It’s true I sat down next to you, but you spoke to me first; you asked what shampoo I used. When you missed class, you asked me for my notes. And when I invited you over to review you spent…
Keep It to Yourself
Photo by Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons Such was Rick Santorum’s response when Stephen Hill, an openly gay soldier asked him about his stance on DADT. Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and the golden boy of social conservatives, delivered this gem during one…
8 Lesbian Cartoons You Grew Up With (But Never Realized)
I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like there weren’t very many queer role models when we were growing up–at least, not very many obvious ones. Many of my contemporaries would recall feeling as children that there was no one…
Can’t Spell Sex without Ex PART 2: The Harem
So a gay redneck, a gay Mexican, and a gay Chinese guy start living together… No, it’s not the set up for a racist, homophobic joke; it’s my living situation. My ex-boyfriend and I were living in peace together (in…
Can’t Spell Sex without Ex PART 1
Photo by Brett Jordan/Flickr Once upon a time a twenty-two-year-old “friend of mine” made a big mistake. For fear of embarrassing the author of this blog, the identity of this “friend” shall remain confidential. But I’ll give you a hint:…
Woman, as Defined by Corporate America
Advertisements are a powerful influence on society, whether we care to admit it or not. And furthermore, advertisements are a company’s interpretation of its customers’ lives, albeit with more enthusiasm and catchy jingles. This means that the commercials we see on TV and the billboards we see across Sunset Boulevard are often intended to mimic what that company thinks we, the general public, are- or if not that, what we want to be. This is why I get so angered when I see ads that treat women like cleaning robots or housewives that live to serve their incompetent husbands. But not all companies manage to push my feminist buttons. Some ads, and companies in particular, treat women like the multi-faceted people they are, either allowing them to drive fast cars or have high-level jobs. This is a short list of some of the commercials on TV stations today, and what message they are conveying to the commercial-watching public, for the empowered better or outdated and out-of-touch worse.
“Lessons” from the Lawrence King trial: Reporters Need “Guidance,” Too
In the wake of the mistrial of Brandon McInerney, who was witnessed by his classmates as he shot his classmate Lawrence King in the back of the head for flirting with him, the Los Angeles Times, the paper of record…
Project Runway’s Plan B: Make it Better
A review of the newest season from Lifetime's "Project Runway!"
A Skirt Does Not Equal Damsel in Distress
The words “feminism” and “femininity” are only a few letters away from the same. Some people, however, force these two words to live in feuding worlds, as if someone cannot be feminine and a feminist, a person who truly believes in gender equality. This is, first of all, completely untrue, and second of all, the fact that so many people insist that the concepts of femininity and feminism need to be spread apart is actually a lingering sexist view in today’s society.
