Posts Tagged social justice

intersectionality
By Reina Gattuso • 8 years ago

So you want to be a transnational feminist

It was one of those Delhi autumn afternoons that goes on forever and ever, the sunlight slanting through the dust, the dogs lolling on the paths, even the mosquitos lazy. A couple friends and I were sitting on the university campus drinking tea in the last strands of afternoon. 

It was one of those Delhi autumn afternoons that goes on forever and ever, the sunlight slanting through the dust, the dogs lolling on the paths, even the mosquitos lazy. A couple friends and I ...

screen shot of Obama speech
By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

“It is you, the young and fearless at heart, who the nation is waiting to follow.”

That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing. We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march.

And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what ...

That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past. We don’t fear ...
By Katherine Cross • 9 years ago

The Kids Were Always Alright: Breaking the Spell of Ageless Ageism

The belief that the world is bad and getting worse is one of the most venerable motifs of human civilization, appearing as far back as our record of written language exists. There are even Egyptian hieroglyphs suggesting that our next stop on this handbasket trip is Hell. Consider some of the guiding myths of our age that have been with us since time immemorial: even if you are not Christian, something about the myth of Eden and the Fall stays with you, guiding that pessimistic sense that we’ve declined ever more precipitously from a state of grace. Although the Fall myth is about a collapse from a very ancient grace that is firmly in the past, I’d argue the very idea ...

The belief that the world is bad and getting worse is one of the most venerable motifs of human civilization, appearing as far back as our record of written language exists. There are even Egyptian hieroglyphs suggesting ...
By Juliana Britto Schwartz • 9 years ago

East LA yoga studio is for ALL the people

Earlier this year, XOJane published a piece by a white woman who attended the same yoga class as a fat black woman. The piece centered on how worried she was for the poor black woman, who – she assumed – must have felt horribly uncomfortable and unskilled as she attempted to perform the poses the yoga instructor described. It was a patronizing and racist, and an unfortunate reminder that yoga studios are often set up to serve very thin, white, wealthy, and heteronormative people. Sesali wrote about the piece, noting that “being fat in spaces that are created to bring attention to the body can seem like breeding grounds for microaggressions and hurt feelings.”

Earlier this year, XOJane published a piece by a white woman who attended the same yoga class as a fat black woman. The piece centered on how worried she was for the poor black woman, ...
By Katherine Cross • 10 years ago

Beyond niceness: Further thoughts on rage

Editor’s note: A version of this post originally appeared at Nuclear Unicorn.

By now word has spread far and wide through the various fiefdoms of social justice activism that a new conversation about rage and political practise is sorely needed, including a well-received piece by our own Veronica Bayetti Flores, and one I had written on my own blog. A noteworthy critique marshalled against my article and the others like it was that we are advocating “niceness” in lieu of robust advocacy. I cannot speak for my friends and colleagues, naturally, but in speaking for my own intentions, nothing could be further from the truth.

There can be no doubt that our political ...

Editor’s note: A version of this post originally appeared at Nuclear Unicorn.

By now word has spread far and wide through the various fiefdoms of social justice activism that a new conversation about ...
By Amy S. Choi • 11 years ago

Cultural traditions that oppress women are not worth preserving

Writing like this makes me want to pull out my hair. In an otherwise decent New York Times story about the myriad forms of violence that women in India face on a regular basis, sits these paragraphs:

As girls age, the strict controls that many families have over their daughters cannot protect them from rape and sexual assault, since most of those crimes are committed by people known to the women, studies say. But even so, such controls have some benefits, public health experts say. Indian women have, on average, no more than two sexual partners in their entire lives, and most are virgins when they marry, surveys show. This absence of promiscuity is probably an important reason that AIDS never ...

Writing like this makes me want to pull out my hair. In an otherwise decent New York Times story about the myriad forms of violence that women in India face on a regular basis, sits these paragraphs:

As ...
By Amy S. Choi • 11 years ago

CNN recognizes social justice heroes

Things can get pretty bleak out there. And sometimes also in my head. But! It isn’t all the assassination of women government officials investigating corruption and U.S. district judges saying it’s probably okay that a Christian book publisher doesn’t want to provide contraception to its employees.

No. This holiday, I’m thankful that there are extraordinary people out there doing extraordinary things. And that the mainstream media, or at least CNN, is recognizing and rewarding them.

CNN Heroes celebrates “everyday people changing the world.” For the past five years, CNN has honored several dozen social justice workers, human rights activists, and community organizers from around the world. In a hugely pleasant surprise, women and people of color have consistently been recognized in equal ...

Things can get pretty bleak out there. And sometimes also in my head. But! It isn’t all the assassination of women government officials investigating corruption and U.S. district judges saying it’s probably okay that a Christian book ...
By Vanessa • 11 years ago

Awesome of the Day: Colbert vs. “Radical feminist nun” Sister Simone Campbell

As nuns from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) plan to meet with the Vatican today to discuss the ridiculous investigation targeting them for being too feminist and “politicized” (because the Vatican is not politicized at all), Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK was on The Colbert Report last night in response to the Vatican’s claims — and brilliantly throws Colbert’s snark right back at him.

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Today’s meeting should be an interesting one, considering LCWR recently came out with a statement saying they ...

As nuns from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) plan to meet with the Vatican today to discuss the ridiculous investigation targeting them for being too feminist and “politicized” (because the Vatican is ...

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