by Carmen Rios “When I advocate for our most vulnerable girls and women at the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexual oppression, I’m advocating for myself and my family.” These were the words that welcomed me to the newly released book “Hey Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and…
by Diana Martinez Because of my busy, chaotic life as a college student, I love to read Simple, a magazine aimed at the workingwoman, designed for making life more manageable. I love its tips for organization, money managing and whatnot. One night, as I flipped through its pages, I realized that almost every single ad…
by Julia Bluhm Skechers new “Shape-ups” shoes are apparently a huge fad. They’re supposed to tone your butt and legs just by wearing the shoe during your daily routine, and I can see why some could view the shoes as a good thing. They can help adults with insanely busy lifestyles to stay fit and…
by Julia Bluhm When we take a closer look at our typical clothing catalogs, what do we see? Normally, we see young women with perfect skin, hair, and bodies posing next to a guy, right? And you’ve all read how we feel about the sexualized Candies ads aimed at tweens. We know it isn’t “real”……
by Hannah DeAngelis The black stilettos matched his sparkling sequined headband and when he walked across the stage the crowd stamped their feet and roared in approval. When the girl in a tweed suit, red bow tie and bowler hat took the mic next, she received more screams from the already raucous audience. “The Kinsey…
by Melissa Campbell In the past few years, there’s been a ton of talk about the power of the Internet as a tool of activism—and as someone who grew up on the Internet, I often find that the people who are espousing social media’s activist brilliance actually have no idea how young people are using…
by Maya Brown A couple of weeks ago SPARK posted a blog about Candies, a clothing and apparel brand for tweens and teens and their mixed messages. While Candies shoes and clothing ads have a penchant for sexualized images, the Candies Foundation focuses on preventing teen pregnancy, often using an abstinence-only message. We at SPARK found…
Nadia Bourne is a slam poet and activist currently studying at St. John’s University in New York. This particular poem focuses on Nadia’s goal for six months of abstinence. “I think that it is important, not only for girls to know the worth and the cost in giving yourself to another, but for men to…