Thursday, April 25, 2024

Cartoonist Signe Wilkinson Talks About Depicting Abortion on Ladies First

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Taylor talks to long-time cartoonist Signe Wilkinson about depicting a controversial topic like abortion and about being a female cartoonist in general. A Pulitzer-Prize-winner, Wilkinson has captured the idiosyncrasies, absurdities, and the bigotry — particularly the misogyny — that has shaped American politics for decades. Wilkinson is also an advocate for free speech.

Some of Signe Wilkinson’s Work & Responses:

  • Wilkinson, Signe. “Untitled.” Philadelphia Daily News (12 Mar. 1993) (p. 24)
    • Shutters, Tim. “Letters.” Philadelphia Daily News (24 Mar. 1993) (p. 23)
  • Wilkinson, Signe. “Editorial Cartoon: Court packing.” The Philadelphia Inquirer (20 Oct. 2020)
  • Wilkinson, Signe. “Political Cartoon: Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation halo.” The Philadelphia Inquirer (22 Oct. 2020)
  • Wilkinson, Signe. “Abortion Restrictions.” Truthdig (13 April 2016)

Sources:

  • Acevedo, Z. “Abortion in early America.” Women Health, vol. 4, #2 (Summer 1979)
  • Athena, Ailia. “Motherhood, the Sychroblog.” Blog — Paleothea: the Ancient Goddess (2008)
  • Bassett, Laura. “Anti-Abortion Leader Emerges As White Nationalist.” HuffPost (2018)
  • Blackman, Jeremy and Bureau, Austin. “Texas abortion clinics brace for near shutdown as new law is enacted: ‘We have to comply’.” Houston Chronicle (2021)
  • Blair, Gabrielle. “Men Cause 100% of Unwanted Pregnancies.” Human Parts — Medium (2018)
  • Blakemore, Erin. “The Criminalization of Abortion Began as a Business Tactic.” History (2019)
  • Boggioni, Tom. “Anti-choice advocate admits to Joy Reid her ultimate goal is to make birth control illegal.” Raw Story (2017)
  • Cavna, Michael. “‘I’m very angry that this is happening again’: Cartoonists compare drawing for Kavanaugh and Thomas hearings.” The Washington Post (2018)
  • Darkwater, Kieryn. “I Was Trained for the Culture Wars in Home School, Awaiting Someone Like Mike Pence as a Messiah.” Autostraddle (2017)
  • Donegan, Moria. “Feminists warned about America’s abortion crisis for years. We were written off as hysterical.” The Guardian (2021)
  • Donegan, Moira. “Not sure that corporate boycotts are the best measure of an issue’s salience, but I agree with this piece’s suggestion that broadly speaking, sexism provokes less of an outraged response from the American left than other kinds of bigotry.” @MoiraDonegan — Twitter (2021)
  • Donegan, Moira. “The US supreme court is deciding more and more cases in a secretive ‘shadow docket’.” The Guardian (2021)
  • Ehrenriech, Barbara and English, Deirdre. Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers. The Feminist Press (1973)
  • Fadiman, Dorothy. When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories. Concentric Media (1992)
  • Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body and Primitive Accumulation. Autonomedia (2004)
  • Greenhouse, Linda. “The Sound of Silence on Abortion.” The New York Times (2021)
  • Herold, Steph. “From Ordinary to Extraordinary: Putting the “Shrill” Abortion Scene in Context.” Ms. Magazine (2019)
  • King, Colbert I. “Opinion: Hillary Clinton warned us this day would come.” The Washington Post (2021)
  • Ladd, Chris. “The article removed from Forbes, “Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel”.” Political Orphans (2018)
  • Lynn, Samara. “ABORTION BANS ARE A HEALTH CRISIS. FOR BLACK WOMEN, THEY MEAN DEVASTATION.” Black Enterprise (2019)
  • Macionis, John J. Society: The Basics (Seventh Edition). Pearson Education (2003) (p. 180)
  • Martina, Nina (ProPublica) and Belluz, Julia (Vox). “The Extraordinary Danger of Being Pregnant and Uninsured in Texas.” ProPublica and Vox (2019)
  • McFadden, Robert D. “Norma McCorvey, ‘Roe’ in Roe v. Wade, Is Dead at 69.” The New York Times (2017)
  • Paquette, Danielle. “A late-night, backseat Cadillac ride with Gloria Steinem.” The Washington Post (2015)
  • Rourke, Mark and Reyes, Emily Alpert. “Norma McCorvey, once-anonymous plaintiff in landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion case, dies at 69.” Los Angeles Times (2017)
  • Traister, Rebecca. “Our Fury Over Abortion Was Dismissed for Decades As Hysterical.” The Cut (2019)
  • V (formerly Eve Ensler). “Disaster patriarchy: how the pandemic has unleashed a war on women.” The Guardian (2021)
  • Voss, Gretchen. “”I Was Forced to Get Pregnant”.” Redbook (2011)
  • Witchel, Alex. “AT HOME WITH: Norma McCorvey; Of Roe, Dreams And Choices.” The New York Times (1994)

Credits:

  • Created/Written/Edited/Hosted by Kori and Taylor
  • Sound Design/Music/Production by Kori 
  • Research by Taylor 
  • Graphic Design by Kori 
  • Produced by The Fandomentals Network

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