Twenty years of feminist response to pop culture? We can’t quite believe it either. For this special anniversary issue, we asked the authors of 17 of our favorite articles, essays, and interviews to revisit their work and offer a sense of how things have changed—and how they haven’t. We also invited four different writers to consider how key spheres of feminist evolution—history, culture, identity, and community—continue to impact the project of media creation and criticism. It’s a snapshot of where we are now, and where we’re going next.
HISTORY
Intro by Heather Seggel, art by Eleni Kalorkoti
Female Bonding: The Strange History of Wonder Woman | K. L. Pereira
Never Said Nothing: A Brief History of “Cunt” in Pop Music | Lindsay Zoladz
It’s Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women | Tina Vasquez
The Dramatic History of American Sex-Ed Films | Sarah Mirk
CULTURE
Intro by Cassandra Leveille, art by Daniel Fishel
The Ambition Condition: Women, Writing, and the Problem of Success | Anna Clark
Of Woman Borg: Bionic Betties, Radical Robots, and the Evolution of the Artificial Woman | Tammy Oler
Ain’t I a Mommy?: Bookstores Brim with Motherhood Memoirs. Why Are so Few of Them Penned by Women of Color? | Deesha Philyaw
Turning the Tables: The Hip Hop Wars Author Tricia Rose Discusses Corporate Music, Hypermasculinity, and Scratching out Misogyny | Latoya Peterson
It’s Jane’s House—We Just Live in It: Brontë, Feminism, and the Gothic Tradition | Sarah Seltzer
IDENTITY
Intro by Julia Serano, art by Nicole Miles
Color Commentary: On Its 40th Birthday, Toni Morrison’s “the Bluest Eye” Still Resonates | Courtney Carliss Young
Craving the Other: One Woman’s Beef with Cultural Appropriation and Cuisine | Soleil Ho
No Disrespect: Black Women and the Burden of Respectability | Tamara Winfrey Harris
The Questioning Continuum: Seeking Sexuality as a Lifelong Process | Joshunda Sanders
COMMUNITY
Intro by Veronica I. Arreola, art by Jeannie Phan
House Proud: The Troubling Rise of Stay-At-Home Daughters | Gina McGalliard
Game Changer: Why Gaming Culture Allows Abuse…And How We Can Stop It | Katherine Cross
Life on Mars (Hill): Faith and Feminism in a Fast-Growing Megachurch | Alison Sargent
Mock & Awe: Janet Mock on Writing the Story She’d Been Waiting for Her Whole Life | Tina Vasquez
