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 …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Sarah M on 10/14/2011
Sluts and Whores
You know that scene in Mean Girls where Tina Fey’s character tells all the girls that they need to stop calling each other sluts and whores because it only makes it okay for guys to call them sluts and whores?
I wish Fey would tell that to girls everywhere.
There’s pretty much two types of that sort of name-calling and they both piss me off.
First, there’s the casual, “Hey, slut, what’s up?” or “Hey there, ho!” that friends say to each other. Now, this would be one thing if they were trying to reclaim the word, if this was some sort of movement or statement – but in the vast majority of cases, it’s not. These girls are just trying to fit in with the patriarchal bullshit that tells …
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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
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 …
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Feminism | Posted by Kelsie M on 08/5/2011
Thank You, Slutwalk
July 31 marks the one-year anniversary of the night I was raped. On August 6, I will be participating in Slutwalk when it comes to Philly. They could not have picked a better date. I find it ironic that the very word that kept me from getting any help that night a year ago is now the very same word that is saving me.
I know that Slutwalk has many critics, and in a way I think that most of it may stem from simple ignorance. I don’t mean this as an insult, but rather that until someone is in the situation of rape, they simply can never understand.
You will never understand the 3 am feeling of laying on the cool tile of the bathroom floor after puking up …
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Feminism | Posted by Charlotte on 07/26/2011
Dreamboy
In my eyes, he was perfect in every way. Dreamboy was smart, interesting, had beautiful brown eyes, a charming smile. He was genuinely more interested in girls’ personality than their breasts or butts. I thought Dreamboy was a perfect gentleman, and I loved him more than I’d loved anyone.
Dreamboy had, in his words, “exponentially more” experience than I did. He was a ladykiller, but was friends with many of the girls he’d had relations with. I respected that; he didn’t just “bump and dump” but rather actually took the time to get to know the girls and to keep knowing them after they’d hooked up. Dreamboy was different than any of the other guys I’d known in high school.
Then I told him that I’d hooked up (just kissing!) …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Alec A on 07/18/2011
The Biebs Throws An Abstinence-Scented Curveball
Celebrities frequently make a quick buck on the side through endorsements of high-end scents, or even expand their own brand through eponymous perfume lines. Now Justin Bieber, of all people, is trying his hand at making the world a sweeter-smelling place. Bieber’s recently released perfume, however, is a complete reversal in the brand-development of feminine scents.
So let’s take a look at the usual perfume branding model. One notable example is the treacly, melodramatic endorsement of Chanel No. 5 by Nicole Kidman:
The advertisement opens with a salty, masculine Latino intoning his most solemn paean for the mysterious and beautiful Nicole Kidman, who quickly succumbs to her savior’s rugged good-looks and recklessly abandons her fame (if only for a short while, o cruel fate!) in order to hole up in …
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Feminism | Posted by Evelyn T on 05/31/2011
The Slut Walks and Victim Blaming
So recently the feminist community has been rallying around the SlutWalks. Personally, I’m beginning to feel a tad sorry for the poorly spoken police officer who instigated all of this as he’s probably (hopefully) feeling like an idiot right about now. But not too sorry.
Recently the topic was brought up in my calculus class, and although most students didn’t know about it, the ones that did all said the same thing: “Well, you wouldn’t leave your garage door open and expect someone not to steal your car, would you?” I was surprised that so many people thought this, as I was under some sort of impression that victim blaming was only for serious misogynists. I was clearly wrong; it’s more subtle and widespread than that.
I think the …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Kate M on 03/28/2011
Virgin Shaming
I am almost 18 years old and I am a virgin.
When I tell people this, they kind of just stare at me. They automatically become suspicious because, to look at me, there’s nothing obviously “wrong” with me. And apparently there would have to be if I’m still a virgin. I might as well go buy a couple dozen cats and move into a log cabin on the edge of modern society, though, because if I haven’t lost it yet then I’m destined to be forever alone, in their opinion.
Let me be clear. I’ve been dating since I was about fifteen. I am a healthy, social person who has had opportunities to have sex. And I chose not to. It’s not because I proudly wear a purity ring or …
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