Make Sense of the world
Unique insight from 2,000+ contributors in 80+ Countries
The year 1990 witnessed several revolutionary changes, one of which was the release of “The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women,” written by Naomi Wolf. The “Beauty Myth” highlighted how male dominance is maintained by holding women to certain standards of beauty, and...
Over the last several weeks, Colombia has been making international headlines as social protest engulfed the country. On November 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women — hundreds of Colombian women went out into the streets to claim their rights and shine a...
Meena (name changed), a 26-year-old woman from Pune, India, has been receiving assistance from the Family Planning Association. One day, she rushed to the clinic in tears, desperately hoping for some help. Meena continued to cry as the counselor screened her for signs of domestic violence. She...
In Adam Shankman’s film, “What Men Want,” Taraji P. Henson’s character solicits a compliment from a man. “My ass doesn’t look good in this skirt?” she asks rhetorically. The man replies, “In the current cultural climate it feels inappropriate for me to comment on your body.”...
Journalist Priyanka Dubey, in her book "No Nation For Women — Reporting on Rape From India, The World's Largest Democracy," boldly remarked that "rape is the only crime in India for which the victim is blamed." The statement makes absolute sense in the light of India’s social context, where a...
The hype around equality in Scandinavia could lead many to believe that parity between men and women has been achieved. The region tops international statistics for equality, well-being and happiness, but in the last few years Scandinavia has also witnessed the biggest #MeToo scandals in its...
Recently, I came upon a blog written by a well known yoga teacher by the name of Gregor Maehle. In it, Maehle berates Sharath Rangaswamy, a young Indian teacher who, as it turns out, is the grandson of the late Pattabhi Jois, founder of Mysore Ashtanga yoga. Several women had come out with...
On November 27, Priyanka Reddy, a veterinary doctor from the Indian state of Telangana, was brutally gang-raped and murdered. Her body was burned to leave little trace of the misdeed. The incident took place when, while traveling home alone on a scooter, Priyanka got off at a toll plaza. A group...
Few things unite Nigerians like the numerous stories of sexual abuse, intrenched in tradition and scattered across tribes and cultures, and perpetrated mostly against women. So endemic is this culture of sexual violence against women that it is woven into the very fabric of our existence. It cuts...
A few months ago, a much anticipated trial finally got underway in France. The case had made headlines for weeks when, between 2008 and 2009, 35 France Telecom employees committed suicide. A number of them left notes stating that “the company had made their lives unbearable.” It took a...
The #MeToo movement immensely shifted public discourse in many Western countries, but it experienced slower development in Russia. It was dismissed at the highest levels of government as well as in provincial regions across the federation. Many of the tenets of the feminist movement were...
