Posted on
March 30, 2012 by
Eleanor
Happy Friday! We here at The Feronia Project so hope that you have a good one.
Today, we’re sharing a story from the amazing-and-awesome StoryCorps about what happened to one family when one member transitioned from female to male and the whole family became stronger. It’s a lovely story.
(Thanks to NPR for the original link!)
Posted on
March 29, 2012 by
Guest Post
Today is a guest post from one of the other members of our affiliate who also works with a gender studies department at a local college.
A few weeks ago, when Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke for talking about birth control, he reminded me of many things – first and foremost of which is that I really dislike Rush Limbaugh. After I got past the incoherent rage though, it made me think a lot about the fact that we don’t hear from many Sandra Flukes when we’re talking about reproductive health. And we hardly ever hear people’s personal stories about abortion unless it’s a pretty intimate conversation.
Politically, we talk about abortion a lot as a society. Whether a candidate supports choice is one of the main campaign issues that comes up in elections, and access to abortion services is a perennial topic in DC and in state capitals across the country. But it’s still rare to hear personal perspectives on abortion – last year, when Rep. Jackie Speier spoke about her abortion as she fought to stop the Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, her remarks were a watershed moment. No other female politician had ever spoken about her abortion so publicly.
Since 1 in 3 women in the US will have an abortion by the time we’re 45, there are a lot of stories out there that aren’t getting told. Rep. Speier isn’t the only female politician who’s had an abortion, but she remains the only one who’s talked about it so openly. Part of this is because not everyone wants to talk – deciding to end a pregnancy is a very personal decision, and even if there were no debate around abortion, some people would choose to only discuss it with a small circle of friends.
But there are some people who want to talk about their experiences, and this volatile political environment makes it much, much harder to find a place to discuss it.
In the past few years, a lot of different projects have emerged that address this – some are focused on creating a platform for women to share their stories in an apolitical space (Exhale, Backline, The 1 in 3 Campaign, The Abortion Conversation), while others create a connection between personal stories and political support for choice. (I’mNotSorry.net, the #Ihadanabortion hashtag on Twitter). But all of them highlight the multitude of stories that come from women who have had abortions.
This overall movement is often called pro-voice – all of these projects exist to create a place where people can speak about their experiences. Their reasons for speaking out vary widely and everyone’s story is unique. This variety isn’t well-suited to the often narrow structures of political debate, but reality is complex – pretending otherwise doesn’t help any of us. However, making sure that we’re listening to each other and creating ways for people to talk about their experiences openly will help us all.
FYI: I’ve worked with Exhale for a number of years as a freelancer and volunteer.
Posted on
March 28, 2012 by
E.G. Hanna
Amidst all the hoopla about birth control access in the media recently, the Huffington Post reported that some people have resorted to buying their prescription birth control off of Craigslist: “The online marketplace is filled with ads for discounted birth control, including many types of contraceptive pills as well as the NuvaRing…Lisa sold her two unopened packages of the NuvaRing for $75 earlier this week. Without insurance, each one can cost as much as $80.”
You know, I almost don’t hate this. Women, sick of seeing their reproductive independence held financially out of their reach, helping each other out by selling their extra birth control online. A mini-black market rising in response to a failure of the system to meet their needs.
Ultimately, of course, this is very dangerous; if you are a buyer, then you don’t know if the medication you purchase has been tampered with, or left in extreme heat and no longer effective, for example. If you are a seller, you don’t know if the person to whom you are selling the medication has medical conditions that could make the pill unsafe for them, and who’s to say you won’t be held liable?
Selling birth control through Craigslist is illegal, though to my knowledge no one has been prosecuted. And I sincerely hope no one is, because it isn’t their fault. If women have to resort to buying birth control through Craigslist of all places, is that not a sure sign that our current healthcare system is failing women in a major way?
President Obama’s healthcare plan will make birth control more accessible for millions of women…unless he’s voted out with this election, in which case all of his healthcare plans will surely be thrown out. But hey, maybe politicians in this country will stop pretending that birth control is controversial or immoral and stop attacking women’s sexual health for the sake of distracting us all from the real issues! But until hell freezes over, you can try your local health department, free clinic, or your friendly Planned Parenthood for affordable birth control.
