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Castle is a guilty pleasure for me. I once watched four episodes of the show in a night because it’s well-written, witty, and fun—and has some “strong” female characters front and center—so I want to be able to say, just go and watch it right now, don’t even bother reading the rest of the post.

But my inner feminist critic has some issues with the show.

*WARNING: Sisterhood Everlasting begins with a major, surprising event, and I discuss it in this review. Other potential spoilers are marked.*

It’s always dicey when an author pushes a series past its logical conclusion. I met each YA sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with skepticism, but all four of Ann Brashares’...

Lots of people attempt to manage election laws; it happens all the time. We’ve seen it in vote-counting, with one side or the other suing their way into forced recounts after a close election. Of course there’s “gerrymandering,” named after a real Mr. Gerry, former Governor of Massachusetts, who passed the law that let legislators create serpentine voting districts in order to...

Yesterday, the California Milk Processor Board launched a new pro-dairy campaign based on the old premise that PMS turns women into insufferable turds. The message, directed at men, is that milk can ease a woman’s PMS symptoms and is therefore good for her poor, put-upon (male) partner. Finally! An ad campaign that stereotypes women AND promises to make straight men’s lives easier...