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Mississippi Could Soon Jail Women for Stillbirths & Miscarriages?
On March 14, 2009, 31 weeks into her pregnancy, Nina Buckhalter gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. She named the child Hayley Jade. Two months later, a grand jury in Lamar County, Mississippi, indicted Buckhalter for manslaughter, claiming that the then-29-year-old woman “did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, kill Hayley Jade Buckhalter, a human being, by culpable negligence.”
The district attorney argued that methamphetamine detected in Buckhalter’s system caused Hayley Jade’s death. The state Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on the case on April 2, is expected to rule soon on whether the prosecution can move forward.
If prosecutors prevail in this case, the state would be setting a “dangerous precedent” that “unintentional pregnancy loss can be treated as a form of homicide,” says Farah Diaz-Tello, a staff attorney with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a nonprofit legal organization that has joined with Robert McDuff, a Mississippi civil rights lawyer, to defend Buckhalter. If Buckhalter’s case goes forward, NAPW fears it could spur a wave of similar prosecutions in Mississippi and other states.
Mississippi’s manslaughter laws were not intended to apply in cases of stillbirths and miscarriages. Four times between 1998 through 2002, Mississippi lawmakers rejected proposals that would have set specific penalties for damaging a fetus by using illegal drugs during pregnancy. But Mississippi prosecutors say that two other state laws allow them to charge Buckhalter. One definesof manslaughter as the “killing of a human being, by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another”; another includes ”an unborn child at every stage of gestation from conception until live birth” in the state’s definition of human beings.
The cause of any given miscarriage or stillbirth is difficult to determine, and many experts believe there is no conclusive evidence that exposure to drugs in utero can cause a miscarriage or stillbirth. Because of this, prosecuting Buckhalter opens the door to investigating and prosecuting women for any number of other potential causes of a miscarriage or stillbirth, her lawyers argued in a filing to the state Supreme Court—”smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, exercising against doctor’s orders, or failing to follow advice regarding conditions such as obesity or hypertension.” Supreme Court Justice Leslie D. King also raised this question in the oral arguments last month: “Doctors say women should avoid herbal tea, things like unpasteurized cheese, lunch meats. Exactly what are the boundaries?”
Colorado Youth Testify in Support of HB 1081
I strictly assumed that by this time period humans would not be arguing over equality, inclusion, and sexual health. Apparently, some Americans don’t want their children learning about “the gays”, “the lesbians”, “the immigrants” or “cultures.” Some are even outraged because “white heterosexuals” are “no longer represented.” These are authentic words spoken from citizens present in the committee for HB 1081 or “The Sex Ed Bill”, on Thursday February 7th. I went into committee humming “I’m just a Bill” to ease the nerves, because I had no idea what to expect for my first committee hearing. I was not prepared to speak, but after listening to the opposition’s arguments that were no more than racist and discriminative, I wanted my voice heard. I was “the gay” that they rejected, and the “immigrant” that disgusted them, and the “culture” that they were opposed too.
My turn came to speak. Hesitant I got up from my chair, stepped slow and cautious to the stand while I felt judgment from the many eyes in the room. I thought repeatedly in my head what I wanted to say, but as soon as my mouth said the first word, everything seemed to vanish from my brain. What was a high school student to say? Hell, why was he even here? I sat down. My voice shook as I said my name, but I remembered the woman who didn’t want “the gays” and the “immigrants” in her white heterosexual culture and said “I am here representing the Latino community who cannot be here today because they do not speak English, or have the resources to be here.” Yes, I said Latino with an accent because in that very moment, I had never been more proud to be a person of color. I then stated “I would like to begin by saying that I identify as gay.” Never had a said “I identify as gay” openly, in public. I knew however that this was the time to truly express myself as an advocate.
I testified for HB 1081 in a way I never thought I would. I not only came out to the 12 legislators in the room, but I came out to the priest in the back who probably damned me to hell ten times over, the woman who drove from Colorado Springs to attack communities I am a part of, and the many allies in that room which gave me the boost of confidence I much needed. I didn’t have a clear understanding of why I do the work I do. I knew I had a passion for the education of individuals, the equality of humans, and empowerment of the mind, but it took that one woman saying “the gays” and “the immigrants” to accurately put this into perspective. Not only was I advocating for Comprehensive Sexual Health Education, but I was making a stand for everything that is included in Comp Sex Ed; The inclusion of culture, ability, gender, age, sexual orientation, size, and ethnicity. Comprehensive Sexual Health addresses the respect for others and respect for yourself, which is why I was able to testify, and confront the opposition: Learning about my body, my actions and reactions, and my rights as a young person has allowed me to gain self assurance and confidence. The experience of testifying for committee was electrifying, intimidating, but mostly rewarding and reflective, and I can only hope that I was remembered among the citizens who don’t want the “the gays”, “the lesbians”, or “the immigrants” in their culture, these pitiful underprivileged people: Where are they represented?
http://reproductiverightsunsw.tumblr.com/post/50247350365
Melissa Harris-Perry’s Panel looks at Elizabeth Smart’s recent comments on abstinence-only sex education and whether the policy is effective.
WATCH IT HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty_MA_mrow8
You could qualify for FREE birth control (what better way to celebrate National Women’s Health Week?). Find out here and spread the word to your lady friends.
“Sadly, real or perceived controversy keeps schools from providing young people with the information and skills they need to become sexually healthy adults. Just like other topics taught in school, sexuality education should be developmentally appropriate, sequential and complete.
Irrational fear – the cultural belief that teaching young people about sex will cause them to have sex – keeps administrators and educators from doing what they know is best: providing young people with developmentally appropriate, sequential and honest sex education. Never mind that 30 years of public health research clearly demonstrates that when young people receive such education, they are more likely to delay sexual initiation, and to use protection when they do eventually become sexually active, than those who receive no sex education or learn only about abstinence. Withholding information about sex and sexuality will not keep children safe; it will only keep them ignorant.
Ninety-five percent of all Americans have sex before marriage. About half of all young people begin having sex by age 17. Providing a foundation of quality sex education is the only way to ensure that young people will grow into sexually healthy adults. It can augment what children learn at home and combat misinformation learned from peers or found on the Internet. Porn is not the best way for teenagers to learn about sex, but it will fill the vacuum when sex education is politicized and withheld from our classrooms.
Quality sex education should start in kindergarten. Early elementary school students need to learn the proper names for their body parts, the difference between good touch and bad touch, and ways in which they can be a good friend (the foundation for healthy intimate relationships later in life). Fourth- and fifth-graders need information about puberty and their changing bodies, Internet safety, and the harmful impact of bullying. And seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders are ready for information about body image, reproduction, abstinence, contraception, H.I.V. and disease prevention, communication, and the topic they most want to learn about: healthy relationships.”
TODAY, the North Carolina House of Representatives will be debating a bill (HB 693) that would require teenagers notarized parental consent form in order to access STD testing and treatment, mental health counseling, pregnancy prevention or care, or substance abuse treatment. Teenagers without a parent or guardian would be required to stand before a judge and request a judicial bypass in order to obtain those health services.
Let’s do a quick before and after:
RIGHT NOW, a young person in North Carolina can see a doctor for STD testing and treatment, mental health counseling, pregnancy prevention and care, or substance abuse treatment WITHOUT parental consent.
IF THIS LAW PASSES: A young person would need NOTARIZED parental permission to see a doctor for any and all of these services (including abortion).*
Obvious problematic scenarios arise: For example, a young woman who may be sexually active may decide to forgo birth control because she is not willing to speak with their parents. There’s also the question of how often signatures are required? Is it every time you get a pap test or every time you pick up monthly contraception or antidepressant prescriptions? Does this include OTC contraception? Would young people need notarized parental permission to buy condoms?
The bill is so vague that it offers more questions than answers and the answers we do have are problematic and dangerous for young people’s health and safety.
If this law passes, North Carolina would be the ONLY state in the U.S. to amend that parental consent requirements include STD testing and treatment and mental health counseling.
It’s also worth noting that even though every state has some type of parental consent law in some form or fashion, NO state has ever required notarization. That extra step will undoubtedly make it harder for young people in North Carolina to access the services they need to lead healthy lives.
The bill is going to the House today. I hope the House leadership feels embarrassed about how far this bill goes and does the right thing for young people in their state. Crossing my fingers that House leadership doesn’t allow this crazy to go any further!
If you live in North Carolina, I recommend contacting Republican members of the House to let them know why you’re concerned about this bill. They need to hear your perspective as a young person, parent, or professional to know about how truly outrageous this effort is for our young people’s safety and health.
*However, Title X clinics, meaning any clinic which receives federal funding under Title X and including all Planned Parenthood clinics, must still by law offer confidential STI testing and treatment, and contraception, regardless of any state law.
Transgender women are the fastest growing population of the HIV-positive. The National Institutes of Health came out with a report, noting that almost a third of transgender Americans have HIV. Trans women of color specifically are at a greater risk than their white sisters. Through a survey, it was found that 56% of black trans women have HIV. The 2009 study from NIH also noted that many transgender women may not even know their HIV status. With an alarming statistic like this, we have to wonder what’s causing it.
When individuals are thrown into social injustice, it can be difficult to escape from. Trans women are profiled and disproportionately targeted and arrested by the law enforcement. The police will try to use condoms as evidence of sex work, so trans women face the “choice” of keeping themselves and their partners safe or getting arrested. When they’re forced into jail, trans women are often housed with male inmates or they are put into solitary confinement, as if either path is any better. Sex workers are generally more likely to be HIV-positive than those who are not engaged in sex work, but because of the disproportionate targeting of trans women, trans women sex workers’ risk for HIV is four times greater.
While sex work is a valid way of meeting financial needs, some trans women turn to it as an option because of discrimination in employment. In most of the United States, it’s completely legal to turn down or dismiss a person based on gender identity and sexual orientation. People can even be denied housing or become evicted because of their gender identity and orientation. This leaves a dangerously negative and significant impact on their economic well-being and safety. It also makes it difficult for trans women especially to keep up with their hormonal therapy, since it’s often not covered by insurance, if they can even pay for that insurance with what the circumstances are. With lack of access to basic health care, many incompetent doctors, clinics, social stigma, and overall institutions that discriminate against trans women, especially those of color– it’s all a very nasty formula expressing why trans women are hit so hard with HIV.
So, what can we do to help? Trans people are often absent from public campaigns for sexual health and safety. We can start by including them into that, and into many of our discussions and campaigns of social justice as well. We could get trans-specific in our literature in safer sex guides. We could also set up community centers as a safe space for trans people and create some peer groups, which would be strong social networks and a good use of peer outreach for safer sex and HIV testing. And of course we could and should create social support and do our part to de-stigmatize our trans brothers and sisters. Look up a local or national activist organization today.
Tennessee state lawmakers decided to pass a resolution this week. Before I tell you what the resolution was, let me give you a quick background on how Tennesee deals with its social issues. The bills that have been introduced in this state include: school prayer, fines on students who have saggy jeans, public displays of Christianity’s Ten Commandments, public access to the names of doctors who provide abortions, and the most “popular” is the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill which would prevent teachers from ever discussing homosexuality. Tennessee has also pushed the education system to teach the “controversies” of evolution and climate change. This state has also made an attempt to deal with its high teen pregnancy rates by restricting discussion in sex education, in fear that a truly comprehensive lesson might be arousing to the teens.
The latest endeavor has the state of Tennessee set to celebrate “Traditional Marriage Day” on August 31st, after passing a resolution to dedicate such an observation on the date. Gay rights activists are pushing against this measure. They declared that August 31st should be called “Tennessee Marriage Equality Day” instead. Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project suggested that these two different advocate groups have similar goals. He was quoted saying, “We’re not opposed to traditional marriages, but we believe traditional marriage is for everyone.”
Now in the “Traditional Marriage Day”’s defense, advocates for the measure claim that the day is merely about pointing out the economic benefits of getting married, hoping that more couples would be encouraged in doing so. It surely has nothing to do with stigmatizing and railing against marriage equality. No, of course not. Yet the official written resolution itself quotes the Christian Bible and in a clear statement says that marriage is to be “expressed only between a man and a wife.”
This is strange. If “Traditional Marriage Day” was simply about encouraging couples to get married and enjoy economic benefits, then why should same-sex couples be prohibited from doing the same? And isn’t every day pretty much Traditional Marriage Day then? I mean, especially in Tennessee where a state constitutional amendment was passed in 2006, banning marriage equality. This measure was supported by 81% of voters and since then, Tennessee has seen little progress on this issue. But activists are still fighting.
Check out the Tennessee Equality Project’s Facebook page and proclamation!
So far, I have refrained from blogging about the Boston Marathon bombings lest I explode into a ball of fire from the rage I feel. It’s always interesting to see the way that mainstream media latches onto stories about tragedy. Before it’s all over, the story has been told one million different ways, with everybody and their mother having been invited to weigh in. I kid you not, last Friday, every time I tuned the radio to NPR, someone was spouting some kind of analysis or the other. It’s always the same – “experts” postulate, and close friends and family talk about how the perpetrator was someone who could never have done whatever it is that was done.
In the case of the Tsarnaev brothers, take away the death and injury, and it’s almost funny to see how confused America is as to how to treat them. The way things usually go is that people of color, no matter whether they are actually victims in the situation (*cough cough* Trayvon Martin), are portrayed as “thugs”, while their Caucasian counterparts are always the quiet, awkward, friendless young men who are subsequently proven to be mentally imbalanced in cases. Yeah, he didn’t have any friends so he decided to shoot a theater full of people whose only crime was wanting to see the new Batman movie.
On one hand, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is, for all intents and purposes, a Caucasian fellow. He is also an American citizen. Logic dictates that this case would be treated as an instance of domestic terrorism. But on the other hand, there are rumors of Muslim involvement, and he is also brown-looking, so this must be an international crime against America right? At least that’s the way the public is reacting to the media coverage. People danced in the streets with the American flag the way that they danced in front of the White House when Osama bin Laden was reported dead. The media is constantly highlighting any possible ties to Islam, because somehow that makes it all much more justifiable. Do you see how Islamophobia is constantly being bred?
Tarring all people who fit in a specific category with the same brush is what leads to situations like an innocent woman being harassed in the street and blamed for the bombings simply because she was wearing a hijab. Let us not forget the false accusations leveled by Redditors against missing Brown University student Sunil Tripathi. Usually I love the internet because of its bountiful provision of Corgi photos, but stuff like this makes me wish I could take away internet privileges from some of these really ridiculous people who think it’s ok to sit in judgment, protected by the afforded anonymity of teh interwebs. Seriously, if I was the parent of one of those wanking, racist kids on Twitter, spouting ignorance, he/she would have the fear of Cthulhu put into him/her…and also wouldn’t be able to sit for a month.
Seriously, people. Stick to your day jobs and leave the policing to the actual judiciary system. Also, stop being so racist and judge people for their actual crimes rather than their religion or where they come from. If every ignorant thing said about groups of ethnic minorities were true, according to Oprah, I’d be a criminal regardless of my level of education (Ask me again why I have no respect whatsoever for that woman).
Transgender Woman Arrested for Exposing Breasts, Jailed With Men
Trigger warning: transphobia
A transgender woman from New York was arrested in Savannah, Ga., last week for allegedly exposing her breasts, reports Savannah’s WSAV. But when deputies booked Ashley Del Valle, 38, she says a nurse examined her genitals, and determined that she was “technically a male.” As a result, Del Valle was placed in a holding cell in the men’s prison ward.
“I also came to realize that the focus on personhood ignores the fact that a zygote, embryo, or fetus is growing inside of another person’s body.”
| — | Libby Anne, “How I Lost Faith in the ‘Pro-Life’ Movement” |
This is really important to consider. You absolutely can advocate for a zygote, embryo, or fetus. But understand that in doing so, it subsequently infringes on the rights of the person this being resides in.
Giving a fetus personhood is not equality. No one currently has the special right of using another’s person body without constant consent.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights have filed a lawsuit to block an Arkansas law banning abortion care after 12 weeks from going into effect.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe had vetoed the extreme measure in March, citing concerns that it violated Roe v. Wade and that subsequent legal challenges would prove “very costly to the taxpayers of our state” as the “costs and fees [of defending an unconstitutional law] can be significant.” The Legislature overrode Beebe’s veto in March.
The suit seeks a preliminary injunction against the law, which is set to take effect in July.
“This law is one of the most dangerous assaults on women’s health that we’ve seen in decades,” said Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “We may not all agree about abortion, but we can all agree that this complex and personal decision should be made by a woman, her family, and her doctor, not politicians.”
And not just women, of course. Everyone is entitled to reproductive/sexual healthcare and rights.
