There was no one scandal that prompted Nowmee Shehab, 22, to become heavily engaged in efforts at Emory University to create a supportive environment for survivors of sexual assault. She readily acknowledges that she doesn’t have a single, all-encompassing answer to the question of why she first got involved. Elizabeth Neyman, 21, will be a […]
Month: July 2014
We Heart: This Happy Coincidence of Men’s Soccer and Women’s Power
For those of us following the World Cup, the past month has been a whirlwind of emotions. For Americans, the World Cup has incited pride in our country, pride in our team, pride in Tim Howard, etc. But we also must acknowledge another kind of pride: pride in global women of power. Argentina and Germany, […]
NEWSFLASH: Nationwide Survey Finds Colleges are Failing Sexual Assault Survivors
Hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation are in violation of federal law by not responding adequately to allegations of on-campus sexual assault, a new report has found. The report, commissioned by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), draws on survey responses from over 300 public and private schools. Most startlingly, it found that over 40 percent […]
Happy World Population Day! Sex Ed and Family Planning Means Healthier Women and Children
In 1989, the United Nations Development Programme named July 11 World Population Day—an annual reminder that issues around population lead to aggravated pollution, the overuse of natural resources, water shortages and poverty, among other things. Improving access to family planning education and services is intimately related to addressing overpopulation, but as we celebrate the 25th World […]
World Population Day: What Hobby Lobby Means Beyond Our Borders
America’s checkered record on supporting women’s rights to birth control was further stained last week when five Supreme Court justices—none of them women—ruled that a corporation’s “religious beliefs” can override this most basic of human rights. The decision undermines not only women’s rights, but all of our rights to a more sustainable future. Despite decades […]
World Population Day: What Would Margaret Sanger Think of Hobby Lobby?
Margaret Sanger and Gregory Goodwin Pincus knew there would be days like these. Two decisions in the past two weeks by the Supreme Court offer sharp reminders that while Americans and even American businesses have long embraced birth control, the law has not. Two weeks ago, the nation’s highest court struck down restrictions that had created […]
Under Attack: Buffer Zones Around Abortion Clinics
Now that the Supreme Court has struck down the law upholding 35-foot buffer zones around abortion clinics in Massachusetts, similar buffer-zone laws in Maine, Vermont, Wisconsin and New Hampshire have quickly been rescinded or put on hold, leaving clinic staff and patients vulnerable to harassment and potential violence. Portland, Maine, repealed its 39-foot buffer zone ordinance Monday, while city officials […]
Students Challenge North Carolina Voter ID Laws
For years, civil rights organizations have successfully argued to overturn voter ID laws on the grounds that they disproportionately disenfranchise poor and minority voters. But this week, college students are having their say as well. Lawyers for seven North Carolina college students joined the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Department of Justice to […]
Honoring History’s Forgotten Women, One-Too-Many Chardonnays At A Time
There’s something strangely empowering about hearing that Mary Dyer, the 17th century Quaker who dared to challenge the Puritans’ religious intolerance, “freaked their dicks off.” On Comedy Central’s Drunk History, which premiered its second season this month, crass is king as comedians rely on a little liquid courage to help them retell overlooked episodes in […]
Contraceptive Access Further Weakened by Wheaton Decision
In the flurry of media coverage surrounding the recent Hobby Lobby decision and its curtailment of women’s rights, the dissent of Ruth Bader Ginsburg—now known throughout the Internet as Notorious R.B.G.—became ubiquitous. Full of blistering one-liners, her assertion that the Court had “ventured into a minefield” were the mots de jour, as many wondered what […]