Women

Use for general womens’ issues

France Outlaws Paying for Sex

French prostitutes (The Independent UK)

Earlier this month, France made a major move: The country has now made paying for sex illegal.

If someone is caught paying for sex, they’ll be fined up to $1.7K for a first offense, and up to $4.2K+ for a second time. The offender may also be required to attend classes on sex workers’ conditions.

France isn’t the only country to pass a measure of this kind, or even the first: The country follows in the footsteps of the U.K., Sweden, Iceland, and Norway.

Advocates of the new ban claim that this will help sex workers get out of the trade. But sex workers are opposing this new measure, reasoning that it will expose them to more violence.

It’s estimated that France has between 20K to 40K sex workers. (Naturally, it’s difficult to get an accurate count.)

How Many Couples Wait Until Marriage to Have Sex?

Russell Wilson and Ciara (Wenner Media)

Last month, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson proposed to singer Ciara. While this narrative isn’t uncommon (professional athlete gets with professional singer), one thing about their courtship has stuck out: Wilson and Ciara (I’d use her last name here if she used it herself) abstained from sex during their courtship. And they were loud and clear about it.

You may think this example is an outlier. So how many couples wait until marriage to have sex?

A 2006 study by the Guttmacher Institute took data from the National Survey of Family Growth from 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002. Around 40K+ subjects ages 15-44 were asked about their sex lives. In 2002, around 95% reported having premarital sex (shocker <– sarcasm right here.) So that’d be around 5% who reported staying virgins til marriage. But this is all self-reported data, so I can’t tell if answers were blinded or not. (Respondents might lie if their answers aren’t blinded.)

This is a upswing from back in the day, but not a total shock. Dr. Alfred Kinsey tackled this same question in his seminal works, 1948’s “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” and 1953’s “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.” He found that 67-98% of men had had premarital sex, “depending on socioeconomic level” (I would love to know what that means!), with 68% losing it before turning 18. Women fell into a 50-50 split of whether they’d had premarital sex or not. (This kind of turns the prudish ’50s narrative on its ass, doesn’t it?)

Even thought we have some data, it’s difficult to predict the numbers of virgins-til-marriage completely accurately if the numbers are all self-reported. Some might not self-report accurately due to shame or any number of factors. That being said, nothing wrong with their decision to wait.

Five Women File Class Action Suit to Lift New York’s Tampon Tax

Tampon (Salon)

Did you know that a tampon tax exists? No? A lot of people don’t. Thankfully, that’s about to change.

The “tampon tax” is a sales tax applied to feminine hygiene needs (tampons and pads). Many states have one in place, and it’s been proven to really add up over time (especially since the average women menstruates for around 37 years).

Right now, women aren’t going to take it any more. Five women in New York have filed a class-action lawsuit against commissioner Jerry Boone and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Their stance is that feminine hygiene products aren’t classified as medical use, and so are relegated to the 4% sales tax.

The lawsuit also models the amount of money women are spending through this tax:

According to the lawsuit, women spend on average more than $70 a year on tampons and pads, and women who menstruate constitute more than one-quarter of New York state’s 20 million population. The plaintiffs estimate that the state collects around $14 million in taxes by imposing a four percent sales tax on tampons and pads, less than one-hundredth of one percent of the state’s annual budget of $142 billion.

And the five women bringing the lawsuit aren’t the only ones who think the tax should be outlawed:

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that the tax should be repealed. Earlier this year, Manhattan Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal introduced a bill seeking to end the state’s taxation on tampons and pads.

It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes to affect change in this area.

How Common are Transgender Siblings?

Lana Wachowski (Slate)

The Wachowski brothers are now the Wachowski sisters.

The directing duo, known for 1999’s “The Matrix” and 2015’s “Jupiter Ascending, have each gone through their own transitions to become transwomen. Lana (formerly known as Larry) began her transition in 2012, and Lilly (formerly known as Andy) was recently reported to have been transitioning.

This high-profile occurrence begs the question: How common are transgender siblings?

I wasn’t able to find any hard data on this. My guess is that it’s pretty rare, so there probably haven’t been any studies devoted to it. There are some numbers around twins transitioning (both identical and fraternal pairs), but that wouldn’t apply to the Wachowskis. But when and/or if the scientific community gets around to studying this phenomenon, I’ll be curious to see the numbers.

Lilly Wachowski Comes Out as a Transwoman

Lilly Wachowski (Slashfilm)

Earlier this month, another transwoman made her debut: Lilly Wachowski, formerly known as Andy Wachowski. Her debut comes four years after her brother Larry (now known as Lana) began her transition.

The Wachowskis are high-profile directors who debuted with “The Matrix” in 1999.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Banned in Nigeria

Nigerian girl (Higher Perspectives)

Last fall, Nigeria became the first country to officially ban female genital mutilation (FGM). Previously, certain states had outlawed the practice. Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan signed the bill into a law before he left office.

