The Gender Issue

DePaulia

The

March 14, 2022

BLURRING GENDER LINES

INSIDE

Former Fake porn accounts DePaulia Sports concern students Editors reflect Page 4

Page 8

Student parents lack resources at DePaul Page 10

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

2 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

Letter from the Editor: Disabling the gender guise

By Nika Schoonover Print Managing Editor The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Lawrence Kreymer eic@depauliaonline.com

ARTS & LIFE EDITOR | Amber Stoutenborough artslife@depauliaonline.com

MANAGING EDITOR | Nika Schoonover managing@depauliaonline.com

SPORTS EDITOR | Darcy Waskiewicz sports@depauliaonline.com

ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR | Nate Burleyson online@depauliaonline.com NEWS EDITOR | Nadia Hernandez news@depauliaonline.com ASST. NEWS EDITOR | Josephine Stratman news@depauliaonline.com

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR | Joshua Hicks sports@depauliaonline.com ART DIRECTOR | Alicia Goluszka art@depauliaonline.com DESIGN EDITOR | OPEN design@depauliaonline.com PHOTO CHIEF | Emily Soto photo@depauliaonline.com

NATION & WORLD EDITOR | Jackson MULTIMEDIA EDITOR | OPEN Healy multimedia@depauliaonline.com nation@depauliaonline.com SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR | Lily Lowndes OPINIONS EDITOR | Erik Uebelacker social@depauliaonline.com opinion@depauliaonline.com COPY EDITORS | Luke Myers, Corey FOCUS EDITOR | Kiersten Riedford Schmidt focus@depauliaonline.com copydesk@depauliaonline.com ADVISOR | Marla Krause mkrause1@depaul.edu

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When we first came up with the idea to produce a gender issue, it wasn’t entirely serious. A couple of women on The DePaulia’s editorial staff were just talking about what it’s like being a woman in journalism, how the number of women in leadership positions continues to be disproportionate to men and DePaul’s lack of resources for student parents. We quickly realized our ideas were more than just a couple of stories to slowly integrate into the paper each week, but rather a whole special issue to allow us to explore these ideas in greater depth.

We quickly realized, however, that in talking about gender, we didn’t simply want to cover stories about gender expression and being a woman in our field, but stories that evolve as a result of one’s gender. One in five college students are raising children and they are disproportionately women and people of color, according to NPR. About one in six women have experienced being stalked in their lifetime.

That number compares to one in 17 men, according to the CDC. Online harassment is experienced by both men and women but the type happens at varying rates. More men than women report experiencing any kind of online harassment (43 percent compared to 38 percent). Women, particularly young women, report more

In this issue we explore gender expression, overcoming traditional gender roles in a professional setting and women’s abortion rights.

sexual harassment online with 33 percent of women under the age of 35 reporting compared to 11 percent of men under 35, according to the Pew Research Center.

The social construct of gender still overwhelms the biological classification of sex in most aspects of society. Your gender still largely determines your experience in social and professional settings, no matter how much progress we’ve made and how much we try to transcend it. The uncomfortable fact is that most statistics are still divided up by gender, presenting a different reality for men and women based on what gender an individual presents and often not representing those outside of that binary at all. With that in mind, in this issue we explore gender expression, overcoming traditional gender roles in a professional setting and advocacy for agency over one’s own body.

On page three, you can read about non-traditional drag performers in Chicago. On pages four and nine, you can find stories about social media harassment and exploitation.

Pages six and seven showcase a rally on March 8 that advocated for women’s abortion rights.

On page eight, you can read about The DePaulia’s former female sports editors, written by our current sports editor who is the first woman in that role in a decade. Pages 10-11 feature a DePaul organization for student parents that aims to bridge the gap between their needs and the lack of resources currently available to them at DePaul. Finally, throughout the paper you can find a brief history on gender equality cases in the Supreme Court, ending in a cumulative timeline of these cases on the back page.

It is not our intention to pretend that we cover everything pertinent to the discussion of gender, that would require much more than 12 pages. Instead, this issue serves as a representation of the stories that we felt were important to tell for the DePaul community in relation to the broader issue of gender. We hope you enjoy this special issue of The DePaulia.

The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022. | 3

‘Flamboyant, gay, man-thing’

Nontraditional performers make space in Chicago’s drag scene

By Brandon Tejeras Contributing Writer

Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood, commonly known as Boystown, is iconic for its wealth of talented drag queens that pile onto brightly lit stages and strutting in front of loving crowds.

The night starts with the queens folding their gowns, boots and wigs over their arms and piloting packed suitcases through dense crowds of drunken bargoers.

Then, the transformation begins: An everyday Chicagoan morphs into a regal, outlandish, or utterly camp being of radiance.

For nontraditional drag performers, Boystown’s drag scene is competition among white, cisgender, gay men for the money and approval of other white, cisgender, gay men.

When drag is presented through this narrow lens, potential performers are turned away.

“There’s nothing wrong with mainstream types of drag, but I think it becomes an issue in terms of diversity,” said Madison Hill , a DePaul senior who moonlights as Georgia Rising. “A lot of people don’t feel included, because they’re nonwhite.”

Championed by gender nonconformers as well as lesbians and other queer folks, nontraditional drag allows them an opportunity to express themselves outside the boundaries of what we would constitute as traditional, pageant drag.

Carolina Aceves, known as Whorechata on stage, is a DePaul senior graduating at the end of March.

“It’s fun to be able to do drag, especially nontraditional drag where I could like be this like flamboyant gay man-thing,” Aceves said.

Aceves met many of their counterparts online and through Discord channels. Their hope is to create a community of nontraditional performers and push the boundaries of Boystown’s rigid drag scene.

“We’re trying to build a collaborative, horizontally structured drag house full of lesbians, nonbinary people and people of color to really make space for this kind of drag,” Aceves said.

Trying to get bookers on the rainbow-clad stretch of bars and clubs has been a tough task, Aceves said. So, these performers put on their own shows with other nontraditional drag artists.

“When I first met all of them, we decided that we wanted to put

BRANDON TEJERAS | THE DEPAULIA

BRANDON TEJERAS | THE DEPAULIA

Drag queen Boots performs at Golden Dagger in Northalsted, commonly known as Boystown, as the crowd watches on March 5.

time and energy into putting on drag shows of our own,” Aceves said.

While some popular bars have been tougher to work with, Aceves and others found their spaces at venues like Golden Dagger, just north of DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus.

