It never ceases to amaze me how many students in my women’s studies classes have never heard the names Flo Kennedy, Pauli Murray and Shirley Chisholm (left), all Black women. Yet they “might have heard” of Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique and a white woman, thus suggesting that Black feminist founders of the movement have been written out of feminist history.
Month: February 2012
Steered Wrong By Googling “Abortion Services”? It’s No Accident
The strategy of using abortion-related keywords to send a woman searching the web for abortion information to a nearby crisis pregnancy center is already a few years old. But the scheme only received real national attention a couple of months ago, when Siri, Apple’s new voice-activated search assistant, was caught sending women looking for abortion clinics to centers that specialize in talking women out of abortions.
Just How Safe is Yaz? Women Need to Know!
The oral contraceptive Yasmin was released in 2001 by the pharmaceutical company Bayer, followed by Yaz in 2006. They differ from other birth control pills in the synthetic progesterone they utilize, drospirenone, which is marketed as less likely to cause weight gain and bloating than other birth control pills. But is it really the dream birth control Bayer claims it is?
Boehner Ups the Threat Against Contraception Coverage
This morning, House Speaker John Boehner vowed in a House floor speech to overturn the provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that would require faith-affiliated hospitals and universities to include birth-control coverage in their employee health benefits. The provision, Boehner argued, “constitutes an unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country.”
Hatred Does Not Equal Health: Ending Fat Shaming
Fat acceptance activists are standing in opposition to a fat shaming public-health campaign initiated by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The controversial Children’s Healthcare campaign, called Strong4Life, features posters and billboards depicting depressed-looking fat children with slogans like, “It’s hard to be a little girl, if you’re not.”
Helen Hunt Runs the Show in “Our Town”
Actor Helen Hunt, as the Stage Manager in David Cromer’s production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” currently running at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif., is unlike the Norman Rockwell-esque narrators of most productions — she has real power.
Advice for Komen: Try Pink and Purple Ribbons
The Susan G. Komen Foundation lost support from donors last week after the organization announced that it would cut funding to Planned Parenthood. Its apology on Friday was lauded by some, but viewed with skepticism by many others, who pointed out that Komen hadn’t actually promised to refund Planned Parenthood. The damage has been done to Komen’s image, especially within the women’s rights community.
To restore its credibility, Komen needs to build more bridges with the feminist movement. An easy place to start? Ribbons.
Score One For Marriage Rights! Prop 8 is Unconstitutional
Back in the good old days of 2008, same-sex marriage was legal in the Golden State of California for 143 days, and during that time 18,000 same-sex couples legally tied the knot. The existence of those 18,000 is why Proposition 8–which made same-sex marriage illegal later that year–is unconstitutional, according to today’s ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court. By a 2-1 vote, a court panel upheld the historic 2010 decision by Judge Vaughn Walker to strike down Prop 8 as unconstitutional.
Black Herstory: Jamaica’s Other National Hero
On this day, the late Bob Marley would have turned 67 years old. In honor of the “soul rebel” who encouraged Jamaicans and the rest of the world to embrace a Black consciousness and support liberation struggles, I invoke the memory of another Jamaican hero for our Black “Herstory” Month series: the fierce fugitive slave Nanny of the Maroons.
11 Doctors Explain Why All Employers Should Cover Birth Control
Some religious institutions are objecting to new federal rules requiring that they cover contraception for their employees in their health insurance policies. Today, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) physicians remember patients whose stories show the importance of affordable birth control for all women, no matter where they work.