This essay is published as part of WYV Young Voices, a column highlighting upcoming writers under the age of 21. Upholding the male gaze in education encourages male students to view women as pleasure objects devoid of any personhood CW: The following article discusses racism, sexism, adultification, and sexualization of women. However, there is no...
Category: Gender
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My Tattoos Help Me Cope With Misogynoir And Remind Me I Am Worthy
My tattoos do not change the systems at hand, but they do announce to myself and others that I exist in multitudes and no one can take that away from me. By Amari Gaiter If I could travel back in time and tell a younger me that I have tattoos, my child self would be...
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My Gender Transition Comes With A Perpetually Sore Throat
I look forward to the day when I don’t have to constantly think about myself and my body as “in transition” and a sore throat is just a sore throat. CW: transphobia, testosterone, mention of trauma as a trans person By Mateo Sánchez Morales When I was a little girl, around 10 years old, I...
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Loving Magical Girls As A Black Non-binary Person
Although the magical girl genre inspires cisgender girls and women, the genre also has the potential to do the same for transgender and non-binary people. By Latonya Pennington Originating in Japan as a sub genre of Japanese anime, the magical girl genre is known for young girls utilizing special abilities, femininity, and cuteness to save...
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#DecolonialLove: On Building A More Liberatory Culture of Love
Decolonial love, liberated love, is true love. “Feminism is, nevertheless, very threatening to the majority of Black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about our existence, i.e., that gender should be a determinant of power relationships.” – The Cohambee River Collective I have ended or paused two relationships recently–both...
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We Owe Domestic Abuse Survivors More Than What We Gave Bresha Meadows
The fact that Bresha is considered one of “the lucky ones” points to systemic failures within our justice system. (TW- Mentions of domestic/physical violence, self-harm and incarceration.) After almost a year of being dragged through the legal system, there’s finally some good news in the Bresha Meadows case. The 15-year-old entered a “true” plea on...
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Your Romphim Jokes Are Perpetuating Gender Norms
The popularity of Romphim suggests that it’s time we moved beyond limiting, boring ideas about clothing and gender. When someone first showed me the Romphim — a romper for men — my first thought was “yeah, of course.” This is, perhaps, because I am fascinated by the ’70s, where jumpsuits of all types clinging to your...
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#SiMeMatan Denounces The Blaming of Femicide Victims In Mexico
Femicide is a pandemic in Mexico. It’s time we addressed it. The #SiMeMatan (#IfTheyMurderMe) hashtag has exploded in an effort to denounce the systemic gender violence in Mexico after a young woman, Lesby Osorio, was murdered Wednesday night on the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico campus in Mexico City — and, once again, Mexican officials and...
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5 Ways the Body Positive Movement Is Failing People Who Need it Most
The body positive movement has made great strides in the past 15 years, but it’s still leaving lots of us behind. A few years ago, body positivity hit the world like a tidal wave of good vibes. More and more people from all walks of life started talking about the power of self-love. Even elementary...
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I Came Out As a Lesbian — And Then Fell in Love With a Man
I can’t remember ever not feeling like a lesbian. It’s who I am. But then I met this boy. Last spring, I fell deeply, deliriously, overwhelmingly in love. I’ve been in love before, but never like this. This is the cliched, over-the-top-Hollywood-romantic-comedy-nonsense-I-didn’t-think-actually-existed-oh-my-god-I-get-love-songs-now kind of love. I didn’t know it was possible to be so compatible...