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Mother Jones •

Pregnancy is a minefield when you're disabled

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this?” a doctor asked Heather Watkins shortly after she gave birth to her daughter. Watkins, who has muscular dystrophy, had developed preeclampsia and had to be induced at 39 weeks—exhausted after 26 hours of labor, she didn’t give the remark much thought. Years later, a lightbulb went off in her head: some doctors don’t think disabled people ought to have kids. Even among those who do, training is woefully deficient. Disabled people who become pre...
Poynter •

What the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard case could mean for survivors who speak out in media

A court case between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will commence on April 11 in Virginia. Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard, his ex-wife, on the grounds that her op-ed about sexualized violence in The Washington Post, in which she did not name him, attacked his character. The case will start only four days before the release of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which Depp was fired from due to domestic abuse allegations. Both Depp and Heard have made se
Narratively •

The Royal Spy Who Became the Feminist Answer to Shakespeare

In 1695, theater audiences in Britain were riveted by the debut of a tale about two star-crossed lovers. After a bloody two-year war, Prince Oroonoko went to pay his respects to Imoinda, the daughter of a general who had died during the war. He brought slaves with him as a gift for the deceased general’s daughter, “trophies of her father’s victories.” Upon meeting the charming and beautiful Imoinda, Prince Oroonoko promptly fell in love. The two were engaged to be married, until Oroonoko’s grandfather, the King of Coromantee — in modern-day Ghana — became smitten with Imoinda as well. The elderly king, who already had many wives, moved Imoinda into his harem and decreed that she was to marry him.
Rewire News Group •

What the Sterilization of a Wealthy White Woman Reveals About Eugenics

Throughout history, white women have thrown the rights of other women under the bus in order to retain social status. In her first book, The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt (out today from Grand Central Publishing), Audrey Clare Farley writes about the life of one such woman: Ann Cooper Hewitt, a wealthy white socialite and the daughter of inventor Peter Cooper Hewitt and his wife, Maryon.
Scarleteen •

We Need Federal Legislation Against Campus Sexual Violence in Canada

During my second semester at McGill University in 2017, there were numerous cases that made local and national news about how the institution and student groups protected perpetrators of gendered and sexualized violence. As someone raised in the United States, I was surprised to learn that there was no federal legislation akin to Title IX in Canada. One case that stunned me was McGill’s failure to honor a restraining order from a survivor of a random violent attack. Around the time that the new