Feminity & Athleticism: Are They Mutually Exclusive?

The following is today's post from the Healthy Tipping Point blog, which kept up by Caitlin Boyle.

(Speaking of athleticism: registration for CT NOW's fourth annual Love Your Body 5K, being held on October 20, is up and running!  Register here today!)

(The original post is linked in the title.)

Feminity & Athleticism: Are They Mutually Exclusive?

by CAITLIN on AUGUST 31, 2012
in ALL POSTS

I am really excited to publish this guest post from Gabby, who was inspired to write about “how our society positions athleticism and femininity as two sides of a spectrum (or even two opposite constructs) when, in [her] opinion, is a completely false dichotomy.”

I recently came across an article discussing how the female athlete can strike a balance and find her optimal "happy level" of femininity and athleticism. The article itself was a series of steps meant to initiate self-reflection about what makes the athlete feel feminine, what makes her a "warrior athlete," and where her happy medium lies. I have no qualms with the article, the writer, or anything like that – it was well-written, insightful, and offered genuinely valuable steps for self-reflection on a bothersome issue that is fairly common amongst athletic women. What I do take issue, however, is the notion that the qualities of femininity and athleticism are two separate qualities that need to be "balanced." This is not a reflection on the author in anyway since the article can be interpreted in a subjective (feminine self) way or objective (gender = female) way, and that is one point of the article that I really enjoy. My issue is with the questions that arose from my reaction and reflection of the article and the light it shed on the much larger societal views that we all operate in day in and day out.


One of the first things that struck me about the article was the title, "Athleticism & Femininity: Can They Co-Exist?" – it’s a great eye-catching and thought provoking title, but it struck me as very odd. My initial thought was "Why is that even a question?" I realize that my initial reaction to the title as jarring, confusing, and out right weird is probably not a normal one – I spent my entire college and post-graduate education studying the individual psyche (psychology), deviation from norms (criminal justice), and the constructs in which those things occur (several sociologically focused gender courses). After re-reading it a few times, I was finally able to pinpoint why the article and title had caused my mind to scramble – the core premise of the article couldn’t be reconciled with my deeply rooted perspective on the topic. To me, the mere action of placing athleticism and femininity on separate sides of a scale, was strange and foreign. Why? Because it implied that being athletic means being masculine and being feminine means not being athletic and consequently, not being masculine.


According to most mainstream societal norms and messages, being athletic involves being powerful, fast, strong, and excelling at a physical sport. Few people would disagree with that – although it’s worth mentioning that physical prowess is merely the tip of the athlete iceberg since the mental prowess is also highly important. Now, if someone were to casually ask you which gender is more likely to be "powerful, fast, strong, and excel at sports," you would probably say males would fit that description. But why? Why do thoughts of strength, power, and sports automatically conjure up images of male athletes for the majority of people (myself included)? That’s a hard question to answer but most would probably say it’s because that’s what is most readily and frequently depicted. Biological differences aside (muscle mass, hormonal composition, etc), why does society associate athleticism with males? Why are the bodies of athletic women, who are in shape for their sport (aka sporting a six-pack, enviable shoulders, and quads of steel) so frequently subjected to accusations of being "manly" (an even better question, why the eff do we care)? Why do female athletes need to reconcile their happy medium between athletic and feminine?



Simple answer – they don’t.



Female athletes shouldn’t have to balance their athleticism and femininity because they shouldn’t be separate in the first place. In my opinion, the dichotomy between femininity and athleticism is a false one. Being an athlete doesn’t have to be wrapped up in the notion of being masculine – and furthermore, athleticism and concern about your display of gender-specific indicators/behaviors is just a time waster. Seriously, when the last time you heard a man say "I better not try and deadlift 400lbs, I wouldn’t want to come off as being too manly" or when was the last time you read an article or heard a story about the public critique a male athlete’s physique as being too "manly" or "athletic"? (NOTE: I know there are several issues surrounding gender and athleticism for male athletes, so please don’t think I am discounting male athlete’s experiences). My point is, it seems silly to ask female athletes to partition themselves into their feminine and athletic selves. Being able to squat or deadlift your body weight translates into mental strength for dealing with life struggles. The confidence you gain by knowing you can heave some heavy stuff over your head spills over to other parts of your life. The dedication and discipline required in any athletic endeavor makes you a better friend, wife, mother, daughter, employee, sister, and human being.


