In search of a greeting card that does justice to the drastic, often permanent physical changes women’s bodies undergo when they become mothers
'Dear Mom, Thanks for Rocking Those Gigantic Varicose Veins, Which I Caused'
Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA
Elizabeth Smart Says Pro-Abstinence Sex Ed Harms Victims of Rape
“When Smart spoke at a Johns Hopkins University panel last week, she explained one of the factors deterring her from escaping her attacker: She felt so worthless after being raped that she felt unfit to return to her society, which had communicated some hard and fast rules about premarital sexual contact.
“I remember in school one time, I had a teacher who was talking about abstinence,” Smart told the panel. “And she said, ‘Imagine you’re a stick of gum. When you engage in sex, that’s like getting chewed. And if you do that lots of times, you’re going to become an old piece of gum, and who is going to want you after that?’ Well, that’s terrible. No one should ever say that. But for me, I thought, ‘I’m that chewed-up piece of gum.’ Nobody re-chews a piece of gum. You throw it away. And that’s how easy it is to feel you no longer have worth. Your life no longer has value.”
“You know the Age of Enlightenment and Reason gave way to moral relativism. And moral relativism is what led us all the way down the dark path to the Holocaust.”
- Penny Nance on Fox News, on the national day of prayer.
May god help fox news.
Magazine cover dedicated for boston.
These parents are doing it right.
(Source: BuzzFeed)
Hijab Controversy Obscures Bigger Issues - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
A headscarf doesn’t tell me anything about a particular woman’s access to medical care for herself or her children. An uncovered head doesn’t tell me anything about a woman’s access to legal recourse if she is sexually assaulted. A piece of cloth does not tell me how safe a woman feels in her society to protest her political leaders, enjoy a night out with friends or choose her own spouse…
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to feminism. A headscarf doesn’t preclude empowerment; a bikini doesn’t preclude oppression.
and this:
Wearing a hijab isn’t inherently liberating – but neither is baring one’s breasts. What is liberating is being able to choose either of these things.
Whether it’s a ban on niqabs in France or miniskirts in Uganda, or warped legislation on reproductive rights in the United States, these efforts send a consistent signal: that our bodies are not our own. Secular or religious, liberal or conservative – the factions aren’t on the same side, but they’re all eager to declare war on women’s bodies.
