differenceblog, posts by tag: legal - LiveJournal

In the United States, the earliest record of a woman legally voting goes back to 1756, when Lydia Taft was allowed to vote in three town meetings as a proxy for her deceased husband. Wyoming territory allowed women to vote in 1869, and Utah in 1870. According to Sister-Wives and Suffragists (Van Wagenen 2001), Utah women were disenfranchised by the federal government after voting in favor of polygamy. Amendment XIX (1920) granted women were granted national suffrage, as immortalized in Schoolhouse Rock

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers has many fact sheets about differences in voting patterns between men and women over the past few decades. The U.S. Census Bureau found that 60.1% of women (vs. 56.3% men) voted in 2004 (CAWP 2005). In fact, a higher percentage of women than men voted in every U.S. presidential election since 1980.

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Well, I've voted more often since becoming a man, but that's fairly attributable to other factors influencing voter turnout (Census 2004): my age, income, and education have all increased substantially over the past 5 years. In fact, I'm fairly sure that my age has increased by somewhere in the 7-10 year range. How much is five in tranny years?

Yes, I voted in the primaries today. I realize that not all of my readers are in the U.S., and that those who are may still not have any voting to do today. But if you do: do. The weather in Boston is pretty wretched. I think this means my vote is worth more today than it ever has been before.

It is a common misconception that prostitution is legal in Las Vegas; a misconception that certain aspects of the tourist industry promote. In fact, while Nevada is the only state in the U.S. with legal prostitution, according to Wikipedia, it is only legal in counties with a population of under 400,000 (approximately the size of Miami, Florida), and not in major cities.

Brents and Hausbeck (2005) interviewed workers in Nevada brothels to determine the prevalence of, and prevention measures against, risks to workers and communities in this context, and conclude that legalization decreases risk of interpersonal violence, damage to the community, and transmission of disease (all three being factors that the authors define as types of violence). Interestingly, Albert et al (1995) found that Nevadan sex workers reported much lower rates of condom failure than the general population, suggesting that practice and familiarity are a major factor in the efficacy of this method of prevention.

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According to the The Nevada Brothels website: "couples and single women are welcome at Brothels" -- however, the workers available are all female. Male prostitutes for female clients are still a futuristic dream. "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss has been talking about opening an all-male, heterosexual brothel since at least 2005 (Las Vegas Weekly). Why the brothel would be exclusive heterosexual is unclear, since Nevada's sodomy laws were repealed in 1993. It is also unclear how Fleiss's workers would be able to provide the state-required "weekly cervical sample." An HBO documentary on the opening of the "Stud Farm" is apparently in the works, according to the New York Blade (4/20/2007)

Dan4th is on vacation. This post was created in advance.

Who holds women back in the workplace more: men or women? Judith Sills' column (2006) in Psychology Today claims that women often feel their "worst enemy" in the workplace is another woman; Sills calls it "a common survey finding" and offers advice on how to deal with workplace competition between women. Garcia-Retamero and López-Zafra (2006) found more discrimination against women leaders from women than from men, although blogger Robert May at Business Pundit complains about the lack of "solid evidence" in this study.

Ramit Mizrahi's (2004) note in the Yale Law Journal asserts that female-on-female harassment is not only common, but does qualify as sex-based discrimination under the Civil Rights Act (see also Mizrahi, 2004). However, Berkley and Watt's (2006) review suggests that same-sex workplace harrassment is not covered under current statutes, and that further action is necessary to protect GLBT employees (admittedly a separate issue).

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I've heard many women complain about the pressure to join the old-boy's-network to gain acceptance in the workplace. When I was working as a female, I certainly wanted to be associated with the males I worked with more than the females, but I'm hardly good example in this circumstance. Working as a man, in a mostly female department, I've felt perhaps too supported by my bosses, and I sometimes worry that my progress may have more to do with my presenting gender than with the quality of my work.