The October 2015 Issue by OPIA Magazine

#ShareYourComingOutStory

The girl who is changing the world one survivor at a time Emily Angelica talks about We Will Speak.

OPIA

September/October 2015

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e n i z ga

LGBTQ+

October

4 Racism

Share Your Coming Out Story All Lives Matter - Why the - The daunting task of “coming hashtag #AllLivesMatter defeats out”. it’s own purpose. Self Image 7 News 14 Beauty WIthout Standards, How Islam has felt the repurDear Nicole Arbour - A YouTu- cussions of 9/11 - Fourteen years bers attempt at being funny. later people speak. 9Pop Culture 15 Fashion Beauty on a Budget! - Beauty An Open Letter to Carter Reyntrends that won’t terrorize your olds bank account.

Poetry

11 LGBTQ+

The Recovery - A Poem By Syd- Gender Norms and Homophobia ney Trowbridge - How much do gender norms really influence homophobia?

Feminism

Interview with Emily Angelica, Co-Founder of We Will Speak No more statistics.

Letter from the Editor Jiya Mehta

Editor In Chief Dear Reader, I am so excited to bring to you the first issue of this magazine. What I wanted to do with this is create a platform for writers, artists and photographers to come together and talk about issues they are passionate about. We are a generation with so many resources and yet we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use them for the right reasons. OPIA Magazine was my vision to empower people and help them understand how important it is to be invested in something that is important to you. This magazine is about new beginnings for people who need it the most. Our team is a group of fierce activists who are working desperately for change. This is issue is the first of many, we have so much in store for this magazine already. I hope you enjoy the magazine as much as we did creating it. All the love, J.M.

Share Your Coming Out Story By Annabel Scott

For many individuals, there is no task quite so daunting as “coming out”. Although we live in a world where it seems as though LGBTQIA people are generally accepted, a hashtag I created recently on twitter has proven otherwise. The hashtag is called #ShareYourComingOutStory, and though I never thought it would take off, it’s received countless uses, in which many individuals have bravely shared their own experiences coming out to their friends and families. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term ‘LGBTQIA’, allow me to explain for you; ‘LGBTQIA’ refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual communities. It is used as an umbrella term to encompass the differing sexualities of individuals all over the world. Recently, there has been a great deal more acceptance for members of all of these communities; especially with the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, more support than ever before is being given to LGBTQIA people. But it’s not perfect.

In the vastly heter-

mative world we live in, the majority of LGBTQIA people have to “come out”. To this day, most families assume that their children are heterosexual. Until this assumption changes, it is still seen as somewhat “necessary” to formally “come out” as being LGBTQIA. As someone who had already come out to my own friends and family as bigender, I was curious to hear about what other people experienced while “coming out”. I wanted to understand how other families around the world reacted to this sort of revelation; I wanted people to share their coming out stories. Thus, the hashtag was born. Before creating the hashtag, I thoroughly believed the vast majority of individuals were entirely accepting of LGBTQIA people. Sadly, the hashtag has convinced me that there is still a great deal of work to be done in reaching true acceptance. Several people who posted spoke of a complete lack of acceptance from their loved ones – specifically, from parents. It seems that acceptance from parents is something that many LGBTQIA people struggle with. While many spoke of their mother and father being in denial, others talked about a vicious anger that came about as a result of the news. More than one person spoke of being grounded, yelled at, and even punished, simply because of their sexuality. Others discussed the alienation they felt from their

parents as a result of coming out. Some parents refused to acknowledge their children, and went years without so much as speaking to them. Tweets like these are a popular trend. Many LGBTQIA people sincerely believe that their own parents will never love them as a result of their coming out. And that is a massive problem. Whether it’s due to religious beliefs, a generation gap, political affiliations, or any other personal reason, disproportionate numbers of parents are not accepting of their children’s

Overwhelmingly, however, users expressed total and complete acceptance from their peers. Friends did not seem to have a problem accepting different sexualities; this leads me to believe that perhaps a generation gap is partially responsible for differing reactions to “coming out”. While a mother born in the 1960’s might consider non-heterosexuality to be an abomination, someone born in the early 1990’s might have been raised in a completely different environment. Younger generations are typically more accepting of LGBTQIA people, mainly because of this change in how the public views non-heteronormativity. As an example, forty years ago, transgender individuals were seen as “freaks of nature”; today, schools and universities are installing gender-neutral bathrooms, and public figures such as Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox are widely celebrated. Things are rapidly changing for the LGBTQIA community, at least when it comes to younger generations. Unfortunately, too many parents, grandparents, and members of older generations are holding onto homophobic and transphobic viewpoints, which can be extremely damaging to LGBTQIA people.

