Viva la Feminista

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Kartemquin Films is releasing films to download for free! This week the film is from 1984 and "explores the growing difference in the voting patterns of men and women (the gender gap) that could no longer be denied by the mid-1980's. Issues like compensation equality, environmental preservation, subsidized childcare and healthcare became wedge issues in Ronald Reagan's America as more and more women joined the workforce." It is wonderfully illustrated by Nicole Hollander. At the end of the film there is an update on the issues from 2012. It is pretty sad how much the 1984 film is still relevant in 2016, especially considering Donald Trump's "woman card" comments. You can view the film online below, but if you visit Kartemquin Films you can download the film for free and own it forever!

There is more at stake on November 6th than just the White House. No, I'm not talking about the Supreme Court, although that is a valid concern . I mean all the local ballot initiatives! In Florida, Amendment 6 would ban state funds from covering abortion. This is far more than just the Hyde Amendment folks. This means state employees who get their health insurance from the state are at risk of losing their abortion coverage. So don't stop voting after you select President Obama! Keep on going...check the back of the ballot too! Sometimes things are hiding there. And if you don't live in Florida, I bet you might know someone who does.

Presented without comment...because, well it says it all, right? Although, if you need your memory jogged on who the hell Mourdock is, he's running for the U.S. Senate from Indiana and said "And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

To close out Summer of Feminista, we welcome Linda Garcia Merchant.  Linda is a documentary film maker and founder of Voces Primeras . She is currently working on " Chicana por mi Raza : Uncovering the Hidden History of Chicana Feminism (1965‐1985)," a public humanities project centered on the collection and digital preservation of archival materials, ephemera, and oral histories that document the development of Chicana feminist thought during the civil rights era. This last June we interviewed two iconic figures of Latina activism from the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, Teresa Fraga and Raquel Guerrero as a part of an oral history project on Chicana Feminists entitled, Chicana Por Mi Raza. These women were a part of a group of incredible women making history in Chicago at a time when Latinos across the country were making history. Mrs. Fraga and Mrs. Guerrero, along with a number of organizations, spearheaded the movement that ultimately got the first Latino high sc...

My submission to the Our Bodies, Our Votes tumblr Get your own bumpersticker !

My Twitter stream has been a flutter this week with feminist joy at how often speakers have mentioned women's rights and 'choice' at the Democratic National Convention. Sandra Fluke knocked it out of the park with her speech, but we still have a lot of work to do if in six months our President does have our back. One area where I want to see President Obama have our collective backs is the issue of military women and abortion. Current law bans servicewomen from using their own insurance to pay for abortion services if they become pregnant as the result of rape. According to Stand Up for Servicewomen : Current law forbids military hospitals from providing abortion care except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment— even if the woman pays with her own funds. Because physicians on military bases are prohibited from providing abortion care, servicewomen are often forced to choose between taking leave and traveling far distances to an American provider, seeking servi...