Read more here: http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/arkansas_abortion_ban_faces_legal_challenge/
When debating whether a fetus’s “right to life” trumps a woman’s “right to choose” — or whether the news media has paid enough attention to the trial of a Philadelphia doctor who allegedly killed seven babies born alive during late-term abortions, as well as a pregnant woman — Americans are bitterly divided on abortion. Before abandoning facts for rhetoric, let’s tackle some misunderstandings about this procedure’s history and impact.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-abortion-rights/2013/04/18/bd53c884-a5e5-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html
Social justice and environmental justice have a very direct
correlation. The environmental movement and the feminist movement both
advocate for the health of humanity, but in different ways. There are
many subject matters that exemplify this intersectionality.
For example, the way people use and abuse nature can easily be
compared to how society uses and abuses women.
Toxic Chemicals. We clearly need to do something about how easy it is
for major companies to slowly pollute our bodies and our earth. There
are over 84,000 chemicals in popular consumer products and only 200
have been tested. When chemicals even are tested it is primarily on
men, so these companies clearly do not care about the effect they are
having on women’s bodies. Some of these chemicals are made from toxins
that pollute our water and air. Many of these chemicals have been
shown to cause infertility, low sperm counts, sexual dysfunction,
miscarriage, and different types of cancer. Not to mention women use
personal care products far more often than men and are therefore more
negatively affected. Here at ETSU we’re celebrating Earth Day with a
festival and a young man best summarized it when he said “unnatural
chemicals don’t make natural beauty.”
Not everyone can afford ridiculously expensive so-called “natural
organic” personal care products to keep themselves and their children
healthy. In addition, toxic waste dumps are disproportionately located
near minority communities. Women of color are targeted by systematic
racist beauty standards convincing them to buy hair relaxers and skin
lightening creams with chemicals that have severe damage potential.
For example, the chemicals found in common African-American hair
products are known endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs are
linked to a range of reproductive health issues, like premature
puberty, gynecologic cancer, and birth defects. Look at who is hurting
the most by toxic chemicals. This is clearly a social justice issue
activists need to rise up against.
Quick Fact: 80% of federal transportation funds go to highways while
only 20% goes to mass transit. Not only does this hurt inner city
communities, but it’s a contributing factor to global warming.
Reproductive Justice. You know what’s really hurting our resources?
Overpopulation. People are using up far more than they need to and it
is growing out of control. If reproductive health options were more
readily available this would alleviate a great deal of that
environmental strain.
Here is a quick review on what the Toxic Substances Control Act is and
why we need it to be updated. This site also helps teach you on how
you can help.http://www.saferchemicals.org/resources/opinion.html
Find out what is in your cosmetics:
http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?list=type&type=33
Wake up to the threat of toxic chemicals!
www.rhtp.org/fertility/ToxicZombie.asp (Many resources used in the
writing of this blog were obtained from this site.)
“Toxic Combination: Fact Sheet on Toxic Chemicals and Reproductive
Health”—Center for American Progress:
http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2010/04/pdf/toxic_combination.pdf
“Women of Color are at Greater Risk for Toxic Chemical
Exposure”—Women’s Voices for the Earth:
http://www.womensvoices.org/about/why-a-womens-organization/
Restrictions Will Force 40-
Year-Old Abortion Clinic To
Close This Weekend
Last week, Virginia’s Board of Health voted to finalizeunnecessary regulations that will force many of the state’s abortion clinics to shut down. Those new restrictions — which are known as the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws — are already having their intended effect. Hillcrest Clinic, which opened to the public just nine months after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion services, will be closing its doors this weekend.
DOWNLOAD THE EARTH DAY OF ACTION TOOLKIT HERE
What do reproductive and sexual health have to do with the environment and Earth Day?
A whole lot.
When we think of Earth Day, visions of green recycling signs and oceans often come to the forefront of our minds. But today’s environmental issues run much broader and deeper than just our recycling bins and waterways.
Natural disasters and resource shortages hit impoverished communities first and worst. With women making up an estimated 70% of those living below the poverty line, they are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. This increased vulnerability for women and girls is oftentimes manifested in high rates of maternal mortality, pregnancy complications, and poor overall reproductive health. This is just one example that illustrates the intersection of reproductive health and the environment.
In our own backyard in the United States, low-income communities and communities of color bear the greatest burden of environmental injustice.
Take Mossville, Louisiana as an example.
The small, rural, and predominantly African American town became the site of the highest concentration of vinyl plastic manufacturers in the US, in addition to housing a coal-fired power plant, oil refineries and other chemical production facilities.
Together, these facilities produce more than 4 million pounds of carcinogenic toxic chemicals that end up in the soil, air and water of Mossville. This community’s exposure to these toxins has resulted in grave health impacts, from high incidences of asthma to a cancer epidemic.
It is not a coincidence that these toxic plants were built in a lower-class community of color and not a place like downtown Washington, DC, a place populated by people of privilege and significant socio-political power. Mossville, Louisiana is a clear cut incidence of environmental racism.
Another alarming instance of environmental and social injustice happening right before our eyes has to do with toxic chemical exposure.
Mounting scientific evidence reveals that chemicals in our air, water and everyday products—from our furniture to our personal care and cleaning products—are harming our reproductive health and fertility. This is frightening news for those of us that are planning big spring cleaning extravaganzas or like to paint our nails every few weeks. But what about if you clean houses for a living or work in a nail salon? Your exposure to toxic chemicals is likely to be constant and severe.
Women of color and immigrant women are overrepresented in professions that entail extreme and dangerous exposure to toxic chemicals.
Again, it’s not a coincidence that low-income women of color are disproportionately burdened by toxic chemicals through their jobs.
This is why we must take action this Earth Day and raise our voices in support of the Safe Chemicals Act, a piece of legislation that would make the 84,000 chemicals in commerce today safe for use by all consumers, but most importantly, communities that are disproportionately harmed by toxic chemicals.
How You Can Take Action on Earth Day:
I found a photo of a woman holding up a placard asking for greater coverage of a suspected murder. In Valdosta, GA, 17 year-old Kendrick Johnson was found dead in a pile of mats at his high school. The photo I found on Facebook however, tells a different story.
Accompanying text reads, “His name is Kendrick Kj Johnson he was beaten to death at his High School here in Valdosta Ga the police is covering up his story by saying there was no foul play but clearly you can see its a lie. They have yet to give the Johnson/Tooley family any answers. Im only asking for a minute of your time to plz share his story we need all the support we can get. Please support the Kendrick Kj Johnson movement.”
After a quick google search for related news stories, all I found was coverage of his falling into the pile of mats and dying from the subsequent blood flow to his brain after hanging upside down for an extended period of time. Although foul play is suspected, the speculation of these news stories say nothing about him being beaten to death. Plus one of the news outlets that covered the supposedly fake conclusion was FOX News…’nuff said.
Many have experienced opinions about this case’s similarity to Emmett Till’s. What could possibly be the motive behind this?
Does anyone know the truth about this? Additional information is needed to get justice for this young man’s family.
Only 23% of sexually active teens have been tested for HIV. Are you one of them? Find free or low-cost clinics near you!
Are you a young person (14-24 years old) who is:
Here’s something you may not have known. Every month 1,000 young people acquire HIV. Every month.
It’s time to take action and invest in young people – their health, their education, and their leadership – so we can truly reach an AIDS-free generation!
Join us for the FIRST EVER National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) on April 10! Let’s acknowledge young people’s great work fighting this epidemic, and hold our leaders accountable to prioritizing young people in the fight against HIV & AIDS.
If you haven’t heard already, the law makers in North Dakota are pushing for another anti-choice bill. This time it’s an abortion ban on the basis of personhood. If passed, this would effectively give fertilized eggs all the rights of U.S. citizens. And it would cut off abortion care completely. Beyond abortion this bill would also charge doctors who damage embryos in any way with criminal negligence. It also prevents doctors from being able to perform in vitro fertilizations. Now you might be thinking an unconstitutional bill like this couldn’t possibly get passed by Senate or the House, but it did. Shockingly, it passed the House by a vote of 57-35 and it’s currently making its way to the Governor’s desk.
The state’s recent six-week abortion ban is already in direct violation of Roe v. Wade and will bring about several legal costs for taxpayers when challenged. This next measure of a total abortion ban will surely cause North Dakota to face the same results, costing the state more than they bargained for. And how will they pay for these litigations?
During a recent debate between Senator Margaret Sitte and Dr. Kristen Cain about the abortion restrictions and pending abortion ban, Senator Sitte accidentally lets something slip. When asked if these bills will cost taxpayers possibly millions, Senator Sitte unintentionally admits that there are outside interests behind the unconstitutional abortion bans who are willing to spend those millions to make sure people in North Dakota will not have access to reproductive healthcare and rights. Watch as Senator Sitte tries to lie her way out of it.
Watch the debate between Senator Sitte and Dr. Cain!
This abortion ban won’t be a law until Governor Jack Darlymple of North Dakota signs it, and it’s unclear if he will or won’t.
To contact Governor Jack Darlymple:
Office of Governor
State of North Dakota
600 East Boulevard Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58505-0100
701.328.2200: phone
701.328.2205: fax
Two personhood bills — Senate Bill 2303 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 4009 — have already passed the Senate, and the GOP-controlled House is expected to take them upsometime this week. But if North Dakota successfully enacts a total abortion ban, there will be serious consequences for the state that extend even beyond women’s reproductive freedom. Here are five ways the state will suffer under personhood:
1. There will be fewer doctors in the state available to provide medical care. In a historic move for the North Dakota Medical Association, the nonpartisan organization has come out againstpersonhood. The group points out that the anti-abortion measures go too far to “interfere with the physician practice,” and they suspect it will be harder to find qualified medical professionals willing to practice in North Dakota if the state imposes so many complicated restrictions on doctors. Some doctors have already testified before state lawmakersto say they will leave North Dakota if the abortion bans pass.
2. Maternal health care will be compromised. Doctors could becharged with criminal negligence if anything happens to an embryo — which could prevent them from making quick decisions that could help save women’s lives. The tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died after being denied an abortion in a Catholic hospital because her doctors were reluctant to provide care that could get them in trouble with the law, highlights the serious consequences of state lawmakers coming between a woman and her doctor.
3. Women could be forced to resort to illegal abortion procedures.Under a personhood law, women will end up resorting to dangerous “backroom” abortions, one former pediatrician warned North Dakota lawmakers last week. That Fargo-area doctor did his medical training before Roe v. Wade, when women were dying of bacterial infections after botched abortion procedures — and he warns that the passage of the proposed personhood measures would pull North Dakota back into “the stone age of medicine.” There’s evidence to back up that claim. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the legality of abortion hasabsolutely no correlation to abortion rates around the world, because women will continue to seek to terminate pregnancies regardless of the law.
4. Women won’t be able to use in vitro fertilization to try to have a family. Ironically, in addition to compromising medical procedures for the women seeking to terminate a pregnancy, personhood measures also place restrictions on the women who are trying to get pregnant. “These bills will stop the practice of in vitro fertilization in this state,” Dr. Stephanie Dahl, an obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive medicine specialist in Fargo, explained to lawmakers. Doctors wouldn’t be able to perform any procedure that carries the risk of damaging some embryos, so women would be forced to travel to South Dakota or Minnesota for in vitro treatment, a six-week process that requires multiple sonograms and up to 12 visits to the doctor.
5. The state will become embroiled in expensive lawsuits. North Dakota’s six-week abortion ban already runs afoul of Roe v. Wade, and will certainly invite several costly legal challenges. A total abortion ban would lead to similar consequences. Two personhood bills were recentlystruck down in Oklahoma, suggesting that the courts won’t take kindly to North Dakota’s push to restrict women’s constitutional rights, either. Nevertheless, even the self-proclaimed “fiscally conservative” Republicans in the state are willing to defend their abortion bans on the state’s dime.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/19/1738321/north-dakota-suffer-personhood/
Kansas House rejects rape and incest exceptions for abortion
Kansas House members on Tuesday gave first-round approval to sweeping new restrictions on abortion after refusing to add exceptions that would allow victims of incest or rape — including children who are raped — to get late-term abortions.
— Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Kierra Johnson, Beyond Choice: How We Learned to Stop Labeling and Love Reproductive Justice
BREAKING: North Dakota legislature passes nation’s most restrictive abortion law, bans all abortions after 6 weeks
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/15/1724911/north-dakota-six-week-heartbeat-ban/
The ‘Harlem Shake’ phenomenon seems to be the new ‘Gangnam Style’. Everyone and their Gran is making one. We’ve seen the college versions, office versions, and others. Everyone tries to make theirs a little more creative. So far my favorites are the ‘Slender Shake’ and the DramaFever version. But I digress.
You know when everyone’s carrying on and having fun then someone comes and ruins it all? Y’know, the party pooper. We have a ‘Harlem Shake’ party pooper. The shake, albeit completely different from the original hip-hop version, has been about camaraderie and the jollies. Friends and co-workers gather to make a 30-second video which starts off with one person in the group dancing and is followed by a complete change in the atmosphere – usually costumed dance frenzies. Love March Movement, a Jamaican group “…of Christians who will fast and pray and speak out publicly about things concerning the kingdom of God…”, has taken it to a whole new level of sad wet blanketry. They posted their own version of the shake, during which they held up signs advocating the retention of the “Buggery Law”.
Now I’m no stranger to homophobia, and even though the bigotry enrages me, it’s even worse when there are claims of possible damage. Here are their reasons for upholding the anti-homosexuality law.
The Buggery Law is important for protecting our country from several undesirable outcomes:
1. The Buggery Law guides the educational institutions of our nation. It is the law preventing children of all ages from being taught that homosexuality is normal behaviour; this being a serious concern especially for parents that disagree. In nations like Canada such classes are mandatory and parents have been told that they cannot remove their children from them.
2. It naturally follows that eventually, just like how we have Inter-School’s Christian Fellowship (ISCF) in high schools, that we would possibe have a Lesbian-Gay-Bisexua-Transgender-Fellowship in the schools.
3. Pedophilia – is a concern because scientists have presented to the government in Canada that pedophilia is just another sexual orientation. The train of thought is that just as the homosexuals have argued saying “I can’t control my feelings for.. men.. it is natural”… in the same way Pedophile have the same “natural attractions”.
4. Zoophilia – this is where one expresses sexual desire for animals. The law serves to declare to society what behaviour is acceptable. The buggery law also criminalizes anal sex between a man and an animal. Repealing it would actually be saying that this behviour is acceptable. Additionally, in the States there has been a legal defense for a man that has had sex with his donkey, again on the basis that ““I can’t control my feelings for.. my donkey.. it is natural”. This is the reality of the world we live in.
5. Loss of Freedom of Speech – In Canada Dr. Kris Kepling was sued for writing to the newspaper saying that he doesn’t think that homosexual material should be included in schools. He was fined Canadian $10,000. Even more recently, a pro-family activist has been charged for hate speech, because he was distributing a flyer that spoke vehemently about homosexuality. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that where the act (anal sex), was characteristic of the group (homosexuals) then speaking against the behaviour is equivalent to speaking against the vulnerable group. He was ordered to pay court fees and a gay couple who were offended. This is the serious breakdown of democracy that is taking place at the hands of the homosexual agenda world-wide.
6. Loss of Freedom of Religion – In England, Lilian Lydale, a Christian marriage officer was fired because she refused to marry a gay couple, on the basis of her religious beliefs. She even offered to have a co-worker fill the shift for her, but she was turned down. The court ruled that she did not have that right to decline the clients,a nd that she should lose her job.
7. Gay Marriage – This would cause serious damage to the family structure and is of serious concern. Though down the line, we can see easily that this is on the road of the repeal of the Buggery Law. Gays in France understand how destructive this is, and have their own campaign against gay marriage.
All in all, we are protecting the nation from death and destruction, the fruits of the secularist, homosexual agenda. [sic]
This is a clear example of the ways in which hate infiltrates every aspect of our lives. For how long will our actions and thoughts continue to be fueled by fear, ignorance and rejection of “westernization”. While the acknowledgement of pedophilia as a sexual orientation is a bit much, it’s unfair to insinuate that same-sex relationships are the wellspring of all sexual behavior that is deemed immoral. It’s all fine as long as they don’t take away the guns and 21 ounce sodas right?
Last week I posted a blog responding to the New York City Human Resource Administration’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign. With much hard work, The New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice has launched its No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign in response to the Human Resource Administration’s,“Think Being A Teen Parent Won’t Cost You?”campaign. A collective of women of color, teen parents, community organizers, young people and myself have organized this campaign. We need you help with this push back. We are standing up and letting people know that our young people, especially young parents deserve better!
We ask that you stand with us and sign on listing your affiliation, organization and state. Please send that information and sign on at nyc4rj[at]gmail[dot]com. Support us in getting the word out and pushing for a teen pregnancy prevention campaign that DOES NOT shame and blame teen parents, particularly teen parents of color.
