For Teens: Why Talking About Birth Control Matters

This post is for a blog carnival called "Birth Control: We've Got You Covered," which is being sponsored by the National Women's Law Center. Soon the Web is going to light up with who-knows-how-many bloggers, each giving their own two cents on no-cost birth control and other related issues. Personally, I want to speak to teens and younger girls about why birth control is so dang important (even if it doesn't figure into all of our lives just yet).

Those ain't no Sweet Tarts!

If you're a relatively new feminist like I am (my glorious "click" moment only came about a year ago), it's easy to get sucked up into the feminist agenda — everything from equal pay to reproductive rights — without thinking too deeply about these issues or considering why they're so pivotal to the women's liberation movement.

New feminists, especially us young'uns, seem to go through a crazed, sugar-rushed phase where we're just so excited to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We start calling out sexist jokes in the produce department, we start doodling feminist-y things in our school notebooks, and we can't help but pose like Rosie the Riveter each time we catch ourselves in a mirror.
(Tip: Don't do this in public. People will stare.)

Don't get me wrong, this "feminist awakening" phase is zealous and incredibly life-affirming, but it can also hurt us if we begin nodding our heads to every single thing our feminist role models say just for the sake of proving our "feminist-ness." (I was guilty of that when I started calling myself pro-choice just because "all the feminists were doing it." I still call myself pro-choice, but now I've got the understanding to back it up. Yea-yuh.)

Support for birth control is one of those feminist ideals that "comes with the job description," but how many times, as teens, do we sit down and actually talk about it, or think about the implications it will have for our futures?

*cricket chirps*

That's what I thought.

Support for birth control has been synonymous with the feminist movement for decades, but when many of our older feminist allies (and I don't mean "older" in a bad way, just literally "older" than those of us born in the Era of Classic Nicktoons) talk about birth control and contraception, the focus automatically shifts to women in their 20's and 30's. Like birth control doesn't also affect our lives.

If you're a young person today, you know about sex. 

Say NO to virgin-whore dichotomy.

Sex saturates every ounce of media that we soak up: it's in books, movies, video games, steamy vampire dramas, the list goes on and on. Parents need to realize that if we're not getting our information from them (via one of those mythical "sex talks"), we're getting our information from less reliable sources — and many times this misinformation is coupled with ridiculous virgin-whore dichotomy (i.e. "good girls don't do that") which makes us even more confused about what the hell is going on with our bodies, about what's acceptable and what's not.

We get it, parents.

It's weird to think about your "babies" as sexual beings (it's weird for us, too, believe me), but that's no excuse to keep us from the realities of sex, contraception, STDs, and pregnancy. And just because we're not on The Pill now, doesn't mean that someday we won't be. As feminists, teens, girls: we need to know that contraception matters.

Right now, the Department of Health and Human Services is deciding "whether or not prescription contraceptives should be available under new healthcare plans without co-pay or other out-of-pocket costs." If the DHHS comes out with a favorable opinion, that could mean no-cost birth control for countless women nationwide. Considering birth control can cost upward of $100 per month (depending on one's method), many women in today's economy have had to choose between contraception and cancer screenings, between contraception and groceries.

In the 50's and 60's, many women were hearing about their
reproductive options for the first time. (Shock!)

The average woman spends three quarters of her reproductive life trying to prevent pregnancy, so yeah, birth control is a big deal. The National Women's Law Center is hopeful that the DHHS will "see the light" on this issue, and ultimately heed the recommendations given by a non-partisan, independent panel of scientific and medical experts at the Institute of Medicine (the panel's recommendations range from providing "yearly well-woman preventative care visits" to "screening and counseling to detect and prevent interpersonal and domestic violence").

For the millions of women who rely on birth control to keep their options open, and for your future and mine, I really hope the DHHS is able to reach a favorable consensus. In teen lingo: I hope they don't screw the heck up.

But until then, let's place our hands on our chins, act cool, and ponder some random facts birth control . . .

• About the time your grandparents were growing up (assuming they were born in the 50's or earlier), birth control was taboo. Many states had laws (i.e. the Comstock Laws) that not only banned people from using contraception, but from distributing any shred of information about it whatsoever. Also in those days, women were often expected to marry at a young age and have large families, regardless of any plans they had for the future.
• Unintended pregnancies can be harmful to women who have preexisting health conditions such as hypertension or coronary artery disease. A true testament to "it's better to be safe than sorry."
• Data shows that between 1990 and 2004, U.S. pregnancy rates declined almost 40 percent among 15- to 19-year-old women. One study attributed 86 percent of the long-term decline in teen pregnancies to increased contraceptive use.
• Planned pregnancies (which, as the NWLC points out, usually require contraception) allow women time to make certain lifestyle changes that will promote healthy babies.
• When it comes to HIV, sex is 10,000 times safer with a condom than without one.
• Birth control allows women to choose whether they want to start families earlier in life, hold off to pursue other endeavors (like, you know, kicking ass in college and the working world), or not have kids at all.

