It’s no secret that bullying is a pervasive problem in schools. And LGBT students are frequent targets of anti-gay slurs and assaults. According to a 2009 survey by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 90 percent of LGBT students reported being harassed at school –a harrowing statistic. The recent publicized cases of harassment and bullycide motivated teen activist Brittany McMillan to take action. In 2012, she came up with Spirit Day, when students, teachers, and professionals would “go purple” in support of LGBT youth. The...

Halloween happens to be one of the best holidays ever, but it also can be one of the most upsetting. Whether it’s sexist, historically inaccurate, a shameless rip-off of something in pop culture (A “Ticktock Orange Juice”, anyone?), or just plain stupid, there's a cheap, offensive costume for everyone out there. As a Halloween enthusiast I thought I was pretty well acquainted with the dark underbelly of cheap mass produced costumes. Turns out, not so much. While perusing this list of 10 Inexplicable and Possibly Offensive...

  Ladies, are you sick and tired of having to put up with catcalls and lewd remarks on the streets? Comedians Shanika Powell and Samantha Riddell, of brand-spanking new comedy group SlamPow! Productions, sure as hell are. They address the sexual harassment women face on the streets of NYC in a three-minute role-reversing scene. The parody, aptly titled “Meat,” features several females verbally harassing a dude who is walking innocently through the streets. These ladies spew over-the top lewd remarks at the increasingly uncomfortable guy, and he...

Members of FEMEN, a Ukranian feminist activist group, bring attention to their cause by baring their boobies.  The group known for topless protests has now started something of a feminist “international training camp” in France, which opened on September 18. Inna Shevchenko, a prominent FEMEN member, was wearing nothing but salmon-colored denim shorts and the words “Free Riot” painted on her body when she chainsawed down a giant Orthodox cross near Independence Square in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. Her cross-chopping was in response to the sentencing of three members...

It's no secret that awful things are happening to women around the globe simply because they're female: child marriage and sex slavery are just a few that come to mind. Thankfully, some people are working to put an end to these atrocities. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn highlight this excellent work in their powerful two-part documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The Half the Sky project began with a critically-acclaimed book, and now includes websites, music, and a social media campaign.  Pro-lady celebrities...

Not too long ago, the BUST Blog covered a New York woman’s efforts to re-vamp Verizon’s cancellation policies for domestic violence survivors. Almost 200,000 signatures later, her petition was successful! Today, as part of its annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Verizon is implementing some brand-new policy changes to better assist victims of partner violence. Customer service reps now have specific protocol for assisting survivors with contract cancellation—and even better, can connect them with the resources they need to stay safe and start anew. Verizon already has a great...

  Here at BUST, we are all women in journalism. As an experienced intern with a journalism degree, I’m used to seeing both classrooms and newsrooms full of driven, talented women. It seems only natural that I–and my female classmates and co-workers–belong in this field: we’re ambitious, capable, and damn good at what we do. It’s startling to realize that it would have been near-impossible for young women like us to break into journalism in the 60s or 70s.  Until the 1970s, rampant discrimination kept women out...

Something I can get behind: a man critically evaluating how society views traditional “manhood” and how this limiting perspective is affecting women all over the world. Tony Porter is a co-founder of A Call to Men, an organization that works to end violence against women by promoting healthier attitudes about masculinity. Porter and his co-founder Ted Bunch have spread the message of A Call to Men everywhere from the NFL to West Point to the U.N., and in his 2010 TED Talk, Porter uses poignant personal experiences to...

Eve Ensler is a total rock star. See? She’s best known for writing and starring in the groundbreaking play The Vagina Monologues—heck, even your grandparents have probably heard of it. Not being one to rest on her laurels, she founded a nonprofit, V-Day, that combats the epidemic (and yes, folks, it is an epidemic) of sexual and domestic violence happening all around the world. V-Day activists have opened hospitals for abuse survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, safe houses in Haiti, and created activist networks everywhere from...

Every year, an estimated 10 million girls under the age of 18 are forcibly married. It's a scary statistic--child brides are far more likely to experience domestic violence, birth complications, and sexually transmitted infections. The Elders, an independent group of global leaders headed by Nelson Mandela, is working to unite human-rights organizations across the globe to help end child marriage. This effort, called Girls Not Brides, aims to “give a voice to girls who are at risk of child marriage, defend their rights to health and education,...