YingYing Shang

Julie Chen Didn't Betray Me

by YingYing Shang CBS “The Talk” host Julie Chen revealed on Thursday that as a young journalist, she was pressured by racist comments from a boss to undergo surgical procedures to enlarge her eyes. “He said, ‘Let’s face it Julie, how relatable are you to our community?” she recalled. “How big of an Asian community…

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Real Girl Report: What It's Like to Live Like a Teen Mag

by YingYing Shang We’ve always known the advice given by teen magazines was iffy, but what would happen if two real girls tried to live by it? This past April, Alice Wilder and I decided to find out. We took on the challenge of following all the advice given in the top two teen magazines,…

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Real Beauty, Real Talk: the SPARKteam Responds to Dove's Latest Campaign

Have you seen Dove’s latest “Real Beauty” campaign? It’s been making the rounds and causing quite a stir: The video, which shows women describing themselves as ugly and then other people describing them as beautiful, leading up to a big reveal where we all realize that we are our own worst enemy, is drawing both…

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What's an "Ideal" Teen? We're Gonna Find Out.

by Alice Wilder This April, YingYing and I are taking the ultimate challenge: living life according to the rules laid out in Seventeen and Teen Vogue. After my video about the Seventeen collaboration with The Biggest Loser went viral, we started talking about how to turn attention into action. A month later, I’m leaving the…

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Tune In & Tweet Up with SPARK on Nick!

by YingYing Shang Would you like to see real young feminists on TV? How about discussing the women’s movement today on a panel of teens with mixed opinions? Then tune into Nick News on Monday, April 1st, at 8pm! Back in November, I and two other members of the SPARKteam, Sariel and Britney, travelled to…

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The slut-shaming of you, me, and Kristen Stewart

by YingYing Shang When Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders’ public cheating scandal and break-up exploded in the news, Stewart bore the brunt of the attack, rather than the married man that she had cheated on Robert Pattinson with. “Slut!” the Internet and fans everywhere hissed. “Trampire!” Stewart made a bad decision, as the young are…

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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…

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Skin is just an organ–but insecurity sells!

by YingYing Shang I am not white. Yeah, I know, stating the obvious, but in fact, even for someone of Chinese ethnicity, I am decidedly not on the pale end of the spectrum. And every time I flip open a fashion magazine here in America or visit my home city of Beijing, decked out with…

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