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Here Comes the Next Generation of Leaders

Here comes the next generation of leaders. 

Ever since the Stupak amendment forced students nationwide to wake up from their complacency surrounding the fight for choice and comprehensive women’s health care, there has been a reinvigoration of student passion, verve, and drive to act.  Two weeks ago, I wrote about the first Students Stop Stupak rally that we planned here at Harvard University.  That event proved a success: upwards of a hundred people, undergraduates, graduate students, and engaged passersby, joined in to protest.  Shouting, “Health Care YES, Stupak NO” and “Stop Stupak Now!” we forced Cambridge residents, Harvard students, and local and national media to listen to us. 

As we are now discovering, this is not just a one shot deal or a one-time success.  Students Stop Stupak is flourishing, not shriveling: it has quickly grown from a singular event to a movement of its own, both at Harvard and at campuses across the country.  On our campus, Students for Choice membership has exploded, with membership increasing over 800% (ok, maybe we only had five to begin with, but still…).  Harvard’s Stop Stupak activism has grown exponentially within the past two weeks alone (our facebook group, composed only of Harvard students already boasts over 250 members), and now we’re joining in with the national current.  This week, in conjunction with action events around the country, student representatives from 72 different campuses (including Harvard) are storming the capitol to lobby Senators to stand ...

Harvard Stands up to Stupak

Despite the presence of enormous individual student ambition and drive here at Harvard, it’s pretty much impossible to incite enthusiasm from any large-ish group about anything besides the upcoming exam in Social Analysis 10.  When only about twenty people show up to watch candidates debate for the Massachusetts Senate seat left vacant by Ted Kennedy, I figured my high school activism for reproductive rights wouldn’t be matched.  Stupak proved me wrong.

Last week, I showed up to a student initiated “Stop Stupak Emergency Planning Meeting,” led by Gina Glantz, Chair of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and Kim Gandy, former President of NOW (both fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics), to find a room packed with students: law ...

Despite the presence of enormous individual student ambition and drive here at Harvard, it’s pretty much impossible to incite enthusiasm from any large-ish group about anything besides the upcoming exam in Social Analysis 10.  When only about ...

Anyone Care for a Vaginal Mint?

Crossposted at Amplify

Scared of how you smell “down there?”  Not satisfied with your oral sex life or foreplay?  The makers of Linger, “Internal Feminine Flavoring,” have found a “solution” for this problem: Linger Internal Feminine Flavor, according to their website, flavors the secretions of a woman when she is sexually aroused.  What?  Flavored secretions?  Let’s pause for a moment and think about the name of the product itself:  INTERNAL FEMININE FLAVORING. 

Ok, let’s get real: Linger isn’t feminine flavor.  IT’S MINT.

In describing the origins of their new “sweet tasting sex mint,” the Linger website weaves a tantalizing, exoticized, eroticized, and semi-pornographic tale of desire and what they paint as a ubiquitous fear of cunnilingus.  When the woman in ...

Crossposted at Amplify

Scared of how you smell “down there?”  Not satisfied with your oral sex life or foreplay?  The makers of Linger, “Internal Feminine Flavoring,” have found a “solution” for this problem: Linger Internal Feminine ...

Should We Fight Sexting or Sexism?

Crossposted at Amplify

As the ridiculous ruckus over the sexting scandal in Tunkhannok, Pennsylvania grows to a din, I find myself in disbelief. 

For those of you who have managed to avoid the sexting controversy, I’ll give a brief summary: some photos of semi-nude and scantily clad teenage and pre-teen girls as young as eleven surfaced in a rural Pennsylvania high school.  This apparently provided grounds for the District Attorney to consider charging the teenagers, (some of whom are children, really), on the justification that they were partaking in child pornography.  But, since he was so nice, he decided to give them the option of attending an “education program” (whatever that means).  Simple as that: educate or incarcerate.  Last month, three ...

Crossposted at Amplify

As the ridiculous ruckus over the sexting scandal in Tunkhannok, Pennsylvania grows to a din, I find myself in disbelief. 

For those of you who have managed to avoid the sexting controversy, I’ll give a ...

Don’t Fear the F-Word

Crossposted at Amplify

Recently I’ve noticed a fear of the F-word permeating conversations with friends, my high school classmates, and even my boyfriend.  Fuck? Oh no, that one flies around the hallways; the taboo word here is FEMINISM.

A few nights ago, I got into a big fight with my boyfriend– a fight about feminism.  I proudly proclaim that I am a feminist.  He feels reluctant to label himself with the same term.  He is the picture of a caring, respectful boyfriend– he is attuned to uneven power dynamics, social and economic inequalities between men and women, and is a strong advocate of hearing women’s voices and desires.  He knows that his principles align with feminist values, but can’t bring ...

Crossposted at Amplify

Recently I’ve noticed a fear of the F-word permeating conversations with friends, my high school classmates, and even my boyfriend.  Fuck? Oh no, that one flies around the hallways; the taboo word here is ...

Female Condoms: Weird or Wonderful?

Crossposted on Amplify

Female condom: mythical creature or pragmatic contraceptive?  Despite female condoms’ presence on the market for over fifteen years, they retain an intimidating aura for many sexually active women, especially teenagers.  After reading today that a new version of the female condom will come up for FDA review this week, I wondered: does anyone actually use female condoms?  Would girls and their partners’ my age use them if they were, as the new version, FC2 promises, as effective and as cheap as their male counterparts?  Female Health Company, the manufacturer of FC2, hopes that their new version of the female condom might appeal to women seeking greater control over their contraception who may have been unable to ...

Crossposted on Amplify

Female condom: mythical creature or pragmatic contraceptive?  Despite female condoms’ presence on the market for over fifteen years, they retain an intimidating aura for many sexually active women, especially teenagers.  After reading today ...