One Year Later: The women of Haiti Cherie & an American feminist

For a while there it seemed as if most of the world had forgotten about Haiti (again). This week, by all indications from the news media, the ongoing tragedy has not been completely forgotten. Unfortunately, I can't help but feel discouraged when nearly half of the people I speak to about Haiti are sure that it was a hurricane that occurred last January (?!) or believe that Haiti is an island near Africa.

Immediately following the January 12 earthquake I began searching for volunteer opportunities, but quickly found that without a medical or emergency response background, few organizations were interested in taking advantage of my willingness to help. In May, however, I was finally invited to join an amazing group of nurses and doctors to volunteer at a medical clinic run by the organization Raising Haiti. In total, I have traveled to Haiti 3 times, working twice in a general medical clinic and once in a cholera treatment center. I return in 15 days (but who's counting).

There have been so many issues complicating the situation in Haiti this past year, but given my background as a passionate feminist and advocate for women's health & rights, I can't overlook how these circumstances will always disproportionately effect the women of Haiti. Women head nearly half of all households in Haiti, and face a constant threat of gender based violence (GBV).

Prior to chaos of 2010:

• An estimated 72% of girls have been raped
• 40% of women suffer from domestic violence.
• Contraceptive use is reported at a dismal 13.2% (including condoms)
• Pregnancy rates among school-age girls is approximately 3% - compare that to the US, which has the highest teen pregnancy rate of industrialized nations at 0.07%
• Abortion is illegal in Haiti - which leads many women to abandon education, enter into unsafe relationships, or seek risky illegal abortions
• Maternal mortality rates remain high, estimated at about 0.006% (compared to the US's relatively high rate of 0.00008%)
• Only approx. 26% of births in Haiti are assisted by a skilled birthing attendant

And this is all prior to the chaos which followed the earthquake which claimed the lives of over 300,000 people, and lead to increased civil unrest as well as a cholera epidemic whose death toll is approximated to be 2-4 times worse than the official reports of 3700.

But the Haitian people are warm, grateful and funny. They persevere in the face of insurmountable odds and great obstacles, always seeking to do what is best for their families, their community and their country. Every Haitian, whether living in Haiti or building a life in the expansive Haitian diaspora, knows the greatness which lies beneath the surface in Haiti. I've fallen in love in Haiti, in so many ways.

From a Campus Organizer who assisted in a impromptu pharmacy and monitored cholera patients:
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little" - Edmund Burke
[A quote which can be found on the legendary table of the MMRC HQ in Port-au-Prince.]

For more information on the women of Haiti:
We Advance: NGO in Haiti focusing on GBV and women's health
Kay Fanm: "House of Women" Haitian non-profit focusing on health & GBV in Haiti
Ms. Magazine: Please also check related posts for information on rape & GBV. Additionally the Winter 2011 issue of Ms. has a story dedicated to the women of Haiti.
UNFPA: UN Population Fund work on GBV and maternal health

Sources & information

Breast Ironing in Cameroon

It seems that over and over we see a new way people want to control bodies, and more specifically women's bodies.  In Cameroon, mother's are ironing the breasts (here, here) of their young (as young as 9 years old) daughters in order to delay development and "protect" them from early pregnancy and rape.  About a quarter of girls nationwide undergo this procedure.  Their mothers take a hot stone or something similar, and press them on the barely developed breasts while twisting, which is not only physically painful, but probably also causes psychological and long term physical damage.

They do this to stop their bodies from attracting men and save them from early teen pregnancy, which is very high in Cameroon.  Once a girl becomes pregnant, they never finish school.

What we have here is yet another example of not only controlling women's bodies, but of victim blaming.  By placing the blame of rape on her breast development, it becomes the girl's fault for her rape.  And so her body is changed, deformed, made to accommodate the current rape culture, instead of teaching those who rape that the simple existence of breasts is not excuse, reason, or invitation for anything.

In a video from CurrentTV, an anthropologist says that many mothers think, "Maybe if I remove the signs of sexuality on the body, then that body will attract nobody for some time".  This kind of thinking reduces a woman, not just to men but to themselves, as only a body, that ultimately will only be good for sex.