So can femininity and athleticism co-exist? I’d say that they were never separate in the first place.

Detroit Prosecutor Making a Difference in Rape Investigations

Rapists, Beware: Detroit Prosecutor IDs 21 Attackers in ‘Rape Kit’ Investigation

Aug 28, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

By Abigail Pesta, for The Daily Beast

Kym Worthy has identified 21 serial rapists so far in a sweeping investigation that could have national implications.

(Page 1 of 2)

Twenty-one serial rapists have been identified in a massive investigation led by Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy—and her manhunt has only just begun.

Worthy is leading a charge to investigate more than 11,000 police “rape kits”—which contain swabs of semen, saliva, and other evidence of rape—so the rapists can be brought to justice. The thousands of rape kits had piled up in a dusty police warehouse in Detroit for years, ignored, until one of Worthy’s colleagues stumbled upon them in 2009. Since then, an outraged Worthy has been fighting to get the kits logged, tested for DNA, and then entered into the national DNA database.

The logging of the kits alone has been a staggering project. “There were no police reports attached to the kits,” she says, explaining that her colleagues “literally had to dust them off” and “physically go through and open them to get the name of the victim, the date that it happened.” A federal grant for $1 million—the first of two such grants of its kind, with the other going to Houston—has helped her get all the kits logged, she says, but the grant won’t cover the DNA testing of all 11,303 kits. “Unfortunately money’s not falling from the sky,” she says.

Rape-kit pileups aren’t just a problem in Detroit. In recent years, cities across the country have reported mountains of kits—11,000 in San Antonio, 1,200 in Albuquerque, 4,000 in Houston—according to Sarah Tofte, who has studied the national debacle for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of kits are languishing in police warehouses.

When Worthy learned of the Detroit pileup from the colleague who discovered it by chance, she says, she demanded immediate action from the police chief at the time. “No one really paid attention to what I was saying and yelling about till about four months in,” she says. People finally took notice, she says, when someone in the police department leaked the news to the press.

Twenty of the 21 serial rapists were identified from the first 153 rape kits officially tested for DNA and entered into the national database known as CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, this summer. In other words, these 20 men had been involved in at least one other rape case, according to the database. The twenty-first serial rapist was identified from earlier tests on a random sampling of kits, conducted in order to do a broader statistical analysis of the project.

In one especially horrific case, Worthy says, a convicted rapist named Shelly Andre Brooks had raped and murdered five women after raping a woman whose kit was just recently entered into the database through Worthy’s initiative. If that rape kit had been tested and entered into the database sooner, the man could have been caught sooner—and five women’s lives could have been saved. “That’s why it’s so horrible, this whole thing,” Worthy says.

 

In addition to the serial rapists, the DNA evidence in the batch of 153 kits has yielded another 38 DNA matches in the database, Worthy says. All of the cases now need to be investigated. “People think when you get a CODIS hit, we can just go out and arrest that person,” she says. “But a DNA hit is never the whole case. We have to go find the witnesses, do the old-fashioned kind of investigation. They’re cold cases—they’ve just been sitting there. We have to reinvestigate all these cases.” She adds, “I say ‘reinvestigate,’ but some were never investigated properly, frankly.”

Worthy says she has funds right now to cover tests for about 1,600 rape kits—a small chunk of the 11,303 kits in all. “It’s very troubling,” she says. “Every day cases are pouring in as well. We need to increase staff. We need more funds. I’m calling it a pandemic—you have this many people running around.”

Part of the reason for the national rape-kit clog is the price of testing the kits. Each kit can cost an average of $1,200 to $1,500 to test, as technicians need to extract and separate DNA from two people—the victim and the assailant—from a swab, says Tofte. However, slim resources aren’t always the issue; she says that often the kits are just a low priority for police. The arrest rate for rape, 24 percent, has barely budged in the past three decades, she says, noting that it’s not because many cases are unsolved but uninvestigated.

Still, some progress has been made. For instance, says Tofte, Los Angeles has nearly eliminated a backlog of 12,500 kits, while New York City managed to get through a backlog of 16,000 kits and then adopted a policy of testing every kit entered into evidence. In addition, several rape-kit reform bills have been introduced in Congress. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), for one, is pushing for an act called SAFER, or Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry, aimed at reducing the national backlog.

