Olivia's Blog

In 2021, Arkansas passed the first of many laws banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. Following this 2021 law, an onslaught of anti-trans bills has appeared. In fact, 37 of 50 states have introduced some form of anti-trans bills since this time. Most bewildering about the Arkansas law is that it was vetoed in its bill form by the Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, just for this decision to be overridden by a majority vote and implemented. This legislative voting dynamic speaks to increased anti-trans rhetoric in the late 2010s. This event is so salient because it started a trend: anti-trans bills built from anti-trans sentiment. Despite the fact that I picked the first anti-trans law in recent years as the most significant event in recent LGBTQ history, the ramifications of this law exist far beyond its passing in 2021, as many bills echoing the same sentiments of the 2021 law have been proposed and passed since. I should mention, however, that the LGBTQ experience has splin...

          Racial stereotypes have permeated the media since the United States' early years. Hollywood’s first blockbuster hit was The Birth of a Nation , perpetrating the harmful, widely believed stereotypes about African Americans. Today, media portrayals of all racial minorities span a wide range of mediums, some of which include print media, broadcast media, and the Internet. Despite recent efforts by media outlets to be “politically correct,” these entities still produce disparaging, dehumanizing, and fetishizing portrayals of some racial minorities. Since the turn of the century, media portrayal of Latino people has stagnated. In fact, all Latinos in recent media are depicted as illegal aliens, hyper-sexual beings, or unintelligent comic relief. The hyper-sexualization of Latino people in media occurs as a form of entertainment. The sex appeal of musicians like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez were/are invaluable to their success as artists—their acce...