More Than A Magazine, A Movement
The world is letting girls fall behind at an alarming rate. This International Day of the Girl, the world must reassess its commitments to girls everywhere—for a flourishing world and, most importantly, for the individual health, rights and well-being of each girl, no matter what.
Girls will reach their fullest potential when global governments comprehensively prioritize their education, safety, health and autonomy.
Crisis pregnancy centers—which counsel women against getting abortions—began to pop up in the late ’60s, as states passed laws legalizing abortion. Today, Texas has the most crisis pregnancy centers of any state.
These groups’ sex ed efforts are widespread: More than 35 of these centers are involved in dozens of school districts across Texas. Within these programs—offered for free to school districts—students are taught if they have sex before marriage, emotional risks include depression, guilt and anxiety. They’re taught that condoms do not keep them safe from pregnancy or STDs. These approaches aren’t effective in preventing or changing behavior. Instead, they can cause students to stop absorbing information that might help them make informed decisions about sex in the future.
“Cultivating the dignity of one woman is what continues to drive me,” said Megha Desai, president of the Desai Foundation, which leverages menstrual education for the empowerment of women in India.
Modern-day debates over gay rights and women’s rights are far less about long-standing cultural norms and far more about power and social control.
As a youth sexuality educator, I have seen firsthand how comprehensive sex education that teaches young people healthy sexuality and communication, boundary setting, and consent is key to youth mental health and development.
Despite student government’s vote, anti-abortion group Medical Students for Life is now fully operational on Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine’s campus.
What’s happening at Midwestern University illustrates the anti-abortion movement’s larger strategy: disseminate misinformation to confuse, deter and scare pregnant people out of getting abortions.
Across the U.S., indie clinics are often the last line of defense. In 2022 alone, at least 42 independent abortion clinics have been forced to close or stop providing abortion care.
Despite ongoing challenges, we’ve seen the resilience of independent clinics and providers and heard the voices of voters and the public like never before. We need everyone in this fight to keep our clinics open.
If it’s been years—or decades—since you started a new school year, you may be surprised to learn that some areas of high school curriculum haven’t evolved for the better since you roamed the halls of your alma mater. This is especially true when it comes to sex education.
Young people today are less likely to receive instruction on key sex-education topics than they were 25 years ago. To get a sense of what the future of sex ed might look like, I interviewed several professionals and students about their own sex ed experiences and their visions on how sex ed can be improved.
Martha Kempner spoke to Ms. about her weekly newsletter ‘Sex on Wednesday’ and the current political climate in the U.S. Sex, sexuality and sexual health are her subjects—and lately, she has no shortage of material to draw from.
“We are in a really critical period right now. This is a really scary moment for sexuality and sexual agency.”
“We felt it our responsibility to depict the war on Black women’s bodies raging in this conservative state,” said Katori Hall, creator of Starz’s P-Valley.
