Being Forced to Live in a Gangsta’s Paradise

Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio. An infamous rap song about the realities of being involved in a gang and how for many people, gang life is the only life they know. Listening close to the lyrics uncovers the harsh reality for many gang members.

We have all seen it before. Images of expensive cars, multitudes of weapons, flashy jewelry and piles of cash. All images used by pop culture and the media to portray a glorified image of the gang lifestyle. What is considered to be a danger in society is paraded across television screens and newspaper fronts as one big charade.  Gang life is presented as a lifestyle to be sought after, a life of luxury that is an easy escape from harsh reality. Despite this glamorization, it is nothing close to living in paradise.

Fighting for Inclusitivity In Our Everyday Lives

“LGBTQ Diversity and Inclusion” an image of hands held together in PRIDE flag colours showing the importance of togetherness on the pathway to acceptance of everyone

Sexual education is uncomfortable. It’s a controversial topic that some people believe should be discussed openly and others feel it should not be. Regardless of the differing opinions, sexual education in schools has historically focused around a single approach that is abstinence only. Instead of encouraging education about safe sex and contraceptives, many schools focus on the idea of refraining from sex seeing it as the only way to prevent teenagers from engaging in unsafe situations. However, issues with sexual education go beyond the problem of teaching abstinence. In a hetero-normative system where heterosexuality is assumed to be the only sexual orientation, it is important to address the silence of the voices of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual. Trans or Questioning (LGBTQ) youth from these situations. Not only should LGBTQ youth be integrated into sexual education, focus should be shifted on including LGBTQ narrative into our every day lives.

The Women, Children and Men of Human Trafficking

A short film titled The Victims, by the Toronto Sun. December 14th 2015.

Beaten, broken, bought and sold. Thousands of women, children and men are constantly being forced into the lucrative world of human trafficking. As the video by the Toronto Star shows, this industry is a manipulative hole that feeds off of  vulnerabilities.

The Idea of Solidarity

Over the years, feminism has faced many obstacles. For starters, the term itself has held a negative connotation in our society. These are the radicals, the man-haters, the anarchist; women that are bent on the destruction of all existing social order. Asides from this, the feminist movement is also often questioned. What is their purpose? Are they really looking for systemic change or is this movement just another excuse to cause chaos? These are just a few of the obstacles that the feminist movement deals with which also gain most of the public’s attention. Beyond these questions, however, there is a  bigger problem that needs to be addressed. That is the problem of the lack of solidarity across the feminist movement.