If we still aren't convinced that comprehensive sex education is a necessity, then I don't know what else to show you.

Recent Trends in Teenage Pregnancy

A few days ago, the Guttmacher Institute came out with a report stating that teenage pregnancy rates have been increasing since 2005. This information comes as an unpleasant surprise to the public because the rates had been steadily decreasing since the early 90s.

But is this really that surprising?

There have been signs of this increase was occurring in the past few years:

1) Sex in the media is on the rise. In the past 5 years, there has been a large presence and acceptableness of sexual activity in movies, on TV, in advertisements, etc. Many contribute this increase to the sexual revolution that is currently going on in our country. Compared to the revolution of the 60s and 70s, it is not as radical and therefore not as noticeable, but it is as influential just the same.

In 2008, Time had an article about how sex on TV influences teen pregnancy rates. "They found that teens exposed to the most sexual content on TV are twice as likely as teens watching less of this material to become pregnant before they reach age 20." TV shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Gossip Girl contain frequent sexual activity and influence teens to start being sexual active at an earlier age. A lot of the actors on the shows are a lot older than the characters they are playing, which causes them to act more mature and skew the realistic-ness of the content. Movies such as Juno and Knocked up glamorize pregnancy but do not show the harsh reality of what happens when you have a young child.

2) Lifetime has just premiered a new movie called The Pregnancy Pact, which tells the story of a group of girls in high school who decide to get pregnant together. As ridiculous as this sounds, this is the true story of a Massachusetts fishing town who experienced a drastic increase in teenage pregnancy in 2008. The fact that 17 girls found it desirable to intentionally get pregnant is scary.

The girls got pregnant for the wrong reasons. Not because they thought they had stable partners and were ready to move onto a new chapter in their lives, but because they wanted to form some kind of human connection. There was obviously something missing in their lives if they found it necessary to create new circumstances where they could form a community of mothers and children when they were between the ages of 15 and 18. Just because their pregnancies were planned does not mean that they were okay. There is clearly a miscommunication between someone and these girls, whether it be their parents, their schooling (both social and educational), the media, or society in general.

3) While there has been an increase in pregnancy rates in general, the rates of pregnancy in foster care has skyrocketed in the past few years. In 2009, Time came out with a report about how teen pregnancy has hit epidemic levels in foster care. Almost 50% of all females in foster care have been pregnant atleast once by age 19. This shows that an overwhelming majority of foster teens are having sex at an early age. Almost 50% of teenagers in foster care have sex before the age of 16 compared to 30% of children not in foster care.

Teens are not getting enough information about sex and pregnancy because of their unfortunate situations. The social workers dealing with their cases are focused on finding them a home in the first place so they don't focus on making sure these teens get a proper sex education. The unstable environments that these teens are living in are breeding grounds (literally).

People are quick to assume that this raise in pregnancy rates is a direct result to the absence of good sex education. While this is probably one attributing factor, the Guttemacher Institute has found no clear connection between abstinence-only education and high rates of teenage pregnancy.


photo courtesy of kelsey.borsa via flicker

Teen Parent Shows… Good or bad?

Before I jump into this question, I would like to introduce myself. I am Annie Neimand, a new intern at the Los Angeles office! Woo! I have been given allowance to use my feminist eye to write, and sometimes rant, about questionable things in our society. So as my first blog… drum roll please...I have decided to ask the question: Are shows like MTV’s Teen Mom, The CW’s Life Unexpected, and ABC Family’s The Secret Life of an American Teen, good or bad for American teens?

I can’t help but feel somewhat stoked that there are shows discussing teen pregnancy, but I somehow feel like they are rooting for some team other than mine. I am of course progressively pro-choice and pro sex-ed, but these shows don’t seem to tackle any of those things. In fact it seems to be creating a whole different side, a side that capitalizes on and glamorizes teen mommies! Oy!

