Books

Unabashed Triumph: “You Should See Me in a Crown” Reimagines the Prom Queen

Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown. Leah is a Black woman with curly hair and a nosering. She wears a black mockneck tank top and smiles at the camera.
by Rachel Charlene Lewis
June 30, 2020 at 10:46am
This is a book that, at its core, offers hope.
illustration of a Black woman sitting next to a single marigold and staring at her reflection in the window

Love the Hard Way: Reflecting on the Magnificence of “The Bluest Eye”

by Vanessa Willoughby
April 13, 2020 at 10:07am
“Ugliness,” one of the novel’s running themes, is examined under an unforgiving spotlight because it’s such a familiar experience for young Black girls. Read more »
Leslie Gray Streeter, a Black woman with short, brown hair, smiles at the camera while posed against a green background

Laugh at My Pain: Finding the Humor in Being a “Black Widow”

by Evette Dionne
April 7, 2020 at 10:37am
Grief is a thing that will live, in some way, in our DNA and our body and be triggered by the wrong song or the wrong turn down the street where you see someone that looks like the person you lost. Read more »
An IV bag hangs on a metal pole. There is an eerie blue cast to the photo.

Staying Soft: Megan Giddings Explores the Hypervigilance of Black Women in “Lakewood”

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
April 3, 2020 at 10:26am
The participants—nearly all people of color—break bones and lose teeth to help advance the future of science and healthcare. Read more »
a white plus-size woman reading on couch with a dog

BitchReads: 13 Books Feminists Should Read in March

by Evette Dionne
March 24, 2020 at 10:25am
Reading can be such a relief in such strenuous times. Read more »
Bonnie Ruberg, a white professor with short, red hair, and wearing an ocean blue blazer, sits on a couch with a game controller in her hand

Playing for Freedom: Welcome to the Queer Gaming Revolution

by Naseem Jamnia
March 19, 2020 at 10:49am
The queer games avant-garde is a rising tide of indie games being developed by, about, and often for LGBTQ people. Read more »
Stephanie Wrobel, a thin, white woman with short blond hair, poses in front of a barn door

Stephanie Wrobel on Writing a Monstrous Mother

by Raquel Diaz
March 16, 2020 at 12:17pm
We have less sympathy for perpetrators when their illness hurts someone else.  Read more »
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, a Black woman, wears gold hoops and dark red lipstick and looks at the camera. Her hair is in long braids and she wears a black sweater.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Is Widening Our Understanding of Street Harassment

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
March 12, 2020 at 9:38am
Women have been talking about our experiences with every form of sexual violence since the dawn of time. Read more »
Amanda Leduc, a white woman with wavy dark brown hair, looks at the camera. She has a soft smile and appears to be outdoors.

Amanda Leduc and Fantasy Authors Challenge the Trope of “Broken” Disabled People

by Alaina Leary
March 9, 2020 at 1:54pm
Fairy tales and their contemporary counterparts—superhero tales, science fiction, fantasy—shape our collective ideas about what it means to be powerful and beautiful.  Read more »
Three young adult novels collaged together featuring a variety of characters.

Escapist Young Adult Novels Offer a Breath of Fresh Air in the Current Political Climate

by Nicole Brinkley
March 4, 2020 at 10:19am
These stories are escapist fiction—literature that doesn’t explicitly focus on the social and political issues in our real world, allowing the reader to temporarily forget about them and fall into the story. Read more »
Rachel Vorona Cote, author of "Too Much," sits with her hands on her chin wearing a black shirt and glasses.

Corseted Up: Victorian Ideals Are Still Binding up Women

by Rachel Klein
February 24, 2020 at 6:33am
A woman who meets the world with intensity is a woman who endures lashes of shame and disapproval. Read more »

Pages

Best of Bitch

Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction

a blue and white illustration of a woman in Amish attire standing next to a fan and a chicken
by Audrey deCoursey
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
Dubbed “Amish romance novels,” “Amish fiction,” or the more waggish “bonnet rippers,” these novels just one entry point into the varying images of Amish communities in U.S. popular culture. Read more »

Black Girls Hunger for Heroes, Too: A Black Feminist Conversation on Fantasy Fiction for Teens

by Zetta Elliott
December 17, 2013 at 3:19pm
What happens when two great black women fiction writers get together to talk about race in young adult literature? That's exactly what happens... Read more »

Eat, Pray, Spend: Priv-Lit and the New, Enlightened American Dream

Elizabeth Gilbert, a white woman wearing a navy blue jumpsuit, leans forward and holds hand with and Oprah Winfrey, a Black woman wearing a gray cardigan and jeans
by Joshunda Sanders
Summer 2010 • Action
Even as reports on joblessness, economic recovery, and home foreclosures suggest that no one is immune to risk during this recession, the popularity of women’s wellness media has persisted and, indeed, grown stronger.  Read more »

Mock & Awe: Janet Mock on Truth-Telling, Community Building, and Writing the Story She Had Been Waiting for Her Whole Life

Janet Mock, a transgender Hawaiian woman with curly, brown hair, smiles
by Tina Vasquez
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
“Redefining Realness” is written with astounding honesty and heart. Read more »