Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Viva.

Feminism Stickers. Top Story - February 2018.
I wanted to make this collection to highlight the importance in feminine things like flowers and hearts being a symbol for strength instead of them being a symbol for weakness. Everyday at my work, people get mad me for putting straws and umbrellas in their drink because they are too feminine. I just want to make something very clear: you don't have to masculine to be strong. In this article, I also made sure to include intersectional feminism. After all, if your feminism isn't intersection, who is it really for?
By Test8 years ago in Viva
Fat Girl Fabulous
Ink and Blood and Soul I've grown up writing. Putting thoughts and ideas and feelings down on paper. Now I go to school full time and I write even more. I'm about to go to grad school and when I get there, I'll have to write my dissertation. Writing is a part of my soul. Like breathing or sleeping or drinking. Maybe it's more a part of me than any of those things. Breathing and sleeping and eating are facts of life. I enjoy them. I need them. They don't really touch my soul, though. Writing does that. It offers expression to the inexpressible, like art or dance. Arranging words on the page is like writing a symphony. Taking note of every syllable and sound. The soft whoosh of sh followed by the sharp, clipped p in ship. When I write I try to take these sounds and arrange them in a way that makes my heart hurt. It is as though my heart is speaking. When I open my mouth to speak the words come out jumbled and out of order but when I write, it is the purest form of expression. I'm writing this article because I believe I have something to say but I'm really not sure how to say it. The thoughts are fractured and messy and beautiful as they are. This is my attempt to show you the beautiful, crazy mess inside my head, spoken through my heart.
By Kristen Campbell8 years ago in Viva
Screw Being Polite
When I was 11 years old, I couldn't walk down the street to my best friend's house without the neighborhood tweaker flicking his tongue at me, or telling me how "hot" I was.
By Crystal Damato-Pineda8 years ago in Viva
Low Self-Esteem
In the United Kingdom, three-quarters of the women who live there are unhappy with the shape of their bodies. In addition, a whopping 6 out of 10 feel their bodies make them depressed. If there are this many women in the U.K who are unhappy with the way they look, imagine how many women are in the world that feels this exact same way. There are many causes of low self-esteem and there are many ways to overcome it.
By Amy Zeigler8 years ago in Viva
A Woman Is...
A woman plays many roles in her lifetime, starting with being somebody's daughter. From there, she learns how to be a friend to her peers, and later, she learns how to be a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. With all these different roles, when does a woman get time for herself, and who is she really?
By Denise Willis8 years ago in Viva
Why Does My Fro Make You Lose Your Mind?
"God, What happened to your hair? It looks like someone scared the Hell outta ya, or you stuck your finger in a socket. It's ...everywhere!"
By Quinci Spady8 years ago in Viva
Empowering Through Education
My first experience of assault—and I mean by that a smack on the backside—was in the late 1980s. This man creeped me out so much that I would jump in the wardrobe to hide (I was working as a chambermaid) if I heard him coming down the hotel corridor, because if he caught me in the room, he would sit on the bed and try to get me to sit with him and verbally proposition me, heavy breathing added for effect.
By Lesley Anne Armour8 years ago in Viva
Vagina Troubles and How to Prevent Them
Okay, so I decided to take a break from writing about Disneyland to address a topic that is really important to me: VAGINA HEALTH. Ladies...It is shocking to me that in the time of amazing accessibility we live in, SO MANY OF YOU don't know how to take care of your beautiful, wonderful, lady parts!
By Kathryn C. 8 years ago in Viva
Was I Raped?
It was past my little brother's curfew. The street lights had been on for almost an hour; he knew to be home before they turned on. I was in charge. I was supposed to make sure that he was okay. I had called my parents—my stepfather, too. I was frantic. My stepfather had made it home first, then both of my biological parents. We organized a search throughout the neighborhood and any of his friends' houses that were close by. Being that I was seventeen and had my own vehicle, I desperately wanted to search with them. Instead, they told me to stay in case he arrived home. I was to call one of them immediately if he did.
By Opal O'Malley8 years ago in Viva
Unexpected Friendship Part 4
July 2014 The day that stays engraved in my brain. The day my fear was intensified, my trust in local law enforcement was broken, and the day I learned exactly the type of crazy I was dealing with.
By RaeAnna Mercado8 years ago in Viva
Failure of Flesh
It sometimes seems as if there is one correct form of body positivity: one that prizes cis, White, abled women thinking that they are beautiful. I am not the first to notice this, or the first to ask, where do I belong in this movement?
By C. B. Blanchard8 years ago in Viva
Why Is It Okay to Be Silent?
I have PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and trichotillomania all stemming from the first time I was sexually assaulted. I have now been assaulted three times, all before I turned eighteen. I am constantly on alert. I am always worrying about if I'm being followed when I'm alone. I have trust issues because two of the three times I was assaulted I knew and trusted the people who did it.
By Madison Neal8 years ago in Viva