Not too long ago I wrote a little piece on history’s fearsome female pirates. As I said then, piracy is just one of many areas where women made a name for themselves and shaped history, in both big and small ways. There are a lot of other categories we can talk about – soldiers, queens, women’s organizations, etc.

The internet has been a continued breeding ground for faceless bullies for quite some time now. Cowards who hind behind anonymity and their screens, spewing hateful things and damaging messages at people, just for kicks.

Sexual violence and rape are 80% likely to be perpetrated by a person known to a woman. 51.1% of female victims of rape reported being raped by an intimate partner and 40.8% by an acquaintance - Source

Listening to a prominent male dj on a popular radio station this morning, my gag reflex was engaged to a sexist judgmental comment made about women in their 40s and 50s these days having the female version of a 'midlife crisis'.

The world has changed, but not yet for the best, especially for women. Though the condition is now much better than it was centuries ago, we are still far from our goal of equality between men and women. There is absolutely no reason for women to die at the rate they are dying today.

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They told you that you weren’t beautiful and that made you angry. Then they had the nerve to call you manly and that made you angrier. Next, as if that weren’t enough, they chastised you for being angry, berating you with appellations such as attitudinal and bitter, and that sent you into a rage. It was a rage that you have every right to be in, because you are, essentially, a victim who has been disrespected in every way. But, while before mentioned folks might be causing you quite the angst, quite the annoyance and are factors you could certainly do without, in all totality, they are actually correct.

We are about to enter the Holiday Season. It kicks off with Black month, formerly knowns as Black Friday, followed by Thanksgiving, St. Nick’s Day Dec 6, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, New Year’s Eve and finally New Year’s Day. Later in the year, other holidays are also celebrated.

I’m going to be straight for a second: I get a really heavy flow. Ever since the miracle of womanhood first hit—imagine me, a pimpled, chubby twelve year old, cursing the universe for endowing her gift during gymnastics class—I’ve dealt with the difficulties of a heavy period.

The #AsSheIs Challenge has swept Instagram by storm through the Miss Universe/Miss USA Organization, sharing the Live Life Unfiltered initiative. The “challenge” is to empower women to be as they are. As many of us have read, social media is linked to a significant increase in depression, suicide, anxiety, and body image issues. The mission of #AsSheIs is to remind women that we all have insecurities and bad days, despite what Instagram may portray.

Whenever it comes to women’s rights, men always seem to know better than us. Whether it’s how “women have had equality since they got the vote” (just like racism ended when the slaves were freed) Or how there’s no such thing as male privilege. No matter what it’s about, men just know so much more about what it’s like being a woman. And sexual harassment is no different. In fact, it really brings out the deep level of knowledge that men have of women’s experiences of being sexually assaulted or harassed. And I’m not saying all men think like this. Some men would never even dream of harming or harassing a woman in any way. But even if you thought sexually harassing women was a good idea, surely you wouldn’t be stupid enough to say it? But apparently you would, and sadly these celebrities did. So let’s sit back and enjoy being told how hysterical we are and how much we’re over-reacting to sexual harassment and violent sexual assault. 

