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Out of Silence is a play produced through the 1 in 3 Campaign that confronts the political rhetoric around abortion and instead focuses on the voices of the women and their stories.

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After a report the Trump had asked his staff to "dress like women," the hashtag #DressLikeAWomen became quite popular. This Twitter hashtag advocates for women in the work force and rejects the idea of gendered clothing.

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman https://t.co/M8UnQ2pBwE

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman https://t.co/M8UnQ2pBwE

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman pic.twitter.com/M8UnQ2pBwE
— Rebecca Alleyne, MD FACS (@BeckyAlleyneMD) February 3, 2017

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman https://t.co/M8UnQ2pBwE

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman https://t.co/M8UnQ2pBwE

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That's me on the left wearing my favorite outfit #DressLikeAWoman https://t.co/M8UnQ2pBwE

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C.C. Manstrom, senior at Theatre NDSU, just directed the worldwide biennial Climate Change Plays. 50 playwrights from all around the world right 5 minute plays based off a prompt to be performed to educate communities about climate change.

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The international Take Back the Night marches work to raise awareness to create safe and respectful communities and relationships and seek to end sexual assault and violence.

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Take Back the Night's global mission as a charitable 501(c)(3) Foundation is to end all forms of sexual violence, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, trafficking, stalking, gender harassment, and relationship violence, and to support survivors in their healing journeys.

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Take Back the Night | End Sexual & Domestic Violence | Get Help! |

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Take Back the Night's global mission as a charitable 501(c)(3) Foundation is to end all forms of sexual violence, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, trafficking, stalking, gender harassment, and relationship violence, and to support survivors in their healing journeys.

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The Pad Project advocates for girl's education by creating menstrual equity for women around the world. This is done with a pad machine that employs 6 people to run and creates pads for $0.05 a piece. See more in their documentary Period. End of Sentence.

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THE ISSUE

Menstruators around the world, especially in low income communities, often face a lack of access to menstrual products. Without proper sanitary supplies, they may resort to using newspapers, dirty rags, and even leaves to manage their periods. The combination of period poverty, stigmatization, and inadequate reproductive and sexual health education has major consequences for menstruators' wellbeing. It can also prevent menstruators from staying in school, thereby ending their education.

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The Pad Project is the nonprofit behind the 2019 Academy Award-winning documentary short Period. End of Sentence.We take a multi-pronged approach to achieving menstrual equity by partnering with grassroots organizations in the U.S. and around the world to establish pad-making enterprises, distribute menstrual products, and implement menstrual health education program

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Sociologist Jessie Daniels describes the intersectionality within feminism as part of her reaction to "False Choices; The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton"

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"intersectional feminism" means each of us is self-reflexive about race, class, gender/sexuality in our own lives
— @DRJessieNYC 🇵🇸 (@JessieNYC) September 24, 2016

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The Fosters shows and challenges multiple levels of intersectionality through lesbian couple Stef and Lena as they parent their adopted and biological kids with different genders, race, and sexuality.

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This guest post by Stephanie Brown appears as part of our theme week on Sex Positivity.
In my frequent lectures to friends about why they should take time out of their busy television (and real life) schedules to watch ABC Family's drama The Fosters (2013-present), I usually refer to an exchange from the season two episode "Mother Nature" in which Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum) have an argument born out of a season-long simmering tension over their respective parenting roles:

Stef: Please stop making me feel like I have to the disciplinarian dad in this family.

Lena: That's awfully heteronormative thinking.

The first time I watched this episode, I actually paused the show to process my excitement over the fact that a TV show ostensibly for teenagers included a casual reference to the social construction gender roles. Can you name many other shows on basic cable in which you could hear the word "heteronormative" being thrown around? Though, I shouldn't have been surprised. Over its first three seasons, I've been impressed many a time with the range of complex issues thoughtfully addressed by The Fosters, from societal issues of racism, the broken foster system, addiction, and religion to familiar teenage issues like friendship, school, and rival dance teams.

The Fosters, if you aren't familiar, centers around Stef and Lena and their brood of biological, adopted, and foster children. I will admit that the title of the series is a little (OK, very) on the nose, but I'm willing to forgive it a series that, as you may have gathered, features characters and stories that we don't usually get to see on TV. The inciting incident for the pilot is that Stef, a cop, and her wife Lena, a high school principal, decide to foster Callie (Maia Mitchell) and her younger brother Jude (Hayden Byerly) after they have been through a series of abusive foster homes. The Adams-Foster family also includes Brandon (David Lambert), Stef's son from her previous marriage to her police partner Mike (Danny Nucci), and twins Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Jake T. Austin and Noah Centineo due to a Roseanne-like recasting situation) who were adopted by the family when they were toddlers.

The Foster-Adams family is a big, loving, messy group, which fits well into the network's "A New Kind of Family" brand. Since ABC Family rebranded in 2006 with this new slogan, they have produced several engaging, interesting, underappreciated dramas. From (which Entertainment Weekly once referred to as "better than it has any right to be") to Switched At Birth, a show in which scenes are frequently shot completely in sign language, the network frequently spotlights characters and storylines you won't find anywhere else on television. Of course, as with most pop culture associated with teenage girls, the network's innovative storytelling is often banished to the world of non-serious TV (a fate that befell the WB, UPN and now the CW as well).

Of course, as you might expect from a show that centers on a family with five teenagers, sexuality is a prevalent theme in The Fosters. Not only do the teenagers on the show deal with issues like having sex for the first time, sexual assault, the questioning of their sexuality, and love triangles, but refreshingly, Stef and Lena also deal with their own adult sex life. While same-sex couples are often desexualized (see Modern Family), Stef and Lena are given storylines that revolve around sex. In one such episode. Lena and Stef have frank discussions about the effect their busy lives and big family is having on their physical relationship and Lena's fear of succumbing to "lesbian bed death" (2. 16). Stef and Lena not only talk about sex, they're also shown cuddling post-sex, kissing, and generally showing physical affection for each other. Not only does the series treat sex as a multifaceted an integral aspect of adult relationships, it of course, also normalizes lesbian sex, which has historically either been ignored or relegated to the realm of the salacious male gaze.

