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I remember when my parents subscribed to cable television. I began to realize where I, as a young woman, received value. While I wasn’t consciously critiquing TV as a tween, I was absorbing their messages, and the message was primarily that women are objects. And don’t get me started on diversity! But today I’m not here just to critique. I’m here to celebrate.

Africa, as a continent, is more overburdened by refugees than non-African continents, so why isn’t there a huge movement to help relieve this problem?

As a hairy South Asian girl, this author was ridiculed and was made to remove his facial and body hair from a young age. And even after he came out as a trans man and was using he/him pronouns, it took him two years to let his facial hair grow. Why? Find out with this compelling story of overcoming the Western beauty and gender standards that impact us all.

If you were to accept everything you heard about Latinas, you might think they were scheming and hypersexual, yet socially conservative women whose “equal educational opportunities” and “competitive purchasing power” signify their “arrival.” In fact, the lives of U.S. Latinas are much more nuanced than pundits, marketers, and producers would like to convince you.

In my work, I’m regularly asked, “What can I do? I know that injustice exists, but I feel so powerless. I want to help!” Many folks of privilege struggle to figure out how to act for justice. More often than not, those who are denied access, voice, privilege, and justice in dominant culture know exactly what they need to do. So to that point, my answer to their question is always the same: “Listen.”

The beauty ideal has changed over time, but the idea that there is only one way to have a beautiful body has not. The current one necessitates thinness. Until we’ve accomplished thinness, we are works in progress, and that there is no excuse for not participating in this. It’s not about policing how we look, they tell us. It’s for our health, for our own good! As if.

“Men like something to hang onto.” These messages seem positive – but find out why they’re not as great as they seem.

Faith can be a deeply personal subject – and for some people, that makes it difficult to open up about it. These young people discuss what makes it so taboo.

Parent talking to their teen child

Abortion is a complicated issue for teenagers – but not always for the reasons parents think. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re addressing this topic with your teen.

Superhero films are known for their male-centric nature. Women are left sorting through the female characters that we are offered, and boy, is it grim. The common question that comes up when chatting with people about the role of gender in superhero films is: “Well, he is sexy too, isn’t he? It’s unfair to both sexes.” And the answer is yes, it is. But there’s more.

“#6: Building straw women.” We’re all for friendly debate, but some debaters aren’t trying to engage with your position – they’re trying to dismiss it. Here are some common cheap tricks, and how to deal.

Have you ever done something that contributed to patriarchal oppression, even after finding feminism? Ever criticized a woman for her looks, or shaved your body hair? I know I have. We all can be complicit in our own oppression. It’s not always other people or other genders that are responsible for sexism. Sometimes, it’s actually you. Hear me out.

Couple holding hands and standing on a dock; an arrow points to one of them

Have you noticed our articles don’t say “abusive relationship?” These are some really good reasons for you to drop that phrase, too.

Is polyamory a relationship option that’s unavailable to most black people? Here’s how this author has faced stigma as both a polyamorous person and a black woman.

A key component in battling rape culture is encouraging survivors to speak out about their experiences. This can be beneficial not only for the cause, but also for individual survivors as they heal. But the strong focus on story-telling has an unfortunate side-effect. Let’s learn more about why focusing on survivor stories as inspiration can actually be damaging and how to avoid doing that.

Pronouns are an important part of our language. Using the right pronouns in our own daily language and asking others to do the same isn’t enough to change the extreme transphobia, discrimination, and violence that trans* people experience, but it’s a simple way to use language to show respect for our friends, to make trans* issues visible, and to challenge gender-based oppression.

Closeup of the lower half of a face. One half is clean shaven and has long hair and bright red lipstick; the other half is unshaven with short hair and no lipstick.

“I never felt like ‘one of the guys.’” One man’s story of being trapped between traditional masculinity and femininity – and finding freedom beyond the gender binary.

Pile of "Hello, my name is _____" labels

So, someone in your life has asked to be called by a different name. It can be tough to understand name changes at first and really hard to break the habit. But if you want this person to know that you respect them, it’s extremely important that you respect their name choice. How? Learn all about it with these helpful hints on how to navigate relearning a name.

A pink candy heart, reading "Be mine," sits crushed on the fllor

If you’ve ever wondered “Why did they stay?” when you heard someone was abused, here are eleven years worth of answers. They really show why survivors need us to stop judging them and start listening.

In a country with alarming rates of police brutality against Black people, the wrong thing to do can feel like the right thing to do.