Em-URGE-ing Voices

Rachel

Major: Social Work
Hometown: Baldwin City, Kansas
Favorite writer: I've only read one of his childrens books, but when I read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry in my French class, I knew it would always be a favorite of mine. It has such a unique perspective on childhood vs adulthood, he uses interesting storytelling techniques, and proves that less can be more when it comes to writing. Also, it's too darn cute to put down.
Favorite sex scene from a movie/TV/book: Ygritte and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones takes the cake. The two of them have enough steamy chemistry to melt The Wall, and the way Ygritte takes such an empowered position on her sexuality was super refreshing for a show where the opposite is the norm for women. It also proves that there are some things Jon Snow knows (cunnilingus being one of them!)
Hidden Talent: I'm a hide and go seek champion! It really helps being able to fit inside dryers, freezers, and laundry baskets, but I like to think it's just a natural talent of mine.

Posts By: Rachel Bezek

The Battle of Birth Control

Birth control is a reality that many people take into consideration each day, with almost sixty two percent of reproductive age women taking a contraceptive and ninety nine percent of sexually active women ever using a contraception. Since it’s creation and distribution, the hormonal birth control pill has been revolutionary, giving many women a new freedom when it comes to their bodies. It has also had effects that were not so welcomed by many women, and it’s been a struggle that only those who are able to take it must deal with. Until recent years, at least. Male birth control has been a hot topic on the rise, with more and more trials starting to test the effects of possible methods. Injections, implants, and pills are among the methods being… Read more »

Mansplaining: from Suffragettes to the Tampon Tax

I don’t surf the internet looking for articles that make me angry. I really don’t. Most of the time I don’t even give into the temptation of an obvious click-bait article, but seeing a non-Onion article regarding a meninist and the tampon tax, I gave in and let myself see what was happening in the new viral outrage. There is a full list of the things I expected from the article, but what stood out was what I didn’t expect. Seeing a man my own age make comments about how women on their period should simply hold in their uterine lining until they make it to a restroom, making the tampon tax in London completely irrelevant as a topic, baffled me to the point of wondering whether or not it… Read more »

Trust Me, We’ve Got This: Women and Birth Control Edition

I didn’t need birth control until I was almost eighteen. A few months away from college, not sexually active, and not facing any difficulties with my period; I had no real use for it until it became another thing to cross off my ‘become an adult’ bucket-list. When I finally got to the doctor’s office, I had enough internet research under my belt to know exactly what I was going to ask for. The main stipulation I had as I walked into the clean, tiled hallway was something that did not have to be taken daily, knowing my own habits for forgetting to take antibiotics and other medicines taken orally. When I walked out, I had a prescription for daily hormone pills and a defeated sense of self. After talking with… Read more »

SPF 50 and SSRIs: My Summer of Struggle and Self-Love

I first knew depression ran in my family when I was about thirteen, searching the names printed on my mom’s prescription bottles on the internet to see if any of them could be a substitute for Tylenol. Most of them turned out to be antidepressants and sleep aids, plus a few for nausea and allergies. I put them back, and moved on with the day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first glance. It explained why she slept so much on weekend afternoons, yet was always able to catch me awake at 3am watching cartoons on a school night. I also remember brushing off the worry with the faux assurance of SSRIs working just like all medicines do: pop the pill with a glass of water, and she should be… Read more »