Sara Ellsworth

Opinion: Women’s Month and the Problematic Circumstances That Follow

March 11, 2021 by Sara Ellsworth

Image: BBC

March 8th marks the day of International Women’s Day to celebrate all that women, both cis and trans, have accomplished. But not only does the 8th of March claim this glorious day, March itself is also titled Women’s History Month.

With a growing society full of equality and acceptance, you would think that we have moved passed the barrier of women being seen as inferior to men. However, statistics show that Google searches for “International Men’s Day” spike on March 8th; The scary part is that it spikes every year on March 8th. In my own personal experience yesterday on March 8th, I’ve seen a lot of sexist comments (more than I’ve seen any other year). I’ve seen ads for companies pop up that have a misogynistic approach, and men of all ages making unnecessary remarks about their counterpart’s sex.

It’s scary to think that people act like this. It’s the gender equivalent to a spike of racist comments in Black History Month or asking why there isn’t a White History Month. Another take is an increase of homophobic comments in Pride Month and wanting to create a Straight Pride Month.

The reason there isn’t a men’s month or white or straight is because those have always been considered the “societal norm.” Women, POC, and LGBTQ people have had to fight for their right to even be remotely seen as equal. They fought and continue to fight for their rights. The Salem Witch Trials were not an attack on witches; it was an attack on women. Women who were financially independent, having more than one female friend, not having children, showing stubbornness, having a birthmark, being an elder, being left-handed, doing math and even for having a cat you were seen as a witch. There are many other ridiculous reasons a woman would be dubbed a witch. But the Salem Witch Trial wasn’t an attack on witches, it was an attack on women who could do what a man could do. A man wouldn’t be hung or burned for having a birthmark, would he? No, just a woman. Women to this day are discriminated against because of their gender for such small reasons. Examples are if you see a slow or remotely bad driver, crazy how people will say “it must be a woman”? Or how almost every insult that you can call someone is feminine or is a derogatory term for part of a woman’s body?

The bias and discrimination against women aren’t limited to the United States. In India, a husband can rape his wife without consequences. In Russia, domestic violence is not seen as a crime. In Sudan, a girl as young as 10 can get married. In Iran, wives need permission from their husband to travel. In Jordan, women can be killed in the name of “honor” and the murderer will have little to no consequences. In Belarus, women cannot be truck drivers. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive. Still think we have it good? What about the tradition where if a woman doesn’t bleed on the honeymoon, it means she is not a virgin, and is then mocked and frowned upon or even divorced? Even though not all women bleed when lose their virginity.

The reason for an international women’s day is to celebrate how far we have come and generate the motivation to keep fighting. So, it’s absolutely disgusting that some men behave the way they do on this day, and throughout the month in the year 2021. Men have not had to fight for their own equality because they have always been seen as superior; therefore, they do not have a month dedicated to them. Whites have not ever been oppressed based on their skin color and did not have to fight their way to get rights, therefore they don’t have a month dedicated to them. Heterosexuals have never been frowned upon or sent to therapy for their sexuality, they have never been judged for what sex they were attracted to, so therefore there’s not a month dedicated to them. Sexism, homophobia, and racism are still somehow a part of society in 2021 and it is embarrassing.

So, on that note, happy Women’s History Month to all, and to all a good night.

Some remarkable moments in women’s history:

July 18th, 1848: the first women’s rights convention.

January 23rd, 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to graduate from medical school.

December 10th, 1869: Wyoming passes the first Women’s suffrage law which allows women to vote and hold office.May 15th, 1869: Susan B. Anthony founds the first Women’s Suffrage Association

October 16th, 1916: Margret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic.

April 2nd, 1917: Jeanette Rankin is the first woman to be elected in congress.

May 20th, 1962: Amelia Earhart is the first woman, and the second person ever to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

December 1st, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man, which sparks the Civil Rights Movement.

June 10th, 1963: President John F. Kennedy signs the first Equal Pay Act, which prohibits the sex-based wage gap when a man and a woman are working the same job in the same workplace.

June 30th, 1966: Betty Friedan found the National Organization for Women.

June 23rd, 1972: President Richard Nixon signs Title IX law, which allows anyone of any sex able to participate in activities without being denied or excluded from based on gender.

July 7th, 1981: Sandra Day O’Conner is the first woman to be sworn into the supreme court.

July 18th, 1983: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman on a space shuttle to outer space.

March 12th, 1993: Janet Reno is sworn in as the first female attorney general.

September 3rd, 1994: Violence Against Women act is signed by President Bill Clinton.

January 23rd, 1997: Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the first female secretary of state.

