Tag: Sex and Relationships

Young People Don’t Know Their Emergency Contraception Options

Emergency contraception methods are ones people can use after they’ve had sex and are concerned with becoming pregnant. They work by preventing or delaying the release of an egg from the ovary to prevent pregnancy after the fact.

With young people facing increasing constraints on their reproductive health, they need to be aware of emergency contraceptive methods, where to get them and how to use them. However, the vast majority of providers aren’t counseling young people about emergency contraception. It’s key for healthcare providers to inform their patients about emergency contraception, and to offer a supply in advance to have at home.

What Is a Woman’s Novel? For That Matter, What Is a Man’s? (August 1986)

From the August 1986 issue of Ms.:

“Men’s novels are about men. Women’s novels are about men too, but from a different point of view. You can have a men’s novel with no women in it, except possibly the landlady or the horse, but you can’t have a women’s novel with no men in it.”

“Men’s novels are about how to get power. Killing and so on, or winning and so on. So are women’s novels, though the method is different. In men’s novels, getting the woman or women goes along with getting the power. It’s a perk, not a means. In women’s novels, you get the power by getting the man.”

‘The Martyrs, the Lovers’: Revelatory Fiction Inspired by the Life of German Activist Petra Kelly

Catherine Gammon’s fifth book The Martyrs, the Lovers tells the fascinating story of Petra Kelly, a modern-day Joan of Arc who stood up to the powers that be, and who dedicated her life to causes we are still fighting for. Kelly’s life and mysterious death are carefully reconstructed in a way that is deeply resonant for our current day and age.

U.S. Rape Culture Is Sidelining and Silencing Future Female Leaders

The recent CDC report on the health of U.S. high school students was sharply contextualized by chief medical officer Dr. Deborah Houry’s headline-grabbing remark at the report’s release: “America’s teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness, violence and trauma.”

Rape culture is defined in part by its tolerance of subjection of women to a continuum of threats. Rape culture is also characterized by sexism, which involves normalized denigration and dismissal of women. Failure to address these conditions for young girls creates more hurdles on their paths to success and the possibility of public leadership—where the ranks of women leaders continue to be proportionally much smaller than they are for men.

Dream Schools Can Be a Nightmare—But a New Data Tool Empowers Student Survivors

To fight for change effectively, we must listen to students and survivors nationwide and provide them with critical information on how campuses handle sexual assault. We built the Campus Accountability Map and Tool (CAMT) to do just that.

There is no “one size fits all” approach to addressing campus sexual assault, but the CAMT centralizes data to shift focus to one that keeps students first in mind and an institution’s bottom line and reputation last. 

‘Judy Blume Forever’ and the Enduring Power of Books

Judy Blume is most at home surrounded by books. That’s the predominant impression of a new documentary on the author’s life directed by Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, Judy Blume Forever, which premiered at Sundance last month and will begin streaming globally on Prime Video in April.

The film relies heavily on interviews with Blume herself, a wonderfully charming presence throughout the documentary. (“I could be fearless in my writing the way I couldn’t in my life,” Blume explains in the film, referring to the complexities of her own personal life, where she chafed against the confines of her early marriages.) But one of its best components is its emphasis on the readers and how they were and still are affected by her novels.

Forget His Roses—You’re Better Off Single

Sixty-one percent of single women say they are content with being solo, while only 49 percent of single men said the same. Sixty-five percent of men said they were not looking for a partner, compared to 75 percent of women who said their singledom was a choice. The single life actually extends women’s lifespan; men, however, live longer if hitched. So if you’re a woman, don’t bother. 

Am I upset about having no beau on Valentine’s Day? When the drug store cashier asked about my (lack of) a husband, did I run straight to the tissue aisle? Or lose it when settled snugly in my car? Hell no. In fact, my mind went to the poor women in unhappy marriages and toxic relationships who don’t know how incredible it feels on the outside. 

Sundance 2023: Mother and Daughter Learn to Understand Each Other in Innovative Comedy ‘The Persian Version’

An uplifting and engrossing film that manages to hit just the right notes in both its comedic and dramatic registers, The Persian Version won this year’s Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category and garnered writer, director and producer Maryam Keshavarz the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

It borrows the conventional immigrant narrative of resilience and molds it into a nuanced reflection on mother-daughter relationships, cultural difference, and the power of choosing your own story.