For Aceves, Golden Dagger is “one of the best venues in Chicago for lesbians, people of color, and gender non-confrming people.”

A lack of diversity in Chicago’s drag scene should be a wake-up call for bookers.

“For people that are a part of the LGBT community, especially lesbians, trans performers and people of color — there’s been a major lacking as far as our industry goes,” Zoey Victoria, a talent buyer at Golden Dagger, said. “Venues are finally waking up to the talent that’s in this city.”

Finding places to perform and

make a living has been tough enough for nontraditional performers like Hill,committing time to the craft is another hurdle.

After months of doing drag and being a student, Hill still struggles with this balancing act.

“I was really nervous, because it takes me a long time to do my makeup,” Hill said. “I can’t have any homework. I have to dedicate as much time as possible.”

Hill’s counterparts know they’re a student, and sometimes that gets them in trouble.

“I made the mistake of doing a show last quarter, right before finals, which was not it,” Hill said, laughing. “The queen who hosted it was like ‘we need to get you drunk, before you need to go write those papers.’”

Aceves and Hill didn’t start out booking shows and coordinating acts. Instead, they started experimenting with makeup at home and then started performing at drag shows, open to all levels of experience.

Aceves was worried about how they’d do in a competition. For much of their drag history, performances at home in front of their mirror were as far as they went.

“I started doing drag in the privacy of my own one-bedroom apartment at the beginning of the pandemic, when things first shut down,” Aceves said. “I did it as a way of expressing my gender and trying to find some peace of mind.”

Through this at-home style of drag, Aceves found ways to sharpen their skills.

“I’ve grown up with drag, and I’ve admired so many of the Chicago drag performers,” Aceves said.

“I would watch tutorials on YouTube, and I would follow [other performers] and kind of see what they were doing and try and mimic that.”

Drag has always been a means of defying societal gender norms. Gay venues were a way for the LGBTQ community to gather and express this defiance without fear of

BRANDON TEJERAS | THE DEPAULIA

Drag queen Boy Toothless performs to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac.

retaliation.

“By putting on drag, we are saying gender isn’t real,” Aceves said. “We challenge the idea that there’s a certain way to be a woman.

There’s a certain way to be a man. There’s no way to be anything.”

The predominantly white Chicago drag scene is due for a change, and Victoria thinks Boystown venues and bookers have an obligation to make change. This change starts with diversifying their bills (the list of performers for the evening).

“I encourage them to reflect on how they build their bills,” Victoria said. “I would really like to see the clubs giving opportunities to people of color, particularly black, trans performers.”

As awareness of the overwhelmingly white makeup of drag bookings in Boystown comes to the foreground, Victoria is optimistic about the future of the Chicago drag scene.

“We’re on the verge of a Chicago drag renaissance,” Victoria said. “I feel pretty optimistic.”

IN 1869, MYRA BRADWELL BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN TO PASS THE ILLINOIS BAR EXAM BUT WAS DENIED A LICENSE BY THE SUPREME COURT BECAUSE SHE WAS A WOMAN.

4 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

FRAMED IN FALSEHOOD

Fake porn accounts raise alarm for students

By Amber Stoutenborough & Mackenzie Cowan Arts & Life Editor & Contributing Writer

On Sunday morning, Ana Medina woke up to over 100 texts from friends and family asking about her Only Fans.

Medina’s heart sank as she scrolled through the multiple missed calls from her mother to the DM’s from old high school acquaintances wondering why she got into selling nudes. The problem is, Medina doesn’t have an Only Fans. A fake Instagram account was made impersonating Medina, nearly duplicating her own by using the same profile picture and simply adding an extra “e” to her handle. She is not the first, nor the last, woman to encounter a fake porn account made of herself.

Medina is a sophomore at DePaul and while she has seen this happen to women around her, she never thought she would experience it as well.

“They had blocked me as well as my boyfriend and roommate so we couldn’t see the content,” Medina said. “When I finally saw it I was so confused — it was a lot of pictures taken from my own feed that I felt confident in and turned around to be used to exploit me.”

The fake account followed a lot of Medina’s male followers and posted explicit videos of other women in the account’s story, portraying themselves to be Medina. The profile also included a link to a fake Only Fans account used to steal credit card information.

“I kept getting DMs that I literally, like, at one point, wrote out a text and had it copied in my phone and I would paste it and send it to people like thanks for letting me know I’m trying to get it down and report it,” Medina said.

While Medina only had this happen to her once, a lot of women experience it multiple times throughout their life.

Kelly Dehon-Fix is a 21-year-old from Naples, Fla. who has been dealing with this for years. The first time this happened was in 2019 when she had just turned 18. An account was promoting an Only Fans link in the bio, claiming someone could pay to view provocative videos of her.

“I’ve had it happen four times,” Dehon-Fix said. “I was disgusted. I had many people dming me to let me know each time it happened.”

Typically, the owner of the fake account will block the impersonator, so their account doesn’t get reported. Dehon-Fix had the opposite happen.

“When I watched the story they had, it was screen recordings of my own stories, even from weeks previous,” Dehon said. “It really sucks, this is not the portrait I’m trying to paint of myself at all.”

Three of the accounts were taken down impersonating Dehon, but one still remains.

“What I think is lost for these young women is that it doesn’t matter when they’re [the account] shut down, something permanently is lost, like control over your own image and how you’re seen in the public,” said Erin MacKenna-Sandhir, a DePaul faculty member in the Word, Rhetoric, & Discourse department.

Mackenna-Sandhir teaches feminism at DePaul and, when it comes to how

8:32

Monday, March 14

Best Friend Uhhhh...Have you checked Instagram lately?????? When did you get an Only Fans?

@randomclassmate OMG did you get hacked?!?!?

12 missed calls from (You have 5 voicemails from Mom)

Missed FaceTime call from Mom

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

women are portrayed on social media, says she thinks it’s important to focus on the issue of how women’s bodies are used for money rather than telling them how to present themselves online.

“I think when we frame it as an issue that’s related to gender and bodily autonomy and ownership over your own image, then it helps us think about it in more complex ways and maybe that can guide the kinds of responses and protections that we could eventually put in place,” Mackenna-Sanhir said.

Sheena Erete, an associate professor of Computing and Digital media college at DePaul, discussed with DePaulia just how simple it is for someone to create a fake pornagraphic account of someone.

“There’s no verification for most so-

cial media so it’s very easy now. You always have the terms of service agreement that says that you are who you say you are, but the reality is there’s no check,” Erete said. “So it’s pretty easy to just make a fake account, period.”

