A Guide to Protesting Safely in the State of Florida

In light of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision on Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, we expect peaceful protests and demonstrations to take place across the state of Florida. While you may decide to attend a protest, prioritizing your safety and that of your peers is crucial. Follow these tips below to help keep our community safe!

Preparing for the protest

Before attending a protest, it is important to research the organization hosting the event. You should consider the conditions of protests they’ve hosted in the past, as this can indicate the level of preparation and safety planning that the organization will complete for the protest you hope to attend. You should also research what counter-protesters you will potentially encounter. It is important to know who these groups may be as well as their actions in the past, such as facilitating violent conflict between protestors and counter-protestors.

Utilizing the buddy system can further bolster your safety while at a protest by teaming up with trusted friends or family and coordinating a safety plan in case you are separated. While you may plan to go along, we encourage you to share your plans with a trusted person who is not going to the protest. This way you can periodically update your trusted person, and in the case of an emergency they will know approximately your last location.

Packing the necessary supplies for a protest can be overwhelming, so here is a list of necessity items that can improve your comfort and safety while at a protest, though this is not exhaustive:

• Water

• Snacks

• Sunscreen

• Hat

• Masks

• Hand sanitizer

During the protest

While at the protest, it is paramount that you remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings. Be sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicious or that may indicate the protest may become dangerous. At the first sign a protest will threaten your safety and potentially cause bodily harm, it is important to remove yourself and your party from the area. It is possible that you will encounter counter-protestors, but to protect yourself it is best practice to avoid direct contact with such groups.

In the age of technology and social media, it can be tempting to make a post showing that you are at a protest to show others the causes you are advocating for. However, we discourage you from making posts disclosing your location until after you have left the area. This way you are able to prevent others from using your active location for nefarious intentions. Also, be mindful of the privacy of other protestors who may get caught in your photo, so it is best to blur their faces and identifying information.

In the case that tear gas is used against protestors and you are exposed, it is crucial that you do not rub your eyes and that you use water to rinse out your eyes. Although milk is commonly used, because it is a base, it only neutralizes the teargas agent so it’s not removing the teargas from your eyes most efficiently. Instead, tilt your head to the side and use water to flush out your eyes.

In the weeks, we expect many people across the state of Florida to join in protests of Florida's increasingly restrictive and oppressive bans on abortion. While we are happy to see so many feminists joining in this collective cause, it is important that we first prioritize the safety of ourselves and our fellow protestors. After reading this guide, we hope that you feel more confident in your ability to prepare for participating in a protest while maintaining your safety and security.

How to be Single: Movie Review

As anyone who knows me could tell you, I love a lot of movies and most of them are pretty terrible. One of those movies is How to Be Single, a movie that I love and cherish while many critics called it “annoying” and “a movie version of a Buzzfeed quiz.” Still, though, how many movies are there with similar plotlines as How to Be Single and centered around single men are there? And how many of those are considered annoying, and don’t have their posters perpetually nailed to every frat boys walls (I’m looking at you, Hangover)? I’d wager to guess that list is much shorter than movies centered around single women, or just women in general.

How to Be Single is not a film that is going to make you question your mortality or whether we’re alone in the universe, but it is going to remind you that it’s okay to not be okay all the time and to make as many mistakes as you possibly can. Often times women and especially women of color are not given the same number of chances to make mistakes as men. An example that stands out for me is from the trailer for the film On the Basis of Sex, coming out Christmas Day, where they ask then Harvard Law student Ruth Bader Ginsburg to explain why she took a place that could have gone to a man. They expect her to feel lucky not that she has successfully passed through one of the most rigorous applications of any college in America, but because she successfully took something that was not rightfully hers. Women should be allowed to succeed, but they should also be allowed to fail. If you ignore the sex scene set to the Lil Jon banger “Turn Down for What,” How To Be Single is masterful in this pursuit and effectively gives women a roadmap on how to fail and how to get back up and do it all over again.

At the start of the film, protagonist Alice, played by Dakota Johnson (who also starred in the Fifty Shades trilogy which I demand everyone watch immediately), tells her boyfriend of four years that she needs to take a break to find herself. Rather than pull an Eat, Pray, Love and fly to India, though, she moves to New York City alone which is where she meets Robin, played by Rebel Wilson. Robin is not the kind of woman who apologizes, making her just the woman Alice needs in her life and she gives Alice the permission she needed to live however she wants to and constantly make mistakes. Often times as women and as women in college we evaluate situations and opportunities by all of the negative things that could come of them, ignoring all of the possibilities for success. As someone with anxiety, I am guilty of this constantly. I have seen internships and jobs that sound like my dream job, but I never go for them for fear of embarrassing myself or not succeeding. Really though, these should be the exact kinds of opportunities I should be chasing. Learning how to fail is important because it teaches you the skills you need to succeed. The love of your life shouldn't be some guy in your class who has cool hair and thinks saying “girls are, like, smart” is feminism or, in my case, Harry Styles; it should be yourself. So don't be afraid to take a difficult class, don't be afraid to realize that your major isn't actually what you want any more, don't be afraid to do things alone, don't be afraid to embrace yourself.

The Tampon Tax: Why Women Pay More for the Things They Can’t Control

Pic: https://metro.co.uk/2015/11/05/this-ad-campaign-perfectly-takes-the-piss-out-of-the-tampon-tax-5483092/#&gid=1&pid=1

Fun fact: In 40 of the 50 states, tampons and other menstrual products are considered “luxuries” and are therefore eligible to state sales taxes. You know what’s not taxed in most states? Chapstick. Vending machine food. Sunscreen. And Motherfucking Viagra.

Feminine hygiene products are not exempt from most state sales taxes, and are not considered medical necessities like prescription medications are. The “tampon tax” refers to the sales tax placed on feminine hygiene products because they’re categorized as “luxuries” instead of “necessities”.

To put it simply, women are unfairly taxed for something that they have no control over. And as liberating as “free-bleeding” is, tampons and pads are a necessity when it comes to simply going about our daily lives when we have our periods.

This tax can be seen as discriminatory because it really only affects those who experience periods, and have no choice but to spend money on products specifically designed for that time of the month.

It’s a frustrating concept, having to pay additional costs to an already costly recurrence. Personally, I despise my time of the month, because I usually have to shell out $10-$15 every couple of weeks for something that I really don’t want to be experiencing. This monthly expense is already a burden on our wallets, but it can be even more harmful to those who may not be able to afford these necessities on a monthly basis, especially in low-income situations when every dollar counts.

According to a 2015 experiment, women spend an average of $18,000 on everything period-related -- from tampons to new underwear -- in their lifetime. Imagine the things that can be done with that money if one wasn’t subjected to a couple day’s worth of bleeding every month for 30+ years. Honestly, I could put a downpayment on a nice apartment with that kind of money.

The good news: more and more states are passing legislation to make menstrual products tax-exempt. Florida excluded these products from sales taxes in January 2018, and is one of ten states to have done so.

So there’s progress. But for some, this might not be enough savings to really combat the expenses that having a period entails.

Thankfully, the University of Florida understands this monthly struggle, and under the initiative of Gators Matter, Period, more campus locations will be providing free menstrual products for students to use when “Aunt Flo” pays an unexpected visit. The UF Reitz information desk, the UF Infirmary, and various bathrooms in Library West and Marston Science Library will now be providing free menstrual products.