By Rachel Berger Every day on my way to school, I’m struck by the contrast between these two subway advertisements. The first one, unfortunately, I’ve been seeing everywhere, and it always makes me want to hit something. The text, if you can’t make it out, reads “Less lawyer. More appeal.” The image speaks for itself:…
by Carmen Rios It is not new knowledge to women in the United States that the education systems most schools have in place don’t leave enough room for female pleasure – or much of anything related to female sexuality. But the biggest news may be how it affects not only what’s under our skorts, but…
by Diana Martinez The news is an incredible source of the media. The public depends on it for information regarding issues in the United States and the occurrences outside of the country. And many believe their favorite news programs’ words and opinions to be absolute fact. The coverage of a sexual assault of CBS News…
by Maya Brown For anyone in the vicinity of immature pre-teen and teen boys, “Go make me a sandwich” should sound pretty familiar. It’s the “Your mom” joke of this generation, something that’s said after almost any comment. If don’t know what a “Your mom” joke is, the rock you’re under is getting a little…
By Diana Martinez Amongst the stereotyping Superbowl commercials and the hetero-normative advertisements for Valentine’s Day, February can be a tough month for some of us SPARKladies, especially in terms of the media. For me, the most exciting occasion–apart from Mount Holyoke’s annual Drag Ball party–is the Academy Awards. Movies account for a huge part of…
By Rachel Berger The average Facebook user: Male or female? Not sure? What about the YouTube troll posting grammatically incorrect homophobic slurs? The preteen playing games on Neopets.com? The author of Harry Potter romance stories on Fanfiction.net? The viewer of a porn site? The gender line may blur, bend, or blip briefly out of existence,…
By Culley Schultz January and February are cold, wintry months in the New York City area. There is little that is bleaker than the gray skies mirrored by the gray snow pushed to the sides of the gray, salt stained pavement. You can imagine my elation when, on particular Sunday night during these months, the…
by Melissa Campbell For a while, I had a serious love/hate relationship with MTV’s Jersey Shore. I don’t own a television, so I would go out of my way to download it the day after it aired, watching it on my laptop curled up under my covers before I got out of bed to start…