Fifty-six percent of females 13 years and older in the United States use Instagram. Despite Instagram’s prominence in social media, there is minimal data as to how many people experience exploitation on the app.

Instagram has recognized this is a problem and issued a statement on their website to combat the number of fake accounts created.

“If someone created an Instagram account pretending to be you, you can report it to us. Make sure to provide all the

requested info, including a photo of your government-issued ID. We only respond to reports sent to us from the person who’s being impersonated or a representative of the person who’s being impersonated (example: a parent).”

But not everyone is able to have the account taken down. Justine Drake, a senior at Drew University gave up fighting for it after months of trying to report it but still checks to make sure the account is still there.

“I can’t look it up anymore on my phone but I occasionally have my boyfriend take a look about once a month and it’ll still be there,” Drake said.

Drake had about 50 different people report the account and still Instagram has not taken it down. The profile looks identical to Drake’s, including a porn star matching Drake’s red hair.

“It appeared that a lot of effort went into making an account that could legitimately fool people into clicking the links,” Drake said. “It’s the little details that makes me think this was planned with the intent to harm and scam any of the people they requested to follow.”

For Drake, seeing her profile being falsely used is nothing new as she has seen it multiple times, dating back to high school.

“Nearly every single one of my friends have had something similar happen dating back to as early as 2015,” Drake said.

“It’s kinda insane how there’s no regulation on stuff like this since the internet and thus social media is a “public commodity” and yet we have regulations on other commodities like water and phone lines.”

Drake’s experience is not uncommon for most girls growing up in the age of social media.

MacKenna-Sandhir talks about the importance of social media in youth and how easy it is to be affected by how people are perceived.

“The fact that women are sort of forced to trade in their own image even from a young age starting in middle school of cultivating an image through instagram—it’s almost like a requirement of your social life,” said MacKenna-Sandhir.

Erete wanted to emphasize the exploitation and lack of protection for young women on social media, in addition to its effects on their mental and physical health.

“I don’t put the blame on the women to fix the problem that they didn’t create, I put it on the system that doesn’t actually do much to protect them from it,” Erete said. “Put it on the people who exploit girls, put them on sex offenders list and have them prosecuted because they aren’t being held accountable for their actions.”

Medina has now changed her Instagram account to private in fear of another fake profile being made of her.

“I know so many friends who have gone through this same thing that I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened again,” Medina said. “It’s disgusting and wrong but I’m not surprised.”

The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022. | 5

‘I’m not your doctor’ DePaul male nurses reflect on gender norms in the medical field

By Lucas Madlangbayan Staff Writer

When looking at stock pictures of nurses, a number of things stand out: the friendly smile of a welcoming professional, a stethoscope around their neck and scrubs that come in shades of calming blue.

But while Mark Comia, a graduate assistant at DePaul’s School of Nursing, fits the description of a nurse, when he steps into a patient’s room, he is often mistaken for the doctor.

“It’s definitely common for parents to confuse me with a doctor,” said Comia, who currently works in a pediatric rotation as well as in OB-GYN. “I thought that was like, really funny, and kind of also demeaning to the nursing profession just because of like, ‘oh, wow, it’s a guy, it might be the doctor,’ and then the parents started talking about the kids and asking me questions. I was like, ‘let me just introduce myself to you. One, I’m Mark, and two, I’m not your doctor or your kids’ doctor, I’m a nursing student.’”

One of Comia’s work colleagues, Joseph Torres, worked as a nurse in Texas for two years before recently moving to Chicago.

“Back in Texas, it was actually kind of common for patients to ask me when we were getting to know each other, like, they would ask me like, ‘oh, are you training to become a doctor?’ or like, ‘Oh, you don’t want to become a doctor?’” Torres said.

“Which I mean, at first, I didn’t think much of it, but, the more I thought about it as the years went on, I was like, ‘oh, that’s kind of like, a bad feeling.’”

“When people would ask me that, I guess people expect men to be the doctor, like, they think as nursing like a woman’s job — which [it] isn’t, it never has been,” Torres added.

When not being mistaken for doctors, male nurses may face other misconceptions and stereotypes, like assumptions about their sexuality.

Comia recalls one incident with a patient who assumed all male nurses were gay.

“One of the guy patients, a cis male patient, wanted a female nurse because he thinks that all male nurses are gay,” Comia said. “He called slurs towards all the male nurses, even the cis male heterosexual ones.

That was disheartening, like, we want to care for this patient, but how could you care for a patient that doesn’t even respect you?”

One article by Reuters found that fictional depictions of male nurses may reinforce stereotypes of male nurses being “gay” or “unmasculine.”

“Male nursing, like in general in society, is sort of viewed as a feminine role,” said ER technician and DePaul nursing student Matthew Goggin. “So it’s not viewed as particularly prestigious or attractive. Like in the Ben Stiller movie, ‘Meet the Parents.’ He’s a nurse and the dad picks on him about it.”

While Goggin has seen depictions of family being skeptical of male nurses in media, he has not experienced that during his career change.

“I feel like I have not personally experienced that at all,” Goggin said. “Everyone has been very supportive. Maybe I’m lucky to start my nursing career during Covid when like, everyone is giving all the love to nurses.”

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

Mark Comia, a graduate assistant at DePaul’s School of Nursing, listens to the heartbeat of a mannequin as practice for clinicals.

Demand for nurses, regardless of gender, is projected to increase 9 percent from 2020 to 2030, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, an article from Southern New Hampshire University notes that there are more men in nursing now than in any time in history, with 12 percent of registered nurses identifying as men.

At DePaul, the School of Nursing is seeing what must be done to create and foster an inclusive environment.

Dr. Kashica Webber-Ritchey works as the chair of the Curriculum Committee, which oversees the School of Nursing’s curriculum.

“We always want to create within nursing, an inclusive environment so we can prevent those stereotypes,” Webber-Ritchey said. “We still have some work to do, beKIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA cause those types of stereotypes still exist.”

As part of addressing stereotypes and Nursing students Mark Comia and Matthew Goggin place a pad underneath a mannequin. creating a more inclusive environment for riculum prepares future nurses for interact- of like debunking disparities and like stereoall students, Webber-Ritchey and the Cur- ing with people of different backgrounds. types and prejudice,” Comia said. “We can riculum Committee implemented a diver“I think we are creating nurses who talk about it all day, but some people want sity statement in the School of Nursing’s are, you know, globally competitive, who data, some people are more critical and anahandbook. are competent, and nurses who know how lytical in a sense that, if there is no data, it is “There was a slogan by Florence Night- to deal with different types of people from not happening. I think it just takes like one ingale, where it’s like, ‘every woman is a all backgrounds. So I think that’s what it of those things where like, ‘if no one’s going nurse.’ And so we have to move past that,” is, that our nurses are prepared,” Gonzales to do it, who is?’ kind of thing.”