The other notably refreshing aspect of Stef and Lena's on-screen parenting is the way in which they often have to navigate their dual roles as feminists and parents of teenagers. As a woman who doesn't have kids, I can't identify with complexities of parenting while feminist, but as a feminist I can absolutely identify with the complexities of living in the world while feminist. To this point, the series raises important questions about the often challenging task of applying our deeply held feminist ideals our messy, everyday lives. I know, for instance, that the unholy alliance between advertisers, the beauty industry, and patriarchal constructions of gender and beauty have combined to make me think twice before leaving the house without putting on mascara. And yet.

In Stef and Lena's case, they face the much more complicated question of how to talk to their kids about sex in a way that balances their feminist ideals of sex positivity with their parental need protect and discipline their kids. Two scenes in particular stand out to me as exemplars of the ways in which Lena and Stef strive to make sure their kids are not ashamed of their sexuality while simultaneously conveying the importance of being safe, ready, and responsible.

In the season two finale, "The End of the Beginning" (2.21), 13- year-old Jude confides in Lena that he and his friend Connor had made out in their tent on a school camping trip. When he breaks down crying out of a mix what is likely fear, relief, and guilt at having lied to his parents about what happened, Lena makes sure he understands that he has nothing to be ashamed for acting on his attraction to Connor, while reminding him that school-sanctioned trips are not the place to fool around. Similarly, in the summer finale of season 3, "Lucky" (3.10), Lena and Jude have the sex talk after Connor's dad finds him and Jude making out in Connor's room:

Jude: So, I'm not in trouble?

Lena: No. No, but you're probably going to wish you were. I think it's time we had the talk. I'm really happy that you found someone as wonderful and as kind as Connor. I really am. And when sex is shared between two people...

Jude: OK, OK. Connor and I are not having sex.

Lena: Oh, OK, good. Good. Um, so. When any kind of physical intimacy is shared between two people who care about it each other. It's a beautiful thing. I mean, OK look, if I'm being honest, I don't really know a whole lot about the logistics of two men being together, but I definitely want you know how to take care of yourself, and to be safe when the time comes. Which hopefully won't be for quite some time.

Again, Lena walks the line between reassuring Jude that sex is wonderful and normal, while at the same time making it clear that she hopes that he waits until he is mature enough emotionally, physically, and mentally.

In Mariana's case, the conversation with her parents happens after she has already had sex for the first time, though under less-than-ideal circumstances. Mariana had planned to have sex with her boyfriend, but when he asks her to wait until he gets back from his band's tour, she takes his delay as a rejection and ends up hastily having sex with Callie's ex-boyfriend ("Wreckage," 3.1).

After harboring a guilty conscience for several episodes, Mariana finally comes clean to her moms in "Going South" (3.5). Throughout the initial conversation, Mariana is defensive of her choice as her moms struggle not to shame her while simultaneously trying to understand her decision.

Stef: Losing your virginity at 15 is a big deal, Mariana.

Mariana: I thought you guys were feminists

Lena: Don't play that card. We said the exact same thing to your brothers.

Stef: I don't understand why you think that this is some kind of race.

Mariana: Well I did, OK? And I'm not a virgin anymore, so.

Lena: Honey, I think what your mother's trying to say is that we love you and we just want to understand your choices.

There is tension not only between Mariana and her moms, but also between Stef and Lena as they negotiate how to handle the situation as parents and feminists. Mariana, knowing her moms well, goes so far as to play the "feminism" card, seemingly daring them to make her feel ashamed of her decision so she can claim the moral high ground by calling out their hypocrisy. In a follow-up conversation, the issue is resolved as Stef and Lena reassure Mariana that she should not be ashamed of having sex or of making a mistake.

Stef: I wasn't trying to shame you, Mariana. I wasn't.

Lena: But sex is a big deal. Every time you have sex it's a big deal. You're sharing a vulnerable and precious part of yourself. You should always make sure you feel good about it.

Similar to Lena's conversation with Jude, the goal of the "sex talk" isn't to scare or shame their kids away from sex, but rather to encourage them to take sex seriously and wait until they're ready. Stef and Lena also want to assure Mariana that they love her unconditionally, and that our mistakes don't make us bad people, they make us human:

Stef: My love you know what. We all do things we wish we hadn't. But we learn from them. And if we manage not to repeat them, man, it feels really, really good.

The talks that Stef and Lena have with Mariana and Jude about sex are emblematic of the way the series treats a range of sensitive subjects with care, warmth, and complexity. As with every situation, Stef and Lena strive to ensure that their kids feel, above all else, unashamed, supported and loved. Of course, The Fosters is by no means a perfect show. It can veer into sentimentality and overwrought melodrama, but I will happily take being manipulated into tears (I was a fan of Parenthood, after all) when it comes with a side of progressive storylines about family, sexuality, and gender. As one of the few shows my mom, my sister and I all watch, The Fosters is a series I hope families across the country are also watching and enjoying together.
Stephanie Brown is a television, comedy, and podcast enthusiast working on her doctorate in media studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. You can follow her on Twitter or Medium @stephbrown.

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'The Fosters,' Sexuality, and the Challenges of Parenting While Feminist

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This guest post by Stephanie Brown appears as part of our theme week on Sex Positivity.

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This article by Jennifer Kim describes how intersectionality in the workplace is more than just putting women first and looks at the impact of different race and sexuality as well.

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For Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) efforts to be truly impactful, we all need to better understand and apply the concept of intersectionality. It's a key part of my previous work leading D&I at HR tech startup, Lever - as well as my current advising conversations with companies dedicated to building better organizations.

