Tag Archives: Feminist Topics

A Win to Protect Abortion Rights

On June 29, 2020, the Supreme Court decided on June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo. In a very close 5-4 vote, the Court voted to uphold the District Court’s judgment that Louisiana Act 620 was unconstitutional because “enforcing the admitting-privileges requirement would drastically reduce the number and geographic distribution of abortion providers, making it impossible for many women to obtain a safe, legal abortion in the State and imposing substantial obstacles on those who could” (June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, p. 3). The Supreme Court wrote in their syllabus that part of the District Court’s evidence was the testimony from laypersons and witnesses that the burden of travel would be mostly on poor women (June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, p. 4). 

Since the decision of Roe v. Wade, conservatives have repeatedly tried to take away abortion rights not because the are pro-life, but because they don’t believe women should have bodily autonomy, even while pregnant. This is evident in the case of Marshae Jones, who was indicted for felony manslaughter in May 2019, after she miscarried due to being shot in the abdomen (“Woman Indicted For Manslaughter After Death of Her Fetus, May Avoid Prosecution”). We are not allowed to have a miscarriage without the fear of prosecution in conservative states like Alabama, where Jones lived. 

While we are still fighting with conservatives on abortion issues, we have won another battle in the fight of reproductive freedom. There is still more work to be done, there will always be more work to be done, but take the moment to celebrate win by drinking a glass of wine. Tomorrow, we are back at it.

In Solidarity!

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

As a break from the Outlander series, I read the January 2020 Reese’s Book Club pick, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. It is a book about race and white privilege; a book about the labor divide and a semi nuclear family but with two daughters and a “working” mom. Reid writes the book from two points of view but with a third character who is a big part of the story.

The Two Perspectives

Emira is a 25 year old who feels that her job, babysitting for a middle-class white family, is not what an adult should be doing but she loves Briar, the oldest daughter of the Chamberlin’s, the family who hired her. One night, she is asked to pick up Briar and get her out of the house for a little while. She takes her to a grocery store and is immediately accused of kidnapping Briar because she is babysitting while Black. Her perspective on how to handle the situation is not respected because of her employer, Alix Chamberlin.

Alix is the mother of two girls, living a privileged life of a white woman who has her own business. She is trying to write a book, take care of her children, and be a feminist. But her obsession over getting to know Emira gets in the way when she finds out that Emira’s new boyfriend was the boy who “ruined senior year.” In the beginning, I really wanted to like Alix, but as the story progressed, both of the perspectives showed that she was a jealous woman who wanted the days before her children back. Reid writes about these perspectives on Hello Sunshine’s blog.

The Video

Kelley, Emira’s boyfriend, took a video of the incident at the grocery store before they started dating. He wanted her to put it on the internet or send it to news outlets, or use it to sue the store. She however asked that he delete it and never speak of it again after he sent it to her email. I can’t say what I would have done in a situation like this, because I have never been faced with being publicly profiled. However, Emira had every right to decide what she wanted done with it. I liked that she remained calm during the whole exchange and tried to explain to Kelley why she didn’t want to sue or have the video get out, even though all of that was well within her rights.

This story is a great start on the discussion of race, interracial dating, and the division of labor between white women and women of color. It makes you think about situations you may never have been in because of privilege and ones that women of color and people of color face all the time because of their color. And it is also a really fun read. Grab your favorite cup of coffee and a reading buddy and read Such a Fun Age and start a conversation. Share your thoughts with me and check out my review of Outlander.