This week, Stacia L. Brown wrote about stalking the Facebook pages of black teens who have died at the hands of white cops. Read that and other essays from The Cut, Grantland, The Guardian, and more.
"The Big Secret of Abortion: Women Already Know How It Works" — The Cut
After an antiabortion organization released a video purporting to show Planned Parenthood's mishandling of aborted fetal tissue, the man behind the sting, David Daleiden, asked whether Planned Parenthood's president knew how abortions work. In response, writer Rebecca Traister penned a piece criticizing Daleiden's tactics and presumption that he could educate women on the grotesqueries of termination. "We know about babies, and many of us also love them ... and, yes, we know that those bitty features develop while the fetus is inside us," she writes. "We also know the physical, economic, and emotional costs of raising those children outside our wombs." Read Traister's essay at The Cut.
"Why I Facebook Stalk Dead Black Teenagers" — BuzzFeed Ideas
When a person of color is gunned down by white authorities, Stacia L. Brown turns immediately to social media, tracking down the young victims' accounts within hours of the first report. For BuzzFeed Ideas, she explains why she Facebook-stalks dead black teenagers like 19-year-old Christian Taylor. Simply put, "the social media feeds of young people of color are auto-obituaries — and a corrective to the news narratives of black lives." Read her essay at BuzzFeed Ideas.
"A Life Story in Tattoos, and How They Liberated Me" — The Muse
Throughout most of Judnick Mayard's life, people have tried telling her what not to get inked onto her body. Whereas people are now more liberal with the idea of tattoos, they're still conservative when it comes to the content. But that has never stopped Mayard from getting whatever tattoos she wants. "When I die, I will not be erased," she writes in a piece for The Muse. "The story of my life will be etched on my skin and they’ll remember that I lived as a real person and those who sought to quiet me, to quiet us: Fuck Them All." Read her essay here.
Judnick Mayard / Via themuse.jezebel.com
"Gwen Stefani, Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Garner, and the Dilemma of the Powerful Woman" — Grantland
In the aftermath of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's split, tabloids have pushed a misogynistic narrative, blaming the divorce on Gwen's success. For Grantland, Molly Lambert reflects on the high-profile relationships of Gwen, Nicki Minaj, and Jennifer Garner and points out a dilemma every powerful woman faces. “Just as men are expected to be emasculated by successful women, women are expected to seek out a man whom they can stand behind dutifully while he takes the spotlight," Lambert writes. Read the entire essay at Grantland.
Chris Polk / PMA 2014 / Getty Images / Via grantland.com
