California Feminist Blogs

After watching Girls, the new HBO show, I was left totally speechless. It was funny. I could relate to many different topics and issues that were brought up and confronted. But what sat out there like a huge elephant in the room was its almost stifling lack of diversity. I was completely flabbergasted by the lack of any people of color. And then of course came the critiques

of the show and then the apologists and then the actual apology or explanation by the creator herself, Lena Dunham. And then came the critique of her apology highlighting how she was totally clueless about what she was saying and she simply reaffirmed what most critics already thought, that her world was void of color. Look, I grew up in mostly white neighborhoods with mostly privileged kids and went to mostly white schools with mostly privileged kids. My college, UC Santa Cruz...mostly white, lots of privilege. Yet, my closet friends run the gamut of racial and socio-economic identities. This is not an accident. This is purposeful. I too call myself a writer (of both fiction and otherwise) and even when I am writing from my gut I still challenge myself to think outside my personal box, which is not white washed but none-the-less washed a certain way and often filled with like minded people. If all I did was creatively write about the people closest to me, well that wouldn't be very creative at all. Sure, as writers we can use our everyday lives to draw from and to inspire ourselves yet we can also look outside of ourselves, research a little, seek counsel from others we may not normally roll with and take the time to get to know other people who don't look or think exactly like us; and this sentiment is not limited to race or class. So while here I am taking Lena Dunham to task for her lack of imagination what I find equally astounding is HBO's willingness to put this show on! For HBO to make a corporate decision to support a show with such an extreme lack of diversity is insulting to the viewing public. It's actually a slap in the face to the young people of this world who know that Lena Dunham's world is the real minority and that diversity both racial and economic is the majority. So, I get that this is a cable TV show; it's not the real world. Yet, Lena Dunham is touting it as the real world being lived out "one mistake at a time." And that pisses me off. The show and it's creator reek of unawareness mixed with unearned privilege, the kind that is so off putting as to almost equal ignorance. I don't find the show to be empowering for girls or women. I find it to be overwhelmed with unapologetic whiteness and therefore worthy of the ridicule it has received and unworthy of the apologists rationalizations. As a feminist, a revolutionary citizen and a mother who is raising a girl, I say boycott Girls and tell Lena Dunham and HBO to step their game up. It's 2012!

I have been real bad at posting lately...teh Grad Skool consumes my time and energy for the most part, buuut I am currently finishing up a paper on Lebanese Muslim women (my ppls) and thought I'd share some interesting sources I came across regarding LGBTQ Muslims and/or those living in Muslim-majority countries, published in English and sometimes Arabic.

Meem is my favorite! They are a community of LBTQ women & trans ppl living in Lebanon that publish the weekly queer Arab magazine Bekhsoos. Check out and CIRCULATE this letter to LGBTQ groups re: pinkwashing (the use of pro-LGBTQ rights rhetoric to garner support for Israel).

Aswat, a group of Palestinian gay women, is another great resource for LGBTQ Arabs and/or those living in Muslim-majority countries. You can download their publications re: LGBTQ Arabs here for free!

Queer Muslim Revolution is a great resource for Muslims around the globe. They recently posted on an LGBT Muslim retreat in Philly that's coming up May 25-28 (click here to donate so that 17 Muslims can attend). You can also click on some of the country tags on the left sidebar to explore LGBTQ Muslim issues in various countries.

The MSMGF Blog covers information relating to MSM (men who have sex with men) in different regions, including Lebanon! Looks like it hasn't been updated in a while but the posts are chock full of information regarding various pro-LGBTQ campaigns and organizations in Muslim majority countries!

Also, READ THIS BOOK on homonationalism (defined here as the "collusion between LGBT people and identification with the nation state, re-enforcement of racial and national boundary, and systems of supremacy ideology no longer interrupted by homophobia."):
Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times by Jasbir Puar

Nada Elia, who I recently had the pleasure of meeting, also speaks and writes a lot about homonationalism and Israeli pinkwashing.

Let me know what you think!

In the state with the highest infant mortality rates in the country, a star OB/GYN loses his position on the Mississippi state board of health because he is pro-choice.

Another double standard in support of Viagra by anti-choice legislators, and they’ve even got a catchphrase lined up: “Viagra, that wonderful drug that helps create life.”

In Texas, there is a legislative struggle to keep Planned Parenthood in the state’s Women’s Health Program, more on the current developments here.

A trans-gender woman of color is charged with second degree manslaughter after her attacker died in the physical altercation.

