One of my big overarching goals with the Ejaculate Responsibly book, is to see it make a wide and deep impact. I understand it’s an ambitious goal, but I really want this book to help shift the unproductive conversations we’ve been having about abortion for decades, and focus them on something more concrete and practical.
I know it takes time to truly and accurately measure impact, but I’m impatient, and I’m a visual learner, so I thought it would be really neat to try to visualize the impact the book is having, or is going to have. So I’ve come up with a few “impact measurement goals” that I’d love your help with.
Impact Goal Number One: The Supreme Court
My first goal is getting the book into the hands of every Supreme Court Justice, all nine of them. And not just one copy. I want them to receive a bunch of copies. I’m thinking about their staff, their interns, their clerks — and want all of them to receive copies too. I’m thinking that if a Justice’s office receives a lot of books, with a lot of personal notes from people impacted by the Supreme Court’s decisions, the Justices are more likely to pay attention to the book and more likely to read it.
So, I kicked things off by ordering a book for the five justices who voted to overturn Roe: Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Coney-Barrett, and Thomas. And you’re invited to send books too!
Send a copy of Ejaculate Responsibly to a Supreme Court Justice
If you’re up for it, please send a book to a Supreme Court Justice. To any of the nine. Even if you know they’re already getting a copy. I want to make it as easy as possible.
1) Here is their mailing address:
The Honorable John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice
Supreme Court of the United States
1 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543
Of course, you can switch out the name for whomever you want to send to:
The Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice
The Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Associate Justice
The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice
The Honorable Elena Kagan, Associate Justice
The Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice
The Honorable Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice
The Honorable Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice
The Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice
2) Here are links to popular online bookshops. For SCOTUS you can order the book from any bookshop you like, except Amazon. I’ve been informed that the Supreme Court does not accept packages from Amazon.
Bookshop.org — independent booksellers
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
3) Here’s a message you can copy and paste:
When ordering a book, if you choose “gift options,” you may be able to leave a note. Here’s a note you can use or adapt if you’d like.
Dear (Chief) Justice X, I wanted to make sure you received this book, Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion, by Gabrielle Blair. The book makes a compelling case for holding men responsible for causing all unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortion. I hope you will read it and that it can inform your deliberations and voting decisions around issues related to unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Sincerely, [Your name] [Your address]
Here’s shorter message if there is character limit:
Dear (Chief) Justice X,
I am gifting you this book, Ejaculate Responsibly. Please read and consider its contents.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
4) One last step! Once you’ve ordered the book, please fill out this super quick form! This will make it easy for me to track how many books have been ordered for each Supreme Court Justice. As I gather the info you send in, I’ll continue to update the image of the justices above to reflect the number of books each one has been sent, and I’ll share the new image with you, so that you can see the impact too.
I think it could make a huge impact on them if they suddenly receive a lot of copies of Ejaculate Responsibly. It’s a hard title to ignore, and a cover design that demands to be noticed.
Here’s how many books have been ordered as of December 13th:
I hope you really love this idea! I’m super into it and I love updating the image with new numbers. I hope you send a book to SCOTUS and fill out the form so that I know you sent one.
Making an impact is one of the reasons I really wanted to write a book, not just another newsletter or blog post or Twitter thread. Sending a link to a Supreme Court Justice just doesn’t have the same effect as sharing a book with a striking cover. A link is easily shared, but also easily ignored. A real live book sends a stronger message.
Impact Goal Number Two: Book Clubs
I want Book Clubs to discuss the book — as many groups as possible! Reading the book is great. Discussing and debating and exploring the ideas in the book is even better. In order to have a big cultural impact, people need to be talking about these ideas.
So: If your book club is planning to discuss Ejaculate Responsibly, please head to this form and let me know.
When you fill out the form you’ll be offered two optional perks:
1) Would you like a book club discussion guide? Great! Answer yes to that question on the form, and a discussion guide will be emailed to you.
2) Would you like a chance for me to make a Zoom appearance at your book club when you discuss Ejaculate Responsibly? If yes, you can indicate that on the form. And then it will work a bit like a giveaway — I’ll randomly choose a few and put them on my calendar (if your book club gets picked, I’ll reach out ahead of time).
Here’s how many book clubs you’ve told me about as of December 13th:
I can’t wait till you fill out the form so I can keep updating this!
Impact Goal Number Three: Senators & Governors
Let’s send books to every U.S. Senator (there are 100!) and every U.S. Governor (there are 50!). No matter what their politics are, it’s important that they read this book and understand the ideas in this book. These ideas will change the way they talk about abortion and approach the abortion debate.
To help us keep track, I’ve created one map for Senators and one map for Governors. For Senators, I’ll fill in the state with the color orange when a book has been sent to both Senators. On the Governors map, I’ll fill in the state with the color yellow when a book has been sent to the Governor. If additional copies are sent, I can add a put a number to the state too. I’m registered to vote in California, and I sent books to Governor Gavin Newson, and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, so I started by filling in California. This is what the maps look like as of December 13th:
I can’t wait to fill in more states. And good news: If your state is already filled in, you can still send additional copies! The more copies a senator or governor receives, the more likely they and their staff will read the book and comprehend the ideas.
I Need Your Help Sending Books To Senators & Governors!
Want to participate? I’ve made it as easy as possible. Here’s how:
1) Click here to find the mailing address of your Senators.
Click here to find the mailing address of your Governor.
Those links also include sample messages you can use when you send a book.
2) Order a book for them. Here are links to bookstores (and yes, Amazon is an option for these):
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Bookshop — independent booksellers
3) Once you send a book, fill out this super quick form for Governors, and/or this super quick form for Senators, so I can keep track and report back to everyone.