On Our Radar: Feminist News Roundup

Here’s what we’re reading today: 

• The Justice Department is taking a major step: launching a federal civil rights investigation into police conduct in Ferguson. [New York Times] 

• Social scientists at USC are attempting to study Black Twitter. Is this such a good idea? [io9]

• Here’s an interesting article about the character assassination of Courtney Love. [Daily Dot] 

• Janet Mock wrote a great, short essay about how pop culture—specifically the influence of both bell hooks and Beyonce—have helped her come around to the idea of identifying as a feminist. [Janet Mock] 

• Mount Holyoke is a women’s college. But “concepts of what it means to be a woman are not static,” says the college in a new policy spelling out how they welcome transgender students. [Mount Holyoke] 

• Meanwhile, students and alums of Bryn Mawr College are petitioning their school to explicity welcome transgender women, too. [Change.org] 

• A student at Columbia University is making a statement by vowing to physically carry her mattress around school until the person who raped her is expelled or leaves campus. [Huffington Post]  

• Elissa Washuta writes about violence against indigenous women is built into movie narratives as just another part of swashbuckling romance. [Racialicious] 

What did I miss? Add what you’re reading to the comments.