To find the Sign On Letter please visit nyc4rj.tumblr.com
Here are ALL the ways you can support the “No Stigma! No Shame!” Campaign (via Nicole Clark Consulting):
1. Stand with us and sign on to our letter by contacting Jasmine Burnett, founder of NYC4RJ, at nyc4rj[at]gmail[dot]com. Please listyour name, any academic or professional affiliations, and state. Your information will be added to this letter, and this letter will be sent to Robert Doar, commissioner of HRA’s Department of Social Services, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
2. Join us on social media! Follow NYC4RJ on Twitter (and follow our hashtag #NoStigmaNoShame ) and like the NYC4RJ Facebook page to keep up with the latest updates on the No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign.
3. Share the opinion blogs posts from other bloggers about the HRA campaign. Check out these responses from Miriam Perez, Natasha Vianna, Gloria Malone, myself, and Brittany Brathwaite.
4. Share this blog post and the NYC4RJ No Stigma! No Shame! Campaign sign-on letter with others and encourage them contact Jasmine Burnett to sign on with their support.
This sign on letter is just the beginning. We plan to incorporate a campaign that infuses policy advocacy, arts, and education that will make sure that all teens in New York City are able to make the best decisions for their health and lives. Support us in getting the word out and pushing for a teen pregnancy prevention and parenting campaign that DOES NOT shame and blame teen parents.
Hello Sistahs!
I apologize for the late post, but the day is not over yet! Today is National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day! March 10th is a day women and girls come together in solidarity and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in our community!
Here are some stats from the CDC (2011) about HIV among women & girls:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/WomenGirlsHIVAIDS/
While these statistics are alarming, it is imperative to know the facts on HIV/AIDS in women & girls in order to raise awareness and hopefully lower the rates of HIV.
How can we protect ourselves from HIV/AIDS as women?
If you engage in sexual contact, use a condom every time. Women & girls often do not feel obligated to carry condoms because of the stigma that it is a man’s responsibility to have protection. While carrying condoms may be intimidating, it is extremely empowering to know that you have the option to be safe while engaging in consensual sex.
* I highly recommend that women try the female condom 2, which you can purchase at your local Walgreen’s. You can check out more information on the female condom here: http://www.fc2femalecondom.com/home.html
Have conversations with your partner about safe sex and HIV. Get tested together and share your results. One of the most important assets to a healthy relationship is healthy communication.
Do your best not to engage in risky behavior that may inhibit your decision making skills, such as drinking or partaking in other drugs. Being intoxicated can make you more likely to engage in risky, unsafe sex.
GET TESTED!!! Always be aware of your status. If you are sexually active, it is recommended that you get tested every 6 months. You can find out where to get tested in your city here: http://hivtest.cdc.gov/Default.aspx
GO FORTH AND SPREAD THIS INFORMATION!!! Remember sistahs, our work to create an HIV/AIDS free environment in NOT finished! It all begins with you.
Here is a nice video from Facing AIDS that I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jtweKQOX0
A fellow Amplify Blogger, Twittersister and founder of TeenMomNYC.com, a website offering support and incite of the day to day life of what it means to be a teenage mother, recently posted a blog (like many of us) about the New York City Teen Pregnancy “Prevention” Campaign that launched last week by the NYC Human Resources Administration. Reading through my newsfeed last night, I caught a glimpse of her responding to the hateful comments she was receiving on this particular blog post. This morning, I decided to visit her blog for myself. There were a whopping 38 comments attached to what I thought was a brilliantly written blog laced with veracity and Gloria’s situated knowledges as a teen parent. I guess the others did not think so. Let me first say that I was not a teen mother and I cannot, will not and do not wish to speak from that perspective. However, I am a young woman of color who was born and raised in a hypersegregated medically “underserved” area, attended sub-standard schools, and was in and out of kinship care my entire life. All of these experiences influence my analysis of this situation (outside of my work with young people and pregnant and parenting teens).
This blog is also not meant to come to anyone’s rescue (we advocates/activists are not saving teen moms from these egregious, shameful ads) because they do not need us to rescue them or step in and give them a voice. These brave young women already have them! This is to show my solidarity with them and express why I feel so strongly about the attacks on them. As if the ads were not enough, you have people offering their empty “advice” on their blogs, ranging from “been there, done that” to “you should have kept your legs closed.” Uhh no that’s not about to happen. So you want to come for teen moms? Let me come for your train of thought. Allow me to deconstruct your notions of young people and teen pregnancy prevention.
Wait, be patient, love yourself!
I recommend young people keep a journal of their childhood that way when they grow up and catch a sudden case of dementia when it comes to sexuality and sexual activity they can “remember” their teen years. An “older wiser woman” commented that there is in fact no positive side to teen sexual activity. Hmmm well that’s strange considering teens are pretty much still keep having sex (something has to be positive there). While we all hope that young people delay sexual activity, lets face the music TEENS ARE HAVING SEX! Just because young people make decisions to have sex, doesn’t mean we don’t love ourselves. I’m pretty sure we’d love ourselves more if society showed us some love too!
I didn’t know lived in a society in which CULTURE does not play a significant role in how we raise our children!
An anonymous added that young people have an “unlimited” amount of resources including our moms, aunts, sisters, friends… Okay, so where I come from my family doesn’t talk about sex. Outside of the fact that most parents don’t feel comfortable talking to their kids about sex, I know first hand that some families are not about to talk about sex! As a person of the African Diaspora, sex was not talked about in my house. I was told not to get pregnant, but NEVER how to go about preventing pregnancy. And when I did receive some ‘sex education”, it definitely didn’t apply to me. No one met me where I was. No one wanted to speak my language. Then and now youth need Culturally and Linguistically relevant (along with medically accurate, age-appropriate) sexual education. Because all that other stuff…Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Just close your legs that way we don’t have to provide you with comprehensive sexual education, access to birth control and all the other things you need to lead healthy lives!
Telling someone to keep their legs closed is not okay! First of all opening your legs does not cause pregnancy (if that was the case I’d be with child every time a rode a bike, danced, and did jumping jacks.).Secondly, most women don’t get pregnant by themselves unless we are talking about the Immaculate Conception. The notion of “keeping your legs closed” is not only sexist and misogynist but just plain ignorant. And lets think about resources, is birth control accessible? I saw comments on other blogs about the Affordable Care Act and how teens could purchase birth control on their parent’s health insurance because it would be free. Well some insurance companies, have these cool things called EOBs (Explanation of Benefits). They basically tell you all the stuff you just got done at your doctors visit. Until we get that fixed I don’t know how accessible Birth Control under the ACA is for young people. That’s the ish I don’t like!
Society doesn’t owe you anything its all about “choice.” (This is where you laugh hysterically.)
Oh please. This kills me because some people are so scared of the word “choice.” It kills me because people throw around the word choice and “decision making” when we aren’t really handing out the tools for young people to make choices. Yes society has a responsibility to equip young people with these tools, but that does not excuse the fact that young people have individual responsibilities too. We contribute to society (so stop acting like you don’t know). We don’t need shaming ads to tell us that parenting is hard. We don’t need people telling us that we are WIC/EBT/Medicaid/Government Assistance users and that the older generation needs not be responsible for us. Well last I checked Social Security and Medicare are government programs and every McDonalds minimum-wage check goes to fund the older generation.
If you are going to come for young moms, young people, young people of color I just ask one thing….. COME CORRECT or go home.
Malala Yousafzai is the youngest nominee for a Nobel Peace Prize ever.
In her hometown, the Taliban banned education for women. Malala Yousafzai started writing under a pen name for BBC when she was around 11 or 12 years old, describing the inequities. She appeared on television, has done interviews, has done whatever she could to promote her beliefs, that everyone has a right to an education. Now she’s known as an activist for education and women.
This comic serves as a short summary of what Malala Yousafzai is internationally known for: her courage.
[source: watermarked in image]
From a simple Wikipedia search:
On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus.[17] In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition,[18] but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her,[19] but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.[20]
Former British Prime Minister and current U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition[21] in Yousafzai’s name, using the slogan “I am Malala” and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari in November. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has announced that 10 November will be celebrated as Malala Day.[22]
While browsing through my twitter page I came across an ad directed at teen mothers in NYC. While seeing this ad disgusted me; I was a little relieved that I had not seen it person in my city, Brooklyn. Not only is this ad extremely offensive (the Post calls it a “Tad” offensive), it has racist, classist and sexist undertones. The ad I saw featured a beautiful brown girl with big brown eyes and read “Honestly Mom… chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?” It also quoted a statistic that 90% of teen parents do not marry each other. While this statistic can be shocking to most it also seems to continue to push the agenda of marriage and “nuclear” families among young people, something I wish this country would have let go of in the 1976 Reagan “Welfare Queen” era.
After further research, I discovered that this ad was part of a larger campaign created by the NYC Human Resources Administration. For an agency with the word “resources” in its name, it appears that they do not know how to use them very well. Especially considering the fact that the United States is preparing to undergo sequestration and they thought it wise to use government funding to disseminate disturbing, stigmatizing and shameful ads about teen mothers. Also considering the fact they are a “Human Resources” agency, I would think funds would be better allocated to real initiatives to help young mothers, such as creating real job opportunities for young moms and working with other agencies and organizations to provide childcare so that young women could support their families. It is resourceful to create life-size ads that basically say “Mom you suck for having me.”
While NYC has taken steps to improve the lives of young parents, like closing Pregnancy Schools after advocates insisted these institutions were in violation of Title IX, this initiative seems backwards. This is the same city responsible for the Living for the Young Family through Education program which provides free childcare around the city to help teen parents graduate from high school. In addition to these efforts, the NYC Department of Education mandated Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools in 2011 to decrease the rate of teen pregnancies, HIV and STIs among young people. However, many of the youth that I work with in Brooklyn still report receiving little to no sex education even after the mandate was placed into effect. Having grown up in Brooklyn my entire life and having never received formal sexual education, I know they are telling the truth.
So if you think scare tactics and shameful ads are going to work, think again. In fact it is just making the situation worse. I’m mostly concerned with who the agency talked to before creating these controversial ads. It definitely was not teen parents!! I wonder how agencies feel they can solve a problem without consulting the people on the ground and the young people with the “situated knowledge.” As a millennial of color, research shows that although my peers would like to decrease the rate of teen pregnancies, they also feel that society has a responsibility to provide young parents with the necessary resources and opportunities to lead healthy lives.
Lastly, I think these ads should be taken down, and the funding for this so-called Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Initiative should be redirected to organizations working to provide real comprehensive sexual education, access to contraception, teen parenting programs, affordable childcare and job opportunities for young people. Education, inclusion and empowerment is how we solve real issues not by attaching stigma to young people, especially young women!
Refusing to learn how to pronounce Quvenzhané’s name says, pointedly, you are not worth the effort. The problem is not that she has an unpronounceable name, because she doesn’t. The problem is that white Hollywood, from Ryan Seacrest and his homies to the AP reporter who decided to call her “Annie” rather than her real name, doesn’t deem her as important as, say, Renee Zellweger, or Zach Galifianakis, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of whom have names that are difficult to pronounce–but they manage. The message sent is this: you, young, black, female child, are not worth the time and energy it will take me to learn to spell and pronounce your name. You will be who and what I want you to be; you be be who and what makes me more comfortable. I will allow you to exist and acknowledge that existence, but only on my terms.
“After being a part of The Real L Word, I learned of many other young LGBTQ people of color who were also in need of LGBTQ role models, a role I certainly couldn’t take on alone. So I wanted to create BlackOUT as a space were LGBTQ individuals can see themselves, people like them, experiences like theirs.”
“…But would it really be horror, Shayla? It’s 2013 in allegedly post racial America. Your president is Black for crying out loud. Wouldn’t that word just roll right off your back?
Quite the contrary. All that is precisely the reason why it doesn’t. A complete stranger has the ability to come along and remind you that, still, after all this time and all the progress you think you’ve made, people still hate you just because your skin is brown. And in an instance, with little more effort than it takes to breathe, can reduce you to absolutely nothing…”
No, really. It did.
Colleen Clark is an Illustrator and she made this awesome comic about body image. It’s short but it highlights the frustrating scale by which a person’s worth is measured. You’ve gotta be something, but not too much.
SEE COMPLETE IMAGE:
http://stfuprolifers.tumblr.com/image/44301669632
Anti-choice activist Jill Stanek recently published online the name and photo of a woman who passed away following a late abortion at the Maryland clinic of Dr. Leroy Carhart. The name and picture of the woman, I’ll call her Marie, along with information about her job, marriage, and pregnancy were soon all over the internet. Protesters plastered Marie’s picture on signs and marched outside Dr. Carhart’s clinic and held a “vigil” outside the emergency room where she was treated. Internet commentators characterized Marie’s husband, parents, and sister, who traveled with her from out-of-state for the three-day procedure, as everything from bad Catholics to killers. Beyond being immoral, unethical and unbelievably cruel, making the family’s tragedy public without their consent was likely illegal.-See more at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/02/28/unethical-cruel-and-likely-illegal-anti-choicers-make-familys-tragedy-public-without-their-consent/#sthash.qKSJmEww.dpuf
The Arkansas Legislature has approved the earliest abortion ban in the nation.
And it’s now up to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to decide what to do next. If he vetoes the bill, his veto could be overridden by a simple majority in the Republican Legislature as it was earlier Thursday on a similar 20-week abortion ban bill.
The Arkansas Senate gave final approval Thursday morning to the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, which would ban abortions at 12 weeks into pregnancy if a heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for cases of rape or incest, to save the life of the mother or for a lethal fetal condition. The bill now goes directly to Beebe.
Through “fetal pain” laws, other states have begun approving abortion bans at around 20 weeks into pregnancy — such a ban became law in Arkansas with the veto override early Thursday — but this bill would go further, turning Arkansas into the only state to ban abortions that early in a pregnancy.
Abortion rights groups immediately urged Beebe to reject the bill. “This extreme legislation would insert politics into women’s personal medical decisions, and we urge Gov. Beebe to veto it immediately,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement.
“Lawmakers in Arkansas are placing women’s lives on the line by passing the most severe ban on access to safe, legal medical care this country has seen in recent years,” said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project.
In vetoing the 20-week ban on Tuesday, Beebe said the bill violated Supreme Court precedent that establishes states cannot limit abortions before viability. That was one of 10 “fetal pain” laws that have been enacted in 10 states, based on the assertion that the fetus can experience pain after 20 weeks. Cases have been filed against such laws in Arizona and Georgia.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/arkansas-legislature-passes-12-week-abortion-ban-88245.html
हिजो बल्लेकालका दिन हरु साम्झदा यस्तो लाग्थ्यो मेरो दुनियाँ नै तेही त्यो स्वर्ग हिमालको फेदमा मात्र खान र बस्नमा सिमित छ। आज म २२ बर्ष को भए, यस्तो लाग्छ जिन्दगीमा धेरै ठुलो गल्तिगरे अनी रोकिन्छन पाइलाहरु कसैको सानो श्वोरमा पनि। आज मसँग मेरो सफलतामा सराप दिने मान्छे छन, म प्रती भित्रै देखी डाहा राख्ने मान्छे छन, मेरा सपनाहरु प्रती शेखि नसहने मान्छेहरु पनि छन। मेरो प्रएत्नहरुमा सड्यन्त्र रचिदिने पनि छन। मेरो उपलभ्धी यही हो कि मलाई यिनै मान्छेहरु बाट हौसला र अघी बढ्ने शाहश मिल्ने गर्छ। मैले तिनिहरुलाई मिठो मुस्कानले स्वागत गर्ने गरेको छु, भित्रै देखी धन्यवाद दिने गरेको छु। नियाल्दै आफ्नो हिजो-अस्तिका पाइलाहरुलाई चिच्चाउने गर्छु आफ्नो बर्तमानमा। हुनेभेये यो बाटो नभैदिये? हुनेभये यो लक्ष्ये नभैदिये; तब त निर्घात शब्दहरुको अघी लछार पछार र्गर्दै लाचार छु म।गुम्सिएका भाबहरु तेस्तइ सेलाउने गरेका छन; बेहोशीका घाऊहरु मलम नपाई भलाउने गरेका छन। कसैले मेरो म नभएको र मलाई नभुझिदिदाको तरिकाले ब्याख्या गर्दाका चोटहरु मुटुमै शिगारिने गरेका छन। बोल्दा आवाज आघी मुटुको भक्कानो सुनिने गरेको छ। तब त ममा बार-बार त्यो बर्षातको मौसम आउनेगदर्छ; मुटुमा बगेका भेलको मोल सोधी फेरी त्यो फर्कने गर्दछ। म एक पलको आफ्नो हाशोमा पछी मुटुमा बग्ने बर्षातको भेलनै देख्ने गर्दछु। धेरै पर्खने गरेको छु, त्यो बर्षातको भेल पछीको मेरो भोगाइ अनी जीवनको सिकाइको उपयोगीताको लागि!
