Au Revoir, French Girl

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By Reese Bentzinger

My career goals constantly changed in college. One class could make me go from journalist to anthropologist. But who I wanted to be was never in doubt: The French Girl.

You’ve seen her, maybe followed several versions of her on Instagram. Despite lacking filters, her photos are perfect. She always manages to catch perfect lighting while drinking wine by the Seine. She’s skinny, yet wrinkles her nose at the thought of diet and exercise. Every night she manages to tangle herself in spontaneous adventures even though she’d prefer to be at home with her books.

She’s imperfect, and she knows it. That’s why she’s perfect.

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Babe Monthly: July — State abortion law wins; transgender rights; #FreeBritney & more

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By Emily Park

At Catcall, we’re all about turning catcalling on its head and calling out the patriarchy with stories that inspire the shes, theys, gays and highlight the work that needs to be done to dismantle systemic inequalities. We’re proud to bring you the July edition of Babe Monthly with the major headlines, stories, and stats in feminist news that have surfaced over the last month. 

THE ROAD TO EQUALITY….

THE GOOD

VA to cover gender-confirmation surgery for transgender veterans for the first time

During a Pride Month event in Orlando, Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announced that for the first time in history, the department will offer gender-confirmation surgery to veterans through its healthcare coverage. The change is expected to go through within the next two years. Read more here.

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Badass Literary Babes: Educated & Where the Crawdads Sing

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By Emily Park

Before the pandemic hit, I could count the number of books I read for my own enjoyment (at least since I graduated from high school in 2015) on one hand.

When I was a child, I almost always had my nose in a book. I read from the time I got home from school, to the time I fell asleep. I read up in the tree in my backyard. I read nestled in my bedroom closet. I read under the covers with a flashlight. I read under my desk at school. Book after book. 

As I grew up and got distracted by other things, I lost that hunger for books that I used to have. But over the last year, I have found it again, and I have met some inspiring, strong, badass babes among those pages—both real and fictional—I’m excited to tell you about.

In this first installment of Badass Literary Babes, I’ll introduce you to the first two babes I met when I started my rediscovery of literature last year.

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Babe Weekly: The Symbolism of Sarah Everard’s murder, Michelle Obama, the relationship between COVID, race, and gender & more

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By Emily Park

At Catcall, we’re all about turning catcalling on its head and calling out the patriarchy with stories that inspire the shes, theys, gays and highlight the work that needs to be done to dismantle systemic inequalities. We’re proud to bring you the Babe Weekly with the latest headlines, stories, and stats in feminist news.

The road to equality

Arkansas Passes Near-Total Abortion Ban — And A Possible ‘Roe V. Wade’ Test 

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans into law on March 9. The bill — which could challenge Roe v. Wade — prohibits all abortions except in cases where terminating a pregnancy is necessary preserve the life of the pregnant person Read more here.

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I didn’t have COVID-19, but I almost died because of it

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By Emily Park

Around Thanksgiving, I found myself sure that the COVID test I had just taken was going to come back positive—an assumption that came very close to ending my life at 23 years old. Because of the pandemic, I waited far too long to seek medical attention and experienced delays in my care due to the hospital being overwhelmed by the virus.

I had all of the major symptoms the CDC had been drilling into our heads for the last nine months: shortness of breath, a cough, body aches, an elevated temperature, severe exhaustion, an increased heart rate—the works. But it also turns out that all of the above are also symptoms of a pulmonary embolism (aka blood clots in the lungs), which is the third most common cause of cardiac death.

After a few days of symptoms, I had a virtual visit with my doctor who strongly predicted the COVID test she ordered would come back positive. I was only 23, had no history of clots, and COVID was rapidly spreading through the community. There wasn’t much reason to assume it was anything besides the virus.

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