Books
Mini quiches and meerkats in Cambridge
This morning we met up with Amy Hoffman, editor of the Women's Review of Books and author of the soon-to-be-released An Army of Ex-Lovers. We met at Zaftig's, a Jewish deli, where we chatted over oatmeal and borscht about what's happening at the Women's Review and what it's like living in Boston.... Read more »
Pumpkins in Philly
On the subway this morning, I sat next to a man reading, Why Men Marry Bitches. Somewhat comically, the woman sitting on the other side of me was reading Che Guevara's essays on How to Change the World.
Lisa and I met again at Penn Station, where we boarded our train to Philadelphia. This city... Read more »
Bitch in Brooklyn
Perched on a Brooklyn patio in still-perfect weather, Lisa and I mapped out our time here. Then it was off to our first fundraising house party, hosted by Jennifer Baumgardner—who's interviewed in our current issue about her new book, Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics.
Apparently, the wording on... Read more »
Desert Hearts: In a New Crop of Romance Novels, It's Always Midnight at the Oasis
The average romance-novel hero hasn't changed much since the genre's development in the late 19th century—he's dashing, arrogant, commanding, hopefully rich, possibly even a prince. But is he an Arab? More and more commonly, the answer is yes.
It seems that an Arab man can now get on the cover of a... Read more »
Feminine Protection: An Interview with “Whipping Girl” author Julia Serano
We should focus our energies on challenging the rather arbitrary meanings and values that get placed onto our sexed bodies, gender expressions, and sexualities.
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Mom's the Word: Yummy mummies, alternadads, and other literary offspring
At the turn of the millennium, Bridget Jones and the Sex and the City girls heralded a new era of fun, fearless singledom. Chick lit, accompanied by memoirs and anthologies about single womanhood, made it whimsical for an otherwise-capable woman to be vain, proud of her missteps and mistakes, and... Read more »
The Cold Shoulder: Saving Superheroines from Comic-book Violence
There's a new Bat in Gotham City. Like Bruce Wayne, she's a rich socialite by day and a black-clad vigilante at night. And, also like Bruce Wayne, in both incarnations she's apt to sweep the ladies off their feet. Kate Kane, the new, revamped Batwoman, isn't the first lesbian character to debut in... Read more »
Hog Heaven: Ariel Levy on Female Chauvinist Pigs and the Rise of Raunch Culture
You'll recognize the female silhouette that leans against the title on the cover of Ariel Levy's new book, Female Chauvinist Pigs. She's the girl who in recent years has made the move from the mud flaps of big rigs right into pop culture, gracing trucker caps, baby tees, and gold... Read more »
Outside Neverland: Female Writers Reinvent Peter Pan
When the curtain rose at the London premiere of the play Peter Pan in 1904, it unveiled a drama of flying children, fairies, and pirates that would soon become a classic—and inspire countless spin-offs, adaptations, and reinterpretations. On the cinematic side, these began with the 1924 silent-film... Read more »
We Were Here, We Were Maybe Queer: New Historical Biographies Tell Us to Get Used to It
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers—and most infamous tyrants—were getting down with other men. Or so some folks would like us to believe. Historians and posthumous biographers have of late been venturing into the relatively uncharted territory of sexual historiography, exhuming some... Read more »
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