Have you ever felt less than a woman, like you're not holding up to the standard society sets for us as women? No matter what you do you'll never be good enough, you'll never be one of those girls. You know the type they portray in movies and tv shows and plaster all over magazines and billboards? I feel like this daily. I'm constantly battling myself on what I should be doing to be considered a woman. Always doubting myself and wondering where I went wrong and how I can live up to the unachievable standards this world has set for women. As women we have come a long way from not having any rights to being in control of our lives. From being second class citizens to being just as equal as men (or so they say). But one thing hasn't changed and that's the way we see women, as far as appearance goes. We still set the standard as thin, tons of make up, long hair, nails done, tight dresses and heels. Even women they depict as the girl next door is thin and wears heels! It's like we move forward as women but in television we still see women as that type, the type we can't seem to get away from. A guy recently did an article on what a womans nails says about her but not once did he mention women who don't have their nails done, as if we don't exist. As if it's impossible for a female to be considered a woman if her nails aren't long and painted. There's other articles on what a womans heel height says about her and what her clothing says about her. In all these articles it never mentions the ones who don't wear dresses or jewelry or only wears sneakers because in society's eyes we are not considered women if we don't fit the standard, cookie cutter image they have set for us. I'm sorry but society is wrong, majority of the time society is wrong yet we still look to magazines and tv shows to tell us how we are supposed to be as women. I hate it, it drives me insane. I hate feeling like I'm less of a woman because I prefer to wear chucks over heels, or gym clothes over dresses. My kind of dressing up is a character tshirt, jeans and sneakers. I'm not a jewelry type of girl, my ears are stretched and I'm covered in tattoos so that's my jewelry, my "decoration" so to speak. Don't get me wrong I wear makeup but its very minimal and I would die before spending more than $12 on makeup. My $8 foundation works just as good as your $40 mac coverup. My $3 eyeshadow pallet from wish is just as pigmented as your $70 urban decay pallet. The fact that women think it's ok to spend that amount of money on something because they think it's what makes them more of a woman is fucking ridiculous. Such stupidity in my eyes and to be honest nobody, not women or men, can tell the difference. No one can tell that you're wearing $80 makeup or $3 makeup. No one can tell and honestly nobody gives a fuck either. Women spend thousands of dollars a year on getting their hair done, their nails done and all the makeup they purchase, all for what to prove to the world that they're womanly? Its bullshit that we think this is normal and that everyone is ok with it. We fight with ourselves and get depressed when we gain weight, we think its unnatural to have any fat on our bodies. But women were designed to have more fat on their bodies than men, because that's what helps us to carry a child and protect it while we're pregnant. It's ok to have some fat on your body, you don't have to be a fucking skeleton to be considered a real woman. In my eyes, and most mens eyes, a real woman has curves and they come in all shapes and sizes! I shouldn't have to feel like I'm a less of a woman just because I enjoy sports and would rather have a new basketball than go get my nails done. I like playing sports and being physical so if I got my nails done I'd be too scared to ruin them so I'd give up the things I like. I shouldn't have to feel bad about myself because I would rather go to a concert and rock out to a band as opposed to wearing 5 inch heels I can't even walk in and go out to a fancy restaurant where I'll only order a salad because I'm too insecure to eat anything with the fear I'll gain weight and not be able to fit in the skin tight dress I'm wearing. Trying to be a woman in today's society is just un-fucking-bearable and I refuse to conform to these standards. Society can go fuck themselves because no matter what anyone says I'm a real woman. I have a vagina between my legs, I've carried 4 babies in my stomach, I've given birth, I'm a loving mother and I'll be damned if I allow a bunch of rich dickless assholes tell me otherwise. As women we should be fighting for each other and not following these undesirable rules. We have fought too hard to still be looked at as only sex symbols. We have done too much and overcame years of oppression to still be held down by unrealistic standards. We are stronger than ever but the only way to beat society is to come together as women and remove the stigma that has been set by men. This is not the time to be using "can't beat them so might as well join them" instead we need to be setting our own standards as women. We have the power to do it, we just have to come together and push for it the same way we pushed for our rights back in the 70s. Men set their own standards so why can't we do the same?

Currently I am taking a sex , gender and culture course in university and I had a male in my class say that , in the case of the 12 year old girl who was raped and became pregnant That she should not be allowed to have an abortion because the rapist has owned up to his actions, and willing to parent the child once let out of prison ... that maybe if she was on birth control she could have prevented it . Prevented what? Are you fucking kidding me ? She could have prevented being raped? really ? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me

I remember looking at myself in the mirror when I was a kid and thinking how ugly I was and how I couldn’t wait to be able to afford plastic surgery.

In recent years, there has been a surge of female empowerment and girl boss-style advertising campaigns. The world is marching forward and media is becoming increasingly open to positioning women as leaders of that march.

She Ain’t Pretty (Thank god)

The internet has been a continued breeding ground for faceless bullies for quite some time now. Cowards who hind behind anonymity and their screens, spewing hateful things and damaging messages at people, just for kicks.

Sexual violence and rape are 80% likely to be perpetrated by a person known to a woman. 51.1% of female victims of rape reported being raped by an intimate partner and 40.8% by an acquaintance - Source

How I am healing myself after a sexual attack,

As you read the tales of the Japanese culture on geishas, you are taken on a self-identity journey. This era of Japan is where entertainment and a patriarchal society begin to go hand in hand. This book imprinted on all its international readers because it touched every culture controversy that made outsiders raise their eyes. In the told tale you find themes of sex taboos, foot-binding, child neglect, adaptation, and perfectionism in outstanding reach. These events being true and someone actually living through them evokes a greater amount of emotion. Some chapters are more heart-wrenching than others. The journey begins with the passing of the mother; Chiyo is the main character and she is sold to a geisha house by her father.

