Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
“You’re beautiful, babe” the message said. I realized I’d been smiling up until the second I read it. “Please don’t call me babe,” I muttered to the computer, hitting dismiss with conviction. These kinds of comments aren’t unfamiliar to a south Florida girl who tried to model a little and Read more
While it is tempting to say King Donald was foisted upon us by the media and the 24-hour news cycle, that’s not entirely correct. Even though it is true that at times the American media has been a willing participant and enabler in Trump’s cynical reality show masquerading as a presidential campaign, he is an American monster, which is to say he comes from America itself. He is the inheritor and one of the great 21st century propagators of multiple lines of venomous thinking concerning race and gender that have existed in the American intellectual soil since its inception as a nation. Over the past eight years—in that soil—there has been an especially bitter and angry crop of these kinds of ideas growing (think Tea Party), which are rooted in the past and ripe for the picking, waiting for any politician to harvest and use them. Trump is the proud harvester of all of these poisonous and malignant ideas, and he uses them as the basis of his campaign.
You have probably seen them before: Latina professionals depicted as sexy vixens on TV, wearing miniskirts or tight dresses; the sassy secretary with a naive style; the nightmare boss’s wife. Although the Hispanic community has become the largest minority group in the US, Latinas, in particular, have to fight against stereotypes Read more
My dad gave me a copy of Ms. Magazine during my early tweens somewhere around 10 to 12 years old, during 5th or 6th grade circa 1980-82. Gloria Steinham became someone I read and eventually admired for her understanding of all women’s issues, not just the ones the media highlighted Read more
I’m a feminist, but I’m growing shy about saying that. I have a lot of friends who are survivors of abuse and sexual trauma. I spend a lot of time advocating for and supporting them and others like them. Many of these survivors demonstrate very deep trust in me. Because Read more
It was wintertime 1974 in Cincinnati, Ohio and I was 11 years old, holding my mom’s trembling hand as we were walking up and down the sidewalks of our neighborhood. Tears were in her eyes, born out of a fear of how she was going to feed her two youngest Read more
Sugar and spice and everything nice that’s what little girls are made of. Sunshine and rainbows and ribbons for hair bows that’s what little girls are made of. Tea parties, laces and baby doll faces that’s what little girls are made of. —Unknown Cinderella and a prince. Straight A’s and a Read more
Kimberly Johnson is a yogini nomad, bodyworker, doula, postpartum women’s health specialist, and single mom to a fiery 7-year-old, named Cecilia. As soon as I ever heard the word “feminist,” I knew I was one. I have always been proud to call myself a feminist. I defend the term. It’s Read more
