Jenny Brown is an organizer in the women's liberation movement and the author of several books on feminism, reproductive rights, and labor.[1][2] She works with National Women's Liberation, a radical feminist organization of dues-paying women.[3]

Feminist movement work

Brown began studying radical feminism with Gainesville Women's Liberation (GWL), which was founded in 1968 and was the first women's liberation group in the South.[4][5][6] She also worked with the Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement, developing the Redstockings Archives for Action, a repository of women's liberation history and activist resources.[7][8][9] In 2009, GWL and Redstockings collaboratively founded National Women's Liberation (NWL) and Brown became the national organizer of the new group.[10][11]

In 2019, Brown published Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women's Work,[12] in which she argues that the legal impediments to contraception and abortion access, rather than being discounted as products of prudish religious values, are better understood as a struggle over labor. The book argues that the ruling class, fearing the economic consequences of a declining birth rate, restricts access to contraception and abortion, intending to push more women into performing the labor of bearing and raising children. But women, she concludes, are engaged in a sort of labor strike––refusing to perform that labor in a world where they lack affordable healthcare, affordable childcare, paid work leave, job protections, and reliable male partners.

Campaign for access to emergency contraception

Brown was involved in the campaign to make Plan B, the "morning-after pill," available over-the-counter in the United States.

In 1999, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found Plan B safe and effective, but approved it only for prescription use.[13] In 2001, a group of reproductive health professionals petitioned the FDA to make it available over-the-counter.[14] The FDA eventually denied the petition in June 2006.[15]

Brown and other NWL activists organized against the FDA.[16] In January 2005, Brown was one of nine women arrested for a sit-in blocking access to the entrance of the FDA headquarters in Maryland, and [17][18] was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that ultimately resulted in a federal court ruling, Tummino v. Hamburg, 936 F. Supp. 2d 162 (E.D.N.Y. 2013), requiring the FDA to make Plan B available over-the-counter, without a prescription and without age restrictions.[19][20]

Brown and NWL continue to advocate for the expansion of access to emergency contraception, including by making it directly available on school campuses and pushing for universal health care.[21][22]

Labor movement work

In Gainesville, Florida, Brown co-chaired the Alachua County Labor Party for ten years.[23][24][25] She also worked as a writer and editor for Labor Notes and is a frequent contributor to Jacobin.[26][27]

Bibliography

  • Brown, Jenny (2019). Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now. New York: Verso Books. ISBN 1788735846.
  • Brown, Jenny (2019). Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women's Work. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 162963638X.
  • Bradbury, Alexandra; Brenner, Mark; Brown, Jenny; Slaughter, Jane; Winslow, Samantha (2014). How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers. Detroit: Labor Notes. ASIN 0914093010.
  • Brown, Jenny; Coenen, Amy; Sarachild, Kathie (2001). Women's Liberation and National Health Care: Confronting the Myth of America. New York: Redstockings. ISBN 061512187X.

References

  1. ↑ Kral, Linni (2017-01-19). "As Trump Is Sworn In, Women Across America Will Go On Strike". Village Voice. Retrieved 2019-06-23. veteran organizer Jenny Brown
  2. ↑ "Book launch/signing to feature author Jenny Brown". The Gainesville Iguana. 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2019-06-17. [Brown was] for decades a mainstay in Gainesville feminist and labor organizing.
  3. ↑ "NWL Hires Long-Time Movement Organizer and Writer Jenny Brown". National Women's Liberation. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  4. ↑ Featherstone, Liza (2019-04-23). "Not In Labor". Jacobin. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  5. ↑ Giardina, Carol (2019-03-30). "Gainesville, a flashpoint of feminist revolution". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  6. ↑ Adams, Leila. "A Timeline of Events that Affected the Development of Gainesville Women's Movement Community". University of Florida Digital Collections: Radical Women in Gainesville Digital Collection. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  7. ↑ Featherstone, Liza (2019-04-23). "Not In Labor". Jacobin. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  8. ↑ Brown, Jenny (2019). "Women For Peace or Women's Liberation? Signposts From the Feminist Archives". Vietnam Generation. Gender and the War: Men, Women and Vietnam. 1 (3): 246.
  9. ↑ "About The Archives". Redstockings. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  10. ↑ Tattersall, Jeremiah (2019). "National Women's Liberation – Gainesville Chapter". The Straw Hat Podcast. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  11. ↑ "Redstockings Speakers". Redstockings. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  12. ↑ Brown, Jenny (2019). Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women's Work. Oakland: PM Press.
  13. ↑ Tummino v. Torti, 603 F. Supp. 2d 519, 525 (E.D.N.Y. 2009).
  14. ↑ Tummino v. Torti, 603 F. Supp. 2d at 526.
  15. ↑ Tummino v. Torti, 603 F. Supp. 2d at 523, 526.
  16. ↑ Brown, Jenny; Seguin, Stephanie (2013-06-22). "How We Won the Fight on the Morning-After Pill". HuffPost News. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  17. ↑ Chun, Diane (2005-01-11). "Local protesters arrested at FDA". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  18. ↑ Brown, Jenny (2005-01-12). "Nine arrested at the FDA; Morning-After Pill decision pending". Notes from the Swamp. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  19. ↑ Tummino v. Hamburg, 936 F. Supp. 2d 162 (E.D.N.Y. 2013)
  20. ↑ Burch, Audra D.S. (2013-05-06). "Florida women play key role in emergency birth-control case". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  21. ↑ Osborn, Olana (2018-07-19). "Feminist group pushes for 'Plan B' vending machine on UF campus". WCJB TV20. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  22. ↑ Brown, Jenny (2019-01-17). "Medicare for All Is a Reproductive Rights Issue". Jacobin. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  23. ↑ "Jenny Brown Biography". Left Forum. Archived from the original on 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  24. ↑ Tinker, Cleveland (2006-11-30). "Panel Discusses Benefits of Universal Health Care". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  25. ↑ Chun, Diane (2016-01-08). "Pickets Favor National Health Care". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  26. ↑ "Jenny Brown". Labor Notes. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  27. ↑ "Articles by Jenny Brown". Jacobin. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
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