Webber-Ritchey said. “Nursing is inclusive said. “That’s why it does not matter whethComia’s path in debunking stereotypes to everyone — we want everyone to be a er they’re male, female or, you know, gen- and prejudice begins on the nursing floor: as nurse, nurses are males and females, and der fluid, that patients accept their care, just part of his duties during his pediatric rotayou know, and also outside of just gender because I think one factor is our nurses are tion, one of Comia’s responsibilities is swadidentity, we want an inclusive environment.” going into the nursing field prepared, know- dling babies. He also teaches the fathers of Within the School of Nursing, professor ing how to interact with different types of newborns how to swaddle their children as Gre Gonzales teaches in the master’s Entry people.” well. to Nursing Practice program. In Gonzales’ Despite the negative encounters Comia “Dads seeing male nurses too also kind 12 years of practicing as a nurse, he has not has had, he is glad he has chosen the right of brightens my day, because I’m just glad encountered issues relating to his gender — profession for himself and hopes that the that they’re seeing a change,” Comia said. but he attributes that to Chicago’s geograph- number of male nurses in the field contin- “They’re not just like hearing that there are ical setting and changes in thinking. ues to grow. He also hopes to make a posi- male nurses, they are actually seeing male “I think, in general, people are just more tive impact in the field following his master’s nurses on the floor, and being just as adeaccepting of everyone,” Gonzales said. “At program. quate and caring and loving as any other the end of the day, it doesn’t have anything “I know for myself that I’m going to go nurses, regardless of gender and sex.” to do with your role. It’s really how you in- back and continue my education again after teract with people, how you care for them finishing this master’s program, and I’m goand how you respect them.” ing to be thinking of like ways to like incorGonzales believes DePaul’s nursing cur- porate, like some sort of like a male course

ONE, INC. V. OLESEN (1958) WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SUPREME COURT CASES TO CONSIDER LGBTQ RIGHTS IN A FREEDOM OF SPEECH CASE. THE COURT VALIDATED THE RIGHT TO PUBLISH LGBTQ MEDIA.

6 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

Protesters dressed as handmaids walk silently down Jackson Avenue on March 8. Their outfits reference “Handmaid’s Tale,” a show popularized for its commentary on gender.

‘My body, my ch

Opinion: Roe v. Wade’s future is in dange

ALISON SCHULTZ | THE DEPAULIA

Protesters gather for the “RiseUp4AbortionRights” rally outside the DePaul Center.

some women don’t even know that they are pregnant, or they are at risk of their

By Erik Uebelacker pregnancy, until the second trimester.”

Opinion Editor Considering the second trimester of pregnancy is between weeks 13 and 26, Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban Florida’s 15-week ban doesn’t leave women isn’t encouraging for the future of reprowith much time should they decide or ductive rights in the United States. need to have an abortion.

On March 3, the Florida’s Senate Mississippi has a very similar law that passed a bill banning abortions after 15 limits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnanweeks of pregnancy. The measure will take cy.

The 15-week ban is a direct challenge effect on July 1 pending the approval of to the Roe v. Wade landmark case, as the Gov. Ron DeSantis, a pro-life Republican, time frame is about who is expected to two months earlier sign it into law. than it, and later The bill’s only decisions, allow. stated exceptions “Yes, it does to the 15-week re[violate Roe v. striction are in cases Wade], ” Jo Greep, where the mother the director of is at risk of death or communications for serious “irreversPlanned Parenthood ible” injury, or if of Illinois, wrote the fetus has a fatal in an email to The defect. It includes DePaulia. “But the no exceptions for Supreme Court is victims of sexual assault.

Director of the Refugee and refusing to take action against blatantThe bill’s sponForced Migration Program ly unconstitutional sor, State Senator laws like this one.”

Kelli Stargel, deThe ban in Misfended this exclusissippi was enacted in 2018 by their state sion. She told fellow lawmakers on March legislature, but never went into full effect 4 that she rejected the premise that a “child after a federal appellate court blocked should be killed because of the circumits enforcement. In 2020, the Mississippi stances in which it was conceived.” appeal moved up to the Supreme Court, It’s a disturbing trend in American where the legality of the 15-week ban is politics right now, with several other state expected to be ruled on later this year. legislatures considering measures limiting President Joe Biden has nominated women’s rights and access to abortions.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace reFlorida’s 15-week ban is just the latest tiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer on the example of this.

Supreme Court.

But even if he successfully “Most defects or dangers to the mother appoints Jackson, the Court will still have are not detected until the second trimesa 6-to-3 conservative majority. ter,” said Kathleen Arnold, director of the With the conservative tendencies of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies the Court’s justices, and states like Florida Program at DePaul University. “When they and Mississippi pushing for more restrictry to ban any abortion after a certain time tive measures, Roe v.

Wade is at serious period, most of the legislators know that

“I’m not optimistic about lawmakers on the Supreme Court now at all.”

Kathleen Arnold

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

Protesters line up before walking to the Dirksen Federal Building on Dearborn Street.

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

A woman shouts to support the protesters’ mission as they pass by.

The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022. | 7

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

Protesters lie down to show their support in a motion they called the “die down.”

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

DePaul freshman Laura Stream speaks to the crowd in front of the DePaul Center.

hoice, my right’

er with Florida’s 15-week abortion ban risk of being weakened or overturned.

“I’m not optimistic about lawmakers or the Supreme Court right now at all,” Arnold said. “The true path is resistance, that’s how there’s going to be any positive outcome.”

Arnold acknowledged that Roe v.

Wade’s protection of abortion rights has already been weakened in recent judicial history.

Initially under Roe v. Wade, the Court decided that states couldn’t interfere with abortion during the first trimester, but they can regulate it during the second to protect women’s health, and possibly even ban abortion during the third trimester.

That changed in 1992, when Planned Parenthood v. Casey’s decision allowed states to interfere at any point during the pregnancy. States can do this for one of two reasons: protection of the potential fetal life, or protection of women’s health and safety, as long as it doesn’t present an “undue burden” for women seeking an abortion.

