North America November 2005

Student 'Girlcott' Protests Abercrombie T-Shirts. [United States] With a few words on their T-shirts, Abercrombie & Fitch lets young women send a message: "Who needs a brain when you have these?" A group of female high school students have a message for A&F: Stop degrading us. The Allegheny County (Pa.) Girls have started a boycott--or girlcott, as they're calling it--of the retailer. "We're telling [girls] to think about the fact that they're being degraded," Emma Blackman-Mathis, the 16-year-old co-chair of the group, told RedEye on Tuesday. "We're all going to come together in this one effort to fight this message that we're getting from pop culture."

Abercrombie's Racy T-Shirts Causing Ruckus. [United States] State Senator Steve Rauschenberger [R-Illinois] says he plans to introduce a resolution in the state Senate this week, calling on trendy retailer Abercrombie and Fitch to stop selling a line of racy t-shirts. The Republican, who is a GOP candidate for governor, says the $24.50 t-shirts are "offensive" and "degrading." He says if the Senate resolution doesn't stop Abercrombie from selling its shirts - he'll lead a boycott of the stores.

Obama Rails Against Boycott of "Pro-Lesbian" Doll Maker. [United States] Attempts to boycott a doll maker over its backing of a "pro-lesbian" girls group that also supports abortion rights are "silly" and an "overreaction," U.S. senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) said Monday. At issue is Girls Inc.'s involvement with American Girl, a manufacturer of popular dolls and children's books. Earlier this month the antigay American Family Association announced it was boycotting American Girl unless the manufacturer stopped contributing to Girls Inc. Girls Inc. serves about 800,000 girls a year, many of them black or Hispanic and most from low-income families.

Supreme Court Nominee Says He Struggled With Abortion Dissent. [United States] Judge Samuel Alito Jr., President George W. Bush's choice for the Supreme Court, told Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) that he had wrestled intensely with a 1991 opinion favoring an abortion restriction that has become a flash point in the debate over his confirmation. The majority opinion in the case struck down a law requiring a married woman to notify her husband before having an abortion. Alito, in dissent, would have upheld that provision. "He said he had spent more time worrying and working over that decision than over any other decision he made when he was a judge," Durbin said.

Nominee's Abortion Rulings Shaped by Concept of Marriage. [United States] One distinct theme emerges from an examination of 15 cases decided by Judge Samuel Alito Jr. involving abortion: His thinking is shaped by a traditional concept of marriage. His most famous abortion opinion, in 1991, would have upheld a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to notify their husbands. "Pennsylvania has a legitimate interest in furthering the husband's interest in the fate of the fetus," Alito wrote. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his position the next year. In a series of less noticed cases concerning asylum requests based on claims of forced abortions abroad, Alito ruled that marital status could be the determining factor. Last year, he ruled that the husbands of women forced to undergo abortions in China had themselves suffered persecution serious enough to warrant granting the men asylum in the United States.

Bush Nominates First Female Philippines Ambassador. [United States] President Bush has nominated Kristie Kenney as ambassador to the Philippines, according to a posting on the US embassy's website. A career diplomat, Kenney would become the first female ambassador to the Philippines if the US Senate approves her nomination, replacing Francis Ricciardone, who left in May. Kenney was most recently ambassador to Ecuador and previously served as senior advisor to the State Department's Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. According to the website, Kenney, from the state of Virginia, has also served as economic counselor in Geneva, economic officer in Argentina and consular officer in Jamaica.

Clinton: Hillary Would Be Better President. [United States] Former President Clinton said in an interview Friday that he believes his wife would do a better job than he did in the nation's highest office. Sen. Hillary Clinton has not said whether she plans to run. Nonetheless, her husband told Israel's Channel Two television that her experience as first lady would help make her a strong president. "In some ways she would be (better) because of what we did together," he said from New York. "First, she has the Senate experience I didn't have. Second, she would have had the eight years in the White House. I think she wouldn't make as many mistakes because, you know, we're older and more mature, and she is far more experienced now in all the relevant ways than I was when I took office," he added. "So I think in a way she has the best of both worlds." Polls indicate that if Hillary runs for president, she would be the favorite for the Democratic nomination.