अब त बसन्तको बहार पनि सुन्ने लाग्न थालिसक्यो, चाहना यही रहन्छनकी त्यो बर्षात को पलमा निर्धक्क यो शिर राखी रुन पाये? इच्छ्या, चाहना, भावनाहरु त्यो भेललाई भन्दा आँफैलाई गाली गर्दै बित्ने गरेका छन। चाहे जे होस एकछिनको पर्खाइ पछी नयाँ हौसला, उर्जा र यस्तै-यस्तै कुरा लिइ फेरी उठ्ने गर्छु म। जिन्दगीलाई तितो अनुभब र मेरो वरिपरीको बातावरणलाई मेरो मार्ग निर्देसक ठान्दै फेरी जुट्ने गर्छु म। भोलिका मेरा रमाइला दिनहरुको आशामा डुबी फेरी नयाँ सपना सगै उठ्ने गर्छु म।।। Because, I am AWISH.. Just A….wish
हिजो बल्लेकालका दिन हरु साम्झदा यस्तो लाग्थ्यो मेरो दुनियाँ नै तेही त्यो स्वर्ग हिमालको फेदमा मात्र खान र बस्नमा सिमित छ। आज म २२ बर्ष को भए, यस्तो लाग्छ जिन्दगीमा धेरै ठुलो गल्तिगरे अनी रोकिन्छन पाइलाहरु कसैको सानो श्वोरमा पनि। आज मसँग मेरो सफलतामा सराप दिने मान्छे छन, म प्रती भित्रै देखी डाहा राख्ने मान्छे छन, मेरा सपनाहरु प्रती शेखि नसहने मान्छेहरु पनि छन। मेरो प्रएत्नहरुमा सड्यन्त्र रचिदिने पनि छन। मेरो उपलभ्धी यही हो कि मलाई यिनै मान्छेहरु बाट हौसला र अघी बढ्ने शाहश मिल्ने गर्छ। मैले तिनिहरुलाई मिठो मुस्कानले स्वागत गर्ने गरेको छु, भित्रै देखी धन्यवाद दिने गरेको छु। नियाल्दै आफ्नो हिजो-अस्तिका पाइलाहरुलाई चिच्चाउने गर्छु आफ्नो बर्तमानमा। हुनेभेये यो बाटो नभैदिये? हुनेभये यो लक्ष्ये नभैदिये; तब त निर्घात शब्दहरुको अघी लछार पछार र्गर्दै लाचार छु म।गुम्सिएका भाबहरु तेस्तइ सेलाउने गरेका छन; बेहोशीका घाऊहरु मलम नपाई भलाउने गरेका छन। कसैले मेरो म नभएको र मलाई नभुझिदिदाको तरिकाले ब्याख्या गर्दाका चोटहरु मुटुमै शिगारिने गरेका छन। बोल्दा आवाज आघी मुटुको भक्कानो सुनिने गरेको छ। तब त ममा बार-बार त्यो बर्षातको मौसम आउनेगदर्छ; मुटुमा बगेका भेलको मोल सोधी फेरी त्यो फर्कने गर्दछ। म एक पलको आफ्नो हाशोमा पछी मुटुमा बग्ने बर्षातको भेलनै देख्ने गर्दछु। धेरै पर्खने गरेको छु, त्यो बर्षातको भेल पछीको मेरो भोगाइ अनी जीवनको सिकाइको उपयोगीताको लागि!
अब त बसन्तको बहार पनि सुन्ने लाग्न थालिसक्यो, चाहना यही रहन्छनकी त्यो बर्षात को पलमा निर्धक्क यो शिर राखी रुन पाये? इच्छ्या, चाहना, भावनाहरु त्यो भेललाई भन्दा आँफैलाई गाली गर्दै बित्ने गरेका छन। चाहे जे होस एकछिनको पर्खाइ पछी नयाँ हौसला, उर्जा र यस्तै-यस्तै कुरा लिइ फेरी उठ्ने गर्छु म। जिन्दगीलाई तितो अनुभब र मेरो वरिपरीको बातावरणलाई मेरो मार्ग निर्देसक ठान्दै फेरी जुट्ने गर्छु म। भोलिका मेरा रमाइला दिनहरुको आशामा डुबी फेरी नयाँ सपना सगै उठ्ने गर्छु म।।। Because, I am AWISH.. Just A….wish
हिजो बल्लेकालका दिन हरु साम्झदा यस्तो लाग्थ्यो मेरो दुनियाँ नै तेही त्यो स्वर्ग हिमालको फेदमा मात्र खान र बस्नमा सिमित छ। आज म २२ बर्ष को भए, यस्तो लाग्छ जिन्दगीमा धेरै ठुलो गल्तिगरे अनी रोकिन्छन पाइलाहरु कसैको सानो श्वोरमा पनि। आज मसँग मेरो सफलतामा सराप दिने मान्छे छन, म प्रती भित्रै देखी डाहा राख्ने मान्छे छन, मेरा सपनाहरु प्रती शेखि नसहने मान्छेहरु पनि छन। मेरो प्रएत्नहरुमा सड्यन्त्र रचिदिने पनि छन। मेरो उपलभ्धी यही हो कि मलाई यिनै मान्छेहरु बाट हौसला र अघी बढ्ने शाहश मिल्ने गर्छ। मैले तिनिहरुलाई मिठो मुस्कानले स्वागत गर्ने गरेको छु, भित्रै देखी धन्यवाद दिने गरेको छु। नियाल्दै आफ्नो हिजो-अस्तिका पाइलाहरुलाई चिच्चाउने गर्छु आफ्नो बर्तमानमा। हुनेभेये यो बाटो नभैदिये? हुनेभये यो लक्ष्ये नभैदिये; तब त निर्घात शब्दहरुको अघी लछार पछार र्गर्दै लाचार छु म।गुम्सिएका भाबहरु तेस्तइ सेलाउने गरेका छन; बेहोशीका घाऊहरु मलम नपाई भलाउने गरेका छन। कसैले मेरो म नभएको र मलाई नभुझिदिदाको तरिकाले ब्याख्या गर्दाका चोटहरु मुटुमै शिगारिने गरेका छन। बोल्दा आवाज आघी मुटुको भक्कानो सुनिने गरेको छ। तब त ममा बार-बार त्यो बर्षातको मौसम आउनेगदर्छ; मुटुमा बगेका भेलको मोल सोधी फेरी त्यो फर्कने गर्दछ। म एक पलको आफ्नो हाशोमा पछी मुटुमा बग्ने बर्षातको भेलनै देख्ने गर्दछु। धेरै पर्खने गरेको छु, त्यो बर्षातको भेल पछीको मेरो भोगाइ अनी जीवनको सिकाइको उपयोगीताको लागि!
अब त बसन्तको बहार पनि सुन्ने लाग्न थालिसक्यो, चाहना यही रहन्छनकी त्यो बर्षात को पलमा निर्धक्क यो शिर राखी रुन पाये? इच्छ्या, चाहना, भावनाहरु त्यो भेललाई भन्दा आँफैलाई गाली गर्दै बित्ने गरेका छन। चाहे जे होस एकछिनको पर्खाइ पछी नयाँ हौसला, उर्जा र यस्तै-यस्तै कुरा लिइ फेरी उठ्ने गर्छु म। जिन्दगीलाई तितो अनुभब र मेरो वरिपरीको बातावरणलाई मेरो मार्ग निर्देसक ठान्दै फेरी जुट्ने गर्छु म। भोलिका मेरा रमाइला दिनहरुको आशामा डुबी फेरी नयाँ सपना सगै उठ्ने गर्छु म।।। Because, I am AWISH.. Just A….wish
It passed with votes of 286 to 138.
The NY Times describes the legislation:
The newly passed legislation creates and expands federal programs to assist local communities with law enforcement and aiding victims of domestic and sexual abuse. Most notably, the bill goes further by offering protections for gay, bisexual or transgender victims of domestic abuse, as well as allowing American Indian women who are assaulted on reservations by non-Indians to take their case to tribal courts, which otherwise would not have jurisdiction over assailants who do not live on tribal land.
And who are the 138 representatives who voted against this?
Here’s the name and shame:
Aderholt
Amash
Bachmann
Barton
Bentivolio
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Brady (TX)
Bridenstine
Brooks (AL)
Broun (GA)
Burgess
Campbell
Cantor
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Collins (GA)
Conaway
Cotton
Crawford
Culberson
DeSantis
DesJarlais
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Fincher
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Garrett
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Guthrie
Hall
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hensarling
Holding
Hudson
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hurt
Johnson (OH)
Jones
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
Kingston
Labrador
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Lankford
Latta
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Marchant
Marino
Massie
McCaul
McClintock
Meadows
Mica
Miller (FL)
Mullin
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Neugebauer
Noem
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Perry
Petri
Pittenger
Pitts
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Radel
Ribble
Rice (SC)
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rohrabacher
Rooney
Roskam
Ross
Rothfus
Salmon
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stewart
Stockman
Stutzman
Thornberry
Wagner
Walberg
Weber (TX)
Wenstrup
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoho
This is a post by a fellow blogger called BrashBlackNonBeliever. These are her words and feelings about how “pro-life” advocates use PoC, specifically Black women and children, to further their agenda. Some of it will be edited for language censorship.
“I am beyond f****** SICK of these so-called “pro-life” advocates using Black women and children to further their agenda.
Those conservative assholes don’t give a F*** about us when we’re walking this earth, but I’m supposed to believe they give a f*** about Black babies? I’m supposed to believe these motherfuckers actually care about pregnant Black women?!
They don’t give a f*** about Black families in the hood, struggling to live.
They don’t give a f*** about the single Black mothers doing everything they can for their kids.
They really don’t give a f*** about the Black parents on welfare.
No, to them, we’re nothing but welfare queens and wh**** who never should have spread their legs.
Our children are nothing but drug dealers, thugs, or future drug addicts and prostitutes who need to be put down like dogs.
That is, until one of us gets pregnant and they need a new face for their “pro-life” campaign.
Then our babies are “precious children.”
Then they pretend to be worried about the future of the Black race.
Only then do we need to protect ourselves against “extinction” by never having abortions.
Only then do they care oh so much about racism and they seek to warn us about how racist Planned Parenthood and abortions are.
Well I, for one, am completely fed up with their BS. I can see right through them. They don’t give a f*** about Black people and they never have.
Stop using Black bodies as props and pawns.”
http://stfuprolife.tumblr.com/post/43324196733/brashblacknonbeliever-i-am-beyond-fucking-sick
“When I introduce the concept of reproductive justice to new audiences, at lectures or workshops, I always frame it in the same way. I use a really simple exercise, where I draw a stick figure on a piece of butcher paper, or an easel, or a chalkboard. Then I ask the question: “What things in this person’s life will impact their ability to create the family they want to create?” Usually it takes a few minutes for the audience to get going, but within five or ten minutes the result is a stick figure with many, many issues written in bubbles around them. Things like religion, money, environment, language, race, gender, sexuality, laws, incarceration end up surrounding the person.
This activity is a pretty decent illustration of my definition of reproductive justice—it’s working to build a world where everyone has what they need to create the family they want to create. And that work requires incorporating and taking into account all of those items written in bubbles on the diagram, as well as many we probably leave out. Almost always this exercise results in “ah ha” moments, and it’s had a striking universality—from using it with college students to using it in Latina immigrant communities on the border. Reproductive justice is an easier concept to explain in ten minutes than in a two-word soundbite, like pro-choice, but that additional context also allows for so many more of the issues and challenges or our every day lives to be made visible and explicitly included in our work.”
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/02/08/communicating-complexity-reproductive-justice/
“I suspect it’s difficult for men to imagine a world in which their bodies have long been inextricably linked to their value as an individual, and that no matter how encouraging your parents were or how many positive female role models you had or how self-confident you feel, there is an ever-present pressure that creeps in from all sides, whispering in your ear that you are your body and your body defines you. A world where, from the time of pubescence on, you can feel the constant and palpable weight of the male gaze, and not just from your male peers but from teachers and sports coaches and the fathers of the children you baby-sit, people you’re supposed to respect and trust and look up to, and that first realization that you are being looked at in that way is the beginning of a self-consciousness that you will be unable to shake for the rest of your life. Even if they are never verbalized, the rules of bodily conduct for females become clear early on: when school administrators reprimand you for the inch of midriff that shows when you lift your hands straight in the air or youth group leaders tell you that the sight of your unintentional cleavage is what causes godly young men to fall, you learn that your body is dangerous and shameful and that it’s your responsibility to cloister it in a way that is acceptable to everyone else. You learn that your body is a topic of public debate that everyone is entitled to weigh in on, from a male classmate telling you that those jeans make your ass look huge to the male-dominated United States Congress dictating the parameters that rape must fall within to be considered legitimate. To be a woman, and to live life in a woman’s body, is to be held to a set of comically paradoxical standards that make you constantly second-guess yourself and jump through a million hoops in pursuit of an impossible perfection.”
As someone who is Vietnamese and also identifies as being queer, these images really struck a chord with me. I rarely really see backgrounds or faces like my own in the LGBTQ or mainstream feminist/reproductive & sexual healthcare and rights movement, due to lack of representation and exclusion.
So, I’m sharing a few images of queer folks in Vietnam.
This couple of one year (Phat & Minh) are grooming their dogs.
This couple of one year (Vy & Bay) are just relaxing at home, watching TV and snacking.
This couple (Thien and Vuong) works at a wedding studio together and are having some lunch.
They’ve been together for more than five years now. Ly is drying her cat after a bath, and Huyen is trying her new blades.
Hung and Ngan are relaxing at home, listening to some music. They’ve been together for six years.
Consider this a lens into another culture. They’re real people who are experiencing love. They’re just ordinary people doing ordinary things.
Beyond aesthetics, I find these images to be great political statements given the social context.
Check out the photographer responsible for these images!
The 9-year-old Oscar nominee got some un-fun and inappropriate attention tonight thanks to Seth MacFarlane and The Onion. Thank goodness for Crunk Feminist Collective writer Moya Zakia B. to telling her to keep doing her!
“Lasting beauty, never fades, embrace your body by using *****”
Advertisements are created with the purpose to convince people that the product is good for use to them. This point must be quick and direct, therefore in most cases these advertisement appeals or sends a sexual connection to an individual. This is done deliberately as humans react easily to sexual details as we are considered to be sexual beings.
The tag line in the first stanza highlights a section in a well known advertisement on television. Within this advertisement, much emphasis is place on the physic of the female body. Thus, in this advertisement it is easy to get a man’s attention to it as the using of women’s bodies and associate getting the woman if he buys the product. It is playing on his instinctive rather than intellectual view of the world. The advertisement spends no time discussing her qualifications for sexual desire — her mere existence is enough. No wonder, why so many of our young man in our society bleaches the skin. The advertisement promises a lighter skin hue and with its high level of sexual connection to the male gender they turn to the product. Then we say as a nation the young men have not found their identity thus they are not comfortable with their sexuality.
“Four men sit alone at the beach. Three beautiful women in bikinis walk by and ignore the men’s invitation to join them. The drink arrives. Immediately, those same women join the men, sitting on their laps or hugging them. Obviously, it was the drink that convinced the women that these men were desirable.”
After a male view this advertisement they are convinced that this drink is definitely going to give them that sexual appeal to woman that they so desire. Thus this advertisement would prove to be effective to the company that is advertising the product. Even though it is sending a false connotation to the male some males may not detect it that easily, as it arouses their sexual senses. No wonder you hear the popular saying “sex sells” in advertising ones business. These advertisers might play on an individual feelings; the desire to be sexually attractive; strong beautiful or healthy; to be a perfect example of masculinity or femininity.
Jason Madden
IYSO Council Member
Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen To Host Event Encouraging Dialogue Around Educational Inequality
Who: Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen is an annual event designed to showcase female artists and use hip-hop to raise awareness around social issues.
What: This year’s event, titled ‘No Limits…Knowledge is Power!’ features female educators, students, activists, DJs, emcees, b-girls, poets, visual artists and dancers who will convene to advocate for comprehensive sexual education curriculum in all school districts, smaller class sizes and educational opportunities for all children.
When: Saturday, March 2nd, 2013, from 2pm-5pm ET
Where: Hostos Community College Main Theater
450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street
Bronx, NY
Media RSVP and Interview Requests: Kathleen Adams, mhhk@mhhk.org
For more information visit:
About MHHK:
Momma’s Hip Hop Kitchen (MHHK) is a multifaceted hip hop event designed to showcase women artists, especially women of color. MHHK serves as a social justice community-organizing platform that educates and empowers women of color on issues that impact their lives, including HIV/AIDS and reproductive justice. Our mission is to create a dynamic interactive exchange and safe space for all women of color to express themselves through art.