These shows, which are centered on young women making ‘choices’ about their lives and families, don’t discuss abortion or even highlight it as an option. They show girls either keeping their babies or opting for adoption.
Note: they seem to portray adoption as a choice you will eventually feel incredibly regretful of. Hmm…

Furthermore, I feel like these shows should look at why these girls got pregnant in the first place, and why they decided to keep it. For instance, maybe teen A didn’t know about contraception, or maybe teen B didn’t have a clinic or a parent to turn to. I think these factors would make the show be and mean something more than another teen drama.

You know, I would like to see an undercover show where they expose abstinence-only education or the anti-choice rhetoric as a culprit in the teen mom scenario, or at the very least MTV can give Abstinence-only the moon man it deserves.

So after reading my clearly unbiased bit, do you think this is a step forward or backward for the pro-choice/sex-ed platform? Do you think these issues belong together? What do you think?


If you have any ideas or questions for me you can email me at aneimand@feminist.org

New Study Challenges Stereotypes on Teen Parents

According to a study (see PDF) published by the not-for-profit research organization Child Trends, most teen parents come from two-parent households that are over the poverty line.

Here's the breakdown of the research findings:

39% of those who have either given birth or fathered a child were living with both biological or adoptive parents before the birth

19% reported living with one biological/adoptive and one step-parent, meaning

58% of teens that have either given birth or fathered a child came from a two-parent household, while

30% of teens who have either given birth or fathered a child came from a single-parent household.

As for the poverty line,

41% of those who have either given birth or fathered a child lived in families whose income level was either 200% or above the federal poverty line;

31% came from families between 100% to 200% of the federal poverty line, meaning a full

72% of teen parents have come from families with incomes above the federal poverty line, while only

28% came from families living below the federal poverty line.

Child Trends also examined adult's perceptions about teen births--though what was somewhat frustrating was that their questions were about "teen mothers," not "teen parents." (Sure go place all the blame on the woman, geez.)

Questions and responses:
"In your opinion, do you think that most teen mothers are from homes below the federal poverty level or above the federal povery level?"
Adult responses:

Below the Poverty Level: 67%

Above the Poverty Level: 20%

Don't Know: 12%

Refused to Answer: 1%

"In your opinion, do most teen mothers come from two-parent homes or single-parent homes?"
Adult responses:

Single-parent homes: 70%

Two-parent homes: 15%

Don't Know: 14%

Refused to Answer: 1%

The study does admit that disproportionately high percentages of teens from single-parent homes and under-the-poverty line homes are becoming parents; but they do not consist of the majority.

Congrats to research dispelling stereotypes!

Photo Credit: freeparking on flickr.com

Anti-Choice's Next Generation

As a thirteen-year old who is avidly pro-choice, it was fascinating to go undercover to attend an anti-abortion rally, ostentatiously entitled "Building a Culture of Life in an Obama Presidency".

In order to blend into the crowd, I was forced to don an impenetrable good Christian, anti-choice facade. The irony is I am an atheistic Democrat (raised Jewish, no less) who has been fighting for women’s reproductive rights since second grade. Not only that, but I attended the rally with my extremely pro-choice godparents, who helped defend women’s health clinics from anti-abortion blockades in the 1990s. In trying to look relatively conservative, we ended up looking like the model Christian family.

I’ll never forget the things I saw last night. They left me as much with a sense of bewilderment as they did hope and fear.

Out of everything at that rally (the almost entirely male group of speakers, the prayers for the dead babies, and the creepy obsession with controlling women’s lives that seems to be the norm for anti-abortion groups), by far the most interesting was the ‘devotion’ of the teenagers present.

This rally was planned and attended by teens enrolled in Survivors LA. Survivors LA is made to empower anti-choice youth to activism. In the words of one camper, "The training goes beyond becoming a warrior, to becoming a fully equipped leader in the war on abortion." It sounds awfully scary, especially considering the recent murder of Dr. George Tiller.

These teens are fed pure propaganda and a cult-like mentality to this one cause. Last night, they were wearing the Survivors LA t-shirts emblazoned with biblical passages and the camp's grisly logo, which appears to be the skeleton of a fetus. They were sitting in the front rows of the church where the rally took place. They prayed when they were told to pray, clapped when they were told to clap, and joked around with Troy Newman and Jeff White. Probably, the reason they attended the rally was because they were told to.