Best Woman for Job is ... a Man? [United States] David Allen tried to refuse the job as chairman of the University of Washington's Women Studies Department and agrees with critics of his appointment: The job should have gone to a woman. "People have very good reasons for having strong feelings about my having this job," Allen said. Allen's past experience leading another department, his connection to the Women Studies Department as a teacher, and admiration for his work among the students and faculty all made him the search committee's first choice within a small pool of qualified candidates, said David Hodge, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The problem, it seems, is that the department doesn't have enough women qualified for the job, which rotates among full professors every five years.

ABC Goes All-Female At The White House? [United States] ABC will likely announce in the coming days, perhaps as early as this week, that it is becoming the second network to field an all-female White House team. With new Nightline anchor Terry Moran about to give up his seat in the front row of the Brady Press Briefing Room, the network is looking to National Security Correspondent Martha Raddatz, an accomplished veteran of the Pentagon and State Department beats for ABC. She's best known recently for snapping the now infamous shot of President Bush playing the guitar in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina. Three sources confirmed on Friday that although contract details are still being worked out, she is likely to join the network's two other women in the booth during the week: Jessica Yellin with "Good Morning America" and Ann Compton for radio.

Ladies in Red. [United States] The all-woman society, which has about 25 chapters in Cache Valley alone, celebrated beauty, vitality and the color red on Thursday, at a hatters fashion show focused on a womans best friend accessories. The dining room of Logan House Assisted Living bustled with more than 90 red hats and a few sparkling purple boas. As the painted ladies polished the runway showing off their handmade hats and newly acquired unity pinkie rings, awards were given out for the most decorated hatter. Queen Mother of the Hyrum Red Hat Chicks, Kristine Johnson, giggled and laughed as she showed off her many accessories, eventually winning recognition as one of the best-accessorized hatters of the event. She said the society is a great opportunity to meet women who are interested in living life. She said its a blast to be with the women at events that range from brunch downtown to sleepovers. Its getting out, being with women of your own age and forgetting about getting older.

Catering Partners Bloom. [United States] Cincinnati Concession and Catering needed employees. First Step Home needed jobs for its clients -- low-income women struggling to break the cycle of substance addiction and abuse. After meeting with First Step, Cincinnati Concession President Tom Beal agreed to hire some of the women. After nearly a year of partnering successfully, Schoenling suggested taking the collaboration further by creating a joint venture between the private, family-owned catering company and the nonprofit residential treatment program. In August, the two did just that by forming Blooming Roses LLC, a company that offers catering, institutional food services, gifts and promotional products. Cincinnati Concession and Catering funded all the startup costs, and Blooming Roses will split its profits evenly between Beal's firm and First Step Home, which has an annual budget of $2 million and 35 full- and part-time employees. "Programs like Blooming Roses tend to give the nonprofit that little bit of independence and self-confidence to be extremely effective," she said. "And I think it does the same thing for the clients."

Where Power Flows Like Nail Polish. [United States] Enough with the basketball games and the cigar bars. That's what female partners at a Boston law firm were thinking when they planned a networking event exclusively for women. So it was that on a recent Thursday at the G Spa on Newbury Street, in an upscale area of central Boston, attorneys and biotechnology executives enjoyed an evening of complimentary manicures, pedicures, massages and facials, in addition to free wine, hors d'oeuvres and dessert. For many of the women there, the goal, besides socializing, was to engage in some deal-making. Women lawyers say that many aspects of legal practice in private firms pose particular challenges, including a compensation system that rewards the ability to bring in new clients - and the fact that traditional networking events, where client relationships are made, often cater to men.

Women in Technology Announces the 2005 Best Employers in Georgia Awards Winners. [United States] Women In Technology (WIT), the leading association committed to the development of Georgia's businesswomen in the technology industry and a society of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), today announced its winners for the 4th Annual WIT's Best Employers in Georgia Awards, presented in special partnership with the TAG HR Society and sponsored by Platinum sponsor, Microsoft. The 2005 WIT's Best Employers in Georgia Award winners are: Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and McKesson Provider Technologies. "Microsoft, as this year's Platinum sponsor, congratulates these winners who have done an outstanding job of developing and implementing programs for the growth and visibility of talented female professionals, said Microsoft Greater Southeast District General Manager Kirsten Kliphouse. "We hope that other companies will be inspired by these examples to innovate within their own organizations." Previous winners of the WIT's Best Employers in Georgia Awards include The Weather Channel, MATRIX Resources and Earthlink. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. has won for two consecutive years.

