Feminism news: Sex therapist Ruth Westheimer dies +++ Heide Pfarr receives Berlin Women’s Prize +++ Abortion opponents are no longer allowed to harass pregnant women in front of doctor’s offices +++ Beach volleyball player convicted of rape competes in the Olympics – petition calls for disqualification.
The feminist news ticker for July 2024
Here you can read socially relevant news with a feminist perspective.
July 15, 2024
The pioneer of sex education Ruth Westheimer dies
At the beginning of the 1980s, Ruth Westheimer became a pioneer of sex education. She was one of the first people to publicly say words like vagina, penis and masturbation out loud, making her a pop icon. Her shows achieved cult status and she reached millions. The renowned sex therapist and sociologist has now died in New York City surrounded by her family at the age of 96.
Her radio show “Sexually Speaking” caused a sensation in the United States in the early 1980s. In it, she gave candid tips on the subject of sex and passion with a good mix of humor and sobriety. Success was not long in coming: further radio and television shows and more than 40 books followed. Over the course of her life, she has given anonymous advice to hundreds of thousands of people. In 2019, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.
Busy life
In 1928, “Dr. Ruth” was born Ruth Karola Siegel to Jewish parents. When she was ten, her parents sent her to Switzerland to protect her from the Nazis. They were never to see each other again. Her parents were presumably murdered in Auschwitz. At 16, she moved to Palestine, where she joined the Zionist underground organization Hagana, which trained her as a sniper. She was seriously injured in her legs in a bomb explosion and many of her friends were killed. She later studied at the prestigious Sorbonne in Paris until she emigrated to the USA in the mid-1950s.
Before Dr. Ruth, all people were equal
“Either everything is normal or nothing at all” was her attitude towards sexual orientation. At a time when it was far from being normal to talk about homosexual sex, she did just that. For her, respect is non-negotiable, she says in Ask Dr Ruththe documentary about her life. “Perhaps because, as an orphan of the Holocaust, I knew what cruel ideas of normality can do.” In the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, she campaigned for gay men and spoke out loudly for the LGBTQ community. Later, she campaigned for the right to abortion.
Sources: Tagesschau, Spiegel, Zeit
July 11, 2024
For decades of commitment: Heide Pfarr receives Berlin Women’s Prize
Legal scholar and politician Prof. Dr. Heide Pfarr is receiving this year’s Berlin Women’s Prize for her decades-long commitment to gender equality in the workplace. As a lawyer, she campaigns for women’s rights, including equal pay between the sexes – and she did so long before terms such as gender pay gap and care work existed.
She first became aware of the injustice in the treatment of women in the world of work during her studies. At that time, the law allowed “a husband to terminate his wife’s employment contract. Simply because he perhaps did not want her financial independence. Or because he thought that her care for the household was not yet sufficient for his high standards.” She found this so unbelievable that it became her inner drive “to eliminate discriminatory laws and to think about how laws could be made so that they benefit equality,” she explains in an interview with RBB.
Women and men should defend themselves
A lot has happened since then, but the undervaluation of women’s work still makes her angry: “When farmers drive tractors through Berlin, the entire opposition politicians and actually the public think that something needs to be done for farmers immediately. When we find out what hard work nursing staff, who are predominantly women, have to do, how they leave the workforce early because they are simply worn out by work. So what? Is there an outcry?”
This makes it all the more important for her to encourage women and men to fight back. Because, and Heide Pfarr makes this clear again in the interview, every institution that can help always has a majority of men. “So we have to convince at least some of them.”
The Berlin Women’s Prize has been awarded since 1987 to female personalities in the city of Berlin who have made an outstanding contribution to gender emancipation through their commitment.
Source: Rbb, Berlin.de
July 8, 2024
Protection from pro-life activists
In the future, protests by anti-abortion activists in front of practices, counseling centers, etc. can be punished with fines of up to 5,000 euros. The traffic light coalition has decided this in a draft law to protect pregnant women who are considering an abortion from hostility and harassment. According to the Pregnancy Conflict Act, counseling is mandatory. The new resolution, which includes, for example, a distance rule of 100 meters from practice entrances, is intended to ensure that pregnant women can also take advantage of the counseling services without being disturbed. All actions that could intimidate those affected – this includes blocking paths and entrances, unwanted approaches, attempts at intimidation, and so on – are now considered an administrative offense.
“With the law, we want to create a protection zone in which women have unhindered access to counseling centers in order to make important decisions for them,” explains Green Party politician Canan Bayram. In such a conflict situation, it is difficult for pregnant women to have to make a decision anyway – even without attempts at manipulation by so-called pro-life activists.
July 3, 2024
Rapist allowed to go to the Olympics? Decision causes outrage
Shortly before the start of the Olympics, a controversial nomination has caused outrage not only in the world of sport: Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde has qualified for the Olympics. This decision is controversial because the professional athlete has been given the honor of representing the Netherlands in Paris together with his partner Matthew Immers, even though he is a convicted sex offender. In 2014, van de Velde got a 12-year-old girl drunk and then raped her several times. The then 19-year-old confessed to the crime and has already served his sentence, meaning the Dutchman was able to continue his career in 2018.
Petition calls for disqualification
Although the Dutch Olympic Committee behind his decision: Van de Velde now meets all the qualification requirements for the Olympic Games and is therefore part of the team, they say. The general director of the Dutch volleyball association NEVOBO, Michel Everaert, adds: “Steven has proven himself to be a model professional and an exemplary person, since his return there is no longer any reason to doubt him.” Many others see this as reason to doubt or rather despair. Because letting a rapist compete as a representative for your country clearly sends the wrong message – doesn’t it?
Yes, the professional athlete has served his sentence and should be allowed to work. However, not in front of thousands of people for whom he is a role model. Therefore, an online petition is now circulating calling for the Dutchman to be excluded from the competition. “No pedophile or rapist should represent a nation at the Olympic Games,” writes lawyer Charlotte Proudman at X“It is a slap in the face for all survivors that a rapist is being cheered as if nothing had happened.” The petition Almost 18,000 people have now signed.