1. Violence Against Women Act. If today’s Republican party truly wants to explore its relationship with women, it has an opportunity to do so this week. The Senate voted 85 to 8 on Monday evening to renew its discussions of the Violence Against Women Act.

Renewal of the bill has stalled over Republican concerns that obscure issues like granting visa for abused illegal immigrants, treatment of same sex couples, and passages that strengthen the influence of American courts undermine the bill for the majority of American women.

The bill is expected to get Senate approval this week, with broad, bipartisan support.

In the House, the bill continues to struggle. Another sticking point is a provision in the bill that would allow American Indian women assaulted on reservations by non-Indians to go to trial courts, which currently have no jurisdiction over these assailants.

Last week, the conservative Independent Women’s Forum said the Violence Against Women Act, passed first in 1994, was a waste of money that could actually be intensifying domestic violence, writes The New York Times.

“Although there is little credible evidence that V.A.W.A. programs are reducing the effects and occurrence of domestic and sexual violence, there is evidence that several of the policies instituted under V.A.W.A. may actually be harming the very victims they were designed to protect,” wrote Christina Villegas, a visiting fellow at the group.

2. 7 Key Facts About Domestic Violence

Villegas refers readers to the website SaveServices.org, with this reports prepared by Stop Abusive and Violent Environments.

a. One in 10 American couples engages in intimate partner violence each year.

b. Men and women engage in domestic violence at similar rates. If the violence escalates, female are more likely to be injured. However, one-third of those requiring medical attention are male.

c. Partner aggression is often two-way.

d. Domestic violence tends to be concentrated in Lower income couples, couples not in intact, married relationships,

e. The US Centers for Disease Control has identified 25 different causes of domestic violence.

f. Since the mid-19702, domestic violence among intimate partners has fallen dramatically.

g. Many victims of domestic violence face barriers to getting help.

Due primarily to under-reporting, credible research suggests that mandatory arrest policies may actually increase partner violence. A recent Harvard study found that such policies actually lead to more intense levels of violence. According to the study, “Intimate partner homicides increased by about 60 percent in states with mandatory arrest laws.” Another study found that women in states with mandatory arrest laws were less likely to report violence and request police assistance.

3. Support for Military Women

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Secretary of Defense Leon Penetta’s outgoing decision to lift restrictions on American women serving in combat has widespread support among American women, reports Pew Research.

The latest poll results reflect nearly the same findings as two years ago in a Washington Post/ABC News survey.

4. Ten Things to End Rape Culture

The Nation quotes Jessica Valenti in this piece on rape, one that would probably be rejected by Christina Villegas.

Rape culture exists because we don’t believe it does. From tacit acceptance of misogyny in everything from casual conversations with our peers to the media we consume, we accept the degradation of women and posit uncontrollable hyper-sexuality of men as the norm. But rape is endemic to our culture because there’s no widely accepted cultural definition of what it actually is.

“Rape is a standard result of a culture mired in misogyny, but for whatever reason—denial, self-preservation, sexism—Americans bend over backwards to make excuses for male violence.”

5. GlamTribale Goes to Philly’s Headhouse Market

Anne is super excited to say that she’s joined Philadelphia’s Creative Collective where GlamTribale will be exhibiting on 17 Saturdays starting end of May at a marketplace founded in 1745, very near to Independence Hall!!!

“I can’t think of a better place than Headhouse Market and Shambles to start my renewed drive for women’s independence, right down the street from the Liberty Bell,” Anne wrote on Facebook.

Philadelphia’s Spittin’ Sister will be selling her art and jewelry while handing out pro-women pamphlets. Abigail Adams would be proud!

No taxation without representation is at the top of Anne’s agenda. For Republicans, Democrats and especially so-called progressive Democrats, Anne’s on record saying: “Don’t tax us if you won’t run women for office or give us major representation at your conferences.”

6. Helicopter parenting is not good at playtime, reports Science Daily. Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that how direct a mother is and whether she tries to control the content and the pace of play among young children directly affected the attitudes expressed towards her by them.

Children of these corrective and controlling moms were less engaged with her and displayed more negative emotion towards their mothers.

Researchers argue that highly-directive moms may believe they are helping their kids by correcting them. In actual practice, they are limiting creativity and potentially negatively impact their child’s desire to be with her.

Findings confirmed existing research that African American mothers are the most directive with young children, followed by Mexican-American moms and then European-Americans. Although children expressed less positive regard from directive moms overall, the degree to which mothers expressed high levels of warmth towards the children, lessened the negative effect.

Are Feminism and Attachment Parenting Practices Compatible Science Daily

Call Us Stupified! Only An ERA Can Protect American Women Against Republican’s Intent to End Birth Control!

Sign our Petition NOW!!! Tweet! http://bit.ly/1146RWP

Anne of Carversville has said for several years that Republicans, led by the Catholic bishops, are coming for your birth control.

Living with and writing about the Republican War on Women every day leaves us typically immune to the latest anti-woman rhetoric from the right wing. But talk show host and evangelical Kevin Swanson, has left us speechless.

Believing that utterly stupid statements like Todd Akins’ assertion that women’s bodies prevent us from getting pregnant as a result of rape were the bottom of the barrel, we simply weren’t prepared for Swanson’s recent assertions about birth control.

Swanson: I’m beginning to get some evidence from certain doctors and certain scientists that have done research on women’s wombs after they’ve gone through the surgery, and they’ve compared the wombs of women who were on the birth control pill to those who were not on the birth control pill. And they have found that with women who are on the birth control pill, there are these little tiny featuses, these little babies, that are embedded into the womb. They’re just like dead babies. They’re on the inside of the womb. And these wombs of women who have been on the birth control pill effectively have become graveyards for lots and lots of little babies.

Anne of Carversville has delivered well over 1000 of the 19,000 signatures supporting a renewed drive for an Equal Rights Amendment. Good Goddess, please, please sign our ERA petition before it is too late for American women. Tweet, Tweet, Tweet: here http://bit.ly/1146RWP Read Anne’s lucid analysis of anti-ERA arguments.

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Body, Sensuality, Rights

5 Anti-Aging Reasons to Smile Your Way to Good Health & Lower Stress

by Nomi Leasure

Remember the scene in Eat, Pray, Love when the Bali medicine man tells Elizabeth Gilbert to, “smile with your liver.” No? Well me either because I refused to watch that movie. But a friend of mine mentioned this scene and it resonated. A forced smile doesn’t do the same thing to your body as one that grows from the inside.

There’s no question of the benefits of staying positive. A healthy outlook permeates through your cells and can leave you with the same lasting benefits of taking a multi-vitamin. Read on.