January 4th, 2007: Nancy Pelosi is the first female speaker of the house.

January 24th, 2013: US Military lifts the ban on women being able to fight in the military.

July 26th, 2016: Hilary Clinton becomes the first woman to be nominated as a presidential candidate.

January 20th, 2021: Kamela Harris is the first woman and Person of Color to become vice president.

Filed Under: Opinion, Real World

Music Helps Students Cope with COVID

March 2, 2021 by Sara Ellsworth

Illustration: Carolina News & Reporter

Hey you! Yeah you! What song are you listening to right now? I bet it’s a jam.

Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s good. I’m guessing you streamed music on your phone and computer during quarantine rather than hearing it in your car or inside a store, right? Because of COVID-19, streams and sales of music have skyrocketed. By the end of 2020, Spotify had gained a whopping 6 million new Spotify Premium members, because of an increase in music streams, podcast streams, and even cooking related audios! Since March 2020, YouTube has also reported a similar increase of streams. 40% of people say they watched YouTube significantly more, and 24% watched slightly more. 46% of the rest either watched the same amount or didn’t even watch at all (and I don’t know about you, but most of the YouTube videos I watch are music related.)

More streams equal more money for the artists, so you can rest assured your favorite artist benefited from your earworms. However, COVID didn’t just cause rainbows and butterflies for the music industry. Advertising cost the industry a lot of money, since artists can’t flaunt their stuff everywhere in person now, and artists are struggling to form and release new albums.

Though we are streaming a TON of music, it’s not enough since digital sales have decreased by 11% thanks to things like stores not being able to play music often. Even physical sales (like vinyl and CD) went down by one third!

But enough about the statistics! What about our friends? Here are a couple of words from Northwood students about how music helped them through quarantine.

“Music helped me a lot during quarantine. It helped me to study, workout, and just chill in my room,” said Calil Neme-Filho ‘21. “I discovered of a lot of good music and I am definitely listening more to music now. I have a specific type of music that I listened to in quarantine, electronic music,” added Neme-Filho.

“Yeah, I figured out some new genres I liked, such as 90s Alternative Rock, or artists like Daft Punk, the Foo Fighters, and my new favorite, Pearl Jam,” said junior Matthew Burns. “I also regained some appreciation for genres or artists I lost interest in before, and even found out that Pearl Jam was also one of my dad’s favorites,” he said. Burns turned to music during the quarantine. “I was definitely listening to music more often, even having to go as far as to dig through my parents’ CDs to see if any seemed appealing to me, just to find something I hadn’t listened to 7 times already! I even bought two new CDs, and am considering buying some others,” he said, adding “I know, actually buying new CDs nowadays — mind-blowing“.

What song got Burns through the quarantine? “That’s a tough one. I usually threw on whatever playlist or album I was in the mood for at that time. However, I often found myself enjoying either Even Flow or Alive, both by Pearl Jam, the most. If I’m being honest, the whole album those songs are from (Ten) got me through it a lot,” said Burns.

Filed Under: Northwood Life

Opinion: Art is Just as Important at Sport

March 2, 2021 by Sara Ellsworth

Original illustration by Sara Ellsworth ’21

Northwood is a school dominated by athletics and it is full of hockey and soccer players, ski racers, jumpers and freestylers. To many of the athletes, art isn’t seen as important, and instead seen as “for the weak.” This is probably because of the logic of you don’t have to practice and work out for it, and instead sit in a chair splashing colors on a canvas. But this is not just what art is about. In fact, despite what jocks may think, art is one of the most important things in the world!

Art isn’t just visual works on a piece of paper. Art is also music, performance, and design. Some may argue that cooking can be considered an art as the practice is dubbed Culinary Arts. Therefore, with that in mind, art is everywhere. It’s the music you listen to during workouts, it’s the Northwood logo and your team uniform designs. Art is the food you eat every morning, and art is that horror movie you watched last night with your significant other.

Art is how detectives will find a criminal by description when sketch artists draw a suspect’s face. Art is the graphics and character designs in your favorite video game. Art is the architectural buildings that you see on every block of your hometown. Art is writing. It is your favorite book series, and your favorite poems. Art is the makeup you put on, and the costumes you wear for Halloween. Art is our 3D visuals of a virus or other pathogen, and the cartoony diagrams for things in scientific magazines.

Art is our dreams that our brain painted, and our wackiest thoughts. Art is everywhere, and essential to human existence. To say art isn’t as important In Northwood is like saying oxygen isn’t what we should breathe. One may value their athletic pursuit more, but it’s impossible to deny that without art, we wouldn’t flourish.