by Jill Finkelstein

Link Roundup: French Linguistics and Feminist Oscar Films

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.

After several months of pressure from the feminist organizations Osez le Féminisme and Les Chiennes de Garde, the French government announced that it would no longer use the term “mademoiselle” (the French equivalent of “miss”) on official government documents. Until now, women in France have had to identify their marital status by selecting the title of “madame” (the French equivalent of “Mrs.”) or “mademoiselle” on administrative documents, whereas men have always been called “monsieur” regardless of their martial status. [NY Times]

Friday, February 24^th marked the centennial anniversary of the founding of Hadassah. A Shabbat service and ceremony was held at Temple Emanu-El in New York City, where Henrietta Szold formed the organization 100 years ago. [NY Jewish Week]

Last week, U.S. Representative and House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa came under fire for assembling an all-male panel to testify at a Congressional hearing on birth control and religion. Issa denied a request made by Democrats to include Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke on the panel, stating that she was “unqualified.” Saturday Night Live even criticized congress for excluding women from the hearing (and Virginia’s transvaginal ultrasound debate) in a segment called “Really!?! With Seth and Amy.” [Jezebel] & [Jezebel]

On Thursday, Sandra Fluke was able to give her testimony at an unofficial hearing sponsored by Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic Steering Committee. [Huffington Post]

In honor of this year’s Oscars, Anita Sarkeesian of the Feminist Frequency blog examined how this year Best Picture nominees score on the Bechdel Test. In order to pass the test, the film must fulfill the following requirements: “[It] has to have at least two women in it who have names, who talk to each other, about something besides a man.” Sarkeesian determined that out of the 9 nominated films, only 2 films clearly passed the test. [Women and Hollywood]

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