Feminism | Posted by Emma on 12/21/2011

Pride and Prejudice: A Firsthand Account of Literary Sexism

Books: not for guys, apparently

Flashback: It is the first week of 11th Grade. Having gone to the same school since kindergarten, I have no need for first day back-jitters or thinking what to wear to impress my peers. I wear what I like and that usually ends up being some lurid mod dress I bought at a thrift store because I enjoy wearing happy clothes when I seem endlessly angsty.

There is a new kid in our grade. Let’s call him Andrew. I do not make any effort to talk to him because, honestly, I generally don’t talk to people outside of the small set of friends that I already have. Perhaps this is due to my aspirations as a fashion journalist or the fact that growing up an only child…

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Feminism | Posted by Charlotte E on 11/23/2011

A Rant About My Sexist Week

what the "Funny Sexist" thinks is funny and what pisses me off

There has been too much sexism is surrounding me this week and it’s really getting me down.

To start, a boy I know who I considered one of my friends and who knew about my intolerance for sexism thought it’d be really hilarious to pull the: “Do you want to hear a joke? Women’s rights” joke on me. The first couple of times he said this I ignored him. But then after a few more times, I told him to fuck off. He has continued to repeat it to me all of this week. The worst thing is, he’s not even just being a jerk because he thinks it’s funny, he even said “It’s hard for a man not to be…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 09/16/2011

College Confidential: Disorientation

The bottom line of college orientation is that it’s a paradox: feeling simultaneously deeply comforted and entirely thrown off your axis, spinning rapidly towards the unknown. Or at least, that’s what orientation was like for me.

This paradox manifested itself at the very beginning of the journey from Ohio to New York. After posting my obligatory, “Leaving for college. Thanks for the memories everybody!” Facebook status, I packed all of my earthly belongings into the family car. That’s when I realized that all of my earthly belongings fit into the family car. While the reality of this totally satisfied the fatalist in me (look how easy it would be for me to escape with so little materialistic baggage to weigh me down once the zombie apocalypse hits — yippee!) it also…

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Feminism | Posted by Talia on 09/14/2011

Title IX and Teen Pregnancy

doesn't she still deserve an education?

I recently attended a conference call through the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) titled “Know Your Rights: A Conference Call for Pregnant and Parenting Students.” It was moderated by Melanie Ross Levin, NWLC’s senior outreach manager, and the two presenters were Jeannette Pai-Espinosa (president of the National Crittenton Foundation) and Lara Kaufmann (NWLC’s senior counsel).

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…

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Feminism | Posted by Marie B on 09/5/2011

Introducing “FBomb Talks Sex”

if this is what sex-ed looks like in your school, you better read this column

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.…

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Feminism | Posted by Christina B on 08/31/2011

Slut Shaming In High School: Wait Until We’re All On The Same Page

why does it have to be one or the other?

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.…

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Feminism | Posted by Emma E on 08/1/2011

Why I’m Rejoining Social Justice

Social Justice Club

Oh, I’ve always been into social justice. Don’t be fooled by the title. What I mean is the social justice club at my high school.

I’m going into ninth grade at the end of the summer, and I was in social justice club for a few months in grade eight. It pissed me off, because we never DISCUSSED anything. We were always do, do, do. Go collect teddy bears for homeless children. Go collect batteries. Go decorate a corner of the lobby with “go green” messages. Which is all great, but we never really discussed the roots of social justice. The closest we came to that was when we invited the proprietor of a local battered women’s shelter to talk to the club, which was one of the most…

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Feminism | Posted by Natalia K on 07/29/2011

Life Lesson #1: Love Yourself First

Whether we like it or not, we all have to go through a long list of “firsts” in life: first kiss, first date, first “serious” relationship, first time you have sex, and the first serious breakup (which is never, ever, an easy thing to go through), to name a few. But being a feminist definitely made it easier for me to make a dreaded and life-altering first decision.

I had my first serious boyfriend right at the end of high school when I was 18. I was young, naive, sheltered, and completely confused about what I wanted in life. He was an amazing first boyfriend, though. He respected me, we were very compatible, and most importantly, he was always supportive of all the changes I went through (the best boyfriend a…

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