Feminist Fix: Protesting Trumpcare, Competing While Pregnant and the “Radical Power” of Women in the Writing Room

Welcome to Feminist Fix, our new bi-weekly link roundup! Expect a chance to catch up on Monday and Fridays.

Feminist News

+ A rape victim in Alabama killed herself after police “bullied” her to protect her wealthy attacker.

+ Over 100 agencies are failing to report hate crimes to the FBI.

+ Women owe two-thirds of student loan debt.

+ In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a new LGBT monument dedicated to the survivors of the PULSE shooting in Orlando last year and a trans woman firefighter served as Grand Marshal of the NYC Pride Parade.

+ The Indian government’s suggestions for pregnant women? Avoid meat, eggs and “lustful thoughts.”

+ What did you do on Laverne Cox Day?

+ A New Texas law allows child welfare agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ foster children and adoptive parents.

+ Israeli airlines will no longer be allowed to ask women to move their seats to accomodate men.

+ Trans women in India were forced to quit their government jobs because they couldn’t secure safe housing due to discrimination.

+ 18-year-old Ryan Stocker has been charged with two felony counts of sexual assault, but local reporters would rather talk about his academic record.

+ Vice President Mike Pence has pledged his “unwavering support” to an anti-LGBT hate group.

+ An indigenous woman is facing federal charges for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline. That movement has been led by women, and they stand to be disproportionately negatively impacted by its construction.

Special Edition: Trumpcare

+ Barack Obama on the Senate’s ACA repeal legislation:

After describing the positive effects that Obamacare has had on America — “more than 90 percent of Americans know the security of health insurance,” slowing the rise of health care costs, protecting individuals with preexisting conditions and women — Obama argued that the Republican legislation “would raise costs, reduce coverage, roll back protections, and ruin Medicaid as we know it.”

“That’s not my opinion, but rather the conclusion of all objective analyses, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which found that 23 million Americans would lose insurance, to America’s doctors, nurses, and hospitals on the front lines of our health care system,” he wrote. “If there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm.”

He added that “to put the American people through that pain – while giving billionaires and corporations a massive tax cut in return – that’s tough to fathom.”

Looking at Trumpcare’s (cruel) impacts on survivors.

+ This mother tweeted a hospital bill to make an important point about health care.

+ Medicaid recipients are speaking out against GOP attempts to cut off their care.

+ What does the Senate health care bill mean for folks living with mental illness?

+ Cutting Medicaid funding comes with a big cost to women—especially those caring for aging parents.

Movers and Shakers

+ Alysia Montano competed at the U.S. Track and Field Championships while five months pregnant.

+ Lorde’s definition of feminism: “[Feminism’s] totally not about me, it’s about all women, who might not have the opportunities that I have or the privileges that I have. Trying to fight for better conditions and better treatment of all women, whether that be trans women, or women of color, or women in professions that don’t typically don’t get a lot of respect. That, to me, is what feminism is about.”

+ Australian Labor Party Senator Penny Wong called out one of her colleagues for manterrupting her during a Parliamentary session Wednesday.

+ In Finland, young women of color are claiming their space.

“It’s a crazy experience to grow up in a white country where the white people don’t even realize they are white and what kinds of privileges it gives them,” said Koko Hubara, founder and editor-in-chief of Ruskeat Tytöt (which translates to “Brown Girls”). The lifestyle website describes itself as the first site for brown people and by brown people in Finland. “The conversation on the implications of whiteness [in Finland] is only beginning now, very slowly,” she said.

Although Scandinavia, and Finland in particular, conjures images of pale skin and long blonde hair, a new generation of black and brown Scandinavian women are working to make their very real lived experiences a part of the cultural narrative.

+ Amy Siskind is keeping tabs on the Trump administration.

+ 14-year-old Cordelio Longo petitioned her school to make free pads and tampons widely available to students—and won. (If you love Longo’s story, you’ll also love Alba Alvarado’s.)

One day in April, Cordelia Longo left a class at Islander Middle School in Washington to go find a pad or tampon, NBC reports. But no machine in her school bathrooms worked. After 20 minutes, all she’d accomplished was losing all her change. That afternoon, the 14-year-old asked her mom Jennifer if she thought this happened often, and she said it’s probably happened to everyone with a period at some point.

“I think we’re conditioned that that’s just how it is,” Jennifer told Teen Vogue. But Cordelia wasn’t willing to accept the status quo. She talked to her peers and learned that some had actually left school because they needed period supplies. There were pads in the nurse’s office and locker rooms, but most students didn’t even know about them.

