Today I received an email from FBomb reader and contributer Katherine C. She alerted me to the situation involving filmmaker Kiana Firouz. Kiana is a 27 year old Iranian LGBT rights activist who stars in Cul de Sac, a documentary about the condition of lesbians in Iran. The film was largely produced in the UK as clips of her work featuring the persecution of gays and lesbians in Iran were found by Iranian itellegence who began to harass and follow Firouz in Tehran.
Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in Iran. Generally, homosexuality is punishable by 100 lashes with the death penalty being enforced after the fourth offence.
Although Firouz is currently in Britain, the British government has refused her asylum. She is being forced to …
I’d say I think about my body and my body size at least 10 times a day. After all, any time I go out (or stay in my house) I see images, ideas, slogan, diet commercials. Every one is telling me what I am doing wrong, or what I should be doing to improve my weight, body, looks.
Now, this is not going to be a rant about how society and media are ruining our lives by bombarding us with images and ideas that we (I’m going to focus on women for this piece, not that this isn’t happening to men) need to be skinnier. Because the thing is I truly believe we can TAKE CONTROL of this, of ourselves, of our …
Many of you may have heard by now about the murder of Yeardley Love, a senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia. Last Monday, Yeardley was found by one of her roommates in bed, face down and unresponsive. Police found blood on her pillow and reported that her face was bruised as a cause of ‘blunt-force trauma.’
George Huguely, also a senior at the University of Virginia, and Yeardley’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, was charged with killing Yeardley, and admitted to acting violently with her the night she died, stating that he “entered Ms. Love’s unlocked apartment early Monday, kicked his foot through her bedroom door and forced his way in. He then ‘shook Love, and her head repeatedly hit the wall’” (NY Times)
The other day, I was home from college and sitting at the back table with my mother where we were talking about the state of the world. I had brought up an article sitting before me in The Week about another girl who had been bullied to the point of her suicide. I felt that this was becoming a common theme in the news and it worried me. Why was it that kids were so cruel to each other and why wasn’t anyone stopping this?
That’s when my mother asked me if I remembered “that Beck boy” who sexually harassed me in middle school. I was stunned. I’d forgotten completely about this incident until that moment. Both of us had difficulty remembering the details of what had happened. We both …
Support Women Artists Sunday (Mother’s Day Edition): Carly Simon
My Mom is obsessed with Carly Simon. I’m pretty sure I knew the lyrics of Let The River Run before I knew my own name, which I suspect was inspired by the Carly song “Julie Through The Glass.” So this week I’m dedicating SWAS to Carly and more indirectly to my mommy! Happy Mother’s Day Everybody!
The daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the Simon and Schuster publishing empire, Carly attended Riverdale county school and spent two years at the elite Sarah Lawrence school, before dropping out to form a folk duo with her sister, Lucy.
They billed themselves as the Simon Sisters and managed to get work at small clubs and coffee houses in the early 60s.
Her first Top 10 hit “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It …
One of my favorite things about the FBomb is the pure story-telling that goes on here. I mean, I love writing my own rambling rants about my thoughts on feminism, but I think the coolest thing about our community, and the far-spread reach of the internet, is the ability to learn from each other. Hearing other people’s stories is how we grow.
My friend (specifically my friend’s mom, but I’ll go ahead and give both of them the credit) showed me this website – SMITHteens.
SMITHteen is the “younger cousin” of SMITH Magazine, which “celebrates the joy of passionate, personal storytelling.” Both magazines are “homes for storytelling of all forms, with a focus on personal narrative.” Most notably, though, they are the creators of the Six-Word Memoir Project – …
The e-mail started with this sentence. “Every minute of every day, a woman or girl dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth.” This overwhelmed me.
“Every minute of every day, a woman or girl dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth.”
I pretend I am crying her tears,
kneeling over her bleeding body.
I pretend it’s all about chance, the spinning wheel
just landed on her forehead, nothing more.
It has nothing to do with politics, division.
Nothing to do with where we stand
Or the sand I was birthed on.
But when I think about it it only makes sense.
It’s true. It’s all about chance.
Tell me how many of these women chose …
