“Rather than fighting for every woman’s right to feel beautiful, I would like to see the return of a kind of feminism that tells women and girls everywhere that maybe it’s all right not to be pretty and perfectly well behaved. That maybe women who are plain, or large, or old, or differently abled, or who simply don’t give a damn what they look like because they’re too busy saving the world or rearranging their sock drawer, have as much right to take up space as anyone else. I think if we want to take care of the next generation of girls we should reassure them that power, strength and character are more important than beauty and always will be, and that even if they aren’t thin and pretty, they are still worthy of respect. That feeling is the birthright of men everywhere. It’s about time we claimed it for ourselves.”
—I don’t want to be told I’m pretty as I am - I want to live in a world where that’s irrelevant
Mississippi could soon jail women for stillbirths, miscarriages
May 23, 2013
On March 14, 2009, 31 weeks into her pregnancy, Nina Buckhalter gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. She named the child Hayley Jade. Two months later, a grand jury in Lamar County, Mississippi, indicted Buckhalter for manslaughter, claiming that the then-29-year-old woman “did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, kill Hayley Jade Buckhalter, a human being, by culpable negligence.”
The district attorney argued that methamphetamine detected in Buckhalter’s system caused Hayley Jade’s death. The state Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on the case on April 2, is expected to rule soon on whether the prosecution can move forward.
If prosecutors prevail in this case, the state would be setting a “dangerous precedent” that “unintentional pregnancy loss can be treated as a form of homicide,” says Farah Diaz-Tello, a staff attorney with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a nonprofit legal organization that has joined with Robert McDuff, a Mississippi civil rights lawyer, to defend Buckhalter. If Buckhalter’s case goes forward, NAPW fears it could spur a wave of similar prosecutions in Mississippi and other states.
Mississippi’s manslaughter laws were not intended to apply in cases of stillbirths and miscarriages. Four times between 1998 through 2002, Mississippi lawmakers rejected proposals that would have set specific penalties for damaging a fetus by using illegal drugs during pregnancy. But Mississippi prosecutors say that two other state laws allow them to charge Buckhalter. One definesof manslaughter as the “killing of a human being, by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another”; another includes ”an unborn child at every stage of gestation from conception until live birth” in the state’s definition of human beings.
The cause of any given miscarriage or stillbirth is difficult to determine, and many experts believe there is no conclusive evidence that exposure to drugs in utero can cause a miscarriage or stillbirth. Because of this, prosecuting Buckhalter opens the door to investigating and prosecuting women for any number of other potential causes of a miscarriage or stillbirth, her lawyers argued in a filing to the state Supreme Court—”smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, exercising against doctor’s orders, or failing to follow advice regarding conditions such as obesity or hypertension.” Supreme Court Justice Leslie D. King also raised this question in the oral arguments last month: “Doctors say women should avoid herbal tea, things like unpasteurized cheese, lunch meats. Exactly what are the boundaries?”
“I can imagine what a relief it it must be to have an outlet for all that anger, and tell her it's exactly her ability to transform her anger into artwork that has been so groundbreaking. She nods. "You know what this guy said to me? He said, 'Your problem is that women aren't going to let their husbands go see you, because they're going to think about you.' I'm like, 'Wait, sex isn't my currency. If we have to talk about currency, I guess rage is my currency.' He goes, 'Do you get a lot of women who say, "I grew up with you, you saved me in college?'" I'm like, 'Yeah, I get that every day.' And he goes, 'Why do you think that is?' And I'm like 'Because I express this rage that no one expresses.' It's kind of simplistic to say, but there it is." ”
—Debbie Stoller interviewing Courtney Love in the June/July issue of BUST
I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t listen to Live Through This and Celebrity Skin immediately after reading this and feeling super nostalgic, particularly for the SPIN AOL message boards that are discussed.
Curves On Girls Tutorial by *ai-bee
ai-bee.deviantart.comThis tutorial helped me expand the body types I draw—and in effect helped me love my own body! Now I’m happier with both how I look and how I draw :)
