Their entire philosophy is based on the premise that when we start to say yes to things, we open ourselves to experiences that would never have been possible if we had said no. It encourages its followers to be spontaneous and preaches the idea that strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.
To live out this philosophy, the main people involved are three 20-something, friendly, and fit guys who travel around the world and complete challenges based on the spontaneity and kindness of strangers.
In their latest video, one of the guys is abandoned alone in Slovakia with no money and no phone, where he must attempt to return to his friends in Budapest.
I love everything about this channel and I hope someday I can live my life in a similar fashion.
But, I know this isn’t as realistic for me. Simply, because I’m a woman.
The thought of being dropped off in and exploring a random country sounds like a dream. The thought of being dropped off alone in a random country sounds terrifying.
I hate that just by being female, doing anything becomes more dangerous. I am a strong believer that a woman can do anything a man can. While that is true, it’s also true that women have to take a lot more precautions than men do.
I read a study that asked groups of men and women about the things they do in their everyday life to avoid being assaulted. The responses from women went on for pages. For men, there was one answer: “Nothing. I don’t think about it.”
Photo Credit: twitter.com
Words cannot express how much I wish this weren’t the case, how much I wish men and women were really, truly equal when it comes to things like this.
I wish that my mom didn’t have to worry about me going to the beach with my girl friends at 5 PM, even though she is fine with my older brother going to the same place with his guy friends at one in the morning.
I wish that women weren’t twice as likely as men to experience sexual assault or violent crimes.
I wish it weren’t like this, but it is. And let me tell you, it sucks.
To any men who are reading this, appreciate the fact that you don’t have to make sure you have your keys in your hand when you’re walking to your car at night. Be grateful that when you’re running by yourself and a truck drives behind you, you don’t have to stop to let it pass so that you can see what it is doing. Remember that there is a reason why girls always go to the bathroom in groups.
Tell this to your sons. Make them understand what it’s like. Teach them how to make women feel safer.
Maybe someday we’ll live in a world where a young woman can walk through a city alone, the only thing on her mind being how grateful she is to be there, and her biggest concern being what she will eat for dinner.
I am one person out of millions. I may be small, but my voice will not be silenced. We will no longer be silenced by beliefs made centuries ago.
We will not be silenced by beliefs that are killing innocent lives, or by the beliefs that are discriminating against the people who are finally becoming proud of who they are.
We are the new generation. We are the millennials, the Gen. Z kids, and the generations to come, and we are proud of ourselves for the world we’re determined to create.
We may be young, and we may not know everything about the world, but we are still learning, still improving, and we are definitely still fighting.
We are strong
We are resilient.
And we are powerful.
But we aren’t defined by adjectives; we are the future. In just a few years, most of us will be given the power to vote, and we will remember when you ignored our pleas.
Photo Credit: ABC News.
You ignored our pleas for equal rights, our pleas to not feel afraid to walk into our schools, our pleas for an equal opportunity you pride your country over yet fail to fulfill.
We will remember what you refused to give us, and we will take it ourselves.
The years will come, and the world will become ours. Not just for one percent of us, but for everyone.
A world where students can walk into their schools without the fear that they’d never walk out.
A world where people are free to love who they wish to.
A world where people are judged by their personality or by what they bring to the world. Not by the color of their skin, or their preference of who they love.
So remember this
We may be young,
But we are angry.
And you can try silence us, but we will rise, and we will scream louder than ever.
I was shocked to hear it. I really thought it had stopped being ‘cool’ a long time ago.
“That’s so queer.” He said, the first time, referring to someones Instagram account. I looked him dead in the eye. “Stop. You have no right.” But he didn’t. The words ‘Fagg*t,’ ‘Queer’, and ‘Gay’ were used several more times as an insult throughout the conversation. Eventually I left, utterly disgusted.
So why is it so important to stop using these terms like this?
Well first of all you may think it’s cool, but I don’t care how many bro-points you gain, insulting someone via their sexuality. But really, that’s only the surface of this issue. Yeah, it’s mean, but it’s so much more too.
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? So essentially, everything you do makes ripples. It goes a lot further than you thought it would, in a lot of ways.
You make gay synonymous with bad. You make kids feel lesser for their feelings.
You are furthering this insult, keeping the cycle going. Just stop.
YOU ARE HURTING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY
You are bullying. I do not care if you said it to a gay person or not. You are being a bully. End of story.
23% of gay or bisexual teens have tried to take their own lives and 56% have self harmed. You are an accomplice to these murders of young children who did nothing wrong.
You are saying that it’s ok for millions upon millions of people to be degraded world-wide so you can… be cool? Grow up.
You are creating a community that is unsafe
Back to the statistics – More than 85% of LGBTQ+ youth have been harassed at school in the past year. You are making your school a place where kids may be afraid to attend.
So, so much more.
So why would you use these descriptive terms as insults? Can you honestly not grasp the idea that there are other words out there? You want to be ‘cool?’
Although terms such as racism and sexism are given negative connotations, any form of generalization, whether good or bad, falls under these categories.
Racism stems from discrimination against those who are not caucasian, especially in the form of slavery. Nowadays, just because all races are given equal rights, it is a common misconception that racism is no longer relevant. As long as there are different races, any division between them is racism. Grouping a race together and making a general statement about a huge number of individuals is absolutely racist, whether the statement is criticism or praise.
