Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Viva.
I Didn’t Report It
July 10th. Normal day. Normal plans. Plans to sit and chill out on my couch. Plans to have fun with my best friend in the next couple days. It was a normal good night. It was fun. It was relaxing. About midnight that night a good friend had stopped by. He was just wanting to hang out watch a movie or something. At least that’s what I thought he had wanted to do. We had been fuck buddy’s for a while, four years at that point. Casual and fun at times but he knew I’d like to step it up and possibly get into a relationship. That was mistake number two of that night, thinking he only wanted to hang out. The first one was letting him into my apartment. By one we were watching a movie on Netflix. By two he was sitting next to me. And by three he had me in my room. I remember it all so vividly but it’s so blurry. He was stripping me, pulling my clothes off roughly while I tried to fight him off. The tears were gushing from my eyes and I was trying so hard to get him away from me.
Boogiedat .Published 5 years ago in VivaI Think I'm a Feminist...
So, I think I might be a feminist, but I'm not really sure. Let me be clear, I believe we should all have equal rights no matter your sex, race, religion...if you're one of those 'new nazis' maybe you shouldn't have rights. Maybe you should go back to kindergarten and learn some manners. This article though, is about feminism. I am a feminist, I think. However, now if you tell someone you're a feminist, you get a lot of bad reactions. Or maybe that's just me because most of my family and over half of my friends are republicans. I'm also a republican so when I say I'm a feminist a lot of people are like, "Umm, okay so you're democratic now? Wow. Okay." And get all offended like I suddenly became a communist and asked to kill their first born child.
Michelle SchultzPublished 5 years ago in VivaHow I Wear a Corset and Continue to Call Myself a Feminist
Alright! Listen up, my fellow humans! I am here to tell you that corsets can be feminist too! I know, I know. Shocking! But it's true.
Hannah PaynePublished 5 years ago in VivaWithout Regret
With an unladylike howl, she slammed the clam-shell grill closed a bit harder than she should have. Here's another burn to add to her collection of scars. Furiously, she swiped the dirty blue rag across the slightly cooled grill which still boasted temperatures near three hundred degrees. With her wrist, she dabbed the corner of her eye, thankful that her last cashier had slipped out into the night. Sinking into the office chair, she collected paperwork along with her thoughts, tucking some here and others there.
Sis MonicaPublished 5 years ago in Viva- Top Story - October 2018
Laws Every Woman Should Be Aware Of
Women have a different experience when facing the world and its many different threats. Sexual harassment, rape, arrest, and domestic violence are all issues that keep women’s senses heightened, simply because they are women. They cannot defend themselves in the same way men can, which is why there are laws every woman should be aware of.
Morgan E. WestlingPublished 5 years ago in Viva Is It My Body?
I am an introvert, keeping to myself and avoiding confrontation. Yet, no matter how hard I try to blend in with the crowd or fade into the background, others always have something to say about my appearance or personality. Men and women both objectify me. Perfect strangers are just as guilty as long time friends and close family members. The comments range from painfully obvious observations ("Hahaha, you're so short, LOL") to erroneous assumptions (Wow congratulations, how many months 'til you're due?). I'm judged for every aspect of my being, from my petite stature to my voluptuous curves, from my ethnicity to my bisexual identity, from my physical appearance to the way I spell my name. I try not to dwell on other people's opinions, especially when they don't even know the real me. However, the human brain has evolved over centuries to be social, to care about our reputations, to crave acceptance and unity.
Cheryl LynnPublished 5 years ago in VivaOccasionally Confused by My Gender
I once asked my aunt one day if I was really born a female because there are times I just don’t feel like one. My body size and shape has made me feel this way before because I don’t have the shapely bodies most women have. I don’t have hips that stand out and I have a large bone structure.
Brandi PaynePublished 5 years ago in VivaWhy Ariana Grande is Changing the Status Quo of Women and Mental Health
Ariana Grande recently released her new album, Sweetener, and just announced her US Tour dates for the Sweetener World Tour. Her career is skyrocketing right now and she deserves to be recognized beyond the mere fact that her and Pete Davidson have split. She’s silently advocating for a positive mental state of mind and honing in on her womanhood, all while being independent working on getting better.
Mackenzie CoberleyPublished 6 years ago in Viva"The Handmaid's Tale" Analysis: Intro, Pt. I, Chapters 1 & 2
Is it healthy to have an obsession with such a depressing dystopian novel? I guess it’s no more depressing than the political news of today. What is this morbid fascination with disturbing alternate futures that attracts us? Well, in the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, it is definitely the succinct, intricate weaving of narrative and subtle reflections of the real world’s problems. Too many dystopian works these days are written as polemics and agendas, or are cliché and uninspired. But The Handmaid’s Tale is a classic work of literature that builds its plot around one singular character, knowing only what she’s told of the world she lives in, whether it’s word-of-mouth, propaganda, or both. Because if you did live a life like Offred’s, in which the act of reading anything is a crime, you would only have your wits and memories at hand.
A New View
#MeToo, we hear it almost daily, it's like a chant coming out of every dark corner, and we wish it never had to exist. It has been almost a year since the first #MeToo was tweeted, and in so many ways it has been successful, but in other ways it has inadvertently lead to a divide between the sexes. Women are feeling empowered enough to speak out, which is good, but in turn, men are left feeling unsure of what they can or can't do. This then angers us further. "How dare they make it about them!" We scream. "We are trying to speak about our pain and the silence that we have been met with after years of speaking out about our injustices, and now when we finally are being heard, they react like this!" It is infuriating, I understand. But what if we put our anger and shock at their reaction aside for a minute. What if we look at them as emotional human beings just like we are and ask, "Why?" Not from the same place of anger from which we are currently fueled but instead from one of genuine curiosity. This is actually something I have been doing. Talking to men and understanding not their opinion, but the emotional place their opinion is coming from, and I realize that there may be a better way to recruit our brothers help into the cause.
Redefining the Male and Female Gaze
The “male gaze” is a theory that was first introduced by Laura Mulvey in her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema."
Compliment Vs. Sexual Harassment
This is my personal story of what I have gone through as a women in today's world, and my opinion on the issue. We are all aware of the #metoo movement, where women and men are coming out about being sexually harassed. As a women, I have been sexually harassed multiple times. As a young women, I thought it was just a man complimenting me. As I have gotten older, I have realized those men were praying on me and sexually harassing me.