So what does intersectionality (coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw) mean? Here's an answer from the "Explain Like I'm 5" subreddit:

If I'm a black woman, I have some disadvantages because I'm a woman and some disadvantages because I'm black. But I also have some disadvantages specifically because I'm [a] black woman, which neither black men nor white women have to deal with. That's intersectionality; race, gender, and every other way to be disadvantaged interact with each other.

Intersectionality considers different systems of oppression, and specifically how they overlap and are compounded. This is increasingly important because more companies are giving attention to D&I than ever, but often with a narrow, single-minded strategy: "We're focusing on women first."

This approach, while well-intended, might actually get in the way of progress. Maybe you've heard it in your organization, or you've even said it yourself - it's all right, let's consider it as a learning opportunity and unpack it.

Why focusing on women first doesn't solve the problem

Take, for example, a fairly prominent issue: the gender pay gap. You may have heard a statistic that shows women make approximately 72 cents for every dollar that a man makes. But that number doesn't tell the full story.

The Equal Payback Project found that Black women make 63 cents, Latina women 54 cents, and Native women 57 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. In fact, the pay gap between white women and women of color is the fastest growing wage gap, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But beyond pay gaps, this is about how who gets hired, heard, promoted, supported, and everything in between, all the small and big things that add up to big inequities.

Thus, the singular focus on one identity - gender - can take away from solving the broader systemic problem. Diversity & Inclusion work is about paying attention to the experiences of marginalized groups, to correct collective biases and obstacles to ensure an equal playing field.

Just focusing on gender may end up only benefitting a subset of the population that already is further ahead.

Since women make up 50% of the population, the "Women first" strategy might seem to make sense for senior leaders who prioritize D&I initiatives based on pure numbers of people impacted. But the numbers-driven approach to D&I is just one part of the equation.

Why your D&I initiatives should go further than women-first

Imagine you're a Black woman working for a company that touts "We're focusing on women." You're being implicitly told, "Sure, we care, but only a part of your identity, one that *we* are familiar and comfortable with." Despite the good intentions, there's an insidious implication behind the message - "Wait your turn. We're helping the white women first."

That's what non-intersectional D&I work can often lead to. You can look no further than our own women's rights movement in the U.S. to see examples of non-intersectional feminism. I've also heard from many women of color who don't feel like they're being served by ERGs/women's groups at their companies.

The "women first" trap is understandable, to an extent, and I want to make it clear - there's no point in excessively calling out or shaming individuals. The truth is, "helping women" seems like the low-hanging fruit to many of us. It's the more palatable, comfortable route. We live in a world where too many of us are still incredibly intimidated by talking about race, much less take action to solve it, especially when it involves dismantling institutions and norms that have been in place for decades.

While many great D&I initiatives do start with small steps, asking people with multiple identities of marginalization to "wait their turn," contributes to further inequity. So, all of our efforts must be intersectional and deliberately focus on those on the fringes. Because unfortunately, a "focus on women" often becomes just white women. The key to remember, if we can remove the obstacles for those who are most unfairly held back by our society, then those in the middle automatically benefit, too.

The importance of embracing intersectionality

By approaching our D&I work through a lens of intersectionality, we become more effective and fighting injustice. Once we understand that, we can then recognize problematic statements and attitudes such as: "I'm a woman so I show up to all the women's events, but it's not my place to be an ally to people of color" or, "As a member of a racial minority group, I'm against the systemic oppression of people, but LGBTQ+ people don't deserve the same rights as I do because of [some faulty logic]."

Want to learn more about intersectionality and why it matters?

Read Culture Amp's 2018 Diversity, Inclusion, and intersectionality report.

Get the report

At the end of the day, being an advocate for workplace equity requires compassion, curiosity, and continual introspection. D&I is also an invitation to hear and learn more about others' experiences and systematically examine the workings of our society, even if it feels pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Furthermore, it's an ongoing conversation with yourself in understanding how your own multiple identities fit into the broader work towards progress.

So continue to advocate for women's causes, LGBTQ+ issues, racial equity, disability rights, immigration, and more - but do it through the lens of intersectionality. With that, we can actually solve problems, not replace one with another, or just work on issues closest to our own hearts.
A version of this article was originally published on Medium.
It has been republished here with permission.

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Why workplace intersectionality means more than focusing on women - Culture Amp Blog

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For Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) efforts to be truly impactful, we all need to better understand and apply the concept of intersectionality. It's a key part of my previous work leading D&I at HR tech startup, Lever - as well as my current advising conversations with companies dedicated to building better organizations.

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Imani Cezanne talks about the intersectionality within feminism with her own experiences as a black woman in this passionate poem.

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Women of the World Poetry Slam 2016 - Imani Cezanne "The Feminist Commandments"

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Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Imani Cezanne is a passionate poet, workshop facilitator, community organizer and slam coach. She is currently the co-champion of the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam, and has been a finalist at the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam multiple times.

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T.V. series Orange is the New Black demonstrates great examples on intersectionality as these women navigate through different race, sexuality, class, and abilities.

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Netflix's Orange is the New Black has always been a bastion of diversity. It's a mostly female, multi-ethnic, multi-racial cast that includes people of many different sexualities and gender expressions. However, in its most recent season, the show's fourth, it looks at issues of privilege more powerfully than it ever has before. Racism, sexism, ableism, and classism are explored within the system keeping the women of Litchfield imprisoned, and among the women themselves.
**SPOILERS GALORE**
Season 4 of Orange is the New Black is its most substantive yet, which also makes it the most emotionally draining season of the show. It hits real-world issues hard, and as we see the effects of the prison industrial complex on both the prisoners and the guards on the show, we can see how important it is for social justice work to be intersectional.

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about how Orange is the New Black explores these difficult issues by depicting how the system marginalizes and abuses the inmates (particularly the women of color) in their custody. Today, I wanted to discuss how the show explores the intersectionality by exploring the interactions between the inmates.

