Sexuality is one of those topics that is simultaneously commonplace and taboo. People love to talk about sex, but only in specific contexts. This often leaves marginalized communities — such as queer people, transgender people, the elderly and people with disabilities — out of the discourse entirely. And when those communities are included, the discussion [...]
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Although the subject of rape rightfully garnishes much attention, the aftermath of such a trauma, and its long-term psychological effects, are often less discussed. Being a victim of rape myself, I still relive the terror and shame of being raped even though it occurred ten years ago. To this day, my emotional and mental well-being [...]
This article is cross-posted at AWID.org. A Pageant for Amputees In 2007, with funding from the government of Norway, Norwegian theater director Morten Traavik arrived in Cambodia with a goal: staging a beauty pageant for girls and women from all over the country who had lost limbs in landmine explosions. With the assistance of the [...]
The International AIDS Conference was held last week in Vienna. Among the topics discussed was the intersection of disability and HIV. Specifically, a session led by Health Canada and Global Partnership for Disability and Development investigated the integration of disability issues in HIV support programs. Since organizations that focus on HIV do not frequently cater [...]
It’s getting difficult to bust a move these days without accidentally high-fiving a fellow Gleek (that’s a Glee geek for any of you weeks behind the rest of us). The FOX musical television show, which is eighteen episodes into its first season after taking a four-month intermission between episodes thirteen and fourteen, has garnered fans [...]
American Apparel sells clothes by selling the sexuality of the “girl next door“. The company has claimed that the models in its ads are regular employees or friends, and while that story has been shown to be false, it still reveals the sort of aesthetic message for which their ads strive. They try to sell [...]
Elaine Beale’s Another Life Altogether begins with a lie that, like so many of the other lies the protagonist, Jesse Bennett, tells throughout the novel, is meant to protect but ultimately only makes things worse. Jesse has a lot to hide from her sometimes cruel peers, especially when her family moves to the countryside from [...]
Over the course of the past year and a half the beauty industry, make-up artistry in particular, has undergone an explosion of new creativity and participation via YouTube. The success of these “makeup gurus” has been noted by the mainstream media and has been covered by Allure, Elle, Stylelist, and SFWeekly to name a few. [...]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has expanded its monthly statistics to include more detailed information about women’s unemployment and wage disparity problems. The BLS specifically tracked statistics concerning female veterans, foreign born women, and disabled women to name a few. Here are some important facts: (from The National Council for Research on Women)
Women with a [...]
When I first saw an article on EmpowHER (a website we’ve linked to before as part of GFLL) pointing out that Adults Can Have Asperger’s Syndrome Too, I was glad to see an acknowledgment of the existence of people like me. But when I read the article, I found that the author had not quoted [...]