Photo Credit: images.sodahead.com
Sexism follows the same patterns. Former discrimination of women was obviously sexist, but modern-day feminism borders on sexism as well. Although it represents the flip side – the hype is about women’s rights – it still caters to one race much more than the other. Even if men or women as a whole are commended or put before another, it is segregating them from the opposite sex, a form of sexism. Any stereotyping of a gender, no matter the intention, is grouping and labeling an entire sex – a countless number of people – and is therefore perpetuating sexist behavior.
Both racism and sexism continue to be relevant in everyday life. A huge compliment may be given to an entire race or a single gender, but that is still a form of discrimination. These prejudices should not be a standard occurrence, and recognition of their existence is key.
Feminist: A person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
The basic idea of Feminism revolves around the sole principle that because our human bodies are designed to perform differently in order to procreate – our intelligence, social functions, capabilities, and rights should be considered equal.
The word “feminist” has picked up a negative connotation in recent years. Why is that? How did independence turn into “man-hating”?
Men and women pay the same for college tuition. So, how does it make sense that we could leave college, get the same job, but as woman I make 75-cents for every mans dollar?
Women were, and in certain ways still are, treated as inferior to men.
Sexism began as early as Aristotle, who claimed that women were ‘imperfect’ men since they did not contain a male reproductive system.
Children are taught in princess movies that a prince has to come and save the day for everything to be okay. How about we teach our daughters that they can save themselves instead?
Emma Watson speaking about feminism and her campaign, “He for She” at the U.N. Photo Credit: socialnewsdaily.com
Actress, model, and spokeswoman, Emma Watson, was named U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador. She gave a life altering speech recently on this very subject, feminism. The speech left the entire room in tears and on their feet clapping – both women, and men.
We expect society to change – when as a society, we do not do enough to change it.
This week something wonderful has happened!!! Secretary of DefenseLeon Panetta has announced that (sometime in the near future) women in the United States military will be able to serve in combat roles. The United States has taken another step to become the pinnacle of equality it preaches to be.
Although women in the United States military have seen combat before, they were not officially allowed in combat only roles. The lifting of the ban of women in combat does not come without a catch. The Pentagon had said that certain combat roles will still be open to men only.
Who the hell do you think you are to deny an innocent American citizen their rights?
Obviously you think you are doing the “right” thing, the “better” thing.
You are not.
The only difference between LGBT and heterosexuals is who they are attracted to, oh and that LGBT on average have a higher IQ and are much less likely to commit a felony.
So why are LGBT peoplelooked down upon so much in our country? It really baffles me that so many people could have a hatred towards people who are just attracted to the same sex as themselves, I really cannot understand.
Homophobia is one thing. I for one do not have it but one cannot be fully criticized simply for their irrational feelings. That being said, even if there are many homophobes, that is no reason for LGBT to be denied the rights that heterosexual people have.
We have come a long way in our country in respect to the rights of minorities. African Americans and women received the right to vote and discrimination laws swept the country.
Yet, we are still living in the distant past when it comes to our county’s feelings regarding homosexuality. We need to grow up.
I was recently reading a story about the suicide rates among teens in an area of Minnesota who have been taunted for being gay and lesbian.
Throughout the country we see an absurdly high suicide rate among young LGBT people. This is unacceptable and it needs to stop.
No one, and especially young people, should be teased for their sexuality. I don’t care what your beliefs are regarding homosexuality, no one deserves to be teased and bullied and pushed to the point of having suicidal tendencies.
It makes me sick to hear that so many kids across our supposedly accepting country are facing the horrors of being bullied for their sexuality. It appalls me that more has not been done to cease this unacceptable behavior.
I want to see a country where people are not frowned upon for what attracts them, where we can accept people who are living their lives and not trying to harm anyone around them. I want us to move forward and banish our misconceptions about homosexuality to the pages of history where I am sure we will be mocked for the injustices we have committed.
Women are playing a larger role in politics than ever before. Their time may soon be coming and now we need them more than ever.
The governing style of women is not that much different from that of a man. But I think there are some key differences.
From what we have seen more recently, women seem to be a bit more level-headed. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are good examples of this, they have been liked by most Californian’s and have made reasonable choices throughout their time in office.
Hilary Clinton has obviously been the largest female political figure of recent times. Her presidential bid, although coming up short, was a huge step for females in politics.
And we can go back to Geraldine Ferraro who started the upsurge of women in modern-day politics. All of these women have played a large role.
In case you have not noticed, all these women are Democrats. There are a few reasons for this, first probably being my extreme bias towards Democrats. But secondly I think the Democratic cause speaks to the female movement.
Democrats do not as often support the elitist ways of the white male supremacy known as the American Government. Democrats have a tendency to be much more open to minorities as well as change.
And think of all the good change women could bring to politics. Women make up half of our country, should they not have half of the representation?
It brings a whole new perspective that we are missing in our government. Every man will tell you that women think differently, and maybe we need that right now. Our country is not in a good position and we need change.
Change can com from different ideas and ways of thinking and it could be as simple as integrating more women in to our government system.
OVS Journalism Blog 