In Detroit, Worthy’s project has already yielded one rape conviction this past spring and an upcoming trial this fall, thanks to the early study of the random sampling of kits. A jury found Antonio Jackson guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in May; he received a sentence of 10 to 30 years, according to Worthy’s office. Eric Taliaferro has a trial set for November.

Worthy says she hopes to create a blueprint through her project for cities nationwide.

A single mother of three, Worthy began her legal career in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in 1984, later becoming the first African-American to serve as a special assignment prosecutor. In 1994 she was elected to the Wayne County Circuit Court, where she presided over hundreds of felony cases. In 2004 she became the Wayne County prosecutor, the first African-American and first woman to hold the post. She is perhaps best known for indicting Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, long accused of corruption, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2008. He served jail time after pleading guilty to reduced charges and now faces another trial.

Some 30 years ago, Worthy was a victim of rape when she was a law-school student at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Attacked from behind while out on a jog around her apartment complex one night, she didn’t report the rape. “Things were different then,” she told Newsweek and The Daily Beast earlier this year. “And I was young.”

Today she has a much different perspective, calling that decision many years ago “all justification and rationalization.” Ultimately, she says, the attack made her stronger—and more determined to seek justice for people who do report their rapes.

Still, some progress has been made. For instance, says Tofte, Los Angeles has nearly eliminated a backlog of 12,500 kits, while New York City managed to get through a backlog of 16,000 kits and then adopted a policy of testing every kit entered into evidence. In addition, several rape-kit reform bills have been introduced in Congress. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), for one, is pushing for an act called SAFER, or Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry, aimed at reducing the national backlog.

In Detroit, Worthy’s project has already yielded one rape conviction this past spring and an upcoming trial this fall, thanks to the early study of the random sampling of kits. A jury found Antonio Jackson guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in May; he received a sentence of 10 to 30 years, according to Worthy’s office. Eric Taliaferro has a trial set for November.

Worthy says she hopes to create a blueprint through her project for cities nationwide.

A single mother of three, Worthy began her legal career in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in 1984, later becoming the first African-American to serve as a special assignment prosecutor. In 1994 she was elected to the Wayne County Circuit Court, where she presided over hundreds of felony cases. In 2004 she became the Wayne County prosecutor, the first African-American and first woman to hold the post. She is perhaps best known for indicting Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, long accused of corruption, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2008. He served jail time after pleading guilty to reduced charges and now faces another trial.

Some 30 years ago, Worthy was a victim of rape when she was a law-school student at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Attacked from behind while out on a jog around her apartment complex one night, she didn’t report the rape. “Things were different then,” she told Newsweek and The Daily Beast earlier this year. “And I was young.”

Today she has a much different perspective, calling that decision many years ago “all justification and rationalization.” Ultimately, she says, the attack made her stronger—and more determined to seek justice for people who do report their rapes.

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Abigail Pesta is an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked around the world, from New York to London to Hong Kong. Currently she is the editorial director of Women in the World at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She is a former editor-at-large of Marie Claire magazine, and a former news editor at The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. She also has worked as an articles editor at Glamour, where she launched Mariane Pearl’s popular column about women changing the world. Abby writes short stories for her website, Fine Words Butter No Parsnips.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

 

 

July Activist of the Month

Mnikesa Whittaker is being recognized by CT NOW for the July Activist of the Month for her commitment to advancing womens issues and being a constant role model to young women and girls.

She works with Ballet Haven, which offers a community of support, leadership opportunities, and an understanding of a healthy body image.

Furthermore she works hard to advance her education and fights health challenges, exemplifying the true definition of a strong, resilient, talented, smart and successful woman. She is a leader who is passionate, dedicated, hard working and motivating to those around her.

To read a recent story written about Mnikesa click here.

Registration now open for 2012 Love Your Body 5K!

Registration for the Love Your Body 5K is now live! 

Click here to register.

 

Don't miss out on your chance to register for the 2012 Love Your Body 5K. Last year's race was amazing. Visit our Facebook page to see photos by clicking here and here.

 

For the most up to date information about the race visit the Love Your Body 5K webpage by clicking here.

 

 

If you would like to sponsor the race please email president@now-ct.org.

 

2012 Race details below:

 

Location: West Hartford Reservoir, 1420 Farmington Ave. (Rt.4) West Hartford

Time: 10:00 a.m.

