Annie
Favorite Writer: Carmen Maria Machado
Hidden Talent: Calligraphy
Bio: Annie (she/her) is a queer, neurodivergent Latina from Georgia. Although newer to reproductive justice, Annie has worked in the movement as a writer, researcher, and content creator. She holds a degree in Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies, and will be applying to law school this fall. In her free time, Annie loves exploring new coffee shops, going to concerts, and watching RuPaul's Drag Race reruns.
Posts By: Annie R
The Reproductive Justice Movement is for Everyone. But it’s Still Not Accessible to Everyone.
As I’ve been applying to jobs and law school post-graduation, I’ve come face-to-face with the barriers that exist for many marginalized young people to get politically involved. I am a first-generation American and college graduate from a conservative immigrant family in the South, forcing me to navigate the world of political, reproductive justice work on my own. Oftentimes, I feel as if I’m walking around blindfolded trying to navigate a world that wasn’t meant for me. If you can relate, or especially if you can’t, these words are for you. I couldn’t get politically or socially involved in the reproductive justice movement until I found a paid way to do so. Furthermore, learning about reproductive justice (RJ) in the heart of a conservative and predominantly white community was a challenge… Read more »
We’ve Freed the Pill. It’s Time to Free Sex Ed.
As a Georgian, sex education in school primarily consisted of graphic photos of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). As a Latina, at home, sex education was nonexistent and as a Catholic, my sex education was full of shame. I learned what I could from friends, the internet, and pamphlets I’d sneak from my pediatrician’s office, but by the time I was interested in sex as a teenager, I still hadn’t learned much about how to have safe, consensual, and pleasurable sex. Thanks to sex-positive, feminist YouTube videos, I learned about birth control pills and secretly scheduled a gynecologist appointment to get some. Hopeful that I’d leave with what I needed, I was instead met with intense judgment and shame from a female doctor who claimed to be a reproductive health expert…. Read more »
Finding Reproductive Justice: “No Más Bebés” & The Limitations Of “Pro-Choice”
I’m proud to be a Latina, but I wasn’t always. Growing up in a predominantly white community in Georgia, my family and I were often targets of incredibly ignorant and hurtful microaggressions. I’ve lost count of how many times someone has made assumptions about how my parents arrived to the United States, or where I’m really from. Even as a kid, I was hyper-aware of how different I looked from my white peers and begged my parents to speak to me in English in front of my friends. The microaggressions I experienced as a child, questioning my belonging and citizenship, were not just incidents of routine childhood teasing, but were a part of a larger system of xenophobia. These seemingly innocuous and juvenile expressions of contempt can better be understood… Read more »
