Culture

Douchebag Decree: The out-of-bounds coverage of Ines Sainz

You know what time it is, right? It’s time to have a decree for the douchebags. As you might have heard, Mexican sports reporter Ines Sainz was harassed with cat-calls and “suggestive comments” this past week... Read more »

Push(back) at the Intersections: It's Sexytime, So Let's Get It On

There’s an patronising narrative that happens with a lot of disabled characters. They don’t act out of free will, but because they are disabled. They aren’t allowed independence, because they are disabled and clearly incapable of acting on their own. Other characters do things ‘... Read more »

B-Sides: MFNW wrap-up

To wrap-up our coverage of this year's Musicfest Northwest queer and female musicians, we just wanted to share a final wrap-up of some of the live shows we saw, from little kid audiences to confetti-throwing back-up dancers, starting with Seattle rappers THEEsatisfaction... Read more »

Size Matters: Celebrity Schadenfreude

Celebrities who have the “misfortune” of gaining a few pounds usually find pictures of themselves looking “fat” on the cover of a tabloid rag at some point. Americans, at least, seem to derive pleasure from this, as if gaining weight is some kind of comeuppance for celebrities, knocking them off... Read more »

Push(back) at the Intersections: Centering Concerns

This domination of narratives with one narrative, one story, one set of concerns, is an incredibly destructive dynamic in feminism. And it plays out in discussions about pop culture in a major way. When people in nondominant groups challenge much-beloved popular culture, they encounter a lot of... Read more »

Tube Tied: "The Bridge of You and Me Ain't Never Gonna Happen": Against True Blood

I... don't really understand the fuss about True Blood. I understand that the show employs very attractive people, and that those people have very attractive sex quite often. I also understand that it involves stories about vampires and werewolves, which increasingly seems to be the only growth... Read more »

Racy Thoughts: Little Boxes, Little Boxes

Anyone who caught last week's episode of Jersey Shore likely noticed a rather interesting conversation between Jenni "JWoww" Farley and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi on the topic of race. At one point in the show, the two women discuss the possibility of going to a nude beach, then move on to the topic... Read more »

Adventures in Feministory: Elizabeth Bishop

Sylvia Plath is the most famous woman poet of the 1950s. She's probably one of the most famous poets of the 20th century. And she was a pretty good poet. Her work is honest, heartwrenching, and chock-full of angst and guilt and daddy issues. But she's also famous for her bummer life story (... Read more »

Push(back) at the Intersections: Lady Gaga and Feminism

It’s impossible to escape the appropriative aspects of the Gaga persona, though. The feminist aspects of her work are deeply tangled with the anti-feminist parts. We probably... Read more »

MFNW: Y La Bamba, for Portland's Lonely Hearts

Did you Bounce a little too hard yesterday? Need a comedown for day two of your MFNW marathon... Read more »

Pages

Dear Bear: My Partner Makes No Money. Is That a Problem?

Our advice columnist offers a lesson in anticapitalist self-care. Read more »

Will Filming the Police Keep Us Safe?

There’s a cultural idea that having someone looking over our shoulder makes us behave better. From fake security cameras to Elf... Read more »

She-Hulk, Attorney at Law: She's Mean, She's Green, and She Believes in Due Process

Avenger. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Member of the Fantastic Four. 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 »