You know the saying that history can repeat itself? It sounds cliche, but it’s kind of shocking when it happens to you in real life.
Before I was a proud feminist/atheist/vegetarian I was unfortunately anorexic. Yet no one in my family seemed to notice the signs, even though when I think back they were pretty obvious. I would constantly check myself in the mirror and talk about dieting and weight loss. I would secretly go online and read fasting tips on anorexia sights. When my family discovered my notebook full of “thinsperation” I had a total meltdown and decided those days were over and I would come to respect my body and those of others for what they were.
Lately I’ve been noticing the first signs of anorexia in my …
What grieves me most as a Swedish feminist is hearing that our movement is dead or that it is only a trend. I’ve argued with anti-feminists, whose best argument nowadays is that feminism advocates female supremacy. If this group of anti-feminists were small, I would not worry about their opinions because there will always be people who disagree with you. What troubles me, however, is that this way of viewing feminists seems to be mainstream in Sweden.
The Swedish media thrives on stories about feminists, who, the media says, claim that “men are animals” and that “any man would rape any woman at any time.” Hardly anyone seems to know what feminism is really about.
As a socialist-feminist I think that laws could help our society become more equal. I …
Today’s youth culture encourages females and males alike to embrace their sexuality and allows a freedom of expression. But it seems this freedom of sexual expression has ended up glamorising the idea that females are nothing more than sexual objects. Or at least, it seems that’s what girls our age think.
I have to wonder – how have girls our age not heard of the efforts made by Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes at the beginning of the 20th century? Or the women’s liberation protest demonstration at the 1969 Miss World beauty contest? I have discovered that there are very few teenage girls out there who fully comprehend the feminist movement and its effects on society, and, more importantly, its hopes and aspirations for the future generations of women.
You can read my full notes here, or listen to the actual call here. In short, the conference call discussed the rights that pregnant and parenting women have with regard to education. Lara Kaufmann explained how Title IX protects students, faculty, and staff at schools with federal funding from sex discrimination and how it applies to pregnant and parenting students. Jeannette Pai-Espinosa introduced her organization, explaining how it provides trauma-informed services to …
Sex is probably one of the most taboo, yet most highly discussed topic in any teenager’s life. If you’re not talking about sex, you’re probably thinking about sex. Even if you manage to push all sexual thoughts from your head for a minute — something I’m still working on — you’re bound to be bombarded with some sex-laced commercial, reading, or comment. Regardless of the position you take on sex, it exists and that’s why each and every one of us is here.
We deal with slut shaming, virgin shaming and everything in-between on a daily basis. Now more than ever in a sex obsessed world girls need to own the fact that we are sexual beings. I’m neither encouraging people to sleep around or to keep their legs shut …
Slut Shaming In High School: Wait Until We’re All On The Same Page
I honestly dislike judgmental people, but I am not going to lie – I have definitely judged people in my life. Hey, I’m not perfect and we all do it to some extent. What really bothers me is when people start to judge each other on how sexually advanced someone is. Prudes are judged for being very conservative (stereotypically) but I think girls that are more involved with guys are judged way harsher. I think slut shaming is stupid and pointless, especially in high school. I am only a sophomore but what I have observed is that girls are called sluts just for making out with boys that aren’t their boyfriends or if things go a little farther than just kissing. But the thing is that people become sexually active …
I discovered Maggie Goes On A Diet during one of my morning rituals (I tend to start my days with a cup o’ joe and a few interesting Yahoo! articles). As the above video explains, the book, aimed at girls as young as 6 or 7, is about an overweight 14-year-old who decides to go on a diet after being teased mercilessly by her classmates.
I probably don’t have to tell you that Maggie has sparked a lot of controversy. The media has been raving about so-called “mommy bloggers” who are up in arms over how the book mishandles sensitive body image issues, but what I noticed after sifting through the comments on several news articles is a slightly different attitude:
Ever since I made my decision to attend Wellesley College, I find myself having to defend it to most of my high school classmates. Many of them know nothing about the school, and when I tell them about it they ignore its academic reputation and amazing alumnae. To them, it is simply a women’s college. And since I’ve decided to go there, they have surmised that I must hate men, am a lesbian or am doomed to life as a crazy cat lady.
It gets tiresome hearing my classmates’ reasons why I shouldn’t go. One boy even told me, “You won’t know how to interact with men past the age of 18.” (Forget the fact that I will have male professors and will interact with some of the …
