TW: This article discusses the murder of a Black trans woman and violence against transgender folks. On Sunday, April 4, a Black trans woman named Jaida Peterson, 29, was found dead in her hotel room in Charlotte, North Carolina. After responding to a call for a welfare check on the room, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police reported Peterson’s death as a homicide, with a murder investigation currently underway. Peterson is the 14th known transgender or gender-nonconforming person to be killed this year, as cited by the Human Rights Campaign....

The United States military prides itself on protecting the nation and preserving tradition. The prevalence of sexual assault cases in the armed forces, however, reflects a struggle to protect its own female members and an urgent need for change.  The issue of sexual assault in the military has been addressed by U.S. legislators in the past, including in a 2013 meeting among senators and Pentagon leaders. But the issue has recently gained urgency among national leaders due to factors including the #MeToo movement, the call to...

  An NYC-based woman named Maddy Park raised $100,000 within a couple of days to provide free cab services to local Asian American residents who may be scared to travel on public transportation. The surge of anti-Asian hate crimes has left many fearing for their lives and scared to ride the trains. Park decided to take matters into her own hands after a tense trip on the subway. “Last week I took the train. It was a 30-minute commute, and I realized every minute of that commute I...

After making history as the youngest poet to grace the inaugural stage in January, Amanda Gorman will become the face for Vogue’s May issue cover. Becoming the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, Gorman’s work as a poet and activist has led her to achieve numerous accolades, such as her 2015 release for The One For Whom Food Is Not Enough, her title as Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and her organization One Pen One Page. In her detailed interview with Vogue, Gorman describes...

Two cases in which women were charged with murder after delivering stillborn babies in Kings County, California, have recently resurfaced and sparked outrage. Chelsea Becker and Adora Perez were each arrested shortly after their babies' deaths due to methamphetamine use during pregnancy. Their cases have since caused controversy among top legal officials and human rights groups. In 2017, a 29-year-old woman named Adora Perez delivered a stillborn baby at Adventist Health Hospital in California. The baby tested positive for methamphetamine, and Perez was charged with second-degree...

New Zealand recently passed a historic law that allows paid leave for employees who have had a miscarriage or stillbirth. This new law applies to the individual or couple who lost the baby, in addition to those who want to adopt or have a child through surrogacy. The state will now provide three days of paid leave, which doesn't affect or dip into their sick leave. The individual or couple can take a paid bereavement leave for a miscarriage or stillbirth regardless of how long...

On Tuesday, March 16, eight people lost their lives during three deadly shootings that occurred across three Atlanta spas; six of those eight people were women of Asian descent. On Sunday, an Asian woman named Clarisse was robbed, punched in the face, and dragged by a getaway car in San Francisco. Another Asian woman was hit in the face by a man this week while attending an anti-Asian hate rally with her 7-year-old daughter in New York City. And today, Friday, March 26, news outlets...

With women’s history month in full effect, congratulations are in order for all of the recipients of Fashion Nova Cares’ “Women On Top” fund. On International Women’s Day, Grammy Award-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion took to social media to announce that, in collaboration with mega retail company Fashion Nova, this new women’s empowerment initiative would be giving away $1 million worth of donations, grants, and scholarship money to women-focused businesses, entrepreneurs, students, and charities all month long. Recipients, who have been awarded up to $25,000...

“There will be few — if any — women who don’t completely understand and identify with this,” Nicola Sturgeon told the Daily Mail, in response to the countless reports of women who have come forward about their experiences with sexual assault and their feelings of vulnerability when walking alone down the street. These reports all came from social media after news broke about the disappearance of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who has not been seen since March 3. She had been walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham,...

While fandoms ought to be a good thing, as they bring audiences together in a shared admiration for a particular person or pop-culture artifact, it is often these subcultures that rear their ugly heads. Actor Katie Leung of the Harry Potter franchise knows this all too well.  Recently guest starring in an episode of the Chinese Chippy Girl podcast, Leung discussed at length the racist online attacks she experienced from Harry Potter fans. At 16 years old, Leung was cast as the character Cho Chang in...