For the first time in three seasons of MTV's popular series "16 & Pregnant," and one season of "Teen Mom." MTV is debuting their first coverage of teens who choose to have abortions, called “No Easy Decision.” The WMC team and I are embarking on a watch-in, in solidarity with Exhale, an abortion talk-line that is partnering with MTV’s “16 & Pregnant” series (ranked #1 in its time period with 12-34 yr olds versus all television) which, on December 28th, will be venturing into new territory with a special that features three young women telling their abortion stories.
It is time for MTV to give coverage to a perspective that has largely been left out of the 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom discourse. When a woman terminates an unintended pregnancy, that is one of several options she may elect to choose. A woman must be allowed to make that choice if that is the best option for her individual situation–without government intervention. She should be allowed to make her decision and afforded her right to privacy. This very personal decision is one that is made between a woman, her doctor, and her conscience or God. We must defend each woman’s right to have a child or to choose NOT to have a child. Women deserve access to comprehensive sexuality education so that they can prevent unintended pregnancy, but also to ensure that they know about all of the safe options they can consider when faced with this deeply personal decision.
Please show solidarity with Exhale and TUNE IN TO SEND A MESSAGE TO MTV THAT WE NEED CONTINUED, BALANCED COVERAGE ABOUT ALL OF THE OPTIONS AND SUPPORT TEENS HAVE WHEN FACING UNINTENDED PREGNANCY - And to show support for the brave teens who shared their stories for the show.
It is also important that we work dilligently to combat any racism that will surely emerge when the anti-choice hardliners start their chatter about the show. When Entertainment Weekly released their piece about the show, I read some troubling racially-driven comments about Markai, an African American woman featured in both the original series and the special.
Markai's decision to terminate her pregnancy has received a lot of racially-tinged comments and judgment from the public. Its imperative that we ensure that we are putting positive comments out there and protecting her from racist vitriol as well as the sexist, classist, and anti-choice attacks. I am also concerned about some problematic stats some trolls in the interwebs have been throwing out about black women and abortion—i.e so-called “black genocide” commentary as well as ideological nonfactual drivel about black women having more abortions than any other race.
I hope you'll join the conversation. Clearly our voices need to be heard. I will be live-blogging and tweeting the “16 and Loved” special along with a team of bloggers including Jessica Valenti and Lynn Harris. Join our conversation live on December 28th at 11:30PM EST.
Follow the conversation live on Twitter with the hashtags #16andloved, #WMCwatchin, and #provoice.
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Today's Senate victory is bittersweet. I am reluctant to celebrate about the health care bill passing, because I understand that this bill poses obstacles to reproductive justice and women's rights. I realize the threat the bill creates for those of us who know that the only just option is a public option with comprehensive health care--including abortion.
At the same time, I am grateful that 60 Democrats stood in solidarity today to pass historic legislation that signals a cultural, social, and philosophical shift in our country. Our country could never truly purport to be about liberty and justice when our health care system perpetuated the social ills and evils we claim to stand against.
As someone who would not be able to survive without my health insurance, I appreciate that the Senate demanded the elimination of pre-existing conditions and unfair gender ratings. I am thankful that insurance sharks will no longer be able to turn patients down because they are sick. Additionally, it is refreshing that if this bill passes, patients will have the right to appeal and Medicare will be strengthened.* [We have to also fight to figure out how this will be efficiently and effectively enforced!]
Stupak and Nelson obviously have no idea about the meaning of equality and don't trust women to make responsible and healthy decisions about their bodies. In spite of this, I am taking a minute to be thankful for a small movement forward in this bittersweet fight to improve the quality and length of life for all Americans.
Its outrageous that a few men who will never experience pregnancy were able to strong arm the Senate to compromise women's rights. In the meantime, I'll be sharpening my nails and digging deep to help continue the fight for comprehensive health care that does not betray women.