Let's start with the problematic Piper, who's always been the poster child for White Feminism and White Privilege and who also has class privilege. She represents a very specific, and ultimately dangerous, kind of white woman. It would be easy to look at her and, giving her the benefit of the doubt, call her cluelessly well-intentioned-the kind of white person who tries to be aware, but more often than not has no idea how her privilege operates. However, in the current season of OITNB, we see that Piper not only knows how her privilege operates, but is consciously willing to use it and manipulate it for her own gain, regardless of whom it hurts.

At the top of S4, after Piper has sent Stella to max, seeing her walk around with her chest puffed out like she's a Bad MF is hilarious, because it's so preposterous, but when she says that she's "gangsta, with an 'a'," that is downright cringe-inducing. The season has only just begun, and she's already appropriating.

However, it's the conflict with Maria and the rest of the Latinas over "business" in the prison that really allows us to see Piper's true colors. As I mentioned in yesterday's piece, Piper goes to Piscatella to report that "women of a certain noble heritage" are "gathering" in "clusters," knowing full well that Piscatella would take the word of a nice-looking white woman seriously, and assume the worst of the Latinas.

Her reportage to Piscatella not only inspires him to have her lead an "Anti-Gang Task Force" of fellow inmates where she is given permission to watch and report on Latina activity (and the other inmates of color, too, but the Latinas are the main goal in that moment), but it inspires an increased profiling of Latina prisoners by the COs, who take this as an opportunity feel up the women during "random" searches, and wield their power a bit more firmly with them (Flores being made to stand on a table, Maritza being forced to eat a baby mouse), because they know the women know that they're even more powerless now than they had already been before.

Piper is also directly responsible for more years being added on Maria's sentence, which is heartbreaking considering she has a young daughter on the outside whose childhood she's missing. And by heartbreaking, I mean that it makes Maria want to kill Piper.

Since the prison is segregated, both officially and unofficially, into racial designations like "The Suburbs," "The Ghetto," "Spanish Harlem," etc, each group tends to hang out among themselves by default. So, Piper ends up going to fellow white women to join the task force. When a new inmate, Kasey Sankey, asks what the group is all about, Piper tells her and invites her to a meeting. However, by the end of that meeting Piper realizes she started something she didn't intend. She started a White Power movement among the white inmates, one that Sankey eventually leads.

Piper must eventually deal with being branded with a swastika by Maria and her crew, but by then we already see the full picture. Neither Piper, nor any of the other white prisoners, will never be as scrutinized or as victimizes as the women of color.

What's interesting, is that of all the White Supremacists, it is their ringleader Sankey who begins to soften first regarding her vehemently racist stance on other inmates. She refuses to fight Suzanne at Humphrey's insistence, which allows Kukudio to step in. She reins in her people from starting a fight with the black inmates after Poussey's death, reminding them that Poussey's friends are in mourning. This doesn't mean she's reformed, but it does mean that she's capable of slightly more critical thought than the others. Interesting, too, is that the White Power Movement, while the most obvious in their racist views, are also the least dangerous at the prison. As they are vastly outnumbered, they are in a constant state of planning and anemically hurling racist insults. We've seen a lot of casual racism from characters like Morrelli, Pennsatucky, or meth-heads Angie and Leanne, but what this show demonstrates is that it's the Pipers of the world - who not only know about their privilege, but have the education to weaponize it - that do the greatest amount of damage.

While Piper comes from a comfortable background, the intersections between race and class are more thoroughly explored through new celebrity inmate, Judy King, who is a sort of Martha Stewart figure. Right away, because of her celebrity status, MCC wants to make sure she is kept happy out of concern for what she'll say about her experience when she's eventually released. So, she is given a private room with a white roommate (Yoga Jones), and basically has access to any comforts she requests. She is a nice person, but as is true with Piper, that "niceness" is superficial and masks a deeper misunderstanding about her relationship with the non-white women at the prison.

At first, she seems to start befriending everyone. She has an open, friendly demeanor and because of her privileged position has the luxury of treating prison almost like a summer camp. It's all a big slumber party as she requests items for her room, and flits from table to table in the cafeteria striking up conversations. When she realizes that Black Cindy, Abdullah, and Taystee are trying to take a picture of her to send to a tabloid for money, rather than feel upset or used, she kisses Black Cindy and allows it to be photographed.

Her relationship with Poussey, who idolizes her and took forever to even talk to her because she was so nervous, is especially poignant. Eventually, the two become friendly, and Poussey begins to assist her during the cooking class King was mandated to teach by the ever-misogynistic and controlling Healy. On the last episode of Season 4, King agrees to hire Poussey when she gets out, giving her her private number and telling her to call.

However, there's also the matter of the racist children's puppet show she hosted early in her career, clips of which have become viral on YouTube and eventually make the news, Paula Deen-style. King's new black "friends" start to think less of her, and rightfully so.

In a scene with Poussey in the library in Episode 8 she, like many white people have before her, goes to one of the only black people she's ever known in her life and asks her to educate her on why they can't all "just get along." King asks her to talk to "her friends" because she thinks they're after her. Poussey calls her on the fact that it's racist for her to think the black inmates are following her around because they want to jump her over her children's show (they are following her trying to take her picture), and while King acknowledges that she "might" be racist, she insists that she's "the friendliest racist you're ever gonna meet" and, placing her loneliness above the needs of her "friends," she continues to ask for Poussey to intervene on her behalf, which Poussey begrudgingly agrees to do.

King, like Piper, is another mirror through which white women can look at themselves and check for similarities. Similarities they might not want to acknowledge, but should study nonetheless. She actually acts as a mirror to Yoga Jones who, up until this point has seemed like the most welcoming, equality-minded people ever. As she spends time as King's roommate, however, she has to confront the fact that she's racist and classist herself, despite her hippie beliefs and the socially-conscious mask she wears.

