We’ve posted in the past about stereotypes about Africa. For instance, Binyavanga Wainaina’s video describes common tropes used when non-Africans write about Africa, while Chimamanda Adichie discusses the problem with the limited narratives we hear about African people and nations.

In another great example of challenging such stereotypes, Dolores sent us a video in which four young men highlight common portrayals of Africans — and specifically, African men — in movies. It’s really great:

Via Colorlines.

(View original at http://bit.ly/emqTOV)

Abortion is highly politicized in the U.S. (more so than in many other countries) and the fight between those who are in favor of and against available abortion occurs on two fronts.  One is familiar to just about everyone: the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, the legislation Supreme Court decision that established the legality of abortion in 1973.

The second front, though, is less familiar.  It involves reducing the ease of access to legal abortion. Efforts to increase barriers to accessing legal abortion include passing laws that require minors to notify their parents of an abortion or get their consent, requiring mandatory counseling for abortion-seekers, instituting waiting periods, and discouraging medical schools from teaching abortion procedures.  Some of the issues of diminishing access are non-movement related; others are the direct result of pro-life activism.

I bring this up in order to focus on an additional barrier to access: a reduction in the number of clinics and hospitals that provide abortions.  The map below, based on data from the Guttmacher Institute and compiled by ANSIRH, shows how availability varies by state.  In the darkest states, up to 20% of women live in a county with no abortion provider; in the lightest states, between 81 and 100% percent do.

Living far from the nearest abortion provider is a problem especially for low-income women.  Such women are less likely to have an employer who will give her a day off to travel to the clinic, less likely to get a paid sick day, and less likely to be able to afford to lose even a single day’s wages.  She is also less likely to have a car, making it more difficult to get to a distant location, and less likely to have reliable day care for any existing children.  If the state requires in-person counseling and has a waiting period, it means that the woman must take two days off, travel to and from the clinic twice, and arrange for child care on multiple days.

Reduction in the availability of abortion does not necessarily reduce the number of abortions.  We recently posted global data showing that less liberal abortion laws actually correlate with higher rates of abortion.  The data below, also from Guttmacher, show that were abortion laws are less liberal (largely in developing countries), the rate of abortion is 34/1,000 women oer year, compared to 39/1,000 in developed countries (the difference may look significant here, but imagine how trivial it would look if the horizontal axis went all the way to it’s true maximum of 1,000):

Guttmacher explains that the relevant variable isn’t availability of abortion, but the unintended pregnancy rate (which is surprisingly high in the U.S.).

Barriers to accessing abortion, then, don’t lower the abortion rate.  They do, however, increase the likelihood that an abortion procedure will occur later in pregnancy and guarantee a greater logistic burden on the pregnant woman.

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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

(View original at http://bit.ly/emqTOV)

Last year we posted Anita Sarkeesian’s great discussion of the manic pixie dream girl trope.  The manic pixie is a female side character who, through her whimsical approach to life, “helps the male main character find himself, love life again, or overcome some obstacle.”  Think Natalie Portman in Garden State.

Anyhow, I came across a skit making fun of the trope by taking the manic pixie to its logical conclusion, titled “Welcome to the State Home for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.”  Yep, it’s a state-run institution for the charming but totally helpless, perhaps-mentally-challenged not-so-dream girl.  I’m putting it up here because it’s quite funny, but I also like how it deconstructs a version of ideal femininity, revealing it to be rather impractical indeed.

Film by Natural Disastronauts. Found via BoingBoing. If anyone finds a transcript, please send it along and we’ll put it up.

Transcript, by Trellany J. Evans, after the jump:

State Home Administrator: Hi there! I’m so sorry that I kept you waiting. You must be–

Kyle: Kyle. We spoke on the phone.

State Home Administrator: Yes. Hello Kyle. *Turns to Katie* You must be Katie.

Katie: *Blows a kiss to the administrator*

State Home Administrator: Oh. *Catches the kiss*

Kyle: *Holds up the end of the headphone cable*

Katie: I like to listen to the songs in my head.

Kyle: *Gently sobs* I’m sorry. God, I’m sorry. I just..

State Home Administrator: It’s quite alright.

Katie: I paid the cab driver in buttons!

State Home Administrator: Well, why don’t I show you two around the facilities.

Kyle: *Continues to gently sob*

State Home Administrator: *Hands Katie’s husband a tissue*

Kyle: *Sobbing* Thank you.

State Home Administrator: It’s going to be okay.

State Home Administrator: When did you first suspect you were dating a manic pixie dream girl?

Kyle: Everything seemed so perfect at first. You know. She was cute, but also quirky and awkward. On our first date, she said she wanted pancakes for dinner. So adorable!

*The Shins begin to play as Katie and Kyle star at each other*

Katie: *Touches Kyle’s nose* Boop!

Kyle: We danced in the rain to the music in our hearts. I felt alive. But then after a few months, I started to realize she was eating pancakes for every meal. She can’t feed herself. She can’t pay bills. She just marvels at the wonder of every moment. I mean every moment! We got married in a fucking bouncy castle! *Sighs* Should I get here?

State Home Administrator: Oh, no. It’s alright. She can wander.

*Security guard mimics Katie’s movements*

State Home Administrator: We have excellent security.

*Security guard and administrator give each other a thumb’s *

State Home Administrator: I’m going to be honest with you Kyle, your wife’s case is sever.

Kyle: *Begins to sob again and pull his hoodie up*

State Home Administrator: But, as you can see, our facilities are designed to help girls like Katie function in… Oh, for the love of–

*Man in a hoodie walks in *

State Home Administrator: *Confronts the man* Out! Out! For the last time, she is here for her own good.

*Kyle takes his hoodie off*

Man: She’s such a  free spirit.

State Home Administrator: Yes, I know sir, but she is really very sick.

Man: She listens to the Smiths.

State Home Administrator: They all listen to the Smiths, sir!

Man: Okay, okay, um, I made a mix CD.

*The Manic Pixie Dream Girls start staring the man*

State Home Administrator: I will make sure she gets it.

Man: Okay, I’m writing a play right now. I’m in the middle of the first act and she’s–

State Home Administrator: Okay.

Man: She’s my muse.

State Home Administrator: *Turns to Kyle* Sorry about that.

*Manic Pixie Dream Girls begin staring at the administrator*

State Home Administrator: *Throws the mix CD in the trash and leads Kyle out* It’s best not to watch.

*Manic Pixie Dream Girls rush towards the trash can to retrieve the mix CD*

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 1: Do you think it’s ever possible to ever be truly in the moment?

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 2: The Native American’s believed everything is alive

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 3: This is real pixie dust

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 2: Even this marker!

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 3: from the wings of a pixie.

Manic Pixie Dream Girl 4: This should be a game where you, like, put this thing, like, here and then you can make a Jolly Rancher pass right through it.

Katie: I told him “The best place to see the night sky is laying in the middle of the street.” It’s the flattest place there is!

Kyle: She does seem happy.

State Home Administrator: Happy as she can be, I suppose.

* Manic Pixie Dream Girls look outside as it starts to rain, then look at the administrator for approval*

State Home Administrator: Yes. It’s okay. Go ahead.

* Manic Pixie Dream Girls run outside and dance in slow motion to the Shins*

Kyle: How do they do that?

State Home Administrator: We don’t really know. The cause of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Condition is still only dimly understood. Although my own theory is sever retardation of the brain. Excuse me, if I don’t go out there they drown.

(View original at http://bit.ly/emqTOV)