A varied collection of women-owned, BIPOC-owned and mother-owned small businesses to complete your holiday shopping, while supporting businesses that you can stand behind.
Author: Ramona Flores
Ramona Flores is an editorial fellow with Ms. and is completing her undergraduate studies at Smith College, with a double major in government and the study of women and gender. Her academic focuses include Marxist feminism, transnational collective organizing and queer history. Her writing covers internet subcultures, reproductive care advocacy and queer theory. She hails from Austin, Texas.
Google Jigsaw Introduces New Tool to Protect High-Risk Online Users
Nearly 40 percent of women have personally been targeted by online violence. Jigsaw, a unit inside Google, hopes to make the internet safer place for women and people of color.
“Building this tool is a part of Jigsaw’s broader mission to protect democracies through technology,” said Google Jigsaw’s head of partnerships and business development Patricia Georgiou.
Centering Trans Voices Is Essential in News Coverage, New HRC Report Finds
A new report from the the Human Rights Campaign gives new insight on how media coverage and broader “visibility” can both affect society’s perception of the transgender community as well as transgender individuals.
The School-To-Prison Pipeline Is Stealing Florida’s Black Girls
Despite Florida Black girls making up only 21 percent of the state’s female population ages 10–17, they account for 45 percent of all girls arrested.
The Pace Center for Girls, based in Jacksonville, Fla., envisions a better, more equitable future for the Sunshine State’s young women, especially its Black girls. Ms. sat down with CEO Mary Marx to discuss Pace’s work, impact and goals.
Texas Governor’s Investigations Into Parents of Trans Child Temporarily Halted
On Tuesday, Lambda Legal and the ACLU filed a suit to block Texas from performing a child abuse investigation on a family seeking healthcare for a transgender child.
On Wednesday, Judge Amy Clark Meachum, a Travis County district court judge, granted a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from this family’s specific child abuse investigation. It will, however, allow other investigations to continue under a controversial directive from Abbott last week instructing the Texas DFPS to investigate gender-affirming care for Texas youth.
When “I’m Sorry” Falls Flat: The Last I’m Sorry Campaign Highlights Overlooked Abuse
The chilling “I’m Sorry” campaign showcases another side of abuse—the inevitable apology—via a medium which abusers cannot hide from their victims: public billboards. The PSA was curated by domestic violence nonprofits Safe in Harm’s Way Foundation Inc. and DomesticShelters.org who joined forces with two major advertising organizations to connect victims of abuse with the help they need.
“If you talk to survivors, there’s a lot of people who say, ‘I didn’t even realize I was being abused.’”
TikTok Bans Misogyny, Misgendering and Deadnaming Trans Users, and the Promotion of Conversion Therapy
TikTok, a platform with over 1 billion monthly users, is taking new steps to protect LGBTQ and women users from harassment and hate speech. The most recent update of its Community Guidelines bans any content found to contain misogyny, as well as the misgendering and deadnaming of transgender creators. Released Tuesday, the new guidelines also clarified any content promoting or supporting so-called conversion therapy would also be a violation of the rules, along with content that promotes disordered eating.
Jex Blackmore Swallows Abortion Pill on Fox News: “It’s Literally This Easy”
Activist Jex Blackmore took an abortion pill live on Fox News. Ms. spoke with Blackmore about activism, art and direct action.
“People really believe it should be hard to find out about abortion. It should be difficult to make the decision. And for those reasons, I think it was absolutely the right way to go because that kind of narrative does nobody any good.”
Avoiding Amazon—Celebrate Small Businesses and Socially Conscious Companies This Holiday Season
If the pandemic has made you worry about consumerism and ethical buying practices, or if you’re just looking to support a small, female-owned business this holiday season, we’ve got you covered! This list offers a variety of small businesses, with products ranging from skincare to home decor, and everything in between.
Incel’s Mass Shooting Foiled—Shooter Was “Aiming Big” with Goal of 3,000 Victims
21-year-old Tres Genco, a self-proclaimed incel (“involuntary celibate”) had been planning to open fire at a sorority at an unnamed nearby university. He drew inspiration from Elliot Rodger, specifically planning his massacre to fall on the seventh anniversary of the incel killer’s “day of retribution” in Isla Vista, Calif., in which he killed six people and injured 14 in as part of what he himself called a “war on women.”