Marcia G. Yerman

Wendy Carrillo is part of a field of 23 candidates who are competing to fill the Congressional seat in the 34th District in California. A child who was smuggled to America to escape the civil war in El Salvador, Carrillo has spoken about her personal journey in the context of the current fight for immigration rights.

I reached out to Kate to discuss her film, her impact on the 2011 Massachusetts anti-trafficking law, and her take on the distinctions between “sex work,” “sexual exploitation,” and “abolition.”

The conventions are over. Both parties’ tickets are chosen. Pollsters will now be working furiously to parse the numbers on how the electorate is shaping up. Specifically under the microscope will be women.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but for those whose lives dramatically changed when they entered the realm of rape survivor, there is no 30-day expiration date.
This is made abundantly clear by Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino, the co-founders of End Rape on Campus (EROC). They also have edited the book, “We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out.”

Full Disclosure: Donald Trump is impacting my mental health.

November 25 is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls. Using the color orange to symbolize “a brighter future without violence,” 16 days of activism has been planned to bring recognition to the continued dangers facing women and girls around the world.

Mark your calendars for The Reproductive Freedom Festival on the evening of March 20. Over three hours of live performances will be streamed from a studio in Manhattan to viewers across the country — and the world. It will be accessible via computers and other digital devices for free. Pre-show highlights begin at 5:15 pm EST. The goal of the event is to foster awareness of and focus attention on the issue of reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, while anchored in Women’s History Month.

The premise Newman puts forth is that being a perfectionist emanates from a core belief that either one is “not good enough… or that one is ‘unworthy.’” This can develop as a result of “parental criticism or parental indulgence (the latter being constant praise).”

So what does it all mean for women candidates past and future? (I won’t even include Sarah Palin in this discourse because she has become more of a performance artist, as evidenced in her slam poetry endorsement of Trump). I do wonder why Fiorina was able to get away with delivering her points of view in ways that often struck me as spiteful, condescending, or harsh to the ears. I didn’t attribute it to her gender. Rather, I don’t find her terribly sympathetic.

"The upside of the Internet, social media, and digital photography is that victims can now record actions of offenders and share them with a community of supportive allies. May emphasized the importance of bystander intervention. “If you see someone getting hurt, you get involved.” It’s a key piece of the Hollaback! philosophy. May suggested using Twitter as one way to help report incidents of harmful behavior."