So Roe v. Wade has been weakened in the past, which is what makes upcoming Supreme Court action on abortion so important for the future of reproductive rights.

Should the Supreme Court deem the 15-week ban constitutional in 2022, it could quickly limit abortion access nationwide. It could also have detrimental effects on some states’ healthcare systems.

“It’s extremely discouraging,” said DePaul health sciences senior Becca Rodenkirch. “The Florida ban is going to increase the number of health disparities and inequities we see, especially in marginalized communities.”

Abortion rates don’t actually drop when it’s outlawed, according to a 2020 study from the Guttmacher Institute. The procedure simply becomes more dangerous. Performing illegal abortions or traveling to areas where they are legal become the only options for women not wishing to carry their pregnancy to term.

The latter is what leads to the inequities Rodenkirch referenced. Having to travel out of state for an abortion could stretch healthcare sites thin in the states where the practice remains legal. This would be most detrimental to marginalized communities that already face inequities in healthcare.

“If Roe falls, 26 states could quickly ban abortion, including every state that borders Illinois, and leave millions of people without access to abortion where they live,” Greep wrote.

Illinois is already preparing to have to function as a haven for abortion patients.

Several surrounding states, including Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky, already have unenforced “trigger” laws that would automatically ban abortions if Roe v. Wade were overturned. Twelve states in total have these laws in place.

Considering about 70 percent of Americans oppose overturning Roe v.

Wade, it’s disappointing that state lawmakers are focused on abortion bans when there are so many pressing issues facing Americans. Economic inequality continues to worsen, and our nation’s infrastructure is insufficient. But in 2022, many legislators choose to prioritize limiting reproductive rights.

“It feels like we’re moving backwards in terms of progress towards having safe, equitable, and accessible healthcare for everyone,”Rodenkirch said.

EMILY SOTO | THE DEPAULIA

A protest participant shares the story of her abortion with fake period blood on her pants.

ALISON SCHULTZ | THE DEPAULIA

A man speaks to the crowd in support of women’s abortion rights at the rally.

ROE V. WADE (1973) IS THE MOST FAMOUS SUPREME COURT CASE REGARDING ABORTION RIGHTS. THE CASE MADE THE RIGHT TO ABORTION “FUNDAMENTAL” AND REINFORCED THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN REGARD TO A WOMAN’S BODY.

Blast from the past

8 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

Former female sports editors reflect on their time at The DePaulia

for the camera, which Bower led the charge in directing.

Sports Editor “I was always really appreciative of and imEleven years ago, many pressed with how hard she things looked different worked,” McLaughlin said. for The DePaulia. Oliver “She was constantly doing Purnell had recently been stuff, constantly writing, named DePaul’s men’s constantly reaching out to basketball head coach and the athletics people, playthe newsroom office was ers, trying to put together located in the Lincoln Park more stories, just always campus. one. I don’t think there However, many things was ever any idle time with are the same. Doug Bruno her.” is still at the helm of the Bower’s title may have women’s basketball team been assistant sports editor, and I’m the first female but McLaughlin considered sports editor since Cheryl her to be a co-editor after Waity over a decade ago. all the work they put into Now, Waity and former the section together. assistant sports editor “With both Meghan Meghan Bower take a and Cheryl, I always felt look back on their time at like the paper and the The DePaulia as the last sports section were in good female editors of the sports hands,” McLaughlin said. section.

“Reliable, great judgement, As a fifth-year DePaul always worked really hard, student, Waity was on the and I felt comfortable that DePaulia staff for four if I messed up or made years and served as the eda mistake, one of them itor-in-chief in her senior would catch me, which is year. She took over the the best feeling you can position of sports editor in have with other editors and her fifth year, during the colleagues.”

2011-12 school year, when After DePaul, Bower the staff needed someone took her love of hockey for the position, and she and shifted right into the enjoyed college sports role of public relations enough to be willing to manager for the Chicago step into the role.

Blackhawks, where she “My experience was worked for nearly six years. good for the role,” Waity Now, she works for the said. “I do love sports, I Chicago Bears as director love college basketball, so of corporate communicait worked out fine, but I tions, using the same skills didn’t see myself going into she built from her time on sports ever.”

The DePaulia staff.

Waity never felt slight“I can’t take credit for ed as a woman covering this, of course, but I was at sports at The DePaulia, and the Blackhawks when we enjoyed working with a Doug Bruno and Oliver Purnell were on the cover of the 2010-2011 Basketball Issue. Megan Bower designed the won [The Stanley Cup] in DePaul athletic department that 2013 and 2015,” Bower said. edition with Shaymus McLaughlin, the Sports Editor at the time, while Cheryl Waity was Editor-in-Chief. had women in high positions of “Being able to experience the power. To her, the biggest issue championship is something was trying to interview basketball playthat a lot of people, whether they’re staff ers who were over a foot and a half taller or players or owners or whatever, we than her 5-foot-3 frame. never get to do, so to be able to be a part Since she was in different posiof that was really amazing.” tions, she was not as sports-focused as Bower was also given the opportunity other sports editors, but the experience to cover the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 allowed her to gain important skills in for the National Hockey League. At the covering sports that served her well for World Cup, some of the best hockey players a future in journalism. from around the world played for their “Getting that experience in sports national teams and being able to work at the was really helpful and it looked good,” event was a dream come true for the hockey Waity said, “It definitely served me lover. well in the future because I did work While Waity and Cheryl went down COURTESY OF DEPAUL SPJ | PHOTO BRENDAN LEAHY | PHOTO at smaller community news organizadifferent paths following their time as Cheryl Waity served as The DePaulia Megan Bower served as The DePaulia tions coming out of school, and in those editors of the sports section, both have sports editor from 2011-2012.

Assistant Sports Editor from 2010-2011. cases, you do really need to be a jack of accomplished many things in their careers.

2010-11 school year, where she worked with all trades.” a week or two before the college basketball They both remain appreciative of their time After graduating from DePaul, Waity the sports editor at the time, Shaymus Mcseason begins -- is the most important issue at The DePaulia because every late night Laughlin, while Waity was editor-in-chief. went on to work as a community news that they will put out all year and for Bower and printed issue helped them build the “For me, it was a great way to get some producer before working as an editor. and McLaughlin, the focus of the issue was skills that they needed to get where they are kind of real-world experience,” Bower said.

She is now the senior editor and designhanded to them when Purnell was hired the today.

