Tunkel’s expository essay chronicles their personal relationship with their hairiness and the ways in which it coincides with their gender identity and normative beauty standards.
Tag: Personal Essay
‘Chaos, Confusion and Crisis’: Marking a Full Year of Texas’ Six-Week Abortion Ban
It’s been two months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to an abortion—but we can’t forget that Texans like me have been suffering for much longer.
For one year, abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy has been banned in Texas. For one year, people like me have been forced to find the time, money and resources to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles out of state, if they can, to access healthcare. And if they can’t, for one year, countless Texans have been forced to carry pregnancies against their will, with profound medical risks and life-altering consequences.
Front and Center: ‘Before the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, I Was Working Seven Days a Week’
Front and Center highlights the success of Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust, which this year will give $1,000 per month for 12 months to 100 families headed by Black women living in federally subsidized housing.
“It’s been a few months of getting the guaranteed income, and I definitely see an increase in happiness with both me and my kids. I still have to budget, but I’m able to get them more things that they need and even have some left over to be able to reward them with little extras when I can — though making sure my bills are all paid up is always my number one priority.”
Front and Center: Before Guaranteed Income and the Child Tax Credit, ‘Some Months I Would Fall Very Short’
Front and Center highlights the success of Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust, which this year will give $1,000 per month for 12 months to 100 families headed by Black women living in federally subsidized housing.
“When people say that programs like this will stop people from working, it just makes no sense to me. $1,000 isn’t enough for me to quit my job and is less than what I make, and what I make from working isn’t enough to cover all my bills. People like me need more income.”
To: Our Assaulters—From: Your Survivors
Sexual assault, rape and molestation— these are real words with real actions that unfortunately happen more often than we think. Why is there a deafening silence amongst these words?
“We are five survivors. We are the power of strength. We are the survivors with voices.”
Childcare Access Is the Difference Between Economic Opportunity and Homelessness
Without affordable childcare, my family slid into homelessness. We could have avoided this if our country prioritized helping families. Now, Congress has the opportunity to do just that.
The Truth My Mother Told Me
As it turned out, even though times had changed, not much had changed at all. But watching my harassment complaint be treated with warranted, hard-fought seriousness, I felt the strength of my mother’s generation of feminists at my back.
I’m an Asian American Environmental Educator. White Supremacy Is a Threat to Me and to the Planet
A purely ecological agenda for Earth Day isn’t enough: Racial justice must be prioritized.
Living With Dignity: Louisiana Black Women Demand Resources
Unrelenting storms are ravaging the world, including Louisiana. The attack on our reproductive rights is another storm threatening Black women in Louisiana and across the country.
Black women are being denied the resources, and the right to live and raise our families with dignity—and without state interference.
The Dream Continues: Amplifying the Voices of Black Women to Achieve Health Equity
Raising awareness about structural racism and empowering Black women to raise our voices are crucial to addressing health and social inequity.
Exclusion of Black women from mainstream world history has effectively masked our contributions to society, helping to facilitate marginalization. An important step in the process towards health equity and social justice involves amplifying the voices of Black women and other marginalized populations by creating spaces for us to tell our own stories.