Feminism

It’s no secret that women are under a lot of pressure to look their best every day. Don’t get me wrong, men are, too. But as a woman, I see and feel the pressure much more than I see the pressure on men, so it seems more appropriate for me to discuss the former.

One big culprit of this pressure is makeup. It helps cover up flaws, accentuate strengths, and all-around look like different people. Some argue that this causes more pressure on women to look their best. They say that we should boycott makeup and rock the natural look, embracing our bodies as they are.

Here’s my issue with that point: it’s all-encompassing. They’re trying to create a new standard of beauty, but at the same time they’re alienating the people who genuinely enjoy wearing makeup.

Ever since I learned how to write, I’ve always been obsessed with having proper grammar. I studied journalism, worked at my university’s Writing Center, and publish written content four times a week outside of my job in marketing. I’ve even got a plaque on my desk that says “I am silently correcting your grammar.” (Sometimes I don’t correct it so silently.)

For a long time, using “they” and all of its variations in the singular really bothered me. It’s plural, so we shouldn’t be using it to describe one person, even if we don’t know the person’s gender. We just need a new, non-gender-specific word, right? Other languages have one, why can’t English?

Well, because it would be incredibly tedious to not only come up with a gender-neutral pronoun, but also for it to catch on with the general public. Instead, maybe we should just get off our high grammar horses and accept that it’s perfectly alright to use “they” for a single subject.

Hello and happy Feminist Friday!

In today’s society, women are constantly put at odds against each other. We must compete for the guy, the job, whatever. I really hate this way of thinking. We need to work together and life each other up.

So that’s what I’d like to do today. I want to show off five different women who inspire me every day.

When I was in high school and college, I was always the girl who “had a cause.”

In high school, it was To Write Love on Her Arms. In college, it was Invisible Children.

For several reasons, now that I’m graduated and working full-time, I no longer “have a cause.”

With the holiday season in full swing, there’s one thing on everyone’s mind: shopping.

From stocking stuffers to large gifts, there’s always a way to give a little more with your gifts. I love giving fair trade gifts because you’re giving more than just a gift to a loved one; you’re giving an opportunity to someone else you may have never met.

How cool is that?

So here’s my roundup of my seven favorite fair-trade holiday gifts.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to think about end-of-the-year charitable giving.

As someone who was involved with Invisible Children in the midst of the Kony 2012 ordeal (in fact, you can find me on the front page of the Kony 2012 website), I know the importance of being intentional with charitable giving.

However, simply having good intentions isn’t good enough.

Research is imperative when deciding where to donate and what causes to support. Let me give you an example.

I’m excited to start a new mini-series within Feminist Friday: How to Be a Feminist.

There’s such a stigma against feminism that I’d like to illustrate how easy it actually is to be a feminist.

As I’ve said before, I proudly identify as a feminist (even though it wasn’t always that way). However, I still find myself slipping up every now and then.

This past Monday was one of those days.

Sean and I have joined a 3D Dodgeball league (dodgeball on trampolines, whaddup!). We play every Monday night, and enjoy it so much that we just signed up to play again in January and February.

This week was our second week, and I felt much more comfortable this time around, so I played a little more intensely. I’d like to say I played better, but that’s not for me to judge.

As a team, though, we played much better, winning 14 games to 6 versus the previous week’s loss, 6 games to 8.

It wasn’t uncommon for us to have a ton of players remaining versus one or two on the other side.

One of those times, I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, it’s just two girls on the other side. We got this.”

Woah woah woah. Back up there, Cheevers. Aren’t you a feminist?

That’s when I realized I need to shift my mindset. Again.

I’m so excited to introduce Angela as the next guest blogger on And Possibly Dinosaurs! We’ve only known each other for a few months and we live on opposite sides of the country, but we have united over our love of nonprofits, blogging, and hockey.

We got talking about an article Angela was reading about plus sized clothing and how difficult it can be to find flattering pieces of clothing. I have no experience with the subject, naturally being on the skinny-to-regular-size of the scale.

I typically wear anything between a size 6 and a 10, depending on the store, and I always go for the medium over the large or small. The only problem I have when shopping for clothes is when my size is sold out because it’s one of the most common.

I was really interested in the topic, but it would obviously be inappropriate for me to write about it, so I asked Angela to chime in on the subject. I know you guys will love what she has to say!