“And then also improving your writing and er for TCA for the Tribune Publishing year they were on the staff.

“We had a great team with ourselves finding ways to come up with creative stoCompany.

Bower and McLaughlin spent hours as the editors and then with the writing rylines but also that were easy to understand going back and forth on cover ideas before Unlike Waity, Bower’s life centered staff, so that was a great experience,” for a variety of audiences and a lot of other around sports from an early age. She grew deciding to have both Purnell and Bruno Bower said. “I look back on it very transferable skills like balancing strangers up in a family that loved sports, especially on the front page of the special issue, and fondly. I actually still have all the issues and learning how to talk to strangers.” hockey, and she carried that love into her then had to approach the coaches and we put out in a box somewhere in my For any DePaulia sports editor, the basposition on the newspaper staff. explain their ideas to them, which involved house, so it was a great experience.” ketball edition -- which usually comes out She stepped into the role during the the coaches standing together and posing

By Darcy Waskiewicz

The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022. | 9

Lingering in the shadows Students look back on stalking experiences, experts assess why stalking occurs

Products don’t need to be gendered

By Leslie Williamson Contributing Writer

By Kiersten Riedford Focus Editor

One in six women and about one in 17 men have experienced stalking in their lifetime, according to a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC].

Nearly 54 percent of female victims and 41 percent of male victims experienced stalking before the age of 25. About one in four female stalking victims and about one in five male stalking victims were first stalked before age 18, the CDC analysis found.

Social media has become one of the newer and more common ways stalkers will victimize people, Megan Greeson, an associate professor of psychology at DePaul, said.

“Any repeated unwanted harassing and threatening contacts are a form of stalking,” Greeson said. “Each time a new method of communication occurs, stalkers can use that.

Now stalking can occur on social media. I think about [United States Representative for New York] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent figures, especially women of color, and the huge amount of stalking, including physical threats, they experience on social media, in part because social media allows more people to reach them.”

DePaul freshman Emma Kate Bretzlaff, 18 years old, said she was a victim of stalking as a result of social media when she was 14 years old.

She said she gained the affection of a 17-year-old male junior, whose feelings seemed more obsessive than a simple crush, Bretzlaff realizes in retrospect.

The boy initially came off as kind, but after a while Bretzlaff said he would randomly appear wherever she was. A coincidence, that’s all it was, she thought. She said she thought everything was fine until she started noticing him in every place she was.

When she would walk home, she could hear his skateboard gliding across the nearby pavement. She would look back and there he was, only to quickly vanish as his cover was blown. Bretzlaff said there were even times he would follow her back to her house and circle the block she lived on.

The sound of skateboard wheels became ingrained in her head.

Bretzlaff said after a period of limited communication on social media with the boy, she noticed he stopped appearing, or so it seemed.

“My friend and I are at the park and one of us put a selfie of us on our story,” Bretzlaff said. “I look up and he’s circling the park, just watching. We’re scared to leave because he’s just circling and circling.”

Eventually, the boy left Bretzlaff alone and went on to be interested in her friend, who was 13 years old.

Bretzlaff is not the only one at DePaul who has been stalked. DePaul freshman Jonah Elbaum said he was also stalked through social media at a young age.

Elbaum, now 19 years old, said he was stalked when he was 15 years old by a girl in a theater program he was involved in outside of school. She was also 15 years old.

Elbaum said he participated in theater programs every Friday at the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle, Wash., which is where he met the girl.

Elbaum said the girl pushed herself into his core group of friends every Friday, even going as far as adding herself into the group chat they had. He said the

RESOURCES If in immediate danger, call 911.

DePaul Public Safety is available 24/7, officials said.

If someone is not sure if they are being stalked, they can still talk to these resources to help them sort through their experiences and what measures will help protect them, officials advised.

Additional resources are local domestic violence agencies like Connections for Abused Women and Children or the National DV Hotline 800-799-7233.

night things began to get even weirder was when his friend group went out to see Mary Poppins, and she decided to sit next to him.

“We sat next to each other. I fell asleep and I woke up and she was holding my hand,” Elbaum said. “I moved my hand away and after that we stopped talking for a while.”

Though there was a moment of disconnect in communication, Elbaum said the girl started randomly FaceTiming him on Instagram every day. Eventually, she told him over the phone that she had a crush on him.

“I was like, ‘I told you I have a girlfriend.

Can you please stop talking to me?’” Elbaum said.

After that experience, Elbaum said he stopped responding to her but she would still send him about 15 posts on Instagram a day.

She would even text him “I miss you,” “How are you?” “Why aren’t you talking to me?”

To counteract the situation Elbaum blocked the girl on everything but even with him blocking her, he said she still didn’t get the hint.

Elbaum said she began to ask his friends for his phone number.

“I got about 20 messages from my friends asking about that,” Elbaum said. “What I think happened was she went to my [theater]

ALICIA GOLUSZKA | THE DEPAULIA

show and got the program so she contacted everyone on the cast list asking for my phone number.”

A while later Elbaum went back to the Fifth Avenue Theater and saw the girl. He said following that night his parents contacted the Fifth Avenue Theater program leaders and they created restrictions so she could not be near him.

Greeson said there are a multitude of reasons why someone becomes a stalker. But, she said, a large part is the ability to have control over someone.

“Stalking is a form of power and control,” Greeson said. “By monitoring the victim and engaging in repeated unwanted contact, the stalker is using their power to control the victim.”

She said it originates from “a sense of entitlement — they feel that they have a right to do this even though their victim does not want them to and feels harassed and afraid.”

Another reason stalkers are becoming more common is that society is accepting stalking as putting up a good fight to win someone over, Greeson said.

“As a culture, we glorify repeatedly contacting someone who you want to date as romantic, like good on you for not giving up,” Greeson said. “But in reality, that person is ignoring what the other person wants and that’s a major red flag. We need to teach people starting at a young age that if someone doesn’t want to date you, then you accept them and do not contact them against their will.”

Bretzlaff said an important place to start to protect oneself and others is to tell a trusted person when a person seems off.

“There is nothing too little to speak up about,” Bretzlaff said. “Don’t wait until it becomes big. If someone is just giving you weird looks and maybe saying something off-putting, say something. Even if it’s just to a friend or to a professor, tell someone when it’s small because your gut is always right.”

Gender is something people experience every day but other daily experiences like washing faces, styling hair and getting dressed up are also being tied into identity.

The gender binary in products isn’t subtle. Shopping for personal care items often means choosing between bright feminine branding or “manly” fragrances like “phoenix” and “anarchy.”

