Category / 2018 / Bodies / Feminism / Social Justice
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The Promise of Better Sex Ed
“I want you to look at these vaginas so that you know that vaginas can look one hundred different normal ways, and so that you don’t believe people when they tell you that vaginal reconstruction surgery can fix you.” Twenty-five tired and now stunned faces looked back at our teacher, having difficulty processing her words…
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Profit, Self-Worth, and the Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry
For many women, applying makeup is as much a part of their daily morning routine as brushing their teeth or eating breakfast. For many, it is a natural part of growing up, usually marked by an unfortunate incident of eyebrow tweezing gone wrong or a particularly dark “emo stage.” But over the years, women have…
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Beyond Beauty
On the surface, the notion that “everyone is beautiful” seems like a harmless, all-inclusive phrase that can do nothing but empower women who must contend daily with all-too-restrictive beauty standards. However, this idea serves to further trap women in an obsession with their physicality and simply widens the net for personal care companies to manipulate…
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The Evangelical Right
The Evangelical Right has long been a staple coalition in the American political process, regularly injecting an uncompromising, quasi-Christian conservative ideology into the national discourse. It’s coordinated voting-block behavior has made the Evangelical Right a powerful force in our electoral system and consequently our legislative and executives bodies. Despite its long history and repeated appeals…
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The Power of Religion
Freedom of religion. Separation of church and state. These are some of the more common phrases that people think of when referencing the connection between religion and government. Although our government has made efforts to keep religion separate from politics since the inception of our country, religion still permeates many parts of the political process…
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Lady Gaga and the Sexual Politics of Meat
Consider Lady Gaga’s meat dress from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs): She walked the red carpet in an outfit made entirely from slabs of raw flank steak. Gaga, or her designers, cut out a large circle of meat from the back of the dress, leaving a large circle of her buttocks exposed with…
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What Black Women Bring to Food Justice
To Bobbie Sykes, the farm-to-table movement is not new; it’s something that’s coming back around. Bobbie, a 66-year old Black woman, moved to St. Louis with her family when she was four years old and returned to her native Mississippi every summer growing up. There, on her grandmother’s farm, she grew to love fresh vegetables.…