T-shirts to first 200 registrants only

Arrive early for pre-race yoga

 

Quotes from last year's race:

 

♥“Thank you for fostering such a great atmosphere. It was very inspiring and we look forward to returning again next year!”♥

 

♥“This was my first ever race, and I loved it! Wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for NOW and the Love Your Body concept!”♥

Does Hillary Clinton Care What You Think of Her Outfit?

from Salon. com Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 03:43 PM EDT


Hillary Clinton does not have time for your games

The secretary of state doesn't care what you think of her outfit -- and that's fantastic

By Mary Elizabeth Williams


“Would you ever ask a man that question?” Hillary Clinton gave that reply two years ago, when an interviewer in Kyrgyzstan innocently asked the secretary of state, “Which designers do you prefer?” But when the Boston Review posted the exchange on its site Wednesday, it became a viral sensation — and just the newest example of how much kicking butt and taking names Ms. Clinton is doing lately.


For 20 years now, Clinton has been one of the most divisive figures in American politics – reviled and adored, mocked and idolized. That hasn’t changed. But what has changed is the woman herself. Because now Clinton, much like the Honey Badger, just doesn’t give a crap.


That terse exchange over her wardrobe caught fire this week because it exemplifies everything that endears Clinton to her supporters – and everything that exasperates so many of us about the current state of womanhood. You can be the secretary of state, even a former presidential contender, and it still comes down to how you look. And what’s fabulous about Hillary is that Hillary isn’t having it.


It’s not that she can’t be frivolous. In fact, lately Hillary Clinton seems to be having a ball. She’s knocking back a beer straight from the bottle in Colombia; she’s dropping it like it’s hot in South Africa; she’s submitting her own entries to Texts from Hillary. You only wish you were having as much fun as Hillary Clinton is right now.


What makes Clinton’s sassy new persona so interesting is how very different — yet equally graceful – it is from Michelle Obama’s. They are two of the most powerful women in the world, but the public is often more obsessed with how much makeup they have on and what they’re wearing than their many achievements. Clinton and Obama have dealt with this in different ways.


Obama rolls with it, posing for the cover of Vogue and saying, “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about [fashion]. But I also have to be very practical. In the end, someone will always not like what you wear — people just have different tastes.” She’s a woman who’s graced the covers of More and Glamour, who’s been in People in a hot-pink sleeveless lace dress. Just this week, she was joking around with Jay Leno in a sheer yellow frock. And if you want to talk about what the first lady is wearing, about her fabulous arms, well, the first lady is cool with that.


Of course, it helps that Michelle Obama – criticized and scrutinized though she may be – is generally accepted as a style icon. She doesn’t get much guff for her looks. That’s unlike Hillary, who’s been hearing no end of it since the headband days of the 1992 campaign.


Now, at age 64, Clinton continues to get heat for being, gasp, a 64-year-old political leader instead of Megan Fox. In May, after she’d dared to allegedly appear without makeup (and by the way, she was obviously wearing lipstick and she was only busy promoting democracy in Bangladesh, but whatever), Fox News couldn’t wait to call her “tired and withdrawn” looking. And in June, author Ed Klein took to the airwaves to dismiss Clinton’s chances of running for the White House in 2016 by saying, “She’ll be 69 years old. And as you know — and I don’t want to sound anti-feminist here — but she’s not looking good these days. She’s looking overweight, and she’s looking very tired.” Because you can’t run a country if you’re not under 35 and skinny. Also, if you have a vagina.


What’s righteous about Clinton is how thoroughly emancipated from all the BS she seems to be lately. Hillary is too busy laughing it up with Angela Merkel about their shared love of pantsuits to care what Matt Drudge has to say about her face. (One gets the sense that Angela Merkel isn’t exactly losing sleep over whether or not you want to bone her, either.) And there is something really, really fantastic about a first lady, United States senator, and secretary of state who has just had it with your stupid questions about what she’s wearing, world. Last spring, she told CNN, “I feel so relieved to be at the stage I’m at in my life right now. Because, you know, if I want to wear my glasses, I’m wearing my glasses. If I want to wear my hair back, I’m pulling my hair back. You know, at some point it’s just not something that deserves a lot of time and attention.”


Priorities! Other than the size of her butt! What a radical idea. And it’s why, though she may or may not ever get to be president, Hillary Clinton totally rules.

