Kathleen Hanna on the Creation of Smells Like Teen Spirit

Kathleen Hanna tells a really funny story of spray painting an anti-abortion clinic with Kurt Cobain. Hanna got drunk during the course of events that night and spray painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit." Hanna was commenting of Cobain's girlfriend Tobi Vail, also Hanna's Bikini Kill bandmate, wearing the deodorant Teen Spirit.

Another interesting side note: Bikini Kill were big fans of the L.A. all girl band the Pandoras. Bikini Kill was very sadden about the death of Pandoras front woman Paula Pierce. Here is what Vail wrote about Pierce in a fanzine.

Hanna praised the Pandoras on her blog.

"Has anyone noticed that the title ‘Stop Pretending‘ was already used by perhaps the best all girl garage group of all time, The Pandora’s ??? So in addition to everything else, dude accidentally ripped off both a song and album title by an amazing all girl band. I mean it’s almost like a crazy psychedelic feminist musical nightmare."

Update: Kathleen Hanna professes her love of the Pandoras on Twitter.

Porn Stars Read Their Hate Mail & Tweets

Via Jenny Kutner of Salon: It is insane the amount of creepiness and sexism porn stars deal with online. There are men that watch porn endlessly watch porn and attack the pornstars they watch. I got in the middle of of an attack on Mia Malkova after I wrote on Malkova's mother accepting her daughter's career choice. The user has been suspended. All he basically did on Twitter was attack women. You can read the responses Malkova and I had with Super Randy.

If you don't like female pornstars then don't watch porn. The hypocrisy of guys whacking off to porn and then attacking female pornstars on the internet takes stupid to new levels.

L7 - Fast And Frightening (Reading Festival)

This is the infamous moment at the 1992 Reading Festival when Donita Sparks threw her used tampon at the audience. The crowd was throwing mud at L7. Sparks had enough and responded with the tampon throw.

Dave Naz has a famous rehearsal space in Los Angelas that was used by Redd Kross, L7, Chemical People, It's Ok, Pandoras, and Muffs. Naz left this note in the bathroom.

"L7 ladies - don't put tampons in the toilet."

Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Croatian Video

The Croatian government created this powerful video to show the horrors of domestic violence. The video shows pictures taken everyday in the year of the life of a woman. Later images show bruising on the woman's face. The English translation of the video description.

A year in which I was abused . Please help me.

Good for the Croatian government for creating this video and raising awareness.

Why Helen Mirren Is Awesome

Quote of the Day

"So yes, I’d absolutely call myself a feminist. And if you look at history, women are an oppressed category of people. There’s a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice, and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that’s been very detrimental to the human race as a whole. I’m a believer that if everyone has a fair chance to be what they want to be and do what they want to do, it’s better for everyone. It benefits society as a whole."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in an interview with The Daily Beast

Good for Gordon-Levitt to declare himself a feminist.

Rape is Not Okay

Via Feminist.Girl: these rather disturbing results of a survey of high school students on when rape is okay. The answer to every question shoul be NEVER.

Quote of the Day

"Violence isn't the victim's issue. It's the abuser's. To insinuate otherwise is irresponsible and disgusting. Walk. Away."

Michelle Beadle

Quote of the Day

"If men were having babies, we'd have different policies."

President Barack Obama, during his speech in Orlando for " Improving Economic Opportunity for Women and Working Families."

Pussy Riot Attacked in a McDonalds

This is a brutal attack of members of Pussy Riot by organized Vladimir Putin supporters.

Republican War on Women Continues Against Sandra Fluke

The Maine Republican Party posted this image of Sandra Fluke on their Facebook page. It has since been taken down.

"Can't afford birth control," the post read. "Paid $1740 filing fee to run for Congress."

The Republican Party wonders why people are accusing them of having a war on women. The Bangor Daily News grabbed the screen shot.

Sandra Fluke is running for the State Senate in California. The only reason the Maine Republican Party weighed in is because they wanted to bash Sandra Fluke for standing up for female reproductive rights.

Alex Sink on Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Alex Sink sent out a fundraising email explaining her support of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Sink has been rather vague about her policy positions. It is important that Sink outline exactly what she stands for.

In 2014, it's hard to believe women still earn less than men for the same work.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that is helping women receive equal pay for equal work.

It's inexplicable that in a day where more women are the sole breadwinners in their families, they still onl make 77 cents" on the dollar compared to men. This not only holds back women but also the Aerican nomy.

I did a Google search to find out where Sink stands on employment issues. Sink has not filled out the political courage test at Vote Smart. The political courage test asks candidates their positions on issues. I wonder if Sink would have even sent out a fundraising email mentioning the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act if President Barack Obama didn't advocate for equal pay for women in his State of the Union address. Sink seems to be hopping from issue to issue based on what is in the news cycle.

Update Alex Sink released this statement.

“Today is an important day to reflect on how far women have come in gaining equal pay, but also how far we still need to go. It is unacceptable that women are on average only making 77 cents on the dollar compared to men – especially since more women are now the sole breadwinners in their families. This kind of wage discrimination not only hurts women, it holds our entire American economy back. Pinellas residents deserve a representative that women can trust to fight for paycheck fairness.”