The United Nations banned FGM in 2012.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 125M+ women have been victims of the practice across the world. Nigeria has traditionally had one of the highest rates of FGM, accounting for 25% of cases worldwide.

FGM is used as a way to control a woman’s sexuality. The practice can result in any medical complications, including affecting fertility.

No Shit: Entertainment Isn’t Diverse: By The Numbers

Hollywood sign (Mapping Megan)

A new study released this week by the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism once again stated the obvious: Entertainment isn’t diverse.

If you don’t want to read the full report (though I’d recommend it), here are some choice stats:

Percentage of female speaking roles in film: 28.7%

Percentage of female film directors: 3.4%

Percentage of female screenwriters: 28.9%

Percentage of cable TV shows that have no Asian characters: 51%

Percentage of cable TV shows that have no Black characters: 23%

Still not convinced the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag is needed?

#ThrowbackThursday: Lupita Nyong’o, Oscars 2014

Lupita Nyong’o Oscar acceptance, 2014 (CBS News)

The Oscars are this weekend (Sunday, Feb. 28). If you’ve been following awards season this year, you know that the #OscarsSoWhite reared its ugly head again. This is the second year in a row that there have been no non-white nominees in the four acting categories. Shameful isn’t a strong enough word.

So I’m throwing it back to the last time we had a non-white winner in an acting category. That was back in 2014, at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. Lupita Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress for her role in 2013’s “12 Years A Slave.” She’s both the most recent POC nominee and winner.

And because I couldn’t choose just one photo of Nyong’o, here’s another one that showcases her incredible Prada dress:

Lupita Nyong’o backstage at the Oscars, 2014 (Fiction Diversity WordPress)

How Many Asian Actors Have Been Nominated for Oscars?

Yul Brynner in ‘The King and I,’ 1956 (Gold Derby)

The Oscars are this weekend (Sunday, Feb. 28th), and the big controversy this year has centered around the lack of non-white acting nominees (and continues last year’s #OscarsSoWhite hashtag). But when talked about in detail, the conversation has seemed to focus more on including Black nominees and narratives. And that’s great! But there are a wealth of other races and ethnicities that need to be included in the conversation and given a place at the table.

This led me to wonder: how many Asian acting nominees and winners have there been in the history of the Academy Awards? Spoiler alert: not all that many, sadly.

The Best Actor category has seen the most Asian men win the award: Yul Brynner in 1956, and Ben Kingsley in 1982. These two men comprise two-thirds of the category’s Asian nominees.

Actress Merle Oberon was the first Asian nominated for any Oscar, and the first nominated for Best Actress. (The category was called “Best Lead Actress” when she was nominated in 1935.) She remains the sole Asian woman nominee of the category.

Of the seven Asian men who received Best Supporting Actor nominations spanning 1957 to 2003, only one has won: Haing S. Ngor in 1984. Six Asian women have received Best Supporting Actress nominations, but only one has won: Miyoshi Umeki in 1957.

Considering that these categories have five nominees each, and the Academy Awards have been occurring since 1930, this nominations/wins-to-visibility ratio is…fucking pathetic.

I really hope this year teaches the Academy a lesson, and we’ll begin to see more diverse characters and stories not just on screen, but materially validated by the old guard as well.

How Common is Intimate Partner Violence?

James Deen and Stoya (The Guardian UK)

Late last year, adult film star James Deen was accused of rape by his former girlfriend, fellow adult film star Stoya. Other performers later came forward to accuse Deen of sexual assault, but Stoya’s two tweets on Nov. 28, 2015, started Deen’s downfall: He’s since been dropped from one major studio.

Rape can be part of a larger pattern of intimate partner violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), intimate partner violence “comprises 15% of all violence crimes,” and women ages 18-24 are most likely to be “abused by an intimate partner.” In addition, 46%+ of women raped are raped by an acquaintance. Of this number, 45%+ of women are raped by an intimate partner. These are scary stats.

As of 2014, women ages 18-24 comprise 4.8% of the total population.As of the 2010 Census, women comprised 50.8% of the total population, or 156.9M+ residents. We can estimate that the current number of women in this age group who’ve been raped by an acquaintance might shake out to 155K+.

Here’s the math:

156,964,212 *.0048 = 753,429 (estimate of women ages 18-24 as of 2014)
753,429 * .46 = 346,578 (estimate of number of women in that age range raped by an acquaintance)
346,578 * .45 = 155,961 (estimate of number of women ages 18-24 raped by an intimate partner)

Obviously, this isn’t an exact estimate, due to a couple of reasons: self-reporting (not all women will probably report rape/violence), and inaccurate data (using both 2010 and 2014 numbers).

Scary, right? Unfortunately, this is the reality, so take care of yourselves.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.