Eesha Pandit

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By Eesha Pandit • 11 years ago

Today: Celebrate Trans Day of Action and join the fight for LGBTQ liberation

This has been a big week for the LGBTQ community. The Supreme Court’s rulings on DOMA and California’s Proposition 8 were hallmark decisions that we’ll look to for years to come as pivotal moments in the movement for equal rights. And yet, as many of us that work for justice beyond equality know, there is so much more to be done.

Today, the Audre Lorde Project (ALP) and their partners celebrate their Annual Trans Day of Action, to be held today from 2-5pm at the Christopher Street Pier in NYC, and it couldn’t be more important:

“As we celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Stone Wall Riots, we want to lift up and honor the legacy of Trans women and gender non-conforming people of color as leaders of our movements for social and economic justice. All too often, we forget that without the fierce resiliency and vision for a new world Trans women and gender non-conforming of color led with, we would not be where we are today as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, Two-Spirit and Gender Non-Conforming people” – Elliott Fukui, coordinator of the Trans-Justice Project at ALP.

SONG, Southerners on New Ground, reacted to the decisions from the Supreme Court this week by releasing what they call their “love song” to their friends and allies in the movement.

“We know that here in the South our SONG family will be grappling with the reality of our lives, many of which have ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Are men more violent?

The gruesome and violent tragedy in Colorado last week put some noticeable strains on the national psyche. Interestingly, many facts were clear early on: a young, white man planned and perpetrated a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, CO during the screening of a summer blockbuster. The violence appears to have been both premeditated and random (in that no specific people were targeted, as far as we know) and it has captured our imaginations.

The questions that the media asked were immediately about motive: who is James Holmes and why would he do this? The obsession with the particulars of Holmes’ life is understandable as we aim to understand and rationalize violence of a seemingly random nature. But others, concerned ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Breaking barriers, Somali women run

The news from Somalia is often heartrending and horrible. The country is experiencing an unprecedented famine and a great deal of instability and violence.

But today, I bring you all some good news from Somalia. This year, for the first time, the Somali Athletics Federation will select one female runner from a field of 10 to compete in the 400-metres at the London Olympics.

From IRIN global news:

The youngest of those currently training in Mogadishu is Najma, 10. She started running six months ago, shortly after Al-Shabab left the city. “My father encouraged me,” said Najma.

She knows she is lucky – most girls in Somalia do not enjoy such freedom. The head coach of the Athletics Federation, Ahmed Ali Abikar, said it is ...

The news from Somalia is often heartrending and horrible. The country is experiencing an unprecedented famine and a great deal of instability and violence.

But today, I bring you all some good news from Somalia. This year, for the first ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Today: Violence Against Women Act on Senate Floor

It’s that time again! Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month on a party-line vote.

The full Senate vote is happening NOW Senate is discussing reauthorization of the act NOW, and you can watch the Senate floor proceedings on the bill S1925 here.

At a time when the GOP is desperately trying to convince us that they do, in fact, care about women, and that they are not, in fact waging a war on us, VAWA reauthorization is a test. Many, including the VP and women Dems have called the Republicans out on their opposition to this bill, which was first passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized (each time ...

It’s that time again! Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month on a party-line vote.

The full Senate vote is happening NOW Senate is discussing reauthorization of ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Girls (Not the HBO show)

Okay. I am not embroiled in the controversy around HBO’s new show, Girls. I haven’t watched it, to be frank. I saw that it was yet ANOTHER show about rich, white women in NYC and just decided against it. Commentary about the show is all over the internet, and we’ve discussed it here, too.

This post is actually not about the show at all. Psych.

Instead, I’d like highlight some OTHER girls, and their fierce work in the world. It’s my own little counter to the HBO sanctioned worldview that whitewashes life and is anchored in economic privilege. Here are some of my favorite things that girls are up to in the world, please add yours in the comments.

Okay. I am not embroiled in the controversy around HBO’s new show, Girls. I haven’t watched it, to be frank. I saw that it was yet ANOTHER show about rich, white women in NYC and just ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Race in Arizona, banned books and closed minds

The ongoing saga of racialized theatrics continues in the state of Arizona. As you might remember, Arizona introduced the anti-immigrant law SB1070 last year, and then the Mexican-American studies program (also called the Ethnic Studies program) was banned at Tucson Unified School District. Now there are rumblings that Mexican-American studies programs at the university level might be targeted next. And Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer, not through meddling with education, approved the incorporation of an elective high school course, called “The Influence of the Bible on Western Culture,” earlier this week.

A step back, on January 10, the Tuscon School District’s governing board voted 4 to 1 to eliminate its Mexican-American Studies courses and comply with a new law forbidding classes ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

Leggo my LEGOS: Fair play for girls

Good morning, Friday Feministing friends. To start the weekend, I bring you some news about feminist badassery and the taking on of corporate foolishness.

Today, a few folks from our friends over at SPARK, including SPARK Executive Director Dana Edell and Jamia Wilson, Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Media Center and Co-Founder of SPARK, will be meeting with the LEGO Corporation about the concerns raised by SPARK over the LEGO Friends product line.

Since December, the group has gotten more than 55,000 plus people on board with their Change.org petition to ask LEGO to “stop selling out girls.”

It’s on, LEGO.

The petition is ...

Good morning, Friday Feministing friends. To start the weekend, I bring you some news about feminist badassery and the taking on of corporate foolishness.

Today, a few folks from our friends over at SPARK, including SPARK Executive Director Dana ...

By Eesha Pandit • 12 years ago

CLPP 2012: Colonized Spaces, Criminalized Bodies

At this year’s Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program Conference, “From Abortion Rights to Social Justice” at Hampshire College I attended a really engaging workshop that addressed the vital intersections created by the ongoing legacies of colonialism. The aim was to address the impacts of aggressive over-policing of communities of color and criminalization of poor people, immigrants, and sexual minorities. This workshop did something that many workshops at reproductive justice conferences try desperately to accomplish – an intersectional approach to seemingly disparate issues.

The anchoring theme was the notion that the very presence and existence of certain bodies is certain spaces are criminalized. This criminalization is done via our institutions: legal, medical, political social, cultural.

Katie McKay Bryson, the moderator of the workshop ...