Slut Shaming the Pill ( With Corrected Update)

The anti-Obamacare website doyougotinsurance.com is slut shaming women on the pill. That should really help Republicans get the female vote. The site informs women "the pill doesn't protect you from STDS." The pill is suppose to protect women from getting pregnant. Not STDs. The Right really has a problem with women being sexually active. These people need to grow up.

Update: conservative blogger Sarah Rumpf tweeted me this message.

.@pushingrope Ummm that's actually NOT an antiobamacare website doyougotinsurance.com/index.php?id=11 From Progress Colorado aka THE LEFT.

The doyouhaveinsurance.com website is by Progress Now Colorado Education. It is actually a pro-Obamacare website. I apologize to readers for my error. However, I stil believes the website slut shames women ob birth control. Slut shaming is wrong. In this case it appears to be coming from progressives.

Quote of the Day

"I have gotten one question repeatedly from young men. These are guys who liked the book, but they are honestly confused. They ask me why Melinda was so upset about being raped. The first dozen times I heard this, I was horrified. But I heard it over and over again. I realized that many young men are not being taught the impact that sexual assault has on a woman. They are inundated by sexual imagery in the media, and often come to the (incorrect) conclusion that having sex is not a big deal. This, no doubt, is why the number of sexual assaults is so high."

Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak.

It is amazing some young men would be shocked that a 13 year-old female character in Anderson's book would be upset about being raped. Sadly, I have blogged about rape culture so many times that I am not even shocked by the level of stupidity some men have about rape.

Where Are the Women

NARAL and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted this photo of the House Republicans set to negotiate with Senate Democrats. The lack of women in a leadership position in the GOP makes it easier to understand why Republicans are willing to shut down the government to prevent women from getting birth control. Elizabeth Warren gave a powerful speech, on the Senate floor, about the GOP war on women.

Republicans are shutting the government over preventing birth control access, abolishing taxes on medical devices, and denying people with pre-existing conditions getting health care insurance. Republicans are tanking the economy to appease corporate and social conservatives. That is why we are having a shut down.

All India Bakchod Takes On Rape Culture In Comedy Video

This video comedy sketch was made by All India Bakchod. The comedy group is from India and made this video about men in India blaming rape on women. Hat tip to David Garber.

Director: Ashwin Shetty

Cinematographer: Ankit Mhatre

Written by: AIB.

Editors: Ashish Heblekar & Shashwat Datta

Music: Mehar Chumble

Assistant Directors: Shruti Naik & Geethika Chandran Kinakkal

Line Producer: Achal Manglik

Assistant Producer: Melbun D'souza

Live Sound: Rinku Pathak

Rachel Sutz Pienta Is Running For VP of Florida Democratic Party Democratic Women’s Club

Rachel Sutz Pienta is running for 2nd Vice President of the Democratic Women’s Club. The DWCF is a caucus of the Florida Democratic Partic Party. Pienta is a noted Florida progressive. Pienta has a post on her resume.

I first became involved in Democratic politics as a student at the University of Florida. I was part of a team of College Democrats who worked statewide to elect President Bill Clinton. Following the 1992 election, I worked as a district intern for then-Democratic state senator Kirkpatrick and then worked on campaigns to elect Congresswoman Karen Thurman and Governor Lawton Chiles.

Later, I went to Washington to intern in Karen Thurman’s Congressional office. When I moved to Tallahassee for graduate school, I was awarded a paid legislative internship to work as a legislative policy analyst for the Florida House of Representatives on Education K-12. After my internship year, I continued to work on public policy and political campaigns.

In 2011, I helped to found a new caucus in the Florida Democratic Party - the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida and I currently serve on the caucus Board of Directors (http://www.progressivedemcaucusfl.org/). In 2012, I was selected to chair and host the Florida Democratic Party’s Small County Coalition Conference in Wakulla County. I currently serve as the Secretary for the Small County Coalition.

Over the past three years, I have also served on two statewide Democratic Party committees – serving on the team of authors who wrote the Florida Democratic Party’s state platform and serving on the team that developed an endorsement and slating procedure for statewide candidates. I currently serve on the FDP Campaign Committee.

I also served on the North Florida Finance committee for the Obama Campaign under the leadership of Allison Tant Richard.

Read Pienta's entire resume on her blog post.

Male Republican Hypocrisy

Via Ginger Lee: male Republicans taking a courageous stand on on having the right to choose whether or not they want to personally pleasure themselves. This is the kind of less government that would make the Founding Fathers proud.

Photo of the Day: Feminist Edition

Anyone that blames a woman for her being raped and makes excuses for the rapist is an idiot.

Hat tip to the Tumblr Rabble Pro-choice.

Quote of the Day

"Oh my God, yeah! It's constant! It's how you're treated, it's how you're looked at, how you're expected to look in a photoshoot, it's how you're expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it's how you... If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss."

Actress Ellen Page, on facing sexism in the movie industry.