A Little Lesson About History

I heard somewhere one time that the reason we study our past is to make sure we know ourselves as a race so well, we stop making the same mistakes over and over. However in reality that is not the case, no, in reality history just keeps repeating itself. Our legacy as a race so far is a never-ending vicious cycle. All the wars, conflicts, acts of terrorism, it’s all the same in its core. Time only changes the people involved and maybe, sometimes, the circumstances, but the rest stays still. Whatever the time period or the place in the world, the situation is the same: Those in power use it to stay that way, and chase and discard of whatever threatens it or doesn’t serve their purpose, and of course, those who think differently won’t give up that easily. And yes, I realize I sound a lot like Karl Marx, but I do believe he had a point in his conflict theory. I find amazing how, despite all the evidence and people that have stated the same thing, we still keep on tripping over the same stone. Talk about not recognizing something even if it’s staring at us in the face, because believe me… It’s staring, for some time now.

Twisted Origins of International Women’s Day

Yesterday we celebrated International Women’s Day, key word: Celebrated.

Social Networks were filled with congratulatory messages towards “the best thing God ever created”, thanking them for “everything they do”. Women tirelessly posted how appreciated they felt when they found a flower or some kind of gift left for them.

However, I think that before indulging in all kinds of self-rewards just one day out of the year, we should take a moment to remember the real meaning behind this day: The struggle millions of women all over the world went through to fight for the rights we easily take for granted today.

This internationally observed day had its origins in the United States of America, back in 1820. Little strikes of working women started happening in the New England area in Massachusetts. However it wasn’t until march 8th, 1857, that larger strikes took place and caught the attention of men and larger masses. Garment workers marched in New York City to demand an improvement in their working conditions, a ten hour day (To think that we’re now complaining about our 8 hour day jobs, sitting in an office!), and equal rights for women. The police intervened and shut down the whole thing.

50 Shades of What, you said?

So, it’s been around two weeks since this “acclaimed” movie started to brake ticketing records all over the country. Women are secretly wishing they meet a man just like Christian Grey, and men are discreetly taking notes to bring a little more excitement to the equation the next time they find themselves about to engage in one of those various physical activities.

Top 9 ways to NOT get raped

We live in a world were losing your phone is a bigger deal than losing your virginity, were women are taught it is their responsibility not to get themselves in a situation were someone might hurt them, and were campaigns like #ItAintRape exists.

So naturally, we need to “be smart” and know how to protect ourselves. In that spirit, Farrah Khan teamed up with Sasha Elford, and Shannon Giannitsopolou to come up with the BEST safety tips to NOT get raped, the smart way.  

How I became a Feminist

It is greatly known that Latin American culture is mainly characterized by being very family oriented (very being an understatement in comparison to the north american ways). The family interactions are not limited to your immediate household, but you are constantly engaging with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents and their families, which to us, are our family too. And ever since I was a child growing up on the tropical Santo Domingo, I saw that most of them, and all around me, followed the same guideline: Men work and women take care of the house and their children. From that, I quickly picked up that there was a difference between how boys and girls were expected to act. Basically, one was taught to act and the other one to react, one to lead and the other one to follow… Can you guess who was which?  

Sports Illustrated first “Plus-size” Model.

I have been seeing this “breakthrough” from Sports Illustrated (A magazine marketed for men) EVERYWHERE this past few days, even in one of my favorite blogs, Hello Giggles. And I really, really need to take a moment and know I’m not going crazy here. Is it just me, or this beautiful woman is not a plus-size AT ALL?

I mean, I guess that if we take in count the magazine’s history with the type of models they feature, this is actually a good thing. But still, I can’t help but worry about the point where our perceptions about what plus-size actually is.

Here is what I picture when I think of a plus-size woman:

Or, even this:

All beautiful women. But this:

Is just a normal, every day, common size. This is Robyn Lawley,  the woman the magazine is featuring as a plus-size model.

We’ve been bombarded from media about perfect models and beachy bodies so much, that we’ve grown into the seeing a real and normal size women as plus size.

And that is just not okay.

Does this have to do with the fact that this magazine is directed to a male audience, and they need to keep on feeding their unrealistic fantasies in order to get the expected profit? I don’t know, probably. But it doesn’t change the fact that at the same time they feed insecurities to young women minds, and this just goes unnoticed like a thousand other things in the media.

 

A Male Dominance Nobody Thinks About

It is quite known that things like street harassment, rape, and salary differences between genders should be discussed, but, what about chivalry? Have you stopped to think about the meaning behind the notions that “men should always pay”, “men need to open the door for their lady”, and “men are stronger, ergo they should always do the heavy work”? Even with a guy we just met, when there isn’t love involved yet, we expect them to behave that way simply because they’re men and we are women. All those actions, disguised as sweet and gentleman like, do nothing but perpetuate the idea that women are weak and should be protected and taken care of and are part of the water that keeps the feminist fire down. The worst part of all is that us women do nothing about it, and even encourage it, because let’s face it, we like it.