Culture

Ashes to Ashes, Outer space to Oceans: Who Gets to Have an Alternative Death in America?

two Latinx men, one wearing oxygen, embrace in HBO's Alternate Endings documentary
by s.e. smith
September 11, 2019 at 4:56pm
Many of the faces of “alternative death” are white, and there’s much less engagement with the cultural, community, and social traditions of communities of diverse color and faith in America.
Normani, a young Black woman, sings on stage in a blue sparkly outfit.

What Critiques of Normani Reveal about Racist Expectations of Black Women Artists

by Brooklyn White
September 11, 2019 at 4:02pm
Music critics and listeners alike give Black pop stars hell—especially when they’re women. Read more »
A photo of Ms Monopoly, a new board game from Hasbro. The game features an illustrated woman, presumably white, holding a coffee cup and staring at the camera with a soft smile.n

What Ms. Monopoly Shows about Our Cultural Unwillingness to Understand the Pay Gap

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
September 11, 2019 at 1:29pm
Despite potentially good intent, a presumably white woman in heels and doing a weird power pose on a board game about capitalism isn’t inspiring. Read more »
a Black woman with an afro reads a book while sitting on a window sill

BitchReads: 13 Nonfiction Books Feminists Should Read this September

by Evette Dionne
September 11, 2019 at 9:35am
There is so much to read in so little time, which is one of the myriad reasons I love curating the BitchReads list on a (semi)-regular basis. Read more »
"Girls and Their Cats" author BriAnne Wills, a white woman with dark hair, holds her cat, Tuck. There is a large plant in the background.

“Girls and Their Cats” and The Future of Cat Ladies

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
September 10, 2019 at 12:20pm
“I definitely think that the qualities people don’t like in cats are the same qualities that men especially don’t particularly like in women: that we’re independent, that we don’t need them.” Read more »
Courtney Sauls as Brooke Morgan, left, and Nia Jerver as Kelsey Phillips in Dear White People. They are two Black women who are kissing on the end of a bed.

A Quick History of TV’s Elusive Quest for Complex Black Lesbians

by Jaelani Turner-Williams
September 6, 2019 at 5:41am
Characters are being given more complexity onscreen, as they are offered the chance to explore their queerness in ways typically reserved for white queer women. Read more »
A rose with the text,"It smells amazing, guys."

Very Online: Why Does the Internet Keep Trying to Sell Us Bullshit Vaginal Healthcare?

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
September 5, 2019 at 2:56pm
At the very least, social media platforms can make it more difficult for harmful healthcare products to gain massive followings. Read more »
Donna Freitas, a white woman professor with long, black hair, smiles at the camera

Close to Home: Donna Freitas on the Stalking Professor Who Irrevocably Changed Her Life

by Evette Dionne
September 4, 2019 at 10:49am
“It’s just a relief not to be alone with it anymore.” Read more »
David Bower as David, a white Deaf man with a hearing aid, in Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994.

“Four Weddings” Is Still a Pop Culture Starting Point for Sign Language

by Lilit Marcus
September 3, 2019 at 10:46am
It helps not to think of a signed language, a written language, and a spoken one as being in any way connected to each other at all, but to recognize them as distinct, each one a living, breathing entity. Read more »
Two white women and one Black woman stand in a row in The Kitchen

In Hot Water: “The Kitchen” Is a Comic-Book Adaptation Whose Diversity Feels Forced

by Jourdain Searles
August 30, 2019 at 12:04pm
The film pushes a shallow image of female unity, flattening the complex characters from the comic into easily readable types. Read more »
A photo of the Popeyes chicken sandwich with the words "y'all good" overlayed.

Very Online: The Chicken Sandwich Debacle Shows How Brands Co-Opt Black Twitter

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 30, 2019 at 12:03pm
Popeyes didn’t notice the opportunity to be found in responding to the Chick-fil-A tweet—until Black Twitter did. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

"Moonlight" is an Essential Work of Art for the Current Political Moment

by Nijla Mu'min
December 5, 2016 at 8:15am
Moonlight displays the kind of empathy and humanity that we desperately need right now. Read more »

The Forgotten History of the Women Who Shaped Modern Advertising

a white woman smoking a cigarette walks through an office with a box
by Ciara Lavelle
March 21, 2019 at 9:00am
It's easy to dismiss advertising as an anti-feminist industry. Read more »

Sojourner Truth, Unveiled

by Deesha Philyaw
April 29, 2009 at 2:58pm

The leaders of the [women's suffrage] movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban,...

Read more »

Game Changer: Why Gaming Culture Allows Abuse... and How We Can Stop It

Game Changer Illustration by Jasmine Silver.
by Katherine Cross
Winter 2013 • Habit{at}

You're a Bolshevik feminist jewess that hates white people… and you expect to be taken seriously when you're “critique-ing” ...

Read more »