1 Year of My Side Piece!
Happy Blog-iversary!
This is the 52nd edition of My Side Piece, and what a year we've had together.... Thank you for being a reader and supporting this cooped-up woman's side project. Since June 2020 I've sent over 50,000 words to your inbox. Of those, I've curated a list of my favourites thus far:
Catcalling In COVID - August 30, 2020
Catcalling in COVID was one of the first newsletters where I shared my own experiences and frustrations with harassment. I noticed an uptick in catcalling last summer, and couldn't understand why. (Spoiler alert: there's more insecure men during a pandemic.) I took some creative liberties by including a draft horror story at the end - a cheeky bit of writing that still makes me laugh.
Sexual assault is a topic close to my heart. Here are a few other posts that deal with similar issues:
The Minor Countdown: My most-read post about the over-sexualization of minors.
Walk this Way: A deep dive into the Sarah Everard case.
Like Priests, Only in Gym Shorts: An early post about assault in the NCAA
A Swoosh and A Miss - September 13, 2020
I write about women's sports frequently, but this one got the ball rolling (so to speak). A Swoosh and Miss is about maternity leave in women's sports. It specifically goes through the multiple accounts of women speaking up against Nike for their treatment of mothers. These stories comes back as examples in my writing often, and I did a follow up on Nike in March 2021.
Here are a few other women's sports pieces that I'm proud of:
Bring it On: About the exploitation of professional cheerleaders
Lost in Trans-lation : Covering the political battle of trans women in sport
New Leotard, New Attitude : A recent post on the hyper-sexualization of female athletes
Still Too Close To Call - November 8, 2020
This entry was a personal one for me. When I wrote it, the American election results were pending, I had a dead tooth, and lockdown was grinding me into a deep depression. Frankly this whole period of writing is a bit melancholic.There's the time I had shingles , my struggles with burnout as self-proclaimed workaholic, the piece that was just about being miserable in the pandemic....
This blog became a means of catharsis for me, so thank you for being my confidants in trying times.
Maybe She’s Born With It, Maybe It’s an MLM - February 28, 2021
This was a topic I wasn't expecting to get so heated about. It's also one that comes up the most in my day-to-day life. MLM's are built specifically to exploit women, and that #girlboss energy is a front for unprecedented evil. In Maybe She's Born With It, Maybe It's an MLM I deep dive into pyramid schemes and Monat's history of hair loss lawsuits.
....If you've ever had any friends involved with Monat, I recommend you take a peak.
Thick Thighs Save Flies - July 5, 2020
Thick Thighs Save Flies is about the orgasm gap and sex in the animal kingdom. It's also one of the first pieces I ever posted. My writing has evolved in the last year, so this one is always fun to revisit.
Here are a few other sex-focused examples that loved writing:
Sex Tech-nicalites: On the gender imbalance of sex tech and sex in advertising
Contraception Inception : all about birth control!
I also want to give and an honourable mention to my first ever blog about sex and iguanas...It's a weird one, but don't let that deter you - Women-Hating Iguanas .
Thank You!
I'm continually amazed at how many people want to read my work, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! Here's to another year of puns, gifs, and hopefully fewer typos....
If you don't already, please follow @MySidePieceBlog on Instagram for more updates.
Love you longtime,
Jamie
