Teen Feminist

Jane Doe rape kits go nationwide in 2009!

2008-05-14T13:33:00.005-04:00

Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.

[CBS]

I am so psyched about this! Not only is this the most practical attempt at negating the difficulties associated with rape cases that have been reported "too late" (for collecting hard evidence), but finally something that us crazy new-fangled liberals up in Massachusetts thought of is spreading nationwide. Could it be gay marriage next? I can dream, right?

Making birth control more affortable for low-income women

2008-05-14T13:09:00.004-04:00

I've been following this "story", if you will, for quite some time, and thanks to information sent to me via the Planned Parenthood email list, I've been able to send emails to my state Congressmen about it. However, I think it's something that definitely needs to be shared, even if you've seen it before, and even if it sounds redundant, because the reality of it is nothing is being done about it.

Basically, two years ago a "legislative error" made the price of birth control increase by essentially 100%. It was labeled as an unintended mistake yet STILL nothing has been done to fix it.

This is the default email Planned Parenthood gives me to send out to friends:

Dear friend,

I just wrote to Congress about keeping birth control affordable. Please, join me! We only have a few days left.

The problem is this: millions of college-age and low-income women no longer have access to affordable birth control.

Just two years ago, providers on college campuses and at safety-net clinics could offer discounted birth control. But in 2006, Congress made an honest error in new Medicaid legislation that accidentally banned the discounts. Congress can restore
access to affordable birth control, and lots of members are willing to do it. But Congress just hasn't made it a priority yet.

To me, solving that problem is a priority. So, I have been taking action with Planned Parenthood to keep the pressure on Congress. Will you help too? We only have a few days before Congress breaks for recess.

Thank you -- and click here to take action:

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/affordablebirthcontrol08?rk=ldLDGv41_KFaW

I strongly urge anyone reading this blog post to send off an email to their Representative and Senators. It's as simple as filling out your name and address and pressing "Submit"; if you don't have the time to write a personal letter, there's a letter already there for you. I really think that the idea that women should NOT have to suffer because of the government's silly mistake is an idea that can be universally agreed upon, so please, just send off an email because time is really limited. I'm sure rectification of this mistake is something we all benefit from in one way or another.

Why Tyra Banks may as well rip out my heart and stomp all over it

2008-05-13T18:16:00.004-04:00

I have found Tyra Banks to be a complete and utter tease, an overload of hypocrisy, someone who flirts with feminism one day and the next day brings us all back to crazy oppressive misogyny with a snap of the fingers. One day she's warming my heart with a special on, believe it or not, what is basically fat acceptance (though it's cleverly presented as a show on the practice of squashing) and even inviting some of those who are part of the fatosphere onto the show, only to disappoint me the next day by having a special on hiding your "flaws" or even worse, The Bad Girls' Club. Even though shows of the latter sort did let me down, I mostly trusted Tyra when she told me, repeatedly, that her goal was to up the self esteem and confidence of young women. She seemed like a feminist to me. Little did I know upon visiting her website and reading her blog posts, my view of her would completely change.

Tyra has categories for the blog posts on her site, so being a teen, I headed straight to "Teen Issues", and I find a bunch of things I didn't expect. First, I find this video of a girl on one of Tyra's shows (that I must have missed) teary eyed and sending a message to all of the teen girls watching: "Wait, it's not worth it, don't do it at all." Honestly, upon seeing this I felt really discouraged. She had a whole episode on this issue, and though I don't know what she said on the show, the part she chooses to put online is the part telling girls nothing more than to "wait"? What about information about birth control or something of the sort? What about resources for those girls that may have already had sex, consider it a mistake, and are suffering a consequence such as an STD (considering one in four girls in the US has one)? What scares me even more is the comments on this post, especially this one:

TYRAA!! Some Guy came to my school the ohter day for a chastity Speech. Mannn and i tell you, it was the most intresting, funny , amazing, thing i have ever listened to. He really made you think About chastity, And i think he should be on your show, I mean, it was accually amazing. I think he had all 500 Students paying attention. And i know that i will stay pure till marrige, and i believe that he should be on your show to tell other teens the impotance of this subject. Please consider

Yeah, just what we need, someone like Pam Stenzel coming on the Tyra Show to spread her lies and slut-shaming. I can't help but think with all of the talk she's done about STDs and teen pregnancy that this is blatant propaganda. On one of her posts called You're a pregnant teen, now what? she includes a few "resources", and though she links Planned Parenthood, she also links a site under the title of "Abortion" called AbortionFacts.com. At first glance, this site looks harmless, but upon further investigation, it's a blatantly pro-life site. Just click on the links under the I am Pro-Choice and I am Pro-Life sections and you will basically learn that, if you are pro-choice, everything you believe is wrong, abortion is incredibly dangerous, abortion is akin to murder, and essentially that women should not have control over their bodies because even desiring an abortion just means they don't know any better. If you're feeling doubtful, just head over to the Quick Facts section where it reads:

How can a girl give up her own baby for adoption and go through life never knowing what is happening to her child?

Which is better to remember, "I gave my baby life. And because I loved him, I gave him into the arms of a loving couple" - or to remember, "I selfishly ended my baby's life?"

Tyra also encourages parents of teens to "Discourage early, frequent and steady dating" and tells parents that "If your child does end up having sex, hold them closer to you. Talk to them with forgiveness and without judgment" which is not only loading on the shame, but reminiscent of tactics that many fundamentalist Christians use; how many times have you seen Q&A site for young Christians or abstinence educators discourage serious relationships? Hell, I've even seen these sites actually tell teens to break up with their significant other because the relationship seems to be going too well.

This is all really just the tip of the ice burg though. Instead of the "love your body" vibe I get from her show, there's tons of posts on her blog about weight loss, counting calories (the easy way!), getting rid of spider veins, or looking as hot as Heidi Montag.

I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting. Or maybe I'm expecting too much of a show that airs on Fox Network and that seriously links The Onion as a resource for "teens with troubles".