There is no getting around it: A gender-equitable recovery requires an infusion of funding from the federal government to the states.
Investing deeply in states and localities isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the smart thing to do.
Category: Voices
Wearing a Mask Makes Me Comfortable in my Body—and Aware of Others’
“It’s not physical masks Americans are pushing back against. It’s all the mask represents: the power able-bodied white people wield and the gross inequalities that render some bodies worth more to the world than others.”
Compassionate Strangers Made My Abortion Happen
When I realized I needed an abortion, I didn’t realize that it would be a destination abortion. I didn’t realize how many barriers—how many people—would be in my way just so I could get the abortion I wanted, when I wanted it. But thankfully, with the help of complete strangers, I was able to get the abortion I wanted at 30 weeks.
I wonder what our society could look like if we all held a bit more empathy and grace for people like me, who have later abortions and no one to support us.
Tools of the Patriarchy: Diet Culture and How We All Perpetuate the Stigma
Diet culture is a patriarchal tool.
Diet culture forces individuals, notably women, to center their lives around their physical appearance. It additionally promotes an unachievable physical appearance while offering a vast array of products—paradoxically advertising that one can achieve the unachievable.
But having conversations about our bodies in healthy, productive ways—not critical, accusatory ways—is the only way that we can end diet culture once and for all.
The Lost Season: COVID-19’s Impact on Underrepresented Playwrights
Donnetta Grays is just one of many playwrights whose productions were cut short this year due to COVID-19—since the spring season is generally when theaters “take more risks” in producing shows outside of the traditional canon. So the pandemic, unsurprisingly, is disproportionately affecting playwrights who produce such “radical” work—namely, Black, queer and marginalized writers.
The Kilroys’ LIST aims to memorialize those productions.
Musician Margaret Glaspy is Exploring “Devotion” in Quarantine
When singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy imagined the release of “Devotion,” her sophomore record, it didn’t include a world-wide quarantine.
“Devotion” is a mark of her commitment to process through electronic pop, a sonic shift away from her highly praised folk debut. With lyrics that delve into gray areas of love, art and political engagement, Glaspy holds up multidimensionality in earnest. She hopes to reach the others who could use a lift, and articulates how the act of creating anchors her, even now.
“See No Stranger”: To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable
A Review of Valarie Kaur’s “See No Stranger: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love”: Embedded in this compendium of stories, theories, philosophies, practices and prayer-poems, is both an East Asian and U.S. history told through the lens of a courageous, young, female Sikh activist, filmmaker and lawyer. The narrative is a weaving of stories with an infusion of Sikh culture and feminist theory, grounded in scholarship and extensive footwork.
The Ms. Q&A: What Does it Mean to be a Tomboy?
Two books that interrogate tomboys are being published in August. The authors discuss their findings about gender and what it means to be a tomboy.
What to Do About Weight Gain During the Pandemic
“People are going to be so fat when all this is over.” Most describe fat bodies as epidemic, so for many, the panic must literally feel like one tragedy is actively breeding another.
Yet, eating is one form of human comfort—and we need to acknowledge that in difficult times, seeking comfort makes sense.
Denying Contraceptive Coverage Places Barriers Between Women and Basic Care
Despite overwhelming support for contraception, the Supreme Court opted to allow employers to single it out and makes women financially responsible for the full cost of contraception: the most fundamental part of their reproductive well-being.
As a result, contraception will be too expensive for some women to afford.