A new Los Angeles law restricts the size of storage bins to 60 gallons; North Carolina has been faced with a lawsuit from the ACLU; and has sexuality been redefined for girls and young women?
City, homeless advocates disagree on new law limiting homeless people’s property
Whatever can be fit into a 60-gallon container is what the homeless are allowed to store on sidewalks, alleys, and parkways in the city of Los Angeles.
That’s according to a new law the city council passed in a 13-1 vote on Wednesday.
A revised version of the law known as 56.11 says the homeless can store as much as can fit in a bin the size of a city trash can. The city can confiscate and hold for 90 days anything that can’t fit in that bin, so long as it gives 24 hours of notice. Another part of the law would have restricted belongings to what could fit in a backpack if the city provided general storage, but the council backed off of those regulations.
The law isn’t sitting well with some homeless advocates, who argue the law puts enforcement ahead of storage and that it would be cheaper to just build more housing. The lone no vote on city council came from Gil Cedillo. Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district represents Venice and parts of the Westside, says the law opens up the city to lawsuits and that he only voted yes because the law that was in place was even worse.
Do you think the new law goes too far or not far enough? Do you think this is the right way to deal with the homeless problem?
Guest:
Joe Buscaino, Los Angeles City Councilmember representing District 15
Carol Sobel, a civil rights attorney who has represented L.A.'s homeless in federal courts
Backlash growing against North Carolina’s new LGBT law
Bank of America and American Airlines are calling for North Carolina to repeal a controversial state law that excludes LGBT people from anti-discrimination protections.
The two companies -- both based in Charlotte, North Carolina -- are the latest to join a growing wave of vocal opponents including Facebook, Apple and the NBA.
The law in question, HB 2, passed the North Carolina legislature last Tuesday and was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory a day later. It was conceived to override an anti-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, the state’s largest city.
A lawsuit seeking to overturn the legislation was filed this week by Lambda Legal, ACLU and other organizations.
Guests:
Peter Renn, staff attorney at Lambda Legal, an LGBT legal organization. He is working on Carcaño v McCrory, which was filed earlier this week by the ACLU, Lambda Legal and other organizations against the new NC law
Matthew McReynolds, senior staff attorney at Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento, which works to defend religious liberties and parental rights
Mali's musicians contend with military coup and fanaticism in new documentary
An intense new documentary takes viewers inside the war for Mali's culture and land - a west African country renowned for its powerful music and the compelling artists who create it.
"They Will Have to Kill Us First" has as much rhythm and heart as an Ali Farka Touré album.
Music is the beating heart of Malian culture, but when Islamic jihadists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law by banning all forms of music.
Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned, and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death. Overnight, the country’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile, where most remain -- even now. But rather than laying down their instruments, these courageous artists fought back, standing up for their freedoms and using music as a weapon against the ongoing violence that has ravaged their homeland.
The film takes you through the recent fighting and the struggles the artists reckon with as creators, Muslims, and Malians.
Guest:
Johanna Schwartz, Filmmaker, “They Will Have to Kill Us First”
How young women are navigating the new sexual culture
More than ever, girls are told they can accomplish anything as long as they set their minds to it.
But as journalist and author Peggy Orenstein finds, that kind of empowerment has yet to touch one important area of their lives: their sexuality.
For her new book, Orenstein talks to some 70 girls between the ages of 15 to 20 to understand how pornography has changed their lives, what their attitudes are toward sex and virginity, and how they navigate the bumpy terrain of hookup culture.
Here are some highlights from the interview:
A large part of “Girls and Sex” is about the lack of communication between girls and their parents about sexuality. Orenstein explained the importance of in-depth conversations and their effect on how young women feel they should be treated when engaging in a sexual relationship.
Orenstein: One of the big findings is that when, we as parents, talk to girls about sex, if we talk to them about sex; for one thing, we define sex very narrowly. We tend to talk about sex as being intercourse, and that denies and ignores so much of what kids are doing and it makes other things, particularly oral sex, into “not-sex.” And then the rules don’t apply for kids. The rules around reciprocity, rules around responsibility, rules around respect, all those things don’t have the same meaning in that realm when we don’t have a broader definition.
Orenstein also spoke about female pleasure, and how society has stifled young women through a lack of education about the subject.
Orenstein: We as a society completely silence issues of female pleasure. Whether you’re talking about in the culture, or whether you’re talking about the way we teach girls about their bodies. So from the get-go, parents of baby boys name all the parts [including the penis] . . . parents of baby girls go straight from the navel to the knees. And if you don’t speak of something, it becomes unspeakable . . . and then they go into puberty education classes and they learn that boys have erections and ejaculations and girls have periods and unwanted pregnancy. . . and then [young women] go into a partnered sexual experience and we expect them to be able to have a voice, to be able to advocate, to be able to have experiences that are pleasurable and mutual and responsible . . . it’s not very realistic.
Another subject that Orenstein touched on, was the stakes in pleasing a partner and how relationships between genders differ.
Orenstein: One thing that was very interesting to me was that investment in the partner remains true in same-sex relationships for girls. When girls are in same-sex relationships, the rate of orgasm goes way up to 83 percent as opposed to 29 percent in opposite-sex relationships.
Aria in Silverlake called in to talk about masturbation and how the topic was off-limits with her mother. She said she was fortunate because her cousin who was open to offering advice about personal pleasure and it’s empowered her in her sexual relationships.
Aria: I think my ability to take ownership about masturbation and not feel gross about it . . . or like I was doing something wrong really empowered me later on and allowed me to engage in sexual relationships in which I was more than ready to say, “this isn’t working for me” and “this is working for me.”
Nancy in Inglewood is a health care professional and mother to two daughters in their twenties. She said her own unfulfilling sexual experiences in early adulthood gave her an incentive to speak openly to her daughters about their sexuality.
Nancy: I was very clear that my daughters were gonna know about pleasure and kindness and respect towards themselves so we had very early frank conversations about sexuality, masturbation. I gave them both vibrators at a very young age. . . And they have had very healthy relationships and are really respectful to themselves. . . . but that dialogue continues to be very open and people thought I was nuts.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity
Guest:
Peggy Orenstein, journalist and author of many books, including her latest, “Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape” (Harper, 2016)