Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Shattering the Stigma: What #AbortionPositive Means to Us
It’s been 43 years since Roe v. Wade legalized abortions nationwide. It’s been 43 years of anti-choice propaganda attacking people for their right to an abortion. It’s been 43 years of abortion activists shifting to a more “moderate” rhetoric and using terms such as “women’s health” in an effort to try to gain more supporters. It’s been 43 years of people being shamed for their abortions. Today, with the launch of the #AbortionPositive campaign, we are taking steps to changing that negative narrative. We are taking the word “abortion” back. We are wiping the stigma away by proudly using the word “abortion.” Trust me, there will be plenty of naysayers trying to stop us from being abortion positive, like those who passed 318 laws to restrict abortion access since 2010…. Read more »
Kansas Gambles with Tax Money to Punish Planned Parenthood
For a state that is struggling with a historically significant budget crisis, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and his supporters in the legislature sure do know how to gamble tax dollars on actions and legislation that are federally prohibited. In his state address last week, Governor Brownback announced that he was going to follow through on his promise to remove Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM). According to his letter to the Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment, Governor Brownback’s direction to end Medicare funding to PPKM was “based on their affiliation with the national Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other information provided by [the department].” While the letter is vague in what exactly that information was, it is presumed that the information was that the… Read more »
Just Say No to Girl-Hate
A few weeks ago, Youtube star Lilly Singh, AKA Superwoman, got together with a few of her celebrity girl friends to challenge girls across the world to end girl-on-girl hate. Lilly’s friends such as Shay Mitchell, Colleen Ballinger, and Lyndsey Sterling (just to name a few) all weighed in on the issue giving great advice to young women and girls on how to better appreciate other women. Some of the advice given was for girls to admire others rather than become jealous of them, to encourage other women, and to recognize that we’ve all been through some of the same things and can therefore help each other get through it. My personal favorite was Shay Mitchell’s advice to “look at other girls as sisters instead of competition.” I think that it’s… Read more »
#StayMadAbby, Black Excellence, and White Privilege
Black Twitter’s razor sharp wit and social conscience didn’t hold back in 2015. They opened the public discourse on the role police brutality played in the deaths of Freddie Gray and LaQuan McDonald, while dismissing whites who complained about an all-black casting of The Wiz, and praising the Mizzou uprising that changed the social landscape of a university. But this Texas case regarding affirmative action takes the cake, and frankly it got me rubbing my temples in disgust. A white female prospective student, Abigail Fisher, filed a lawsuit against the University of Texas at Austin after she was denied admission to the university due to — she alleges — her race. She claims affirmative action is the reason she was denied, and students with fewer qualifications and less intelligence (students… Read more »
Equal Opportunity for Violence is Never a Feminist Victory
If you were on the internet this week, you probably heard the Pentagon’s self-congratulatory announcement that women will be allowed to serve in all combat positions. According to the old, white cis-men who run the place, the new policy is an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights. But, more women in the military is only a feminist victory if your understanding of feminism comes from the Sheryl Sandberg school of leaning in. Reading the coverage of the Pentagon’s announcement, you’d think that the self-righteous celebration of how great this is for equality would have feminists running to their nearest military recruitment center. Our new slogan: Sign me up! This worldview fits comfortably within the mandates of corporate feminism which contends that the end goal of feminism should be a legion of… Read more »
Repeat After Me, “Political Correctness is not Censorship”
Lately I’ve been seeing various memes floating around Facebook, all basically saying the same thing, “Political Correctness is bad,” “we can’t make jokes anymore because everyone gets offended,” “the good old days…,” etc. I’m here to say, all of that is complete bullshit. Being “politically correct” is not a form of censorship. It is not a way of silencing people and opinions. It is about creating an open dialogue where people on BOTH sides of an issue feel comfortable speaking. Political correctness fosters respectful and potentially constructive conversations. As a journalism major, I recognize the importance of the First Amendment (seriously, it’s wonderful), but as a productive member of society, I also recognize the importance of not being an asshole. This issue isn’t just about words. It’s about the societal… Read more »
The Reproductive Justice Case for Taking in Refugees
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” These words come from a statue given to the United States as a gift from our oldest ally, who just experienced a horrific tragedy. People should stand with France, but people need to be also aware of the tragedies that happened in Beirut and Baghdad and the on-going violent turmoil in Syria. Unfortunately, these attacks that have been claimed by ISIL have further reinforced islamaphobic and xenophobic rhetoric that further threatens the lives of refugees, two-thirds of which are women and children. Saying that refugees have no place in the United States misses a few… Read more »
What Student Activists Should Take Away From Mizzou
The University of Missouri is having a historic fall semester of immense social change. A series of student and faculty demonstrations against systematic racism at the university just forced their president to step down. Happening at the same time, graduate students protested health care cuts the university had made. This resulted in the unionization of graduate workers and direct action taken by the faculty council to fix it. The momentum built by the student efforts is influencing colleges across state boarders including in my home state, Kansas. Kansans and Missourians have a rivalry that dates back to Bleeding Kansas, when towns burned over the slavery debate. Missourians and citizens of the then Kansas-Nebraska territory battled over whether or not slavery would be part of the Kansas economy. The Kansan abolitionists… Read more »
Birth Control’s Journey Through The U.S. Court System
Since today is “Thanks, Birth Control” day, I wanted to take a moment to bring up some of the most influential U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) Cases related to birth control and reproductive healthcare! The first case in our timeline that I’d like to discuss is Griswold v. Connecticut, a USSC case in 1965. This case came about because Connecticut legislation had tried to outlaw contraception which included pressing charges against doctors who distributed birth control. Once this case went to the Supreme Court, the court struck down the states prohibition on the prescription, sale, and use of contraceptives. However, this case was primarily directed towards to married couples. This lead to Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972. The Supreme Court decided in this case to overturn a Massachusetts law limiting the… Read more »
Houston Fails to Be a “HERO” for Trans Community
This week the city of Houston had the opportunity to make history in the Civil Rights movement with the HERO ordinance. The city failed to make these important strides forward with a 61 percent to 39 percent vote. The HERO Act stands for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance and it would have prohibited discrimination in public restrooms, thus allowing trans-people to use restrooms they are comfortable with based on their gender identity. I think it’s safe to say the failure behind this failed ordinance is rooted in transphobia. Opponents of the ordinance said it made women more vulnerable to predators and former Houston Astros player Lance Berkman said transgender women are troubled men in a radio ad. This negative attitude and ignorance toward the trans community is what causes crucial… Read more »
