Picture this… We’re driving down a traffic-less Port Republic Road (just go along with it, ok?). Windows rolled down, hair whipping in the summer breeze, a cloudless blue sky stretches out in front of us, and “Someone That Loves You” by HONNE is blasting through the speakers. We each have a one dip of Kline’s Dairy Bar […]
Read More Fade to Black, Role Credits.Note to the reader: if you’re unsure of what some of the terms in this post mean, check out ShoutOut’s definition page! Feminism is my buzzword. Say the “f” word once and I’m as alert as the dog from “Up,” and plaster it on anything I will scoop it up faster than ice cream. So […]
Read More We Should All Be (Inclusive) FeministsAbout a month ago, I was out dancing with a friend of mine. It was just us two, and we were clearly content being on our own. Then, two guys came up behind my friend and made some lewd gestures, positioned where she couldn’t see. Lucky for them, however, I could see just fine. Me: […]
Read More I’ll Calm Down When You Start Listening: The Dangers of Tone PolicingTensions are flying high in the East – the bombing of a Syrian Air Base after only two days of deliberation, which provoked a threat of nuclear war by North Korea, followed by a North Korean ballistic missile launch, an attempted show of force that ultimately failed; and the Mother of All Bombs was dropped in Afghanistan in the fight […]
Read More Prima Donald (Air)strikes Again“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, and community.” Janet Mock, author of Redefining Realness, stated this in personal memoir, or […]
Read More Janet Mock: Transgender Identity and the Notion of “Passing”It’s been almost thirty years since the birth of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed, almost thirty years since differently-abled individuals were offered protection from discrimination in all areas of life, including school, work, transportation, etc. And yet, almost thirty years after that legislation was passed, the way that we, as a society, […]
Read More Ableism is and Epidemic“A singular pronoun should agree in number with the antecedent.” It seems like an innocent comment that a professor would leave in the margins of my senior honors thesis. It’s basic grammar, right? A person walks but a group of people walk. Hannah screams but they all scream. It is grammar 101 – matching your […]
Read More Grammar is not an excuse to perpetuate the gender binary.At the end of freshman year, I went out with a group of friends. The night started innocently enough— we tried on different outfits, played our favorite songs and took millions of Snapchats and Instagram photos. It was supposed to be a final hurrah before finals week started, a night of unadulterated fun before we’d […]
Read More Sorry, Maroon 5, But Getting Drugged Isn’t a PartyThe scope of a woman’s role in most cultures, surrounds her femininity. She is seen as a symbol of motherhood, nature, fertility, and the like, while the man is often attributed with inherent machismo and titles like, “breadwinner”, even if these roles are not so. In recent years and months, issues surrounding women in the […]
Read More The Working WomanI once had a long conversation with a man who proudly hung confederate flags from his house and his truck, and belonged to the Sons of the Confederacy. On his fridge there was a magnet that said, “A government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything […]
Read More How to be free, P.C., and remember history
ShoutOut! James Madison University 