Clothing is a major way people express themselves, making it important that clothing brands make clothing that is welcoming for everyone. Brands such as Brandy Melville offer only one size clothing, but the clothing is only for some. Their sizes say they are for everyone, but realistically they fit an extra-small to a medium. One-size clothing is not a true statement because everyone has a different body type, meaning a one-size shirt will not fit everyone the same. Brandy Melville markets towards short and small people. The shirts and shorts are extremely short, small, and cropped making it impossible for curvy or tall people to fit into. However, they sell sweatshirts that are one size but are labeled as “oversized”. This is highly offensive to people because their oversized fit is just a normal fit. What kind of message is Brandy Melville trying to portray? That the “normal” size of women should be an extra small to a medium? These are questions that need to be answered and not suppressed just because “smaller” people like their clothing.

Continue reading Diversity in Fashion Brand Clothing – by Madison Schutter, Kylina Caylor, Kate Hixon, Mya Mckinney →

Gender diversity in advertising has become a prevalent issue in today’s fight for gender equality. For many years women have been fighting within the marketing and advertising industry for equal representation in commercials and even landing jobs working behind the scenes. A lot of progress has been made with integrating more representation of women into advertising, however there is still more work to be done. There are, on average, twice as many men shown in an advertisement than women and men have about three times the amount of speaking time than women. While women are underrepresented within the advertising world, they are also stereotypically sexualized for the work that they are chosen for. It’s no secret that sex appeal is one of the largest selling aspects in today’s marketing world, and while this is also true for men, it is more predominant among women displayed in advertisements. 

Continue reading Gender Diversity in Advertising – by Katie Ghee, Lindsey Meisheid, Lauryn Allman →

The LGBTQ+ community continues to be facing diversity, as a new law was passed recently in Tennessee that restricts adult cabaret performances in public or in the presence of children, and bans them from occurring within 1000 feet of schools, public parks, or places of worship.” This law strictly prohibits people in this community from expressing themselves in a country that is supposed to be known for their freedom. My uncle is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and has done drag before. He was simply devastated by the news, as many others in this community were and he even called my Father and angrily ranted to him how awful this new law is. 

Continue reading Devastating New Law for the LGBTQ+ Community – by Sean Meehan, Leonardo Vega →

When I first met my partner, I could not grasp their pronouns for the life of me. In all honesty, I had never made acquaintances with a non-binary person until I met Koy in college. On the way to visit them, I would repeat “they, them, they, them, they, them” out loud behind the steering wheel. Of course, Koy and their friends would politely correct me each time I slipped up. Hey, we all have to learn at some point. Because the fact of the matter is: not everyone is comfortable with the gender that was assigned to them at birth. With the rapid discourse on gender expression changing every day, it’s imperative that we learn. I learned, and so can you. 

Continue reading Navigating Gender Non-conforming Pronouns – by Abigail Mann →

At the end of the corporate Pride rainbow lies a darker story to be told

Since 1999 when President Bill Clinton designated June as Pride month in the United States, the surface level social climate has grown to be more widely accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community. Corporations have been quick to pick up on this, adjusting their marketing angle during June to reflect consumers ideals. Similar to the social climate though, this effort appears to be performative when viewed through a narrower lens. At the end of the corporate rainbow is a money trail of donations to politicians who support anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
Continue reading The Corporate Rainbow – by Jules Jackson, McKenzie Malone, Anna Truss →

Early on in my childhood I didn’t have many friends, even though most kids were very kind towards me. It’s just that I have always kept a very small circle of people very close to me in life, and one of the best people I keep around is Devin. Devin is a man who works at our grocery store, and he has autism and a learning disability. For the most part, everyone is fully accepting of Devin at our store and we treat him as we would treat anyone else. He’s thoughtful, often hilarious, and genuinely a great worker who takes care of his fellow associates. Every encounter begins with him asking you a question or telling a joke. By the end of the encounter, he will always leave you with a fist bump that will always feel just as sweet as the last. Devin lives life like the rest of us and he doesn’t like feeling dependent on others, so it was a big deal when he was finally going to get his own drivers license. As someone with many family members who are disabled, many of them only wish to have that level of freedom.

