At this point, you've probably heard this from Megyn Kelly:

This, coming from anyone, is vile, but coming from a woman, one who was sexually harassed herself, is reprehensible. These are young girls we are talking about here, girls who were not much older than Megyn's daughter is right now. What kind of lesson is she teaching her daughter? As long as she is "barely legal" at 15, it's okay for grown men to harass, rape, and traffic her.

Let's set the record straight: Barely legal refers to the period when a child has just turned into an adult, which in the US is 18. It does NOT mean a child reaching the age of adulthood (which still wouldn't be 15). It doesn't matter if the child is 5, 8, 15, or 17. Under the law, a child under the age of 18 cannot legally consent to sexual acts with an adult, and therefore, it is illegal, as an adult, to perform sexual acts with them.

Early last month, I wrote a blog about the Regine's decision to withhold funds for Title X family planning programs, which include Planned Parenthood. I listed the ways this will affect everyday citizens. Yesterday, SCOTUS took it one step further and said that any state can block Medicaid money for health care at Planned Parenthood. This means states can block ANY service provided by Planned Parenthood, not just abortion. So I'm back, repeating what I said before: 

Planned Parenthood is more than Abortion!

In light of this, I will reiterate the suffering that people will experience as a result of this decision. I have also included a YouTube clip with an interview discussing this decision and what it means.

On April 1, the Administration made the decision to withhold funds for Title X family planning programs. This includes Planned Parenthood. Of course, they used diversity, equity, and inclusion as their reason, but it's not fooling anyone. Planned Parenthood has always been on the chopping block for two reasons: 1) they provide safe abortion services, and 2) they provide healthcare services to low-income communities. 

Here's the thing: most conservatives don't know or don't care to know about point number two. All they see is abortion. The fact is, Planned Parenthood provides more than just abortion services; they provide sexual and reproductive healthcare services to patients of all genders, ages, races, sexual orientations, etc. 

By withholding Title X funding, cancer will go undetected, birth control access will be severely reduced, and the STI crisis will worsen. People will suffer.

​Let's further break this down.

The White House is apparently assessing ways to persuade women to have more children, including baby bonuses and menstrual cycle classes.  Here's the NYT article on the topic.

​Their concern is that the birthrate has been dropping since 2007. So instead of figuring out why that is the case, they are just figuring out ways to rectify it. And, let's be clear here, they don't care about black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc. birthrates. They care about white Christian birthrates in their push for conservative family values. Let's break this down.

Musicals are my escape. When the world feels crazy, I dive in and have them playing in the background while I work. And, well...the world is crazy right now. I like musicals in all forms, movies, live recordings, and TV shows. Right now, I am watching Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. I'm on season 2, episode 6, Zoey's Extraordinary Reckoning. 

This episode tackles the issue of racial bias in the tech industry, specifically on the lack of representation and the experiences of BIPOC employees. It focuses on Simon, a black man who heads up the marketing team at SPRQ Point. In the previous episode, Simon called out the company's blind spots. In this episode, the board wants him to retract his statement cause they feel he's the only one experiencing this. That is until Tobin, an Indian man on the coding team, posts his experience on social media, prompting BIPOC employees worldwide to come forward with their stories.

It's a great topic to tackle on the show and one that should have been. But here's the thing, the show overlooked one opportunity: Women in Technology.

If you hadn't heard (and how could you have not), on Saturday, April 5, there was a massive "Hands off" protest across the country and internationally. We were gonna go, but one of our cats wasn't feeling well, so we stayed home with her instead. Based on what I've heard of crowd size, it may have been a good thing as my anxiety probably wouldn't have handled it well.

Since I couldn't attend, I thought I would write out my list of hands-off items. A list that wouldn't have fit onto a single sign.

And the entertainment industry needs to stop using it as a plot point. There are other ways to traumatize a woman without resorting to Rape.

*Trigger Warning*

Case in point: My husband and I have been doing a Star Trek movie marathon. I hadn't seen the originals as I became a Trekkie with TNG, so we figured why not. The other day, we watched ​Star Trek: Nemesis. There is a scene where Troi and Riker are making love and the bad guy invades her mind psychically raping her. The scene was meant to divulge the psych ability of the enemy that she then later uses to locate their cloaked shipped. There was no reason the scene needed to be that violent, it didn't push her character forward and it didn't add to the plot. It was a detail that could have been discovered in a less dramatic but still traumatizing way.

​This month, my posts will spotlight 5 women who changed the world. In the end, 100 women will be spotlighted. Today I spotlight the following women:

• Junko Tabei
• Sarojini Naidu
• Barbra Streisand
• Josephine Butler
• ​Mae Jemison

This is a statement that the current president recently stated in an interview. 

This was said at a White House event celebrating Women's History Month. A celebration, I might add, that the rest of the federal government was told to no longer celebrate cause it was "DEI." Note the hypocrisy.

"Tremendous goodies" for women. Let's see, what goodies could be in store for us. 

​This month, my posts will spotlight 5 women who changed the world. In the end, 100 women will be spotlighted. Today I spotlight the following women:

• ​Gertrude Ederle
• Ruth Handler
• Bonang Matheba
• Amelia Earhart
• Sacagawea