Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’ve ever gone inside a large supermarket or pharmacy in the U.S., no doubt you’ve seen products labeled “feminine hygiene.” But have you stopped to ask what is supposedly unhygienic about women’s reproductive parts? It turns out, there are a lot of misunderstandings about vaginas and vulvas. Even the terms can be confusing: vagina […]
body image
Posted inCulture
Why is Kim Kardashian yelling at us?
Reading Time: 2 minutes That’s the tweet from author and activist Glennon Doyle about Kim Kardashian’s recent viral advice for working women as part of a Variety interview shared on their social media account. Doyle, who is known for being outspoken and direct, but not unkind, summed up how many of us are feeling. Kardashian’s hot take is not […]
Posted inSex & Gender
A review of “The Body Is Not An Apology”
Reading Time: 5 minutes As a body scholar and feminist, I hunger for ways to explore and inhabit our bodies that are not bound by shame, and Sonya Renee Taylor’s book delivers exactly that.
Posted inCulture
Folklore and disability: Insight into identity and power
Reading Time: 7 minutes Folklore and disability interact in many ways, some upholding norms & some challenging them, but I would argue that understanding representations of disability in folklore can yield many insights into identity and power.
Posted inEducation
If providing vax proof bothers you, you’re showing your ableist privilege
Reading Time: 6 minutes Turns out it’s not just anti-vaxxers getting on my nerves these days, it’s also vaccinated people who are being dangerously ignorant about the world that disabled folks also navigate.
Posted inCulture, General
Shut Up About Bodily Autonomy…Because Public Health
Reading Time: 7 minutes Of course I’m in favor of bodily autonomy: who, especially those of us who consider ourselves feminists, wouldn’t be? But alas, COVID is testing the limits of this word’s meanings, and I think many are missing a key point.
Posted inCulture, General, Sex & Gender
If American Belly Dancers Protested Colonialism As Much As Our Dance’s Sexualization…
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’ve ever chatted with a belly dancer from the U.S., you’ve probably heard some riff on the phrase, “It’s not sexual, it’s sensual.” Americans dancers have done a lot of activist work here…so what might the dance scene look like if we took on colonialism, too?
Posted inCulture, General
You Without a Mask Are Like a Dog Off a Leash
Reading Time: 5 minutes I’ve seen varying opinions about whether to wear a mask during a pandemic, and I think some of these opinions are more valid than others (usually those with hefty research backing them). And I just came up with a metaphor to explain why the whole topic has me somewhat upset.
Posted inCulture, General, Sex & Gender
Social Distancing Is Like Monogamy: It Only Works If You Observe It Perfectly
Reading Time: 9 minutes Learning to assess and communicate about risk in relationships is something that many Americans don’t learn how to do, and I think it might be connected to our culture’s default setting of monogamy (or at the very least, that there’s a useful parallel to draw).
Posted inHealth, Psychology, Religion
Listening to the Still, Small Voice
Reading Time: 9 minutes In my youth group days, we had a skit we would perform in which someone portraying Jesus would follow the protagonist around wherever he went, silently accompanying him throughout his daily routine. Jesus would sit invisibly beside him in class, walk with him through the halls, and even go out with him on dates (creepy), […]