By Mikayla Goode The sound of an alarm rings as the sun is dressing the sky to signify another day of classes. As you prep and get ready to start the day, a feeling of dread washes over you. “Why must classes be so early?” “I’m tired of school.” These thoughts can run through any … Read more
By Giana Williams Nancy, a 35-year-old transgender woman living in Beirut, Lebanon, was woken by armed and masked General Security personnel and was arrested and was taken to a detention facility along with other transgender women. She was tortured and was coerced into confessing to fabricated charges of prostitution. She was thrown into an all-male … Read more
By Neha Kelkar The 2020 Bollywood film, Chhapaak, is based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal. When Laxmi was just 15 years old, she was flung into the streets, pinned down, and attacked with acid in a crowded area. Three days prior, she had rejected an older man’s advances. Instantly, her ears melted and both … Read more
By Alexis Bullin Trigger Warning: This contains discussion including sexual violence, abuse, warfare, and death. “I was thirteen when the war spread to my city. I was kidnapped by four sol diers who locked me in a house where I was raped every day by different men for eight months. I had a miscarriage while … Read more
By Tiger Hobday The sun scorches on a hot Saturday in downtown Seoul, South Korea. The streets of the Western town located in the city are filled with the hustle-and-bustle of Korean citizens, international tourists, expats and the usual young American soldiers. On the second floor of one of the buildings on the main … Read more
By Tamia Smith Imagine this: being taken away from what you knew as your life and being thrown into a world of sex, violence and danger. That is a summation what sex trafficking is. The journalist Ashton Kobler documented the story of Umida, a Russian woman, who was accepted work promised in Thailand by a … Read more
By: Michaela Batson Imagine being locked away and isolated during one of the most difficult times of the month for many, menstruation. This happens every month to women and girls in Nepal, particularly in rural areas, where they observe chhaupadi, which is a cultural practice of isolating and restricting a girl or woman during … Read more
The Nova documentary, A Walk to Beautiful, follows three Ethiopian women on their journey to find a cure for injuries they sustained during childbirth that have left them incontinent and shunned by their husbands and the communities in which they live. Why is obstetric fistula known as the silent epidemic and why does it disproportionately … Read more
The feature film, Difret, produced by Angelina Jolie, portrays the real-world court case defending the Ethiopian girl Hirut from a murder charge when she killed the rapist who abducted her. The film brings to light the ongoing issue of child marriage in many parts of the world. This custom of abduction of young girls disrupts … Read more
As we’ve all seen in the Masai Women documentary, at one point when one young girl was going to live in her husband’s village, the other women swarmed around her and spewed several insults at her. “There is a thief among us.” “She is a thief.” “Let’s see if she’s greedy.” “Oh, she is greedy.” … Read more