speking the secret language of girls

the lingua franca of girlhood allowed us to break the silence without actually bearing the weight of the more accurate words

to be lost is to be found: in conversation with Kara Pangilinan

interview with visual artist Kara Pangilinan about her solo show Lost Girls

the truthtellers: The Philippine Star’s 37th anniversary issue

was the editorial director for Star’s special anniversary issues for 2023 ⭐️

i want to love in a Mae Coyiuto love story

an interview with the author of YA romcom Chloe and the Kaishao Boys

girl, boy, bakla, tomboy: how the SOGIE Bill is for everyone

an explainer on the SOGIE Bill, told in the stories of 4 characters

what does Filipino girlhood look like?

in celebration of women’s month, Young STAR asked readers to submit photos that capture their girlhood

adapting Rizal for the tiktok generation

on Maria Clara at Ibarra

cosmic coming-of-age, or an ode to the UP Fair

being at Cosmos this year was like defrosting a memory I suspended in time, consequently excavating the younger self I froze within it.

our best Filipino books of 2022: 'Even Ducks Get Liver Cancer'

The book asks not for your pity, but for your heart, and your rage.

our best Filipino books of 2022: ‘How to Grieve’ and ‘Dear Meg’

These two collections find power, truth, humor, and heart in the short-form.

why we still can’t look into a bagua, decades after Feng Shui

the 2004 Filipino horror classic “Feng Shui” taps into the same impulse as horror films posing as found footage or based on actual events: that this is real, and it can happen to you.

what it’s like getting birth control in the Philippines

it felt good to exercise the very little bodily autonomy I have as a young woman in the Philippines.

you must be worthy to be loved (and other lies)

Samantha Lee’s latest queer love story ‘Sleep With Me’ came into my life at the perfect time—by which I mean the loneliest, most cheerless, deplorable, lamentable, gut-wrenching time.

eight new Filipino books to check out

here are some forthcoming Filipino titles, ranging from comics to poetry, which you can buy at MIBF from September 15 to 18.

four new Filipino TV releases that deserve your attention

these four titles, having premiered within the last few weeks, vary in form and function, but are all bearers of what local TV has been, and what it could be.

this local press is republishing essential Filipino writings we may have missed

The Required Readings series by Everything’s Fine is bringing back the likes of Ishmael Bernal and Rolando Tinio to our bookshelves.

in search of exciting parts with AC Soriano

For AC, most known as ItsACsLife, comedy is “powerful”: “[Dahil] napatawa mo na yung tao, nabuksan mo na yung puso niya.”

why do we keep using sex to take women down?

once a woman is thought to have said yes to something, she can say no to nothing.

5 Filipino shows for your next weekend binge

from a fictional sex advice show to hugot anthologies, here are five Filipino web series you can stream

goodbye, girlboss: on detaching my worth from my productivity

for years the only depiction of feminism I was exposed to was women empowerment; by which I mean women achieving capitalist success.

how a Russian play was re-translated to Filipino in this Best Picture-nominated film

When the Philippine production coordinator of “Drive My Car” couldn’t find the original Filipino translation of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” she had to make do with what she had.

Culture cheat sheet: Megan Thee Stallion, Emo Batman, and more

reviews of new releases: ‘the batman’ 🦇, megan thee stallion & dua lipa’s new single, ‘fresh’ 🥩

Culture cheat sheet: “Inventing Anna,” Florence + The Machine, and more

reviews of ‘inventing anna’, florence + the machine’s new single, & ‘drive my car’

remembering the unflinching filmmaking of Eduardo Roy Jr.

the death of “pamilya ordinaryo” director eduardo roy jr. means the loss of a valuable voice in contemporary philippine cinema.

what sex and healing are like for survivors of female genital mutilation

many health providers and non-FGM survivors are hesitant to address this issue because they feel it is not their place to speak on such a ‘cultural’ practice, but FGM is not mandated by a culture other than that of patriarchy and sexism—something we are all part of.

Culture cheat sheet: Hunter Schafer with Lorde, Beach House, and more

reviews of ‘one twice melody’ by beach house, ‘the tragedy of macbeth,’ & the A24 podcast with hunter + lorde

are we in a new era of filipino love teams?

as long as love teams are able to mobilize audiences for financial success, major production studios will continue to manufacture them for profit.

booktok might be changing the way filipinos read

many readers also express that booktok makes them feel seen, understood, and that they belong; feelings they struggle to find anywhere else, especially now.

mourning the years i spent trying not to be like other girls

the intense internalized misogyny I learned is blatant proof that our patriarchal society prioritizes male desire, even in relationships that don’t involve a man.

Culture cheat sheet: Mitski, FKA twigs, and more

review of new releases 01/21: “love me more” by mitski, CAPRISONGS by fka twigs, and wheel or fortune and fantasy 🎡

where is the Philippines’ entry to the 2022 Oscars?

This is the first time the country has not submitted an entry in 15 years. What happened?

why is it so difficult to talk about Filipino men’s mental health?

while mental health stigma is rife in the Philippines regardless of gender, the Filipino male’s approach to mental health is often subject not just to mainstream Filipino mores but also to hegemonic masculine ideals.

are live-action anime adaptations always doomed to fail?

the live-action “Cowboy Bebop” felt as if an algorithm made it, though perhaps that’s not far from the truth

Culture cheat sheet (Taylor’s version): “All Too Well,” EmRata’s “My Body,” and more

reviews of new releases 11/19: all too well, silk sonic, emily ratajkowski’s memoir

what ever happened to the quintessential fil-am icon?

today, there’s a sense of skepticism in how Filipinos now engage with young Fil-Am stars

this virtual fan con is a reminder of all the live events that could have been

on Netflix’s first global fan event Tudum & fandom amid the pandemic

VIDEO: ‘Sex Education’ cast react to iconic Filipino movie scenes | Young STAR

Kalat Klasrum: Everything ‘Sex Education’ taught us about sex and love (so far)

Subtle Kalat Section’s format is not dissimilar to Otis and Maeve’s sex clinic on the Netflix series Sex Education — like SKS members, the students of Moordale seek guidance about matters of the heart, among other body parts.

