Feminist Weekly: After the Boston Marathon Bombing, Focusing On Our Community

Culture

Editor's Note: Every Thursday, I'll be rounding up my favorite pieces from the past week so that PolicyMic Pundits can more easily read and comment on the great content being written about sex, sexuality, gender, and race in politics and culture, in addition to updates from our community and GIFs galore! You can subscribe to get updates delivered straight to your inbox. 

Highlights This Week: 

As one of many college students who spent four years in the greater Boston area, it would be remiss of me not to mention what happened at the marathon in this week’s round-up. I have no words to explain or describe what happened, so I’ll cede the floor to voices from our community.

Molly Spaeth writes, “Whoever attacked Boston, whoever attacked my friends, whoever attacked the American dream, will not succeed. They will not succeed because the American Dream is bigger than you, it’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than ourselves. The American Dream is about the beauty of debate, the fervor of a revolution and the spirit of a people engaged, educated and passionate enough to fight for what they believe in.”

“My generation has been called lots of things — lazy, apathetic, self-interested — but I have other adjectives to replace them with: dedicated, intelligent, generous, and willing to sacrifice for others,” notes Jared Mildrad.

There’s a lot we still don’t know about what happened in Boston on Monday. As all those touched by the violence struggle to understand these tragic events, and the many other acts of violence which color our lives every day, we must be cognizant of how others are doing the same. PolicyMic is a forum for news and analysis, but it is first and foremost a community of, by, and for millennials. We would do well to look within, to support, comfort, and inform each other, to remember that we are in this together, as both Molly and Jared point out.

To those ends, as Jake and Nick highlighted in the Mic Check, Sam Novey is helping to collect stories to remind everyone that the Boston Marathon is more than just the site of a tragedy: It’s one of the greatest community events in the world. Check out the site, share your stories and memories of the Boston Marathon, and find out how you can get involved.

Due to the work of the good folks at the MIT Center for Civic Media, you can donate to the newly-started Richard Family Fund to support the Richards, who lost their son Martin in the bombing. Funds will go towards the family’s medical expenses, memorial services, and other appropriate expenditures.

Updates From Our Pundits:

Calling the next generation of feminist bloggers: PolicyMic is launching its first Feminist Writing Skillshare, designed to help new writersdevelop a wide portfolio of published articles, along with the skills to produce viral, impactful journalism. Help find new people to join PolicyMic’s community of young activists and bloggers concerned with feminism, gender, and related social justice topics. Make sure to share Caira Conner’s awesome piece on Facebook and Twitter!

Pundit Soraya Chemaly has a great piece today in the Guardian about Facebook’s misogyny problem.

Liz Plank gets a great shout-out at Feministing.

What did you do last week? I’ll share any outstanding writing achievements in our community, and highlight the great work that all of our Pundits do offline as well. If you have anything you’d like for me to include about yourself or a fellow PM writer, please send it along!

Must Reads From Last Week:

Should Women Take Their Husbands’ Last Names in 2013? (Jessica Schreindl) — It’s about time we choose our own damn last names.

[7 Mics, 10 Comments, 6 Shares]

Education Reform is Desperately Needed, But Teachers Need to Take Control (Christopher Records, @crecords001) — Unless we want necessary reforms to fail, teachers (not Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, politicians, or private educational consulting forms) must be in the driver's seat.

[15 Mics, 17 Comments, 25 Shares]

Want a Female Candidate to Lose An Election? Talk About Her Appearance (Rebecca McCray, @rebeccakmckray) — 'Name it. Change It,' a new study/campaign from the Women's Media Center (WMC), found that any mention of a female candidate's appearance by the media damages her chances of being elected.

[9 Mics, 3 Comments, 0 Shares]

Student Loan Rate Set to Rise If Congress Doesn’t Act – So Don’t Get Your Hopes Up (R. Taylor Barden, @rtaylorb) — If Congress doesn’t act by July 1, the federal student loan rate will double. Will Congress be able to do anything about it, or will millions of millennials get royally screwed?

[8 Mics, 5 Comments, 10 Shares]

This California School Started a “Dress Like a Lady” Rule to Separate Students By Gender (Christine Salek, @christinesalek) — To combat dress code violations, Valley Charter High School in Modesto is teaching girls to "dress like ladies" and requiring boys to participate in internships with local businesses.

[8 Mics, 14 Comments, 23 Shares]

Yes, I’m Pro-Abortion (Lauren Rankin, @laurenarankin) — If we truly respect choice and women’s right to choose abortion, then we have to begin to be more comfortable with saying: I support the right to an abortion.

[6 Mics, 51 Comments, 64 Shares]

Rand Paul Talked to a Black Audience Last Week, But He Should Have Listened (Carly Pildis, @CarlyPildis) — The African-American community doesn't need to be told what to think by the GOP. It needs to be heard.

[9 Mics, 5 Comments, 28 Shares]

40% Of American Workers Will Be Freelancing Within 10 Years (Cassandra Leveille) — Freelancers will become 40% of the workforce by 2020; an estimate which should spur the government to action to create systemic reforms.

[7 Mics, 3 Comments, 13 Shares]

Does Feminism Mean We All Have to Fight For Exactly the Same Things? (Abdul Siddiqui, @A_R_Siddiqui) — When someone tells you that you aren't "feminist" enough to be a "feminist" it's a little disheartening.

[27 Mics, 69 Comments, 23 Shares]

5 Most Bizarre Arguments Against Marriage Equality (Yash Bhutada) — Anti-gay marriage advocates generally don't have a lot of coherent arguments in their arsenal, but some of them are especially bad. Here are five of the worst.

[10 Mics, 60 Comments, 10 Shares]

Thanks for reading!Send me your feedback, give me a tip for what I should be reading, and tell me how I can do better: sam@policymic.com.

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