Art by Avery Bailey

While there were many stories of anger and disgust in the #ShareYourComingOutStory tag, there were also constant posts regarding the invalidation of sexuality. Many people discussed being told that they were “just confused” or “too young to know”. Whether people think they are being helpful by making these comments, or whether it is just a form of masked homophobia, I do not know. Regardless of the reason, claiming that someone is “just confused” after they come out is intensely damaging to LGBTQIA individuals. It’s an attempt to completely invalidate their feelings and sexualities, and that is never an appropriate response to someone’s coming out. If and when somebody comes out to you, be happy for them. Show them acceptance. Give them a hug. But please, don’t claim that they are “just confused”. Don’t insist that they will “change their minds”. Do not try to invalidate somebody else’s sexuality, because when it comes down to it, you do not have any idea what they are feeling. They are the only ones who can make comments on their sexualities. Of course, the hashtag also contained plenty of posts from people claiming they’re still too scared to

come out to their friends and families. The majority are afraid of how their parents will react, and of course, some are worried about what their friends will think, as well. It got me thinking; why do we live in a world where people are afraid to say who they are? Why do we expect anger and repulsion when we come out to people who are supposed to love us? It all comes down to heteronormativity. We live in a world where heterosexuality is expected, and when it’s not there, many choose recoil in disgust. We as people need to open our minds and our hearts to the LGBTQIA community. Thank you so much to those who have already done so; you will teach your own children to approach all people with love and acceptance, and perhaps “coming out” won’t seem so daunting a task someday. Perhaps, I dare say, we’ll reach a point where it won’t even be necessary to come out. We are closer than ever before to fully accepting the LGBTQIA community, but we’re not there yet. There is still work to be done.

“The world is so obsessed with defining sexuality for everyone and attaching labels to it. Any time any person openly leaves the sexual norm, their sexuality becomes, more often than not, the absolute defining characteristic of that person. It becomes the first thing people think about and often the first thing they mention. Every other part of that person all but disappears.” -Dan Pearce

That work won’t be done until every #ShareYourComingOutStory post is a positive one. And believe me, there were some positive stories. I’m going to leave you with those ones, in an attempt to end off on a happy note. I am delighted to see that many LGBTQIA people are given nothing but love and support from their friends and families. So many are given the acceptance that they deserve. I truly cannot wait for the day when every single member of the LGBTQIA community is so blessed.

“This is our big chance to see what people think of us. The real us. We have to show em there’s nothing to be afraid of. If we don’t get over our fears, they never will.” -Lisi Harrison Art by Avery Bailey

Beauty Without Standards By Katie Tait

Dear Nicole Arbour, So as you probably know there has been a video going around titled ‘Dear fat people’ by a woman named Nicole Arbour. As you can imagine, it caused a lot of backlash over social media. Understandably too. Nicole Arbour is a YouTube ‘comedian’ who decided it was her duty to tell fat people that the discrimination they face everyday doesn’t exist. In the video she claimed that ‘fat shaming’ is a term fat people made up as an excuse to ‘keep eating’ while continuing to fat shame people. She talks about her disgust for fat people by referencing a ‘fat family’ and how they get special treatment for making ‘bad life choices’. The video was created in attempt to be funny and to try and drop a ‘truth bomb’ on fat people to magically make them change their ways to become thinner.

Fat shaming is a real issue that fat people have to deal with every day of their lives. Of course, I wouldn’t expect a pretty thin woman like you, Nicole, to understand. You see, society and the media together have created an image for beauty. For women, you have to be skinny, tanned and have perfect skin. For men, you have to be fit and muscly. Notice how fat isn’t there at all? Everywhere you look in the media, fat shaming is happening.

Miss Arbour then goes on to talk about the ever growing trend #BodyPositive. The purpose behind this hashtag was to allow people of all sizes to feel happy with the body they’re in. It wasn’t created to glorify health issues that may come with obesity. Health doesn’t come into it at all. It’s literally a hashtag full of people posting pictures of their body and learning to feel happy with themselves because guess what? People like you try to make them feel that they’re not beautiful, you’re no better than the toxic beauty standards that the media made up.

