It’s a terrifying thought: being put under anesthesia and, while you are under, having unwanted or unnecessary procedures performed on you. But according to an article in Canada’s the Globe and Mail, it’s exactly what’s happening in many Canadian teaching hospitals—medical students are being instructed to perform gynecological exams on unconscious women. In the US and the UK, written consent is required, but in Canada, according to the article, “guidelines state that pelvic examination by trainees is ‘implicit.’” This practice went unnoticed until 2007, when a...

Despite sounding like a space-age feminine hygiene product, Apple's new iPad launched today with nary a lady in sight. Even though we here at BUST were as excited about the launch of this product as anyone from the cock-and-balls set, Apple seems to have forgotten that women are consumers for the latest tech at all. In the video promoting the new product, a number of Apple developers tells us all about their new thingamajig and why it was constructed. It's not such a surprise that...

There's some biters on the loose.File Under: Girl on Girl Crime Blotter>Bodies and Manners>Nipple Drinks.It's important to follow that one general rule when it comes to you and your involvement with other people's bodies. You have to be invited. Two different news stories, both happening this past Sunday, both involving the same weapon. Mouth weapons.  A woman on woman crime and a man on man crime, both Bobbie Smith from Michigan and Fernando Cooper from Chicago, are discombobulated body violators.  According to MSNBC, Bobbie Smith, 27, bit off "a significant portion" of Sandra Smith's nose during an altercation. Police recovered...

Myriam Merlet was killed in the Haiti earthquake last week. Our heartfelt prayers go out to her family, friends and all of the lives she touched as a pioneer for women's rights in Haiti. Democracy NOW! reporter, Amy Goodman reports on her death in the episode below and Eve Ensler, American playwright of The Vagina Monolouges, speaks to Myriam's life, spirit and efforts. This touching report also includes a portion of Myriam speaking at V-Day in New Orleans in 2008. The bitterest tears shed over gravesare for words left unsaid and deeds...

I actually have a V-Card.  No joke.  When I was high school a really terrible abstinence only program called Aim For Success invaded my school.  They were kind enough to inform us that if we had sex we would be like dirty, used toothbrushes and no one would want to use us again. They passed out actual Abstinence Pledge cards for us to sign (and if you didn't sign you were probably a God-hating, disease-ridden slut).  But I think my favorite demonstration was the one...

Ever since the 2009 presidential election in Iran was tainted by accusations of fraud, the country has been overwhelmed with protests and violence. Recently, opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi issued a statement declaring what solutions he thought would remedy the current crisis. Many female activists felt that his demands, as well as other opposition leaders, did not address the discrimination women face on a daily basis. In response, they issued a statement of their own. The women asked for "annulment of all discriminatory and anti-women laws, recognition...

Last week, I read a few articles in relation to results from a recent Australian Hotel Association (AHA) survey, revealing that women are consistently more likely to pilfer than men. Millions of dollars a year in the hotel industry, are lost to theft; from tiny soft face towels, to larger items like statues. Essentially, anything not nailed down. This data from a segment of the hotel industry, got me thinking about theft- the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent. (Holy banana tits,...

I blogged recently about the bus ads in London which heaped the guilt on working mothers. Well, now German mamas have got a guilt trip all their own. An article in the New York Times tells how working mums there are getting persecuted for going back to work full time. In Germany, primary school kids traditionally come home at lunch time and so do their mothers. More and more now those mothers are staying at work longer and the schools are extending their hours.   Some mums who've...

Female activists in Iran continue to face state punishment and arrest for their peaceful demonstrations, which protest discriminatory laws against women under the Iranian theocracy and the killing or jailing of fellow activists.  The Mourning Mothers group, thirty-three of whom were arrested Monday during a protest in Tehran, was formed after the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old Iranian woman who was shot and killed last June on the outskirts of another anti-government protest.  Agha-Soltan's death was caught on a video tape seen throughout Iran...

In celebration of the anniversary of the infamous pro-choice ruling of Roe v. Wade, local New York feminist filmmakers are holding screenings of two films this Thursday, January 14th. Obvious Child, co-written and produced by previous BUST intern Anna Bean, is a romantic comedy about an unplanned pregnancy, an abortion, and a great first date in an unlikely location. The second film, I Had an Abortion, documents the views of 10 women (including famed feminist Gloria Steinem) as they explain their experiences regarding women's choices...