I Was My Boyfriend’s Servant: The Nightmare of Financial Abuse

CN: extensive and detailed discussion of emotional & financial abuse; discussion of domestic violence; mention of suicide and sexual abuse; overall disturbing content. “When I say, “Good girl,” I want you to say, “Thank you, sir.” “Yes, sir.” “Good girl.” “Thank you, sir.” I handed him the yellow check. When the bank clerk originally asked me what color I wanted my checks in, I picked gold, but it turned out that gold just meant a …Read More

The Practice of Allyship

This blog post was originally published as a subscriber-only article entitled “Yopp’s Guide to Being an Awesome Ally,” at the beginning of January 2020. I decided to share it more widely because it was such valuable information and I also updated it as my opinions and understanding of allyship had shifted over the years.  CN: broad discussion of oppression I once saw a post from someone somewhat new to social activism saying he wished there …Read More

It’s Time to Learn About Anti-Asian Hate

CN: extensive discussion of institutionally sanctioned violence and discrimination against Asians-Americans as well as other races; Discussion of mass shootings, white supremacy, the intersection of racism and sexism, the pandemic, the 45 administration, and sexual harassment; Mention of genocide. In March of 2021, eight people were killed in a shooting that targeted spas and massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia. Six of those people were Asian women. The shooter later said that he wanted to “eliminate …Read More

What Bolivia Can Teach Us About Confronting Systemic Violence

CN: extensive discussion of government sanctioned violence, racially motivated police brutality, and violence against women; brief discussion of of 45, sexual assault, torture, and immigrant deportation camps. Living in the US, it can be easy to forget the ways our systems and political histories are mirrored by those of other countries, and as a result, we can potentially find wisdom in other political movements similar to ours. Guest writer Marie-Ève Monette does an excellent job …Read More

The Problem with Slurs

CN: In-depth discussion of the usage and purpose of slurs and the common defenses for using slurs; discussion of racism, sexism, anti-gay bias, and classism. Warning: There will be a couple of slurs written out in full in this article. They are written this way to maintain clarity in a purely educational piece. I made a point to limit how many slurs I used and to avoid using any slurs that would be particularly egregious …Read More

You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock: Gender-Based Violence and Xenophobia in South Africa

CN: in depth discussion of rape culture, sexual assault, gender-based violence, xenophobic violence, government sanctioned oppression in South Africa. Brief discussion of corrective sexual assault and apartheid. Many of the issues featured on this blog are discussed in terms of how they manifest in the United States, primarily because that is where most of my audience is located, and I have the most specific knowledge about the social patterns that occur here. However, very few …Read More

Interview for Secular Sexuality

CN: brief discussion of sexuality, sexism influenced medical neglect, reproductive disorders, and disability. Remember my interview about sex and disability last month on the podcast Into Your Body? Story time: Before that podcast was recorded, Vi La Bianca, a previous guest blogger for Yopp, invited me to come onto her youtube show Secular Sexuality to discuss sex and disability. To be honest, I felt nervous about interviewing about a topic I don’t particularly specialize in– …Read More

Power Dynamics Part 2: Privilege and Power

CN: discussion of 45, Brock turner, Kavanaugh, sexual assault, erasure of Native American history, racism, ableism, poverty, the manifestations of oppression. Mention of sexism, genocide, police corruption, and rape culture. Have you ever thought something like, Why am I so frustrated that this guy on the internet who I’ve never met doesn’t think that sexism exists? Why didn’t he listen to me when I told him about the time someone was sexist to me? Did …Read More

Yes, Black Girls Matter

Content Note: in depth discussion of the effects of domestic abuse and sexual assault, R Kelly, abuse of minors, and racism; mention of religion. This also piece links to several articles with in depth descriptions of sexual assault, and many do not include content notes. Today’s guest post by Clarity J is a perfect example of what Yopp does best. The R. Kelly story originally peaked about a month and a half ago, but Yopp …Read More

Could It Be My Birth Control?: The Intrauterine Diaries

Today’s guest post is for anyone who has struggled with unpleasant symptoms and body changes and wondered to themselves, could it be my birth control? This post is even more for you if this question was met with dismissal and doubts when brought to medical professionals, which is unfortunately too common of a pattern.