Category: Personal Reflection

Reflecting on my Sense of Security in the Cities I Live In

Humna Imran February 26, 2021 0 Comments
Yesterday I was taking a stroll down the street and I found myself unconsciously being extremely vigilant of my surroundings. The walk was supposed to help me relax-- to give me time away from work and an excuse to get fresh air. However, my brain was continuously scanning my surroundings, sussing out potential threats.  I feel, as women, we have to always be cautious of our surroundings,...

More Thoughts from Survivors to Superheroes About AOC

Jenni Pantoja February 11, 2021 3 Comments
Earlier in the week, we shared our president’s thank you to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Today, we share the response from another member of our team, Jenn Pantoja. If you read these two responses, you will see how remarkably similar they are. While ordinarily, we wouldn’t publish two such similar articles, we thought it was important to show how deeply AOC’s courage has resonated with two...

A Thank You to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the President of Survivors to Superheroes

Julia Tortorello-Allen February 8, 2021 0 Comments
This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly stated that she is a survivor of sexual violence while recounting her experience during the capitol riots in early January. As a survivor of color, seeing other powerful women publicly sharing their survivor status, and denying the societal shame that is placed on survivors is deeply empowering. Although being met with the reality that so many of us...

Pakistan’s First Law to Punish Sexual Offenders: A Personal Reflection

Humna Imran December 6, 2020 0 Comments
Content warning: depictions of rape and assault It was just a regular Wednesday morning, I had gotten up from bed to take my class as usual. As part of my regular routine, I scrolled through my social media as I was getting something to eat. Something unusual was happening. There was a dark tone in everyone’s words across Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram. The hashtag #MotorwayIncident was...

Personal Reflection: Pakistan Today’s Report on Sexual Violence Against Children

Humna Imran July 22, 2020 0 Comments
I write this about Pakistan today because that is where I grew up, and seeing these events unfold in front of my very own eyes makes my heart ache. According to Pakistan Today (2020), there were 5,240 cases of sexual violence against children under the age of 18 in 2019 in Pakistan. That’s five thousand, two hundred and forty lives ruined, and those numbers reflect only the official government...