Latest Articles

Sexual Inadequacy: #MarcusBachmannIsSoGay

July 12, 2011 at 11:27am

Last Thursday Twitter exploded with the news that House Republican Michele Bachmann, future failed Presidential hopeful, had signed “The Marriage Vow.” The 14-point pledge was designed by Bob Vander Plaats of The Family Leader, a conservative Iowa hate tank that was responsible for recalling state supreme court justices who had ruled in favor of marriage equality. It includes several...

Stage Left: “Die, Vampire, Die!” Reflections on Self-Doubt and Advocacy Work.

by Dorian J-----

July 12, 2011 at 10:09am

The part of [title of show] that resonates most closely with me is probably the song I’ve included in this post—”Die Vampire, Die!”. This song is, within the context of the show, about defeating doubts and obstacles to creative-sector work—writing, painting, singing. But I think the types of “vampires” spoken of in the lyrics are familiar to those of us doing advocacy work as...

True Blood: A Werepanther Rape is Not a “Sex Scene”

by Kelsey Wallace

July 11, 2011 at 1:11pm

Last night’s episode of True Blood contained the usual outrageous plot twists and soap opera-levels of drama, which is great and which is why I (and probably you if you’re reading this) look forward to summer Sunday nights. However, it also contained a totally fucked-up gang rape scene which the show’s creators (and many media outlets) are calling anything but.

Adventures in Feministory: Betty Ford

by Nicole Morales

July 11, 2011 at 12:01pm

Former First Lady Betty Ford passed away on Friday. She was 93 years old—the same age her late husband was when he passed five years ago. The mega media outlets are doing a decent albeit routine job in acknowledging Betty Ford’s contributions to women’s issues, health & social issues, and addiction issues. This entry, though, highlights her love of dance.

Political InQueery: Tier-Two Glitterbombs

by Everett Maroon

July 11, 2011 at 11:25am

I expect that Vander Plaats, the founder of The Family Leader, will be glitterbombed soon. If Newt Gingrich got a dose of party supplies for his anti-gay stance and writings, surely some of the pink stuff is coming Plaats’ way, for his having written that being gay leads to increased mortality. I don’t think he’s referring to hate crimes when he brings that up, either.

Who...

Murder, She Blogged: Detectives in Distress

by Jess Mccabe

July 11, 2011 at 11:07am

All good characters have a complex back story. But what is it with giving female TV detectives a particularly awful past?

By no means is every female investigator on television shown to be “damaged,” but I think there are enough to make up an anecdotal trend. This “damage” is usually crucial in explaining why the character became a detective in the first place and why they are so intent...

Bitch Radio: Women in Open Source, Part 2

by Kjerstin Johnson

July 9, 2011 at 2:18pm

Last week, I spoke with Valerie Aurora of the Ada Initiative about women in open source and how to get more women involved. In Part 2 of women in the open source world, I speak with Sumana Harihareswara (volunteer development coordinator at the Wikimedia Foundation) who I also met at the Open Sourcebridge conference, where she was named on of three Open Source Citizens at the conference (read...

Beyonce in Weddingland

by Kelsey Wallace

July 8, 2011 at 2:18pm

My love of Beyoncé has been well documented on this blog before, so I won’t get into it again here. However, I do want to talk about Bey’s new video for “The Best Thing I Never Had,” or rather, talk about the way other people are talking about it. First, the video, which is mostly just Beyoncé dancing around and looking really pretty in a wedding dress:

Murder, She Blogged: Prime Suspect

by Jess Mccabe

July 8, 2011 at 1:11pm

Are there any explicitly feminist crime TV shows? Prime Suspect, which ran on UK television channel ITV from 1991 to 2006, is surely a contender, starring Helen Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, a female detective breaking into a male-dominated world. It dealt explicitly with issues such as institutional sexism and racism in London’s Metropolitan Police force.

It...

BitchTapes: Conversational Hits!

by Ann-Derrick Gaillot

July 8, 2011 at 11:57am

Conversational song has to be one of the most overlooked music genres ever, next to songs that mimic whale noises and songs that have no rhyming whatsoever. More than just duets and trios, these songs feature singers responding to one another in verse and usually a recognizable narrative arc. These are great songs to listen to if you are feeling alone or want to have an awesome sing-...