The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Excerpt:
This is a story about a young and impressionable female intern in the White House — a virgin, with girlish dreams about princes and presidents. Young girls are trained to marry the wealthiest or most powerful man on the block. When the prince comes calling, few young girls can resist this opportunity.
However, they are not the ones who are abusing power and betraying both youth and a wife. That would be the prince or …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
January was National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month, and it was in January that the governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, asked legislators to pass a bill to toughen state sex trafficking laws in time for Super Bowl weekend. The Chicago Tribune reports that “The Indiana House voted 93-0 in favor of the bill Friday that cleared the state Senate in a 48-0 vote earlier this month.”  The bill will make it easier to prosecute those who …

As a political scientist, I think a lot about power: how it is allocated, how one acquires it, and who possesses the authority to wield it. In our image-soaked and media-infused world, the message constantly conveyed is that the only women who are powerful are beautiful women. From magazines to movies, the women who get the good jobs, the great guys, and the happy lives are only those women who are beautiful. More than pretty, they are perfect. Perfect hair. Perfect bodies. Perfect smile. Perfect skin. Perfect clothes. Perfect mix …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I went on my first diet at age eleven.  It was my dirty little secret.  Perhaps having a gorgeous, shapely mom who had a habit of telling me I needed to “watch it” was a contributing factor.  Cool girls in my sixth grade class who made fun of me because I had baby fat on my tummy didn’t help.  The coup de grace was when Mom took me shopping and told the saleslady, “Give her the next size …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I like to think of myself as having a pretty good sense of humor. I like to laugh, and I like to make other people laugh. One of my earliest memories is of a childhood attempt to drink orange pop through my nose at my sister’s birthday party. What can I say? Sometimes you have to suffer for your art.
My favorite joke of all time is really more of a groaner. It has a …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

“Millions of children are lacing up sneakers and skates, donning swimsuits and grabbing rackets to join the ranks of youth sports teams and leagues across the country, often with minimal parental supervision.”
“But accusations of abuse last week against a major figure in amateur athletics have renewed concerns that the dynamics of youth sports could provide predators easy access to children in an environment where abuse could go undetected.”  Reuters, 12/12/11
The above quote from Reuters was …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I had recently had the opportunity to see the new music video by Billboard acclaimed Singer/Songwriter Sarah Fimm for the cause- based song “Everything Becomes Whole.”

Being that October was Domestic Violence awareness month, it is important for Sarah to continue to highlight the nightmare of domestic violence and the effect that it has on its victims. Sarah’s song/video carries a powerful message and it’s the voices of many women suffering from domestic violence.  “Everything …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

In his recent Huffington Post piece, Mike Edison made his case for “How Sex Magazines Made the World a Better Place.” His conclusion? In addition to supposedly holding “pictures of naked ladies” in a “more sacred light” than does today’s internet porn, Edison asserted that magazines like Screw and Hustler were “ground zero for relentless freedom of speech in the form of tasteless comedy, brutal political satire, and, of course, naked ladies.” As an …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 the FBI’s Advisory Policy Board voted unanimously to change their official definition of the word “rape.” Since 1929, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program has defined “forcible rape” as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” The Board’s new definition is: “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without …

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
A recent study from the Parents Television Council (PTC) shares that Trashy MTV Reality Shows Primarily Use Women to Trash Women.  On MTV, at least, what it revealed was that more misogyny is directed at women by women than men.  Fox News reports:
…[W]omen engage in a whopping 88 percent of the shows’ sexual dialogue, insult each other much more than the men, and offer themselves up in positive portrayals only when they’re talking about physical …