Priya’s Shakti, a superheroine online comic from India, stands out in the world because of its impact. UN Women named her a Gender Equity Champion. It’s the first comic of its time to confront teenagers with the reality of sexual violence. This free comic is available online, translated into many languages and adapted into many formats at https://www.priyashakti.com .

A few years ago it came to our attention that female statues of actual, real women who lived (have a name and birth date) were underrepresented compared to the men. The media coverage seem to be focused on New York City. I started researching the entire United States to see how many I could actually find.

I never had a BIG WHY.

Amanta Krasniqi always felt compelled to compete in a beauty pageant but lacked the nerve to actually give it a go. Her time finally arriving, the Yorktown native has signed up for the 2020 Miss New York USA Pageant and has drawn courage from a women she has long adored. “Her body wasn’t skinny. She had curves. That’s how you're supposed to have confidence in yourself, said Krasniqi of Marilyn Monroe, and therein lies what really drives her to represent New York for the town of Yorktown.

The challenge of entering the corporate world presents unique challenges for women. Here are three areas of concern for females going into the world of work - whether in their 20's or 50's - and expert advice on how to not just survive, but thrive in today's environment.

When I began junior or high school in seventh grade, Carol was in the eight grade. She was a pretty girl, about 5”7 inches tall slender and popular. She had shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes and was a cheerleader. She was actually the captain of the group. Looking back I would say she resembled Marcia Brady from the television show The Brady Bunch, only a few inches taller. I would see her walking through the halls of school with her hair bouncing on her shoulders, often with an enterauge of other cheerleaders with her. I was a shy teen and would imagine what it must be like to be so pretty and popular.

A bare stage. Slowly, a single pool of light to the far left side lights up. It is a perfect circle. Gradually, the intensity of the light brightens, threatening to blind us for a moment until it dims down to tolerance. We wait for a minute until a second pool of light comes up in line with the first on the right side of the stage. This does the same as the first light, brightening with much intensity but then returns to tolerance. Finally, the last pool of light glows in between the others far upstage and center, to reveal the silhouette of A NAKED MAN standing in a tub of water. His back is turned to us. The NAKED MAN can be a father, a brother, a lover, a rapist, or a photographer. We don’t know. What we do know is that the light he is in doesn’t get brighter. It just obeys the laws of darkness, and is barely lit, leaving the man in an uncomfortable night. From stage left, A GIRL walks in backwards, holding an empty leash in her left hand and a basket in the other. She seems to be looking for something, or searching for someone—perhaps the animal that belongs on the leash, or the food that belongs in the basket. This too, we do not know. What we do know is that the basket is white, and the leash is white with red. Both were made to be white, but a crimson design lives on the collar of the leash. The crimson is blood. A GIRL steps into the first stage left pool of light, and blinks eight times in an attempt to clear her vision. She inhales deeply. The sound of her inhale is magnified, and the tiny breath can be heard from six directions. A DRUNK enters from upstage, passes the NAKED MAN, and joins the GIRL, dressed in an elegant evening gown made of green silk. Her wet hair hangs on her cheeks, and she appears to be very pregnant, stretching the delicate fabric too thin around her swollen belly. The two speak.

I consider myself a radical feminist. Perhaps that is redundant as feminism seems to be radical all on it's own. But what I want to talk about right now is women and self love and how that might not align with what we believe as feminists.

I remember the first time i guy looked at me like i was prey, he glanced me up and down and told me that he "would defiantly give it to me". He thought he was being charming, i just felt sick. I remember getting changed at least 4 times before going out because i was scared that if i wore what made me feel good about myself, i would attract unwanted attention. I remember having to spend a night avoiding my boss at a party as he kept trying to pull me into rooms alone, and feeling so intimidated that i felt like i had to ask his permission to leave. I've had to pretend that male friends are my boyfriend whilst out, fearing that this is the only way to get other boys to stop harassing me.

So, what exactly is neoliberal feminism? It is in fact the convergence of neoliberalism, feminism and capitalism ideologies. Neoliberal capitalism’s colonisation of the feminist movement has seen a new individualised mode of feminism where previous solidarity has replaced by individualism. The emphasis is no longer on a work to effect change for all women, but neoliberal feminism is beneficial to an elite minority who are unaware of the barriers working class and privileged enough to believe that even under current patriarchal structures, anything is possible for women,

If you’ve been following the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard drama since it started back in 2016, you might have noticed the mass of conflicting stories that have been circulating. It really has become a he said/she said situation and quite frankly, it isn’t looking good for Heard. Now if you’re sitting there thinking “wait, what happened?” That’s why I’m here cause apparently, news outlets just don’t seem to care when it’s a man who is abused.

