Culture

A Black woman sits on a windowsill in a kitchen wearing sunglasses.

Mind Interrupted: The Horrifying Manipulation of Black Women’s Psyches

October 19, 2020 at 8:37am

The traumatic spectacles of these transformations often reveal so little about the interiority of the fictional Black women who experience them. Read more »

A thin white woman wears an elaborate wedding gown.

BitchWatch: 15 Shows Feminists Should Watch This Fall

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

October 16, 2020 at 10:04am

This list has it all, from scary shows to calming ones. Read more »

A black and white portrait of Nikki Giovanni, a Black woman with short, blond hair, holds her hand up to her chin

BitchReads: 11 Books Feminists Should Read in October

by Evette Dionne

October 16, 2020 at 9:14am

For those updating their fall reading lists, we have books for everyone. Read more »

Billie Eilish, a white young woman, has black-dyed hair and is very pale. She leans out of a trailer and wears an oversized, pastel-colored outfit.

Billie Eilish’s Body Is Not Ours to Claim

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

October 15, 2020 at 2:33pm

“I feel you watching, always. And nothing I do goes unseen.” Read more »

Janelle Monáe plays Veronica, a Black woman with short, black hair, holding a torch in a dark field, in Antebellum

Trauma Loop: “Antebellum” Mishandles Its Message

by Vanessa Willoughby

October 15, 2020 at 9:39am

The film is fixated on racism as an act of overt violence, but racism is so monstrous because it can appear so deceptively normal. Read more »

a Black man with short, black hair, and a blue shirt sits on a concrete bence reading a book

Personal Connection: #OwnVoices, Outing, and the Ongoing Quest for Authenticity

by s.e. smith

October 14, 2020 at 9:00am

Not all authors feel safe, comfortable, or interested in being out to readers about their identities. Read more »

Yola, a dark-skinned Black woman with a short, curly afro, poses against a pale purple and blue background, playing her guitar

Yola Is the Unconventional Queen of Country Soul

by Evette Dionne

October 13, 2020 at 10:30am

Black artists from all around the world are continuing the tradition of upending the expectation that country music is a genre reserved for white artists. Read more »

Two white gay men flirt at what looks like Pride. One has a rainbow arm band.

Denouncing White Supremacy Must Be a Movement, Not a Trend

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

October 9, 2020 at 2:04pm

Reclamation isn’t for everything, and it’s not for everyone. Read more »

Lily Collins as Emily in Emily in Paris. Emily is a white girl with long brown hair. She wears a red beret and looks surprised while sitting at a brunch table outside.

In “Emily in Paris,” Being Thin and White Is a Path to Success

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

October 9, 2020 at 1:01pm

Emily is yet another thin white woman who fails upward. Read more »

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Latinx woman with long, black hair, and wearing glasses, has a gray mask over her face

Go Low: The Time for Civility Is Over

by s.e. smith

October 9, 2020 at 12:41pm

We don’t pay our representatives to be scared, hiding behind the apron strings of civility. Read more »

Best of Bitch

All Hail the Queen?: What Do Our Perceptions of Beyoncé's Feminism Say about us?

an illustration of a Black woman with long, flowing, blonde hair

by Tamara Winfrey Harris

Summer 2013 • Micro/Macro

The policing of feminist cred is the real moral contradiction. Read more »

Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction

a blue and white illustration of a woman in Amish attire standing next to a fan and a chicken

by Audrey deCoursey

Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends

Dubbed “Amish romance novels,” “Amish fiction,” or the more waggish “bonnet rippers,” these novels just one entry point into the varying images of Amish communities in U.S. popular culture. Read more »