The thing about intersectionality is that it's something that concerns all of us. Yes, even non-white people. One of my favorite parts of this season was the fact that it didn't let people of color off the hook for their own bigotries and playing their privilege against others. Here are some examples of that:

Brook Soso - this half Japanese, half-Scottish inmate's relationship with Poussey was one of the sweetest elements of OITNB Season Four. However, it got significantly less sweet toward the end, when in an attempt to bring Poussey closer to her idol, Judy King, she voices her assumptions that Poussey has had a "hard life" and that her mother must have been on drugs. She knew absolutely nothing about Poussey's life, and foolishly thought herself an activist, only to reveal that she held racist beliefs about her own girlfriend.

Latinas in the Salon - this season, the Latinas were running their business out of the prison salon that had once been Sophia's domain. They were able to take it over after Aleida started making inflammatory, transphobic comments about Sophia, causing her to be targeted by the Latina inmates. It's this targeting that ultimately gets Sophia sent to the SHU for her "protection," and the Latinas take over the salon. Cis privilege at its "finest."

Tovah and Abdullah - by far the strangest rivalry during Season 4, Black Cindy (who converted to Judaism for the food) and Abdullah (a Muslim who seems that way in name only) have their own "Mid East Conflict" while fighting over their bunk space. They eventually quash their beef and bond over their shared morbid fascination with Scientology, but this story-line reminds us that even among fellow marginalized ethnic or religious groups, fights for dominance occur. If only they'd spend less time fighting each other and more time looking up at their real enemy: a world that pits them against each other in support of interests that have nothing to do with either group. That's something we can learn from this otherwise absurd and heavy-handed "conflict."

Everyone v. Asians - On such a diverse show, the fact that there are only (now) three Asian characters is bananas. Even more bananas is how flippantly every other group on the show, no matter their race or ethnicity, manages to slight Asian people on a regular basis. Soso, Chang, and new Hawaiian inmate Stephanie Hapakuka are repeatedly fetishized, belittled, or marginalized. This post over at Hyphen points out that:

"This isn't to say that race- or gender-based jokes are, or should be, off-limits for OITNB, because they aren't. Lorna Morello (Yael Stone) makes a rude joke to transgender inmate Sophia (Laverne Cox), calling her a "lady-man." But instead of letting it slide, Sophia calls Morello out on the slur and stands up for herself and the population she implicitly represents. The Asian characters don't have that same opportunity, to confront racist jokes as they happen, and instead are relegated to either putting up with it or not even knowing it's happening, which is a much more insidious fate."

Orange is the New Black is not a perfect show (and it certainly doesn't lack problematic elements, starting with the fact that they have zero black people on their writing staff), but it is a show that allows us to wrestle with the important, intersecting issues surrounding race, gender, class, and ability. It gives all of us the opportunity to confront our privilege and a vehicle through which to talk about it. It does what all good art should do. It forces us to confront ourselves and our beliefs in the real world, and gives us a way to communicate about those beliefs with others.
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Orange Is the New Black Season Four and Intersectional Social Justice, Part Two [SPOILERS]

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Netflix's Orange is the New Black has always been a bastion of diversity. It's a mostly female, multi-ethnic, multi-racial cast that includes people of many different sexualities and gender expressions. However in its most recent season, the show's fourth, it looks at issues of privilege more powerfully than it ever has before.

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African American girls are discriminated against when their hair violates the school dress code.

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Raising teenage girls can be a tough job. Raising black teenage girls as white parents can be even tougher. Aaron and Colleen Cook knew that when they adopted their twin daughters, Mya and Deanna.

As spring came around this year, the girls, who just turned 16, told their parents they wanted to get braided hair extensions. Their parents happily obliged, wanting Mya and Deanna to feel closer to their black heritage.

But when the girls got to school, they were asked to step out of class. Both were given several infractions for violating the dress code. Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, north of Boston, bans hair extensions in its dress code, deeming them "distracting."

When administrators asked the girls to remove their braids, Mya and Deanna refused.

The next day, Colleen and Aaron Cook came to the school where, they say, they were told the girls' hair needed to be "fixed." The Cooks refused, telling administrators that there was nothing wrong with the hairstyle.

As punishment, the girls were removed from their extracurricular activities, barred from prom and threatened with suspension if they did not change their hair.

According to Colleen Cook, administrators at Mystic Valley have routinely reprimanded black students for dress code violations involving hair.

Other black girls have been pulled out of class, she says, lined up, asked if they had hair extensions and given detention if they did.

Colleen remembers when one student, who wore her hair in its natural texture, was taken out of class and told that she would need to relax, or chemically straighten, her hair before returning to school the next day.

In defense of their daughters, the Cooks brought in a yearbook to show school leaders the many white female students with hair extensions and dyed hair.

But, the Cooks say, the administration didn't see that those students were in violation of the dress code, stating those hair alterations weren't as obvious.

NPR reached out to Mystic Valley Regional for an interview several times without a response.

The Cooks contacted the NAACP, Anti-Defamation League and ACLU to file a complaint against the school, calling the dress code discriminatory to students of color, particularly black females.

After much pressure, the school suspended enforcement of the dress code until the end of the year.
Noticing a trend
In recent years, black girls have been sent home for wearing dreads, head wraps and even wearing their hair naturally.

In schools across the country, black student suspension rates are higher than their peers'. In charter schools, kindergarten through eighth grade, those rates are even higher.

Having a dress code is one thing, but denying an education for it defies logic.

In fact, Daniel J. Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies, found that at the highest-suspending charter schools in the nation, the majority of students were black.

Though databases for infractions vary from state to state, in a recent analysis, half of suspensions in charter schools were for minor nonviolent offenses, including dress code violations.

Specifically, Losen's research shows that in Massachusetts, the Cooks' home state, black students at charters lose 24 more days of instruction to suspension than do white students.

"Having a dress code is one thing, but denying an education for it defies logic," says Losen.