It's funny how the beliefs and values of our previous generations still make themselves present in the modern world where the world is your oyster and information is easily accessible at your fingertips. I mean, computers in your pocket? Who would've guessed this could be possible back in the 80's! Anyone can educate themselves about anything they want at any point in time now. Still, the idea of being a single woman over the age of 30 is looked at as a bit of a shame and there are so many sympathetic onlookers willing to give you a helping hand in finding you a mate...you poor thing, you!

Being a woman sucks, plain and fucking simple. Times have changed but not enough. Women are still the minority in this world. It goes men, children, the elderly, animals and then women. We come fucking last always, no matter what. This world is cruel and not made to have women in power.

I'm inhaling and exhaling, I'm starting to loose my breath and all I see are my parents crying and pacing around our tiny room. They start yelling as you would expect any parent to react, I mean they did sell their home and up root the whole family to another country with everything they had. In my head I'm thinkin to myself "How can you be so stupid and let this happen?" "I've just ruined everything." My sisters were crying and couldn't even look me in the eyes, I just felt my whole world shatter and everything I thought I knew faded into nothingness. I cried until I couldn't cry anymore.

So the frozen embryo transfer (FET) happened today. I'm not quite sure how to process this yet; there are so many feelings welling up inside of me that I don't know if I should be ecstatic and hopeful or hide under the covers until it's all over. I think I'm somewhere in between those two extremes right now to be honest. A friend of mine who's been in my shoes more than once told me that for her the hardest part was waiting those 2 weeks to find out whether or not implantation was successful. My doctor told me to think of this window of uncertainty as a little vacation but how can I relax with all these fears and doubts in my head? I thought that maybe writing it all down would help so that some day, even if things don't go as planned, I can look back on this time with a better sense of appreciation for what I endured.

Endometriosis is a medical condition. It’s a disorder that causes tissue which normally grows inside the uterus to grow outside the uterus; most commonly endometriosis causes the tissue to grow on the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, and intestines. While there are hormone therapies and surgeries available for treatment, there is no cure. Treatment can also be little to no effective.

Not too long ago I wrote a little piece on history’s fearsome female pirates. As I said then, piracy is just one of many areas where women made a name for themselves and shaped history, in both big and small ways. There are a lot of other categories we can talk about – soldiers, queens, women’s organizations, etc.

The world has seen a lot of incredible woman with fascinating stories who have, unfortunately, been mostly left behind by history. Or at least by the history we’re taught.

Women have been fighting for equality in the United States since day one. Slowly, women are making progress. There is one segment of society in which very little progress has been made. We still do not honor women the same way we do men.

About a year ago I decided to tackle my menstrustral cycle waste head on and be done with it, period. (yes, pun intended, lol). I have never been a fan, since the first day I discovered those pesky feminine products, of the waste I was producing every month and the health warnings that came with them. My monthly flow served with the potential side of Toxic Shock Syndrome was not appealing in the least. Which made my first menstrual cycle (and every one after that) more frustrated, anxious and guilty.

Pissed off and in pain.

The birth control patch is one method of birth control that uses a release of hormones to prevent pregnancy. It is a beige patch that is stuck to the skin. The user wears the patch for a week before replacing it with a new patch. This is done for three weeks in a row and then a week break is taken for menstruation.

The first time I allowed someone to do what this person did to me, I was shocked. It opened my eyes to something I clearly knew plenty about, but didn't understand until it happened to me. The fact that someone could have so much control over another person's life made it seem less real and more surreal. Hearing about situations like this would make me furious towards the victim. Just leave the person, how hard is that?

It's a sad day when you have to admit to yourself that a home, is not a home anymore. When you can't remember when it ever felt like one. This revelation can take you away from the prison you're in, and make you wonder how you ever ended up inside of it in the first place. I never really knew why he liked to stay with her, it was always something of a mystery in my mind. I think it was a mystery for him, too. But the fact that he had already had one once over, this time around being his second chance - and if, in his words, they divorced then - he'd never find anyone else again. That he would live the rest of his life for him. This was his one chance in his mind. I wish he could get out of it.

I am only a woman who has temporarily set her life aside to reflect on my personal experiences and ideas to share what I feel would inspire you to master your power. My motive is simply to aid you to tap into the source of your immeasurable creativity and sexuality to bring more joy and satisfaction into your everyday life. I have no intention to formulate a step by step guideline; because I believe happiness is prompted through inspiration rather than instruction.