Tonight, I am quiet. I am trying to drown out the noise in order to hear the whispers. As I cleaned up my apartment tonight I decided to listen to a beautiful conversation between Tibetan buddhist monk Pema Chodron and Alice Walker. The discussion between Chodron and Walker focuses on the meaning of suffering and happiness. It was amazing to hear how both of these women gained so much perspective about humanity through their reflective reactions to their own trials.
I found their discourse exciting and hopeful, providing guidance to all of us who forget our nature and become stuck in fears of faltering and suffering that may block our path. I am really intrigued by Chodron's reference to the Gnostic Gospels and Jesus' words about the handling of suffering. Each day I realize that we are all connected and the divine warms us all in the ways that we need.
As I work on transforming the way I deal with pain and suffering, I am looking forward to practicing some Tonglen before bed. I am hopeful and working on remaining mindful of the beauty of the real blessings I have in this exact moment.
I am so annoyed that as Sir Mix A Lot would say, the "beanpole dames from the magazines" are freaking out about the hot curvy girls working the runway for Fast in the UK. Props to Mark Fast for challenging the beauty myth and putting some healthy beautiful models in the spotlight. I hope to see more of this from the fashion world-- and not in a tokenizing or condescending way--but in a gesture toward promoting more natural and healthy images of what is beautiful.
"Shotgun Adoption": The wolves in sheeps clothing that are Crisis Pregnancy Centers (fake clinics supported and funded by anti-choice groups) are pressuring young and low-income women to surrender their children with little regard their rights as birth mothers. There is nothing “pro-life” about undermining the lives and rights of living, breathing women just because they are young, unmarried, or poor. The Nation’s piece "Shotgun Adoption" immediately reminds me of the bone-chilling tales in Ann Fessler’s The Girls Who Went Away, and the movie The Magdalene Sisters. In the eyes of mainstream we have made progress since young unmarried mothers were sent away into invisibility for the simple fact that they were pregnant, however we are still living in a world where mothers are valued by the heft of their bank accounts and their marital status.
Blaming the Victim: Shame on my home-state of North Carolina for being one of the states where domestic violence is a “pre-existing condition” for insurance. It is outrageous that the current health care system
blames survivors of violence for acts that were beyond their control. The eight states specifically affected by this particular policy are: Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming Take actionnow to tell Congress to stop the madness!
One of my pet peeves are people who annoint themselves as the body police. I experienced two people coming up to me yesterday mentioning that they thought I lost weight over the past year. I tried not to show my irritation because it wouldn't have been worth it to engage these people in a discussion about how my body is my body and its really NEVER ok for others to be policing it against my will. Bodily autonomy is something I feel strongly about. I can eat what I want, do what I want, have a child or not have a child, work for pay instead of none at all, and dress my body in whatever I please. It is outrageous how much people believe they are authorities about things that are not their business. I weigh exactly the same thing I did during this time last year. I am no longer taking a medication that caused inflammation, and this is the only thing that has altered.
It really bothers me that people are constantly on critical attack in order to feel good about themselves. The part that really irritates me is that I am seven sizes smaller than the average American woman. I can imagine the policing would be even worse if I was a larger woman. What if I had experienced an eating disorder in my youth? What if I had thyroid issues? Luckily for me, these things are not the reason why I am upset about these encounters. I have simply had enough of others projecting their conditioning onto my sacred temple. Yes, I love my body, and it is what it is. Thanks for being pressed and checking out its every fluctuation, however its none of your business unless you fear for my health and safety... and even then, your input has limits.
I found this humorous and helpful guide about how to deal with the body police. I thought I would share. After years of having some friends, strangers, co-workers, and family members track every nuance of my body and being annoyed about it, I'm dragging it out and saying ENOUGH.
Many people respond to my negative reactions when they do this by trying to shame me about "sensitivity". It is less about sensitivity and more about calling out larger social and political issues that permeate our cultural landscape. In the spirit of Susy Orbach, "Fat is STILL a feminist issue". The beauty myth and the body shaming we all participate in produce nothing but pain and suffering instead of healthy empowerment. Just because we are conditioned to be well-adjusted to this sort of madness does not mean that we don't have the power to transform ourselves and the world through our actions and words.
