Category: Activism

The Safe Slut talks herpes awareness and making memes

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By Sophia-Joelle McDowell 

When Tricia Wise, or Safe Slut, was diagnosed with genital herpes in November of 2019, everything changed. Shut down your unconscious biases here, because things changed in an unpredictably positive way.   

Like most of us, Tricia didn’t receive any education about STIs growing up, apart from the common lecture that they’re the worst thing that can happen. After receiving the news of her herpes diagnosis, she spent days in bed and thought her sex life was over. 

These days, Tricia believes getting herpes was the best thing to ever happen to her. 

That diagnosis forced her to advocate for herself and have vulnerable conversations. It took her on a transformative journey of self-love and reclaiming her sexuality. She was even able to work through previous sexual trauma from past relationships and experiences. 

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A Look into Clara Baldwin’s domestic violence non-profit Peace Over Pieces 

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By Sophia-Joelle Oswald 

CW: Brief mentions of abuse

Clara Baldwin, chief executive officer of Peace Over Pieces, is the daughter of an immigrant from Thailand. Her mother raised her and her siblings while facing abuse from Clara’s father. And while Clara was stuck—forced to witness her mother’s abuse for the first 18 years of her life—Her dad also relayed that abuse towards Clara and the rest of her family. Nothing changed until Clara, her mother, and her brother were able to leave, and never go back.

Clara’s past experiences inspired the launch of Peace Over Pieces, a non-profit for domestic abuse survivors. 

Through this non-profit, Clara is able to talk one-on-one with survivors and share their stories through the Peace Over Pieces Domestic Abuse Survivor Podcast. The Peace Over Pieces website also provides resources and collects donations, with the option of either selecting a specific individual that they’ve watched or a general donation to the Peace Over Pieces Fund designed to cover a range of needs. 

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Get Intimate with Intimacy Coach Beth Darling

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By Nicole Mitchell
Design by Whitney Young

After spending 15 years as a divorce lawyer—dealing with marriage counselors, understanding affairs, and finalizing relationships—Beth Darling decided it was time to change. 

When Darling’s own 20-year relationship ended, she decided her new goal was to help couples stay together and keep their love alive. “Rather than trying to make the journey of separation an amicable one,” Darling shares on her website, “I wanted to help couples stay together. I wanted to see love not only survive but thrive.”

In her new book, The 5 Kinds of Intimacy: How to Keep Your Love Alive, Darling shares a no-bullshit approach to creating a happy and satisfying relationship. Coming from the eyes of a hopeless romantic with a background in law, this book is a must-read for anyone in a relationship—whether you’re struggling to keep the passion alive or you’re still in the honeymoon phase. We did a Q&A with Darling about what she’s been up to.

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Transgender Film Center Opens Applications for Top Trans Filmmakers Fellowship

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By Nicole Mitchell

The Transgender Film Center (TFC), a Kansas City-based nonprofit working to bring more transgender-led stories to the world, recently announced it will launch the inaugural Career Development Lab at TFC this spring. The 12-week intensive program is funded by Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity and is aimed at accelerating the careers of the most promising transgender and nonbinary creators in film and television.

“While transgender creators are beginning to make headway in pursuing their storytelling careers, there is still a powerful need to both enable access and prepare trans filmmakers to succeed in the industry,” says Sav Rodgers, the executive director of theTransgender Film Center. “We are so excited about the Career Development Lab because we believe its rubber-meets-the-road insights and partnerships with industry players will help participants break into careers in film and television.”

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Capitalism is the Abusive Relationship We Can’t Leave

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By Max Sheffield-Baird
Art by Whitney Young

CW: DV, childhood bullying, SA, specifically nonconsensual exposure of genitalia.

It’s no wonder that domestic violence survivors like myself stay so long in relationships that are toxic. The entire culture we are surrounded by and what we have to do to merely survive is both pervasive and normalized. And I’m not talking about patriarchy or white supremacy, though of course, these aspects of our culture fit the bill as well.

I’m talking about capitalism.

The more I process my own history of abusive relationships and walk the path of healing, the less I have allowed anyone to control my life or treat me as subhuman. This shift in my own thinking has made me realize that this mindset is incompatible with being a willing participant in capitalism.

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