Swear words have become an integral part of our everyday vocabulary to vent out our anger and frustration, or to use as an offensive insult. For instance, I often find myself swearing while driving in traffic or when stubbing my toe. A subset of the swear words commonly used are sexist and derogatory to women. Removing gendered profanity from modern culture is imperative — it’s alright to swear and vent frustration, but it can be done without disrespecting women.
There’s a popular theory among moderate observers of the democratic primary that Bernie Sanders is just as much of a populist as Trump in his supposed pandering to the working class. To say that Trump and Bernie are the same sides of a different coin, or that their strategies are somehow similar, ignores the diligent, honest work that Sanders has put into his political career, as well as the lives the Trump administration has endangered with his policies.
Children begin understanding and categorizing gender around the age of two to three, and, as per Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of gender identity development, they then move from understanding their own identities to the larger landscape, associating what behaviors go with what identity. Developmental psychologist Laura Zimmerman discusses how childhood experiences play a role in this gender development.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), American college students are among the most stressed people in the world. While Mount Holyoke makes an active effort to alleviate students’ stress with its wellness program, a change in students’ mindsets is necessary for these services to be effective.
Reality TV shows provide alluring and indulgent entertainment. From shows like “The Bachelor” to “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and “Love Island,” they project a glamorous world which draws viewers in and sometimes inspires emulation. This harbors danger: lurking behind the glamor of these shows, there are misleading stereotypes which can often influence judgments as well. Reality shows should attempt to break past these barriers and promote diversity and inclusion of all body types.
The award show season has just wrapped up for this year, with the Academy Awards rounding out as the finale. Award shows naturally inspire disappointment, spurring a plethora of “biggest snubs and winners” articles and heated debates. However, with the excitement of the awards, this year’s persistent lack of diversity went almost unnoticed.
Last month, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed a one dollar per trip tax on ridesharing companies such as Lyft and Uber. While the fee is intended to help those serviced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which is set to receive 70 percent of revenue generated, it will hurt students in remote areas like Western Massachusetts, who rely on ridesharing apps.
Colleges have found a way into the movie industry, with many beloved on-screen characters attending or being associated with different universities. Colleges control their on-screen characters and use this as a marketing strategy. However these representations are not a complete and honest representation of what these colleges are.
In the age of the internet, pornography usage and distribution has skyrocketed. College students are no strangers to PornHub and its contemporaries, which has sparked debate across college campuses like Notre Dame, Georgetown, Harvard and Princeton: should access to porn sites be restricted on school wifi?
Mount Holyoke’s Outing Club (MHOC) is the largest student organization on campus, with over 1,000 members, numerous leaders and a sizable board. The enthusiasm of the College, however, is manufactured and does not match the general understanding among many of the members of the Outing Club, which is that the College is not on their side.
A while back, I came across an article that shook me to my very core. “Turkey is becoming Europe’s dumping ground,” it said, followed by a gruesome image of a landfill, workers with jaded eyes and threadbare shirts piling the waste into a singular, nauseating heap. They called it “imported trash” — a ghastly hoard of European trash abandoned into once-fertile farmlands.
I have a distinct memory of waiting for Santa Claus in the middle of the night. I tossed and turned in my bed. I imagined presents, the tree, the nativity scene, glimmering slightly as if they were breathing in the soft glow of Christmas lights. The morning was wonderful, as usual. A year later, there was doubt.
