Tess Joseph
she/her
Content Specialist
Tess has long been passionate about the intersections between sexual freedom, feminist anti-violence work, and alternative, non-carceral responses to harm. She is delighted to explore her interests through her work at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, an organization that recognizes violence—whether perpetrated interpersonally or by the state—as a central issue in the fight for sexual freedom.
In 2018, Tess’s interest in nonprofits’ capacity to address violence led her to intern at Woodhull. During her internship, she conducted a research project focused on over thirty anti-violence nonprofits’ programming and inclusivity. This project served as the inspiration for her undergraduate honors thesis, which critically engaged with “carceral feminism” and mainstream conceptions of punishment as justice. After defending her thesis, she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative American Studies and Hispanic Studies from Oberlin College. Upon graduation, she moved to Chicago, where she currently advocates for survivors as a paralegal at a civil legal aid organization.
Since 2018, Tess has continued her work at Woodhull as the author of the bi-weekly newsletter. In addition, she authors bi-weekly blog posts that ground the newsletter articles in Woodhull’s mission to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.
Blog Posts
- The Popularity of Abortion Rights Ballot Measures - 2024
- Conservatives Attack Mifepristone, Yet Again - 2024
- The False Promise of Florida’s Fatal Fetal Anomaly Abortion Ban “Exception” - 2024
- Honoring Amber Nicole Thurman - 2024
- New(ish) KOSA, Same Old Problems - 2024
- Nurses’ Role in Abortion Care - 2024
- LGBTQIA+ Death Penalty - 2024
- Ending the Marriage Penalty - 2024
- The Looming Danger of the Kids Online Safety Act - 2024
- Department of State v. Muñoz: Authorizing Family Separation - 2024
- California’s A.B. 3080 and Threats to Our Rights to Free Speech and Privacy - 2024
- Good Riddance to New Hampshire’s “Banned Concepts” Law - 2024
- The Maternal Mental Health Crisis - 2024
- Digital Surveillance In the Wake of Dobbs - 2024
- Protecting Pregnant Workers - 2024
- Online Censorship & Sex Ed - 2024
- Banning Book Bans in Illinois - 2023
- The First “Wrongful Death” Abortion Case - 2023
- Braidwood v. Becerra and the Erosion of the Affordable Care Act - 2023
- Punishing Survivors for Survival in Oklahoma - 2023
- Restoring Abortion Rights in Wisconsin - 2023
- Banning Drag in Tennessee - 2023
- Protecting People from Digital Surveillance - 2023
- Recognizing Families - 2023
- Banning Books in North Dakota - 2023
- Sex Work Decriminalization in South Africa - 2023
- The Respect for Marriage Act - 2022
- Dear FDA… Approve Over-the-Counter Birth Control, Now - 2022
- Abortion Access in Guam: Contending with Colonialism & its Devastating Consequences post-Dobbs - 2022
- Denying Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth - 2022
- Incarceration Tears Families Apart - 2022
- Abortion and Family Separation - 2022
- Criminalizing HIV - 2022
- Censorship in Schools - 2022
- Strippers on Strike - 2022
- Censoring Nudity - 2022
- Abortion While Incarcerated - 2022
- Abortion and Section 230 - 2022
- Decriminalizing Sex Work in Vermont - 2022
- Criminalizing Queerness - 2022
- The Right to Adequate Postpartum Health Care - 2022
- The Right to Gender Affirming Care - 2022
- Reaching Settlement in the City of Jacksonville - 2022
- The Human Right to Childcare - 2022
- Funding Abortion - 2022
- Tech’s Censorship of Porn & the Difficulty of Getting Paid - 2022
- Discrimination Against Sex Workers - 2022
- Violence Against Sex Workers - 2021
- Youth Abortion Rights - 2021
- Caring for Trans Youth - 2021
- Waiting for Justice - 2021
- Alternatives to PrEP: Creating Safe, Effective Options - 2021
- Censorship: It’s Not Just About Books! - 2021
- Abortion is a Disability Issue - 2021
- The LGBTQ+ Housing Crisis - 2021
- OnlyFans’ Banning of Porn and Reversal - 2021
- Should Our Tax Dollars Fund Discrimination? - 2021
- Supporting Black Birthing People - 2021
- FOSTA – Woodhull’s Fight against a Miserable Failure - 2021
- Fulton v. City of Philadelphia - 2021
- Criminalizing Choice - 2021
- Support, not Stigma - 2021
- Stepping Toward Decriminalization - 2021
- Surviving Crisis - 2021
- Marginalization and Murder - 2021
- Crowdfunding Human Rights? - 2021
- The Dangers of the SAFE Tech Act - 2021
- The Harm of Abstinence-Only Sex Education - 2021
- Section 230, the “Internet’s First Amendment” - 2021
- BDSM and Fetishism: Finally off the “Sick List” - 2018
- The Right to Family in the Era of the “Zero Tolerance” Immigration Policy - 2018