During a crowded bus journey, my daughter's shrill four-year-old voice piped up clearly and succinctly above the hum of the ongoing conversation: "I want to have sex with [insert classmate here]." A silence, not unlike the one pervading the moment before the conductor raises his baton, fell in anticipation of my reply. And on behalf of all the sex-positive parents, I swallowed … [Read more...]
3 Tips for Practicing Self-Care When Grieving
My mother was killed on August 1, 2014 while driving to her final teacher recertification class. She was about to start teaching in a new county and had to take courses in preparation for the fall school start. The person who hit her car, resulting in her hitting a beltway lane divider, was a Maryland State Police cadet. My mother was killed a week before Michael Brown. Other … [Read more...]
This Summer I Stopped Hiding: Reclaiming Femmeness and Body Hair
Summer is here, and so are the haters. As the temperatures rise, so do people’s expectations of our bodies and behaviors, of what we can wear and what we should hide. Society has taught us that there is a certain aesthetic to a “summer body”, but what are all other bodies supposed to do during the season then? Hide and wait for fall to begin? This summer I choose to … [Read more...]
10 Radical Parenting Resources for Folks of Color, Part 1
This piece first appeared on the author’s blog, Chicana M(other)work, and is reprinted here by permission. Ever since I became a mother seven years ago, I have struggled to find parenting resources that reflect my visions for social justice. I am not interested in resources that reinforce neoliberal ideologies, rather, I want revolution! The following is a list of 10 … [Read more...]
Being a Feminist Mother is a Liberating Experience
This piece first appeared on the author’s blog, Feminism in India, and is reprinted here by permission. My intersectional identity is four fold. I am an Asian/Indian mother; I have a mixed race daughter, I live in a Western country (UK) and I am a feminist mother. I find it hard to tell which part of my identity it is that led me to feminism. When I was growing up in … [Read more...]
