Welcome to the December edition of the Carnival of Feminist Parenting! There are over thirty posts and articles featured this month and it seems like a lot, but I promise they are absolutely all worth reading. There haven’t been many submissions from other people this month so I’ll ask again – pretty please with a cherry on top, don’t forget to submit the feminist parenting related posts and articles you find over the coming month. With that said, on with the carnival!

Reproductive Freedom

• Quixote kicks us off with a post spurred by the USian Stupak Amendment, explaining why abortion rights are so important, and discussing the implications of the removal of bodily autonomy.

• Robin Marty asks Will the Stupak Amendment Affect Insurance Coverage for Miscarriages? talking about the consequences of removing health cover for abortions, and how that will affect women having miscarriages.

• Sungold writes about how the Stupak Amendment hurts women’s health, considering the health risks of pregnancy and childbirth, and the need for women to be able to choose to take those risks.

• Linda Keenan asks Why are Mothers of Many Irked By Parents Who Are “One and Done?” examining the behaviour of people who feel it is their right to poke at the personal lives of others.

Education

• Deborah writes No sex please – we’re Catholic, talking about the Catholic church’s opposition to full and proper sex education in schools.

Children’s Rights and Mothers’ Rights

• Amanda Marcotte writes about the ten-year-old girl who was Tasered for not taking a shower and considers the reasons that society, particular right wing parts of it in particular, oppose children’s personhood.

• Renegade Parent has a post titled What? taking apart an article by a person complaining about children on aeroplanes, and talking about the wider ideas behind children’s rights.

• Lynn Harris writes about how everybody hates mommy, discussing society’s apparent hatred of children and parents, and especially of mothers.

Birth

• Sarah Clark writes a post examining the Pretty Pushers “A Dressed Up Delivery” Gift Set, a sort of ‘birthing beauty kit’, and talks about why it’s ridiculous and unnecessary.

• Spilt Milk had a comment from the owner/creator of ‘Pretty Pushers’ and writes back to her explaining to her exactly how and why her product is problematic.

• Logan Murphy wrote an article about the AZ woman who was forced to give birth in shackles by Sheriff Arpaio, who then ordered the baby to be taken away from its mother. Horrifying stuff, but sadly not rare.

• Jill has a post about Criticizing Birth, talking about some of the reactions to the recent ‘internet live birth’ and asking that people lay off the judgement when it comes to other women’s births.

• Sarah has a post called You Were Raped, But Let’s Talk About My Sex Life, discussing birth rape/trauma denial, and setting out some tips for people engaging with someone who has experienced it.

• Kenzie reminds us not to forget who actually delivers the baby, following a news report about a “super fast unintended homebirth” which talks about the two men who ‘delivered the baby’ with no mention of the mother.

News and Media

• Katy Wingrove writes about her trip to Thailand, discussing how “the media pervades”, after seeing children in a small village wearing Disney princess and Hello Kitty clothing.

• Morra Aarons Mele has a post up about the case of Alexis Hutchinson, “the 21 year old Army Specialist who did not show up for her deployment to Afghanistan because she had no one to care for her 10 month old baby”.

Books

• Veronica has written a review of Pink Brain, Blue Brain by Lise Eliot, a new book which explores “a much debated issue – are girls and boys fundamentally different?”

• Viv Groskop has an article in the Guardian about feminist books for five-year-olds, talking about her ‘stereotyping intervention’ and reviewing some children’s books with verdicts from her son and daughter.

• An ‘Other’ Mother wrote A Feminist Review of Parenting Literature, lamenting “the lack of useful feminist parenting books” and taking a look at what’s on offer.

Race

• Cheryl Lynn writes A Girl Like Me, inspired by the video of the same name. She explores her own childhood fascination with white dolls despite being a child of colour, and the implications of this.

Gender Stereotyping

• May Carolan writes about the Emergency Learning Emergency, discussing the ELC’s insistence on gender stereotyping and ‘pinkification’ of toys, and calling for a boycott.

• Gwen writes about a toy website which shows girls playing with ‘boys’ toys, discussing why these images are surprising and questioning why there are no similar images of boys ‘transgressing gender’.

• Ariane has a post asking why relationships don’t matter for boys, inspired by a recent article about bullying, and discusses the different ways boys and girls are taught to deal with their problems.

• Jennifer Holladay has a post titled Gender in the Fast Lane where she talks about Burger King’s gender stereotyping with the toys included in their children’s meals.

Body Image and Sexualisation

• Noble Savage tells us why the sexualisation of girls hurts boys, too, explaining why raising children in a feminist manner is just as important if you have sons as it is if you have daughters.

• PBS Parents has an article about Raising a Girl With a Positive Body Image, giving some ideas for instilling positive body image in girls and teaching them to challenge what the media is telling them they should look like.

Disability

• Renee Martin writes about how Disableism Impacts Families, sharing her personal experience of disableism and how that has an affect on her ability to mother her sons.

Feminist Parenting

• An ‘Other’ Mother asks What is feminist parenting?, an excerpt from a paper she’s writing, resulting in “a list of characteristics, values, and behaviors found in families that practice feminist parenting.”

• Lauren talks about Raising a Progressive-Minded Kid, explaining the ways in which she finds teachable moments to raise her son to think progressively.

• Blue Milk shows her readers some photographs of a few modifications she made to her baby’s Little Mermaid play mat, with some ideas from her daughter.

• And finally, Craphead (yes, that’s really her screen name!) has a post titled None of your beeswax, including a list of questions one should never, ever ask a mother.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Feminist Parenting – I really hope you enjoyed it! Please don’t forget to submit your own posts, or those you’ve loved by others, using our carnival submission form or by sending the link in a Twitter reply to @m4wl.

The next edition will be on Sunday 17th January 2010, and the submission deadline for that edition will be Sunday 10th January. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our carnival home page.