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(See link: http://stfuprolife.tumblr.com/post/42021609348/all-states-except-oregon-now-limit-abortion-access)
The above graph lists all the states and their abortion restrictions. Although, Roe v. Wade gives people the right to abortion, Planned Parenthood v. Casey gave states the right to limit access to abortion without posing an “undue burden.” Even though the World Health Organization has already declared that a restriction or limitation of safe, legal, and accessible abortion leads to a decrease in health for people, specifically women (although we all have the understanding that it’s not just women who are affected by this).
Some states have less than a handful of clinics that can even provide these services and some states simply have unreasonable restrictions that prevent people from getting the healthcare they need. This forces people to travel, sometimes out of their means, to get an abortion. Others seek more dangerous options. Until this changes, there are some things that are helping people right now.
There is a particular page that I have been supporting on my own site (ST*U, Pro-Life) called the Abortion Assistance Blog. This is how it describes itself:
A collection of abortion funds, individuals willing to provide transportation and/or lodging before and after your appointment, and other resources.
This blog is intended to be a resource for people of all genders, races, sexualities, and abilities. If you are offering help, but not willing to help someone based on one of those categories, please say so. Everyone deserves to be safe and supported.
This blog has several links, providing help and information. It lets readers know how they can help or where they can find help. Many people go on the blog leaving contact information or simply letting others know that they could provide transportation, lodging, or monetary support. I recommend to everyone to check it out and share.
It’s just not enough to just say that we support reproductive/sexual health care and rights anymore. It never has been.
Yet another study that disproves that men and women are fundamentally different.
Everyone, throw out your copy of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. That book is a load of crap anyway. Anyone who has taken a gender studies class has known this. Yet the notion that men and women are inherently different still invades our culture. For some reason, people still look at gender as if it’s on a linear spectrum from point A to point B rather than gradations of several variables.
But lo and behold, yet another study backed up by the American Psychological Association delivers another credible opposition against the idea that men and women are so different from each other from how they act and think.
The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology analyzes 122 different characteristics from over 13,000 individuals in 13 studies. The Journal is divided into three sections. According to the study, these sections are:
Attitudes and Social Cognition addresses those domains of social behavior in which cognition plays a major role, including the interface of cognition with overt behavior, affect, and motivation.
Among topics covered are the formation, change, and utilization of attitudes, attributions, and stereotypes, person memory, self-regulation, and the origins and consequences of moods and emotions insofar as these interact with cognition.
Of interest also is the influence of cognition and its various interfaces on significant social phenomena such as persuasion, communication, prejudice, social development, and cultural trends.
Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes focuses on psychological and structural features of interaction in dyads and groups.
Appropriate to this section are papers on the nature and dynamics of interactions and social relationships, including interpersonal attraction, communication, emotion, and relationship development, and on group and organizational processes such as social influence, group decision making and task performance, intergroup relations and aggression, prosocial behavior and other types of social behavior.
Personality Processes and Individual Differences publishes research on all aspects of personality psychology. It includes studies of individual differences and basic processes in behavior, emotions, coping, health, motivation, and other phenomena that reflect personality.
Articles in areas such as personality structure, personality development, and personality assessment are also appropriate to this section of the journal, as are studies of the interplay of culture and personality and manifestations of personality in everyday behavior.
“Although gender differences on average are not under dispute, the idea of consistently and inflexibly gender-typed individuals is,” Bobbi J. Carothers of Washington University in St. Louis and Harry T. Reis of the University of Rochester from the study explains, “That is, there are not two distinct genders, but instead there are linear gradations of variables associated with sex, such as masculinity or intimacy, all of which are continuous.”
Click to see the study here!
One Billion Rising
Valentine’s Time’s Day has always been a weird holiday for me for lack of a better word. This Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2013 I decided to do something different, something I will never forget – I attended One Billion Rising. The event was put on by Girls For Gender Equity (GGE) Youth organizers, a Brooklyn-based intergenerational grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the physical, psychological, social and economic well-being of girls, women and their communities. GGE partnered with the Brooklyn YWCA and Vibe Theater Experience, a performing arts organization that empowers teen girls through the creation and production of original performances.
Many others and I were invited to Strike, Dance and Rise with millions of women across the globe to demand an end to gender-based violence. I had no idea what that meant or how that would look when I RSVPed for the event. After leaving the event, I realized that the element of what we were doing could not be imagined but instead must be lived.
What I wasn’t planning to see was the large variety in ages present in the room. The youngest of us RISING, STRIKING and DANCING was seven years old. The room was filled with middle schoolers, high school youth organizers from GGE and the Sadie Nash Leadership Institute, adult organizers, and older women who were residents of YWCA.
SIS Practicing for One Billion Rising Dance at the Alumnae Reunion
After a game of GGE’s rendition of BINGO we were invited to learn the One Billion Rising Breaking the Chains Dance. Always taking the opportunity to get some aerobic exercise I decided to join in. After the umteenth step I decided it was better for me to take a seat and watch. I watched teenagers teaching both children and older women this dance. When someone missed a step complete strangers in the audience were there cheering them on. I even observed two teen women who had never met each before that day helping each other learn the steps. I highlight this because as an organizer who works with bullying and horizontal hostility, I can’t express the significant value of seeing two young women join hands to break the chains that seek to restrain them from achieving their potential to succeed in this world.
After dancing we were invited to share words on why we RISE today. Women and men of all ages took the floor to speak on why they were present. A young woman from Vibe Theater Experience spoke about wishing she could be there for a friend who had bruises “that were so strategically placed” in seventh grade. She expressed that she listened to everything her friend was saying, but not was she wasn’t saying. A resident of YWCA rose for her friend that died at the hand of her abuser in 1973. She made it a point to tell us “that sometimes we have make it our business.” Participants rose for their sisters, their mothers, their classmates and their friends. One of the youngest to rise was in middle school. She rose to commemorate the third anniversary of her sister who was killed by her boyfriend. Another middle schooler talked about being bullied in school and how that affected her. She left us with an important message about finding our space and how not only do we have to be there for each other but for also for ourselves. She said, “I have my room, and there I’m not nerd, I’m not geek, I’m just my beautiful self.” As a person who is at least twelve years older than her, those words still resonate with me and touched the 10-year old in me growing up in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. Exactly one day after the Reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act was passed in the Senate, it is extremely clear that violence against women is very well alive and present right here in Brooklyn, NY. Like Natalie Gyte, I was skeptical about coming together for yet another Eve Ensler movement to “dance” away violence. Gyte says that the movement does not acknowledge the “root causes” of violence like patriarchy and the control and subjugation of women’s bodies. I argue that my experience with One Billion Rising did in fact address a major issue that leads to the maintenance and perpetuation of gender-based violence –Silence!
This event was a space where no one’s experiences were dismissed or discounted. I do not know a space where 10-year olds can stand in front of complete strangers and voice their reasons for rising against violence. I don’t know of many spaces where women of different colors, creeds and ages feel that their experiences are validated, seen as authentic and an integral part of what we need to move forward. A space where our elders murmur in agreement with a teenager in a pair of Jordan XIII’s when she talks about racing up a flight of stairs in her junior high school prom dress and ringing all the doorbells in attempt to save a friend involved in sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. So no this was not a space where women just “danced”! It was a space were we worked collaboratively, shared impromptu teachable moments, cried, laughed, took up space and demanded that our voices be heard. It was the space, where some of us did not have to speak because of our sisters shared our stories, although we had never met before. We were somehow singing the same song, in our own voices, each taking a different verse but always in harmony. My experience in breaking the chains was a divine moment in breaking the silence that Audre Lorde says will not protect [us]! It was the energy in that room that caused us to rise in voice, in song, in movement (a first language for some), in love, in vision and in solidarity.
Nearing the end of the event I convinced our birthday girl, a beautiful bright-eyed seven-year old to cupid-shuffle with me. It was while I held her hand to kick, kick when I realized why I do this work. Brushing a tear away from my face and walking it out, I realized that she is why I go hard in the paint everyday so that girls like her can live in communities free from violence. Where young black girls voices and experiences are validated. Where she has complete control over her body and the right to lead a self-determined healthy life!
“It is our Duty to fight….It is our duty to win. We must love… and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
- Assata Shakur
Hey ladies! Valentine’s Day is upon us, the day when those of us who choose to celebrate get beautified for our Valentines.
But are the products you’re using to express your beauty harming you in the long run? Many of the products we use on our face, hair, and even in the bedroom may contain toxic chemicals that can accumulate in our bodies and cause adverse health effects.
We all know that long, luxurious locks are coveted by women all over the world, but at what cost? Hair straighteners, such as relaxers and Brazilian keratin treatments, contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. Yes, the embalming agent is used to straighten your hair. Ever wonder what that funny smell was and why it lingers even after you wash?
I’ve always despised the smell but I just wrote it off as the price of beauty (because beauty is pain, right? But it shouldn’t have to be dangerous!). Formaldehyde is still in your hair when you get under the dryer and also when the hair stylist runs the flat iron through it. All that heat releases the formaldehyde gas into the air to be inhaled, which can cause allergic reactions and in some instances, asthma.
But that’s not all. Top makeup brands and fragrances, like perfume and cologne, have heavy metals and hidden chemicals in them which have been associated with cancer and reproductive health issues. Many women don’t leave the house without their makeup and their “smell good” as I like to call it, myself being one of them.
The scary part is that these chemicals are not required to be listed in the ingredients. The same companies that are making these products are the ones that regulate them. There are no definitions for what “herbal” or “organic” means on our cosmetics. Some products claiming to be herbal contain components of crude oil. The FDA is not authorized to test these chemicals and the government is often not aware of the chemicals being used.
So how do we protect ourselves?
There are various websites that allow you to search for the cosmetics you use every day and rate their safety. One way that I cut down on my chemical intake is by “stretching” my perms. I will go up to twelve weeks without a perm. This means I only get about four perms a year. I do this by being sure to moisturize my hair every night and choosing hair styles that call for a lot of volume or curl.
Another way is that I only wash or “co-wash” my hair every week or so. For Black women, our hair does not produce an overload of oils to where it is necessary to wash every day. When we do, it is actually stripping our hair’s precious oils and adding toxic chemicals instead.
If you have a date in the bedroom this Valentine’s Day, there are many personal lubricants that are safe for use. However, be weary of scented and warming lubricants. They often contain chemicals that negatively affect your immune and reproductive systems.
On this Valentine’s Day, be mindful of what you’re doing to your body. In order to look your best you have to feel your best and the best way to do that is to keep it toxin free.
If you’re interested in learning more and taking action on this issue, check out the Toxic Zombie education and activism toolkit. And make sure to email my co-worker, Sara Alcid at salcid@rhtp.org if you’d like to get more involved in the campaign!
http://www.fundabortionnow.org/explore/by_state
(oldie but goody)
Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion as a legal right across the country. A separate decision two decades later, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, guaranteed states’ rights to limit access to abortion, so long as it did not pose an “undue burden” on the woman.
States have, over the past four decades, made no short use of that latter right. Only one state, Oregon, has not layered additional restrictions on top of the Roe decision. At the other end of the spectrum is Oklahoma: With 22 abortion restrictions, it has more than any other state. The chart below, courtesy of Remapping the Debate, has the full list. You can also gohere for an interactive version of the graphic, which will let you look at what type of restrictions each state has set.
SOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/31/all-states-except-oregon-now-limit-abortion-access/#
Text message conversation:
Friend: Becca!
Me: Haaaaaaaay!
Friend: What up!
Me: Chillin. You?
Friend: I gotta talk to you but I’ll text you in a bit….
oh man. this might be big.
Friend: Yo!
Me: What’s up ma?
Friend: Nothing what up?
Me: How was school?
Friend: Good!
Me: Thassssssswhatsup!
Friend: Fo sho! So Umm I gotta talk to ya…
breathe, Rebecca, breathe.
Me: What’s up?
Friend: So umm I kinda need something… From you..
Me: What?
Friend: Lol… Take a guess.. “be protected”
Me: For you?
no, Rebecca, for her cat. of course it’s for her. get it together!
Friend: Mhm.. Lol
Me: Is this something you want?
Friend: Not that I want, I need it. “stay protected” lol you have them…
Me: Yes I know, but have you and _____ talked about this? And have you had time to think about what you want?
Friend: Yes
Me: Okay, I had to ask. I trust you and I’m glad you asked me. Is there a certain time you need it by?
Friend: I don’t need it soon. Whenever you can (:
Me: Okay, well I want to make sure you have them for protection when and if you need them. I assume you haven’t talked to your mom about this?
why, Rebecca? why are you making assumptions? have you learned nothing from your social work classes??
Friend: We’ve had the “talk.”
Me: Ight lil’ ma. If you have any questions just ask
Friend: Ight I will (:
aww.
This was a conversation between a friend and I from a couple of weeks ago. If you can’t tell by the coy wording, we are talking about condoms and sex. Looking back on the conversation I wish I would have just said condoms and sex instead of “it.” What can I say? I was caught off guard. I have known this friend of mine all her life. She is a special person to me, and I consider her to be a little sister, especially since I don’t have any younger siblings. I have always been very open and honest with her, hoping that she would return the favor by trusting me, and I’m glad she did.
Back when I first began my activism with sex education and sexual health, I asked my middle/high school aged cousins and friends about the type of sex ed they were receiving in school. Some were a little embarrassed and tried to laugh my questions off, while others were straight forward and told me that they don’t remember learning anything, but that so and so was pregnant and had to leave school for a bit. No matter which way the conversation went, I always ended it with something like this, “I just want you to know that I will always be here for you, if you ever need anything. I’m in college, and I remember my years in high school; I know sex happens. I can’t tell you how to live your life, but I can tell you this, if you choose to have sex you should respect yourself and your partner by using protection.” I didn’t want to come off as preachy by telling them what to do, but I wanted to get a message across.
When I started having sex I had no formal education and had to research everything online. You can imagine how amazing that process went. I feel that I knew more than some of my peers because I knew that you could get pregnant “even if he pulls out,” and that you can’t get pregnant by having oral sex. However, I didn’t know that oral/anal sex are still sex, so condoms should still be used.
I have always had a great relationship with my parents, but in high school I was scared to talk to them about sex. Growing up in a devout Catholic household might have that effect. I wasn’t scared of them, but I didn’t want them to judge me or get angry. I didn’t know how to approach them. Now, things are much different. My parents are very much aware of the work that I do, and they respect me for it. While there is one particular issue we don’t see eye to eye on (I’m pro-choice, they are pro-life), we still respect each other and love each other. I often joke with my mom and tell her we will probably run into each other at a rally but will be on opposing sides. She rolls her eyes and responds with something like, “estas loca,” and I tell her to pray extra hard for me.
I love my parents, family, and friends. I’m glad that my relationships are always strengthening and growing thanks to the big questions and conversations that allow for both parties to gain trust. These conversations are important, not only for the obvious reasons like preventing pregnancy, STI’s, or HIV, but also to have healthy relationships with the people you love or care about.
Click on the image to play! Test your knowledge!
Remember in 2011, when Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011 (aka. PRENDA) to ban abortions on the basis of race and sex selection? Remember when Rep. Franks attempted to use two iconic freedom fighters and language from the Civil Rights Movement to mask this bill as a step towards equality? Remember in 2012 when Republicans made a last-minute change in the bill, dropping the “race selection” language, and voted on PRENDA, positioning it as an anti-discrimination bill? In reality, we all knew it was a thinly veiled attempt to further place restrictions on abortion, specifically aimed at women of color and specifically, targeting Asian-American women across the country. But mainly, do you remember in May, 2012, when activists across the country like YOU contacted their Representatives about this outrageous piece of legislation, and the House killed the bill, 246-168?
I remember it too. And while only four states – PA, IL, AZ, OK – currently have sex-selective abortion bans in state law (Arizona’s 2011 law is the only one to include a “race-selection” restriction), we are seeing other states jump on this bandwagon.
PRENDA may be dead in Congress, but continues to rear its ugly head elsewhere. In Virginia, Representative Robert Marshall (R) introduced HB 1316, a bill that, if passed, would criminalize doctors who perform an abortion that is being sought on account of the sex of the unborn child.
Let’s break this down. AGAIN.
Sex-selection is widespread in certain countries, especially those in East and South Asia. It’s a practice that occurs due to cultural and entrenched gender bias, and unequal value placed on men and women. Abortion opponents have framed sex-selective abortion bans as a way to ensure this practice does not occur in the United States (there’s inconclusive evidence that it actually does), while claiming to save the lives of thousands of little girls. On the surface, this bill purports to further gender equity, but what it really is doing is chipping away at abortion rights. Further, it places an unnecessary and discriminatory burden on women of color, especially Asian-American women, who find themselves needing to access reproductive health care.
Every woman’s choice to have an abortion is a private matter, not a decision the government (state or federal) should interfere with. Banning abortion is NOT the way to end sex selection – it’s simply a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a disingenuous strategy to limit women’s access to abortion. Period.
