Introducing Akiba Solomon’s Gender Matters

We're thrilled to launch a new blog on race and gender.

By Kai Wright Feb 01, 2011

Colorlines is thrilled to welcome Akiba Solomon and her new space Gender Matters today. Akiba describes Gender Matters this way:

Throughout each week, please check for my posts about gender-related topics through the lens of race and culture. The words and pics in this space will run the gamut–from the ERA to the NBA, from Fannie Lou Hamer to Kanye West.

She kicks it off today with thoughts on a horrific story from her hometown of West Philadelphia, where abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was allowed to put poor women of color at risk for decades. Akiba writes:

Predictably, abortion foes are using this scandal to fuel their rhetoric. And choice advocates are (rightly) citing the continued need for safe, affordable family planning options. But the way I see it, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, his staff, and his filthy clinic are just another example of how profit parasites feed on the bodies of poor women of color and how the agencies funded to protect them don’t really give a f@#k.

Akiba’s a long-time member of the Colorlines family, and has been writing and editing on race, politics and culture for many years. She’s covered politics for The Source, health for Essence and explored body image and black women in her 2005 book "Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Parts." Read more about her here, and follow along at Colorlines.com/gender-matters.