Zero tolerance leads to high suspension rates

Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, assistant dean of equity outreach initiatives at Michigan State University, says that black females are more likely to receive harsher discipline than their white and Latina counterparts.

Her research on zero tolerance policies and their outcomes shows that they enforce a marginalization of black girls in schools. Which can, in practice, criminalize their black identity.

"What does a headdress have to do with learning and success?" asks Carter Andrews.

She finds it strange that hair would even be part of a dress code. It's not a choice, but an aspect of one's body. Which raises a question: Is a zero tolerance policy for hair - where students can be suspended without warning - less about a dress code and more about a racial code?

What does a headdress have to do with learning and success?

In her research, Carter Andrews has found that this type of policing has a detrimental effect on black girls in schools and how their peers view them, further enforcing negative stereotypes.

Black girls are often seen as being loud or aggressive and are overly disciplined because of that stigma. Andrews finds that leads to low self-esteem and underperformance in school for these students.

Jamilia Blake, who looks at the " adultification" of black girls in schools, believes stereotypes of black adults are put on black children in schools, and black girls in particular.

Blake sees strict dress codes as a way of targeting certain students without using racial language. By using certain restrictions on hairstyles and dress, school officials are enforcing the policing of black youth.

Toward the end of the school year, the Cook twins, Mya and Deanna, were allowed to participate in their extracurricular activities. That was after much upset from friends and supporters and a word of warning from the Massachusetts attorney general to school leaders at Mystic Valley Regional Charter.

Meanwhile, the Cooks continue to advocate for their daughters as the dress code fight goes on. The school hasn't made any plans, publicly, to change the regulations around hair.

Colleen Cook wants people to know that they're fighting not just for their daughters but for the other black girls in the school who have felt victimized.

When our daughters walk with us, they have our white privilege. When they're not with us, they're black children.

Mystic Valley has put out a statement in defense of its dress code policy, stating that the restrictions on hair extensions exist so that the school can promote equity. Hair extensions - it reads - can be expensive.

The Cooks believe this experience has helped them realize the world their daughters have to face.

"When our daughters walk with us, they have our white privilege. When they're not with us, they're black children," says Aaron Cook.

Colleen agrees, adding, "I feel like the school is pushing us to raise them as white children, but that's not who they are or who they're going to be."

The Cooks value their children's black heritage and want them to be proud of themselves at home and at school. They'll continue to fight to make that happen.

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Raising teenage girls can be a tough job. Raising black teenage girls as white parents can be even tougher. Aaron and Colleen Cook knew that when they adopted their twin daughters, Mya and Deanna. As spring came around this year, the girls, who just turned 16, told their parents they wanted to get braided hair extensions.

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A homosexual couple in Fargo have made great strides toward adopting a kid of their own.

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But for many people, traditional pregnancy isn't an option, whether it's because of infertility or other factors. It can sometimes take many attempts to expand a family, and with each failed attempt comes heartbreak.

However, some couples know from the get-go that having children the traditional way will never be an option. For those who are looking to start a family, surrogacy can be a solution, and with the advancements in technology, having children via a surrogate has become safer and easier. Surrogacy, however, still involves someone trying to get pregnant, and the odds that it works on the first try do not always favor the intended parents.

That's where adoption comes in for a Fargo married couple looking to expand their family after six years together.

Adoption option

As soon as you shake the hands of Benny and Josh Andres, it's easy to see how anyone could fall in love with them.

Sitting in Babb's Coffee House before the workday starts in downtown Fargo - the coffee shop is still near and dear to their hearts six years after their first date there at the corner table by the window - the couple shares their journey together to where they are today.

Shortly after they got together, their family grew by four legs.

"It's kind of funny," says Josh Andres, a counselor at Davies High School in Fargo. "We met and then about four months into the relationship, my lease was up and we tried to decide if we should commit to a house and living together. We decided not yet, and we got a dog two months later."

"Yeah, we weren't ready to move in together, but we got a dog together," says Benny, an operations manager for US Bank in Fargo. "You know how that goes."

Now, the Andres are hoping to grow their family even larger. This time, however, they're hoping for less fur.

"I think throughout our whole relationship, we were on the same page of wanting to have a family," Benny says. "After we got married, it started becoming more of a conversation."

Since their first meeting, Josh and Benny have made it their approach to life together to put their honest selves forward, experiencing new things to bring out different sides of one another. It's an idea they have brought with them everywhere, so when it came time to talk about starting a family, the Andres recognized the idea of their child (or children) not being biologically both of theirs because of adoption rather than surrogacy would allow them to enter parenthood together.

"We really thought adoption would be the best route because we felt like we are both coming into it on the same page," Benny says.

The couple found an agency and began the process.

"When we started researching, we found out how long the process can be and we looked at each other and decided we should probably start now," Benny says. "We weren't really ready for a kid that next day, but we know it could take two to three years. In two to three years we are going to be ready, so we thought we should get started."

They began the process in December 2017. After the first application to determine their eligibility for the program, the couple was invited to a two-day pre-adoption education class. After that, a second pre-adoption application was filled out and submitted, and the "hurry-up-and-wait-game" began. Six to nine months later, they could start the second phase, known as the home study process.

"Just saying 'home study process' is an understatement for all the work that goes into it," Josh says. "We spent all summer working on separate, individual questionnaires asking pretty much any question of when we were born, how we were raised, all the way to what our relationship is like now and everything in between."

After a month or so of filling out paperwork and submitting documents to meet the requirements, which included a background check, they were ready to wait for home study approval, which they got in December 2018 after several meetings with their social worker just one year after beginning their journey.

"It's a lot of time," Josh says. "After we submit it, it takes a month for them to receive it, process it and assign a social worker."

#AdoptingDads

While they have made strides in the adoption process, the Andres know they are far from done. Their domestic infant adoption program gives them two options to pursue in their quest to grow their family.

