Sunday, October 15, 2017 will go down as a historic day, as California Governor, Jerry Brown, signed new legislation that will allow the residents of California to choose a gender other than male or female on official documents. The bill,…
The harrowing culture of Bacha Bazi – where young boys are auctioned to the highest bidder for sex
BY: NADIA ZAIDI The trafficking of young girls and women is a global human rights violation, but in Afghanistan young boys are exclusively the targets of sex slavery. It’s an underground world that operates in secrecy from misguided extremism, and is gaining…
This exhibition gives a voice to the silenced women prisoners of Syria
BY: SYDNEY KEEFE Manchester based organization, Rethink Rebuild Society recently held an important event to highlight the horrific aspects of Syrian imprisonment under Assad’s regime. Assad’s regime has been accused of barrel bombing and the use of torture detention centers.…
Pakistan is putting the U.S. to shame on transgender rights, but the rest of the LGBTQ community is being left behind
BY: NADIA ZAIDI Pakistan is one of the most conservative countries in the world. Its conservatism on issues like women’s rights have continually made headlines on major world networks. The blurred lines between religiosity and governance have been a contentious…
How a group of women are increasing access to education in Nicaragua
BY: ADAM THRUSH A new social initiative has launched in Nicaragua that focuses on the organization of communal spaces for the purpose of hosting makeshift libraries in rural Nicaraguan villages. ‘Barriotecas’ (literally translated to ‘neighbourhood libraries’) simply aims to provide…
Global capitalism and unethical outsourcing have caused millions of deaths
BY: DUSTIN BATTY There are many benefits to global trade, such as boosted economies, cheaper products, and availability of more goods—like fruits and vegetables that are out of season. However, despite these benefits, the cons of global trade seem to…
When a soft drink becomes a symbol of human rights
BY: NADIA ZAIDI I can’t help but think twice before reaching for a can of Pepsi. At the risk of sounding dramatic, it isn’t exactly the current beverage of choice. In fact, it’s become a symbol of misguided advertising and…
Taking photos of homeless people without their consent is not art – it’s exploitation
BY: QUENTIN STUCKEY Recently a friend of mine asked if I would be willing to help her on a university paper she had to write. In post secondary education there always seems to be strength in numbers; we always like…
Fully-nude body positivity workshops helped me get over my body insecurities (NSFW)
BY: JESSICA BEUKER “Everybody get naked.” I glance around the room as nine women—nine strangers—start to take off their clothes. I apprehensively do the same. Heads are bowed towards the floor as we all silently lift our shirts. I glance…
This Canadian Province just passed a motion for universal basic income
BY: JESSICA BEUKER On Tuesday, Prince Edward Island took a positive step forward by passing a motion to set up a basic income pilot project. The motion was put forward by Green Party leader Peter Bevan-Baker, who said that a…
For 7 years this vagabond collected 1,000 stories from strangers who helped him on his journey
BY: JESSICA BEUKER All photos by Gabor Gabor hasn’t had a place to call home in over seven years. Instead he has spent those years backpacking the world and meeting new people. Gabor decided to document his journey through the…
Video exhibition portrays the dark side of 1950s domestic life
BY: QUENTIN STUCKEY Sarah Anne Johnson may or may not be a familiar name, but her striking brand of photography has left a mark on Canadian art and culture. A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Johnson’s diverse photographic exhibitions…
It’s time to stop making women undergo virginity testing for higher education
BY: AISHA ILYAD Being a virgin is apparently a condition for acceptance for girls looking to attend university in Egypt. Elhamy Agina, an Egyptian member of parliament, wants all Egyptian girls to undergo compulsory “virginity tests” prior to recieving admission…
Poland rejects a restrictive abortion ban after thousands of women go on strike
BY: AISHA ILYAD “My body, my right.” This was the slogan of Polish Women who went on strike in protest against proposals for a total ban on abortion in their country. These anti-abortion protestors took to the streets of Warsaw on…
Hundreds rally to demand justice for Berta Cáceres
BY: MARINELLA MATEJCIC On March 17, over 200 hundred feminists and human rights defenders rallied together in the streets of New York to demand justice for the murder of Berta Cáceres. The rally was held at 5:30 p.m. in front…
Unethical Canadian mining practices shed a harsh light on Canada’s good-guy image
BY: AIDAN MACNAB Photo by Roger LeMoyne / Macleans Canada is back, or so we’re told. After a decade-long dark age of Harper lunacy we have allegedly re-established ourselves as the global nice guys. We love refugees. We’re sorry about…
Harlow’s infamously cruel experiments are the reason chimps should be recognized as legal persons
BY: KAROUN CHAHINIAN The Manhattan Supreme Court made history when two chimpanzees were recognized as possible legal non-human persons in order to hold a “personhood” rights hearing. Justice Barbara Jaffe ordered that a cause and writ of Habeas Corpus must…
This TV show made fashion bloggers work in the sweatshops their clothing came from (Video)
BY: ROB HOFFMAN A month long reality TV series was recently produced by Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, in which popular fashion blogger, Anniken Jørgensen, and avid consumers, Frida Ottesen and Ludvig Hambro, were taken on a surprise trip to Cambodia…
The impacts of global overpopulation can only be told through photos
7.3 billion people on this planet and counting, with a growth rate of 1.5 million every week. Believing that the logical rationale echoed for decades about the threats of overpopulation were largely being dismissed as alarmist, Tom Butler, editorial director…
These photos of Africans with mental illness show a disturbing assault on human dignity
BY: ROBIN HAMMOND Locked in tin shacks and chained to rusty hospital beds, Africans with mental illness have been abandoned by their government, neglected by foreign aid advocates, and persecuted by their society. Mental health professionals have fled South Sudan…