Even though marketing traditionally instructs shoppers to stick to either masculine or feminine products, consumers know they don’t have to listen to those guidelines.

Products like clothing and hair care offer options open to all genders but skincare and makeup are often marketed to one.

“Skincare is just all geared towards women instead of men,” senior Julie Kappas said.

While Kappas tends to stick to products geared to her own gender, she said she’d like to see more gender-neutral products. “[Skincare] doesn’t seem like it needs to be gendered,” she said. “Men have skin, they need to take care of it.”

But taking care of your skin can be hard to do if product marketing excludes your demographic.

“There’s a stigma,” sophomore Adam Wang said.

Wang said he buys haircare products from the women’s section but other men have told him he’d be ridiculed.

More brands are starting to deliberately go against marketing products based on gender.

Singer Harry Styles’ new brand Pleasing is an example of making skincare inclusive.

The male singer’s product line includes skin serums and nail polish and aims them towards all identities.

Like Styles, freshman Matthew Warakomski enjoys wearing nail polish and jewelry.

“It is nice to hear,” Warakomski said about brands breaking gender norms.

“While I don’t mind donning feminine things at times, I know other people will.”

While gender-neutral products may make traditionally feminine products more approachable to men, they also fill the gap in the market for nonbinary people.

“It does put a lot of pressure on people, especially those in the transgender and the nonbinary community,” Warakomski said.

“Being forced to pick one [gender] is not allowing them to be true to themselves and that’s not fair.”

“We have to evolve to meet that standard,” Warakomski said.

Larger brands like Old Navy are adapting. There is now a “gender-neutral” on their website. Pacsun also has a “unisex” tab, showcasing clothing items curated without gender in mind.

For personal care products, natural deodorant and body care brand Native lists all their scents together and without labels.

“I think getting rid of that whole idea [of gendered products] will do more than just make people feel more comfortable in their own skin,” Warakomski said. “It’ll show I’m not subscribing to the roles that you’re putting upon me. I’m so much more than just my gender.”

THEN, IN 2015, A LANDMARK CASE WAS DECIDED FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS. OBERGEFELL V. HODGES (2015) MADE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LEGAL, EXTENDING ALL THE SAME RIGHTS TO LGBTQ COUPLES AS STRAIGHT COUPLES.

10 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

CLASSES TO DIAPERS DePaul student parents want more resources, university lacks

By Nadia Hernandez News Editor

Student parents are fighting for more visibility and resources at DePaul, including priority registration, syllabus statements and more community sustainability.

These parents join together in a group called Mocha, which started in 2019 as a result of a Women and Gender Studies class taught by assistant professor Heather Montes-Ireland about Mothering and Reproductive Justice. Mocha looks to connect, offer support and dismantle barriers for student parents at DePaul, and is run as a program through the Women’s Center at DePaul.

Mocha does not have full student organization status. Previous DePaulia reporting has showcased DePaul’s lack of educational resources as well.

Senior Ilse Archiniega was taking courses while pregnant during her second year at DePaul. She was left unaware about any resources available to her both before and after she had her daughter.

“I wasn’t aware of what resources were established,” she said. “I quickly realized that

Graduate student Logan Owens had to outsource childcare in order to balance school and parent life. Sometimes they would get creative.

“My friend sat in my car in fall quarter this year for 20 minutes until my husband could come pick up our children from her,” Owens said. “There was one time when I was in the community college where I had to go in for a special seminar and I paid another student $10 to watch my kids in the hallway.”

Illinois does not consider students pursuing higher education as work after they receive an associate’s degree. Parents are also not eligible for childcare subsidies in Illinois if they both make minimum wage in Cook County.

This has created a large gap between what student parents can afford versus what they’re actually earning.

“We paid like the cheapest daycare possible because they negotiated the rates for us,’’ Owens said. “It was $500 a week. It was over twice what our rent was for a one bedroom apartment.”

The lack of childcare forces students to

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

Logan Owens, graduate student and parent, said they are worried by DePaul’s lack of care. there wasn’t a lot of flexibility with my schedule.”

On average, one in five college students are raising children while in school, according to NPR. DePaul does not track the number of student parents or caregivers enrolled, but students have the option to disclose that information, according to Associate Provost for Student Success Caryn Chaden.

“It is up to a student parent or caregiver to share information about their own situation with the Office of Gender Equity or others at DePaul,” Chaden said in an email to The DePaulia.

Even if a student does, the university does not track them to give updates or offer support throughout time.

“How are you supposed to provide the highest aid for this group if you don’t know how many of us are currently active at DePaul,” Archiniega said.

On campus child care Unlike other Chicago universities, such as Northwestern, University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola, DePaul does not have on-campus child care centers, affiliated child care or child care subsidies for staff and students. The Ray Meyer Fitness Center has children’s programs but not explicit childcare.

On average, Illinois families in 2020 cost $1,150 and $864 to place infants and fouryear-olds in center based child care a month, according to Procare Solutions.

choose if they go to class or be with their children.

“The cost of childcare and good quality childcare, arranging for that can be really difficult,” Montes Ireland said. “Would we prefer a student not come to class if we’re not willing to provide childcare?”

This is also dividing across lines of race, class and gender.

“If we’re not thinking about what it means to be a student and also be a caregiver in that broader context right, then we are actually really missing the experiences and the struggles of so many of the students,” Montes-Ireland said.

Scheduling Stress The lack of child care support has caused additional strain for student parents due to scheduling issues. Owens wanted to pursue a double major but couldn’t because required classes had few available meeting times during virtual learning.

“There was like one required class that they were only offering at like 11:20 a.m. twice a week,” they said. “My kids want to nap at 12 p.m. every single day. My daughter was still in diapers when the pandemic started. It was not doable.”

Archiniega would schedule her entire day around specific classes. She said that a few class options required her to stay on campus all day.

“There was only one class option offered for one course that I needed,” she said. “Last quarter I was at school from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

Ann Russo, director of the Women’s Center, speaks to Mocha club members at a meeting. and it was so terrible.”

First-year Parveen Mundi’s younger brother was born during her sophomore year of highschool. As a result, she quit her extracurriculars in order to take on the role as a caregiver. She currently wants to change majors, but the lack of class options makes scheduling difficult because she returns to Schaumburg three days a week to care for her brother.

“Even in terms of scheduling classes, it’s really annoying trying to build your schedule around what days can I be on campus and come to these classes or go between Lincoln Park and the Loop and what days am I just not available,” she said.

