Frozen 2 follows Elsa as she fully reclaims her identity after her childhood trauma. She’s presented with the choice of maintaining her comfort or using her powers to right the injustices perpetrated by generations past. By following her intuition and listening to her magick, she breaks a cycle of abuse, discovering the truth about her family and her identity.
Read more over at Wear Your Voice.
Read MoreTrauma is inherently isolating, but it demands an outlet for release. While my silence and denial amplified the pain, telling someone I trusted was my first step in healing. The dense emotional burden of my trauma eased with every person I told—support reminded me that I’m safe, loved, and valued.
Read here at Bitch Magazine!
Read MoreConflating constructive criticism with hatred is not only wrong, but extremely dangerous and damaging. Criticism is how we encourage growth and positive change, while shame and hatred serve to stifle both. It’s irresponsible for celebrities to use their platforms to perpetuate the idea that any and all criticism is nothing but a personal attack that serves no value.
Read more at Wear Your Voice.
Read MoreDirected by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Okja), Parasite is a satire and thriller that explores wealth inequality and the lengths to which we go to survive. It’s a visceral, realistic lesson on the importance of class solidarity, commenting on the cyclical violence of poverty, and demonstrating why we must rise above the scarcity myth.
Read MoreWith Lust For Life, Del Rey demonstrated that she’s capable of self-reflection and critically examining the world around her. Unfortunately, that album was seemingly the beginning and the end of Del Rey’s political engagement. In a recent interview with the New York Times, she said, “I’m not really more of a liberal than I am a Republican—I’m in the middle.” She’s essentially refusing to pick a side between fascists and progressives, a dangerous position to platform in today’s political climate.
Read MoreWhen I initially watched the show in 2013, I felt inspired by Mars’s resilience, but during a recent re-watch, I realized that Veronica Mars has always treated sexual assault as fodder for drama. The show perpetuates rape culture by using sexual violence as a plot device, overrepresenting false accusations, and ultimately failing to meaningfully address how trauma impacts its characters.
Read here at Bitch Media!
Read MoreThe intensely negative reaction to Wu vocalizing her frustration is rooted in her identity as an Asian-American woman. Popular media and social structures still code Asian women as being submissive, delicate, soft-spoken and respectful. As visible Others, we’re faced with nasty consequences when we refuse to conform to the one-dimensional ideals projected onto us.
Read MoreAlthough we may intellectually understand that it’s inappropriate to make fun of people with mental illnesses, we still have this continued knee-jerk reaction to mock Britney Spears for hers. It’s as if the public’s perception of Spears is frozen in time, where we’re unable to see past her breakdown to fully recognize her as a human being.
Read MoreCaptain Marvel is a powerfully moving story about a survivor, a heroine who embraces her newfound identity. Although her humanity is exploited by power-hungry warmongers, what’s groundbreaking about this film is that Carol Danvers refuses to see her victimization as a weakness, and instead uses this opportunity to break the cycle of violence and war.
Read MoreAriana Grande’s reaction to being called out for cultural appropriation was immature and disappointing. Instead of listening to criticism with empathy, Grande reacts from her sensitive ego, reminding us that she is, at the end of the day, a wealthy white woman with a ton of privilege and a deep spray tan.
Read MoreThe momentum of #MeToo shows the media’s power to help shift society’s views on sexual violence. Yet, in a society steeped in patriarchal values, the media often perpetuates rape culture. If we have any hope of creating a safe world for marginalized communities that’s free of sexual violence, the media must change the way it responds to survivors/victims.
Read more at Bitch Media!
Read MoreFilipino culture heavily stigmatizes mental health — it is either ignored entirely, or minimized and mocked. Luckily for my parents and for my own mental health, I adopted 2 kittens and changed all of our lives.
Read MoreBetween #MeToo and the onslaught of survivors of sexual violence coming forward about being abused by powerful men, social media has been a nightmare for survivors.
Read more at FLARE Magazine.
Read MoreAnother week, another shitty, entitled white dude in the music industry enjoying success after violating a Black woman. If there’s anything that Amerikkka loves more than a bunch of men fighting over a ball made from animal skin, it’s caping for mediocre white men and shaming women and femmes for their sexuality.
Read MoreI fell in love with my best friend last year - the first person I'd been vulnerable with since being raped in 2015. He made me relive the exact circumstances of my rape, and then had the nerve to threaten to kill himself when I asked for space. I stayed with him for a year.
Read MoreTrump’s plan to erase the Obama administration’s policies will support a system that will continue to inflict trauma and perpetuate the informal legalization of rape.
Read MoreAs a Filipina woman and survivor of sexual violence, I was hesitant to engage with Taylor Swift’s countersuit alleging sexual assault, especially given her status as Queen Becky of the White Feminists. From her “girlsquad” of thin, able-bodied, cishetero women, to accusing Nicki Minaj of tearing women (read: Swift) down while Minaj called out racism, Swift only ever cries feminism when it benefits her.
Read MoreWhen Amber Discko announced her latest project Aloe, I was so excited to see it grow. As the founder of the Femsplain community, Amber has my full confidence and support. Femsplain came to me when I was at my lowest, it was like a lantern that I found while trying to navigate the darkness of trauma, and it helped me find my path to healing. I expect that many people will find Aloe has the same effect. I talked to Amber about her latest project.
Read MoreDespite being a diehard stan, I was skeptical about Lana Del Rey's new album at first. Del Rey has often been gratuitous with her creativity at the expense of marginalized groups. One of her most iconic images as an artist is her appropriating an Indigenous headdress in the “Ride” video, and her portrayed herself as a Latina sex worker in “Tropico”. The hallmark of her music, along with a leaked clip filmed by Eli Roth where Del Rey stars in a horrifying visceral rape scene, is how she glamorizes and romanticizes domestic violence. Moreover, she’s made comments about how feminism just isn’t that interesting to her, and that she’d rather discuss our galactic possibilities.
Read MoreKesha's latest single shows that survivors who speak their truth come from a place of empathy and compassion. We act out of love for ourselves, and love for humanity. After all, if we don't tell our stories, how would we be able to affect the change society so desperately needs?
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