by Jill Finkelstein

Link Roundup: Redefining Rape and the Feminist Blogosphere

Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.

In a historic move, the Uniform Crime Report Subcommittee voted unanimously to update the FBI’s definition of rape. The previous definition, which has remained the same since 1929, was limited to forcible rape committed against women. [GOOD]

In a recent issue of New York Magazine, Emily Nussbaum explained how the blogosphere has transformed the feminist conversation. She wrote, “Freed from the boundaries of print, writers could blur the lines between formal and casual writing; between a call to arms, a confession, and a stand-up routine—and this new looseness of form in turn emboldened readers to join in, to take risks in the safety of the shared spotlight.” [New York Magazine]

Following last year’s revelations about the significant gender pay gap and lack of female leadership among Jewish communal professionals, Dan Klein highlighted the advancements made by Jewish Federations over the past year and the problems that still remain for women working in the Jewish community. [JTA]

According to a report from NARAL Pro-Choice America, a Jewish undercover investigator who posed as a pregnant woman was told by five taxpayer-funded “crisis pregnancy centers” that she would go to hell unless she converted to Christianity. [ThinkProgress]

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League criticized the film “180” for comparing abortion to the Holocaust. [Salon]

Due to its increasing wage gap and gender inequalities, Israel was ranked 55^th on World Economic Forum’s 2011 Global Gender Gap Index. Israel, which was ranked 52^nd on last year’s report, now falls behind less developed countries, including Mozambique, Mongolia and Kyrgystan, while the United States was ranked 17th. [Jerusalem Post]

On a similar note, Merav Michaeli reported that while women make up more than two-thirds of Israel’s expendable, subcontracted workers, the gender wage gap is only 11%, as opposed to “30% average differential in the economy.” [Haaretz]

Lilith author Sarah Erdreich shared that the Occupy Wall Street Movement is reminiscent of the 1960s women’s movement because of “its energy, audacity, and sense of limitless possibility.” [Feminists for Choice]

This year’s Forward 50 was once again male dominated, as women made up less than one-third of the list. Forward editor Jane Eisner attributed this to “the absence of women in significant leadership roles in American Jewry.” She also stated, “it also could be because we weren’t looking in the right places.” [The Forward]

On a more positive note, 30 of the 60 Jewish organizations named to the Slingshot Fund’s 2011-2012 nominees are lead by women. [The Sisterhood]

A new study found that over the past five years, there have been 462 agunot — women whose husbands refuse to grant them a Jewish divorce — in the U.S. and Canada. Most of the agunot were categorized as younger women with children trying to leave a first marriage. [NY Jewish Week]

A new club at Solomon Schechter School of Westchester has found a new way to bring the Torah to life with Midrash manicures. [NY Times]

Esther Dominissini was named as the first female chairman of Hadassah Medical Organization’s Board of Directors. [Hadassah]

In honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th, Keshet published “A Jewish Guide to Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance.” [Keshet]