Culture

Janelle Monáe plays Veronica, a Black woman with short, black hair, holding a torch in a dark field, in Antebellum

Trauma Loop: “Antebellum” Mishandles Its Message

by Vanessa Willoughby
October 15, 2020 at 9:39am
The film is fixated on racism as an act of overt violence, but racism is so monstrous because it can appear so deceptively normal. Read more »
a Black man with short, black hair, and a blue shirt sits on a concrete bence reading a book

Personal Connection: #OwnVoices, Outing, and the Ongoing Quest for Authenticity

by s.e. smith
October 14, 2020 at 9:00am
Not all authors feel safe, comfortable, or interested in being out to readers about their identities. Read more »
Yola, a dark-skinned Black woman with a short, curly afro, poses against a pale purple and blue background, playing her guitar

Yola Is the Unconventional Queen of Country Soul

by Evette Dionne
October 13, 2020 at 10:30am
Black artists from all around the world are continuing the tradition of upending the expectation that country music is a genre reserved for white artists. Read more »
Two white gay men flirt at what looks like Pride. One has a rainbow arm band.

Denouncing White Supremacy Must Be a Movement, Not a Trend

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 9, 2020 at 2:04pm
Reclamation isn’t for everything, and it’s not for everyone. Read more »
Lily Collins as Emily in Emily in Paris. Emily is a white girl with long brown hair. She wears a red beret and looks surprised while sitting at a brunch table outside.

In “Emily in Paris,” Being Thin and White Is a Path to Success

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 9, 2020 at 1:01pm
Emily is yet another thin white woman who fails upward. Read more »
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Latinx woman with long, black hair, and wearing glasses, has a gray mask over her face

Go Low: The Time for Civility Is Over

by s.e. smith
October 9, 2020 at 12:41pm
We don’t pay our representatives to be scared, hiding behind the apron strings of civility. Read more »
an illustration of five cartoons standing side by side against a brick wall with Blacklight in flourescent lights above

“Blacklight” Spins a New Tale about Strippers in New Orleans

by Bitch HQ
October 9, 2020 at 12:25pm
Sex workers are very dynamic and have their own varied, colorful lives. Read more »
Claudia Conway, a white teenage girl with blond hair, films herself on TikTok.

Teen Girls Shouldn’t Have to Fix Our Country

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 8, 2020 at 11:30am
We shouldn’t be making demands of Claudia Conway, especially if they aren’t demands we’ve even made of ourselves. Read more »
Lara Parker, a white woman with shoulder length honey blond and brown hair, stands against a gray wall in a green shirt

Patient Perspective: Lara Parker, a Wise Friend for Those with Vagina Problems

by Caroline Reilly
October 6, 2020 at 9:46am
In order to get help from doctors and be taken seriously, people with endometriosis have to be really vulnerable. Read more »
Barbie Ferreira, a white woman with short, multicolored hair, sits beside Haley Lu Richardson, a white woman with long, blond, curly hair, at a diner in Unpregnant

Colorblind Justice: “Unpregnant” Is Too White to Be Revolutionary

by Kyndall Cunningham
October 5, 2020 at 9:38am
While Unpregnant succeeds in illustrating a larger thesis about the state-sanctioned roadblocks to abortion, it fails at developing its supporting characters. Read more »

Pages

Best of Bitch

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 »

It’s Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women

A transgender woman in business attire in an office looking to the side
by Tina Vasquez
May 20, 2016 at 11:28am
To imply that trans women pose a threat to cisgender women in restrooms is misinformation that preys on unfounded fears. 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 »

One-Sentence Reviews of the Lesbian Netflix Canon

by Sara Century
November 13, 2014 at 10:52am
Lez face it: when you’re a ladygay like myself, cruising the internet for something to watch, you realize very quickly that there are a whole... Read more »