
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
- 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