Relationships

She raised the tequila to her lips and tilted her head back. It would take some time for the confidence to set in, so she waited.

“I have a paper due tomorrow. I don’t really give a shit. I’m going to wake up early to finish up my conclusion,” said the guy standing next to her at the bar. He had bought her the shots, roping her into a conversation she had no desire to be apart of.

What is love? In 1993 the electronic pop artist and one-hit wonder Haddaway asked the world this question in his insanely popular song that had everyone singing along. Today, in 2018, I ask myself the question again. What does it mean to love and be loved? Surely there is no singular definition of what love is, and there really are different varieties of love one can feel towards different people.

Dean Rachel Most’s job and accomplishments affect my everyday life at the University. Despite that, I had little idea who she was, until I saw her at the Women’s Center Elizabeth Zintl Leadership Award reception.

My junior prom was pretty run of the mill: I wore an atrocious dress and put on way more makeup than necessary for any 17-year-old girl. Twelve hours before that night I didn’t even have a dress, and in my mind it might as well have been the apocalypse. My sister, Julia, home from college, drove me to the mall at 10am the morning of prom and helped me pick out the only dress I could find given I had to be ready in 6 hours. I hated that dress. It was salmon pink with a one-shoulder strap and white beads that looked like it could be worn by a beauty pageant participant.

Ladies, it’s time for us to have a chat. 

I’m going to talk to you about something I’ve been seeing more and more on social media lately. It is a harmful idea that people of all genders and races have perpetuated, acting as though it is normal and acceptable. This is, the “crazy girlfriend” trope.

You know that feeling when your heart drops, your hands start shaking, and the whole world seems to disappear as you try to read that blurry “we need to talk” text through your uncontrollable tears? It might be due to the lack of oxygen, because you’re already crying so hard you physically can’t breathe through your runny snotty nose, or it might be that your body knows what your brain doesn’t want to accept yet – you’re about to get dumped.

December is always the month of reflection, as we attempt to make sense of the last 12 months and, feminist or not, come to terms with that fact that we are one year older and don’t feel that much wiser. In fact, this January, we may actually feel dumber – think about it… We don’t have a female president. We don’t have peace in the Middle East. We don’t even have decent wifi at UVa. 2016 isn’t looking too good.

Story By: Madeline Baker

In honor of the beginning of International Women's Month in March at the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women's Center, Iris Magazine has interviewed a former intern in International Initiatives (now called the Women, Girls an