Birth control gives "power to the people," or rather, it gives women the opportunity to make choices that are right for their personal, individual lives. We're all different, life is short, and we should all be given the choice of how we spend our time — raising a family, going to work, or maybe even both. 

Nothing should be off-limits to us.

Sage Adderley (Sweet Candy Distro) Interview

Andrew Jacobs is a writer for Stuck In The Past, a "90's hardcore webzine" dedicated to reviving (or, at least, blogging about) music that has since faded from the limelight. Recently, Jacobs had an interview with Sage Adderley, a self-made businesswoman, former tattoo artist, and mother. Feeling that this interview didn't quite fit in with his own webzine's theme, Jacobs suggested that the readers of this blog might find it interesting!

I'm of the opinion that women owning and running businesses is one of the many pinnacles of the feminist movement. As the owner and operator of Sweet Candy Distro since 2004, Sage Adderley is a fine addition to that lofty peak. Ms. Adderley is also a 13 year accomplished tattoo artist and she puts her extensive tattooing expertise to good use as the National Tattoo Art writer for Examiner.com. I hope that you enjoy this interview with this extraordinary woman. — Andrew Jacobs

Jacobs: When and why did you start doing zines?

Adderley: I made my first personal zine in 2004. At the time, I was taking creative writing courses at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and I thought it would be wonderful to create an indie publication featuring a variety of literary and visual arts. I began searching online for groups to post submission calls and I found a zine community. I was intrigued by some of the zine descriptions, so I ordered a zine from a writer in Florida. I popped a dollar and a stamp in the mail with a handwritten note requesting her zine. When the zine arrived, it was love at first sight.

J: Who were some of your influences when you first started doing zines?

A: My first zine was centered around my childhood, basically what it was like to grow up with heavily tattooed parents (one of them a tattoo artist) in the '80s and in the Bible Belt. I would have to say I was greatly influenced by my family and my mom's tattoo studio.

J: You own and operate Sweet Candy Distro. For those people reading this who don't know what a distro is, please provide a layperson's description.

A: A distro is a distributor of independent media. Some distros solely carry music, while others carry zines and often you'll find distros that carry a mixture of both. I carry a variety of items at Sweet Candy. The majority of items are zines, but I also stock CDs, DVDs, pins, handmade items, books, and magazines. My mission is to support zine writers and do-it-yourself creators by making their goods available to a wider audience. Some distros do mail order, I prefer to have my distro online but I do receive some mail orders.

J: Are paper zines and distros still viable in the digital/internet age? Why or why not?

A: Most definitely. There is something completely special and magical about paper zines that the internet would never be able to replicate. It's like comparing a book to an audiobook. It's two totally different experiences. For me, the beauty behind the zine is the process in which it was created, by hand!

J: You may have already answered this but just in case you didn't, because you come from the paper zine world, what are your views on digital only zines and the blogosphere in general?

A: I love reading blogs. I follow quite a few but I think there is a huge difference between a blog and a digital zine. I truly don't have an opinion about digital zines because I don't read them. I don't mean to sound like a jerk but digital zines just don't interest me.

J: You were a tattoo artist from the mid '90s until 2010. Do you recall doing very many Straight Edge, vegetarian and/or vegan tattoos during that time? If so, what sorts of those types of tattoos did you do?

A: I tattooed in a small, southern town so it was very rare to get people in the tattoo shop who lived these types of lifestyles. I'm not saying they weren't out there, I just never saw them getting tattooed during that time. I probably tattooed the triple X symbol a handful of times.

J: Was there anything that you refused to tattoo on people? If so, what and why?

A: No, I never felt like it was my place to judge what others wanted to get tattooed on their bodies but I think if someone had come in for a homophobic or racist themed tattoo, then I would have turned them down. Luckily, I never encountered anything of the sort.

J: If you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to stop tattooing?

