For anyone who's had a pelvic exam, the speculum is a familiar and often dreaded tool. It's cold, invasive, and rigid — both physically and symbolically. Despite how routine gynecological exams are, the instruments used during them have not evolved with patients in mind. In fact, one of the most…
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The nation watched as the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) made clear that abortion access was not a human right and instead was up to states to decide. We watched in horror as our bodily autonomy was stripped away from us, our right…
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People always talk about men in prison, but rarely about the women. Yet women are the fastest-growing population in U.S. prisons, with incarceration rates doubling those of men since 1980. Nearly 200,000 women are currently incarcerated—many for nonviolent offenses, and many are mothers, survivors of abuse, or living in poverty.…
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When I was in fifth grade, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified to the United States Senate against now Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In history class, we were learning about democracies: the difference between a democracy and a republic, and how checks and balances are in place to ensure the government represents…
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Intersectional feminism is the key to creating a world where all women can thrive. Intersectionality is informed by various life experiences and identities of women across the globe: class, race, economic status, sexual orientation, and, of course, gender identity. The notion that the fight for gender equality and women’s rights…
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The power to amend the Constitution is bestowed upon the states and Congress by Article V of the Constitution. A proposed amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. For the states to ratify, both chambers of state legislatures must pass…
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Our twenty-four words Twenty four words. Twenty four words introduced in 1923 by Alice Paul and co-written by Crystal Eastman. Twenty four words that were introduced in every legislative session until they were passed by Congress in March of 1972. Twenty four words reads the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), beginning…
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As we have now entered Pride Month, it is important to commemorate the LGBTQ+ community’s fight to get to where they are now and where equality needs to go in the future. As the Trump Administration rolls back previous Executive Orders protecting the LGBTQ+ community and continues to implement more…
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My name is Ruby Lerman, and I’m a teenager in Montgomery County, Maryland. I have my whole life ahead of me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Ideally, I want to be an engineer or a climate scientist because those fields interest me. However, those fields are very…
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At every turning point in our nation’s history, change has come because people—especially women—refused to stay silent. Sojourner Truth stood up and asked, “Ain’t I a woman?” Shirley Chisholm ran for president as an unapologetic Black woman, declaring herself “unbought and unbossed.” Fannie Lou Hamer told the truth of voter…
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