Fat is not synonymous with ugly. That’s just an idea that society has created. Fat is just a body type and you can be both beautiful and fat at the same time.

Also, telling fat people to ‘make better life choices’ isn’t going to make them want to start trying to lose weight. You think it’s just a case of eating less and moving more? You don’t know how difficult it can be to try and lose the fat. You have a body that the media defines as ‘attractive’ so you wouldn’t know how hard and how soul-destroying it can be.

So. Dear Nicole Arbour, you didn’t make a video to encourage a healthy lifestyle. You didn’t make a video to try and help fat people. You made a video claiming that their struggles aren’t real while fat shaming them at the exact same time. You made a video that you knew would get a lot of attention to try and be ‘edgy’ and ‘funny’. You are not some saviour. You’re not even a good comedian. You’re nothing more than a bully and you didn’t help at all.

Turning away from all the negative points about the video, I would just like to write a quick paragraph to all my fat people out there. To the fat people who are happy with their bodies and to the fat people who aren’t quite there yet. The media’s beauty standards are nonsense. It’s just an image that people expect you to be. Don’t try to change yourself for them, be happy being you. Be happy in your fat body and your curves. Don’t ever apologise for being you.

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The Recovery

By Sydney Trowbridge

Here I lie Wide awake Thinking of how I might die And how easily I can break Remembering how you treated me And feeling like the trash you made me to be When my heart you did smash I have tried and struggled to Get over the fact that I was just a fling Crying over the thought of you And how I didn’t mean a thing Maybe it’ll get better Maybe the pain will end Maybe I’m waiting for a letter But not even your words can mend The shattered heart That you tore apart ••• Here I lay Wide awake On a better day Without a single quake Remembering how I got over you And feeling the power To get over this new guy too Before he wastes a single hour I tried and succeeded To realize the fact That you are not what I needed Or who I wanted to attract It did get better The pain did end And I’m writing this letter Saying that while it may bend You can’t this beautiful piece of art You can’t break my beautiful heart.

All Lives Matter

By Shireen Ali

unitewomen.org Majority of the time, whenever feminists on social media promote the trend #BlackLivesMatter, #TransLivesMatter, #QueerLivesMatter, etc; the number one response received would be people telling us to stop using these tags, and instead start using the tag #AllLivesMatter. Their reason to use the #AllLivesMatter tag is because they assume we only care about Trans lives, or Black lives, but choose to ignore the lives of others. As people, we all agree that the lives of everyone matter. Although, it’s a known fact that some lives are being oppressed and taken away more, whereas other lives are more privileged. Transphobia, homophobia, racism, Islamophobia and many other oppressive and prejudicial ideas are still existent in today’s world, and is the reason we use specific tags and not just #AllLivesMatter. Everyday, everywhere, people are beaten, berated and killed because of their

own personal identities. Them being gay, transgender, or of colour is the sole reason they are killed. White, heterosexual, cisgendered people don’t have to worry about being murdered as much, because they are considered ‘safe’ and ‘untargeted’ because of their daily privileges, as well as the evident heteronormativity and cisnormativity in today’s society. The lives of these citizens- the ones that are perceived as the norm, are in danger, but not because of the skin colour, race, sexuality, religion or gender they hold.

LGBTQ+ inmate is 1 in 10. (Source: 2012 study by Huffington post) The LGBTQ+ community live in a mindset where they know and understand that many members of their community face violence on a daily basis due to their queer identities. Black people live in a constant worry, as the recent accounts of police brutality have nearly all been aimed towards black people.

On August 9th 2014; Mike Brown, an unarmed innocent black teenager de Any citizen who holds the prived of his right to a fair title of being an LGBTQ+ memtrial, was shot in Ferguber will most likely be targeted, son by a police officer, beregardless their race. Any citizen cause he was black. Amber who is black will probably have Monroe, a 20 year old black police brutality and prejudice transwoman was found aimed towards them, regardless lynched in Detroit, because their sexuality or gender. Any she was transgender. (She citizen who holds any title that is marks the 12th trans person seen as ‘sinful’ or ‘undesirable’ of colour killed this year.) will have a higher probability of Shira Banki, a 16 year old being a target. who was supporting and marching at Jerusalem’s gay The increase in chance of an pride parade, was stabbed LGBTQ+ inmate being raped in and ultimately died of her prison is 15 times more likely. wounds, because she was The chances of an incarcerated supporting the LGBTQ+