A: I took a break from tattooing in 2009 when my son was born. I tattooed almost my entire pregnancy with him. It's tough to raise a family in this industry. The hours aren't 9-5, you know? My husband tattoos full time, so I decided to take a break to stay home with my son. I also have two daughters, my hands are pretty full. Whether it is a temporary or permanent break is yet to be determined.

Right now, I am having a blast writing about the tattoo industry and tattoo info articles. I had an interview published in Urban Ink Magazine and I am the National Tattoo Art writer for Examiner.com. It feels great to be able to offer guidance to tattoo clients through my writing. I receive quite a few emails from people who read my articles and ask for tattoo advice or opinions on tattoo artists and studios. I am still a part of the tattoo industry, just in a different way now.

J: Feel free to shamelessly plug any of your other endeavors here.

A: I'm looking forward to releasing my new issue of Tattooed Memoirs zine at the Portland Zine Symposium the weekend of August 5th. I'll be tabling Sweet Candy there! Locals should come out and say hello.

Friends, Romans, feminists . . . lend me your faces!

Show the world (or maybe just a
few hundred people) what a
feminist looks like!

I hope you've all had a chance to check out my Faces of Feminism project. On November 24th (yep, Thanksgiving) I'll be publishing a special post to showcase as many  supermegafoxyawesomehot* feminists as possible! 

I want to shatter any stereotype that erroneously assumes feminists are all cranky, hairy white women with cacti shoved up their backsides (no offense to my cranky, hairy white women friends). 

Feminists come in every shape, size, color, age, nationality, gender — I shouldn't have to list anymore classifiers to make that point. Just take a look in a mirror and you'll see how truly unique and awesome a feminist can be . . .

Now that I've (hopefully) buttered you up, I desperately need your help! My goal is to collect at least 100 feminist photographs by November 17th, so I need you all to send in your most epic, badass pictures to include in the post!

You can send your pictures to teenagefeminist@gmail.com (make sure to title them "This Is What A Feminist Looks Like"). To show my thanks, I will be more than happy to link your picture to your blog/website, just make sure to include the link in your email!

If you're looking to climb up a few more rungs on my I-love-you ladder, you can help me by spreading the word about this project to all of your "feministy" friends. Feel free to re-post (and tweak) any of the following:

Facebook:

Society is stuck on a very narrow-minded image of what a feminist "should" look like, but in November Danielle B. from Experimentations of a Teenage Feminist will be publishing a special post titled "The Faces of Feminism" to show just how diverse the feminist community really is! Feminists, please help Danielle by submitting a picture of yourself for her to post! Photos can be sent to: teenagefeminist@gmail.com!

Twitter:

Attentions feminists! Submit your photos to this 

blogger's "Faces of Feminism" project! 

http://teenage-feminist.blogspot.com/p/

faces-of-feminism-submit-photo.html

Tumbler (post stolen from this cool chick):

Danielle Burch, who runs the lovely blog Experimentations of a Teenage Feminist is doing a blog post this November featuring The Faces of Feminism. To be a part of this, all you have to do is email her at teenagefeminist@gmail.com with a picture of yourself and if you’d like, a link to your blog. Go to her blog for more information! I submitted this photo [link "this photo" to a photo of yourself!] the other day because it’s basically the most badass picture of me ever. Please let all your feministy friends know!

____________________________ 

*Any A Very Potter Musical fans out there? 

Pro-Choice is Pro-Life (By Amelia G.)

This article was written by Amelia G., a woman who describes herself as "an undergraduate, feminist, seafood enthusiast, bookworm (and, more recently, blogworm)." She writes for Plenty of Otherwise!

"If you can't trust a woman with a choice,
how can you trust her with a baby?"

The other day I came across an article in the Michigan Messenger about how Thaddeus McCotter, a Republican running for president in 2012, signed a "Pro-life leadership pledge." This means that if elected, he'll "nominate pro-life judges, select pro-life cabinet members, de-fund Planned Parenthood and support legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy."

That news didn't exactly surprise me, but it still pissed me off, especially given the fresh batch of anti-choice news that has popped up in the U.S. this week. The Executive Council in New Hampshire just voted to de-fund Planned Parenthood. And yesterday, a federal judge blocked a law that would have required Crisis Pregnancy Centers, or CPCs, to disclose particular information about themselves, such as whether they employ licensed medical personnel.

CPCs pose as abortion clinics, but do not provide abortion or contraceptives (nor do they refer women to organizations that do). As the Ms. article points out, CPCs are notorious for providing false medical information about abortion in order to scare women out of considering it as a viable option that might work for them.

