Posts Tagged: feminism
Activists! Immediate action needed to #BeBoldEndHyde
On Saturday my grandmother, my mother, my sister, my brother and I marched with more than 1 million people around the world. This, the largest feminist mobilization in decades, took place on all 7 continents. Our message was clear: the feminist future is now, and we’re here to fuck shit up. The next day, I celebrated the 44th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case with fellow marchers. We fortified our determination to protect this constitutional guarantee of bodily autonomy for all. Today, feminists are united in stopping this week’s first anti-feminist, anti-choice push by the Trump administration: making the Hyde Amendment codified law. This amendment was first instituted in 1976 and banned the use of federal funds for abortion except in cases where the life of the pregnant person was in… Read more »
#DrakeShouldHaveAlreadyBeenCanceledParty
In this week’s celebrity news, rapper Drake mocked Kid Cudi’s depression in a poorly written and insensitive line in his latest song Two Birds One Stone, after a Twitter rant by Kid Cudi a couple of weeks ago. The lyrics reference Kid Cudi’s current stay in a rehab facility for help with his depression and suicidal urges: “You were the man on the moon, now you go through your phases/Life of the angry and famous/ Rap like I know I’m the greatest and give you the tropical flavors/ Still never been on hiatus/You stay xan and perked up so when reality set in you don’t gotta face it” As someone who likes rap music but does not religiously listen to it, I could not help but roll my eyes. Drake’s… Read more »
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is Boring Me
Beginning in August 2016, 49ers Football player Colin Kaepernick sat down during the national anthem as part of a symbolic protest against police brutality and systemic racism in our country. In an interview, Kaepernick said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” Many people found solidarity with Kaepernick, and soon began to stage their own protests during the national anthem. His movement is sweeping the country, starting dialogue, and also gaining the attention of haters. One of those haters just so happened to be the second woman in United States history to serve as a Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a recent interview with Katie Couric, Ginsburg called Kaepernick’s protests “dumb,” “arrogant,”… Read more »
Shaving, Waxing, and Squeezing: The Horrors of Sex Prep
When I was in 10th grade I found myself in a particularly peculiar conversation with my grandmother. I was on my way upstairs to take a shower and I had my essentials in hand. Of those essentials one in particular stood out to her – a razor. She stared at me and said, “I’ve never shaved down there in my life and I don’t see why you need to.” Pause. Was my grandmother starting a conversation with me about her pubic hair when all I wanted to do was take a shower? Yes, yes she was. Being the angst-ridden teenager I was and still regret to this day, I scowled at her and retorted with some angry response about having hairy armpits and not caring at all about her pubic… Read more »
My Personal is Political (But Not Too Personal)
I’m a very private person. Like, exceedingly private. People describe me as reserved, even if I’m feeling really social. If I took one of those online personality quizzes, I’d get the “silent but judging you” result, but you’d never know because I’d never share it on Facebook. Being a proud introvert can make being a woman who writes about reproductive justice difficult. Because if you take a look around the vast world of feminist blogging, you’ll notice that sharing intimate details of our daily lives is assumed to be a prerequisite to getting exposure. This approach rests on the faulty logic that to convince someone that being a woman in society can be difficult, uncomfortable, and demoralizing we have to expose personal experiences. Being a feminist blogger shouldn’t require that… Read more »
What Everyone’s Missing in the Gloria Steinem Controversy
Everyone on the Internet just about lost their minds this week trying to divine some hidden meaning from the controversy surrounding Gloria Steinem’s comments about young female voters. The reactions included everything from kneejerk defense to wholesale condemnation. As a young woman and long-time admirer of Steinem for her pioneering work advocating for survivors of domestic abuse and, let’s be honest, her kickass glasses, I found her comments unfortunate and tone deaf. Not to be outdone, Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State, also chimed in with some of her own tone deaf advice for the young female voter. Speaking to a crowd of prospective voters, Albright admonished young women for taking the feminist movement for granted, reiterating her famous quip that “there’s a special place in hell for women who… Read more »
3 Feminist TV Shows You Need to Watch in 2016
Let me just preface this by saying, I really love feminist media, but there is no real way to define what is and what isn’t considered feminist. I recognize that it’s subjective, but for the sake of this piece, I’m defining feminist media as shows with diversity, strong female characters (generally protagonists), and views about reproductive/sexual health addressed in the show. And I also recognize that some of the shows mentioned may do great in one or two aspects of those listed above, but be really awful in one, which is why I’m starting with… 1. Gilmore Girls Although this show has very few people of color in the cast (I can only think of Lane Kim and Michel), it had some really great feminist moments. (Note: I do NOT… Read more »
Abortion Speakout harkens Back to Pro-choice Activism’s Roots
On January 19th, over 100 people shared their abortion stories during a six hour live-streamed Abortion Speakout hosted by the 1 in 3 Campaign, a grassroots organization dedicated to ending the shame people are made to feel about their abortion . Dubbed the “people’s brief” to the Supreme Court, the speakout provided a platform for people from around the country to share their experiences and respond to the Supreme Court’s decision to review one of the most important abortion cases in two decades. The virtual Speakout brought a decidedly vintage political strategy into the 21st century. Providing a platform for people who have had an abortion to tell their beautifully complex stories free of shame is an unflinchingly radical practice which predates the “right to privacy” celebrated in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Before Roe,… Read more »
The Gender Politics of the Looming CSU Strike
Faculty across twenty three California State University campuses voted on Wednesday, November 4, to authorize a strike if negotiations between their Union and the University system breaks down. This means over 20,000 members of the California Faculty Association concluded that if the Union and CSU cannot agree to the recommendations made by an independent fact-finding panel, faculty will go on strike in order to secure the 5% pay raise they’ve demanded. The CFA points to member’s comparatively low salary and the CSU’s increasing reliance on a two-tiered employment system as catalysts for the strike. In order to cut costs, the California Faculty Association argues, the CSU system has increasingly relied on the work of temporary, low-paid lecturers who often work alongside tenure track professors without the same assurance of job… Read more »
An Apology From a Former White Feminist
Generally speaking, if someone looks back at the things they said and did three years ago, they will at the very least cringe, if not want to go back and berate their former self, or potentially erase entire phases of their life. (Looking at you, blue-haired Caitlyn.) It’s understandable. We’re constantly changing and growing and, most importantly, learning. And you can learn a lot in three years. Three years ago, I was a White Feminist. To say that this makes me cringe is an enormous understatement. A White Feminist is not just any feminist who is white; white people can be feminists without being White Feminists. According to Everyday Feminism, White Feminism is “feminism that ignores intersectionality.” This is a problem because it narrows the focus of feminism to one… Read more »