community. She herself was heterosexual, but the attackers continued to target her because she supported her close friend who was found dead in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas. Police claimed that she had hanged herself, which was then followed by a series of protests against her initial arrest over a lane change failure. To this day, the public is still unaware of the actual cause of her death. The discrimination faced by these communities are not only in the form of physical assault. Transgender youth account for 18% of all homeless people in cities such as Chicago. (Source: 2012 study by Patheos) People of color, face longer sentences than their white non-Hispanic counterparts for similar crimes. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, between 2007 and 2011, sentences for black males were 19.5 percent longer than those for whites. Furthermore, black men were 25 percent less likely to receive sentences below the sentencing guidelines for the crime of which they were convicted. 26% of Americans believe that all mosques should be closely monitored by US law enforcement agencies. (Source: Islamophobia - CAIR.com)

“[I]t has been the poets – no matter the medium – who have succeeded in… rendering the kinds of dreams and futures social movements are capable of producing.” -Robin D.G. Kelley

More than half of LGBTQ+ members hide their sexual orientation in her workplace out of fear of discrimination. (Source: Catalyst.org) Nearly half of the transgender population said they were not hired, were fired, or were not promoted due to their gender identity. (Source: Catalyst.org) Choosing to use specific tags such as #TransLivesMatter or #BlackLivesMatter does not condone or promote the erasure of the lives of others. Specific lives have been targeted and assaulted for reasons rooted within the issues of society. Choosing to use #AllLivesMatter would in turn erase the prejudice and discrimination towards minorities. If all lives really do matter, why is society targeting the lives of specific minority groups? Why do 49% of transgender youth attempt suicide? (Source: 2012 study by Patheos). Why are unarmed black civilians so often targeted by law enforcement? Why do queer youth hold a 60% chance of experiencing verbal homophobic abuse? (Source: humanrights.gov.au) Why is the main cause of latinx discrimination their immigration status? Why are some lives subjected to an increasingly higher rate of prejudice compared to other lives? The public needs to acknowledge the lives that are constantly bashed and attacked significantly more than the lives of the socially privileged, and that they need our support and protection- because all lives do matter.

How Islam Has Felt the Repercussions of 9/11. By Jiya Mehta

On September 11th, 2001 America experienced a series of terrorist attacks that would change the nationand the world for a very long time. Today is September 11th, 2015. Today marks the fourteenth anniversary of this heart wrenching story, the World Trade Center is now standing again and physically America has not yet fully recovered but quite remarkably so. There are a lot of articles you will see talking about the lives lost, my heart goes out to all of those who lost family member. But today I want to talk to you about a group of people who have carried the their Islamic beliefs. They fast all burden of these attacks. day during Ramadan and refrain from western fashion norms, two For over a decade now, things which seem quite difficult the people of Islam have to me. been judged because of an event carried out by the terIt is ignorant and downright rorist organization Al’Qaeda. Due to the attacks they have horrible to make assumptions on all Muslim people because of an faced discrimination, racial event that took place because of profiling and bigotry. The radical beliefs. The Al’Qaeda is 9/11 attacks seemed to have sparked a unanimous case of responsible for the 9/11 attacks not all of Islam. Osama Bin Ladislamaphobia. en was a terrorist but terrorism What you need to know has no religion and when people learn that is when we can truis that the man behind the ly find peace with the attacks of 9/11 attacks, commonly 9/11. known as Osama Bin Laden actually worked for the A moment of silence for the United States Government erasure of this religion. A mofor a long time. He was a ment of silence for the stereofatalist, an extremist and types and prejudice people of went to no end to prove his south asian heritage and Islam Islamic beliefs. Note that I face. A moment of silence for the said HIS Islamic beliefs. lives lost physically and the ones erased by ignorance. What I have come to learn from having friends In all due respect to the who are Muslim, is that it people who lost their lives on is a very beautiful religion this day fourteen years ago, we in it’s modern light. I have seen my friends join charity mourn for you and we remember work and be kind because of you.

