Internship Recap: Emily Stephens

By Emily Stephens
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Today, I complete my internship with the Feminist Majority Foundation as I finish the spring semester of my junior year at Georgetown. Through the FMF, I’ve had the opportunity to end so many events around DC and meet brilliant and powerful feminists from all backgrounds and identities.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the semester was being able to attend the Whole Women’s Health rally at the Supreme Court in February. I’d never before been to a reproductive justice protest where anti-choice protestors were not in the majority, so relaxing, listening to the speakers, and cheering wildly without keeping an eye on men with graphic pictures of fetuses creeping around the block. I’ll never forget the powerful grace of Cecile Richards and Ilyse Hogue hurrying down the steps of the Supreme Court, keeping step together as they came to address the crowd. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity, and showing up in a new round of stock photos, including on articles by NPR and Buzzfeed!

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Cecile Richards speaking at the Whole Women’s Health rally outside the Supreme Court

FMF’s shining star of the past four months was the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, held in the second week of March. I’ve never before been able to assist in pulling off a conference of such a large scale, and being able to participate in the planning of this kind of event was a novel and rewarding experience for me. Of course, moderating a panel on birth control with representatives from Bedsiders and Dr. Sophia Yen was also an eye-opening experience! The article Dr. Yen recommended, on the development of birth control, the Catholic church, and why people on oral contraception still have to have periods, turned out to be of much utility with the work I do with H*yas for Choice, a student-run reproductive justice organization that operates within the space of a Catholic university at Georgetown.

Within the office setting, the most rewarding project I worked on was also related to NYFLC. Each attendee had the chance to fill out a detailed feedback form where they expounded upon ideas to improve the conference and areas in which they thought NYFLC fell short. I took on the job of analyzing these results to determine how NYFLC can continue to improve every year and become a better reflection of truly intersectional feminism.

In that way, analyzing those responses reflected my feminist growth as well. I want to keep working on moving past capital-W, capital-F White Feminism. The only way to do this is by educating myself as much as I can and listening to feminists around me, particularly people of color. I’ve had unprecedented opportunity to do this at the FMF, and I hope that at home and at school, reading Everyday Feminism articles, I can channel allyship in the way I’ve been exposed to it here.

Thank you, Kelli and Edwith and Mari and Chelsea and Beth, for giving me such an incredible semester here! I so look forward to working with you all next year as I finish up at Georgetown.

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All (almost!) of us on Capitol Hill. PC: Kelli Musick
By Emily Stephens

Hey everyone! I'm Emily and I'm a current junior at Georgetown University, studying Science, Technology, and International Affairs. I hail from Spokane, Washington and I like to bake bread.

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