Currently, HB 1316 is sitting in the Committee for Courts of Justice, and will be heard TODAY. If you live in Virginia, I urge you to take action and contact legislators on the committee to ensure this bill’s lifespan ends soon.
…Only a small wedge of the pie.
Don’t get me wrong, I would like to be able to get married and reap the benefits, BUT, when we the LGBT(QIA) Movement proclaims we are striving for inclusively, we miss the mark. I would like us to step back and have a more genuine approach than marriage “equality”—which is more like “marriage homogeny”. Here are just a few family types that do not receive marriage benefits because they do not fit the current marriage mold: blended families, polyamorous families and co-habitating non-married families.
Also, Marriage “Equality” is not the only issue, and sometimes I feel like it is the only LGBT issue I hear about! Pushing our representatives to pass The Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA) would have more positive benefits for a larger portion of the LGBTQIA community. Did you know, in North Carolina, I am employed at will, and don’t have state level/federal level protection from being fired for my sexual orientation? In fact, unless your employer has regulations in place to protect you from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender presentation, you can be fired for being gay; which has no bearing on a person’s work ethic and work performance.
2013 is a great time to focus on the other issues that affect the LGBTQIA community. Start by finding out who your Representatives and Senators are and write them urging them to bring back and pass The Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA).
(Disclaimer: There are many other issues that are important to the LGBTQIA community, I am only one member and I feel that ENDA is important.)
We need to talk about why we’re not talking about Uganda.
A recent report from progressive watchdog organization Media Matters found that despite the hot-button nature of Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, cable news networks in America have seriously lagged in covering the legislation. In November, for example, the viral music video for “Gangnam Style” by South Korean rapper Psy received more coverage on CNN and Fox News than Uganda’s attempt to kill LGBT people. In fact, Fox didn’t cover the legislation at all. Notably, MSNBC devoted twice as much airtime to covering the “Kill the Gays” bill as it did to discussing “Gangnam Style.”
from The Advocate
Political Info and Laws in Brief
Executives
- Governor Rick Snyder (R) is anti-choice.
Legislature
- The Michigan House is anti-choice.
- The Michigan Senate is anti-choice.
ANTI-CHOICE LAWS
Abortion Bans
Michigan bans a safe abortion procedure and has unconstitutional and unenforceable criminal bans on abortion.
Details »Biased Counseling & Mandatory Delay
Michigan has a partially unconstitutional and unenforceable law that subjects women seeking abortion services to biased-counseling requirements and mandatory delays.
Details »Counseling Ban/Gag Rule
Michigan prohibits certain state employees and organizations receiving state funds from counseling or referring women for abortion services.
Details »Refusal to Provide Medical Services
Michigan allows certain individuals or entities to refuse to provide women specific reproductive-health services, information, or referrals.
Details »Restrictions on Low-Income Women’s Access to Abortion
Michigan restricts low-income women’s access to abortion.
Details »Restrictions on Young Women’s Access to Abortion
Michigan law restricts young women’s access to abortion services by mandating parental consent.
Details »Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP)
Michigan subjects abortion providers to burdensome restrictions not applied to other medical professionals.
Details »PRO-CHOICE LAWS
Contraceptive Equity
Michigan law requires health-insurance plans that cover prescription medication to provide the same coverage for contraception.
Details »Low-Income Women’s Access to Family Planning
Michigan provides certain low-income women increased coverage for Medicaid-funded family-planning services.
Details »Protection Against Clinic Violence
Michigan law protects women seeking reproductive-health care and medical personnel from blockades and violence.
Details »
OTHER RELEVANT LAWS
Post-Viability Abortion Restriction
Michigan restricts post-viability abortion.
Details »83% of Michigan counties have no abortion provider.
*an issue that does not affect *just* women.
Source: NARAL
The Gulabi gang is a group of women vigilantes active across North India. It is named after the pink saris worn by its members. The group was founded as a response to widespread domestic abuse and other violence against women. Gulabis visit abusive husbands and beat them with bamboo sticks. In 2008, they stormed an electricity office and forced officials to restore the power they had cut to extract bribes. The Gulabis have also stopped child marriages and protested dowry and female illiteracy.
Georgia HB 954, also known as “Women As Livestock,” passed. The bill caught national attention after State Representative Terry England (R) came to the bill’s defense and shared his thoughts a few months ago, “…if farmers have to ‘deliver calves, dead or alive’ then a woman carrying a dead fetus or one not expected to survive should have to carry it to term.”
Because that worked so well with Savita Halappanavar, right? And we thought the GOP couldn’t be any more openly misogynistic.
At first this bill criminalized all abortions after 20 weeks, regardless of health conditions. After weeks of negotiation the bill was revised in a way that an exemption will be made for medically futile pregnancies or if the health of the pregnant person is in danger. The revised bill still neglected to make an exemption for pregnant people with mental illnesses. So, those suffering with mental illnesses will still be forced to continue their pregnancy. The bill still has no exemptions for rape or incest.
According to Ms. Magazine and the bill itself:
In order for a pregnancy to be considered “medically futile,” the fetus must be diagnosed with an irreversible chromosomal or congenital anomaly that is “incompatible with sustaining life after birth.” The Georgia “fetal pain” bill also stipulates that the abortion must be performed in such a way that the fetus emerges alive. If doctors perform the abortion differently, they face felony charges and up to 10 years in prison.
And this “fetal pain” bill is just based on this silly notion that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks, even though doctors and scientists keep coming up with new studies that the nervous system of a fetus does not register pain until much later in the third trimester–one of many sources being The Journal of the American Medical Association. But whatever point of the pregnancy the fetus feels pain is actually not an issue for me. Pain, sentience, and/or personhood of the fetus, etc, none of that matters to me in this discourse for reproductive health care and rights. Pregnant people continue to be erased from this conversation, and I’m done with that. We need to stop participating in this erasure of people who are actually affected by these restrictions. The focus of the conversation should always be about choice and the people who can make one. Actuality should always come before potentiality. And remember, no one–whether it’s a fetus, a child, or a grown adult–has the right to another person’s body without constant consent.
I post this with the understanding that this issue does not affect only women or all women. I post this with the hopes that we all continue this fight for reproductive health care and rights.
Sources:
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/display/20112012/HB/954
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/03/31/at-11th-hour-georgia-passes-women-as-livestock-bill/
Description:
The two sides of the abortion debate in America literally face one another in this documentary from filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. In Fort Pierce, Florida, a women’s heath care center is located at the corner of 12th and Delaware. On the same corner, across the street, is another women’s heath care center. However, the two centers are not in the same business; one provides abortions along with a variety of other health services, while the other primarily offers counseling to women considering abortion, urging them to keep their babies.In 12th and Delaware, Ewing and Grady offer a look inside both offices, as pro-life counselors give women a mixture of concern and disinformation about terminating their pregnancies and the pro-choice medical staff struggles to work under the frequent threat of violence against them. The film also examines the handful of protesters who stand outside the abortion clinic, confronting both patients and staff as they enter and exit.
See the movie: http://stfuprolife.tumblr.com/post/38560890103/because-some-followers-have-asked-about-this-i-am
Congress Passes Amendment to Lift Abortion Ban on Military Rape Survivors
Washington, D.C. – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, applauded Congress for supporting a provision sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) that would lift the ban on women in the military using their health insurance for abortion care in cases of rape or incest. Now, the bill makes its way to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
The Obama administration already has voiced its support for lifting the ban on sexual-assault survivors using their health insurance for abortion care.
“Sen. Shaheen and retired military leaders advocated tirelessly to end this discriminatory policy,” Keenan said. “Protecting those who serve our country is an American value. There is no better time than now for President Obama and Congress to remind the country of their commitment to protect and support our servicewomen by signing this bill into law.”
The Shaheen amendment has widespread support ranging from retired military officers to former Secretary of State Colin Powell to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
This ban is one of two unfair restrictions on women’s access to safe abortion care. Looking to the future, NARAL Pro-Choice America also urges lawmakers to repeal the ban on military women using their own money for abortion services in situations beyond sexual assault at overseas military hospitals.
NARAL Pro-Choice America is a longtime leader in advocating for servicewomen’s reproductive rights and has been working with lawmakers and other allies for more than 15 years to repeal this unfair abortion-coverage ban. Nearly 89,000 of the organization’s member activists have taken action to support lifting the ban.
Source: http://stfuprolife.tumblr.com/post/38574104159/congress-passes-amendment-to-lift-military-abortion-ban
H.B. 5711, the Michigan omnibus anti-abortion “super bill” passed last week during the lame duck session of the state legislature, is a hefty 80-odd pages worth of restrictions and regulations on abortions, providers, clinics, and medical practices. It was overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of the legislature, but how many even knew what they were actually voting for?
Emily Magner of Social Work Advocacy Coalition of Michigan, shares a story onEclectablog of her late November meeting with one local legislator, state Senator Howard Walker, who voted in favor of the bill. A bill which as of the end of November he couldn’t even be bothered to read.
e went on to talk specifically about how this bill will harm Michigan women, disproportionately women living in rural areas like ours. After we brought up a few of these points he put up his hands and said that he couldn’t really speak to those topics … he had not read the bill.
In front of him was a one paragraph synopsis I assume was from the Right to Life special interest organization who drafted the bill.
Howard Walker had not even bothered to read it.
We spoke with him for 20 minutes, the whole time he was dismissive, misinformed, and rude. When his handler told him, “5 more minutes,” I told him that I would never ask him to change his beliefs on abortion, I would protect his right to believe whatever he wanted, but I did want him to consider the harmful implications that this legislation would have on women and consider his ethical obligation to his field to leave his personal views at the door.
Before I could finish my sentence, he waved his hand dismissively and interrupted, “THIS ISN’T ABOUT WOMEN! THIS IS ABOUT PROTECTING FETUSES!”
Republican Governor Rick Snyder has less than two weeks to decide whether he is just as dismissive of women as Senator Walker is or whether he will veto the bill.
Source: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/12/17/michigan-politician-on-hb-5711-this-isnt-about-protecting-women-its-about-prote-0
Check out SWARM-er Darian James’s experience at the World AIDS Day march in Orangeburg, SC!
Talking about young people in the part of the world where I come is already a sensitive issue and adding ‘rights’ which is another very explosive issue to this makes advocacy for the placing of youth rights at the heart of development a very difficult but not an impossible task. Behind these words lies the fears, doubts, and optimism of a participant at the just ended International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)-Beyond 2014 Global youth Forum (GYF) which held from the 4th to the 6th December 2012.They are also the words that come to my mind whenever I think about this forum and the impact its outcomes will have on the future of young people and therefore our world as a whole. The fruits of the optimism raised and the hopes re-enkindled by the ICPD-Beyond 2014 GYF not only in the young persons that attended this event but above all in the lives of the millions of young persons that are marginalized, down trodden, and persecuted because of their gender, age, political choices, and sexual orientation, will no doubt become reality as youths irrespective of their social status, religious beliefs, and gender have been empowered and energized by this forum. With most of the recommendations from the ICPD-Beyond 2014 GYF urging governments, international bodies, and civil societies to recognize the rights of all young persons especially the marginalized, suffering and persecuted(the girl child, sexual minorities, rural dwellers, the uneducated) and establish an enabling environment for the potentials of every young person to be unleashed and his/her dreams fulfilled, the forum is ended but has opened an avenue for youths to claim what is theirs and take their places in decision making cycles in their various countries. Enlightened, empowered, and inspired by the passion and enthusiasm I witnessed in Bali, the following words came to my mind in the evening of the 6th of December as the forum ended: ‘What happens when it comes time to part? Well you know how when you’re listening to music from another room and you’re singing along, because it’s a tune you really love, when the door closes, or a train passes, and you can’t hear the music anymore, but you sing along anyway?’ Just like the song described in this scene from the movie, ‘Music from Another Room’, the journey towards achieving youths rights might have begun long ago, Bali marked a new beginning in this fight for the rights of young people in all their diversity to be recognized and respected in the society where they live.
Young Women of Color Leadership Council member, Januari Mckay, is a 2012 Mayor’s Community Service Award recipient. Januari was recognized with the Advocate Award for HIV/AIDS. This award recognizes a Washington, DC resident who has demonstrated exemplary commitment to HIV/AIDS education and prevention through volunteerism and service. Through her efforts as a member of the Young Women of Color Leadership Council and her volunteer work with many organizations in the District, Januari has devoted countless hours to addressing the HIV epidemic in our Nation’s capital, especially among women of color. As the first young woman of color to receive this honor, she is a role model for the young people she works with and exemplifies what hard work and dedication is.
Earlier this week, Januari was honored at a ceremony where Mayor Vincent Gray spoke about the importance of community service and the vital role volunteers play in improving our communities and the lives of others. Januari’s humility, dedication and selflessness in all of the work that she does for her community is truly inspiring. Januari represents the amazing work young people are capable of doing in addressing HIV/AIDS in our communities. We all have potential to be amazing leaders in our communities to create change, regardless of our age, so we must get out and make it happen!
A follower submitted this tidbit to my STFU, Pro-Life blog.
source: http://stfuprolife.tumblr.com/post/37790625281/rebloggable-as-requested
I am a Native American woman. Yes, I may have a lot of European heritage in me and I am non-status, but I am still proud of who I am (I am descended from the Lenape people, who were indigenous to what is now eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southern New York State). Recently, the issue of violence towards indigenous women, an issue that has been long brushed under the rug, has been gaining in awareness.
According to the Indian Law Resource Center:
“According to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, the U.S. Congress should make legislation protecting Native women an “immediate priority.” Following a month long tour to hear from indigenous peoples and tribal Nations within the United States, the Special Rapporteur presented his report in September on the situation of indigenous peoples in the United States to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report recommended that the United States immediately address violence against women through legislation.”
This has come in the form of the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, which is a multifaceted bill in Congress to overhaul the way we treat violence against women.
The tribal provisions proposed in Section 904 of S. 1925 and H.R. 6625 would restore concurrent tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit a limited set of misdemeanor crimes involving domestic violence, dating violence and violations of protection orders and who have significant ties to the prosecuting tribe. Tribal courts exercising such specific domestic violence jurisdiction must provide all defendants, whether Indian or non-Indian, with the same protections they would get in a federal or state court. Nothing in the bill would alter or diminish existing federal or state jurisdiction. Its aim is simply to help tribes end the epidemic levels of violence against Native women—something to provide long overdue justice to Native women.
So, as it stands right now, a white male who has no ties to Native heritage whatsoever could go onto a reservation and engage in an unprecedented rapefest, get caught by tribal police, and said tribe WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PROSECUTE THE RAPIST. This is an outrage that must be remedied, us indigenous peoples have had our land and our livelihoods taken away from us, and we deserve self-determination in how the reservations, as a governing body, prosecute sexual assault, and to be able to do so no matter who the perpetrator is.
However, the passage of VAWA faces a procedural snag:
The House and the Senate have each already passed their own bills to reauthorize VAWA, but they differ in one major way: The bipartisan Senate bill includes new protections for members of the LGBT community, undocumented immigrants and Native Americans, and the House bill, which passed with only Republican votes, does not.
The Republican majority is claiming that the new protections are “politically driven”. I am somebody who is part of two out of three affected communities which are mentioned in the Senate bill but not the House bill, and it makes me mad that some of our elected officials believe that some people are political footballs to be thrown around in some demented, morbid game.
Currently, several Republicans have broken from Cantor and Boehner to support the inclusion of these provisions, and the only thing that people can do right now is speak out before time runs out.
I am Native American, I am a woman, I am transgender, I am human, please do not let this issue be swept under the rug.
-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis
WHAT THE MICHIGAN ANTI-ABORTION BILL REALLY DOES
SOURCE: http://www.michnow.org/memo_hb5711analysis.pdf
The Republican-controlled Michigan Senate now has before it a draconian anti-abortion clinic bill designed to make the
full range of reproductive health services, including abortion care, inaccessible for Michigan women. The bill passed
the Michigan House in June. The most potentially dangerous, expensive, and degrading provisions in HB 5711 would:REQUIRE DISPOSAL OF “FETAL REMAINS” LIKE A DEAD BODY
– Michigan will become the first state in the nation to
require any woman who seeks an abortion or miscarries to decide how she will dispose of the “fetal remains.”WHAT THIS REALLY DOES:
At 10 weeks: A woman must pay for a funeral home to transport fetal remains and to decide amongst burial,
cremation, or interment. Current law requires the products of conception to be hygienically incinerated.HB 5711, if passed,
Misleads women into thinking of the fetal issue as a person and abortion as murder.
Traumatizes and shames women at a difficult time and adds unnecessary expense to an abortion.At 20 weeks: Additionally, either the physician or the coroner must file a Death Certificate, a public record which
may be reported in the local newspaper and remains permanently on file with the State. HB 5711, if passed,
Robs women of their right to privacy and potentially makes miscarriage and abortion public.
