Posts Tagged: personal story
Some Guys Burn Their Bras Too!: A Trans* Guy’s Experiences with Privilege, Violence, and Sexual Assault
This post is part of a series celebrating Choice USA’s Bro-Choice Week of Action. For more information, please visit our website and take the Bro-Choice pledge. **Trigger Warning – this post includes violence, sexual assault, and explicit language** Picture this: A bony, almond-eyed, lanky tomboy with a terrible haircut is playing kickball outside of her house when an unrecognizable car comes driving slowly down the street. Annoyed that she has to put her game on pause the tomboy walks to the side of the road waiting for the car to pass, except it doesn‘t, it pulls up right next to her. The man driving the car is going on and on about his lost dog. The little girl apologizes because she hasn‘t seen any dogs wandering around her neighborhood. Before the man drives… Read more »
A Woman’s Issue, RIP.
This post is part of a series celebrating Choice USA’s Bro-Choice Week of Action. For more information, please visit our website and take the Bro-Choice pledge. My name is Travis Ballie and I am writing to announce the death of the “woman’s issue.” It died June 4, 1988, when an asthmatic brown boy was born into an opinionated and ambitious immigrant enclave of women. It died when that brown boy’s mother, grandmother, and aunt pooled their funds, love, and wisdom to raise him to never feel foreign in this new land of America. It died when that boy walked across the stage as the first member of his family to graduate college, the women in his life being too busy raising him to ever consider the option for themselves. That… Read more »
21 Things
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about how to write this post. I knew that Love Your Body day was coming up (October 17th), and I knew that I needed to say something on the issue, but it’s been difficult for me to accept my own feelings while still maintaining an image I’m proud to represent. Over the past 21 years there have been so many things that have inspired me while at the same time having just as many struggles within myself and society. I want to take this time to celebrate 21 things that have had an impact on my view of my body, myself. 1.Let’s start at the (near) beginning: A young girl steps in front of the camera. Before caring what she looked like…. Read more »
Taurus and The Pill
I was going to get on the Pill for you. That small white capsule of estrogen And progestin. I was going to love you only Above all other women Above all other men. I was going to call you my partner On Facebook and real life too. I was going to love you only The words I poetically blog here Are truer than true. We were going to be in love And practice safe sex night after night. But our arguments became rougher than our lovemaking. Our relationship became fight after fight. We were going to call ourselves Equal And prove to the stars that a Taurus and Aries together could last. Our relationship blossomed so magically slow And we ended it so very fast. I was going to get… Read more »
The Queer Factor: Why Comprehensive Sex Education Matters
When I began questioning my sexuality in my teens, I didn’t know how sex between two women “worked.” I felt a lump rise in my throat when I tried to talk to a pretty girl. My face flushed. The hairs on my arms stood on end. But aside from these physical indicators, I was clueless. As far as I knew, lesbians had sex via osmosis or hand holding. My sex ed class wasn’t of much assistance. The small Georgia school system in which I was enrolled followed an abstinence-plus curriculum. Any acts of intimacy referenced in our thin textbooks were of the standard (some might even say boring) penis-in-vagina variety. I eventually learned what constituted queer sex through an awkward independent study course. With the assistance of t.A.T.u.’s infamous “All… Read more »
Being a Young Black Woman in the Reproductive Justice Movement
I must’ve been in 4th grade when I received my first exposure to “sex education.” This came in the form of my class touring the male and female restrooms and receiving a rudimentary lesson on the vagina and the penis, complete with textbook graphics. Ever since then I was hooked. I was the little girl lecturing her friends on the correct way to use feminine hygiene products and explaining exactly what sexually transmitted diseases are. As a teen I was in an organization, Mother Wit, and I spread comprehensive sexual education, health and awareness to other young people of many backgrounds and from walks of life very similar to my own. I’ve grown up having to battle the stereotypes of being a woman of color which everyone made me feel… Read more »
Who I am, and How and Why I Write
I have embarked on a journey unlike any I’ve been faced with before. A journey begins with a single step… right? Well, here I go. Hello and Good Vibes. My name is Lauren M. Hannigan. I was born under the sun sign Aries and my yin sign is Leo (if you’re unfamiliar with astrology, this means my personality is fire-y, very proud, and I love to be the center of attention). I study Literature and Women’s Studies (I like to call it Chick Lit) at California State University, Long Beach. Louisville, home to the Kentucky Derby and Hunter S. Thompson, was where I was born and raised. I attended Assumption High School — a girl’s school like no other. I always dreamed about being able to escape and go to… Read more »
“That” Girl
This post will serve as an introductory piece to the readers of this blog. So… I’ve got something to admit. I’m one of THOSE girls. You know the kind. The kind of girl that gets Rush Limbaugh’s panties all tied up in a knot. The kind of girl that would rather listen to Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” on repeat for the rest of her life than listen to what Ann Coulter has to say. Call me young, call me stupid, but do not call me unaware. I am exactly aware of what people are trying to take away from me. And I’m not backing down, not without a fight. What do I believe in?
