Happy Thanksgiving!
Weekly Digest | November 28, 2019
Letter from an Editor
Happy Thanksgiving!
I wanted to send our weekly digest a little early this week—and pass on some resources for talking politics at the dinner table, more than a few feminist reasons to be thankful and some urgent calls to action that are fitting for the holiday.
Go ahead and dig in.
For equality,
Carmen Rios
Managing Digital Editor
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Thanksgiving Must-Reads from Ms.
No Woman, Child or Family Should Be Hungry Right Now
Until we can change the system that allows people to remain hungry, the anti-hunger movement cannot and will not rest. Not while a mother still anguishes when she has to put a child to bed hungry. Not while those struggling still forgo help because of stigma. Not while anyone in our country remains unable to access the food they need to thrive. I’ll admit it: I get discouraged. But I also remain determined. The landscape is tough. But we must not be hopeless, because we are not helpless.
Pass the Turkey, Spread the Feminism
Family holidays are ripe with opportunities to insert feminist commentary and social critique. With each holiday tradition, there’s ample material to pick apart, analyze and either support or condemn. But ultimately, Thanksgiving is about celebrating community and togetherness—two staples I’ll neither condemn nor disrupt. In the meantime, here are a few ways to rock the boat without overturning the ship in mutiny.
RELATED: How (Not) to Talk About Abortion at the Dinner Table; Your Guide to Surviving Awkward Family Conversations about Sexism
What NOT to Say to a Teen Girl on Thanksgiving
One meal can set the tone for an entire holiday weekend, and virtually ensure that you’ll be met with a cold shoulder or distant politeness—or, worse, eye rolls and open hostility. If you want to make a real connection with the teenage girl in your life this holiday, here are a few tips from a mother who has soothed her daughters’ hurt feelings more times than she cares to count.
Justice for Native Women Begins with Rewriting History
Sarah Eagle Heart can easily rattle off a range of starting points for folks looking to be allies to Native people: “Learn about and acknowledge the history of the lands that they live on, all of which was stolen from Indigenous People who lived there originally. Connect with local or national Native organizations like NAP. Partner with us by pledging to be part of the Truth & Healing movement. Be present with us in spaces where we are lifting up awareness around issues like the ongoing and largely invisible epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and intergenerational trauma caused by the government’s policy of family separation and boarding schools.”
Ultimately, however, all of this begins in rewriting history—and telling a more complicated, difficult and challenging version of the truth.
Without birth control, women would lose the ability to plan their own futures. Since access to the pill has been found to be the most influential factor in enabling women already in college to stay in college, more women would drop out of college. If fewer women earned college degrees, they’d have a harder time finding stable jobs with a stable income. Women’s wages would be 33 percent lower than they already are, and women would not be the breadwinners in 40 percent of households. Family incomes would fall, and the economy would suffer.
That's why today, and every day, we're grateful for birth control.
RELATED: 59 Years of The Pill: Celebrating Our Gains, Fighting to Expand Access; What Birth Control Made Possible for Women
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