Feronians, have you ever had to obtain your birth control through not-so-legit methods? Would you buy your birth control through Craigslist?
Posted on
March 27, 2012 by
Fosgood
People are very casual about telling others to just use a condom and sex will be safe. But a recent study done at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex Gender, and Reproduction showed that many people have problems with using a condom correctly.
The most common problems reported were:
Who would think that using a condom could be so complicated! Here’s a good video on how to correctly use a condom. (And remember – don’t flush them!)
Posted on
March 26, 2012 by
Guest Post
Today, we’re very pleased to have Morgan Boecher guest posting on The Feronia Project. Morgan, who is trans male, runs What’s Normal Anyway, a webcomic about being trans male.
Sexual health takes on new meanings for those who transition from one gender and/or sex to another. Not only are there plenty of challenges navigating medical care for physical health, but there are the less frequently discussed issues of maintaining mental health while negotiating the minefield of sexual relationships as a transgender person.
When I came out and began the social and physical transition from female to male, I started creating a comic called What’s Normal Anyway. The comic helped me reflect on my experience, connect with others, and expand the narrow world of transgender media by a little bit. I also had a secret reason for putting my comic out there: maybe it would help me get dates, I thought.
Now, perhaps a webcomic artist isn’t quite the sexiest thing one could imagine, but while I was entering a realm of foreign gender customs and newly sprouting secondary sex characteristics, I was looking for reassurance in any form. Until that point, I had lived my life as a reasonably feminine female who did not have trouble finding straight boyfriends. While I had a hard time identifying with heterosexual dating scripts, I at least knew how to follow them. As a masculine person, I found that the rules changed. Straight guys no longer flirted with me, and what on earth would gay guys think of me? (Of course, there are straight and gay trans men, but they are relatively few and far between.) I sometimes felt more like a curiosity than dating material.
Dating experiences among transgender people must be incredibly varied due to the multiplicity of identities, sexual orientations, and bodies represented within the community. At the same time, each attempt to form a new relationship poses some degree of risk for a transgender person. A date does not have to react with violence or hostility to make a trans person feel disconnected, feel not enough of something – not man enough, not woman enough, not queer enough.
Dating presents another layer of challenges for transgender people trying to be themselves, and be loved and accepted as such. The will to keep in the game can require a great deal of resilience and self-esteem, and the journey is rarely clear and simple.
But hey, that’s what makes for good webcomic material after all.
Morgan Boecher is a Florida-grown New Yorker who is working on a Master of Science at Columbia University’s School of Social Work while he creates a comic about being trans male called What’s Normal Anyway, which he updates every Monday at whatsnormalanyway.net.
Posted on
March 23, 2012 by
Eleanor
Happy Friday, kittens! We here at the Feronia Project hope you have a great weekend.
Today, we’re sharing a video all about the miracle of pregnancy – or, as the videographers describe it, “their 9-month project.” So cute!
(Thanks to Glamour’s Vitamin G for the link!)
Posted on
March 22, 2012 by
Firdaus
Just when you thought the contraceptive coverage mandate through the Affordable Care Act had been settled, Arizona’s war on women continues in the form of House Bill 2625. This creative, slimy, and downright privacy-violating bill proposes that women who choose to purchase contraception through their employer’s health insurance must provide medical evidence that the contraception is used for some other medical condition besides preventing pregnancy. The bill would also allow an employer to legally fire a woman for using contraception as birth control if it is against the moral values of the employer.
Lawmakers continue to discriminate against women by proposing legislation that specifically targets their ability to plan their pregnancies. Again, I cannot believe that in 2012, lawmakers have the audacity to propose such blatant misogyny. As I have stated before, if women cannot plan their pregnancies they cannot plan their lives.
