrates how critical it is that we have a more gender balanced court immediately.

There have only been 2 out of 110 female Supreme Court justices, with the high-water-mark coming when 2 out of 9 Justices were female before Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired.

I certainly hope Sotomayor is approved, and I propose that we only pick women for the next seven justices.

George Tiller was a physician and medical director of Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas. Tiller was murdered by a sexist white man on May 31, 2009.

Tiller performed late-term abortions because he understood that a woman is not a baby-making machine. A pregnant woman’s rights are more important than a fetus.

Tiller was the victim of a previous shooting by anti-abortion zealots. His clinic was the scene of protests by anti-choice zombies for many years.

Tiller was also a veteran of the United States Navy, and a single-parent to his deceased sister’s  child.

Despite the fact that Tiller knew his life was in danger, he continued to provide abortions to women in need.

Tiller’s bravery and determination are rarely seen in individuals, and I want to remember his contributions to feminism here in my series of portraits of real feminists.

The most powerful woman on the planet? The most hated woman ever? Can these two traits be separated or differentiated? When a woman demands power, many men (and many women) react violently.

If you are reading this blog in 2009, Hillary Clinton needs no introduction. Let me just remind you however, that she received more popular votes in the Democratic primaries than any presidential candidate ever, and yet we still have a white man as VP.

Hillary Clinton has never been afraid of a fight. From her first battles with Congress in the ’90s, to her current position as Secretary of State, Clinton has been labeled a bitch.

But if Clinton is a bitch, then I want to be a bitch too.

Thank you Hillary for coming so close to smashing the glass ceiling. You still have the battle scars to show from the Presidential race. But we can all learn from your courage and you lived to fight another day.

Sarah Palin, a true litmus test for feminists everywhere. While I’m no Republican, I’m certainly no Democrat either, and after the shameful treatment of women in the 2008 Presidential race, I’m more of a feminist than ever.

Palin is a woman that sexist people feel free to unload all of their hate on. She elicits the kind of emotional outpouring that most people are ashamed to engage in. She has been called every name in the book, and then some. However, she is a pioneer, and worthy of respect.

She is, of course, the first woman Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. And let’s not forget, only the second woman ever on the Presidential ticket of the two major parties.

Despite the fact that she is the governor of Alaska, some still question her ability to “govern.” And almost everyone you know thinks she is stupid.

Sarah is the type of woman feminists need more of. She is calculating, ambitious, political and powerful.

It’s almost impossible to predict what the political landscape will look like in 2012, but one thing is for sure, I’m never voting for another straight man again. And if Palin is Obama’s only viable opponent, she’s got my vote.

Condoleezza Rice is a woman who broke many glass ceilings, and yet she is reviled by so many. She is an ideal candidate for the real feminists category.

Rice was the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State, and only the second woman ever, after Madeleine Albright.

In March 2009, Rice returned to her position as a professor of political science at Stanford University, where she has worked since 1981.

Rice is a child-free single woman, and this has caused her some trouble in her career. When questioned about her ability to be sympathetic toward the families of U.S. soldiers, Rice said, “I thought it was okay to not have children, and I thought you could still make good decisions on behalf of the country if you were single and didn’t have children.”

Rice has also had to defend herself from attacks on her blackness: “Why would I worry about something like that? … The fact of the matter is I’ve been black all my life. Nobody needs to tell me how to be black.”

I don’t agree with Condoleezza Rice on many of her political views, but she is a real feminist.

Barbara Jordan was a victim of almost every type of discrimination known. As a female black disabled gay child-free southerner, Jordan struggled every moment of every day to destroy the androcentric patriarchal heterosexual breeder dominator paradigm.

Jordan won a seat in the Texas senate in 1966, and became the first black woman to serve in that body. In 1972 she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1973, Jordan began to suffer from Multiple Sclerosis, and she retired from politics in 1979.

Her 1976 speech at the Democratic national convention is often noted as one of the top speeches of the twentieth century.

Jordan became an adjunct professor of ethics at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She died in 1996 at the age of 60.

Jordan’s unwillingness to quit in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles earns her a place as a true feminist icon.

The “M” is for misogyny. Check out this trailer to a recently released educational movie about misogyny in our culture and media. For more information about the movie, go here.