Latest Articles

In the Frame: Female Photographers Telling Stories

December 21, 2011 at 9:08am

There are loads of photographers who take the body as their subject matter—hey, it’s nothing new. But the women in this post made a point of portraying the body as something to be celebrated and combined with fashion, sociological thinking, or mythology. It’s so much more than just snapping a photo.

B-Sides: Emika's Emika

by Nicole Morales

December 20, 2011 at 8:49am

Emika borrows the bass vibes of dubstep, adds a pinch of moody pop, and writes storylines to create a deep, delicate, broken-down sound that humanizes electronic music.

Adventures in Feministory: Elaine May

by Mac Pogue

December 20, 2011 at 8:35am

Elaine May gained notoriety for directing the 1987 Hollywood mega-disaster Ishtar, but before that she broke barriers for women in comedy with longtime partner-in-crime Mike Nichols, and for women in film with her gripping Mikey and Nicky and hilarious The Heartbreak Kid. She’s worked against the grain as a writer and director, pushing against systems that...

In The Frame: An Interview with The Girls

by Polly Allen

December 19, 2011 at 10:47am

Together, Andrea Blood and Zoe Sinclair are known as The Girls—an artistic partnership that has revolved around intense tableaux self-portraits, live performances, videos and installations. Along with exhibiting regularly in the UK, they’ve shown at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art and Milan’s UNO+UNO. Whether they’re taking on recognizable people and reimagining them,...

Bechdel Test Canon: The Spirit of the Beehive

by Alyx Vesey

December 19, 2011 at 10:24am

As we enter into the third week of the series, I thought we’d continue our conversation about fables and girlhood generated by Friday’s post on Hanna by looking at Spanish director Victor Erice’s haunting 1973 film The Spirit of the Beehive. The film filters a young girl’s experience with James Whale’s Frankenstein through...

The 99%: Welcome Home, Deserving People! Thoughts on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

by Gretchen Sisson

December 19, 2011 at 10:11am

There’s something else going on here. There’s the construction (no pun intended) of a “deserving” poor person whose needs can be addressed via a for-profit reality show, as opposed to real, systemic change.

Mom & Pop Culture: Viral Videos

by Avital Norman Nathman

December 19, 2011 at 9:57am

We’re (not so) slowly creating a new social contract where oversharing has become de rigueur. Blame it on the popularity of reality TV or the easy access the Internet provides—either way, we’re currently at a place where a video of a mom intentionally terrifying her young son while he belts out Britney Spears has over 10 million hits on YouTube.

Bitchtapes: 11 Tracks You May Have Missed in 2011

by Kjerstin Johnson

December 16, 2011 at 1:37pm

I've always hated Top Ten of the Year Lists. I just feel like there is some sort of intrinsic hubris involved that comes with definitively declaring “The Best” of anything. Also, who wants to encourage this kind of feedback? But because I've been so busy re-discovering 2011's great catalog, I did want to share some gems that didn't get the radio play Adele did this year. Here...

On Our Radar

by Mac Pogue

December 16, 2011 at 1:26pm

Doing the holidays revolution blog style.

Take a look at Disgrasian’s piece on the awful racist customer service at Chick-Fil-A earlier this week.
As if there wasn’t enough d-baggery in the corporate world already, the Trans Women’s Anti-Violence Project has a piece on a transphobic Macy’s employee’s “activism.”
Tech blogger Laura Klein...