Hoots in parliament: France mulls harassment law

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2012/07/24/hoots_in_parliament_france_mulls_harassment_law/?page=full

Interesting article regarding a proposed new law that would criminilize sexual harassment with a punishment of up to three years in prision.

Boston.com
By Lori Hinnant

Associated Press / July 24, 2012 

 

PARIS—The hooting and catcalls began as soon as the Cabinet minister stood, wearing a blue and white flowered dress. It did not cease for the entire time she spoke before France's National Assembly. And the heckling came not from an unruly crowd, but from male legislators who later said they were merely showing their appreciation on a warm summer's day.

 

Cecile Duflot, the Housing minister, faltered very slightly, and then continued with her prepared remarks about an urban development project in Paris.

"Ladies and gentlemen, but mostly gentlemen, obviously," she said in a firm voice as hoots rang out. She completed the statement on her ministry and again sat down. None of the men in suits who preceded her got the same treatment from the deputies, and the reaction was extraordinary enough to draw television commentary and headlines for days afterward.

The same French Assembly on Tuesday took up a new law on sexual harassment, more than two months after a court struck down the previous statute, saying it was too vague and failed to protect women. In the meantime, there has been nothing. All cases that were pending when the law was struck down May 4 were thrown out. And, without a law, there can be no new cases.

The government, keenly aware of the lack of protection since the May 4 court decision, has pressed for a quick vote. It has already passed the Senate. The two versions will ultimately have to be reconciled before a final vote next week.

"The more we delay the law's passage, the longer we delay ... this incredible insecurity, this incredible lack of protection for victims of sexual harassment." said Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France's minister for women's rights, who helped write the law. It takes 24 months for any judge to hear a sexual harassment complaint under the law, she said, so any cases brought even as soon as it is passed will take two years to see a courtroom.

"Women are very, very, very harassed and they don't dare say it," said Helene Reboisson, a former jeweler who said she supported the law. "Men have the power. It will take several years for us women."

Under the new proposal, sexual harassment will be a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison. In the United States, it's a civil offense usually punishable by fines.

"Women will no longer be without protection, that's the most important thing," said Asma Guenifi, president of the feminist group Neither Prostitutes nor Doormats. But Guenifi said she had reservations about the replacement law, primarily its maximum punishment of three years in prison and the three escalating categories of harassment.

"My fear today is that this new law won't be clear enough, protective enough or global enough," Guenifi said.
 

The new legislation will extend to cover offenses in universities, in the housing market and job interviews, and is intended to punish single acts of sexual blackmail as sexual harassment - previously only covering repeated acts.

But in a culture where hissing at women on the street is considered a sign of approval and sexual banter is often a workplace norm, Guenifi said the law could be a hard sell for women under pressure to keep their jobs in a difficult economy. Especially coming from the same group of lawmakers who last week disrupted a normally routine presentation from government ministers.

Guenifi said the reaction to Duflot in the July 17 Assembly session was disappointing, but unsurprising.

"We knew that sexism and machismo touches all socioeconomic classes, but it's very sad because everyone can identify with it, saying, `Even there they don't respect women,'" she said.

Duflot - who came under criticism after wearing jeans to her first Cabinet meeting this year - said she was shocked at the reaction last week in the Assembly, which came from scattered male deputies. The Assembly has 153 women out of 577 deputies.

It's not entirely clear what prompted it - women routinely go before the legislators without heckling, though most dress more conservatively. But in 1972 the deputy Michele Alliot-Marie received a similar reception after entering the Assembly in trousers, according to Le Figaro.

"I worked in the building and construction sector, and I never saw that. It says something about certain deputies. It means something about certain deputies. I think about their wives. I think about all the men who aren't like that," Duflot said later in an interview with the French television network RTL. The Assembly is notoriously macho, despite increasing numbers of female deputies, but presentations by the Cabinet are usually respectful affairs.

One of the male deputies was unrepentant, denying the outburst was intended to be offensive: "We weren't booing or whistling at Cecile Duflot. We were admiring," Patrick Balkany, of the conservative opposition UMP, told the newspaper Figaro. "It's possible to look at a woman with interest without it being machismo."

Balkany suggested Duflot wore the boldly printed - but otherwise chaste-looking - dress "so that we wouldn't listen to what she has to say."

