Women’s News Round-Up, January 1: 5 Important Stories about Women
- All-Star Middle School Basketball Player Sues School to Join Boys’ Team after Girls’ Team Disbands
Sydney Phillips, age twelve, was an All-star basketball player on her middle school girls’ team. When the team disbanded, her parents asked that the boys’ team make a spot for her but were denied. The family is now suing St. Theresa’s School in New Jersey because no actual rule exists preventing her from playing on the boy’s team. Her father told NJ.com, “I’m not looking for money. I just want her to play basketball.”
2. Open Call for Art for the Women’s March on Washington
The Women’s March on Washington has teamed up with The Amplifier Foundation to give artists and protesters creative means of expression during the upcoming January 21, 2017 march. The Amplifier Foundation, a self-described “art machine for social change,” funds collaborations between grassroots movements and community artists. They are currently running an open call for art that can be printed onto tens of thousands of free posters and banners during the march. If you are an interested artist, submit your work here by 2 p.m. on January 8th, 2017.
3. Brooklyn Attorney Specializes in Fighting Non-Consensual Porn
Carrie Goldberg is an attorney in Brooklyn who specializes in internet abuse, sexual consent and privacy, and non-consensual porn law. In 2004, the first non-consensual porn legislation was passed in New Jersey. It is sometimes known as revenge porn, but non-consensual is the preferred title because the assault does not always involve an angry ex. Goldberg herself underwent harassment of this nature and the experience inspired her to start her own firm specializing in this type of abuse. The New Yorker describes Goldberg as a “pioneer in the field of sexual privacy, using the law to defend victims of hacking, leaking, and other online assaults.”
4. 90-Year-Old Kenyan Woman Believed to Be World’s Oldest Primary School Student
Global Citizen explains that Priscilla Sitienei, a 90-year-old grandmother, is attending school with 11 to 14 year-olds in Kenya and is believed to be “the world’s oldest primary school pupil.” She is known as ‘Gogo’ (grandmother in the Kalenjin language) and is learning to read and write. Sitienei was a local midwife for over 50 years and delivered some of her fellow students. She explains that,
“Too many older children are not in school. They even have children themselves…They tell me they are too old. I tell them, ‘Well I am at school and so should you’.”
5. Increasing Numbers of Women Marry Themselves in Symbolic Self-Love Commitment
Cosmopolitan reports that there is a growing trend in the self-love movement that involves women marrying themselves. These non-legal commitments to self-love and self-fulfillment often include ceremonies, special décor and attire, and registries, much as a two-party wedding might. Abigail Pesta of Cosmo shares that Erika Anderson carried out her own wedding on a rooftop in Brooklyn with this culminating declaration to herself: “I choose you today.” “Sex in the City” fans will likely remember an episode dedicated, in part, to Carrie’s registry for self-marriage. If you’d like to explore the topic further, the site I Married Me offers a range of self-wed stories and goods.
*Extra News Flash*
Motivational Speaker Sara Wolff Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities
Sara Wolff is a motivational speaker who advocates for people who have Down Syndrome or other developmental disabilities. Her site explains that she…
“…is actively promoting Down Syndrome awareness and understanding through personal appearances and inspirational speeches among educators, employers, and community professionals.”
She also serves on the Board of Directors of the State Board of ARC in Harrisburg, PA, The National Down Syndrome Society in New York, and the ARC of NEPA in Scranton, PA.
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-Julia Travers is a writer and you can visit her site here. She’s on twitter @traversjul and she runs the artist interview site, Ask Artists.
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