Culture

Isn't He Lovely: Male Nudity, the Final Frontier

The first time I really paused to consider the naked male body happened circa age 9 while watching Blossom on the floor of my parents’ bedroom, where I ironically snuck in all of my parent-disapproved TV programming. I can’t remember... Read more »

The H-Word: Nafissatou Diallo

Sex (work) sells, but at whose expense? Read more »

Douchebag Decree: Dr. Pepper, Doucheologist and Men-Only Drink Specialist

Oh “light” beverages. When will you stop freaking out and shoving your unnecessarily constructed masculinity in our faces? The latest in this long line of I’m-so-manly-it’s-sexist diet drinks (predecessors include... Read more »

The H-Word: Paper Crane: Antonia Crane Writes About Recession Sex Workers

“It all started with Stephen Elliot. I read his book My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up while in grad school and I started following him. I discovered the Rumpus and submitted an essay. I got rejected... Read more »

Isn't He Lovely: The Ad That Turned Men Into Sex Objects

Advertisers have long used handsome men to hawk their wares. In the 20th century, marketers who realized that women did a majority of the household shopping created dashing spokesmen, such as the Arrow Shirt Man, to appeal more to the... Read more »

Preacher's Daughter: A Word About Slutwalk, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Who Gets to Reclaim Racist Words and Traditions

Full disclosure: I have had misgivings about Slutwalk from day one. “Slut” has never been a term used against me. Though the idea of reclaiming the word seems to resonate with many young, white heterosexual women, it is not clear to me that it’s something that can unify all women. It... Read more »

The H-Word: "I'm a Whore"

“I’m a whore, a proud whore. What does this word mean? A whore is a prostitute, sex worker, hustler, degenerate, scum in a female body. I call myself a whore revolutionary. I consider myself a survivor.” Read more »

Celebrate Columbus Day: Call Out Native Appropriation

Well, today’s Columbus Day, a time when we feel weird about getting a day off work because Columbus and the genocide that followed his “discovering” of... Read more »

Isn't He Lovely: The Myth of the Superior Penis

As feminists, I think it’s easy to forget that for all of the misrepresentations and misinformation delivered to us about what vulvas and vaginas “should” look like and how they “should” respond to sexual contact, equally tall tales about penile look and length abound. Read more »

On Our Radar

Another week, another round of excellent reading. A must-read at Crunk Feminist Collective about ongoing racism within feminism (spurred by That Sign at NYC... Read more »

Pages

No Disrespect: Black Women and the Burden of Respectability

Hollywood still filters (and distorts) the lives and histories of minorities through the eyes of the majority. Read more »

One-Sentence Reviews of the Lesbian Netflix Canon

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 »

The Feminist Power of Female Ghosts

The female ghost is an enduringly fascinating figure. Read more »

Black Girls Hunger for Heroes, Too: A Black Feminist Conversation on Fantasy Fiction for Teens

What happens when two great black women fiction writers get together to talk about race in young adult literature? That's exactly what happens... Read more »