While in class the other day, I overheard two girls talking about fat shaming, and one parroted to the other the old standby for empowering women who feel like they are too big: “real women have curves.” As glad as I was that the conversation was aimed at making one person feel good about her […]
Read More “Real Women Have Curves”: Why Understanding Transphobia is ImportantBreast cancer is scary. The number one predictor for having breast cancer known thus far is just being a woman. Though this may sound obvious to some, the fact that we do not know enough about this disease to be able to find any other conclusive causing factors is strange, given the amount of time […]
Read More What’s So Scary About Breast Cancer?With yesterday being the first beautiful spring day in Harrisonburg, students flocked outside to relax and soak in the sun. However, with the spike in temperature came a parallel spike in my desire to avoid the well-populated areas where my peers were talking about classes, summer plans, and inevitably, summer fashion. I have been dreading […]
Read More It’s Finally Here! Summer Body ShamingCheck out this article on the “Don’t Be That Guy” campaign in Canada, where ads targeting “average joe” potential rapists explain in convenient one-liners that non-consensual sex is assault, and SEXUAL ASSAULT RATES DECREASED BY TEN PERCENT. And here is the website for the campaign! They even have a much needed focus on same-gender sexual […]
Read More Quick Hit: Awesome Sexual Assault Prevention CampaignTRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of rape/ sexual assault. In my last post, I explained that the way a person dresses doesn’t indicate anyone’s right to touch them, and why this notion is so instrumental in contributing to rape culture. As the second post in my series about rape culture, I wanted to explore the concept of […]
Read More Rape Culture: Who’s Laughing Now?TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of rape/ sexual assault. Due to the recent publicity of the Steubenville rape case (and the horrific way it has been handled in the media), I have decided to write a blog series about rape culture to better explain how it is upsetting yet unsurprising that this rape happened, and that it […]
Read More Rape Culture and the Way Women DressToni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a story of heritage, pride, shame and discovery. Set in the 1960s in the era of the Civil Rights movement, Song of Solomon follows two African American families as they make their way toward the American Dream. The first family consists of a woman named Pilot, her daughter Reba, […]
Read More Song of Solomon and Our Standards of Beauty
ShoutOut! James Madison University 