Dear Imprudence: Ew, My Daughter Has Facial Hair!
A reader wrote in to Emily Yoffe at Dear Prudence this week with the following: My 7-year-old daughter is smart, pretty, and fun. Her father is of Hispanic descent, and he’s gorgeous, but he has a lot...
View ArticleD/deaf Characters on Television: Joey Lucas on The West Wing
I have been on a bit of a West Wing extravaganza over the last few weeks, and there’s all kinds of interesting stuff going on in this show that I suspect I will be writing about as I move through my...
View ArticleReproductive Justice is for Everyone, Even People You Don’t Like
There’s a sign on the wall of a local clinic which says, according to my paraphrasing memory: You have the right to decide if you want to have children or not, and to determine their number, timing,...
View ArticlePap smears, fat-shaming, and the lithotomy trap
[X-posted at Hoyden About Town] So I’m sitting watching the evening news, and on comes a chap telling us women and girls that we oughtta go and get more Pap smears. Then on comes a woman to talk about...
View ArticleConversations About Body Image: A Place at the Table for Me?
Conversations about body image come up often in feminist communities, and unfortunately, many of those conversations are predicated on the dual ideas that all people should love their bodies and that...
View ArticleWe also have the right to be in public
This is a guest post from Thetroubleis, a knitting, writing, dog training, queer uppity negress who enjoys writing about race, madness, disability, adoption and the intersections of the aforementioned...
View ArticleImperfections
I am one of those people who often cannot ask for help. At times, I am so afraid of seeming weak, or whiny, or overly-sensitive, or dependent on other people that I tend to either ignore my own needs...
View ArticleDear Imprudence: I’ll Keep My Body Hair, Thanks
Body hair has come up on Dear Imprudence before, so I thought this recent Ask Amy column might be relevant to the interests of some readers, in addition to being an example of an advice column that...
View ArticleDisability Is A Feminist Issue: Gendering Health Access
When I tell people I write for a feminist site focusing on a disability issues, one of the most common responses I get is confusion. ‘What does disability,’ people ask me, ‘have to do with feminism?’...
View ArticleBook Review: Lasting Treasures by Julie Ellis
This piece contains lots of spoilers. I wanted to love this book, I really did. I have enjoyed the couple of Julie Ellis novels I’ve read, but this one just tipped the charming/not happening scale a...
View ArticleIt’s Always More Complicated: The “Justified” Abortion
[Trigger warning for “disabled child = burden” narrative.] Last night I was reading several pro-choice tumblrs, one of which had linked to “The Choice“. What makes us human? When is a life worth...
View ArticleQuoted: Audre Lorde
The supposition that one [group] needs the other’s acquiescence in order to exist prevents both from moving together as self-defined persons toward a common goal. This kind of action is a prevalent...
View ArticleQuick Hit: In US, Women Hit Hardest by Medical Debt
From a post at Change.org: According to a study (pdf) by the Commonwealth Fund, in 2007, 33 percent of working-age women, compared to 25 percent of men, faced medical bills that left them unable to pay...
View ArticleDisability and Domestic Violence Apologism
Content note: This post discusses a domestic violence case involving a woman with disabilities, and includes details on domestic violence apologism as well as threats made in the court room. Disability...
View ArticleAn OYD Airline Rant
I won’t apologize for her actions and I’m not sorry for what happened to you. It’s not in our contract to assist passengers with their luggage and we reserve the right to refuse assistance to anyone....
View ArticleWhen Accommodations Conflict (Continued)
Reflecting on the extremely thought provoking post by abbyjean earlier, I was walking to breakfast with The Guy (caution, try not to walk while lost in thought, OYD) on a day when I was low on sleep,...
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Go educate yourself (please!)
[Image via Tlönista in this comment thread at Flip Flopping Joy. Description: A shocked-looking cat perches on a chair, staring straight at the camera. Text reads: “Concerned cat is just looking out...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to Ms Magazine Blog
Dear Ms Magazine Blog: My name is Anna. I’m what some people in North America would call a person with a disability, and some people in the UK would call a disabled person. My husband, many of my...
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