I'm really uncomfortable knowing that I live in a country whose government damn near shut down over an argument about whether to de-fund an organization that does as much good as Planned Parenthood. And it hurts even more to learn that people are actively working to ensure that the nation's laws are on the side of CPCs that flat-out lie to women who come to them for help and comprehensive information.

As someone who cares deeply about reproductive justice and people in general, I'd like to take this opportunity to explain — to Representative McCotter, Judge Pauley, and everyone else behind all of the legislation that has come up since the last election — that pro-choice is pro-life.

A lot of people will be surprised to hear this, but I didn't always identify as pro-choice.

Yeah, really. Because let's face it: the rhetoric sounds great. Don't kill babies. That's something I could totally get behind, you know?

Neither of my parents are U.S. citizens, so they can't vote. Therefore, politics just weren't discussed in our house when I was growing up. I've read that statistically, parents have a great deal of influence over their children's political views. That wasn't really the case for me. I had a few opinions, but those were based shallowly on what I felt to be common sense.

So, when asked for my views on abortion, I would proudly declare that I was pro-life and thought abortion was wrong.

But once I got to high school, I noticed that a lot of people I really respected were especially passionate about their pro-choice views. And important things were going on at the time that forced me to seriously reevaluate my stance. In 2006, when I was a junior, my school district considered adopting an abstinence-only sex education program, to replace the comprehensive one that was in place.

People went apeshit. Friends of mine spoke out against the proposal at school board meetings. Medical professionals came in from out of town to voice their opinion, too. And in the end, we stuck with a comprehensive program.

I was pleased with the school board's decision not to adopt an abstinence only program (even though I didn't believe in abortion, I wasn't quite that conservative; I've always fully supported birth control). But I still could not understand how or why my friends felt so strongly about the abortion issue in particular. And because I knew my friends to be intelligent, compassionate people, I wanted to understand their point of view, so I started researching the topic.

I don't remember a specific moment when I "became pro-choice." I do know, though, that I kept finding instances where I could see myself agreeing that abortion was an acceptable option: rape, incest, poverty, etc.

But what won me over fully in the end were the personal anecdotes. By reading tons of stories about women's experiences with pregnancy, I discovered that it was impossible to put them into boxes marked with the aforementioned labels. It hit me that I couldn't call myself pro-life without taking women's lives and diverse experiences into consideration.

The Supreme Court's upholding of the "partial birth abortion" ban in 2007 (the year I graduated from high school) is the event that both tested and solidified my new pro-choice views. I was furious with the decision, even though when George W. Bush had signed the bill four years prior, I hadn't had a problem with it. That's because on the surface, "partial birth abortion" sounds awful; it evokes images of selfish women who, after 35 weeks of pregnancy, suddenly freak out and realize that they don't want to carry the pregnancy to term. So they go out and have an abortion.

But for one thing, "partial birth abortion" is not a medical term; it was coined by right-wing politicians. And secondly, come on, there have to be reasons for women to get an abortion that late in the game.

And damn good ones, at that.

One woman's story has really stuck with me over the years. It appears on page 14 of  The War on Choice by Gloria Feldt:

We were awaiting the arrival of a son. I'm diabetic, so I had more prenatal testing than most women. At twenty-five weeks I had an ultrasound and the doctor's exact words were, "Vick, you are disgustingly normal and so is the baby." At thirty-two weeks I went in for another ultrasound and my world came crashing down. They discovered that [the fetus] had not grown past twenty-five weeks, and further testing revealed that he had nine major anomalies, including a fluid-filled cranium with no brain tissue at all. He could never have survived outside my womb. My body was the only thing keeping him alive, and I chose to remove my son from life support. I'm a mom. I had three beautiful children, and in fact I have a new baby boy who's here with me now. Who are the people on the anti-choice side to judge me? They've never been in my shoes. I never in my wildest dreams thought something like this could happen, but it happened to me.

The abortion she had in 1996 was made illegal under the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Her experience reminds me of the woman in NE who, earlier this year, was denied an abortion and forced to watch her baby die in her arms shortly after giving birth.

So this is why I feel so strongly that lawmakers should not get between a woman and her doctor. As NARAL's Speak Out for Choice Award recipient Katie Stack said earlier this year during her acceptance speech: "Women's experiences with abortion are nuanced and complicated. But . . . if [we are] given the opportunity to share these diverse realities, we can begin to challenge the stereotypes and falsehoods that are promoted by the anti-choice movement."

