Latest Articles

Isn't He Lovely: The Body Politics of Male Balding

by Cristen Conger
September 26, 2011 at 9:21am

When I started dating a bald man, the first questions my friends fired my way about him had nothing to do with his background, employment or interests. Repeatedly, they’d bypass the pleasantries and skip straight to his hair: So, is he really bald, or does he choose to shave his head? How long has he been bald? Could he grow hair if he wanted to? And after I would explain that, yes, he...

BitchTapes: Breaking Out of the White, Male Punk Canon

by Mac Pogue
September 23, 2011 at 4:24pm

For all of its progressive-leaning, status-quo-breaking, norm-shattering tendencies, punk rock still looks like a white boy’s club. Even after all of these years, the largest punk record of the year (Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life) was played by a band with one woman! There are also five other white dudes in that band! So let’s go back and look through the punk...

On Our Radar

by Mac Pogue
September 23, 2011 at 2:33pm

My, what a week.

  • Still reeling from the murder of Troy Davis? Check out “10 things anyone can do to help exonerate innocent people and prevent wrongful convictions” from The Innocence Project, and continue the fight for justice. 
  • The first post in a series on queer identity and gaming is up at Yin Soaked Boy. 
  • Have you been reading BFP’s...

Bitch Radio: Talking with s.e. smith and Anna Pearce of “We're All Mad Here”

by Kjerstin Johnson
September 23, 2011 at 2:02pm

Even though “We’re All Mad Here,” the guest blog exploring mental illness in pop culture wrapped up today, we’ve got one more way to savor this excellent series. For this episode of Bitch Radio, I spoke with s.e. and Anna about “We’re All Mad Here,”—what topics they didn’t get a chance to address, tropes of mental illness in politics, and where they see hope for the...

Preacher's Daughter: Gillian Welch's “Dark Turn of Mind”

by Kristin Rawls
September 23, 2011 at 1:35pm

Americana artist Gillian Welch has always included southern Christian imagery in her work. Though not native to the South, her music is at its most comfortable when it explores the tragedy and violence of working-class survival in the region. Welch and partner David Rawlings write and record sparse songs unlike any others. In part, this has to do with Rawlings’ masterful guitar work, but it...

Thursday Night 'Lights: NBC's New Must-See TV (and Whitney)

by Kirthana Ramisetti
September 23, 2011 at 11:19am

Like many people in the ’90s, I tuned into NBC’s enormously popular Thursday night comedy block for Friends, Seinfeld and many other shows in that time slot over the decade. At the time, it was like the TV equivalent of seeing Jurassic Park on opening weekend: It just felt like the thing to do.

Thursday nights on the...

Isn't He Lovely: Short Man Stigma

by Cristen Conger
September 23, 2011 at 10:50am

But the short stigma is even more pervasive—if subtle—in everyday life. For while studies and surveys about women’s perceived attractiveness and height result in a muddled mix of preferences for statures diminutive and statuesque, things aren’t so fluid for men. Research repeatedly indicates that, statistically speaking, tall men enjoy certain benefits. And for that reason, I...

We're All Mad Here: You Get Proud By Practicing*

by Anna Pearce
September 23, 2011 at 10:15am

This post was written by both s.e. & Anna.

People with various forms of mental health conditions have been talking back to stereotypes and stigma for a long time, but this Mad People’s History and these mad people’s words tend to be overlooked by mainstream society and pop culture. Occasionally glimmers of our actual experience will work their way through to small...

Tropes vs. Women: #6 The Straw Feminist

by Anita Sarkeesian
September 23, 2011 at 9:47am

The Straw Feminist trope is a deliberately created, exaggerated caricature of a feminist that is used to undermine and ridicule feminist movements.

Links and transcript after the jump!

Pop Pedestal: Donna Meagle of <em>Parks and Recreation</em>

by Kelsey Wallace
September 22, 2011 at 2:08pm

The day is finally here! Parks and Recreation is back! In honor of tonight’s season premiere (seriously I can’t wait until 8:30), today’s Pop Pedestal is for the one and only Donna Meagle, played by the hilarious Retta.

She told you so.

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