STOP DOCTORS FROM PERFORMING ABORTIONS – Doctors who would perform more than five abortions a month in the office (or who meet other criteria) must do so only in a licensed freestanding surgical facility and buy $1 million in liability insurance.WHAT THIS REALLY DOES:
Makes providing abortion services prohibitively expensive for doctors so that they will give up the practice.
The requirements for surgical facilities won’t make women safer, the insurance is not currently available in
Michigan and, even if it were, it would likely be prohibitively expensive and make the cost of abortion beyond
the reach of most women. Current laws adequately protect women and should be enforced.RESTRICT FREE SPEECH IN THE GUISE OF PREVENTING “COERCION” – Doctors must verify that patients have been “screened” about whether they were coerced into seeking an abortion.
WHAT THIS REALLY DOES:
Makes parents, spouses, and others subject to lawsuits for counseling a woman about making informed
choices, while frightening doctors from providing abortions for fear of legal action.END THE TELE-MEDICINE OPTION
– The new law would prohibit doctors from dispensing safe medication abortions or emergency contraception drugs such as Ella through telemedicine protocols. The bill even requires that medication abortions be performed at a licensed freestanding surgical facility!
WHAT THIS REALLY DOES:
Adds physical and financial barriers that discourage women from exercising their legally-protected rights
without making them any safer.
Makes abortion unavailable to women in underserved areas, which includes more than 83% of Michigan
counties.
WHAT THESE LAWS ALSO DO IS DISCOURAGE GOOD DOCTORS FROM PRACTICING IN MICHIGAN- Dr. Michael Allswede of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists tes9fied against the bill, arguing that his organization knows the bill will make it harder to recruit doctors to practice in Michigan. Studies show Michigan could lack as many as 4,500 doctors by 2020, and this legisla9on would make matters worse.
Contact your Senator and Governor Snyder and tell them to reject HB 5711.
See www.michnow.org for contact informa2on.
*this does not affect just women
**This issue is not just about women’s health, it’s about every single person who could be affected by an attack on reproductive rights and health.**
Source: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/07/1300361/curves-founders-against-womens-health/
The latest filings from Karl Rove’s American Crossroads show a last minute contribution of $1 million received just days before the election (10/29/12) from Gary Heavin — the co-founder of Curves International Inc., which calls itself “the world’s leader in women’s fitness.”
Curves, a chain of women-only fitness center franchises, claims nearly 10,000 locations in more than 85 countries. Heavin and his fellow co-founder, his wife Diane, sold Curves International to an private equity firm in October, but they remain prominently featured on the company’s website. The Heavins say they “share a passion for and commitment to women’s health and fitness.” But his massive donation to the right-wing super PAC is only the latest in a long pattern of their efforts
in support of policies that undermine women’s equality in the workplace and restrict women’s access to health care services.American Crossroads spent $91 million to elect Mitt Romney over President Obama. Romney refused to endorse key pro-women legislation including the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and thePaycheck Fairness Act, but backed reinstating the “global gag rule” on even discussing abortion as a family planning option and supported the infamous Blunt Amendment to allow employers to deny health benefits that go against their personal views. Crossroads also worked to help far-right extremists like Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and George Allen. Much of the American Crossroads attack strategy focused on criticizing Obamacare and those who backed the effort to expand health insurance access to all Americans.
In addition to helping fund American Crossroads, the Heavins also combined to give $92,400 to the House and Senate Republican campaign arms, $2,500 to Texas Governor Rick Perry (R), $30,800 to the Republican National Committee, $7,300 to Romney’s campaign, and $2,500 to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in 2012.
And this past election isn’t the only time that Curves and the Heavins have worked against women’s reproductive rights. Gary Heavin pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars for controversial “pregnancy crisis centers” that try to talk women out of abortions and have been accused to providing false information. They also made large donations to abstinence-only education programs — programs which often misinform and make teens more likely to engage in risky behavior and become pregnant. Curves also pulled its funding for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation over its objection to the charity’s funding for Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screening services. In a 2004 editorial, Mr. Heavin attacked Planned Parenthood’s sex education literature, writing “I have a 10-year-old daughter. I would absolutely not allow her to be exposed to this material. I don’t want her being taught masturbation and told that homosexuality is normal.”
That anti-choice and anti-LGBT stance was further demonstrated when Curves partnered with the American Family Association — a group that has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group.” They joined for a 2009 healthy recipe contest and sold a Curves fitness CD on the AFA’s website. Gary Heavin has also been an outspoken enthusiast for televangelist Pat Robertson, who has blamed natural disasters on same-sex marriage equality and blamed 9/11 on abortion, the separation of church and state, and civil liberties groups.
As a community organizer by day, and night and every other weekend, I’m often invited to fancy-pants events in the name of social change. It’s most certainly a privilege for me to be invited to such spaces where I know I’m representing a whole demographic of people that don’t have the same access. Even so, my work does not make me exempt from “microaggressions”. I wanted to write up an account of a less than awesome experience, on my way to do fabulous organizing work.
Upon my arrival to the convening, I buzzed myself in with a white woman that appears to live in the building. We exchanged smiles and got on the elevator together. A floor before I got off the elevator, she asked me, “Are you the babysitter?” I was instantly offended, yet not quite sure why, though I simply responded, “No.” and got off the elevator. There were so many questions that came up like, “Whose babysitter?”, “Is it because I’m black?”, “Is it because I’m a young woman?”, “Does she need a babysitter?”, “Does the entire building have a one babysitter?”, “Do I seem like I’d be good with kids?”. This trailed off into a billion other thoughts about how awesome being a babysitter/nanny could be as a side hustle, though I’ve never taken care of other people’s kids for money in my life.
Later, I thought, “Why couldn’t I just be all up in here without having to work here?” Clearly, I’m one of the building denizens’ guests. Clearly, I was invited to be there, and there’s nothing wrong with being a domestic worker, yet I can help but think of who this woman might’ve seen when looking me and how that informed how she should engage with me.
I get it. She’s never seen my face before, and most often than not, being in an elevator with someone you don’t know might be a cause to feel a little uncomfortable or awkward. I just wish she had the sense enough not to blurt out the most insidiously racist, ageist, sexist thing she could think of and leave such a lasting impression of disdain for her in my mind. She might be a nice woman or a racist or a nice, racist woman, but I’d never really know, now would I?
On the flipside of that, I prejudge people all the time. I admit it, and actively check myself in the process, and I welcome members of my community and allies to check me, as well. Standing in the elevator of a NYC midtown elevator with a lily-white, foreign woman who may or may not live there, some prejudice things most certainly passed through my mind. I assumed she lived there, though she could’ve been a domestic worker with a key to the building and the mailbox. Maybe her question was an attempt at camaraderie. I’m not in the business of making up excuses for her audacity. My skin color and my defiant, natural hairdo, did up into a petal loc fro that day kept my presumptuous thoughts silent and smeared a smile across my face. I pretended to look as “normal’ as I possibly can next to someone who meets most European beauty standards and arouses no suspicion, as to whether or not she belongs in the building. My silence and my smile were a way for me to make her feel safer being on the elevator with me; though I’m sure she didn’t know it.
It is in times like these that I wish I had a white girl in the room. I cannot always be the angry black woman, suppressing anger or frustration or simply stuck on stupid, trying to figure out whether or not I should feel some type of way about what some random white person says to me. If I had a white girl in my pocket, I could pull her out at a time like this, and have her say to her fellow white sister, “Hey girl hey! Check yo’ privilege!”
Microaggressions are real y’all! They exist as roadblocks to the true post-racial utopia we claim exists in this here America. It’s important to recognize, resist and call out, not just tolerate racism and other oppressive tendencies on all levels. That is all.
Yellow Face and Orientalism in the Media: Controlling What it Means to be Asian
[Inspired by a fellow Amplify contributor, Karachi, and her post on Blackface, Slurs and Appropriation]
Yellow Face isn’t just the mere inauthenticity and a failure of aesthetics of white people dressing up, wearing make up, trying to be Asian, and/or playing the roles of Asians. No, it’s definitely more insidious and problematic than that. It is systematic racism and discrimination, refusing to hire Asians or forcing them to play as villains, or when they receive a major role, it is typically a stereotypical one (i.e., martial arts, ‘wise man’, ‘dragon lady’, etc). It simulates a crude idea of what ‘Asians’ look like, all the while perpetuating terrible stereotypes, controlling what it means to be Asian whether it’s in person, on the stage, or on screen.
Orientalism: It’s a dichotomy created by the ‘West,’ it builds a view of the ‘East’ along with many elements of this culture that becomes obscured and exotic. Making a whole group of people seen as something monolithic, creating an erasure of actual identities.
I’m not even going to try to bother with getting too in-depth about the obvious cultural appropriation, ethnocentrism, and orientalism (not too much at least). I’m not going to go into Yellow Face on stage, in whitewashing (too much), in Europe, nor will I take the time to go through political caricatures of Asians throughout history. [Not that it’s less important or there’s a lack of evidence.] These following examples and history checks should do enough for now in getting my point across. (Please find a friend in Google if you really want to educate yourself though! Thank you!)
So, why did Yellowface occur? Was there a shortage of Asian people to play these Asian roles during the times this practice was most rampant (19th and 20th century)?
Meet Sessue Hayakawa (Born 1889-Death 1973), the first Asian American leading actor. He was one of the highest paid actors of his time. His talents were definitely recognized by Paramount Pictures and was even considered a sex icon. But despite all of this, he still met discrimination and racism everywhere he went. He was always forced to either play “the exotic villain” or “the exotic lover.” He waited for his turn to be casted as a hero of color, but it never came.
This is Anna May Wong (1905-1961). During the 1920s-1930s, Anna was given many different roles as a contracted Paramount Pictures actress, but they were always either as a “dragon lady” or a “butterfly lady.” Despite all of that, she was still a household name and was considered a fashion icon.
She was the top contender for the leading role of O-Lan, a Chinese heroine for the movie The Good Earth (1937) by MGM, but that role was later given to Luise Rainer (definitely not Asian). MGM went to her and tried to give her another role for a film called Lotus, but it meant that she had to be the villain again, so she turned it down and left for Europe for more opportunities and eventually went back to Paramount Pictures.
Say hello to Philip Ahn (1905-1973). For the film, Anything Goes, Ahn was initially rejected by the director, Lewis Milestone, because—I shit you not, he said this to Philip Ahn—he thought Philip’s “English was too good for the part.” During World War II, Philip Ahn was often forced to play roles of Japanese villains. He even received death threats because people thought he was actually Japanese.
Other Asian actors/actresses: Barbara Jean Wong, Fely Franquelli, Benson Fong, Chester Gan, Honorable Wu, Kam Tong, Keye Luke, Layne Tom Jr., Maurice Liu, Philip Ahn, Richard Loo, Lotus Long, Rudy Robles, Suzanna Kim, Teru Shimada, Willie Fung, Victor Sen Yung, Toshia Mori and Wing Foo.
Merle Oberon can also be added to the list, although she was part white/part Asian. She had to lie about her origins and applied whitening make up to pass as fully white. Other Asian actors and actresses: Jack Soo, Pat Morita, Mako, Bruce Lee, Lucy Liu, Margaret Cho, B.D. Wong, Amy Hill, Jennie Kwan, Masi Oka, James Lee, Ming Na, Daniel Dae Kim, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Charlyne Yi, Miyoshi Umeki, Shin Koyamada, John Cho, Brenda Song, and George Takei. Click on this link to see a hundred more.
After going through the list, ask yourself why the majority of the actors and actresses here are either in some martial arts movies or some other stereotypical crap?
TL;DR this section: There definitely wasn’t a shortage of Asian American actors and actresses. And there still isn’t.
Very Few Examples (of Very Many) of Yellowface in History:
Nil Ashter as General Yen from The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
What Nils Ashter really looked like:
Harold Huber as Ito Takimura in Little Tokyo, USA (1942)
Interestingly enough, everyone who was a “bad guy” in this was portrayed as Japanese. Even more interesting, this was around the same time Japanese Internment Camps were happening.
What Harold Huber really looked like:
Katharine Hepburn as Jade Tan in in Dragon Seed (1944)
Katharine Hepburn just a few years after Dragon Seed:
Jennifer Jones as Dr. Han Suyin in Love is a Many Splendored-Thing (1955)
Another interesting concept found in this movie. “BEING WITH ASIAN WOMEN IS SO HOT AND EXOTIC. LET’S FETISHIZE THE SHIT OUT OF THEM.” Yup.
What Jennifer Jones actually looks like:
John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956)
John Wayne, y’all:
Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Mickey Rooney at that time:
Joel Grey as Chiun (Kung Fu Master, everyone—on the left) in Remo Williams (1985)
What Joel Grey really looked like:
Other cases I haven’t really taken the time to cover: Charlie Chan Series (Actors who played as Charlie Chan from 1931-1981: Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, Roland Winters, Peter Ustinov) Fu Manchu, Madame Butterfly, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Shanghai Express, The Manchurian Candidate, Sayonara, Mr. Moto Series, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Short Circuit (1986 & 1988), The Party, Gunga Din, Broken Blossoms, The Year of Living Dangerously, etc.
I mean, I guess you could say, “But those movies were decades ago!”
Alex Borstein as Ms. Swan.
Nicholas Cage as Fu Manchu (2007)
(Other actors who played the role of Fu Manchu starting from the 1920s up ‘til now: H. Agar Lyons, Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Harry Brannon, Christopher Lee, and Peter Sellers)
Christopher Walken as Feng (2007)
Rob Schneider as Asian Minister in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
M. Night’s The Last Airbender (2010)
Well, the show was based on Asian and Inuit culture. But just look at the casting. The three protagonists are all light skinned while Zuko (played by Dev Patel in the movie) is dark skinned, (but Zuko is actually the lightest skinned in the original series and the good guys were darker skinned) and by default in this movie, the bad guy. Someone please just remake this movie. Please.
British Actor, Jim Sturgess, (rocking bad eye prosthetics) playing as a Korean in Cloud Atlas (2012)
source: http://livealifethatscompletelyfree.tumblr.com/post/37576455829
Michigan Lawmakers Are Trying To Sneak Extreme Abortion Restrictions
Source: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/06/1294861/michigan-lawmakers-are-trying-to-sneak-through-extreme-abortion-restrictions-in-lame-duck-session/
Women’s health advocates confirm that Michigan lawmakers are likely to revive on Thursday an omnibus anti-abortion bill that sparked widespread protests after it passed the House this summer, in addition to a host of other restrictive abortion legislation they hope to force through the current lame duck session.
As Michigan’s current attempt to pass anti-union legislation dominates the coverage surrounding the state legislature, lawmakers are using the opportunity to revisit anti-abortion measures they hope to slip through before this session ends. Since five anti-choice state legislators lost their seats in last month’s election, this may be the best time for the legislature to advance their far-right agenda — despite the fact that the majority of Michigan residents support legal access to abortion. On Thursday afternoon, the state senate may consider multiple anti-abortion bills that aim to:
1) Regulate abortion clinics out of existence. HB 5711, the massive 45-page legislation that sparked amassive outcry when the House considered it in June, contains additional and unnecessary regulations for abortion providers. HB 5711 would subject any facilities that perform 6 or more abortions per month to burdensome regulations that could be so costly that they force clinics to close their doors, an indirect method of targeting abortion providers.
2) Limit abortion access for women in rural areas. HB 5711 would also place restrictions on telemedical abortions, which provide essential health services to women in rural areas who often lack any access to nearby abortion doctors. Even though telemedical procedures have been proven to be safe and effective, Michigan lawmakers seek to require doctors to be physically present to administer abortion services.
3) Impose further guidelines for the disposal of fetal remains. Michigan already has regulations in place to instruct medical professions about how they must dispose of fetal remains, but HB 5711 wants to go a step further, requiring fetal remains to be treated in the exact same manner as dead bodies. Doctors would be forced to fill out death forms and make arrangements for the fetal remains’ cremation or burial,imposing an emotional burden on the women whose pregnancies end through a medical miscarriage. No other state handles fetal remains at 10 weeks in the same way as it handles dead bodies.
4) Prevent private insurance companies from covering any abortion services. A trio of companion bills — SBs 612, 613, and 614 — would work together to ban the health insurance exchange that Michigan will set up under Obamacare from covering abortion, as well as ban private insurers from covering any abortion services under their general insurance plans. Currently, 87 percent of Michigan’s insurance plans include abortion care in their benefits packages. If private insurers elect to cover abortions, they have to do it as a separate rider, which often ends up being more costly for women.
5) Allow doctors to refuse to perform abortion services because of their personal beliefs. SB 975, which passed the Michigan Senate’s Health Policy committee earlier this week and is now up for a full vote, is a sweeping “license to discriminate” bill that would allow medical professionals to deny health services based on their personal beliefs. It would allow doctors to refuse to provide HIV treatment, vaccinations, or abortions to any of their patients simply based on their “conscience.”