They're now on the waitlist to be added to their agency's profile book that will have information for expectant mothers to get to know them. If she decides they may be a good match, they have the opportunity to participate in a "match meeting," where expectant parents and prospective adoptive parents can get to know each other, ask questions and figure out if they would like to move forward.

The other option, outreach, gives the Andres the opportunity to find a match without using, or without needing, the family profile service. Their Facebook page, Benny & Josh Adopt, provides updates on their journey and a glimpse into their lives as they wait for a match to make their family complete.

While their adoption journey hasn't always been easy, the Andres know they are lucky in ways that some aren't.

"One thing that we are really thankful, and are very aware of, is we didn't have years of infertility to work through and those heartaches that come with that," Josh says. "So although it's been a full year (since we started) and there have been some bumps that go with that, we are fortunate that we haven't had those years of heartache that go with this."

"We don't have a loss because we can't have our own biological children," Benny says, adding, "but it's different for a heterosexual couple because, in reality, they should be able to - and they have probably tried - and it isn't working. We just always knew that we would have to adopt or we were going to have to do something."

The process can take years to complete. From the initial decision to the second the ink dries on adoption papers, couples like the Andres wait in the wings, reaching out and preparing their hearts and lives for the day their little one can come home.

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#AdoptingDads: Fargo couple Benny and Josh Andres getting closer, but still far from done, in their adoption journey | INFORUM

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But for many people, traditional pregnancy isn't an option, whether it's because of infertility or other factors. It can sometimes take many attempts to expand a family, and with each failed attempt comes heartbreak. However, some couples know from the get-go that having children the traditional way will never be an option.

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Two girls refuse to let screenwriter "mansplain" his movie Men in Black.

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At the cafe where I'm writing the people next to me were disagreeing about the origins of Men in Black & I said "If you'd like, I could clear that up for you" & one responded: "I'm sorry, we do not need an old white male's mansplanation." So I apologized and that was that.
— Ed Solomon (@ed_solomon) October 15, 2019

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José found he was not getting job interviews. When he changed his name on his applications to Joe, the interviews started flooding in.

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Three transgender individuals face discrimination in a traditional artform to live their most authentic lives doing what they love.

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Nevertheless, Sacramento-born-and-raised baritone Lucas, who decided to keep singing with her booming, low-voice type after her physical transition rather than trying to retrain her voice to sing soprano or mezzo roles, is rising to the very top of her profession.

In May, she became the first trans singer to perform a lead role in a classic operatic work in the U.S. when she starred in "Don Giovanni" with the Tulsa Opera in Oklahoma.

In October, she will play a lead role with the English National Opera in London.

Yet Lucas said she often dons fake facial hair and standard menswear for auditions to prove she can play roles that normally go to cisgender male performers.

"A lot of people are really confused because they have 'Ms. Lucia Lucas' on their paperwork as a baritone," Lucas said. "But I'm presenting with a beard in masculine attire."

Hormones & the Human Voice

When it comes to perceptions around gender transition, most people tend to focus on external physical changes.

But taking the male hormone testosterone doesn't only tend to increase body hair and muscle mass. It also lowers the voice.

"Testosterone thickens the vocal folds," said UCSF voice speech pathologist Sarah Schneider, who specializes in working with transgender singers.

But learning a new lower-pitched way of speaking and singing often comes with enormous challenges.

"Some people describe it as feeling locked in," Schneider said. "They're not quite sure how to navigate the lower voice."

Schneider said surgery for lowering vocal pitch exists. But few people go that route, because of the lowering effect of testosterone.

It's a completely different story for people taking estrogen.

"For trans females, taking female hormones does not actually change the voice," Schneider said.

She said surgery on the vocal folds is a possibility for people who want to sing higher. But it's a major risk.

"The outcomes are not always predictable," she said. "And we don't know if it's going to impact that accessibility to the upper range."

It's possible to develop a higher speaking and singing register with careful training and consistent practice.

Schneider said the best way to keep the voice healthy through the gender reassignment process is to keep using it - without pushing too hard.

"It's just a matter of looking at it like training," she said. "We work on these different muscle patterns so they feel accessible."

Opera Companies Begin to Address Diversity

Opera's diversity and inclusivity challenge extends well beyond transgender singers. As an African American, Bay Area soprano Breanna Sinclairé is especially troubled by this reality.

"In the classical world, there are still other issues that we have to deal with first before we get to the transes, because there is a history of racial discrimination," said Sinclairé, who abandoned the tenor range she was mostly forced to sing in while growing up, and has focused on extending her voice upward as a soprano. "It's not a diverse genre of music. And I don't see many African Americans or many Asian or Latino women playing lead roles."

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Three Transgender Opera Singers on the Risks They Took to Live Authentically

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Nevertheless, Sacramento-born-and-raised baritone Lucas, who decided to keep singing with her booming, low-voice type after her physical transition rather than trying to retrain her voice to sing soprano or mezzo roles, is rising to the very top of her profession.

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In Season 4 Episode 8, Mariana leads an almost entirely female team to victory at a robotics competition despite backlash from their male competitors. This clip spotlights the team's slogan "bitches get things done!"

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the fosters season 4 episode 8 - Bing video

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The Fosters Season 4 Episode 8 Girl Code The Fosters Season 4 Episode 10 The Fosters Season 4 Episode 8 Jude and Noah The Fosters Season 4 Episode 6 Hayley Kiyoko

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Twitter faces a social media debate over whether the "Bathroom Bill" should be passed in Texas.

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They want to use Tennessee taxpayer money for what?

Come on, @ltgovmcnally, please say it ain't so... #bathroombill #LGBTQ

And tell your legislators to step off this bad bill at https://t.co/CwdPqA9Esa pic.twitter.com/wpZSRYtbSU
— James Allen Grady🏳️‍🌈 (@JamesAllenGrady) April 16, 2019

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Buzzfeed's Ladylike challenges some of the strictest school dress codes to see if they are reasonable.

