Latest Articles

Race Card: The Chinese Parenting Controversy and the Vilification of Mothers of Color

January 13, 2011 at 10:09am

Four days after the Wall Street Journal published Amy Chua's essay, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," it continues to spark controversy. The piece itself has garnered more than 3,500 comments on WSJ's website and bloggers from Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man to Maureen O'Connor of Gawker and Danielle Belton of The Black Snob have taken Chua to task for claiming that Chinese...

The Unbearable Presence of Hair: American Apparel's Bush Administration

by Katie Presley

January 12, 2011 at 2:34pm

I like the conversations American Apparel inevitably starts whenever it comes out with a new advertising campaign. I’m not being snarky—some of the most radical (meaning at the root of) discussions about feminism I enter into start because American Apparel can’t seem to stop. Well (and here comes the snark), guess what? AA still can’t let go of its naked-ladies-trying-to-sell...

Iconography: A Selection of Brilliant Careers

by Chally Kacelnik

January 12, 2011 at 11:11am

I wanted to write about at least one writer from the Southern Hemisphere for you. (I was going to also write about New Zealand's Katherine Mansfield, but then Lindsay pipped me to the blog post!) I thought to myself, I've never read My Brilliant Career (1901), and that's supposed to be one of the best feminist works to ever come out of Australia. An excellent topic on which to write,...

Bibliobitch: Am I Blue?

by Katie Presley

January 12, 2011 at 10:53am

A piece of advice for those who are interested in reading Am I Blue?, an anthology of YA short stories about gay, lesbian, and questioning characters: don't read it on the bus. I tried several times, and always missed my stop by many blocks without fail. The collection is engrossing to a plan-canceling degree; editor Marion Dane Bauer has put together funny, poignant,...

B-Sides: Three Bands to Watch

by Kjerstin Johnson

January 11, 2011 at 12:14pm

Toss out those 2010 Best-of lists, here are three bands to keep an ear out for in the new year!

Iconography: Morgan le Fay

by Chally Kacelnik

January 11, 2011 at 9:56am

One of the world's most enduring literary traditions has to be the Arthurian legend, which gives us the most intriguing figure of Morgan le Fay. Mother, sister, lover, healer, and witch, she's had to be extremely flexible to fit the changing requirements of Arthurian narratives. She's been an ally to Arthur, the wicked witch, and she's presently popular as an object of feminist reclamation....

Race Card: Single Black Women and the Motherhood Debate

by Nadra Kareem Nittle

January 10, 2011 at 10:00am

If you haven’t had your fill of stories about lonely, unwed black women, check out The Root’s piece advising African-American ladies who’ve made marriage a prerequisite for childbirth to consider conceiving without a “ring on it,” as Beyoncé would say.

In “Planning for Single Motherhood,” contributing Root editor Jacque Reid describes her longing to have a...

Iconography: Independent Women

by Chally Kacelnik

January 10, 2011 at 9:50am

We're going to leave the 19th century soon, but not before we've covered a certain breed of independent woman literary icon. At a time when divorce was the height of scandal, Louise Mallard and Nora Helmer were literary characters who looked to a better life without their husbands. And they suffered terribly for it. Let's explore the rise of representations of women learning to live their...

Grand Rounds: Dissecting Grey's Anatomy: Disarm

by Greys Bloggers

January 7, 2011 at 2:37pm

Deja vu this week on Grey’s Anatomy as the team at Seattle Grace is plunged into helping the victims of a shooting rampage on a school campus. A whole lot of healing over the first half of the season has been building up to this moment. How do they handle it? And what in blazes is Teddy up to?!

All this and more (spoilers galore!) after the break...