Court Passes on Transsexual Discrimination. [United States] The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider shielding employers from discrimination lawsuits by transsexuals, dodging a workplace rights fight. The court's refusal to intervene leaves in place a victory for Cincinnati Officer Philecia Barnes, who was born Phillip Barnes. A federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Barnes was a victim of discrimination, under a federal civil rights law. Barnes, a 24-year veteran of the Cincinnati police force, dressed as a man at work but a woman during off-hours in 1999 when the officer was demoted. Richard Ganulin, one of the city attorneys, told justices that employers should be protected from discrimination lawsuits based on "transsexual and homosexual characteristics." At issue was the scope of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts, which protects people from sex or race discrimination. Sexual orientation is not covered in the law, but justices were asked to deal with a related issue: sex stereotyping of transsexual workers. The case would have been a follow-up to a 1989 Supreme Court decision which made it more difficult for employers to win lawsuits accusing them of sexual stereotyping and other bias. That case involved a woman who argued she was denied promotion because her supervisors thought she did not act feminine enough. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sided with the woman and wrote a separate opinion that gave guidelines for lower courts to follow. Victims, she wrote, must show that "an illegitimate criterion (such as sexual stereotyping) was a substantial factor" in the employer's personnel decision.

Homolexicology: Is a Lesbian a Gay? [United States] Apparently, in writing about people who are homosexual, the word gay no longer covers both men and women. It seems to me that the usage is now the specifically inclusive gay men and lesbians whether the distinction is useful or not. "Historically, gay represented both homosexual men and women and technically still does," says Chris Crain, editor of the gay weeklies The Washington Blade and The New York Blade, "but a number of gay women felt that gay was too male-associated and pressed to have lesbians separately identified so they weren't lost in the gay-male image."

Utah Cases Challenge Whether Anti-Polygamy Laws are Constitutional. [United States] Several prosecutions and lawsuits against polygamists, now pending in Utah, are notable for the constitutional defenses that have been -- or could be -- raised. Polygamy is the practice (usually religious) of having multiple spouses (usually wives). There are two possible lines of constitutional attack on anti-polygamy statutes. One derives from the First Amendment's religion clauses. The other derives from Due Process "right to privacy" concepts -- and in particular, from the Supreme Court's recent holding in Lawrence v. Texas that adults have a privacy right that extends to private, consensual sex acts. In the end, neither of these lines of attack will -- or should -- be successful. Still, it is worth taking a close look at each to examine the extent to which the Constitution allows states to shape -- or forbids them from shaping -- the definition of marriage, and regulating who can marry whom. History shows that polygamous marriage -- at least as it has been practiced in the United States by multiple religious sects -- raises a significant danger that underage girls will be married to much older men. In other words, it has fostered and condoned statutory rape. There is also disturbing evidence that underage girls are being trafficked across state and international lines for purposes of polygamy, a practice that violates the federal Mann Act. (Shamefully, however, the federal government has failed to enforce the Mann Act in this context. As with the thousands of clergy abuse victims, the federal government has ignored polygamy's victims, which leads one to wonder what a religious group would have to do to a child to prod the federal government into action.) History shows that polygamy raises a danger of incest as well. Polygamous husbands have married their own daughters or nieces.

Utah Judge With 3 Wives Fights for Job. [United States] A judge will ask the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to let him stay on the bench after a commission that oversees judges ordered him dismissed because he has three wives. The commission issued an order seeking Steed's removal from the bench in February, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and as such had violated Utah's bigamy law. The complaint against Steed was filed with the commission in November 2003 by Tapestry Against Polygamy, an advocacy group founded by ex-polygamous women who organized to help others leave the handful of secretive religious colonies that adhere to the practice. Plural marriage was an original tenet of the mainline Mormon church, but the faith abandoned the practice as a condition of statehood in 1890. About 30,000 polygamists, who split from the main church into various fundamentalist sects more than 100 years ago, are believed to be living in Utah. Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married -- or "sealed" as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it -- to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985. The three women are biological sisters and no one in the family was expecting that the second and third marriages would be civilly recognized.

