Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Viva.
Innocence Stolen
Growing up from what I can remember, I didn't have a horrible childhood. Both my father and my mother provided my brother and I with all that we as children would need materialistically and emotionally. I remember my mother and I not being super close, that was saved for my brother. Myself, I was a daddy's girl. Both my parents were hard workers and worked quite a lot, my dad more-so than my mother, being he had quite a few old fashioned ideals. My brother and I were close but grew apart as teen years came upon us and incidentally our hormones that made us detest each other. My parents went on to get a divorce in my early teens thus causing a divided home; I with my father and my brother with my mother. My brother would go on to thrive both socially and financially as my mother soon moved out of state once we reached adulthood. My dad ended up remarrying twice and is finally happy. Where did I end up? Jobless for most of my early 20s. In and out of therapy for a good 2 years after a failed suicide attempt around 21 years old. Did you know that severe abuse can cause lapse in memory from the time it happened until after it stopped and sometimes longer? Well if you did know that, you knew more than I did. After my suicide attempt I was put into therapy twice a week for the next 24 months. Upon being in therapy I discovered that I had been blocking out memories of being molested 8 years as a child. My suicide attempt was due to being overwhelmed with the side effects of PTSD. At the time of my attempt I did not know what PTSD was or that it was a thing. All I truly knew was I was having night terrors that were so vivid I would wake and believe I was still living the nightmare due to smells as well as seeing and hearing things; all which were never there after I woke up. I knew before seeking help I had been abused.
By Megan Wheeler8 years ago in Viva
Pregnancy Insomnia
It is hard enough to sleep on the best of days. With stress and the chaos of life weighing on your mind, it can keep you up at night. Perhaps you've never been great with sleep. Perhaps your mind races or you can never get comfortable. But you have coffee in the morning and you move on with your life.
By Samantha Reid8 years ago in Viva
Trans Feminism
Born into a time when feminism was seen as a radical movement and into a body which made me feel awkward about my gender identity, I didn't have a clue what it meant to be a woman. For three decades I suppressed my sexuality. Growing up in a time when anything but heteronormative was seen as sinful and socially denied, I didn't come out as bisexual until I was 30 years old.
By Laxmi Sioux8 years ago in Viva
Brie Larson to Produce & Star in Victoria Woodhull Biopic: 5 More Women Forgotten by History Who Deserve Their Own Films
Women played different roles in changing the path of history. They were scientists, composers, warriors, writers and leaders. Still, there are many whose stories remain unheard of; their struggles and legacy deserved to be honored.
By Karina Thyra8 years ago in Viva
A Century of Corruption. Top Story - January 2018.
Last night at the Golden Globes, actors and actresses wore black to display their support of the Time’s Up movement, a campaign founded in response to the Harvey Weinstein allegations and subsequent Weinstein effect. The response in Hollywood since the watershed moment of the first allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October 2017 has been significant, but not surprising. Since Weinstein, there have been following allegations of abuse against a number of prominent names, including Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., Charlie Rose, James Toback, Matt Lauer, Brett Ratner – the list is sadly exhaustive, and will most likely be continuously added to. But as appalling as these revelations are, they are far from shocking. Hollywood has been an abusive industry for its entire existence, forming over a century’s worth of heartbreaking stories of ‘casting couch’ abuse, manipulation and mistreatment, from the days of the silent era, through Hollywood’s golden age to the present day.
By Fern Wigfield8 years ago in Viva
Confidently Beautiful: 5 Lessons from Pia Wurtzbach's Best 'Miss Universe' Moments
On January 30, 2017, the most prestigious beauty pageant in the world (or in the universe, rather) held its coronation in #MissUniverse 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach's home country, the Philippines. Steve Harvey served as host again this year, and his hosting was filled with jokes about what he did last year...
By Karina Thyra8 years ago in Viva
How Saying Me Too Can Help Create a Safer World
I think a lot of men have a hard time imagining what it feels like to be a woman who is often prey to to the forces of misused external power, particularly in the masculine form. As women, we live in a constant state of knowing that our bodies can be possessed by another human at that human's free will. Most of us do not have the kind of defences we would need in order to remove ourselves from certain harmful situations.
By Morgan Leigh Callison8 years ago in Viva
The Damaging Grey Areas of the Me Too Movement
For me, a few months back I was scrolling my news feed; that is when "Me too" came into my life. A video of a woman putting the mattress [that she was raped on] out on her lawn with the words "Me too" written in cheap permanent marker for all to see. I was moved, and I tried to swallow the feeling of a ball in my throat as I watched women write their own words in symbolism of the trauma they had endured. I, myself am a victim of sexual assault for many years in my adolescent life, and seeing the "Me too" movement make its way through social media had me feeling a concoction of feelings that included sadness, pride, and the cold dead realization that it is more common than I had assumed. As time went on, sexual abuse cases became more clear amongst the Hollywood community. Not only amongst females, but men had began to tell their stories. I started to think to myself, "This may just be a start; this movement may not solve a single problem in regards to the actual abuse but it may help people not feel so alone, lost, and isolated."
By Brittany Wardrop8 years ago in Viva
Should All Women Wear Hijabs? Or Should We All Fit Society's Norm?
In 2018 you would think that women could choose how to dress, yet society continues to tell us what is OK and not OK to wear. Walking down the street you hear men making comments about the girl wearing the mini skirt, cat calls or insults, she is labeled one way or anything. Older generations telling her to cover up while peers tell her to wear less, voicing her right to dress as she wants.
By Amanda Zeidan8 years ago in Viva
Why?
Why? Sometimes that's all I can ask myself is Why? Why do I put on makeup? Why do I wear shape wear that is so uncomfortable just to make my tummy look flatter? Why do I wear shirts that show off my cleavage? Why? To make me feel pretty? To make me feel sexy? Yes I feel pretty and sexy when I do all of this stuff, but how about when I take it all off? Do I still feel pretty? Do I still feel sexy? No, I don't feel like that. There are times I go through all this work so the world sees me as pretty or sexy but I still feel ugly and gross. The days I do go out with put my makeup on, I get asked oh are you sick? You don't look well. Oh why is is your face so red? Oh when are you due? No people this is me, the real me. It is so hard to live in a world where I can't feel pretty in my own skin. I'm sorry I'm not a size 2 so I look pregnant to you. I'm sorry my skin is not prefect without my layers of makeup on. It's bad enough feeling ugly and gross. I put my makeup on everyday before work and my daughter plays along with me. She tells me everyday after I put on makeup that I'm pretty.
By Angelique Wood8 years ago in Viva
