Posts Written by Miriam

Feministing at 10: it seems like everyone you know is a doula

Ed. note: In celebration of Feministing’s 10-year anniversary, current and former members of the Feministing crew are offering their reflections on the changes of the last decade. Here is a take on the growth of the doula movement from editor emeritus Miriam Perez. Read the whole series here. And consider giving us a birthday donation to ensure Feministing is around for another 10 years. 

My first ever guest post on Feministing was about being a radical doula, and it predated my Radical Doula blog and almost all of the writing I’ve done. So it makes sense that when the Feministing crew asked me to reflect on the past decade, I would choose the doula movement.

I wrote that post in 2007, but 2004, when Feministing was in its infancy, was also when I was just beginning my journey toward doula work. I was a college student and I learned about the critiques of our maternity care system in a college course through the documentary Born in the USA. It was one of those rare moments when you know so clearly that something just changed your life forever. That’s how I felt walking out of that class, and how much of a fire the politics of pregnancy and birth lit in me.

Adios Feministing

It was almost exactly five years ago that I wrote my first guest post for Feministing. About a year later, Jessica and the crew asked me to join as an Editor, and it’s been an absolutely amazing ride ever since.

I can’t really put into words my gratitude for what this community has brought me. Showing me that my words and thoughts matter, that feminism is alive and well (even among young people!), that online activism can actually make a difference.

I feel like I’ve grown up on this blog. I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons, I’ve fine-tuned my opinions, and I’ve learned a ton about new topics, issues and causes. This blog would be nothing without the community that has ...

It was almost exactly five years ago that I wrote my first guest post for Feministing. About a year later, Jessica and the crew asked me to join as an Editor, and it’s been an absolutely ...

Guest Post: Why I’m rooting against Bridesmaids at the Oscars

By Silpa Kovvali

History will rightly view Bridesmaids as an important milestone in more ways than one. It was a female-driven comedy. It was a box office hit. And despite the ensemble of women at its center, its raunchy humor was characteristic of producer Judd Apatow. But as director Paul Feig suggested, Apatow-esque vulgarity is important for the underlying human sentiment it reveals. In buddy comedies that revolve around friendship between men, for example, characters want their friends to loosen up or to have a good time, however misguided their efforts. When a man acts in a passive-aggressive manner toward his buddy, his behavior stems from very real fears that the relationship will fade away and he’ll get left behind. ...

By Silpa Kovvali

History will rightly view Bridesmaids as an important milestone in more ways than one. It was a female-driven comedy. It was a box office hit. And despite the ensemble of women at its center, its ...

What We Missed

Via Andee Cornell on Facebook.

Crunk Feminist Collective, Quirky Black Girls and FAAN Mail have launched a Feminist Care Packages project. Love this:

Feminist Care Packages are public offerings for healing and justice, invitations to survivors, perpetrators, and community to create a new narrative for the world we want. They include a letter to the person and a list of resources that may help them on the road to resilience. These are open outpourings of hope and possibility.

Amanda Marcotte on why we shouldn’t judge Rhianna.

Many people on twitter supported Sandra Fluke during her testimony at the birth control hearing yesterday that was held in response to the male-only hearing she was originally barred from speaking at.

Via Andee Cornell on Facebook.

Crunk Feminist Collective, Quirky Black Girls and FAAN Mail have launched a Feminist Care Packages project. Love this:

Feminist Care Packages are public offerings for healing and justice, invitations to ...

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Mother, Stranger

I’ve written about Cris Beam’s books before. Her last book, I Am J, was a young adult novel featuring a young Puerto-Rican trans character.

Cris’s new book is actually a release from a new publishing company that is putting its eggs all into the digital basket. The Atavist, has created a new publishing platform specifically for ipad and iphone that allows for many types of multimedia content to be offered alongside the text. The pieces are in between a full-length book and a long article, around 8,000 words.

Mother, Stranger is about Cris’s relationship with her mother, who she was estranged from at age 14. It focuses on her mother’s mental illness.

The interactive elements include photos from Cris’s ...

I’ve written about Cris Beam’s books before. Her last book, I Am J, was a young adult novel featuring a young Puerto-Rican trans character.

Cris’s new book is actually a release from a new publishing company ...

What We Missed

Chloe talks about her year in rom com land over at Jezebel.

A new collection of love poems by queer and trans poets called Glitter Tongue just launched.

Over at the Nation, Katie remembers Dr. Stephen Levin, an activist and doctor.

I’m interviewing lesbian fiction author Ellis Avery about her new book, The Last Nude, at Greenlight Books in Brooklyn next Monday. Come!

Chloe talks about her year in rom com land over at Jezebel.

A new collection of love poems by queer and trans poets called Glitter Tongue just launched.

Over at the Nation, Katie remembers Dr. Stephen ...

Two Republican Senators support Obama contraception compromise

Perhaps no surprise to anyone here that the two Senators also happen to be women. May I conjecture that being able to get pregnant makes you more sympathetic to the case for birth control access?

Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) — both of whom have sponsored legislation requiring insurers to offer contraception benefits in all health plans — are in favor of the new compromise, which would allow religiously affiliated colleges, universities, and hospitals to avoid providing birth control.

Via Think Progress.

Perhaps no surprise to anyone here that the two Senators also happen to be women. May I conjecture that being able to get pregnant makes you more sympathetic to the case for birth control access?

Sens. Olympia Snowe ...

How do you show the love?

So obviously it’s Valentine’s Day. You’d have to be hiding in a cave, with no access to media or facebook, to be able to avoid it. And if you were in said cave, you wouldn’t be reading my blog post.

Anyways, it’s Valentine’s Day and there is a lot to be said about the many many things wrong with the holiday. But what I want to use this hook to talk about is how we show the love to people in our lives OTHER than romantic partners. The irony of Valentine’s Day, for me, is that our romantic partners are probably the people we show the most love to, most often. Think about it. If you are in a romantic relationship, ...

So obviously it’s Valentine’s Day. You’d have to be hiding in a cave, with no access to media or facebook, to be able to avoid it. And if you were in said cave, you wouldn’t be reading ...

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