Terrorists are not following Islam. Killing people and blowing up people and dropping bombs in places and all this is not the way to spread the word of Islam. So people realize now that all Muslims are not terrorists. -Muhammad Ali

An Open Letter to Carter Reynolds Dear Carter Reynolds, I’m sure you’ve received quite a shit-load of hate on the internet for the video that was leaked in which you were pressuring your under-age girlfriend into sex. Now Carter, as a feminist I would like to say you deserve every last bit of it. Here’s a fun fact, 1 in 3 women are in abusive relationships and you, Carter, are no different from those abusers. Of course, your naive fans have defended you, justified your actions and even gone on to blame your ex-girlfriend Maggie saying that she told you to take off your pants so she owes it to you to have sex. I would like to point out this victim blaming in it’s purest form. Your fans are convinced that there is absolutely nothing wrong with what you did and claim that your three screenshot apology was enough to blow the storm over. Since the video leak you have not failed to manipulate your fans, sub-tweeting Maggie. Your fans might have thrown a pity party for you but we aren’t. You have 2 million followers, of which most are vulnerable, impressionable teenage girls. We all were given the absolute privilege to keep up with you rant directed to Maggie last night (7/18/2015), you were asking for sympathy. Let me enlighten you Carter to the fact that your fans harrassed your ex-girlfriend last night and we are confident that you are just doing all of this to play the victim. You all-

By Jiya Mehta

egedly told her, you were going to ruin her life. After all of the stupid things you’ve done, you even went on to broadcast live on YouNow where you exposed your girlfriends sex life and claims that she owes you respect because you made her. We all saw Maggie’s text message where she called the cops and you started crying having heard something you claimed you did not want to hear.

I’m not angry about what you did, because I’M FUCKING PISSED OFF. You are influencing so many girls to believe that what you have for Maggie is love. You are manipulative, abusive and still want your fans to think that this is love! Do you know the impact you have on thousands of girls who are targets of abuse, violence and rape? I am sick and tired of seeing the way you have your fans wrapped around your finger. Boys will not be boys, Carter. Boys will be held accountable for their actions. Your fans have harassed Maggie on social media, and for what? For being the target of an abusive man? You are literally setting your fans up to be in abusive relationships and to think it is okay. But I’m here to tell you that it’s not and you are personally hurting each and every one of your fans who believe what you did was a mistake. No. It wasn’t a mistake, it was a choice. You don’t abuse and pressure by mistake, you made the choice to do it.

You are so insanely full of yourself that you believe that you did nothing wrong in this situation but you literally did nothing right. You want people to pity you and blame Maggie for what happened but anyone in the right mind knows how things like this end. We are done with your manipulation and your controlling persona. Let me give you a little bit of advice, Stop justifying what you did to Maggie. Stop trying to victimize yourself. Stop telling your fans that this what a healthy relationship is because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not! We stand behind Maggie knowing that she is dealing with something that is obviously beyond your intelligence. We are so angered by your actions and how youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve chosen to handle this situation. You encourage young girls to get into relationships with men like you who will only strip them of their humanity. You are perpetuating a culture of crimes directed towards women that already has too much fuel. For your fans, I hope they understand that this is coming from a genuine place of concern for their well-being. I hope they realize that what you feel for Maggie is not love, and that harassment should not be tolerated. Your fans are worthy of partners who respect them and they can trust and if they still canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand why you are considered abusive remember that your fame does not make you an outcast when it comes to abuse, just an exception by fluke. -every feminist ever

Gender Norms and Homophobia By Bella Paredes

“That’s so gay.” As someone who has grown up in today’s society, this is a phrase I hear a lot. I’m sure you have too. Whether you were walking down the hallways at school or speaking to colleagues at work, this is a phrase that some people use daily. There are many other homophobic epithets that people use even if they claim they aren’t homophobic. “Don’t be a fag.” This phrase has continuously left me awestruck because of how casually many people throw it around while speaking with friends. Fag, or faggot, is a widely known homophobic slur, yet people who allege to be completely against discrimination use it constantly. These terms that are based on extreme homophobia have become casual insults or jokes. In fact, last year when I spoke to a friend who used the word “fag” as an insult, he claimed to not even know it was a homophobic slur. The question that society must ask themselves is, if people aren’t using these obviously ho

mophobic phrases to display overt homophobic, then why are people using them? “Don’t be a pussy.” This epithet reminds me of one that was already mentioned, “Don’t be a fag.” This phrase is often a way of telling people to “man up” and “stop acting like a girl” as if being a girl or feminine is something to be ashamed of. If “Don’t be a pussy” is used because many people are afraid of not adhering to gender norms, could other phrases serve the same purpose too? Why? In a study conducted by Paul Poteat, Laura O’Dwyr, and Ethan Mereish, they observed 188 boys and 192 girls between grade 7 and 12 for two years. In this study it was found that as boys get older, they experienced an increase in the homophobic language that was used and girls experienced a decrease. Along with that, boys found themselves to be the target of these types of homophobic epithets more often than girls did. What do these statistics mean? Personally I believe that people, especially men, find