Blogger Shark-Fu weighs in on Missouri’s Don’t Say Gay house bill that could bar schools from discussing lgbt issues and also keep student orgs like the  Gay-Straight Alliance from being recognized.

“Have you heard of Chen Guangcheng?” a Chinese Human Rights attorney escapes from house arrest when imprisoned for his activism against forced abortions and sterilizations.

Anti-choice advocates are at it again, performing ‘sting operations’ in Planned Parenthoods in an effort to expose the facilitation of sex selective abortions.

The Crunk Feminist Collective shares on the reality of life in social justice activism work with a piece on what to do when you say something wrong, insensitive, or politically incorrect in a coalitional space. Three cheers for honesty and accountability!

Senate votes in favor of the Violence Against Women Act.

Irin Carmon debunks The Myth of the “morning-after abortion pill.”

Our RJ fellow, Keely Monroe reminds of how much further we need to go after two years of having the Affordable Care Act.

Candace Gibson, University of Utah College of Law

It has been a whirlwind ride for me as a 3L.  Last summer, when I was planning my 3L year, I wasn’t thinking of starting a LSRJ chapter.  However, I became convinced by one of my mentors to start one. Now, I am sad to leave the U of U Law Students for Reproductive Justice Chapter.

We’ve had a great year. Unlike some of our sister chapters in the Mountain West, we did not have any bureaucratic obstacles to fight and so far, we have gained the respect of our student body and of the other student organizations.  Maybe, we’ll know we have arrived when there is a pro-life law students group on our campus.  We planned and co-hosted five panels, the topics ranged from academic scholarship in reproductive rights to domestic violence in immigrant communities to the valuable contributions of medical practitioners.  We made condom kits twice to help the HIV Prevention Program at the Utah Pride Center and we created a presentation around the legal issues that some Latina adolescents face in Salt Lake City.  We also tabled the months of October and November on various RJ topics.  It was a fun but exhausting year!

All of this could not have been done without the energy and work of our 2011-2012 board who stepped up when they needed to and told me that they were too exhausted to do another thing.   These moments remind me that when you are doing social justice work you have to set some boundaries or else you will be exhausted and no longer useful to your community or your movement.

The other important lesson I am learning is that we always need to mentor.  Often, as adults either pursuing education or because we are still getting our act together, we never think of ourselves as mentors but as mentees.  We need to keep thinking as chapter leaders and as members that we not only mentor during a transition meeting and after we have left, but that we are mentoring while we are leading our chapters and are mentored by our other chapter members.   As a movement, we need to keep mentoring so that we never become irrelevant or worse, we end up erasing the efforts of younger members by saying they aren’t doing anything. (I’m sure you have all heard about the comments made by older feminists who think that we younger feminists are only sitting on their laurels and twiddling our thumbs.)

Aside from these serious thoughts, I want you all to wish next year’s U of U Law Students for Reproductive Justice Chapter board the best of luck.  I’m thinking they will certainly put us one step closer to having our archrival, Law Students for the Right to Life, on campus.

If you haven’t yet heard, Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice is now Forward Together: So All Families Can Thrive. Evelyn Shen, Executive Director of Forward Together describes changes over the years, the new name, and why “Forward Together” encompasses who they are.

Radical feminist nuns being shunned by the Vatican, too rich.

Our own Sabrina Andrus was a speaker for “Our Bodies are Beautiful, Our Bodies are Political” a panel at the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference in Amherst last week!

After some controversy, the creator and writer of the new HBO series ‘Girls’ may have learned that there is no such thing as ironic racism.

PSA: safe sex for Seniors!

 

This year, OULSRJ was a new student group, so initially we were concerned with visibility and navigating unfamiliar bureaucratic processes. Since our student body leans more conservative, I was also secretly concerned that my co-chair and I would be the only law students interested in the group. I was happily proved wrong though. At our first meeting, we introduced people to the reproductive justice framework and elected officers. We had more than enough people to fill all six positions that we’d created!

We knew we needed to be strategic with the events we planned. Hosting an event like a sex pleasure workshop was probably going to cause more harm than good four our reputation at least for the first year we existed. Instead we wanted to focus on topics that are less controversial but still important.

In February we were honored to have Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women and Julie Burkhart of Trust Women speak at an event titled Pro-Life or Pro-Lives. Paltrow’s discussion of how fetal rights claims can also harm women seeking to carry their pregnancy to term resonated with at least one student who was undecided about the issue. My only regret is that we did not reach out enough to the more conservative groups at school.