Preliminary reports from women’s health advocates on the ground in Michigan suggest that the Senate has already passed SB 975, and is likely to pass SBs 612, 613, and 614 this afternoon. But Thursday’s push doesn’t represent the only step that Michigan lawmakers have taken during this year’s lame duck session to push through anti-choice legislation. Just a few weeks ago, state legislators also considered establishing a tax credit for fetuses past 12 weeks’ gestation, a dangerous step toward endowing fetuses with the same rights as U.S. citizens.
Another day has come and gone over Bali ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Youth Forum.But as days come and go, the discussion intensifies and young people are more demanding to their governments, religious and traditional authorities, parents, and society at large.
Universal access to education,inclusive education, relevant education, quality education ,financing and partnerships, as well as ccomprehensive sexuality education were identified by participants at the ICPD beyond 2014 Global Youth Forum participants as being vital for comprehensive education to become a reality in our world and were thus recommended in that other for discussion by the United Nations and possible inclusion in its post-2015 international development agenda.
Transitions to decent work, and famiies,youth Rights and well being are the themes which were on the discussion table today.These being of course issues which are relevant to every young person irrespective of where he/she hails, the debate in the plenary was so intense and continued into the various work groups.
During the plenary on transitions to decent employment, it was revealed by the International Labour Organisation’s representative that we now have the highest number of unemployed youths that the world has ever. Also, during this plenary it was disclosed that 1 in 9 young workers in Africa are in the informal sector, 4 out of 10 young workers are working on a temporary basis, and 5 in 10 low paid persons are youths.
Productivity, fairness, and rewarding are the major characteristics of a decent job as defined by the International Labour Organisation(ILO). If one is to go by this definition, one will have no choice but agree with the above statistics. One other area in which there was total agree is on the fact that stronger families, respect of youth rights, and the well being of youths are the basis for any society and so for a world at peace with itself, there was need for these issues to be tackled with maximum care.
According to Mr.Anatole Makosso, the president to the conference of African youth ministers and youth minister of Congo Brazzaville, there exist three reasons for governments to carefully consider the above mentioned issues and ensure that the needs of youths are met: They are the majority, they are the future, they will not identify with any decisions taken without them.
Another day is come and gone, and the desire for action by youths on the part of their governments has not faultered Youths want to make the Bali declaration not only a declaration but a platform for action. Hear our voices!
What a long awaited and historic day for mankind has today being. The ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Youth Forum was officially opened today. In the presence of close to a thousand participants, Indonesian officials, and representatives of governments the world over, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA’s executive Director , in his speech decried the situation in which so many young people, especially those in the global south, live in before pointing out the importance of this event, and then inviting representatives of governments and those he termed “Seniors” to look at the young people around them and challenge how they relate to them, and then think of how they can release the potentials of these young people.
Further setting the context of the Bali ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Youth Forum, the Indonesian minister for people’s welfare, declared that: we believe that a meaningful dialogue is necessary on the means and ways of engaging young people to release their potential. He further emphasized that , young people need to understand the values of life that will make them stay healthy, be educated, foster family life, actively participate in building the world they have always dreamed of.
Staying healthy, comprehensive education, transition to decent work for youth, Families, youth rights and well being, leadership and meaningful youth participation, and realizing youth rights are the themes which will be discussed and recommendations made by the over 650 participants for discussion and adoption by the UN member states as one of its post-2015 agenda.
Staying healthy and comprehensive education were tackled today in discussion groups (world Cafés) and recommendations made on the former. Access to data, putting in place of an enabling environment for youths by governments, religious and traditional authorities, access to quality, affordable, and comprehensive health services, and finally the abolition of laws and policies that that hinder youth empowerment are the recommendations that came out from the 15 sort of work groups that brainstormed on this topic. The recommendations on the comprehensive education will be presented tomorrow, Wednesday December 5th 2012.
It should be noted that the above recommendations were arrived at by participants including representatives of governments, UN agencies, and civil society in a very interactive, safe, and open environment after attending the plenary session that addressed the issue of staying healthy for a young person. At this plenary Advocate for Youth’s Meredith Waters acting in her capacity as young person commentator for this theme, declared amid thunderous applause from the audience that: the Global Youth Forum is a great way to start but not enough. Dr Nafsia Mboi, Indonesian minister of health, answering to questions from the participants declared to conclude the plenary that: Every person, I repeat every person including young people has the right to health.
Good as the speeches may be, world leaders should be conscious that young people are tired of speeches and want to see concrete actions being taken solve the pile of problems in which young people from all part of our beloved world are drowning. World leaders! Take action now or be fired! We are ready for the fight and I assure you we will always out power you; for we are the majority.
Every minute a young woman is newly infected with HIV. This is according to information released by UNAIDS earlier this year. This is an alarming statistic. Every minute someone’s mother, sister, daughter, or wife, is becoming infected with HIV. New HIV infections among women are occurring disproportionately among women of color in the global south and here in the United Sates.
For me, World AIDS Day is a day to reflect. Reflect on the progress made so far on the fight against HIV/AIDS, reflect on the millions who have died from and continue to live with HIV/AIDS, and reflect on what still must be done in this fight. One thing that always comes to mind when thinking about what it will take to get to Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS Related Deaths, and Zero Discrimination is that there must be a focus on young women of color.
As a member of the Young Women of Color Leadership Council, I look to the three goals of the council to think about how we all can play a role in getting to zero. Educate: We must raise awareness among young people, especially young women of color, about the need for reproductive justice and sexual health efforts for themselves and other young people. Include: We need to advocate for the inclusion of young women of color in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the reproductive justice and sexual health programs. Young women of color need gender-specific and culturally appropriate HIV prevention programs that address the complex social, cultural, economic, and behavioral factors contributing to HIV among young women of color. They must be included in all aspects of the program design, implementation and evaluation to ensure that these programs are framed within their specific cultural context. Empower: We need all young people, especially our sisters of color, to get involved in fighting for reproductive justice and sexual health in our communities. We need to work with young women of color to mobilize in their communities and get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
I believe we can make it to zero and by doing so we must work to educate, include and empower young women of color in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Let’s make our voices heard! Join and encourage others to join Advocates for Youth’s World AIDS Day Blogathon from December 1-7 to share perspectives of how we can get to zero. Post a blog or picture here to make your voice heard!
World Ball 2012 // Welcome to the North Pole
Join Metro TeenAIDS, RealTalkDC, STIGMA, SMYAL, Sasha Bruce, and the Latin American Youth Center for a night of competition, prizes, and voguing. This is your chance to compete in 15 categories, win a prize, and snatch a trophy!
The event will be hosted at the Eastern Market North Hall
Open to ALL YOUTH aged 13-24 years old.
Special Guests:
DJ Tony Playboy
Commentator Taye
Performances By:
Xquisite
Team Playboy
TASA
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ENTRANCE TO THE BALL IS FREE IF TESTED FOR HIV OR $5
To gain a FREE entrance pass to the Ball, you will need to get tested at the following locations:
Metro TeenAIDS
651 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Testing Times: 12-8pm (Mon-Fri)
SMYAL
410 7th Street, SE
Testing Times: 3-5pm (Mon-Thurs), 3-6pm (Fri)
Sasha Bruce
701B Maryland Ave NE
Testing Times: 11-8pm (Mon-Fri)
LAYC
1419 Columbia Road, NW
Testing Times: 3-6pm (Mon – Thurs)
Youth can get tested between now and December 7th or at the actual event. We recommend getting tested prior to the event to skip the lines! Youth who chose to not get tested for HIV can enter the event for just $5.
All youth who are tested for HIV will receive a FREE entrance pass and be entered into a raffle for a $25 gift card (10 winners total!)
DON’T FORGET TO GET TESTED!
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WORLD BALL 2012 CATEGORIES
1. Virgin:
Runway- Green and White effect
Vogues- Red and White effect
2. Realness (OTA)
Bring it in a North Pole effect
3. Runway
European- Jack Frost
All American- Nutcracker
Female Figure- Ice Queen
4. Face
Holiday Paint
5. Hand Performance (OTA):
Blue or White gloves
6. Performance (OTA):
Female Figure – All White effect
Butch Queen: Santa’s Elves vs. Realness with a Twist: Reindeers
7. Tag Team:
Runway of 2 (1 Female Figure & 1 All American)
Female Figure- Snow Angels
All American- Snowman
PERFORMANCE (1 female figure & 1 BQ/ RWT)
Female figure- Ms. Claus
Butch Queen or Twister- Mr. Claus
The winner of each category will receive a $25 gift card and a World Ball 2012 trophy!
Source: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/11/20/1223231/michigan-tax-credit-fetuses/
State legislators in Michigan held a hearing on Tuesday to consider House Bills 5684 and 5685, which would allow taxpayers to receive tax relief for unborn fetuses past 12 weeks’ gestation. The proposed legislation is an odd push for Michigan Republicans, partly because Progress Michigan notesthe state slashed tax credits for children last year — meaning that although parents living in Michigan do not qualify for additional tax breaks to offset the cost of caring for their own children, they could soon be able to claim a tax credit for an unborn fetus.
Progress Michigan’s executive director points outthat the proposed legislation is a dangerous step toward endowing fetuses with the same rights as human beings while disregarding the real economic needs of Michigan’s children, 341,000 of whom currently live in high-poverty areas:
“It’s clear Lansing Republicans have the wrong priorities by wasting time on these extreme bills,” said Zack Pohl, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “This is really a backdoor way of passing extreme personhood legislation, which has been rejected by voters in states across the country. Even worse, this would create a special new tax credit for unborn fetuses, after Lansing Republicans eliminated the tax credit for living, breathing children last year.It’s time for our elected leaders to get their priorities straight and start working together to create good jobs and improve education.”
The National Conference of State Legislatures believes this type of legislation could represent the first of its kind, although they acknowledged that the issue of states providing tax credits for fetuses has not been widely studied.
The nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency has estimated that allowing Michigan residents to claim a tax credit for unborn fetuses would cost the state between $5 million and $10 million annually in lost tax revenue.
(HT: Alison C)
Omg. You can’t just ask people why they’re ignorant.
source: http://byeproductivity.tumblr.com/post/31691276107/omg-you-cant-just-ask-people-why-theyre-ignorant
To commemorate World AIDS Day, Metro TeenAIDS & REALTalkDC hosts the annual “The Golden Ticket: Party for Prevention” event at LIV Night Club, 2001 11th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20001 (U Street Metro).
FREE EVENT!! – Showcasing DMV’s very own local talent at the HOTTEST open-mic event of the year with special performances and FREE Food, FREE Prizes, FREE Confidential HIV/STI Testing for young people in the DMV!! Singers, Rappers, MCs, Poets, Dancers, Bands, etc are all welcome!
WANT TO PERFORM??
HIT UP DWAYNE @202-543-9355 OR DBROWN@METROTEENAIDS.ORG
In the month of November, get a FREE Confidential HIV Test at the following sites to get your VIP pass to enter the party, get swag bag of stuff, and have a chance to win the GRAND PRIZE!!
* FreeStyle Youth Center – 651 Pennsylvania Ave. SE (Eastern Market Metro)
* The Women’s Collective – 1331 Rhode Island Ave. NE (Rhode Island Ave. Metro)
* Sasha Bruce – POWER Program – 745 9th St. NE (Union Station Metro)
* Us Helping Us – 3636 Georgia Ave. NW (Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro)
* Community Education Group (CEG) – 3233 Pennsylvania Ave. SE (Potomac Ave. Metro – M6 or 39 Bus)
* SMYAL – 410 7th St. SE (Eastern Market Metro)
** Want another chance to win the GRAND PRIZE? Bring 2 friends to get tested at the event and you will get another raffle to enter**
TEXT “GOLDEN TICKET” TO 61827 TO GET UPDATES AND REMINDERS ON ALL FREE REALTALKDC EVENTS!
For more information, visit us at www.realtalkdc.org.
The United Nations announced, “Access to contraception is a universal human right that could dramatically improve the lives of women and children in poor countries.” CBS News says that this is the first time the United Nations Population Fund’s annual report describes family planning as a human right. CBS even quotes the executive director:
“Family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development,” Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the fund, said in a written statement. “Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labor-force participation boosts nations’ economies.”
But not everyone is happy with this progress. Groups like Human Life International are disgusted with this development. Really, the idea of having some control over when and where to get pregnant, spacing the births far apart enough for optimal health of pregnant person and children, and actually being able to care for the resulting children while saving some money in medical fees is mortifying. Let’s all get up in arms and fight this! I kid, of course. Albeit, there are people who serious with this kind of sentiment, like the folks at LifeSiteNews:
Declaring birth control a right means “everyone else must pay for…the new right” Clowes told LifeSiteNews, “even if those forced to pay for it may object to it on moral grounds. This violates the more basic human right of freedom of conscience, which has for some time now been dispensed with by UN ‘human rights’ champions.”
Despite what they’re saying, the UN declares “that legal, cultural and financial barriers to accessing contraception and other family planning measures are an infringement of women’s* rights.”
*Let’s all try to remember that now all women can get pregnant and not all those who have the ability to become pregnant are women.
SOURCES:
http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/08/01/big-win-for-women-family-planning-and-contraception/
https://www.unfpa.org/public/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57549577/un-calls-contraception-access-a-universal-human-right/
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/15/they-are-coming-your-birth-control-condoms-are-murder-and-contraception-is-rape
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/un-declares-birth-control-a-39human-right39#comment-710831021
Everyone should read this article: What happens when a woman is denied an abortion?
Although it may evoke the same thought I had:
“And water is wet.”
San Francisco is known to be a progressive idea lab, especially when it comes to LGBT issues. However, San Francisco now is in a position to breed another great idea, that is, covering sexual reassignment surgery for uninsured residents.
From CBS News:
San Francisco is preparing to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents.
The city’s Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. The vote was announced Thursday.
The idea came out of conversations between public health officials and transgender rights advocates who wanted mastectomies, genital reconstructions and other surgeries covered under San Francisco’s universal health care program.
Public Health Director Barbara Garcia says the new transgender health initiative probably won’t be running until late next year.
Her department needs to study how many people it would serve, how much it would cost and who would perform the surgeries.
Note that the program will be geared towards the uninsured. Those who are on Medicaid may use their medical assistance to receive surgery; California is the only state to allow such.
This means that if any city in any other state decided to do such a program, they would have to include low-income people as well. I would LOVE to see the city of Philadelphia to cover, for income eligible individuals, sexual reassignment surgery, as well as laser hair removal. This city has stood up and passed numerous LGBT friendly policies when the state of Pennsylvania has constantly said no.
Yes, I may admit that Philadelphia, with its many budget woes, would be a challenge. However, the city should, in order to get public support behind this issue, do what San Francisco has done in terms of healthcare a few years ago.
San Franciscans, [mayor Gavin Newsom] announced this week, are poised to become the first recipients of universal health care. This means uninsured city dwellers will gain access to basic medical services they otherwise couldn’t afford. While not free, the care will come at sharply reduced costs. Enrollment fees will range from $3 to $201, depending on participants’ incomes. Most, however, will pay $35 a month—far less than what HMOs typically charge.
It’s part of an unprecedented program called “San Francisco Health Access Plan,” which Newsom hammered out with labor, business, and city leaders. More than 82,000 San Franciscans who lack health insurance and do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid stand to benefit. The majority are employed adults (children already have access to subsidized care); others are unemployed, self-employed, homeless, or have pre-existing conditions like diabetes, AIDS or cancer; some are even undocumented (yes: illegal) workers. Starting in early 2007, every uninsured San Franciscan can seek comprehensive primary care at the city’s public and private clinics and hospitals, including top research facilities like the University of California at San Francisco. Coverage includes lab work, prescriptions, X rays, hospitalization and surgery. Annual funding for the $203 million program will come from re-routed city funds (including $104 million that now goes toward uninsured care via emergency rooms and clinics), business contributions and individual enrollment fees, which will be income-adjusted.
If, in addition to providing health coverage for those not already covered by other sources, a city universal healthcare program for Philadelphia could ”augment” Medicare/Medicaid coverage (ie: Pennsylvania’s medical assistance could cover a transgender person’s hormones, but the city plan would cover the surgery) , we could see a city universal healthcare plan that benefits all people, regardless of gender identity, and allows for the trans* community to have their FULL health needs met, and implements it in a manner that does not cause controversy or resentment.
I believe that a universal healthcare plan that covers those not covered and augments the underinsured (which all low income trans people in Pennsylvania are, by design) is a great policy idea for my city. However, lasting change must be done at a higher level.
-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis
News that Surprises No One: Free birth control causes U.S. abortion rates to plummet
Free birth control could prevent 1,060,370 unplanned pregnancies and 873,250 abortions a year in the U.S., according to a study.
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