Grace is officially the world's worst packer-- yes, those are shoelaces dangling out of her bag.
Goodbye London #georgygirl
Honored to have THE @janetmock in my Lena <3s PP tour t shirt, to benefit Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Let's make our voices heard in this election, as loud as this hot hot pink. You can buy it here: http://marketplace.plannedparenthood.org/actionboutique/women-are-watching/special-celebrity-signature-edition-women-are-watching-t-shirt-designed-by-lena-dunham-unisex.html #womenarewatching #weheartplannedparenthood
The inimitable @mindykaling, a beloved voice for women and an angel in pink #iamwatching2014 #weheartplannedparenthood
Headed back to school to pursue my dreams!
best button
Who has two thumbs and ordered a spinach tart!? This guy!!! #London #notthatkindoftour
Lena & Grace & Cara & Kate #London #notthatkindoftour
Grace trying her best to close her suitcase. But her best isn't good enough!!!
In honor of #1989 another favorite- that time she taught me to make flower crowns then gave me all the best ones.
IT'S HAPPENING people- @taylorswift's album is out now. She is a true friend/true artist and the only person who makes me wanna exult in nature. Very proud. This record will blow you away.
Good time to let you all know that Lamby is running for state senate on a platform of the right to eat socks
Sealed up my motherbleeping absentee ballot!!! Shirt care of @sophia_amoruso. Deranged smile care of CIVIC DUTY!!!
BFFs 4ever #father #notthatkindoftour #malefeministfather
It Happened Here: The First Birth Control Clinic in the Country
46 Amboy Street, Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY
Margaret Sanger opened the Brownsville Clinic in October 1916. Ten days later, a police raid shut it down, but not before the small staff served 400 low-income women. With the Comstock Laws in effect, distributing information about birth control was illegal. Sanger used her arrest and subsequent trial to her advantage, broadcasting information about birth control that wasn’t easily accessible.
A 1918 ruling opened the door for legal birth control clinics, so long as doctors provided the contraceptives. That same year, the Women’s Political Association of Harlem held a lecture series on birth control, the first of its kind.
It’s been nearly a century since the Brownsville Clinic opened. I walked over to Amboy Street and the spot is all boarded up. Birth control today is safer and more effective. But still, there’s so much stigma and the way we’re talking about it feels all wrong. It’s hard to be a girl or a woman who wants to make responsible healthcare decisions, who wants to explore sex and do that safely.
At sixteen, I asked for birth control and my doctor commended me for being so responsible. She asked thoughtful, non-shaming questions about my sexual history and gave me some information on STDs. I got a pat on the shoulder and a prescription; lots of teens get called sluts. The ease with which I was able to get birth control has a lot to do with my whiteness and my privilege.
When I needed emergency contraception, I didn’t face pharmacists who’d say, as so many do across the country, “we sure don’t carry that,” or “I don’t know what that is,” or “we stock it but I won’t dispense it.” Before it was available over the counter, my doctor wrote me a prescription, and I was able to buy it that same day.
When I’ve written about abortion, the comment section explodes, mostly with a bunch of awful men calling women and girls awful things and suggesting that if they’re too dumb to use birth control, getting pregnant is their own fault. Then the conservatives chime in, insisting that birth control is some newfangled thing that’ll lead to more teens having sex (the horror!), more people exploring sex before marriage, and the dissolution of American society as we know it. The average American woman had eight kids in 1800 and only four in 1900. How do you think that happened? Rudimentary or not, birth control and abortion have always been a part of American history.
Birth control isn’t radical and it shouldn’t be controversial. We need better sex ed, better birth control options, and better access. If, like me, you found birth control and information on sex easy to come by, educate yourself. You might be surprised to know that there are public schools here in New York where only honors students get to take sex ed. But it’s not enough to know about inequality, issues of access, and how today’s discourse is often discriminatory. We have to work together for change.
--Alex
Read more about the Brooklyn Young Mother's Collective here!
"We have programs to help educate young women about sexuality and childbirth and train young mothers to become peer educators and active community members. Our Doula Program offers support to young mothers before, during and after birth."
In Canada I can hear her humming