Culture

No Kidding: How We Talk About Choice and Intentionally Small Families

As someone who writes about choosing to not have children, what I seek are equitable conversations about honoring and giving space to all sorts of reproductive options—in a way, I suppose I want "choice feminism" to extend to us all. In the end, I simply want Bill McKibben's... Read more »

Grand Rounds: Dissecting Grey's Anatomy: Golden Hour

This week on Grey’s Anatomy, high drama in the ER, and a reminder that lives can change in an hour. Lots to chew on this week as our characters continue vying for the role of Chief Resident and fracture lines appear in some of their relationships. Who is going to become chief... Read more »

Douchebag Decree: geoGirl's Anti-Aging Makeup for Preteens

Have your preteen's looks suffered with age? GeoGirl can erase her wrinkles in time for that last year of... Read more »

No Kidding: Dozens of Children (and Counting)

Reality TV tends to focus on and highlight extreme behaviors and choices—sometimes with the intention of normalizing them. For me, nothing has been such an obvious statement about our culture's obsession with parenting and procreation as the "we have a million kids" shows that have sprung up over... Read more »

Race Card: Xenophobia and Racism Surface in Reaction to Reporter Lara Logan

Now that word's spread about the assault she endured, Logan is being re-victimized by those who say that an attractive white woman with blonde hair should've known better than to make her way through a mob of brown, Muslim men. Why didn't Logan realize that all Arab men are misogynistic beasts who... Read more »

Birth of the Uncool: In Defense of the Tori Amos Fan

This article appears in our Spring 2011 issue, Primal. Subscribe today! Tori Amos is not cool. Even now, as we find ourselves in the midst of ’90s alt-nostalgia—Pavement has reunited, Weezer is putting on a tour devoted entirely to its first two albums, the cool kids are all going to... Read more »

It’s Hard Out Here For a Pop: Blogging Offers a Way for Dads to Get Branded, but Can They Get Respect?

This article appears in our Spring 2011 issue, Primal. Subscribe today! With all the pixels expended on the annual female-blogging extravaganza known as BlogHer, you might be forgiven for having overlooked the very first Modern Media Man Summit, a heavily sponsored and branded affair held this... Read more »

Pink Slip: Breaking down the princess castle with “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” author Peggy Orenstein

Throughout her career, Orenstein has observed at close range how the media and popular culture have colluded to serve up distorted visions of womanhood to girls. Read more »

Race Card: Why it Matters that a Black Woman Exposed Chris Lee

If you're a married congressman, it's probably not a good idea to send shirtless photos of yourself to women you encounter on Craigslist. New York Congressman Christopher Lee found that out the hard way after a woman he'd exchanged flirtatious emails with—including the shirtless one—outed him on... Read more »

No Kidding: I Didn't Know You Didn't Know I'm Not Pregnant

On Saturday night, my partner and I were walking out of a local grocer when he decided to buy one of the newspapers being sold by the homeless couple on the corner. I was holding our grocery bag as Andreas paid for the paper, and as the woman... Read more »

Pages

Eat, Pray, Spend: Priv-Lit and the New, Enlightened American Dream

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 »

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

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 »

The Dramatic History of American Sex-Ed Films

In 1948, in a seventh grade classroom in Eugene, Oregon, a teacher dimmed the lights and flipped on 16mm projector. A film called Human... Read more »

What I Learned About Gender and Power from Sailor Moon

My life began in 1995 — the year I turned eight and became a divorced kid.    Read more »