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Hazel Cills, “When Are Police Officers Going to Stop Underestimating the Link Between Domestic Violence and Murder?”
”Week after week, it feels like another woman is murdered by a current or previous partner. And often these deaths were entirely preventable, with the killers possessing a documented history of domestic violence.”
Jiayun Feng, “Guangzhou Gender And Sexuality Education Center Shuts Down“
”The Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Center (GSEC), a leading non-profit organization in China dedicated to combating sexual violence and promoting gender equality, is shutting down as of today, according to a post published on its official WeChat account.”
HRC Staff, “The Plight of LGBTQ People at Our Borders & Around the Globe Can’t Be Ignored”
”Today is Human Rights Day, marking the historic day in 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. On this 70th anniversary, we celebrate the global recognition that every human being is born with basic human rights and dignity that cannot be taken away. Yet, as an LGBTQ community, we still have a long way to go to achieving that goal.”
Shannon Liao, “Tumblr’s adult content ban means the death of unique blogs that explore sexuality”
”This week, Tumblr announced that it would ban all adult content from its platform and said any user who was hurt by the decision could simply migrate to another site. But creators and readers alike don’t believe there’s another website that fosters the same kind of sex-positive spaces that Tumblr has.”
Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Won’t Hear Planned Parenthood Cases, and 3 Court Conservatives Aren’t Happy”
”The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear two cases arising from efforts by states to bar Planned Parenthood clinics from the Medicaid program, drawing a rebuke from the court’s three most conservative justices and opening a window onto the court’s internal dynamics.”
Osita Nwanevu, “How not to Mourn the WASP Aristocracy”
”It will become more obvious, as the last of the twentieth century’s major political figures pass away, that we are witnessing not only the end of a generation but the slow end of an age.”
Ashley Reese, “Domestic Workers Are Still Fighting for a More Democratic Georgia“
”Voter enthusiasm for any candidate means little if the vote is suppressed, an occurrence that disproportionately affects black voters. And in the aftermath of uncounted votes and purged voter rolls marring the midterm elections cycle, domestic workers and caregivers are at the frontlines in the fight to make sure suppressing the black vote is a thing of the past.”
Madeline Smith, “Historian tries to save fragments of Calgary’s LGBTQ past from being forgotten or destroyed“
”Perhaps the most important staging ground in Calgary’s LGBTQ history is hidden down the stairs of a restaurant, in the basement.”
Esther Wang, “'I'm Begging You, Please': NYPD Officers Caught on Video Violently Taking a One-Year-Old Child From His Mother's Arms [Updated]“
”A truly fucked up and disturbing video of New York Police Department officers ripping a one-year-old child from the arms of his mother and then arresting her has sparked outrage and calls for reform.”
Briana Younger, “Is Rap Finally Ready to Embrace Women?”
“Hip-hop is a mirror, reflecting and often magnifying larger cultural failings. While #MeToo and #TimesUp call for opportunity and accountability, rap doesn’t seem to be fully listening. Support for black women, in particular, remains a perpetual blindspot, and one that especially stings in this moment, as known abusers continue to be rewarded with praise and platforms.“
Article Spotlight
"Young black women—incarcerated primarily for sex-related offenses on charges that included vagrancy, disorderly conduct, and prostitution—usually rejected reformers’ concerns and often believed they were unfairly targeted. Mabel Hampton, for example, contended that her imprisonment at the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills (hereafter Bedford) for solicitation stemmed from a false arrest. Other inmates revealed their own problems with law enforcement and, like Hampton, disagreed with the contention that their social behavior—in New York and especially Harlem—was criminal. One hundred Bedford case files show that between 1917 and 1928 a range of black women—from southern migrants to native-born New Yorkers—negotiated the urban terrain as well as their sexual desire. In particular, forty-nine southern migrants’ experiences showed how they encountered and embraced a social and political freedom unavailable to most black southerners. Yet many young working-class black women, regardless of their regional, religious, or familial background, grappled with the relentless surveillance by police officers, reformers, concerned relatives, and community members."
Episode Spotlight
Chances are you’ve never heard of Ruth Wallis, one of the greatest singers, comedians, and performers of sexually suggestive lyrics in the postwar United States. Most of her catalogue remains on vinyl and historians have forgotten her. But from the 1940s until the early 1970s, Ruth Wallis was a bestselling performer and a mainstay at supper clubs and hotels. At a time when it was legally risky for entertainers to sing about sexuality for profit and pleasure, Ruth sold millions of records that used innuendo to playfully hint at a variety of straight and queer sexual pleasures.
Books
Podcasts
DIG History’s “Fur Trading and Frontier Life in French Canada“
”This week, we will attempt to uncover the lived experiences of men and women on the French Canadian frontier and think about how the trade in furs shaped their lives in interesting and very gendered ways.”