Another deputy, Jacques Myard, told L'Express that the hoots were a way of "paying homage to this woman's beauty."

A female UMP deputy was more perturbed by the outburst.

"It's a way of not taking women's voices into consideration, to deny your work or your role," Francoise de Panafieu, whose mother Helene Missoffe was a junior minister in the 1970s as well as an Assembly deputy. "Since my mother, the place of women in politics has not budged."

The new sexual harassment law is supposed to address problems in France that many say have been going on for as long as women have been a big part of the workforce. It sets three levels of harassment, with the most serious punishable by three years in prison. Among the circumstances that merit the most severe punishment: if the harasser has authority over the victim, if the victim is younger than 15, or if multiple people carry out the harassment.

Vanessa Bernard, a university student in Paris, said she hoped the law would address the intimidation that many French women feel when faced with harassment. In France, she said, "a woman is considered more like an object."

Guenifi listed acts that would draw the most lenient, one-year punishment, including repeated gestures, discourse, or other sexually suggestive actions intended to create a hostile or intimidating environment.

"All that, and one year of prison?" she asked. "It's scandalous, truly scandalous."

Vallaud-Belkacem acknowledged a vast disparity in sentencing for theft, which can draw a sentence of up to four years, and said the quick timetable meant that broader issues of justice might have to wait.

"You don't have time to deal with that sort of thing when you're facing as urgent a situation as we are with sexual harassment."

Year Of The Woman At The London Games? For Americans, It's True

Another Olympics-related article, this time about our amazing American women who are owning these Olympics!

(The original article from NPR is linked in the title.)

Year Of The Woman At The London Games? For Americans, It's True

by BILL CHAPPELL



The U.S. women's soccer team won gold yesterday, in a victory that also kept the American women far ahead of the men in the number of medals won at the London Games: 100 to 59.

Every nation who sent a delegation to the London Games sent at least one female athlete — a first for the Olympics. This year's Team USA has more female than male athletes — and the women have won nearly twice as many medals: 100 total medals, by my count, to 59 for the men.

So yes, it looks like this is the Year Of The Woman at the Olympics, particularly for the United States.

A glance at the medals board shows that while Michael Phelps sits atop the standings with six medals (four gold), the other golden boy of U.S. swimming, Ryan Lochte, was outperformed by Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt. And while all three of those swimmers have won five medals, Franklin took four golds, and Allison three, to Lochte's two.

We've noted that Saudi Arabia sent female athletes to the 2012 Games — and that they made history by representing their country in the judo and track categories. That's a milestone for the Olympics, which strongly urged nations that don't usually send women to the games to give female athletes a chance to participate this summer.

By contrast, the U.S. team sent more women than men to Britain for the 2012 Summer Games — 268 women to 261 men, for a total of 530 athletes. And the American women cover the full age spectrum, from the oldest — Karen O'Connor, 54 — to the youngest, gold medalist Katie Ledecky, 15.

Compare that to 2008, when the U.S. sent 596 athletes to Beijing. That team was composed of 310 men and 286 women. For 2012, the shift can partly be explained by soccer and field hockey. The American women are competing in both of those events, while their male counterparts are not.

Still, it's possible that Team USA is at the leading edge of a trend. The International Olympic Committee said yesterday that 44 percent of the athletes competing in London are women. As the AP reports, as recently as the 1984 Los Angeles Games, "women made up only 24 percent of participants."

But the American women are doing far more than showing up, there to balance the numbers and make the Olympics feel inclusive. They're winning — pulling in medals hand over fist.

And as a result, some folks have even been forgetting to add "women's" before saying "soccer" or "beach volleyball" when discussing those sports. That's how completely the American women's teams have come to be identified with them. We can only wonder if that will ever happen in boxing, where Claressa Shields won the sole U.S. gold medal in the sport.

So, the American women have proven that they belong among the world's elite athletes. What'll happen to all these great athletes when they come home? Women's pro sports leagues have struggled in the U.S. — witness the flameout of the Women's Professional Soccer league, even after the U.S. women's team won fans with their dramatic 2011 World Cup run.

But all may not be lost for America's accomplished female athletes — they can try to capitalize on their good showing, and pay for their training, by signing endorsement deals. And there, they may have an edge over male Olympians.

"Women make a lot more than men do" in the endorsement game, said Evan Morgenstein, CEO of PMG Sports, in an interview on Marketplace this week.

"I've always been able to make female athletes that have basically all the skill sets, accomplishments, the looks that you need for Madison Avenue to fall in love with you... make them two or three times what a male athlete with a similar type of accomplishment would make," he told Kai Ryssdal.

"Easily," Morgenstein added. "And that happens only in the Olympics."

Expecting More

(Sports Illustrated)

With all the talk and controversy about new Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer taking over the job in the middle of her pregnancy, here's a great story about Malaysian Olympic shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi, who is believed to be the most pregnant Olympian ever.

Mohd Taibi, who according to the following Washington Post article is 8 months pregnant with her first child, competed in the women's 10-meter air rifle at the London 2012 Olympics, and finished 34th out of 56.  Although she did not medal, she showed some perseverance, grit, and true determination, even having to block out her unborn daughter kicking during the qualifying round.

Congratulations to Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi on being an Olympian, and best of luck when her daughter is born, which is likely next month!

(The text of the article is here, and the original article is linked in the title.)

"Pregnant Olympian gets no medal, but will someday tell daughter of their London Games together

By Associated Press, Published: July 28

LONDON — Pregnant Olympic shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi didn’t win a medal, but she still will have quite a story to tell her daughter someday about their experience together at the London Games.

The Malaysian finished 34th out of 56 shooters in the women’s 10-meter air rifle on Saturday — all the more remarkable considering that the baby was kicking “three or four times” during the 75-minute qualifying round in which she was firing at a bulls-eye the size of a coin from 10 meters away.

“It didn’t put me off. I told her, ‘Behave yourself, be a good girl, be calm, and don’t move so much,’” Mohd Taibi said.

Did she listen?

“Yep, she always listens to me,” the 29-year-old mother-to-be said.

In less than seven weeks, if all goes well, she will give birth back home. On Saturday, Mohd Taibi was just glad she did not go into labor.

“I just prayed that I could get to a labor room in time,” she said. “I would accept it with an open heart. I am not a normal Mummy doing everything slowly.”

Mohd Taibi learned she was pregnant just days after qualifying for London. She and her husband have already named the girl Dayana Widyan, who is due on Sept. 13.

“I hope she’ll take part in sports,” Mohd Taibi said. “My blood is in her. Maybe she’ll be better than me.”

The gold medal was won by Yi Siling of China. Unheralded Polish soldier Sylwia Bogacka won the silver and Yu Dan of China earned the bronze. China became the first team since 1988 to have two medalists in the event.

“I did my best, but the range got the best of me today,” Mohd Taibi said. “My dream came true. I got to take part in the Olympics.”"

Affordable Care Act Preventive Benefits For Women: 13 Things You Need To Know

I am very glad that today, August 1st is the first day that the Affordable Care Act benefits for women such as no co-pays for birth control and pap smears among many other things begin. I have always paid for birth control, but admit it was a  struggle even with insurance as my co-pay was $40 a month, $30 with a coupon I have had for the last year.  The following is an article I found that lays out exactly what is covered. It mentions that if your plan was not renewed or doesn't begin after 8/1/12 you may not see these benefits for months. Since my plan was renewed like I am sure many others at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1st I wonder when I will see the benefits.

Huffington Post, Posted: 08/01/2012 11:13 am Updated: 08/01/2012 11:27 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/affordable-care-act-no-copay-rule_n_1724167.html?utm_hp_ref=women&ir=Women&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009#slide=1312813

In theory, your health comes before everything else, and and there are few things more worth your money than the costs to maintain it. In theory. Before today, nearly half of American women between the ages of 19 and 64 avoided doctor visits and medical services because they didn't want to pay for them, a 2010 Commonwealth Fund survey revealed. However, new measures that come into effect on August 1 under the Affordable Care Act could change that statistic.

While there's still a ways to go before all women have unencumbered access to preventive benefits like contraception, STI testing and breastfeeding support, several important procedures and services are available to many insured women free of charge (that's right -- no copay or cost-sharing) starting today.

Under the new rules, eight services -- identified for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the Institute of Medicine -- join 14 other preventive services for women (such as mammograms and cervical cancer screenings) that have been covered under the Affordable Care Act since September, 2010. A report cited by Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a blog for HuffPost this week says the new measure should bring preventive services to 47 million women. Ryan Gosling has yet to comment.