With this new found freedom Devin came in every day with an impossibly large presence. By the end of our shifts he would walk me over to his car to check it out. It was a big moment for him, and eventually everyone in the store heard about it. Around this time I distinctly remember a conversation with Devin regarding a crush he had on a woman we worked with, and if he should buy her something nice. I was surprised by Devin and how bold he had become, I simply told him not to worry about buying anything yet, but to talk to her and see what happens from there. I’m left with a nod and a fist bump as I go off to rest after our long day at the store. After a few days of coming into work I see Kailey at the register without a bagger, so I go up to help bag. “Did you hear that Devin has a crush on me?”. She laughed and poked fun at the idea of them even being together for a multitude of reasons. This bothered me as there was no reason for her to air that situation out to the whole store, it’s petty and honestly not fair to Devin who has never been in this situation before.

Eventually that day I make my way to Devin to warn him about what Kailey is telling everyone, he wasn’t too thrilled. I offered my opinion as to how he should handle the situation. Devin felt like he was being laughed at, and it bothered all of us very deeply. However, he still seemed to want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but he declared to move on from it. Things got quiet regarding that situation for a few weeks. Just as we all had let our guard down, in comes Devin off the clock delivering Smoothie King and lunch for Kailey. All of us there that day were perplexed and had several questions for both. We decided to give it a few more days to better understand the situation. A week or so later one of the managers was having a casual conversation with Kailey in which she admitted to using Devin to get free lunch and money whenever she needed it. As the story broke out among the store we all became infuriated and each of us would pull Devin to the side to each try and get our two cents in. You see Devin wanted this so badly for himself, and I distinctly remember the situation pushing him to tears as the manager explained it to him.

Devin would take off work, having his shifts covered for a few days, but in the meantime many of us at the store got together to tell management what was happening. No matter the extent we went to, human resources was only ever threatened to Kailey. There were never any repercussions to her actions, and it still bothers all of us to this day. Situations like this cannot be tolerated as it’s beyond unfair treatment to those with learning disabilities. Kailey saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of above everything else, so she lied about her intentions as she knew Devin took everyone’s words for a fact. This kind of situation only happens when someone is perceived as being lesser, which is ethically wrong to take advantage of in any situation. I hate imagining her telling her friends about the situation and laughing at Devin’s expense. He’s a great person, who never should have gone through this. There must be swift action to those who take advantage of anyone with a disability, whether that means suspension, transferring stores, etc. There must also be more awareness to these kinds of situations, like management pulling aside coworkers for individual meetings that covers the topic and possible ramifications if caught doing such.

Growing up as a white woman in the south, I have always been aware of the privilege I have due to my skin color. I knew I would have an easier time dealing with the police than someone with darker skin. I knew people in society may assume I am more educated than others because of my caucasian skin. I knew all the major issues my privilege could play a role in but I failed to consider the mundane, everyday hardships people who look different from me face. That was until I met my college roommate, Janita Echagile. Janita is an African American whose parents immigrated from Nigeria. She shared many stories about growing up as a black girl in the south. These stories opened my eyes and helped me deeply understand the challenges people of color deal with. Growing up is hard enough but it is even worse when you feel as though your appearance doesn’t fit the beauty standards. Janita shares her experience feeling like that.  Continue reading Black in the South: A Complicated Journey of Self Love  – by Catherine Corcoran  →

Women have been faced with inequality since the beginning of time. Today, their rights are still  being oppressed, along with their healthcare rights as human beings. Specifically, Walgreens announced a few weeks ago that they will not be distributing abortion pills, such as mifepristone, in states where GOP AGs (Grand Old Party attorney generals) object. The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain also confirmed it will not sell abortion pills in several states that remain legal. This decision was based on the consistent harassment in letters by nearly two dozen Republican state attorney generals who threatened legal action against the drug store.

Continue reading No Plan A, No Plan B Next? – by Grace James →

In August of 2021, “Twenty-two year old female missing in Wyoming” was a news headline that scoured the media. Two years later, the name “Gabby Petito” still makes headlines from time to time. What exactly was it that made this story captivate an audience of millions? Was it because she and her spouse had a YouTube channel, they posted vlogs to? Was it because Gabby was a young, white, conventionally attractive female? Regardless of what the reasoning may be, her story perfectly aligns with what is commonly known as ‘missing white woman syndrome’. Missing White Woman Syndrome refers to the media’s infatuation with covering missing white women and its failure to cover identical stories about women of color. A question that may be commonly asked when analyzing Gabby Petitos story is, would this story be as popular if Gabby was not white?

Continue reading The Issue Within the ‘Missing White Woman’ – by Lilli Morgan →