#identitiesmic

[fineartbybreanna-blog]

In a recent segment on CBS This Morning, Emmy-nominated OITNB star Laverne Cox calmly but firmly corrected Gayle King when the host said Cox was born a boy. "I was assigned male at birth is the way I like to put it, because I think we're born who we are and the gender thing is something someone imposes on you," Cox told the King. "And so I was assigned male at birth but I always felt like I was a girl."

The idea that gender is "imposed" on a person might be confusing to some people, particularly those who have always felt at home in their bodies. But a study conducted by the University of Warwick's Centre for the Study of Women and Gender proves Cox's point, concluding that children "with fixed ideas about what should be considered 'masculine' and 'feminine,' can actually be detrimental to their physical and mental health," according to ThinkProgress writer Tara Culp-Ressler. 

[fineartbybreanna-blog]

#LikeAGirl 

Now I have come across a few of these advertisements recently and while yes they are ultimately trying to sell there product, the message they are using is still a really important one. I think it is becoming more and more apparent to me that the way we will bring about change within our society is by influencing people at the grass roots level.  "Procter & Gamble, which owns Always, conducted a study in May surveying 1,300 American women between ages 16 and 24. More than half the girls said they experienced a drop in confidence at puberty, and 89% felt that words negatively affect their confidence. Only 19% had a positive association with the phrase "like a girl." "When the words 'like a girl' are used to mean something bad, it is profoundly disempowering," Greenfield noted in the press release." 

[bookoisseur]

One Commercial Perfectly Captures the Sneaky Way We Push Girls Away From Science

via (@micdotcom)

One Commercial Perfectly Captures the Sneaky Way We Push Girls Away From ScienceImage Credit: Verizon

If boys and girls both love dinosaurs as children, why are there so many fewer women growing up and studying their evolutionary history?

The news: A new Verizon ad touches on one of the reasons behind that disparity. The commercial, released this week, reveals the subtle ways people — parents included — discourage young women from pursuing science careers.