Awareness, Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 03/24/2011

The Affordable Care Act: Feminism Moving Forward

The Affordable Care Act

One of the reasons many girls today don’t identify as feminists is because there are quite a few of us who are convinced that men and women are totally equal. The 1970’s took care of all of our political and social battles, teens reason, looking to mothers who work to the same degree and prestige as their fathers and male classmates who they largely equal or surpass in intelligence. What exactly are feminists fighting for, they might wonder, and write us off as never-satisfied perpetual complainers.

Well. Even if we completely disregard the fact that this standpoint can really only occur to girls of first-world countries, and within those countries to girls of middle-upper classes, there are still a lot of political and economic disparities that effect all of us.…

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Feminism | Posted by Kirsten M on 07/14/2010

Unnatural Causes: Feminism and Health Care

accessibility to health care: affected by race and class?

Health care reform is on everyone’s radar these days after we’ve watched Obama’s plan go through change after change before being passed this year. It’s been on my radar as a feminist because of the ways that it affects women and their bodies, especially pertaining to the right to choose. Recently, though, a new aspect of healthcare in the U.S. has been brought to my attention that I’m very concerned about, and I was looking for the feminist community’s reaction.

The disturbing aspect is this: unequal societies have worse health outcomes than healthier societies no matter their health care systems. Unequal is defined as having a larger gap between the rich and the poor. The data are represented in a bazillion places –…

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Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 02/9/2010

Gen Eff: What You Don’t Know Can Kill You

I wanted to share this with you guys. This is a new non-profit in my hometown that aims to increase health care awareness among teens and twenty-somethings. Health care is such a huge issue that I’ve been directly effected by – health care has been a difficult thing for my family to get because my Dad is self-employed and my Mom has a pre-existing condition. I know as much as anyone that our country has so many issues with health care. It’s nice to see that people are trying to address them, especially for my generation.

Gen Eff is a new national grassroots movement with one goal: prevent an entire generation of kids from falling through the cracks of today’s health care system. The non-profit organization encourages adolescents and young adults…

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Awareness, Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 11/17/2009

Stop Stupak

health care

Usually, when I come down to the kitchen for a snack (also known as an excuse to take a study break) I  can tell what mail my Mom is sorting through by the look on her face. The annoyed-pursed-lips-eye-roll is usually elicited by a Home and Garden magazine of some type (Martha Stewart is defiantly not listed amongst my Mom’s personal heroes). Glazed over, resigned boredom  can usually be attributed to a water or electricity bill. But the truly depressed, pissed off face of injustice can only be caused by one thing.

My family has struggled with the issue of health care ever since I can remember. Because of a pre-existing condition my Mom has and the fact that my Dad is independently employed, the business of staying healthy has…

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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 10/8/2009

Why I Want to be Swedish

Your shiny exterior fails to fool me, Toys R Us. YOU ARE EVIL!!!

Lemondrop.com is reporting that Swedish-based consumer advocacy group Reklamombudsmannen (love the name…) made a claim against Toys ‘R’ Us for featuring “outdated gender roles” in their 2008 Christmas catalog.

It’s baller that somebody did something about the ridiculously gender segregated toys in that store (and in many toy stores). But that’s not even the best part.

Apparently, this claim originated from a Stockholm sixth-grade class’s school project. As Lemondrop reports:

The class examined the toy catalog, which showed boys playing in “action-filled environments” as superheroes, while girls are shown “sitting or standing in passive poses” dressed up in princess costumes. The kids felt that the scenes reinforced a subjective idea of normal play, and filed a complaint against Toys ‘R’ Us for…

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