The Women’s and Gender Studies department at the University of Oklahoma also hosted a regional conference on reproductive justice for the first time in February. There were about 200 attendees from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and other states. Topics included sexual assault, religion and reproductive justice, and the LGBTQ movement and reproductive justice.  This conference exposed attendees to the reproductive justice framework and showcased a wide variety of topics.  Many students in Middle America do not have the money or time to travel halfway across the country to conferences on the coasts, so it was nice to have these large-scale conversations on our own campus.

We also had Ryan Keisel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma speak about reproductive rights-related legislation. The main topic was personhood since it seems like advocates are trying to enact this policy in Oklahoma from all possible angles. Some people also shared their individual experiences with reproductive rights restrictions in Oklahoma and how the laws affected the health care they received. To me, these conversations are more productive than the traditional ones we often have that involve pro-choice rhetoric. OU LSRJ tried to steer clear of phrases like “get your laws off my body” or “get your religion off my body” not only because critiques of “choice” are central to the reproductive justice framework, but also because those sentiments just don’t resonate with folks here.

As we begin planning for next year, I want to remember our successes and our failures. Next year I’d like to concentrate on meeting more frequently and working with other student groups, while still focusing on how to message reproductive justice issues in a state that identifies predominantly as pro-faith and pro-life.

Tennessee abstinence-only bill shuns hand holding, as it is, wait for it, a gateway to sex.

Just for laughs, The Daily Show exposes the hypocrisy of personhood bills when the men’s right to masturbation is challenged.

Arizona faces 20 week abortion ban with just days to be vetoed.

Vanessa gives us our daily dose of intersection as she explains how Trans rights are reproductive rights.

After Trayvon Martin’s murder, Colorlines presents interesting myth busters on crime in Black America.

 

Joanne Caceres, Harvard Law School

What a year it’s been. In the fall our LSRJ was thinking about what most campus organizations struggle with: how do we recruit, train and retain students to our cause? Partially inspired by the 1in3 Campaign, we started the year with a Speak Out Week, where we encouraged the men and women of Harvard Law School and the Boston Area to share their reproductive health stories. In addition, we hosted events that focused on a specific community and their stake in the pro-choice movement. One such event was “Bro-Choice,” which was geared towards the men at Harvard.

Bro-Choice was a huge success and affirmed our belief that men can play a role in the reproductive justice movement, and it is something our organization will continue to expand upon in the future.

Equally exciting this year was Obama’s announcement whereby religious exemptions for insurance mandates requiring access to $0 co-pay contraceptives would only apply narrowly. The following conservative backlash brought women’s health to the forefront of the national conversation. LSRJ’s very own Sandra Fluke, from Georgetown, testified to the nation on the importance of contraceptive coverage.

Our annual Sex Week took place shortly after Fluke’s testimony, amid the controversy firestorm (thanks to a radio personality who will not be named). Our events included academic legal topics related to sex, including Affirmative Consent and the Law with Judge Nancy Gertner, and more lighthearted and social events, including our annual Sex Trivia event. Perhaps unsurprisingly, our most controversial event of the week was a sexual pleasure workshop entitled “Sex Positivity and SlutPride: Sex Tips for a Modern World from Good Vibrations”. The event drew the ire of people for many reasons, but most notably for the use of the word “slut.” Although much of the criticism that surfaced was of a “gotcha” variety, arguing that women’s groups can’t have it “both ways” with the use of the word—it was valuable in that it encouraged an open discussion of feminist arguments both for and against reclaiming a word that has historically been used to dehumanize and degrade women (you can see HLSRJ’s formal press release here).

As we prepare for the rest of the year, I wonder what opportunities and challenges lay ahead. How much of this year’s general election will become about women’s health issues? How can we educate more men and women around this issue? We may not have all the answers now, but HLSRJ will be here, keeping the conversation going.

RH Reality Check produces a new short of women sharing their stories entitled, “Our Reality: Women and HIV.”

On April 2, 2012 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) performed the largest immigration sweep to date arresting three thousand people in six days. What does this mean for families?

Sady Doyle highlights the intersection between Feminism and Immigration and the ways some women are left out.

Round of virtual applause to the UVA LSRJ chapter for hosting a session called Challenges to Choice in Virginia.

Check out this real world example of how the 20 week abortion ban hurts families. Although this instance is one of the “perfect victim”—heterosexual married couple that wanted a pregnancy—it does serve to illustrate how this law impacts real lives and how more people should share their stories.

Esmé Deprez shows us how Curbing Female Reproductive Rights Raises Taxpayers Costs.