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We Dressed According To Florida High School Dress Codes • Ladylike

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The Bechdel Test was inspired by a comic written by Alison Bechdel which became a basic measure to see if women are fairly represented in a film.

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' The Bechdel Test ' was inspired by cartoonist Alison Bechdel's 1985 tongue-in-cheek comic strip 'The Rule' which became a basic measure to see if women are fairly represented in a film. It's is also referred to as the Bechdel-Wallace test Alison credited the idea for the test to her friend Liz Wallace.

For a film to pass The Bechdel Test, the movie must simply have the following:

1: It must have at least two female characters
2: They must both have names
3: They must talk to each other about something other than a man

Simple, right? You'd think so...

Of the 25 top grossing movies of 2016, a measly half passed the test. Considering the ridiculously low bar in order for the film to pass - that's pretty poor. Also, research conducted by The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film discovered that of the 4,370 speaking named characters from the top-grossing films in 2015, only 31.4% were women and 26.3% were underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

The test is not a measure of how good or 'feminist' a film is but it does highlight just how male-dominated cinema really is. It's a simple, albeit imperfect test, but as author Alison Bechdel herself says ' it's a bit of fun '. It gives us something to think and do something about.

What started as a year-long project to mark the Bechdel Test's 30th anniversary in 2015 is now an ongoing celebration of films that succeed in representing women in a positive and progressive light. We look to the unearth hidden gems and new releases, and cover the spectrum of those who identify as female. We host events at various venues in London and go nationwide when we can.

We screen throughout the year and cover as many genres as possible. We love talking about film and always aim to have a post-screening discussion, usually with special guest speakers.
Just so you know...
The Bechdel Test Fest is not just-for-women! We love men too. We particularly love men who come to our events, get involved and make films that portray a genuine, fair and accurate representation of their opposite sex.
The festival is for everyone! Our program aims to include seasonal films of all genres and caters for all ages.
We named 'The Bechdel Test Fest' after the 'Dykes to Watch Out For' comic strip episode The Rule by Alison Bechdel, but not in collaboration with the artist herself. Alison Bechdel is not personally involved in this organisation in any way.

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' The Bechdel Test ' was inspired by cartoonist Alison Bechdel's 1985 tongue-in-cheek comic strip 'The Rule' which became a basic measure to see if women are fairly represented in a film. It's is also referred to as the Bechdel-Wallace test Alison credited the idea for the test to her friend Liz Wallace.

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Late, A Cowboy Song follows the story of Mary and Crick, childhood friends become lovers, as they have a child who is born intersex. Mary and Crick have differing opinions of how to raise their child.

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(L-R: Sarah Olmsted-Thomas and Alyssa Wilmoth-Keegan in No Rules Theatre's production of Late: A Cowboy Song. Photo: Second Glance Photography)

Despite the title of Sarah Ruhl's Late: A Cowboy Song, this early work from a quickly rising playwright is about being trapped rather than being late. The show now playing at No Rules Theatre features a heroine Mary (Sarah Olmsted-Thomas) who is trapped in an abusive relationship and day-to-day bustle that is quickly getting away from her to the point where it feels like she's living from holiday to holiday. Her exasperated observation about the litany of holidays in a year will ring true to you once you sit down and think about it. Her boyfriend/husband Crick (Chris Dinolfo) is trapped in a perpetual man-child state which involves a love for modern art that borders on unhealthy and extremely needy tendencies. Mary's childhood friend Red (Alyssa Wilmoth-Keegan) found her escape through her life as a cowboy living outside the city setting of Pittsburgh. The show's eclectic tastes include musical interludes, interpretive dance, and clever use of props. However, despite a captivating exploration of identity, romance, and the idea of the perfect life, Late is a production trapped in its own complexity. Its lack of polish can be attributed to a playwright's early work.

Many could go out of the way to associate this piece with praise for Ruhl's more recent successful work like Dead Man's Cell Phone or The Vibrator Play, but looking at this show on its own, it feels like there's a lot going on that doesn't get resolved.

The main storyline focuses on Mary's relationship with Crick: both childhood sweethearts that appear to be destined for each other down to the birthday they both share. When they both decided to get married and start a family, things don't appear as rosy as they once were. While Crick finds solace looking at art in his job as a museum security guard, Mary finds her escape through Red's companionship, which blossoms into a romance that has a very Brokeback feel.

The idea of identity relies on both Red's shunning of lady-like stereotypes for the rough and tough cowboy exterior, and Mary and Crick's feelings towards their child who was born intersex but ultimately declared a girl by the doctors. Crick wants to raise the child with pink toys while Mary wants a more open-minded and gender-neutral approach to traditional roles.

The performances are strong, particularly from Wilmoth-Keegan and Olmsted-Thomas. Wilmoth-Keegan says so much with so little as she fully embraces Red's cowboy ways. The show gives her ample opportunity to show off her musical chops as well. Olmsted-Thomas entertains as Mary, an anxious worry-wort who is in desperate need of peace. Described as "macho-effeminate", the role of Crick just felt convincing to me.

Director Rex Daugherty does a great job with the physicality of the production, smartly placing props that give a healthy dose of whimsey. Great performances and a truly creative approach aside, Late: A Cowboy Song is simply a piece that has a lot of potential but shows the green-side of a playwright's earlier work.
No Rules Theatre's production of Late: A Cowboy Song performs through January 19th, at Signature Theatre located at 4200 Campbell Ave Arlington, VA 22206. Closest Metro stop: Pentagon City (Blue/Yellow lines). For more information call 336-462-9182.

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(L-R: Sarah Olmsted-Thomas and Alyssa Wilmoth-Keegan in No Rules Theatre's production of Late: A Cowboy Song. Photo: Second Glance Photography) Despite the title of Sarah Ruhl's Late: A Cowboy Song, this early work from a quickly rising playwright is about being trapped rather than being late.