Cinemalaya 2021: Filmmaker Shiri de Leon on trauma, autonomy, and ‘Ang Pagdadalaga ni Lola Mayumi’

interview with Shiri de Leon, the director behind Ang Pagdadalaga ni Lola Mayumi from this year’s Cinemalaya

the life and deathlessness of our parasocial relationships

it was like I was wearing dozens of heart-shaped lockets around my neck, all housing photos of people I had never met.

The allure of doomscrolling and watching our fears onscreen

the possible harmful effects of doomscrolling — and seeing traumatic events covered in mass media in general — may as well be a pandemic in itself.

why is being loved by straight men so draining?

We rarely question the structures that make these “bad dates” or instances of “bad sex” possible in the first place. How many people—especially women—have experienced something like it; how many more are unaware that it doesn’t have to be treated like an inevitability?

how fan fiction is filling in the sex ed gaps

the widespread suppression of sex doesn’t stop young people from learning about it; it only pushes them to discover it somewhere else

“merci, kyla, merci!’: love as a prerequisite for personhood in ‘mommy’

on xavier dolan’s MOMMY, mothers, their children, and their best friends. published in bright wall/dark room 💛

culture cheat sheet: lana del rey, “her” score, and more

review of lana’s new album, isabel sandoval’s “shangri-la”, and the newly released “her” original score

sexist men on letterboxd are my joker origin story

when I criticize or poke fun at Men™ on my Letterboxd, I know that they are still more likely to be top critics on influential outlets, and that me comparing them to Joker has very little bearing in real life.

our lady of autoeroticism: capitalism, catholicism, and female masturbation in media

Ultimately, masturbation offers an understanding of our sexuality outside the binaries of gender. Accepting it as ordinary—neither wasteful nor particularly revolutionary, which are both gendered claims—allows our pleasure to exist unattached from the inherent inequalities of capitalism, gender, and organized religion.

it’s time we start personal de-branding

selfhood may be a process but there’s also some truth in it being a product, and mine has always been for sale.

rethinking our response to sexual assault allegations

I realized it’s such a disservice to myself to reopen wounds for the sake of public discourse. I need not provide a play-by-play of my trauma to make my advocacy against sexual assault more valid.

easy, like muscle memory

I’ve never had the misfortune of having to say too many goodbyes, which is (a) good, because I rarely feel it, but also (b) bad, because when I feel it, I Feel it.

16 best movies of 2020, according to gen z critics

here are the best movies of the year, according to Gen-Z critics around the globe, which you can watch now

the changemakers disrupting work cultures

Founded earlier this year by John Reily Baluyot and Nikki Vergara, Positive Workplaces strives to co-create workplace environments that enhance the wellbeing of the Filipino through learning experiences, trainings and consultations. Young STAR spoke with the founders about how the organization started, what positivity means at a time like this, and the power you hold in making a difference at your own workplace.

prude on the sheets, slut on the screen

suddenly my female carnality wasn’t this scary taboo, and my body wasn’t just someone else’s masturbatory tool.

the closest you’ve ever been to your true self

I started hating dorms and condos for their transience—one day it’s home then the next you find yourself packing everything up and heading back to the suburbs. The impermanence of everything made me feel like I had no ownership of my memories there, that the places I made sacred, made mine, are not accessible to me anymore.

keeping your enemies closer

who are the supporters of the president, outside of our echochamber-born definitions of them?

all my homies hate retail therapy

as capitalism continues to rear its ugly head, it becomes clear that it is because of capitalism itself that we seek the refuge of retail therapy.

hiding from the comfort crowd

how can someone as parched for love as I am be so resistant to it? why seek comfort from others only to run away when it is given?

‘an easy girl’: gazing at girlhood

it’s no exaggeration when I say western coming-of-age movies directed by men broke my brain.

privacy settings: not found

in the era of individualism, how do we keep our right to privacy intact?

white people, read this before you take a social media break

by redirecting your energy and attention on the internet, hopefully your activism will become more action-oriented and productive in a way that translates offline.

i rate sheratesdogs: why do we love laughing at other people’s DMs?

in a way, the accounts are PSAs, helping you identify red flags and making you realize that the behavior you’ve gotten used to is actually not normal.

society has progressed past the need for indie men

i don’t engage with indie men with the intention to write pointed essays about them, but they do so much shit that the pieces practically write themselves. this isn’t commentary, it’s an ethnography.

why do so many men want to marry women from the global south?

men with a preference for virgin women and a self-aggrandized view of their own penises scour the relatively conservative Global South for “pure” brides.

dispatch from zoom university

why are online classes more exhausting?

decolonizing feminism: redefining sex work in non-western terms

the internet’s ability to “bridge borders” as a global platform is often just the erasure of non-Western context; its universality actually just neocolonialism

bidding online feminism goodbye

the world is nuanced and it’s okay to change your mind upon learning new things — online feminism and its well-intentioned “cancel culture” doesn’t really teach you that.

‘never rarely sometimes always’ and the secret language of women

review: eliza hittman’s ‘never rarely sometimes always’