"Why doesn't she just leave her abusive partner?"
It seems like a simple question and it's one that's often posed when people learn others are experiencing abuse. Leaving seems like the most obvious ...
In recent years, the media has arguably made the racial violence African Americans continue to experience in the post-Civil Rights era — especially at the hands of law enforcement — more v...
We're often taught that college is training for "real" life. The time we spend on campus and in class is supposed to prepare us for the rest of our lives. But I feel that my summer breaks have actuall...
NBC recently dropped the Miss USA Pageant, but the pageant quickly found a new home with cable network REELZ. However, it seems like this could have been a good time to stop televising the pageant alt...
Hot Girls Wanted — a new documentary produced by actress Rashida Jones — follows five amateur porn actresses between the ages of 18 to 25 and details their experiences filming porn and living togethe...
Although we have made a lot of progress towards achieving gender equality, there is still much work to be done. One still-pervasive form of sexism women face is being subjected to sexist comments whil...
In 2008, 17-year-old Samantha Elauf was denied a job at a Tulsa, Oklahoma Abercrombie Kids store. Why? The retailer believed her hijab did not comply with their “look policy.” Her headscarf was appare...
As the end of my senior year of high school drew to a close, my life began to change — not because I was starting a new chapter in my life, but because I was beginning a two-year struggle with what I ...
Music festival season is just beginning, and with it comes yet another reminder that women still have a long way to go before we achieve equality. Although there are plenty of female acts to choose fr...
Many people probably think France is a feminist-friendly country. My experience as an activist with the international feminist organization Femen has taught me that this is not the case. I've found th...
Academics, parenting blogs, and activists have protested the media's inappropriate and gross hypersexualization of girls. Nearly every TV commercial I watch or department store I visit reminds me of t...
Women are disrespected far too often. They're frequently interrupted, talked over, or directly insulted. So, it is particularly satisfying — even cathartic — when a woman publicly takes a stand agains...
I wasn’t introduced to the notion of feminism, the discussion of equal rights or the culture of slut shaming until recently. I’ve never had a classroom debate about whether or not men should be called...
Shopping for school clothes was a nightmare in high school. Attending a private Christian school with a strict dress code, I had a lot of rules to follow: No jeans, sweat pants, yoga pants, or anythin...
Our generation may not be too familiar with the haunting "Keane Eyes" which were ubiquitous in the 1950s and 60s. Those dark, doe-eyed figures found their way into print and media, living rooms and co...
The “ideal figure” of a woman has changed a lot over the years. But beauty has undeniably always been determined in relation to patriarchal standards.
During the Italian Renaissance, fuller figures w...
The Internet is incredible. Our generation has seemingly limitless access to information and can connect with people anywhere in the world in an unprecedented way. It has given people the opportunity ...
When exactly do you become a woman? I've received a few different answers to this question that I think are worth exploring.
My elementary school nurse told me in fifth grade I would become a woman w...
A friend of mine recently shared #SpreadFeminism, a challenge campaign encouraging fellow feminists to post a video, picture, poem, or anything else related to feminism on their Facebook page for five...
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines double standards as “a set of principles that applies differently and usually more rigorously to one group of people or circumstances than to another; especially: a ...
I was 11 years old when I succumbed to buying my first tube of "fairness" cream. It was right after a popular boy teased me by calling out "Weh blackie" to me.
Before he teased me, I internalized mos...
As of 2014, women earn 82.55 percent of what men do in full-time wage and salary jobs. That's a five percent increase from the 77 percent statistic often cited by the media and some clear progress tow...
The first time I experienced harassment in a club, a man came up behind me and put his hand under my dress and in between my legs. I was horrified. I felt dirty, violated and mortified. As the night w...
A few weeks ago, I was at a party with a few of my friends. I had been casually using a new dating app and had been talking to a guy that seemed pretty nice. He mentioned that he happened to be out in...