Every year, LSRJ hosts five Regional Conferences around the country. Each conference provides LSRJ students, allies, and alums an opportunity to come together to learn about cutting-edge reproductive health, rights, and justice issues, network with one another, and get updates about the programs of LSRJ. Jessica Wilkerson is not only a resident blogger for RepoRepro but the Northeast Regional Coordinator, responsible for putting together the Northeast Regional Conference! Visit www.lsrj.org/events for more information about the Regional Conferences and email info at lsrj dot org to RSVP.

This year’s Northeast Regional Conference is a melding of my two passions and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to organize the conference this year. The more I explore the intersection of reproductive and environmental justice, the more difficulty I have in separating them.  That tells me that this is a connection worth spending a jam-packed day in late February exploring!
Speaking at the conference are some truly incredible role models. The full day will start with an plenary panel exploring exactly what the movements are and how they intersect. Mia Davis from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics will start us off with a discussion about environmental justice in conjunction with reproductive justice in the context of chemicals in personal care products. Next, Professor Mindy Roseman of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School will share her many and varied experiences in the RJ world. Professor Betsy Hartmann from Hampshire College’s Population and Development Program will follow with a discussion on the dangers of simplifying the overpopulation rhetoric and how reproductive justice can inform environmental advocacy.  Finally, Angela Hooten of the National Institute for Reproductive Health will share with us the work the organization has been doing with their Urban Initiative program, which has had significant success in blending environmental and reproductive justice activism.

A panel addressing challenges that communities of color face will follow.  Christine Soyong Harley of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum will elaborate on the work she is doing with Asian American communities and the health effects of nail salon work.  Trina Jackson from Alternatives for the Community and the Environment will address areas where African American women are placed, politically and environmentally, at the nexus of the two larger movements.  To wrap up the panel, Elizabeth Barajas-Roman, representing the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Heath, will address challenges specific to the Latina community.

After chapter presentations, a lunch and networking session, and strategic planning with Sabrina from the national office, the next panel will be focused on the work of one particular organization.  Kimberly Inez McGuire, from the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, will present a panel called Politics, Fertility, and Toxic Chemicals: Advocacy at the Intersection of Reproductive and Environmental Justice.
The conference will wrap up with a high-powered RJ networking happy hour. All who are interested in reproductive justice are welcome so please be in touch if you want more information. Two LSRJ National Board members have worked with the LSRJ Alumni Network Committee to organize this incredible event.  I have no doubt that this will be an enriching and empowering day where all of us students can learn more about what it means to speak truth to power.

Jess Wilkerson, Vermont Law School

The reproductive rights movement was founded by women and originally fought for issues men ignored, like a woman’s right to determine the timing and spacing of her children.  Reproductive justice, however, has a greatly expanded focus and fights not just for the right not to have children, but also the right to have children, and to parent the children we have.  RJ strives for healthy and empowered communities and, thus, inherently involves both sexes.  In spite of this expansion, because the movement has traditionally been understood as a woman’s issue, the fight has still largely been left to women. The RJ community has thoroughly discussed this dilemma and has hypothesized how best to frame the issues so that men better understand the implications of ignoring reproductive justice.

We are armed with information that seems like it should be inflammatory to the stereotypical male.  For example, recent scientific studies have shown that exposure to specific chemicals causes the feminization of male fetuses and infant boys.  This means that exposure to phthalates, bisphenol-A, or any other chemical that mimics estrogen can decrease penis size, androgenital length, and sperm count, in addition to other possible physical deformities, like the urethra developing at the base of the penis rather than the tip.  All of these facts hit men where they are, stereotypically, the most sensitive: their “masculinity.”  Those in the reproductive justice community who have been working to reduce environmental reproductive toxins viewed this information primarily as more evidence of harm, but secondarily as a method for getting men interested and involved.  What can convince men more than threats to their virility?

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