Feminism | Posted by Bre K on 04/27/2012
One In Five Women
There you are at three in the morning, sprawled out on someone else’s bed in a foreign room that smells like sex. Your body doesn’t even feel like yours — it feels like you’re standing over yourself, watching something happen to you. You’re not quite able to explain what’s going on. Confused. Dissembled. Disgusted. Shocked. So many feelings you can’t quite put together to equate to that word. And yet there it is: Rape. It finally pops up into your head three weeks later after you come back from Thanksgiving break — your first break during your first term in college.
No this wasn’t me. This was an 18-year-old freshmen living a couple doors down from me. Let’s say her name is Barbara.
The worst part is Barbara and I …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Sarah M on 04/16/2012
A Feminist Education
Feminism is a huge part of my life; it is as core to who I am as my hazel eyes or the heart-shaped birthmark on my calf. As such, I believe strongly in feminist sex education – sex ed that teaches students that sexual desires are nothing to be ashamed of, how to safely and effectively use contraception, and about queer sexuality, among other things. In other words, I believe with every inch of me that students in public schools should have access to a comprehensive sexual education.
Every so often, there is an outrage in the media about the rising rates of teen pregnancy and STIs, especially among young women. These articles and reports are often accompanied with headlines such as, “Where have we gone wrong with the girls?”…
More >
Feminism | Posted by Colleen L on 02/13/2012
I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours
In its formative days (in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then in the 1960s and ‘70s), feminism was, above all, about promoting equal social and political citizenship for women. Contemporary feminism – the “third wave” – is, like today’s world, far more complex than its predecessors. It’s not just about equality anymore (though this is and always will be an issue). To me, today’s feminism is less about getting equal pay and spouting catchy phrases (“down with the patriarchy!”) and more about fostering a world in which women, men, and transgendered people all have the opportunity to live healthy, happy lives as whole and fully valued human beings. To me, feminism is about turning current concepts of gender, sexuality, rape, and more completely on their heads. I …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Megan E on 02/6/2012
Transgender: An Overview
Many people don’t know what being transgender means. I, not being transgendered, don’t fully understand every aspect of it either but my fiancée is in the middle of transitioning so I want to express what I do know. Here is some information I’ve gathered about people transitioning from one gender to another.
Being transgender means feeling that you are a different gender than your physical biology. It means that a person does not see themselves as the biological gender they were born into. In other words they do not feel that their gender matches their sex (their body parts). Some people (like my sociology professor) refer to a person transitioning as “man to woman” or “woman to man” because (as he describes it) people transitioning are only transitioning their gender, …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Toni FG on 01/23/2012
I Am A Huge Slut
Recently, I participated, in a willing, great hook-up. The week before I participated in a willing make-out session. I just moved to a new town. I don’t know anyone around here that well, and the unfortunate thing about that is that I don’t know who knows who — for instance how close hook-up A is to hook-up B. This is where my story really starts.
Let’s call the two guys I’ve hooked up with Boy A and Boy B. Boy A had a crush on me. Since I had only known him for about a week, I assumed it was casual. I was wrong. At some point during our short time together, he decided we were in a relationship. Now, we’re talking about a guy that I’ve probably seen four …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 12/5/2011
The Anita Hill 20: Sexual Harassment and Teens
On October 15th, I had the honor of participating in the “Sex, Power and Speaking the Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later” conference. I spoke on an intergenerational panel that also featured speakers Kimberle Crenshaw, Virginia Valian, Gloria Steinem and Devon Carbado, which was terrifying and beyond humbling, but also probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever had the opportunity to do. Using your feedback about sexual harassment and my own observations, I pulled together a speech that I thought reflected our generation’s attitudes towards sexual harassment.
I’m beyond late sharing this with the FBomb community, but I hope you enjoy it and would still love to hear your reactions to my speech or any of the other panelists’ speeches and your thoughts about sexual …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Brenna McCaffrey on 11/25/2011
Saying No To Rape Culture
My name is Brenna, I’m eighteen, and I’ve been glossy-magazine-free for nine months now. That’s right. Back at the advent of 2011, I decided to eschew Cosmo, Glamour, Seventeen, Vogue, Marie Claire, Lucky, etc., in hopes of escaping a culture that I continually noticed was telling me how to dress, how to look, how to act, and how to spend my money. I began to get more and more skeptical about this form of media which I had previously deemed as harmless.
I’ve had a handful of close encounters– an innocent trip to the magazine racks to find the latest issue of Ms. that quickly turns into a desire to peek and see some pretty picture of pretty clothes and pretty nail polish and pretty people. I haven’t caved, however, …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Marie B on 11/18/2011
The First Time: Glee or Not
There’s a first time for everything. Last night was the first time I watched a full episode of Glee from start to finish by myself. The fifth episode of Season 3 is all about first times. For those of you out there who haven’t seen the show, here’s a quick rundown: Rachel and Blaine are starring in the West Side Musical. Artie calls them out mid-way through rehearsal for not having enough “passion” and wants them to pull from their sexual experiences to convey that passion to the audience. Rachel and Blaine are clearly embarrassed as they both admit that they’re virgins. Over the course of the next 40 minutes, the two go back and forth between consummating their relationships with their respective significant others.
This episode was clearly created …
More >
