Things Unsaid

The Nyansapo Festival is an event held in Northern Paris from the 28 to the 30 of July. The festival is meant to celebrate black culture around the world, as well as provide a safe space for people of color to debate pressing issues outside of the political sphere. There is only one issue here; no white people are allowed.  Courtesy of Nyansapo Festival This has caused an uproar amongst the French population, especially those belonging to Nationalist and Alt-Right groups in the nation. The criticism is, as always, that the festival is practicing reverse racism and feeding into the war on white people. These responses are expected, no matter how awful, but to have Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo condemn the festival for being racist was an uncalled for step. Then to have Hidalgo step back and change her mind on the matter, saying that a compromise was made with Nyansapo. Courtesy of Mwasi Mayor Hidalgo tweeted that she "firmly condemn the organisation in Paris of of th...

Wonder Woman , one of the most sought after movies of this year is planning out its premieres for next month. While this movie might not be for everyone, but having a DC movie focusing on a strong woman lead is a very big deal. Not only that, but it is the first DC movie to be directed by a woman.  Courtesy of Alamo Cinema To commemorate this feminist feat in an industry that is dominated by men, the Alamo Ritz decided to host a women-only screening. The theater released invites that stated anyone who identified as a women would be able to get in. All people who were helping to produce the event, even down to the venue staff, would be females. This praise to women has become a point of contention for men who have been openly criticizing the Alamo for this event.  Courtesy of the Mary Sue Many have come out saying that this is against the principals of feminism, that "equality is selective", and that the preview should be open to all moviegoers. To this, the A...

Feminist news sources have been revived by Helen Mirren's Commencement speech at Tulane University last Saturday. Mirren's frank British humor laced the speech, definitely making it one to remember. Throughout the speech Mirren brought up her own successes, the absurdity of the current U.S. political scene, and a few inappropriate jokes here and there. Then Mirren dove into her personal experience in discovering what feminism truly meant. Vanity Fair In this political climate the road to discovering the true narrative behind feminism is one frequently traveled. The term feminism and feminist have become synonymous with women being more powerful than men, more dominating, and even aggressive. Mirren states that "to join a movement called feminism just seemed too didactic, too political for me."  This is exactly how many young people have felt taking up the feminist fight for the third time. Many support the idea that women are capable and equal to men, but t...

Was it a moment or a movement? The Women’s March that took a nation, and the world, this past January is starting to lose momentum. Millions of women came together in one day to support each other in having their voices be heard by the oppressive powers that be. Mr. Trump became a focus for many protesters, while others carried signs about abortion or the right to one’s body. Some signs represented those less accepted, like the LGBTQ community and Black women. Amongst the shouts, signs, and statements the question remained in the air: will this be a movement or a moment? Courtesy of the  Women's March In the months since the March, it has proven to have become a moment. This is not to say that there is no hope for this initiative. The power behind the movement was stronger than any one person could imagine. Many do not want to admit to said power. Nevertheless, there is still hope for a movement, but it cannot grow with the conditions it’s currently in. Thi...

The MTV Movie and TV Awards have come to the top of feminist news after becoming the first awards show to present non-gender based categories. While many believe feminism revolves around strictly women's issues, the true basis of feminism is to include all peoples equally. This groundbreaking step by MTV at an integral part of our country's history has been congratulated by many. I looked at the New York Post and CNN coverage of the release to learn more. From New York Post, courtesy of Reuters  CNN reports on the growing diversity in the acting community, and the lack of individual praise for those who do not conform to the standard binary gender system. The article has little direct quotes on the matter but pulls from events during the award ceremony. Through these new genderless awards, MTV hopes to expand and accept more people for their brilliant and creative works in Movie and Television. There is a hope that other ceremonies will follow along, and in fact an ex...

There has been so much talk on the latest show the Handmaid's Tale. Many people are seeing it as the result of all that is happening in the world now. In fact, the show does build off of current life that is slowly manipulated by white, Christian males. I compared the coverage of the off-feminist show from the New York Times and Quartz the blog. From Quartz, courtesy of Reuters The strong, but short, opinion piece by Quartz Blog makes ties from Mr. Trump's last Mother's Day speech to the ideas at the center of the Handmaid's Tale. The article includes quotes from the current President, as well as those from Mother's Day during the Obama and Bush presidencies. The post is short, but drives home the points that Trump commends women on being mothers alone, not the great powerful ones themselves. Similar to the New York Times' article, Quartz makes the same conclusions on the current state of women's health care in America and the view on women in the dy...

The struggle for homeless women and girls trying to survive without feminine hygiene products is unbearable. In shelters they are given little resources, and on the streets they have nothing more than what they can afford. The cost of these products is already unusually high, and adding the tampon tax to the mix makes it even worse. This is what sparked Oak Park high schooler Lily Alter to create period kits for homeless women around Chicago. I looked at articles by the Chicago Tribune and Refinery 29 to learn the different ways news outlets are covering this story. From Chicago Tribune, courtesy of Lily Alter The Chicago Tribune article by Heidi Stevens is much more in depth when reporting on Alter's organization. It goes into detail about the contents of the FlowKits, the inspiration behind the project, and how far it has gone in so little time. The article provides photos of the product and Alter as well. Stevens even goes into detail on the current state of FlowKits, an...

The fight to accept the hijab, and further Muslim women, has been a long one. There is incredible pushback to the capabilities of these women simply because they wear the religious covering, which is seen in many western cultures as a sign of submission. With the Islamiphobic rhetoric spreading throughout western culture today, Nike's creation of an athletic hijab, while apolitical, made a huge step in not only welcoming hijabs into the athletic world, but also the powerful women who wear them. I examined an article by the New York Times and by Vox to see the different perspectives on the Athletic Hijab. Courtsey of Nike The New York Times article by Valeriya Safronova gave a lot of context to the inpiration and creation of the Nike Hijab. The article was shorter, but featured many photos from the Nike campaign. While the piece gave context to the sports company and the product, the body of the article was dedicated to the creation aspect. It talked about the athletic women ...

It has been a few years since American Eagle's lingerie line Aerie released that they were done retouching their models, unlike many of their competitors. Since then, Aerie has made strides to make their brand more available to women around the nation, and have partnered with a few organizations to promote body positivity. I wanted to compare two different articles from similar companies, Allure and TeenVogue, to see how they covered the revolutionary steps the brand has taken. Photo from Allure: Courtesy of Aerie TeenVogue article by Alyssa Hardy focused on the latest Aerie news, which was joining up with the All Women Project post Women's March in Washington. The article is opinionated but still considered reporting, with crisp photos from the project breaking up the text. The article is definitely geared towards a younger audience, it is shorter, and includes a video on the project. Photo from TeenVogue: courtesy All Women Project The  Allure piece by Kristen ...

Within the past year, there has been a long debate on embracing women's body hair. The conversation of shaving or not, feeling comfortable, and fighting stigma of body hair in general. There have been many critics of the "no shave" movements amongst feminists around the world, saying that it is "unladylike". So I looked at an article by Buzzfeed and another by the Huffington post to see how these two news sources are covering the body hair revolution. Photo from Buzzfeed : @howtohairgirl The Huffington Post article by Helana Darwin was more of a typical new story structure. While the Post is not the most conventional news source, it provided a good contrast to the Buzzfeed piece. This piece had no photos and was fairly short. It focused on the ways that men can shave whenever they please with little consequence, and how women are striving for the same choice. The article goes into how this movement is taking on the internet and advertisers alike, but the...