So you fancy your downloaded music? Well, guess what, you pirating son of a bitch: the Man’s gonna getcha. Believe me; I know firsthand. One moment, I was floating through the web, using Kazaa and Limewire to download my favorite Ace of Base songs, then BOOM! I’m doin’ time. Well, not really, but you’ll see.

Let’s backtrack a bit. I had just persuaded my mother to bring my desktop to the fraternity house. Let the guiltless hiding-of-the-porn-in-a-separate-folder, illegal downloading free-for-all commence! An album here, a movie there, it was cooler than penguin shit. My roommate wanted in. “Do you mind if I download this new song I love?”“Sure,” I said confidently, feeling like Jesus Himself, feeding the masses with fish and bread, well, username and login, in this case.

Then all the brothers in my ‘fraternity’ file started sharing off the same machine. Before I knew it, the popped-collar posse and I had gathered more than 200,000 downloaded pieces of media.

One day, the phone rang. Read More »

Ah the slut, we all know her very well. She is the girl slurring out “another vodka tonic please”, the girl wearing a dress that looks like it would fit your ten year old sister perfectly (as a t-shirt), the girl stumbling home with your crush. She is the girl that other girls whisper about and that the boys will happily stumble home with.

If anyone outside your social circle called you a slut, you would be pretty pissed. So I must ask: why is it that when my best friend greets me with a cheery “Hey Slut” I am not in the least bit offended? Rather I know that we have reached an extreme level of closeness?

I can’t count the number of times I’ve called my friends sluts as a term of endearment. One of my best friends, Lauren, is better known to me as ‘Laur-Whore’. And how many times have you come across pics online titled: “me with my favorite sluts!”

Why is it that close groups of girls can call each other a name that society has deemed taboo for others outside that circle to label her as? Much like the N-word, Slut is most often used in a derogatory and demeaning fashion. So why do both African Americans and women alike, make light of words that have historically taken away their place in society to be seen as equal? And instead, belittles them and places untrue and unfair stereotypes upon them? Read More »