All posts filed under: Culture

Beyoncé and the History of Female Rivalry

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The Internet exploded on Saturday night when Beyoncé released her much anticipated visual album in the only way Bey can do it: on HBO. One of her songs seemed to reveal the truth behind the rumors that Jay Z had cheated on Beyoncé with designer Rachel Roy. I wasn’t familiar with the scandal, as what these three do with their sexual lives is none of my business. But, the Internet’s response to the revelation shocked me, as it exposed a nasty reality of our society. Rachel Roy was forced to make her Instagram account private after Beyoncé’s fans started bombarding her with threats. Jay Z was not made accountable in the media’s eyes. Beyoncé came out as the triumphant ex-victim who has capitalized on making her relationship a symbol of #CoupleGoals. It’s surprising to see such rivalry emerge surrounding an artist that has made herself an icon of 21st century feminism, which makes me question what type of feminism Beyoncé stands for and how much her fans have become part of it. There is a …

Editor’s Letter No. 1

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Photographed by Raiza Irizarry in Paris, France (2015).  Confidence has never been my strongest suit. As evidence, I had been putting off projects for years because I never felt prepared or even talented. Those are harsh words to say about oneself, surely. But, if there is anything 21 years have taught me, is that the relationship you have with yourself is one of the most challenging and cruel endeavors you will face. Badass Files is not about me. It was never intended to be so. I had the idea one morning while brushing my teeth in my apartment in Madrid, Spain. For three months, I had been struggling with keeping my life shit together while playing a balancing act between a long-distance relationship, travel and stepping out of my comfort zone. Moving to the other side of the world proved more difficult than I ever thought and I found myself drifting away from who I had been for the last few years. I was not being badass. If I was having troubles, surely there were …

The Men in the Room

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It’s a fact: most men only greet other men and ignore the women in the room. It mainly goes unnoticed but ‘Master of None’ has shone light to this issue and got us standing up for ourselves in similar situations. It served as inspiration behind a recent episode at work, where a female colleague called out a male colleague for not greeting the two women in the room as he did to the men. “Why did you only salute them and not us?”, she said. We were all shocked. I felt stupid for being astonished that she had stood up for both of us and asked myself if I had done the same. Truly, I wouldn’t have. It’s surprising to think that we are brought up to not recognize these acts of sexism in the workplace and daily lives. Furthermore, as females, we are supposed to keep quiet and take them as part of being women, the second sex. After the incident, I proceeded to watch ‘Master of None’. Admittedly, I wanted to take a …

No Kids Wanted

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Image via International Museum of Women  The first time I told my mother I didn’t want to have children, she stared at me  with a face that read: “What did I do wrong?”. Immediately, she followed up the shocking revelation with a “You don’t have to think about that now. Let’s see in ten years”. I was around sixteen at the time, which, in reality, is not a proper moment to be generating opinions about birth. Still, five years later, I haven’t changed my mind. My case was never an isolated one. For years, I’ve talked to friends and strangers of my generation, both male and female, that have never felt the need to seek parenthood as a method of fulfillment. Still, the mere divulgement of such information leaves a stigma, a feeling of selfishness transmitted by the other half of the spectrum. As the non-parental trend grows, society tries to compile all the possible reasons why people are not having kids. Most of the time they arrive at the conclusion that economic, political and …