Probably the most common thing I hear regarding my collegiate matriculation selection is one of a pejorative why I would ever, in-the-name-of-sanity, select to attend an all-female institution. Unsurprisingly, I have a lengthy and rather complicated reply that first must unpack the question (like a true Mount Holyoke Woman, assuredly). This answer, as you have no doubt gleaned, is one I am indirectly (but also directly) answering in these five posts illustrating facets to life here that I love.
However. This is, as the Buddhists would say, a question wrongly asked.
To begin: Mount Holyoke may exclusively admit women only, but not all of its students identify according to the gender binary, and some are in the midst of a sex change whilst at MHC. I am not going to …
I have been an avid fan of Young Adult fiction since the third grade. I vividly remember standing in the library check out line with the rest of my class during “Library Time” eagerly digging into my Judy Blume while my classmates palmed their Judy Moody books. I think that moment can also be pointed to as the precursor to my reading Anna Karenina in eighth grade when my classmates were reading…well, they weren’t reading. But that’s a self-indulgent admittedly pretentious digression.
I think it’s this deeply ingrained love of YA that caused the low grade rage I felt when reading the recent Wall Street Journal article by Meghan Cox Gurdon. It’s worth reading (in that it’s a piece of crap but will make the rest of this post …
So yet another sports figurehead is feeling the repercussions of using homophobic slurs during a game. A few weeks ago, LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for hurling an insult towards an NBA referee. Because of TV censorship, I never caught which word was actually used, but my guess is that it began with an “f” and rhymed with “maggot”. Now Joakim Noah, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, is facing similar consequences after following Kobe’s lead.
Homophobic slurs and gay-bashing still present themselves frequently, but the formation of various campaigns to stop such intolerance is slowly eradicating anti-gay sentiments. I’ve done my part to show support, for I believe the degradation of another individual shouldn’t be acceptable anywhere. That’s why I also support the consequences these men …
As many of you, as frequenters of the Internet, probably know, in 2007 young adult author John Green and his brother, an environmental blogger named Hank Green, started a video blog called Brotherhood 2.0. They quickly developed a kickass community of followers, who grew to be called Nerdfighters, who fight against WorldSuck. Fighting against WorldSuck- all of the non-awesomeness in the world- is what we as activists do best. The two brothers always advocate equality of the sexes, respect for different sexual orientations, respect for the environment, and social awareness in their videos. Here are two of my favorites that most strongly relate to these important messages, one about girls not acting dumb to get guys, and another against homophobia.
The Future West Point Cadet and Military Axe Grinding
Not a single female was to be found in my first semester history course.
Our class discussed this curious state of affairs extensively, and it was decided after much deliberation that another history course offered during the same block – Gender, Culture, and Power – had absorbed any females interested in learning about current affairs in the Middle East and Central Asia course. Do women find hardcore politics unappealing? I think that would be a gross generalization, but the better question is: Do men find gender studies emasculating?
In any case, one morning, my favorite history teacher who taught the class, started a conversation about the military. As was her style, she often began the day with some relaxing banter before pulling out the academic big-guns. She was extremely quirky, …
Anyone living in Britain at the moment would have to be hiding under a rock to have missed the current Sky news sexism row. It hasn’t quite got its own ‘-gate’ suffix yet but it’s surely only a matter of time, as what started as a few off-the-cuff comments has snowballed into a national debate.
Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray were commentating on a football (soccer) match last Saturday, when, believing their microphones to be switched off, they made sexist remarks about the female referee, Sian Massey. The game hadn’t even started when they were already criticising her ability to do her job, complaining that women “don’t know the offside rule” and that “the game’s gone mad.” They also complained about Karren Brady, one of …
I would like to preface this entire post by mentioning that most actors who play high school students in our favorite dramas are really, really old. Though they have not yet succumbed to the allure of Life Alert and Jello three times a day, they are a shockingly false portrayal of what teenagers actually look like. I’m going to postulate that shows such as 90210 and Gossip Girl have female dominated audiences, so I suppose having really old male actors serves to sexualize high school beyond its sordid reality?
In any case, Trevor Donovan, the 90210 regular whose character is slated to come out of the closet this season, is 32 years old. Though this is largely a case-in point statement, I’m going to drag out my story even further. …
So, it’s Thanksgiving break and my brother just came home from college with plenty of stories about the happenings of the Syracuse drama department. I love me some Spring Awakening and Next to Normal, but other than mainstream Broadway I’m pretty much out of the loop when it comes to drama, and sort of just nodded along to the stories. But then, my brother told me about an impromptu protest that started amongst the students and faculty of his department. After hearing about FBomb blogger Leah’s protesting against Stupak, I was pretty stoked to hear about another instance of student activism.
Last week at Syracuse University, Michelle Deferio, Syracuse resident (not student), and her father stood on a street corner on campus holding a sign that read, “Homosexuality is …
