The Veil, UK Chemists refusing to dispense EC, and Women's Boxing

An American post, and two posts from UK bloggers. With a cup of tea.

Oh, and for those of you wondering: yes, I will be writing something other than link roundups. Don't nod off, will you?

La Lubu has written an interesting piece on women's boxing at Feministe, interweaving her childhood memories of watching boxing on TV with her father with the latest story regarding Ann Wolfe and Mike Tyson.

She writes:

"It's a familiar story in women's boxing, one in which women had to continually fight for the right to fight. The stories of women boxers still aren't commonly known; every schoolgirl has heard of Billie Jean King, but how many know of Marian 'Lady Tyger' Trimiar, who went on hunger strike in 1987 for better money, conditions, and more recognition and opportunity for professional female fighters? or of Sue 'Tiger Lilly' Fox, creator of the Women's Boxing Archive Network?"

Pop over to Feministe to read the entire essay.

Blunt & Disorderly brings a couple of interesting angles to a news item in the United Kingdom and Europe: the Jack Straw/veil controversy. A lot has been written about this topic, but B&D's analysis is interesting because it brings a couple of fresh angles to the subject.

The blogger points out that, "It has always been about status and power," not religion.

The post also brings to light the fact that it is far easier for Westerners to point the finger than to look at their own customs:

"In the 1920's and 1930's when women gained more freedom, the corset went, so did the long skirts, the impossible hair styles and so on. It's depressing to notice that the corset is back, that women starve themselves and 1950's style clothes are fashionable. The idealised image of womanhood from the 1950's was extremely oppressive. Women were mothers and wives, beautiful and powerless. Strangely enough I haven't come across any comment on the corset. It's obviously easier to condemn what neighbours do."

See also "Lifting the veil" at Cruella-blog, where Kate Smurthwaite defends her position in the comments thread.

Lastly, Stormcloud writes on the worrying American trend of phramacists refusing to dispense emergency contraception in the UK in "USA—here we come!"

Her post is an excellent example of a piece of original feminist action documented at her blog:

"When I first looked at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain's website, and consulted the online document 'Code of Ethics and Standards', I could not find the 'religious/moral' opt-out clause for Pharmacists, and had assumed that perhaps this was an individual and isolated case (of either misinterpretation or 'bending' to suit the individual). Admittedly, I did not read the entire document, and just the introduction and Section 11 pertaining to EC.

I emailed Lynsey Balmer, Head of Professional Ethics, for clarification on the matter. Impressively, she emailed a reply back within the hour."

She shares the text of the email she receives from Ms. Balmer, and discusses the ramifications.

I really like to see feminist action like this recorded at blogs, because it shows what one person can do, fosters discussion, and inspires further action. Well done Stormcloud of A Stormy Blog!