by Carmen Rios I’m excited to announce today that SPARK is working with the National Federation of State High School Associations in an effort to provide resources about sexual violence prevention to high school athletic coaches. Over 65,000 people signed SPARK’s petition, penned by Colby College football player Connor Clancy and me, asking the NFHS to offer [...]
by Annemarie McDaniel As the nation watched the Steubenville rape case come to a close, we also watched something else happen: the coverage of multiple news sources sympathized with the convicted rapists while ignoring the narrative of Jane Doe. The good old Internet has exploded, calling out how media’s coverage was offensive to the victim [...]
by Carmen Rios This past December, the US looked on in horror as a case of vicious sexual assault unfolded in Steubenville, OH. With the trial set to begin this Wednesday, what began as a local event will become a national conversation. And as media descend upon and digest the goings-on in the courtroom, we [...]
by Carmen Rios I’m 22 and I’m finally too old to be a part of this commercialized ‘SEXYTIME’ Halloween stuff. Also because I’m a lesbian, and we all dress like hipsters for Halloween anyway. It’s that time of year again! Ah, yes, the autumn: when pumpkin spice rocks my world, grandpa sweaters swaddle me at [...]
by Carmen Rios If you told me five years ago when I signed up for Facebook that the site would eventually come to lock me out of my own account for speaking at a protest, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s what happened last Thursday, August 16. In August of 2011, I spoke at [...]
Hey girl, we don’t call our sisters “bitch”–or do we?
Is the word “bitch” acceptable? Kanye West posted a flurry of tweets on September 2nd examining his use of the word. He just wanted to think out loud with us today. So Kanye, here’s what we, the girls of SPARK, think about the word “bitch.” YingYing: As with any other word, “bitch” can only have [...]