Mistress to a married man: Not a bad idea!  Looking back, If anyone had told me that I would be impatiently watching every episode of Maîtresse d’un homme marié (Mistress to a Married Man) from my student apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I would have never believed it. Squeezed between a paper to write, a meeting […]

Last April, cyclone Idai killed over a thousand people and displaced over three million across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Of those affected, approximately 650,000 people were particularly at risk – because they have periods. Menstrual hygiene is an urgent public health and policy issue that is frequently overlooked during humanitarian relief operations. It is time […]

In January, the Boston Globe released its stunning Valedictorians Project. This landmark report found that a quarter of Boston high school valedictorians from 2005 to 2007 did not finish college within six years of graduating at the top of their class. More than a decade later, four in 10 make less than $50,000 a year. […]

Despite its reputation as a liberal college town, more political-extremist individuals and entities call Eugene, Oregon home than any other United States city as measured by a compilation of official data on crime in the United States published by the FBI. Eugene is victimized by 42 hate crimes per 100,000 residents, per year, in a […]

Much of the debate on MOE’s recent moves to integrate schoolmates of different academic streams via Subject-Based Banding (SBB) has focused on whether SBB will be effective, or what the implementation of SBB will look like. However, one underdiscussed aspect of MOE’s policy change is its lack of impact on single-stream schools. Izzah Haziqah Haris explores why this is a problem, and potential policy options to deal with this issue.

What happens to your recycling when the noisy, traffic-inducing truck picks it up each week? If you are like me, you picture it arriving at a nearby plant and then magically getting reincarnated. The reality is more complicated. First, our recycling is cleaned, sorted, and packaged into bales at local Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Then, […]

Abstract The fall of European colonial empires during the second half of the twentieth century led to a new international order characterized by the democratization of international organizations. In return, the democratization of international organizations reinforced the legal duty of human rights protection within the international community. Our aim is to provide an overview of […]

Since 1979, the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) program has promoted the study of Chinese language and cultural values at 26 primary and secondary schools. By tracing the history of the program, Shaun Loh makes a case for why the SAP program in its current form is problematic, and argues that it should either be abolished or significantly reformed.

Queer men navigating prostate cancer are harmed by a healthcare system that sees heterosexuality as the default. This assumption of heterosexuality prevents healthcare professionals from advising and acknowledging how adverse effects of prostate cancer treatment may affect queer men. These effects can be devastating to their sexual expression, sex role identification, and relationships to the […]

Rawad, a gay man from northeast Syrian town of Raqqa, was kidnapped shortly after Islamic State insurgents invaded his hometown in 2013. They tortured him. They beat him. They handcuffed him and hung him from the ceiling. After eleven days, he escaped. Rawad fled Syria and sought refuge in Lebanon, where he has tried to […]

In May 2016, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto issued a number of directives for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) inclusion in various arenas, including marriage. This was followed by strong opposition, in particular from the Catholic Church and the National Front for the Family, a newly emerged coalition of civil society organizations. The […]

Over the last decade, LGBTQ rights have developed a strong presence within international diplomacy, yet support remains subject to debate within the international community. International bodies such as the United Nations have passed measures to support LGBTQ rights, but official statements typically face resistance from member states unwilling to address their own records on the […]