Culture

Aaliyah, a thin, Black, woman with long, wavy Black hair poses against a red background as she stares directly at the camera

20 Years Later, Aaliyah’s Musical Legacy Is Still Untouchable

by Natelegé Whaley
August 25, 2021 at 2:14pm
She is still the patron saint of R&B-pop, a genre that emerged during the late ’90s and early aughts. Read more »
Ilana Glazer plays Rose, a white woman with short brown hair, who is lying on her back in a hospital gown on an exam table

Demon Seed: “False Positive” Treats Wombs as Receptacles for Terror

by Sadaf Ahsan
August 25, 2021 at 10:36am
In each of these films, it’s the male ego that guides the doctors and fathers. Read more »
a pixelated illustration of a woman stretching almost into a split against a background

Terms of Service: Inside Social Media’s War on Sex Workers

by Reina Sultan
August 23, 2021 at 3:23pm
Instagram has long used strict terms of service to antagonize sex workers. Read more »
Nichole Perkins, a brown-skinned Black woman with long brown braids, poses in a blue shirt against an outdoors background

Soft Power: Nichole Perkins Redesigns the Politics of Desire

by Vanessa Willoughby
August 23, 2021 at 9:00am
People still have a hard time recognizing that Black women need to be protected. Read more »
a photo of rows of silicone breast implants against a brown background

Stacked Deck: The True Costs of Breast Implants

by Michelle Polizzi
August 20, 2021 at 2:36pm
More and more women believe their implants are causing them harm—and they’re determined to have them removed. Read more »
Julie Rodgers, a thin, white woman with her blond hair pulled into a ponytail and wearing a light-blue collared shirt, looks down in a church pew in Pray Away

False Hope: Can Anyone Stop Religious Conversion Camps?

by Reece Sisto
August 18, 2021 at 1:51pm
Pray Away cracks open the duality of “belonging.” Read more »
Jesse Leigh, a Chinese and American nonbinary actor, stands with a clip board and short brown hair next to Dana L. Wilson, a Black woman with shoulder-length black hair.

Land Mine: Did “Rutherford Falls” Need to Center a White Guy?

by Amanda Gokee
August 18, 2021 at 10:05am
The story draws on a narrative that has gained traction in the reckoning around race and history. Read more »
Mary Hawke, a white woman with light brown hair, is laying on the ground as she is being dragged by her feet and her mouth open in a scream.

Queer Fear: The “Fear Street” Trilogy Refuses to Bury Its Gays

by Alani Vargas
August 17, 2021 at 11:41am
Fear Street refuses to prioritize straight, white leads like the slasher films of the past. Read more »
White woman with long brown hair wearing a black t-shirt holds a cardboard sign that reads "We Are The Change" as she stands amid a protest.

5 Feminist Organizations Fighting Planet Earth’s Climate Crisis

by Addissyn House
August 13, 2021 at 3:20pm
5 feminist responses to climate change. Read more »
Actor Asa Butterfield, a young white man with brown hair and an embarrassed look, sits next to Gillian Anderson, a white woman with short, blond hair, sit on a couch.

Better Than Sex Ed: Pop Culture Is Teaching Teens About Sex

by Addissyn House
August 13, 2021 at 12:15pm
When sex education isn’t what kids need, they look to pop culture for the answers. Read more »

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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 »

Where My Girls At: Meet Two of Ferguson's Black Queer Activists

by Erica Cardwell
April 27, 2015 at 3:26pm
Amid national discussions of police brutality and systemic racism, Black women have been the loudest and most consistent voices demanding change. Read more »

All Hail the Queen?: What Do Our Perceptions of Beyoncé's Feminism Say about us?

an illustration of a Black woman with long, flowing, blonde hair
by Tamara Winfrey Harris
Summer 2013 • Micro/Macro
The policing of feminist cred is the real moral contradiction. Read more »

In a Bizarre 1976 Comic Book, Spider-Man Fought the Villain of Misleading Sex Education

by Sarah Mirk
April 23, 2014 at 3:52pm
Last week, I came across a very strange comic book: in 1976, Planned Parenthood teamed up with Marvel to publish a one-off comic in which... Read more »