Em-URGE-ing Voices

Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

The New Problem That Has No Name

In just about every Intro to Women’s Studies class, students read an excerpt of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, usually about ‘the problem that has no name.’ It was certainly one of my favorite readings that semester, and I still find myself skimming through it when I want to read something familiar. Over fifty years ago, Friedan wrote about how women were starting to wonder, “Is this all?” They were becoming unhappy with their societally-prescribed roles in life: mothers, wives, caretakers, and very little else. This is how women of the time were taught, though: “They were taught to pity the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets or physicists or presidents. They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights—the independence and… Read more »

Anti-Choice Propaganda Hurts Texas

Monday, October 19th 2015, Texas decided to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood. This is why I’m pissed off. Texas largely based this decision off of the highly-edited and misconstrued videos created by an anti-choice group. Seriously. The Texas government made a decision (that affects thousands of people) off of propaganda internet videos. In the statement issued by Governor Greg Abbott’s office, it mentions this in the very first line. Following the release of gruesome videos filmed at Planned Parenthood facilities, including Gulf Coast in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott announced his LIFE Initiative to provide greater protections for children in the womb and prevent the sale of baby body parts. Unfortunately, this isn’t an episode of The Twilight Zone; this is Texas politicizing women’s healthcare. (Planned Parenthood doesn’t solely focus on… Read more »

Open Letter from a “Cherokee Princess”

When I was in elementary school, I met a lot of people who claimed to be Cherokee. Every white person I knew, it seemed, had a Cherokee great-grandmother or distant ancestor they heard of who was in a tribe. It was odd, then, that when I first started Indian Education classes it was with only a handful of other students. We had some white kids, others black, but very few people who “looked Indian.” Half of the “full-blooded” natives that ran the program had straight hair and blue eyes- a testament to the interracial history of that particular nation. And though we had a Mohawk student and a Creek girl, our class seemed to focus heavily on Cherokee Immersion, since they had the most infrastructure in that region to do… Read more »

Save the person not the “boobies”

Congratulations, America, you’ve successfully sexualized breast cancer. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is something with such phenomenal intentions, the idea of raising money and awareness about something that affects so many lives and tears families apart and hurts so many is truly beautiful and inspiring. Until we made it about boobs, not the strength those struggling with cancer. If all you care about is someone being able to keep their breasts so you can further sexualize their body please exit now. Here is the biggest flaw in that: in a lot of cases, breast removal surgeries literally SAVE PEOPLE’S LIVES. In addition to that the “save the boobs” theme of breast cancer awareness excludes men who have breast cancer from the conversation and does nothing to raise awareness for them. America… Read more »

Let’s End Slut-Shaming Already

Stop slut shaming. The fact that I have to even write about the fact why this is wrong in 2015 is exhausting and shows just how much society doesn’t value women for what is probably the millionth time in history. Let me read ya’ll for filth right quick. All of these slurs — slut, hoe, thot, whore, are societal and social constructs. It’s so irritating when cisgender, heterosexual males say, “There’s a difference between hoes and real women.” I hear it all the time, see it all the time in memes on the internet. Those slurs were made to police the sexual agency of a woman’s body and sexual decision, both of which are none of your damn business. There is no difference between a hoe and a woman — we’re all… Read more »

Let’s Talk About the Problem of Frats

Last week, the UCLA chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon made headlines hosting what they deemed a “Kanye Western” party in which partygoers showed up in black face wearing chunky gold chains and fake grills. When black student activists showed up to protest the party, they were mocked by party-goers and the validity of their concerns were questioned by the broader campus community. 100 miles to the South, the University of California San Diego chapter of AEPi was publicly reprimanded for creating an official chapter t-shirt that featured a scantily-clad woman serving bread emblazoned with the words “AEPi, Making Women Challah Since 1913”. And that’s just what happened within the last week on two UC campuses. These incidents are not confined to the University of California campuses, either. Earlier this year, the… Read more »

Debunking Some Misconceptions Around Islam

Recent statements by conservative presidential hopeful Ben Carson on Islam, actions by University of Missouri students, and the controversy started by some alumni of Wichita State University over a chapel were just small reminders that this country has a problem with bigotry against Islam that has barely changed since right after 9/11. In response to the increasingly islamaphobic rhetoric, I wanted to debunk a few common myths. (Note: I am not an expert in the religion but I did consult with some devout Muslim friends of mine to avoid perpetuating any misconceptions of my own. So please, after reading this article I encourage you to do some research of your own.) 1. All Muslims are Arab Somehow people have come to believe Islam is only an Arab practice. This might be… Read more »

Amber Rose is Still Not Asking for It with Los Angeles SlutWalk

This past weekend model and artist Amber Rose hosted a SlutWalk in Los Angeles to speak out against slut shaming. There are a few key lessons we can all take from it, especially as members of the reproductive justice movement. But first, a brief history lesson. SlutWalk was established in 2011 after a police officer at a school in Toronto told people they should not “dress like sluts” to avoid getting raped or other forms of sexual harassment. This is problematic for many reasons, but here are two big ones: 1. Everyone has a right to their own body and their own choices. Whether it’s their right to a safe abortion or contraception or simply what they want to wear. There is no reason society should ever police someone’s body… Read more »

“Grandma” is Great, But Not Without its Flaws

After watching Grandma, I left the theatre feeling like if the culmination of all past feminist victories were really just leading up to the creation of Lily Tomlin’s near perfect, badass role, I’d be happy. But, socially conscious feminist comedies about abortion can have that effect on me. Like similar films that have taken on the taboo of portraying abortion as a medical decision which women and girls are perfectly capable of making on their own terms, Grandma did an admirable job. Rather than agonize over the decision to have an abortion, the story begins with a young teenager, Sage, who’s made up her mind and needs the financial support of her grandmother Elle, played by Lily Tomlin, in order to go through with the procedure. As Sage and her… Read more »