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Your Body, Your Voice, Your Power

I have acne, my knees are round, my left breast is bigger than the right one, my abs are not flat (and never will be), but surprisingly enough, I’m OK with all of these things. Two years ago, though, I would not have been. I am a girl who has gone from being obese to weighing practically nothing. While I did not necessarily suffer from anorexia, I dangerously flirted with the disorder. I felt as though my entire body was socially inadequate, so in high school I determined that the only way to be accepted was to be skinny like all of the celebrities that were in my home state of California. In a mere year and a half I lost 70 pounds, at the end of it I looked like a skeleton and was in critical health. After years of therapy and seeing a nutritionist, I am finally at a healthy weight. Now as a college freshman in Texas, I try to promote more realistic expectations of the female form through my work with the campus Women’s Center.
At V to the 10th in New Orleans, we had the privilege of attending a panel regarding body issues that was lead by Rosario Dawson (RENT), Kerry Washington (The Last King Of Scotland), Ali Larter (Heros, Legally Blonde), and Amber Tamblyn (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants).

Time for Some Feminist Activism

At the V to the 10th in New Orleans, activism is the word of the weekend.
Playwright and founder of V-Day, Eve Ensler, informed us that “Our destiny will not be changed by the people on top.” In other words, this weekend was all about the grassroots movement. We can no longer rely on elected officials to eventually come around and see the light on issues that affect women worldwide; we must take back the power, motivate allies to increase our strength in numbers, and develop our own solutions.
Besides visiting the amazing Activist’s Lounge where a ton of feminist and environmental groups were giving out information, we sat in on a number of panels, one being the fantastic discussion ...

At the V to the 10th in New Orleans, activism is the word of the weekend.
Playwright and founder of V-Day, Eve Ensler, informed us that “Our destiny will not be changed by the people on top.” ...

Love is a verb. Superlove is a movement.

We followed a line of women (and a few scattered men) into the Superdome early Friday morning. After being thoroughly searched and promising never to turn on our video camera, we were allowed admittance. The entrance was decorated with a selection of feminist art pieces such as poster board sized pages of a graphic novel entitled, “Oh fuck, I’m a Victim.� In it, artist Vicki Rabinowicz depicts a woman who is followed, kidnapped, and raped. In one frame, she is drawn small enough to fit in her attacker’s hand as he masturbates onto her entire body then flushes her down the toilet. At the end of the strip we discover that the victim is the artist and that she drew ...

We followed a line of women (and a few scattered men) into the Superdome early Friday morning. After being thoroughly searched and promising never to turn on our video camera, we were allowed admittance. The entrance was ...

Pro-Choice Poetry Slam and Thanks

Since this will be my last post at Feministing, I would like to give a quick thanks to everyone who made it such a great experience. A big thanks to all of the Feministing women for asking me to guest-blog, to all of them and Miriam for being such great co-bloggers, and a special thanks to Ann for being so helpful. Also, thanks to everyone who commented and was receptive to what I had to say. I hope that those of you who enjoyed my posts will follow me back to The Curvature, and of course, I’ll be around here commenting, as always.
I’m going to leave you with a stunningly excellent pro-choice poetry slam called ...

Since this will be my last post at Feministing, I would like to give a quick thanks to everyone who made it such a great experience. A big thanks to all of the Feministing women for ...

Doing time for rape? Just say you’re sorry.

Who remembers the case of the man who was arrested and tried for a 1984 rape, after using his AA program to write a letter of confession and apology to his victim? I remember it well. I loved the bravery of the victim, Liz Seccuro, who shamelessly went public with her story. She refused to accept an apology as a form of justice, and had to watch others both excuse the crime that happened “so long ago” and excuse the “apologetic” rapist.
That man, William Beebe, is now being released on parole after serving only six months in jail.

William Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his ...

Who remembers the case of the man who was arrested and tried for a 1984 rape, after using his AA program to write a letter of confession and apology to his victim? I remember it ...

Is your index finger longer than your ring finger?

Do you remember in High School, when your friends would compare the length of their index fingers and their ring fingers to see who was gay? Well now scientists are researching these traits as well.
A New York Magazine article, written by a self-identified gay male author, delves into the research behind supposedly “gay” traits–hair whorls, fingertip lengths, handed-ness, thumbprint density and even penis size. All this research, which purports to prove how gay men and lesbian women compare to their heterosexual counterparts (gay men’s penises are thicker and longer than heterosexual men’s, lesbian’s ears function more like heterosexual men’s ears do) come to the big conclusion we’ve all been waiting for:
‘We’re reaching a consensus on a broad ...

Do you remember in High School, when your friends would compare the length of their index fingers and their ring fingers to see who was gay? Well now scientists are researching these traits as well.
A ...

Federal Court: Pharmacists Can Refuse to Dispense EC

Last week, a Federal court ruled that, despite Illinois law, pharmacists in Illinois can refuse to dispense emergency contraception. The state passed a law in 2005 that requires all pharmacies to dispense EC. As a result, Wal-Mart (and other companies) have disciplined pharmacists that refused to follow the rule. Then came the lawsuits and the bad news.

U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott denied a request Tuesday by Wal-Mart to throw out a lawsuit filed by pharmacist Ethan Vandersand. Scott sided with Vandersand, who had claimed he was legally protected from discipline by the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act when he declined to dispense Plan B.
Vandersand, who lives in Bluffs, formerly worked at the pharmacy ...

Last week, a Federal court ruled that, despite Illinois law, pharmacists in Illinois can refuse to dispense emergency contraception. The state passed a law in 2005 that requires all pharmacies to dispense EC. As ...

Girl Power?


I missed the AFL-CIO’s Democratic presidential forum the other night, but while reading a short write-up of the debate, I came across a quote from Senator Clinton that made me do a double-take:

“For 15 years, I have stood up against the right-wing machine. And I’ve come out stronger. If you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I’m your girl.”

Wait, what? Forget the part about how Clinton says that she stands up to right-wing machine when she actually has a history of caving in (*cough* Iraq War). “I’m your girl?” She’s 59-years-old!
I bring up her age not to make her sound “old”– I’m 23, and I bristle at being ...


I missed the AFL-CIO’s Democratic presidential forum the other night, but while reading a short write-up of the debate, I came across a quote from Senator Clinton that made me do a double-take:

“For 15 ...

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