Promoting Peaceful Protests

This is a guest post by Francesca Acocella, outreach intern at the National Women’s Law Center:

On the second anniversary of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, we must reflect on civility (or, indeed, the lack of it) in the fight for reproductive rights for women.

Disagreement, debate, and discourse are all valuable. They can even be productive. Violence is neither valuable nor productive. Those who are anti-choice and deplore what they consider the taking of unborn lives fail to see the irony that violence against abortion providers is also the taking of a life — and a life of someone well-established in a community, someone who has friends and relatives who will mourn him and who will miss him. ...

This is a guest post by Francesca Acocella, outreach intern at the National Women’s Law Center:

On the second anniversary of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, we must reflect on civility (or, indeed, the lack ...

What We Missed

Vermont has passed single payer health care.

Storm’s mother responds to the media silliness about not imposing a gender on her child, makes a lot of sense.

Activists including Dan Choi were arrested for protesting the cancellation of Moscow Pride.

Model Andrej Pejic (Vanessa wrote about him here) was included in FHM’s list of the hotest women in the world. Which could be a sign of some cool gender bending if it weren’t just an excuse for some immature transphobia.

Looking for a way to take action on the anniversary of Dr. Tiller’s death? If you can, support the Dr. George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund.

Vermont has passed single payer health care.

Storm’s mother responds to the media silliness about not imposing a gender on her child, makes a lot of sense.

Activists including Dan Choi were arrested for protesting the ...

On the second anniversary of Dr. George Tiller’s assassination

Because today is the second anniversary of George Tiller’s assassination, it’s hard to not write about the anti-choice culture of violence that contributed to his death. It’s hard to not write about the forces that continue to threaten other critical abortion providers like Dr. Leroy Carhart. Just last week, a man was arrested in Wisconsin while on his way to kill the doctors and staff at a local Planned Parenthood.

But today, folks aren’t focusing on the hatred that took George Tiller’s life, but on the life that inspired so many. RH Reality Check has a great blog series up today of folks talking about Tiller. Here I thought I’d feature ...

Because today is the second anniversary of George Tiller’s assassination, it’s hard to not write about the anti-choice culture of violence that contributed to his death. It’s hard to not write about the ...

Kirsten Gillibrand: The women’s movement is stalled

I’ve got me a bone to pick with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

It was my mom who actually got pissed while watching Morning Joe last week and brought this conversation to my attention where Gillibrand, Tina Brown and others discuss the state of women in politics. No, it wasn’t the part where she talks about how women can be useful politicians because we’re better listeners than men — it was her contention that women don’t want their voices to be heard. Literally.

I’ve got me a bone to pick with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

It was my mom who actually got pissed while watching Morning Joe last week and brought this conversation to my attention where Gillibrand, Tina Brown and others ...

Cadbury runs ad comparing Naomi Campbell to chocolate bar

If you think a chocolate company would be the least likely suspect to run a racist advertisement, think again.

Naomi Campbell is understandably up in arms about a new ad Cadbury Chocolate ran in newspapers in Europe last week. On the advertisement for their new product, Bliss, it says, “Move over, Naomi, there’s a new diva in town.” And Campbell is not holding back in taking action:

If you think a chocolate company would be the least likely suspect to run a racist advertisement, think again.

Naomi Campbell is understandably up in arms about a new ad Cadbury Chocolate ran in ...

I am not your tragic trans narrative

It seems whenever there’s a profile or personal narrative of a trans person in mainstream media it has to be somehow tragic. And I’m so over it. Because I think we’re amazing.

There’s one kind of narrative about transition that makes it in the mainstream: I was suffering constantly, I knew I was in the wrong body, so I had to transition. The folks in these profiles can afford to access surgery, another requirement of the story. As it played out in the (have we mentioned it’s) completely awful New York Times profile of Chaz Bono, “the surgery,” in this case top surgery, is presented as horrific bodily mutilation, an extreme someone’s pushed to and that’s OK only because ...

It seems whenever there’s a profile or personal narrative of a trans person in mainstream media it has to be somehow tragic. And I’m so over it. Because I think we’re amazing.

There’s one kind of narrative about ...

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Nina Here Nor There

Nick Krieger’s memoir Nina Here Nor There tells a story of coming out as transgender that’s different from the narrative that dominates mainstream media. Nina didn’t grow up with an overwhelming sense she was in the wrong body and she doesn’t reach some all man, macho end point (Krieger’s asked that the character be referred to as Nina/she, and the author as Nick/he). Nina’s almost 30 when she moves in with a group of younger queers in the Castro in San Francisco and discovers a community that’s pushing and transcending the boundaries of gender – having top surgery, taking hormones, changing names and pronouns – or not. Nina begins a process of exploring her own gender identity, something she ...

Nick Krieger’s memoir Nina Here Nor There tells a story of coming out as transgender that’s different from the narrative that dominates mainstream media. Nina didn’t grow up with an overwhelming sense she was in the ...

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