Student athletes and some disabled students are able to receive priority registration for classes, but that has not been extended to student parents. There is also no university-wide policy requiring professors to have statements in their syllabi for student parents and attendance accommodations.

“Reasonable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis by the faculty or staff member working with the student, in conjunction with documentation from the Office of Gender Equity,” Chaden said.

Not every professor will issue accommodations for student parents about attendance and late work, leaving little to no accommodations.

“The very day my thesis is due, my daughter has to go to the emergency room,” Owens said. “I took the day off work to put my daughter in the hospital instead of finishing my citation.”

Archiniega did receive some medical accommodations when she was taking courses while pregnant; however, not every professor was willing to work with her.

“I had a really tough pregnancy with my

daughter and I was in and out of the hospital,” she said. “I remember seeing an email and [the professor] stated in very little words that ‘My class is very vigorous’, and [he’s] not sure I should be able to handle the challenges of it. I remember feeling very upset. A lot of professors are very dismissive and they’re like, ‘Why are you even here?’”

As a result, Archiniega was determined to participate as much as she could to bust the myth that student parents couldn’t succeed.

“I’m going to stay in this class, I’m going to participate,” she said.

Mundi said that she was concerned about missing class and assignments due to being a caregiver as well. Depending on the class, attendance can make up a significant part of grades.

“I think almost all my classes weigh class presence for grades,” Mundi said. “I’m going miss my class because I spent the entire weekend being a caregiver. “ The DePaulia recently reported on an effort from the Student Government Association (SGA) to provide zoom options for all classes. This could provide more flexibility for student parents and caregivers.

“I don’t see how offering a way for students to sign into a zoom class while everyone else is in the classroom where there’s a couple people who can still talk online is a drastic change that is unacceptable,” Mundi said.

Chaden said that there are no federal protections for caregivers and they may be unable to receive accommodations.

“The Office of Gender Equity and Title IX office do not extend accommodations to caregivers because ‘caregiver’ is not a term outlined under the federal Title IX regulations and often is used in broader referenc-

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

Brenda Washington, Mocha member, said there should be more student parent representation.

The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022. | 11

KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA

Ilse Archiniega, DePaul student and parent, said Mocha will be presenting at the next faculty council meeting to discuss putting student parent needs on professors’ syllabi. es beyond pregnancy,” she said.

Unsustainability Without organization status, Mocha members worry that the organization could easily disappear. Mocha does not have enough members to be considered an official student organization on DeHUB which raises issues on how the club will continue after these members graduate.

“How does this become a sustainable continuation rather than something that’s going to stop whenever we don’t have whatever is motivating us to keep us here?” Owens said.

In 2015, there was a student organization called Parents of Little Ones (POLO) that disbanded yet is still listed as a resource. There are also two scholarships that are no longer active. Chaden confirmed that DePaul does not offer scholarships for student parents, but there are two external Offices of Gender & Equity.

Owens had met with a DePaul staff member to potentially revive POLO but it would have relied entirely on them.

“My husband lost his job literally in between the time I emailed [staff] and when we had our meeting scheduled,” Owens said.

“I cannot run a club. I didn’t even know if I would be able to stay in school. That’s unsustainable. This is like a huge systemic issue.”

Mocha is the only active resource offered at DePaul for caregivers as well. They also encourage allies to come as well.

“Half the resources [DePaul] refer you to don’t even exist anymore,” Mundi said. “I think part of the reason why DePaul doesn’t do it is maybe because they just don’t have any resources to give you.”

The current members are strained to sustain the only active resource for student parents at DePaul.

“I think about all the money I’ve lost not working, attending these meetings, where we don’t even have enough people to become an actual student organization,” Owens said. “It’s a lot of stress. I don’t want it to be that way.”

Creating change SGA is working towards initiatives that would allow student parents and caregivers to receive priority registration. Chaden also confirmed there are “ongoing” conversations about resources for “students experiencing a variety of circumstances.”

Mocha is also looking to present at the next Faculty Council meeting about adding student parent and caregiver statements onto syllabi listing resources, such as other syllabi statements about disability and counseling.

“Our syllabus doesn’t have any contexts in which someone could say here are the resources we have for student parents,” Archiniega said.

Montes-Ireland has a statement on her syllabi stating, “my goal is to create a welcoming environment that is respectful of all forms of diversity, including diversity in parenting and caregiving status.”

“The struggles of balancing school, childcare and another job are exhausting,” Montes-Ireland’s statement said. “I hope you will feel comfortable disclosing your student-parent or caregiver status to me so that you may feel supported as you strive for school and parenting balance.”

Mocha will continue to spread awareness and create community for student parents, caregivers and allies.

“It’s just us, there’s no allies, there’s nobody there to be in [a]community, to build community with us,” Owens said. “That’s the key component that I want to bring back.”

DATA ON DAYCARE

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN NOMINATED KETANJI BROWN JACKSON TO THE SUPREME COURT ON FEB. 25. IF SHE IS CONFIRMED, JACKSON WOULD BE THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO SERVE ON THE COURT.

12 | The Gender Issue. The DePaulia. March 14, 2022.

EQUALITY IN THE COURT ROOM

By Jackson Healy & Nika Schoonover Nation & World Editor & Managing Editor

Roe v. Wade (1973) Held that the state cannot interfere with a woman’s decision to have an abortion without a compelling interest.

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Held that a “right to privacy” exists in individual’s right to make decisions about personal matters such as childbearing and invalidates state law that prohibits the prescription, sale or use of contraceptives, even for married couples.

Calfano v. Goldfarb (1977)

Meritor Savings v. Vinson (1986)

Held that sex-based distinctions in the payment of social security survivor benefits were invalid, arguing they were based on antiquated notions of women’s dependency

Held that sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII.

Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993)

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

Held that plaintiffs in sexual harassment claims do not have to prove psychological injury, only that a reasonable person would find the conduct hostile or abusive

Preserves the constitutional right to have an abortion as distinguished in “Roe v. Wade” but replaces the “Roe” standard with the less protective “undue burden” standard of review for evaluating state restrictions on abortion.

Jackson v. Birmingham (2005)

Ledbetter v. Goodyear (2007)

Held that retaliating against a person who has complained of sex discrimination counts as a form of intentional sex discrimination under Title IX

As a result of this case, Former President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in 2009, which allowed victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government within 180 days of their last paycheck.

SOURCE: THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION