A Crash Course in Feminism Mk. II (or, why everyone should be a feminist)

[Mr Mystery]

So, how does your National Health Care work?

Oh that's right, you don't have any, not really. Because apparently Socialism (you know, actually getting something out of your taxes beyond a bloated military) is evil and wrong. And not, you know, a sign of a mature society that likes to make sure it's populace are looked after.

And tell me, exactly what liberties are being stripped away from me in the UK? Just like you, I can do pretty much whatever within the law. We're also left largely to our own devices on enjoyable stuff like booze and smokes. Oh, and my civil liberties aren't campaigned against by fringe religious lunatics, at least not terribly successfully. IF one of our leaders claimed 'GOD TOLD ME TO DO IT' they'd be out of power and in the nut house where the belong. Not re-elected.

[Kirsten]

don't be silly Mystery, guns make everybody happier, safer, and more free.

Supreme Court rules JC Penny allowed to sacrifice employees to Cthulhu

[url]http://www.moonmontchronicle.com/supreme-court-rules-jcpenney-allowed-to-sacrifice-employees-to-appease-cthulhu.html[/url]

[Mr Mystery]

Oh, and in the UK, we can cross the road wherever we bloody well like, because we're treated like grown ups. No pointless jay-walking laws over here, thank you very much.

[eldargal]

Harbinger is right from a legal point of view. No one is being forced to do anything they don't agree with or stopped from doing anything. As far as the law is concerned, that is fair and right. Whether it is morally fair is a different matter entirely and boils down to whether by denying them access to it on healthcare, hoody lobby is effectively restricting their rights as they otherwise could not afford it.

Except he isn't, women are being denied control over their own medical insurance which is provided to them as part of their remuneration for employment.

Myth #1: Employers were being forced to pay for contraception, and people should pay for it themselves.
Let me show you how health insurance benefits work.
Let’s say a company has $100 dollars which they will use to compensate their employee in various ways. They’ll give $50 directly to the employee in cold, hard cash, $10 will go into a retirement or savings account, and $40 will go towards health insurance benefits (These numbers are made up to illustrate a point, so just work with me for a minute). It’s all part of an employee’s compensation. Employer provided healthcare is very common in the United States because consumers can usually get cheaper healthcare when they go into together in large groups, and so employers often group all of their employees together in a group, purchase a healthcare plan, and use the size of their group to negotiate better rates.
People use their health insurance benefits in many different ways. Some people need allergy medication, some people need hip-replacement surgery, and some people need insulin. The health insurance plans handle all of those individual transactions. But now, thanks to Hobby Lobby, closely held corporations can say, “Actually, we don’t want the insurer to provide these forms of birth control. So don’t pay for them.”
Sure, the employee has $50 in cold hard cash, but that cash is already being used to pay for rent, food, clothes, and health care (because you still have to pay a co-pay out of pocket for a lot of care). Many people simply can’t afford to buy that birth control out-of-pocket (that stuff is EXPENSIVE).
They were promised a health plan worth about 40% of their total compensation that would provide for their medical needs, including birth control. But those companies aren’t providing their employees with birth control or an extra bonus in cash now that they won’t provide those methods of birth control. Therefore, their employees are being unfairly denied their compensation.
This is not a person of faith being forced to pay for birth control. This is a company providing compensation to an employee, and the employee choosing to spend that compensation on their medical needs. If a company isn’t allowed to determine how I spend my paycheck, it shouldn’t be allowed to determine how I use my health insurance.
Myth #2: This decision only impacted a few forms of birth control. It’s not a big deal.
Nope, nope, nope. The Supreme Court didn’t just say that excluding those forms of birth control was okay. They established a legal precedent which could have devastating long term consequences.
First of all, this won’t just affect Hobby Lobby. 90% of all corporations in the U.S. are “closely held,” and they employ about 52% of the American workforce. Millions of Americans could be denied the birth control they need.
And we’re not just talking about a few forms of birth control. The Supreme Court has ordered several appeals courts to review cases in which employers object to all forms of birth control using the Hobby Lobby decision. Their legal precedent may allow some companies to refuse to provide all forms of birth control to their employees.
Furthermore, this decision could affect a myriad of things beyond birth control. The decision specifically says that their reasoning wouldn’t apply to things like blood transfusions and vaccinations, which some religious individuals oppose, but gave no particular reason why not. A future court could decide this distinction is arbitrary and allow employers to refuse to provide these services too.
The court also said this decision wouldn’t necessarily allow employers to discriminate against employees based on race, but what about sexual orientation or gender identity? The Hobby Lobby decision could provide the legal justification for 90% of corporations employing 52% of the workforce to request an exemption from non-discrimination protections by claiming those protections are against their religious beliefs.
I agree with Justice Ginsburg, the majority decision stepped into a legal minefield.

[URL="http://feministbatwoman.tumblr.com/post/90607092937/whovianfeminism-i-have-very-tenuously-tied-my"]Source[/URL]. By allowing a company to not provide something though medical insurance if they have a religious objection to it women are being denied those things.

[eldargal]

The International e-Sports Federation has decided the best way to be taken seriously as a sporting organisation is to [URL="http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/02/hearthstone-tournament/"]arbitrarily ban women from competitively playing certain games[/URL], which in turn means lots of smaller tournaments can't allow women to enter when part of the prize consists of being placed in a larger tournament.

[Psychosplodge]

They aren't a company. They are people who own a company. If you start up a business does that negate your personhood?

In relation to things actions concerning the company thats exactly the point a company.
A company removes the responsibility and liability from the person.
So why should a person then still apply their lifestyle choice to employees of the company?
They are taking the benefits but not living up to the responsibilities.

The International e-Sports Federation has decided the best way to be taken seriously as a sporting organisation is to [URL="http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/02/hearthstone-tournament/"]arbitrarily ban women from competitively playing certain games[/URL], which in turn means lots of smaller tournaments can't allow women to enter when part of the prize consists of being placed in a larger tournament.

That makes absolutely no sense. E-sports are the very definition of an even playing field.

[eldargal]

Yup, the actual breakdown is:

Male Competition: Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV
Female Competition: Starcraft 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2

They gave this response:

"1 - promoting female players. We know that e-Sports is largely dominated by male players and females players are actually a portion of the overall player base. By hosting a female-only competition, we strive to promote female gaming on a global scale.

"2 - International standards. IeSF is very close to get e-Sports recognized as a true sports like it should be. Part of that efforts is to comply with the international sports regulations. For example, chess is also divided into male / female leagues."

Except as the article points out there is no female Hearthstone, Dota or Street Fighter competition under their system so they can't promote female players and female participation.

Also when you create a two tier system like this it ALWAYS ends with the womens league being neglected. The way to go is to have one league and a zero tolerance approach to harassment and sexism to make it as safe as possible for women to participate.

To their credit they have said they are listening to the feedback on their facebook page so if they turn around and just have one league for each game it would reflect well on their sincerity and whatnot.

[Psychosplodge]

Yeah I read the article its just BS. Real sport will never take eSport seriously.

If the system ****s you you might as well **** the system

So stoked about the Hobby Lobby ruling today. Officially going to incorporate myself so I can get a religious exemption for my student loans debt they violate my deeply held religious conviction that all debts are supposed to be forgiven every seven years, as per the book of Deuteronomy.

[Morgrim]

I can actually argue that since my faith says the world population is unsustainable and I am not allowed to bring fresh life into it until I can support that life, that a company banning contraception is directly infringing on my religious beliefs. I wonder how that would fly? I suspect despite it being true I'd stand no chance, because I'm not christian and only christians get laws made in their favour. Seriously, as much I hate Cromwell there are times I think he had the right idea of how to treat a churchian monopoly.

[Mr Mystery]

I fully support Earthanasia.

We're a universally unpleasant species. Let's just follow it all through to the logical conclusion and do ourselves, en masse. It's bound to happen sooner or later.