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Miriam Perez '06 Honored for Activism in Women's Health

Miriam Pérez '06 Honored for
Activism in Women's Health

by Alisa Giardinelli
12/20/2010

 

Miriam Perez '06
Miriam Pérez '06 spoke on campus this semester about feminism's "identity crisis." Listen to her talk.

The National Woman's Health Network (NWHN) recently honored reproductive rights and justice activist Miriam Pérez '06 with its Barbara Seaman Award for Activism in Women's Health. Established in honor of a groundbreaking writer and women's health advocate, the award recognizes work that exemplifies its namesake's spirit and approach, namely an "unwavering insistence on listening to women," a "dogged determination to see abuses corrected," and "bridge building between generations."

"I'm really flattered to be honored by an organization whose mission has been to serve as a watchdog for women's health," says Pérez, whose work in founding Radical Doula.com was cited specifically by the NWHN.  "Barbara Seaman spent her life as a writer and activist doing this work and I'm honored to be recognized in her name and continue her legacy."

An editor with Feministing.com, Pérez is also an organizer and advocate for Latina women, most recently in her role as the e-communications manager for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Her writing has appeared in Bitch Magazine, The Nation, and The American Prospect, as well as the anthologies Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists (2010) and Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape (2008). Earlier this year, she was chosen as a Lambda Literary Foundation Emerging LGBT Voice in Non-Fiction.

Pérez is a former member of the Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective Management Circle and currently serves as the secretary of the board of directors of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. In addition to the Barbara Seaman award, she is the recipient of a 2009 Young Woman of Achievement Award from the Women's Information Network. She is also included in a recent MORE Magazine feature on new feminists to pay attention to.