Between a tragic arson attack on a Pullman, Wash. Planned Parenthood and Republican politicians simply not knowing how the hell the female body works, the last six months have been unbearably frustrating for reproductive rights advocates.
Enter the fittingly named Uterish, an activism project led by Greta, Alex, and Taya, seniors at Capitol Hill's Northwest School. They designed the t-shirts, above, and are donating all of the sales proceeds to Planned Parenthood. Seattlish caught up with the teens to talk about their project — and it was fucking awesome.
Some excerpts, emphasis mine:
From the start our project, we wanted to focus on depoliticizing reproductive organs. Greta drew and designed the shirt. When we discussed the text to go beneath, we discussed how we’ve felt our bodies fought over politically our entire lives, and wanted to include a message that could help to fight back against that.
On a not-so-happy note, we were also influenced by how pressing a matter reproductive rights is today. We see this in the recent Supreme Court case that threatens the rights created with Roe v Wade, the physical and governmental attacks on Planned Parenthood, and policies such as the tampon tax.
We are so privileged to go to a school that not only prioritizes teaching students about social inequities, but that allows for us to take initiative within our activism. It is hugely telling that this started out as a school project, because this is exactly the kind of thing Northwest wants us to be able to achieve during our time at the school. As for our classmates, the fact that guys in our class bought and have been wearing the shirt just as much as the girls says a lot. It’s been a project that has spurred interest across gender lines, and our class has been great about actively participating.
This isn’t just a women’s fight or issue. We want our customers to remember that issues of reproductive rights cross gender lines––men, women, and people outside the gender binary all suffer from the attacks on Planned Parenthood.
Damn, I wish I had been this cool and politically engaged as a teenager.
Now go support Greta, Alex, and Taya's project.