Pro-choice is pro-life. That's something I firmly believe and discovered simply by being curious and open. By reading. By trusting/caring about people, and respecting their personal opinions and choices.

I don't think that's too much to ask of humanity.

20 Best Biographies for Women in Business

This article was submitted to me by Florine C. over at bachelorsdegree.org.

What do Ruth Handler, Martha Stewart, and Oprah have in common? They're all included in an article titled 20 Best Biographies for Women in Business! This article features books about influential women who have overcome many of the trials that go along with being female in the male-dominated world of business and economics. 

If you're an aspiring entrepreneur (or simply have an insatiable hunger for new reading material), you should definitely check these books out — literally, from your library!

Pug Shots #2: Meet Penni the Pug!

You may have already heard me talk about Po, our 7-month-old pug (as seen in the first picture below). Well, meet the newest addition to our family, Penni (a.k.a. "Panini" and "Li'l P")! She's 7 weeks old absolutely adorable. She's a lot smaller than Po was when we first got him, but she's also very 

spunky when she wants to be. 

(Bias? Or scientific fact?)

    

    

    

A Modest Proposal (Abortion Edition)

Last year in class we read A Modest Proposal (1729) by Jonathan Swift. It's a satirical piece in which Swift suggests that the Irish should eat their own babies rather than tackle problems of overpopulation and poverty head-on. We were asked to write a similarly satirical piece about an impassioned issue, so I chose abortion rights. [WARNING: The keyword here is "satire," people!]

Which side am I really on?

Written October 9, 2010

Abortion has been one of the most fiercely debated topics of the 21st century, and frankly, I’m tired of hearing about it. If right-wingers truly believe abortion is a sin, and the women who choose to abort are evil, heartless murderers, it’s time to do something rather than settle for bad picket signs and expect anything to happen. What, are we just going to say “no more abortions!” and wait for them to disappear like rats up a drain pipe? We need to get to the root of the problem.

First, we need to ask ourselves: what drives women to have abortions? Are these women simply born with demonic souls, or are they driven to kill after years of reckless partying, drinking, and hardcore drugs (because obviously, any woman callous enough to get an abortion must be sniffing the Big H)? 

Some will have you believe that the decision has less to do with a woman’s lifestyle, and more with what she can expect for the future of her baby. If a woman becomes pregnant, these pro-choicers cry, and her partner is irresponsible, refuses to pay child support, or just gets up and leaves, she may not have the means to provide for a child. Pro-choicers want us to think that if a woman has a dead-end job, absolutely no support, and struggles just to find her next meal, it’s okay for her to choose an abortion rather than let her child suffer. 

Evil, right?

I propose three solutions to the abortion epidemic in this country. First, we must outlaw condoms and sex education. By exposing children to the mechanics of sex and pregnancy prevention as early as middle school, we’re basically telling them (a) it’s okay to “get jiggy with it,” and (b) there are ultimately no consequences because any mistake (i.e. pregnancy) can simply be undone (i.e. abortion). By outlawing condoms, couples will know that their actions may result in an unwanted pregnancy, and they’ll refrain from doing the deed in the first place.

Next, we must set up a national fund to pay women for choosing life over murder. If a poverty-stricken woman is given a choice between having an abortion or receiving a lump sum and letting her baby live, she’ll definitely choose the money. Thus, dinner is served and she can live happily ever after — guilt and problem free — with her bouncing bundle of joy.

Finally, we must make it illegal for two people to have “relations” without first signing mutual contracts in which they provide vital information, including (but not limited to): their name, age, sex, complete medical history, social security number, financial records, and high school transcript. By making the intimate details of our medical histories accessible to the public, we will know at once who has heart conditions, bladder control problems, hemorrhoids, STDs, clinical baldness, etc. and can thus make better decisions about our sexual partners. Not to mention, women will never be in the position of deciding whether or not to keep her child because of an irresponsible partner — she will already have access to his bank account! It’s the perfect solution!

As long as we’re willing to give up any shred of privacy whatsoever and allow the government to have free reign over our personal lives, we can eradicate abortion in America once and for all.

Sure, we could take the easy route and assume women are intelligent and conscientious enough to make their own decisions about their own bodies; we could have faith in the fact that women don’t take abortion lightly, that they think about it long and hard, and are affected by it each and every day for the rest of their lives; we could even focus on better sex education and allow free access to birth control to lessen the chance that couples would have to face an unplanned pregnancy in the first place.

But we’re Americans, and we don’t like to take the easy route.