Nostalgic Salute to Women of WWII. [United States] Brenda Schleunes sees them as an unrecognized part of the Greatest Generation, these women who served during World War II. But Schleunes aims to change that with her new play, "Star-Spangled Girls," debuting Tuesday night at UNCG's Elliott University Center auditorium. Meanwhile, Schleunes, founder of the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina, used UNCG's Women's Veterans Historical Collection at Jackson Library as her source material. "These women were very much an unacknowledged part of the women's movement," Schleunes says. Some women enlisted because of patriotism. Some sought adventure. One woman was so annoyed at being suspected of husband-hunting that she purposefully joined the Women's Army Corps because they had the ugliest uniforms. African American women often found themselves facing the same segregation and racism as their male counterparts. They even ate in mess halls with barriers hung down the middle of the rooms to separate them from the white women. Army nurses are haunted by memories of what they saw in the field or in hospitals. One helped liberate Mauthausen , the Nazi concentration camp in Austria. Others felt cheated when they were sent to areas no longer seeing action, knowing their skills were needed elsewhere.

Grannies on Patrol. [United States] The "Granny Brigade," Carmen Mercer and Connie Foust, sits silently in the pitch-black desert night at their Minuteman observation post just a few yards from the dirt road and four-strand barbed-wire fence that separates the United States and Mexico. With the temperature dropping into the low 40s and the wind whipping across the high desert, they wrap their legs in warm blankets. As sector bosses for more than two dozen Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers on the night shift along what is known as the Naco line, the women, who have a combined eight grandchildren, scan the area with a night-vision scope. Mrs. Mercer who is divorced, met and married a U.S. serviceman stationed in her native Germany in 1979, later coming with him to the United States and becoming a U.S. citizen. She said the U.S. government's inability to keep massive numbers of illegal aliens out of the country is unfair to those legal immigrants who spend years trying to become U.S. citizens. The grandmothers, dubbed the "Granny Brigade" by their colleagues, led the Minuteman's October effort in southern Arizona -- targeting the more than 6,000 illegal aliens who cross into Arizona everyday through a 260-mile corridor known as the Tucson sector, only about a third of whom are caught.

Women Are Scarce in Rebuilt Big Easy. [United States] Nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina barreled into New Orleans, life has flowed back into the streets of this city - but in certain areas, it is a life noticeably bereft of women. City officials guess that New Orleans now has a population of 150,000 during the day and 75,000 at night, after the commuters have left. Sally Forman, Mayor C. Ray Nagin's press secretary, said there had been no official census and no breakdown by gender, but "there's this strange feeling that it's all men in town." The male-to-female ratio is most obvious in the French Quarter, where workers come to blow off steam in the evenings, but it crosses into other areas. Professional men, their wives and children settled elsewhere until the end of the school semester, gather in threes and fours at local restaurants. On Friday afternoons, they leave the city by bus or car or airplane, staying outside the city just long enough to get a taste of family life.

Women’s Prison Space Crunch. [United States] The state’s only prison for women is more than 2 times over capacity, records from the state Department of Correction show, and officials blame county jail systems that lack cell blocks for women. Though its capacity was expanded in 1991 to hold 384 inmates, MCI Framingham today houses more than 600, according to DOC records. The day-to-day population fluctuates, officials said, so exact figures are difficult to come by. But not all of those doing time in Framingham are doing hard time. Of the 614 inmates listed in a recent count by the DOC, 149, or nearly 24 percent of the total, were inmates awaiting trial. What’s more, officials and prison watchdogs added, many of the 451 women convicted and serving time in Framingham were charged with relatively minor, nonviolent offenses, which would usually result in sentences to a county facility like a local house of correction. Only a few counties have separate facilities for women, so more than 80 percent of women who wind up behind bars in the Bay State do their time in Framingham.