The biggest complaint I hear from my friends around election time is that they just don't understand all the issues and what candidates are arguing about. Who is right on Social Security? What really will jump start our economy again? Is there really a War on Women? Luckily for us Martha Burk , co-founder of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy, has written Your Voice, Your Vote: The Savvy Woman's guide to Power, Politics and the Change We Need. As we enter the final days of Election 2012 and with the conventions [ DNC / RNC ] just days away, this is a must have for every voter, not just women voters. Burk spends the first six chapters painting the political landscape and why it is important to have women in leadership positions. Chapter three dissects the gender gap -- the phenomena where women tend to vote Democrat over Republican. But the heart of this book is Burk's explanation of the issues. Taxes, health care, reproductive rights, war, the military,...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes Dior Vargas.  You can find her at her blog: diorvargas.tumblr.com   I am also including this as part of Viva la Feminista's contribution to the Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice 2012 . Last election I was so hopeful about the idea of having Obama in office as did a lot of people. It warranted a completely different feeling than the one I have now. This time I’m disillusioned and not excited about what’s coming. The system is flawed and I don’t know if one candidate over the other will ensure the freedom and equality that we all deserve. If the Occupy Movement is any indication, people are not content with the way our country is being run. I’ve had to reexamine the country that I grew to love because democracy, the governmental structure that was supposed to work, has been corrupted. Sure the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare, as it is now being referred to, is great. There are so many benefits for women. However, not...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes Jacquie Marroquin, a feminist advocate who's worked in the violence against women movement for over 10 years. You can find her at her blog , Facebook and Twitter . At the end of May I began to receive phone calls from a Washington D.C. area code and some private numbers. At first it was just in the evenings, then I began to receive calls throughout the day. I don’t normally answer calls from numbers I do not recognize and they did not leave a voice message. Curiosity finally got the best of me in early July, so I answered a couple of those calls and learned it was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and President Obama’s reelection campaign that had been calling me. The call from President Obama’s campaign went something like this: An overly enthusiastic voice asked, “May I speak to Jacquie?” Jacquie, I am calling you because we are in urgent need of your support.” I patiently listened to the caller as she e...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes KJ Sanchez. She is participating in the Yo Solo Festival .  KJ is the founder/ CEO of American Records.   She has produced national and international tours. I’m in Chicago, preparing to open my play, Highway 47, as part of Teatro Vista and Collaboraction ’s Yo Solo Festival, a festival Pan-Latina/o solo performances. As I’ve been watching my colleagues rehearse, the upcoming election has been much on my mind and one question has been nagging at me all week: How do we take advantage of increasing political leverage as the “Latino Vote” yet continue to make progress helping our fellow Americans – and our elected representatives – understand the diverse mosaic that is the Latina/o community? Let’s look at the Yo Solo Festival as a microcosm of this issue: The festival has six performers, six VERY diverse shows. We are culturally diverse – we come from a wide range of cultures – Cuban, Mexican, Colombian, Dominican, just to name ...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes  Maegan "la Mamita Mala" Oritz,  of Mamita Mala: One Bad Mami Blog   and owner of VivirLatino . It's that time a year again. Time to revive stale metaphors of poking napping mythical creatures from their dens. Time to dust off the old book of stereotypes and pandering, the one that makes it logical to parade around a Cuban in order to win the votes of Mexicans all while playing reggaeton in the background. Time for non-profits to have their own race about who will register more people, hold more twitter chats, and out message with celebrity cameos. I'll see you an America Ferrara and raise you a Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony. It's presidential election time, 2012 edition. During the last presidential election it was easy to caught up in the excitement. There was a man of color running who actually stood a chance. People were desperate and ate up slogans and promises of hope and change and believed that yes we ca...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes Yvonne Condes. She is the Editor and Co-Founder of  MomsLA.com , a community with more than 125 bloggers in Los Angeles. She is a Mom of 2 boys, former newspaper reporter, and occasional marathoner. Also find her at her personal blog  YvonneInLA.com , on Twitter  @YvonneInLA   @MomsLA , and  Facebook  . She is PBS KIDS VIP and a member of PlayStation Family. My son asked me a question during the last presidential election. He wanted to know why the Obama campaign was asking for money. I explained that it was how it was done; the candidates raised money to buy ads in the hopes that people will see the ads and vote for them. “Why would you give money to someone who has lots of money and not to charity?” Yes, why would I give lots of money to any campaign especially right now, 4 years later. I donate money to the public school my boys go to and I give my time. Without donations there isn’t enough money for t...

This week Summer of Feminista welcomes  Martha Carolina Preciado from www.martyness.com , music bloggera from Latin America, as she discusses what she wants to see from the 2012 Presidential Candidates. As a Latina voter, an issue on President Barack Obama’s political agenda which resonates is access and affordability for underprivileged students to higher education institutions. Specifically, a long term goal of Latino educational advancement. Latinos remain significantly underrepresented in enrollment and acceptance rates. For many, financing college is a hardship. Yet another major obstacle are social barriers in public education which continue to prevent economically and educationally disadvantaged students from pursuing higher educational opportunities. Limited funding allocation and poorly executed academic preparation programs are misconstruing guidance of students towards college. Question to consider towards President Barack Obama’s political stance on educat...

This week we welcome Michelle from xishell words ! I have a confession: I haven’t been paying much attention to the upcoming presidential election. There, I said it. I consider myself to be a progressive Xicana Feminist, so it’s kind of embarrassing to admit it. But now that I have and that I’m thinking about it, I really haven’t paid much attention to any presidential election- possibly ever. I’ve read articles, watched some TV, but I’ve never done in-depth research into a candidate’s position on this or that because I know that I’m going to vote for the Democratic candidate. I’m not a Democrat. I’m most definitely not a Republican. I’m ideologically opposed to our current two-party system, what is the name for that? From my perspective, there isn’t much of a difference between the candidates when it comes down to it. What Republicans say frightens me, what they do terrifies me; what Democrats say sometimes encourages me, other times, confuses me and then what they do, fr...