Feminism | Posted by Becka W on 05/20/2013

How the Pregnant and Parenting Student Access to Education Act Can Help Teen Moms

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Feminism | Posted by Becka W on 02/6/2013

Four Things Every Young Feminist Needs To Know About Title IX

Today is National Girls & Women in Sports Day, which has people singing the praises of Title IX from soccer fields, softball diamonds, tracks, pools and countless other sporting venues – and for good reason! Title IX is an enormously important law for female athletes – no other law has done more to open doors for women and girls in athletics. While there is still work to be done, the progress we have made thanks to Title IX is tremendous.

But what many people don’t know is that the benefits and protections of Title IX aren’t limited to athletics. Here are four other ways Title IX is there for young women (and men, too):

1. Equal Opportunities in career and technical programs in traditionally male-dominated fields

Title IX requires …

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Feminism | Posted by Lara S. Kaufman on 01/21/2013

Dear Schools, Please Stop Discriminating Based on Pregnancy. Thanks, Title IX

Imagine you’re an honors student at a community college. You’re doing great: you’ve got a merit-based scholarship and you’re enjoying your classes. You’re also pregnant and excited to welcome the new addition to your family.

Being the conscientious student that you are, you approach your professors as soon as classes start, tell them that you’re due near the end of the semester, and ask that if you miss any tests due to a pregnancy-related absence you be allowed to make them up. You even offer to provide a doctor’s note. Three of your professors congratulate you, and tell you that of course this won’t be a problem.

But one of your professors says she will not excuse any such leave or allow work missed to be made up, even if …

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Feminism | Posted by Jenny S on 08/10/2012

Olympics Sexism Overload

Like many of you, I have spent the past week or so essentially glued to my television, watching the Olympics. I love sports—playing and watching—and I love this celebration of human spirit and achievement that comes every 4 years. So I don’t know why it took me so long to see the gender imbalances in sport.

Many other people have focused on the athletes themselves, whether it be the requirement for beach volleyball players to compete in bikinis, or the fact that Saudi Arabia finally sent its first female athletes to the Games (awesome!). What I’m talking about is the announcing, officiating and coaching.

Men have no problem commenting on women’s sports, be it soccer or swimming or gymnastics. In fact, I don’t think I have ever heard a women’s …

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Feminism | Posted by Dana B on 08/1/2012

Surviving Rape: What I Want Other College Students to Know About Title IX

After-rape is to be consumed by emptiness, isolation, fear, shame, and anger.

And after-rape at college is to be confronted by my rapist every day—on the quad, in the library, at breakfast. It is to be ceaselessly reminded of the moments in which power and control were stripped from me, in which I had no option but to let go and resign myself to the fact that this was really happening.

I was raped my sophomore year of college by a male student at my school. In the weeks after the assault, he followed me around campus, physically blocked me from going up the steps into my dorm, and threatened my friends. One Friday at three in the morning, he tried to break into my room while I sat terrified …

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Feminism | Posted by Talia on 09/14/2011

Title IX and Teen Pregnancy

I recently attended a conference call through the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) titled “Know Your Rights: A Conference Call for Pregnant and Parenting Students.” It was moderated by Melanie Ross Levin, NWLC’s senior outreach manager, and the two presenters were Jeannette Pai-Espinosa (president of the National Crittenton Foundation) and Lara Kaufmann (NWLC’s senior counsel).

You can read my full notes here, or listen to the actual call here. In short, the conference call discussed the rights that pregnant and parenting women have with regard to education. Lara Kaufmann explained how Title IX protects students, faculty, and staff at schools with federal funding from sex discrimination and how it applies to pregnant and parenting students. Jeannette Pai-Espinosa introduced her organization, explaining how it provides trauma-informed services to …

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A Little F'd Up | Posted by Julie Z on 08/25/2010

Chelsea Baker: 13-year-old Role Model

I remember one day in 5th grade during P.E. class, a particularly douchey male classmate of mine turned to me completely unsolicited and said, “Boys are better than girls at sports, you know.” Now, if this had happened today, you better believe I would have smacked the dodgeball or whiffle ball or whatever sports accessory I may have been holding at the time into his righteous face (just kidding, violence is bad). But I was ten, and even though his statement didn’t seem true to me I just let him get away with it. I mean I personally fail miserably at sports, but that’s due to complete indifference and laziness, neither of which I attribute to my gender or even physical ability. And now that I think about it, this …

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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 06/28/2009

Women’s Sports Leagues

It was right around 4th or 5th grade that I, an intramural basketball champ at just under five feet tall, decided that I was going to be a point guard for the “NBA” as I told my parents. “But Julie,” they said, “You can’t be in the NBA.” “Why the hell not,” I may or may not have responded at 9 years old. “Because the NBA is for men. But you can be in the WNBA.” “Whatever.” I just wanted to play — I didn’t really care for who. 

Little did I know, back in 2002/2003 that only 7 years before that not only would that conversation never have happened, but the whole concept of me ever becoming a professional basketball player wouldn’t have, either. The WNBA has only …

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