When I was younger, I was a proud tomboy. My boyish frame and the masculine way I carried myself aided in my camouflage. But as I became a teenager, I was struck by puberty. Suddenly, I noticed not only did my body change, but the way people perceived it and spoke about it, especially older boys and men, changed as well. It made me feel uncomfortable. If my body was my home, I could now not just live in it, I had to use my clothing as a security system.
Growing up distanced from femininity and conventional standards of beauty gave me a limited (and misguided) understanding of what femininity was and what it meant to walk around femme presenting. From the outside, femininity to me was about being ‘pretty’ and having other people recognize it in a positive way. Femininity and conventional beauty were a benefit, something to be coveted. It was good attention, and it was always wanted and deserved. For all people knew of my tomboy self I didn’t care about such things, but deep down, I began to tie my negative personal esteem as a girl to my masculinity.
I thought femininity would be a saving grace, but I didn’t have the courage to abandon the safety of non-recognition I found in masculinity.
Read moreIn a time where our world leaders throw around “alternative facts” and falsehoods like shade in you and your bestie’s group chat, we often find comfort in headlines that contain phrases like, “New study shows…” and “Scientists discover the key to…” Science is, after all, the antithesis to the current state of affairs: orderly, rational, objective, data-driven...at least in theory. In practice, science is flawed and chaotic, as most disciplines are, and can succumb to bias and subjectivity. Furthermore, how science is conducted and what is deemed “research-worthy” has been overwhelmingly decided by men. That is not to discount the important contributions of many pioneering women scientists, such as Jane Cook Wright, Rosalind Franklin, or Madame Marie Curie. This highlights, instead, a systematic problem of who controls the search for truth (the ultimate goal of science) and how we decide which truths are worth pursuing. In the biomedical sciences in particular, this has immensely important implications for women’s health.
Most research on human-health related topics utilizes some type of animal to model the disease, typically rodents. For decades, researchers excluded female rodents from their studies, unless they were investigating a disease predominantly affecting women, such as breast cancer.
Read moreHeraid Castillo – Founder and CEO of BossyXX
When Heraid Castillo, a Venezuela/Florida native, arrived in Myanmar a little over a year ago her intention was to get a job working on women’s issues with a local NGO. When things didn’t quite go as planned, Heraid decided to chart her own path forward by first falling in love with the local music scene and then realizing there weren’t that many female performers and that something needed to be done about it.
Combining her passion for the arts and for supporting other women, Heraid founded BOSSYxx, a promotion company that seeks to create a platform for women and girl musicians in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. BOSSYxx also collaborates with a local music school to offer scholarships to women and girls who want to pursue musical training. The goal is to raise up the next generation of lady rockstars in this corner of the world.
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