Have you ever seen The Manchurian Candidate?

The fact is, these teens are only shown one side of the abortion topic. The only things they see are those gruesome pictures of dismembered fetuses, which are not even legitimate, and are pure propaganda. They've probably never seen the pregnant fourteen-year-old who died in a back-alley abortion because she lives in a mandatory parental notification state.

These teens probably hear many a glowing success story about adoptions and foster care before they hear even one about those foster children who don't live so happily ever after, the children who end up unwanted, unloved, and unadopted.

Maybe these kids would be pro-choice if they had only been given all the information. Maybe if they had been presented both sides of this hefty, multi-faceted issue, they would have chosen differently. After all, restrictions on abortion (and contraception) have a huge negative impact on teens.

In fact, the latest report on teen pregnancy stated that in 2006-2007, teen pregnancy rates increased while the number of teens using contraceptives decreased.

One would think that these teens would side with their peers, but mysteriously, they still side with the unborn, not the sixteen-year-old whose life could be destroyed by an illegal, unsafe abortion.

Keeping Track of Bristol

Can someone help me please? I need help keeping track with Bristol Palin, and exactly what her position on teen pregnancy is. This latest issue of People Magazine has me seething. I mean are you serious? Really? It is nothing less than a blatant promotion of teen pregnancy.

Let's backtrack here for a second: First, Bristol's pregnancy is played out during her mother's campaign, shrouded in the "Yes, I am a huge advocate of abstinence only, but my pregnant teenager is marrying the father of her baby." Because that makes everything okay, right? Especially when you're running on a platform of such moral superiority. Then, it's "campaign's over and so is the relationship," to Bristol stating clearly on that Fox News Exclusive that abstinence is "not realistic." And then voila, personality switch. Is it just me or did everyone miss the beat between "abstinece is not realistic" to "I am now the Abstinence Only Ambassador for the World?"

Bristol Palin is sending out very dangerous mixed messages here, and although she doesn't make a difference in my life, media exposure is what it is. It gets you into people's homes and heads. I don't think she even understands the seriousness of the issue she's dabbling with only to advance her personal agenda, whatever it may be. 

However, at a time when teenage pregnancy in the US is consistently rising, the last thing we need is a recognizable face like Bristol Palin's posing on the cover of a widely distributed publication like People glaring at you in the grocery encouraging you to, "Try teen pregnancy! It works! It's great! Just look at me...." Glamorizing teen pregnancy is not the right message to be sending, and no one should know that better than Bristol Palin, whether her actions are intentional or not. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Bristol Palin: "Learn from my example"

And what example would that be, Bristol? Is it that sex leads to babies, parenting is hard, or, as you have said, "abstinence is not realistic."

Making the rounds on morning TV, Bristol Palin spoke of the importance of abstinence as the newest Teen Ambassador for The Candie's Foundation, an organization that promotes abstinence-only and educates teens about the "devastating consequences of teen pregnancy."

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It would be easier to agree with Matt Lauer's assessment of "do as I say, not as I do" if I could actually follow what she is saying. "Teenagers of America, do not have sex. That is, of course, unless you do have sex at which point you should be sure to have safe sex. But never mind with the pesky details about how to actually practice safe sex. So let's just make this easier for everyone and blissfully ignore the old adage "knowledge is power" and keep it simple with 'just say no' and this festive tank top from The Candies Foundation. Good night and good luck (really, you'll need it)."

The funny thing about an abstinence-only message is, of course, that it is abstinence only and, therefore, will not teach young people about condoms and contraception EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO HAVE SAFE SEX. Don't you see the catch here, Bristol?

With increased rates of teen pregnancy, young people need, now more than ever, a comprehensive approach that includes a message of abstinence (indeed, Bristol, it is a full-proof method to avoiding an "accessory on your hip") but also medically accurate, fact based information about contraception and sexual health. They need the ability to make an informed choice. In short, they need to get REAL (literally).