Radical Body Politics for Women
by Kirsten Anderberg - www.kirstenanderberg.com, www.kanderberg.blogspot.com

Women's Body Esteem is big business. Billions of dollars are spent on the "weight loss industry" yearly. That industry is solely dependent on women's self-hatred. Women are reduced to size, told to be less, told to shed big chunks of themselves for acceptance. Likewise, the "beauty industry" has convinced millions of women that chemical crap on their faces, and plucked eyebrows that are drawn back on, is "beauty." Additionally, the "sanitary protection industry" is here to protect society and women from supposedly toxic and shameful menstrual fluids, that must be hidden and sanitized. May I suggest the very radical political action of robbing these industries of your body hatred dollars?

Street Medicine: Volunteers for Pepper Spraying?
by Kirsten Anderberg 2003

One of the legacies the WTO protests in Seattle, Wa. left behind is Street Medicine Organizations. First Aid is about what to do *first* in a medical emergency. Street First Aid incorporates basic first aid, but then expands it to include chemical weaponry aftercare and treatments for likely injuries at mass demonstrations. Most of the dozen or so "Action Medics" and street medicine organizations now in existance on the Web were self-admittedly inspired by the WTO police riots in Seattle. With the increasing frequency of political discontent and public protest, and the escalation of violent weaponry and the militarization of police forces in America, street first aid is a necessary field of study for concerned health care workers, as well as average citizenry (after all it is our children they are using these weapons on, not just us).

Is There A Legal Age for Political Dissent? Teens at Protests!
By Kirsten Anderberg

Teens and Protests. It is a touchy subject. Responsible sex education for teens is often painted by Republicans as “irresponsible promotion of premarital sex.� And I could see basic nonviolent protest training for teens having a “terrorist training� spin put on them, by America’s crazed Homeland Security Department. Just as it is cutting-edge work to get safer sex information out to teens, it is also controversial to train teens in nonviolent protest tactics, in direct action protocol, in street medicine, etc. What responsibility do adults in the activist community have to our activist teens, whose views may differ from their parents’?

Parenting versus Protesting: Are They Mutually Exclusive?
By Kirsten Anderberg 2004 (Reviewed on Utne.com right now)

Is it irresponsible to take children to political protests? Some argue it is a good experience for children to participate, first-hand, in political organizing, marches, protests, and the making of history. I am glad my mother took me, as a child, to civil rights protests, and actions against the Vietnam War, during the 1960’s and 1970’s. I do not believe textbooks can convey the feeling one gets when surrounded by riot police, while trying to peacefully demonstrate. I am glad I took my son to protests of the Gulf War in the 1990’s, and the Iraq War in 2003. I feel it was part of his education to see nonviolent free speech and riot police clash on his own city streets, while with his mom for safety. But could I really guarantee my son’s safety anywhere that riot police were present? Some argue that children should not be taken onto the front lines of American political change. But as an activist single mother, I could not just sit home, and not protest wars, simply because I had a child. And children are supposedly our hope for the future. Thus it seems essential to include them in our political struggles, if we want the issues to live longer than us. Are certain protests acceptable for children to attend, but not others? How does one determine which protest activities are appropriate for our children? How does a politically active parent balance their own needs to protest a war, for instance, with the responsibilities of parenting?