Realizing how obstructive this can be to students’ education, Cordelia created a petition to get her school to start stocking free menstrual supplies. “Why are tissues and toilet paper provided free at school, but not sanitary pads and tampons?” she wrote in a letter to the administration. “As toilet paper and tissue are used for normal bodily functions, sanitary pads and tampons are also necessary to address normal bodily functions that happen naturally. The only difference is that only girls need pads. Girls do not choose to have periods. So girls are being penalized and made to pay for a bodily function they cannot control.”

In the meantime, she bought her own baskets filled with tampons and pads and put them in her school bathrooms. They had tags reading “Women’s rights are human rights. Human rights are women’s rights.”

+ Rihanna is tweeting at world leaders about education funding.

+ Cheryl Wilkins is fighting for every incarcerated person’s right to earn a college degree.

+ Meet disability rights activist Stephanie Woodward.

+ Ani DiFranco sat down with Salon to talk about her latest album, “Binary,” and reproductive freedom.

+ Sophie Rose Cook is a trans woman who ran for an MP seat in a conservative region of the UK. Now, she’s opening up about why she did it and what it meant—for her and for her community.

Despite not winning the seat, Cook said that she said she believes her gender identity was not something that concerned voters – and nor should it be.

“They weren’t voting for a trans woman, they were voting for Sophie Cook, they were voting for the Labour Party. They saw beyond the headlines and the things that made us different and in their way struck a massive blow for trans equality.”

She added that she was disappointed that no transgender MP was elected, but that the success of her campaign proved that there was now a greater acceptance of trans people.

“We need transgender politicians, after all, everyone in society needs to feel represented. But the main reason why I believe that the time is right for a trans MP has nothing to do with equality or diversity, it’s down to the constituents who put their faith in me to represent them, regardless of my gender identity.”

+ Rapper Remy Ma is starting a fund for women who can’t afford health care.

+ Eqbal Dauqan is a woman scientist in Yemen. It isn’t easy—but she’s not giving up.

+ Actor Emma Watson is hiding copies of The Handmaid’s Tale around Paris.

+ Janet Mock is a feminist role model for the modern age.

Since coming out, Mock has worked feverishly to change minds about what it means to be trans. Shortly after the Marie Claire piece, Mock launched the #GirlsLikeUs social media campaign to create a space online “by and for trans women.” She then released her first novel “Redefining Realness,” which serves as an account of her teenage transition, and how she realigned her definition of what constitutes being fully realized as a person. Her confident memoir paints a picture of hope for trans youth despite being frank about the hard road many trans people face in an ever-changing political landscape.

Now, Mock has released her second book, “Surpassing Certainty,” which chronicles her journey toward being a confident role model. The new, daring memoir follows Mock throughout her twenties, focusing on coming of age in a post 9/11 world, her experience in her first marriage and climbing the media ladder in New York City.

Mock’s efforts push to change the way we regard trans people, but also show that we are all so much more than one aspect of our complex identities.

+ What Dolly Parton can teach us about working-class women and their relationship to feminism.

+ Why aren’t you listening to Kamala Harris’ Black History Month playlist right now?

Deep Dives

+ This is Feminist Frequency’s gender breakdown of games at E3, the biggest annual event for the gaming industry.

+ How can the queerest generation still believe in gender roles?

+ In Tanzania, UN-funded Women’s Centres are giving refugee women a second chance.

+ Trump’s paid parental leave plan won’t work for women and families.

Media, Arts & Culture

+ Why didn’t Jane Lynch get the James Corden gig?

+ The women in “GLOW” talked to HelloGiggles about strong female characters.

+ In praise of Rough Night’s take on the emasculated boyfriend trope.

Wall Street Journal reporters are demanding diversity.

+ Jill Soloway and Sarah Gubbins on the “radical power” of “a writer’s room without cis men.”

+ What lies beneath the brave new world of feminist dystopian sci-fi?

Legislation in New York with broad support within the industry would set aside millions of dollars to make television more diverse.

+ A new study found that advertisers tend to show men playing sports and women in the kitchen.

+ This “Queen Sugar” scene tackled the gendering of toys.

+ Daily Reminder: Diverse films do better than homogenous ones.

Wonder Woman broke another box-office record.

 

 

About

Carmen Rios is a self-proclaimed feminist superstar and the former digital editor at Ms. Her writing on queerness, gender, race and class has been published in print and online by outlets including BuzzFeed, Bitch, Bust, CityLab, DAME, ElixHER, Feministing, Feminist Formations, GirlBoss, GrokNation, MEL, Mic, the National Women’s History Museum, SIGNS and the Women’s Media Center; and she is a co-founder of Webby-nominated Argot Magazine. @carmenriosss|carmenfuckingrios.com