themselves so petrified of deviating from gender roles that they result to using homophobic epithets, even if they did not know or believe in the meaning that these phrases really hold. Many masculine gender expectations parallel homophobic beliefs. Because of these gender expectations it is widely believed that people, men especially, turn to these phrases in order to assert their masculinity or for women, their femininity. One male might be afraid of coming off as feminine so he turns to homophobia to assert his masculinity, and somewhere else a woman is afraid to be seen as masculine so she utters out the phrases “That’s so gay!” and “Dyke!” To summarize, I do believe that people who are fighting for sexism and people who are fighting homophobia are fighting for similar, if not some of the same things. It is in my firm belief that a lot of homophobia stems from the rigid views on gender norms and patriarchy that many members of society seem to have. As a society who isn’t afraid of change and diversity, we need to abolish these beliefs about gender, not only for women, but for the LGBTQ+ community as well.

We Will Speak

By Jiya Mehta

Emily Angelica is the co-founder of We Will Speak, a campaign to urge colleges to crack down on sexual assault. The movement has become a platform for survivors of rape to open up about their experiences, they are no longer survivors but people living with one goal in mind, to be loud about their trauma so no victim is ever alone.

Jiya: So what inspired you to start We Will Speak? Emily: A boy on twitter attacked me because I am a feminist. I saw his other tweets talking about how he “has standards with the girls he rapes” and threatening rape onto others. I saw his college schedule posted. I contacted the college and they ignored me and hundred of others showing them proof of their students threats. I decided to create a movement to urge all colleges to crack down on rape culture and threats and to use our voice so we could no long be silenced. Jiya: I know exactly where you’re coming from, you’ve gotten quite a response in the last few weeks, what are some of your goals with this campaign? Emily: I would love for the campaign to serve as a safe platform for victims. Maybe once we grow create a website or online safe chat where people can open up in a safe and anonymous environment. We also want to create #wewillspeak shirts to raise money and donate all the profit for rape clinics and victims. Media recognition is huge because it fuels our movement. we want colleges to create policies and become less tolerant of rape threats. Jiya: I don’t know if Kathleen told you but we came up with the idea to posting powerful submissions on our site once a week so you guys can get more exposure and it’s really empowering. Emily: That sounds amazing!

Jiya: I think what you guys are doing is really amazing, I know there’s a few of you working together, how did you decide to do this, how did it come to be?

Jiya: What do you think is the biggest challenge for victims of sexually driven crimes and why is it so common in college?

Emily: I had always wanted to start a campaign and the excessive bullying from online trolls gave me a reason to start it. I texted Kathleen one day after I came up the with hashtag spontaneously mid tweet and I was like “Kath, let’s do this.” Within 3 days we gathered our team of 11 amazing activists of all colors and genders and we launched the movement.

Emily: Its common in college because so many young people aren’t educated on laws of consent and how to reach out and be supported. the biggest challenge is overcoming the fear of being called a liar.

Jiya: What kind of hate and backlash have you received from starting your moveJiya: That’s really incredible bement and how do you deal cause the movement has gained a with it? lot of momentum. There are people who haven’t been victims of Emily: The troll accounts sexual assault, how can they con- flood the hashtag daily. I got tribute? put into a group chat made by meninists called “trigger Emily: By raising awareness and team” where they just sent supporting victims. It makes me rape and abuse photos and I so happy to see allies in the tag always have people insultshowing love and letting us know ing my appearance, peothey believe and support us. Also ple forget I’m only 17 and by raising awareness for male, I’m still a kid, the hate gets transgender, PoC, and disabled hard sometimes but I have rape victims who are often overto remember all the good looked. the hashtag is doing and put personal struggles aside so it doesn’t draw my focus away from the movement. Jiya: If there’s any advice you could give to all of the activists on Twitter what would it be?

We are here. We are listening. And we will speak.

Emily: Dont be afraid to speak your mind, you will always find those who share your view points. Stay safe and know your limits. When it comes to trolls the block button is your friend, and never be nervous to reach out to those who inspire you. Jiya: What is your message to all of the people submitting their #WeWillSpeak stories? Emily: We are here. We are listening. And we will speak.