Wendy Garcia is visiting her friend, Alexis, in her home. At 14, Alexis Lopez looks more like a sister than a mother to her one-and-a-half year old daughter, who she bathes, changes and plays with. “I got pregnant at age 12,” Lopez tells Garcia. “At first, I didn’t know what to do.” As a reporter for […]
Author: Malia Schilling
New Zealand Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage!
New Zealand became the 13th country to legalize same-sex marriage on Wednesday, when members of parliament voted 77 to 44 to amend the 1955 Marriage Act. After the votes were read, loud cheering and applause broke out in the room. Then, something even more heartwarming happened: The lawmakers spontaneously started to sing! The song, “Pokarekare Ana,” […]
We “Like” the Westboro Baptist Church on Facebook
You may be surprised to hear Ms. recommending anything involving the notorious anti-LGBT hate group, the Westboro Baptist Church. Before you judge us, though, take a look at the Westboro Baptist Church Facebook page. A quick scroll through their timeline brings up posts including inspiring quotes from Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dalai Lama, […]
Outing a Rapist
You never know what to expect entering a school bathroom, but one of the last things I expected was to be told that my school had a rapist. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every two minutes, and an estimated 350 women per college campus of 10,000 […]
She Can Play Football–But What Happens Next?
Eleven-year-old Caroline Pla has been playing football since she was in kindergarten. But two games into her second season with the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), the young athlete was banned from her team because she was a girl playing a full-contact sport. With support from her team, though, Pla and her family started an online […]
Senate Hearing Brings Military Sexual Assault Out of the Shadows
Last week, the U.S. Senate held a subcommittee panel on sexual assault in the military, its first in over a decade. Three former service members testified before the panel about “a pervasive culture of harassment and danger in which victims had little or no redress.” The subcommittee’s hearing comes as senators expressed outrage over a […]
Know Your New Pope: A Feminist Guide
We know he’s the first pope from Latin America, the first Jesuit pope and the first pope (probably) with only one lung. But where does newly elected Pope Francis stand on the issues feminists care about? The Catholic Church is not just a religious entity but also a political one, and often uses its social and […]
Steubenville’s Alleged Rapists Go on Trial
Today is the third day of the much-publicized trial of Steubenville (Ohio) high school football stars Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16. The young men are accused of raping a 16-year-old girl during a party in August 2012. Mays is also charged with “illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material” for pictures he […]
Happy International Women’s Day!
It’s International Women’s Day! The United Nations’ theme for IWD this year is “A Promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,” and across the globe, individuals and organizations have planned hundreds of events celebrating the annual event. Here are some of them: —From March 4th to 15th, the members of the UN […]
States Continue to Threaten Abortion Rights
The past two weeks have not been very good for Team Pro-Choice. If you had any doubt about the War on Women continuing into 2013, look no further. Women’s reproductive rights continue to be eroded in Republican state legislatures across the nation. A list of the anti-abortion legislation passed recently: South Dakota: The South Dakota […]