Sexy Attire Works Against Businesswomen. [United States] Attractive people may sometimes have a leg up in climbing corporate ladders. But sexy presentation on its own can work against women who are already well up the ladder. In a new study, men and women where shown videos of a businesswoman discussing her backgrounds and hobbies. In different tests, she played the part of either a receptionist or a manager. And in one round she wore flat shoes, slacks, and a turtleneck, all considered typical professional attire. In the other, she donned high-heels, a tight skirt, and a low-cut blouse. The test subjects rated the businesswoman on competence and guessed at her college GPA and the quality of her Alma Mater. The sexy outfit didn't affect their assessment of the receptionist. But the sexy manager was viewed as less competent. "A female manager whose appearance emphasized her sexiness elicited less positive emotions, more negative emotions, and perceptions of less competence on a subjective rating scale and less intelligence on an objective scale," the researchers write in the December issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly. "Although various media directed toward women ...encourage women to emphasize their sex appeal, our results suggest that women in high status occupations may have to resist this siren call to obtain the respect of their co-workers."

Where are the Women on TV? [United States] On US news networks, women only represent 14% of guests on influential Sunday morning talk shows. This is one of the findings of a new report by the White House Project. The study also found that more than half of the talk shows did not even include one single woman. Since 2001, the number of women in talk shows has gone up only slightly, from 11% to now 14. Why does it matter? It should be a concern because people draw conclusions about real life from what they see on television. When they see no women in positions of power, they assume that women are not credible in these positions. If no women speak on TV about national security or arms control, the assumption is that women are not qualified to speak on theses issues and there are no female experts in these fields. The lack of women on influential political shows also matters because of what media call “agenda setting.” It means that whatever is discussed on these shows is designated as important, and the people doing the talking are recognized as influential. A lack of female voices allows the agenda to be set to exclude them and their issues.

Television for Women or Oppress Us 101? [United States] Having been a student here at SFA for a couple of years now, I have managed to accumulate quite a few roommates. One roommate in particular (who lasted only a week) had her TV permanently set to the Lifetime Channel. As for me, I could never find much interest in the network. Aside from the reruns of "Golden Girls" and "Designing Women," the channel is just plain depressing. The low- budget movies continuously circulate and usually pertain to an unwed pregnant teenager, an abusive alcoholic mother/father or a cheating spouse. The Lifetime Channel refers to itself as, "Television for Women." T his does not seem highly possible if the station is constantly projecting women as frail, fragile creatures who are victims to oppressive men in the movies they screen. Anyone who can pick up a newspaper can realize that horrible crimes occur on a regular basis in the world, but must we have a scripted movie of each of these events taking place? It is understandable that some light would want to be shed on some of these issues, but it seems that is the only focus of the station. When dealing with issues such as abuse, eating disorders or whatever, it would be more beneficial to the program's viewers if information was provided as to why it is important to seek help, or where to find support. Through the repeated representation of women being victimized the only accomplishment the station is succeeding in is a negative mindset. Is that really what the station wants the women who tune in to walk away with? Rather than constantly instilling the idea that women are victims, it would be more advantageous to the public if the station were to focus on a more positive message.

Fed-up Actress Leads Fight Against Media Obsession With 'Skinny' Stars. [United States] You can never be too rich or too thin, the old adage goes, but the celebrity magazines disagree, devoting acres of critical coverage to skinny models and actresses. It is an obsession that now threatens to land them in hot water. The Hollywood actress Kate Hudson, daughter of Goldie Hawn, is taking legal action against five publications for publishing pictures of her accompanied by articles suggesting that she was suffering from an eating disorder, which she denies. Ms Hudson will argue in court that "the images in question gave a seriously false and misleading impression as to her true physical condition, in that she was portrayed as being dangerously thin with an eating disorder, which is contrary to the true position of her weight and diet being of a healthy nature, both at the time of the images being taken and at present". An analysis of how the photographs came to be taken, sold and published will form part of the case. Schillings will argue that the main image in question was stretched, making Ms Hudson appear thinner than she really is, although there is no suggestion that the photograph was altered deliberately. Janice Turner, former editor of Real magazine, believes celebrity titles are targeting skinny women because it is no longer acceptable to criticize someone for being overweight. She said: "They used to say so and so was a bit fat. They've realized it's against the spirit of trying to overcome eating disorders, but they can say someone is thin. Readers love looking at other women's bodies and comparing their own bodies to celebrities' bodies.