I am very concerned about this, Feronians. These anti-women’s health/safety/autonomy measures continue popping up around the country, from proposals to define “life” as beginning at conception (therefore outlawing all abortion and hormonal contraception), to mandating unnecessary ultrasound procedures before abortions, to de-funding all of Title X programs (see Texas), to now making it legally possible for women to lose their jobs for planning their pregnancies. What are we going to do about this blatant discrimination within our borders?
Well, November is just around the corner, and with it, the ability to vote out these conservative bigots who continue to put the lives of women on the chopping block.
I’ll be voting in November. Advocates of women are watching.
Posted on
March 21, 2012 by
Eleanor
I was lucky enough to spend time a few weeks ago talking about the language we use as a society to describe abortion. (Not everyone’s chosen way to spend a Saturday, but you can see why I enjoy my work at Planned Parenthood now, right?)
Continuing legal access to abortion has been one of the most important – and bitterly divisive – fights of the last 39 years. And yet we’re still using the same language to talk about abortion as we were 39 years ago – choice, privacy, rights – as society has changed all around us.
It’s time for some new words.
Let me make this very clear: no one wants to make the decision to have an abortion. But that’s what we are entitled to do – make a decision, not a choice. It’s not a choice of breaking the law anymore or disappearing from your hometown in shame. It is a decision that you are legally allowed to make and no one, especially the government, should be able to take that away from you. Women are not like livestock, much to the bewilderment of a Georgia State Representative; we are empowered individuals who can decide what is best for us. No bureaucrat should be involved in important life decisions better left to a woman, her family, her doctor, and her faith.
If we have to ask permission to make a decision that we are legally entitled to make? If there are restrictions put in place to hinder us from making this decision, from 24-hour waiting periods to forced transvaginal ultrasounds to being forced to carry a stillborn fetus to term?
Then, in a very real sense, the power to make a decision on abortion has been taken away from us and we are seeking reproductive justice. It’s justice for being wronged, justice that we deserve, justice for all to make a decision on whether or not to have an abortion. It’s a difficult decision, but it’s ours to make.
I don’t know about you, but the words “choice,” “rights,” and particularly “privacy” don’t mean anything to me, a woman born post-Roe and who grew up in the Facebook era, where your life is very public. Whether or not to have an abortion is a decision that I have been able to make my entire life – and maybe you have, too.
So, what words do you think we should use when it comes to talking about abortion and reproductive health? What words resonate with you?
Posted on
March 19, 2012 by
Mary
In my own city, a popular bar called The Bishop recently refused a patron participation in Ladies Night (free drinks) because the bouncer thought she was a he. She is Alex Borrego, and her ID says she’s a female. Alex was born male but spent “two years of hell” transitioning to a female.
The transition process isn’t easy. It often involves numerous medical appointments and treatments, psychological evaluations and counseling, a legal mess, support (or not) from family and friends, and heap of courage. There are lots of different terms used to describe the variations from the traditional (and outdated) binary models of male vs. female and masculine vs. feminine, but here’s what it boils down to: a transgender person wants to live on the outside how they already feel on the inside.
Alex and her friends decided to leave the bar that night, but soon after the incident, they launched a Facebook campaign to boycott The Bishop. It wasn’t long before the owner of the bar, Dean Marshlack, caught wind of the campaign. He immediately apologized and did it the right way by not making excuses for his staff. He used the situation as a teachable moment and took the opportunity to educate his staff. The Bishop is also changing its Ladies Night policy so any person who says they are female, even if they don’t have an ID, will be served.
The sad truth is that there are far more people out there besides this bouncer who do not understand any kind of variation when it comes to the spectrum of sexuality that lies between male and female. Today I simply commend the use of the teachable moment, the sincere apology, the coverage of it in the media, as well as Alex’s courage to speak out. In the future, The Feronia Project commits to dig deep into transgender issues.
Posted on
March 16, 2012 by
Eleanor
Happy Friday, Feronians! We hope you have a fantastic weekend. Today, we’re sharing an amazing video that from PBS’ Point of View as part of their Girl Power series; it’s all about our own flaws and how we have to accept them. It’s all in animated watercolor – amazing and beautiful and totally worth watching.
(Thanks to The Dirty Normal for the link!)