May
30
(via hoaxzine)
The Wellington Young Feminists' Collective
A social group of like-minded people who share information and hold events relevant to gender equity in New Zealand. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
Open to all self-identified Wellington feminists (and supporters from elsewhere) who are interested in a feminist social club. Come and play, we're a fun bunch!
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May
29
Henrietta Lacks. Lived: 1920-1951 Who’s DNA was pivotal in forming modern genetics.
When tobacco farmer Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 30 in 1951, all she wanted to do was get better. Sadly, after eight months of radiation and surgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Lacks and her tumor-riddled body lost the battle with the disease.
However, unbeknownst to her and her family, her cells lived on — right up until today. Known as HeLa cells (a combo of the first two letters of her first and last name), they have been multiplying since the sample was (secretly) taken from one of Lacks’ tumors and sent to Dr. George Gey’s tissue-culture research lab back in the 1950s. Not only did Lacks’ cells help scientists test the polio vaccine, HeLa cells were also sent into space.
Unfortunately, Lacks’ family didn’t find out about the grand experiment till the early 1970s when a researcher from Johns Hopkins called them. But now Rebecca Skloot’s recently released “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” will ensure history knows the unprecedented role Lacks played — and how her body revolutionized modern science.
Just finished writing an essay on Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. If you did not believe the Black Woman is God. May you understand her story. Her cells have been used for 11,000 different patents. Perfect example of how science has experimented on blacks and ultimately took advantage of her, and her family.
(via antesdachuva)
May
28
Pioneering model Helen Williams, hands down, the most photographed Black model of the 1950s and 1960s, in a 1960s Kodak advertisement.
(via indigodel)
May
27
“We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She can’t cut my hair but that’s her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she’s going out with a command that it is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives.”
(On why he let Willow cut all of her hair off)
Read more: Will Smith On Allowing Willow To Cut Her Hair: ‘She Has Got To Have Command Of Her Body’ | Necole Bitchie.com (via liquidiousfleshbag)
See also: No Forced Kisses for Your Kids
(via librariesandlemonade)
Most beautiful family.
(via karenhealey)
(via annemjw)
May
26
I have a new history crush. Excuse me while I go build a time machine to find her and bear her children.
Julie D’Aubigny was a 17th-century bisexual French opera singer and fencing master who killed or wounded at least ten men in life-or-death duels, performed nightly shows on the biggest and most highly-respected opera stage in the world, and once took the Holy Orders just so that she could sneak into a convent and bang a nun. If nothing in that sentence at least marginally interests you, I have no idea why you’re visiting this website. (via Badass of the Week: Julie D’Aubigny, La Maupin) (thank you, Rachel!)
(via lattendicht)
May
22
60 Women Turning 60
Members might be interested in passing this on to their networks (or might fit the criteria themselves!)
Wellington photographer Jenny O’Connor is looking to photograph 60 women “turning 60”. The project will involve individual photos of 60 women in a larger exhibition, with the possibility of models getting to keep some images.
Jenny is an accomplished photographer - you can look at her work on www.jennyoconnor.co.nz and her email is jennyo@xtra.co.nz if you’d like to know more xx
May
21
Today, the same day the Dom Post ran a full front page article about rape, Wellington Rape Crisis had vastly more drop...
I see this as another reminder of the power & responsibility the media holds in their reporting of sexual violence.
Talking about rape in a public forum has the ability to affect people both positively and negatively. It can be triggering, healing, spur people into action…
May
13
“
On Mother’s Day, no one is going to send me flowers or a card. I will not be awakened by sweet, giggling toddlers bearing a tray of breakfast in their chubby hands or receive an awkward but heartfelt hug from a gangly teenage son or end a phone call with a teary, dorm-bound daughter saying, “I love you, Mom.” I am no one’s mother, and I never will be.
This is not by accident, a case of insurmountable physical challenges, an unwilling partner or prioritizing career over children. At age 39, the window of my fertility is sliding shut, but I feel no sense of dread, panic or regret. I have known since I was a child myself that I didn’t want to have any of my own. It’s simply astonishing to me how frequently people — strangers, especially — have felt that I should answer to them for that.
”—I am nobody’s mother and I never will be, by Kat Kinsman
I’m really happy that this was published. As Mother’s Day approaches, I am certainly grateful to my mother, and equally certain that I would not make the same choices that she did. I will never have children - I have no desire to have them and never have. And that’s okay! We all choose our own paths in life, it’s time to stop judging the choices that other women make about the reproductive aspect of their lives.
(via stfusexists)
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