Who is More Likely to Enjoy a Good Joke? [United States] The difference between the sexes has long been a rich source of humor. Now it turns out, humor is one of the differences. "The long trip to Mars or Venus is hardly necessary to see that men and women often perceive the world differently," a research team led by Dr. Allan L. Reiss of the Stanford University School of Medicine reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But they were surprised when their studies of how the male and female brains react to humor showed that women were more analytical in their response, and felt more pleasure when they decided something really was funny. Women were subjecting humor to more analysis with the aim of determining if it was indeed funny, Reiss said in a telephone interview. While there is a lot of overlap between how men and women process humor, the differences can help account for the fact that men gravitate more to one-liners and slapstick while women tend to use humor more in narrative form and stories. In large part, men and women had similar responses to humor, using parts of the brain responsible for the structure and context of language and for understanding juxtaposition. In women, however, some areas were more active than in men. These included the left prefrontal cortex, which the researchers said suggests a greater emphasis on language and executive processing, and the nucleus accumbens, or NAcc, which is part of the reward center.

Hundreds Pay Tribute to Mohegan Medicine Woman. [United States] Gladys Tantaquidgeon, the matriarch and medicine woman of the Mohegan Tribe, was praised for her devotion to her heritage as she was interred Sunday in a traditional Native American ceremony on the Shantok burial ground. Tantaquidgeon died Tuesday at age 106. The ceremony began at the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum, which Tantaquidgeon helped establish in 1931. Mourners walked the 1�-mile route to Shantok, dressed in traditional clothing and singing songs of gathering, traveling and honor in their native language. Born in 1899, Tantaquidgeon was a 10th generation descendant of Uncas, the famed Mohegan chief. During her lifetime, she saw her tribe grow from a few Mohegan families who struggled to keep their tribal heritage to a federally recognized tribe that owns and operates an enormously successful casino. Tantaquidgeon, who collected numerous tribal documents, is given much credit for the Mohegans receiving federal recognition. The information helped document the continuity of the tribe.

CEP 6th Women’s Conference. [Canada] The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada held its 6th Women’s Conference from 16-18 October 2005 in the maritime province of New Brunswick. The conference theme was “Our Time, Our Terms, Women March On.” The conference had workshop sessions on equity, pay equity and women in solidarity in Canada and abroad. Caucuses were also held on young workers, regional caucuses, aboriginal people, people of colou, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered workers, and people with disabilities. The conference was held against the background of the women’s world march and the women’s global charter for humanity. The women’s charter is a proposal to build a world where exploitation, oppression, intolerance and exclusion no longer exist and where integrity, diversity and the rights and freedoms of all are respected. The core values for this vision of the world are equality, freedom, solidarity, justice and peace. These, too, were the CEP conference themes.

Mexican Bus Riding. [Mexico] Living in this beautiful Colonial Mexican city, I ride the public buses almost daily. Riding the bus to get around can be a convenient way to save on transportation costs. Convenient, yes. Comfortable and safe? I don't think so. I was sitting next to a woman with multiple packages, multiple kids, and with a look of utter desperation on her face. I mean, who wouldn't be desperate? She had more bundles to carry than any human should and kids in tow to boot. I watched her carefully. She seemed the stereotypical Guanajuato Mexican bus rider. She would give me valuable empirical evidence. She would teach me. Miles before this woman's bus came roaring up the street, she somehow knew it was coming. This amazes me. I see this all the time. My wife and I can show up at the bus stop and wait for an hour for the bus. Mexicans know exactly when the bus is coming and do not waste their time waiting for it. They just show up when it shows up. I can only assume this capacity is part of their Mexican genes. This woman jumped up while gathering her bundles and screaming something to her children. The kids were already snapping to attention without being told to and were at the ready. They, too, knew their bus was coming.

Mexican Court Rules Marital Rape a Crime. [Mexico] The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled Wednesday that rape within marriage is a crime, bringing Mexico's laws into line with much of the world and removing one of the many obstacles women here face in reporting rape. The ruling marks the end of a legal battle waged since 1994, when a majority of the justices agreed that because the purpose of marriage was procreation, forced sexual relations by a spouse was not rape but "an undue exercise of conjugal rights." Many women's advocates agreed that while the ruling was a landmark step, polls on social attitudes have shown that deep-rooted opinions that women should be subservient still permeate much of society. They warned that entrenched attitudes still make it very difficult for women to report rape. A U.N. study found that nine of 10 sexual assaults go unreported in Mexico and that 18 percent of victims of sexual assault were not aware that it was a crime.