Culture

a Black woman with a black afro looks at the camera, covered under a red, orange, and deep purple filter

To Be Young, Messy, and Black: “Luster” Depicts Millennial Black Girl Angst

by Vanessa Willoughby
August 27, 2020 at 10:00am
Edie refuses to practice tokenism to secure financial, personal, creative, and romantic stability. Read more »
Three women wear the same bucket hat.

Very Online: Quarantine Is Changing Influencer Culture. Will It Last?

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 27, 2020 at 9:18am
In quarantine, influencer marketing is being tossed into harsher light. Read more »
an illustration of geometric shapes in different colors that feature various pronouns, including she, they, zir, and hir

Subject to Change: The Pronoun Discourse Has Always Been Versatile

by Trimble
August 26, 2020 at 12:29pm
The singular “they” is an important survival tool for those of us who struggle to fit into the world as it currently is. Read more »
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal play Marianne and Connell, a white couple standing side by side in a bar with their arms wrapped around each other, on Normal People

Horny Cailíní: Irish Girls Get Their Onscreen Sexual Renaissance

by Jess Keefe
August 26, 2020 at 10:00am
The women at the center of these series proudly flaunt their brazen desire. Read more »
a brown-skinned woman wearing a hijab leans over as she reads a book

BitchReads: 15 Books Feminists Should Read in August

by Evette Dionne
August 25, 2020 at 12:00pm
We’re late, we know. Read more »
A mom holds her child, both of their faces obscured. The sky is bright blue behind them.

“Impersonation” Explores a Power Struggle Between Two Feminist Moms

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 25, 2020 at 10:28am
What can a woman and a mother with no money afford to say no to? Read more »
black and white portrait of Iranian author Nazanine Hozar, a shorthaired woman looking at the camera

“Aria” Looks at Revolution through the Eyes of Children

by Hillary Gerber
August 25, 2020 at 9:00am
Children can act as a conduit for the reader who doesn’t understand something political. Read more »
A close-up of a woman in a lace top, her face obscured.

“The Hierarchies” Imagines a World Where Sex Robots Have Human Impulses

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
August 24, 2020 at 10:01am
It’s a shocking and eye-opening debut, one that has me looking at my coffee maker a little differently. Read more »
Stephanie Camba sits in the shadows of a tree in the grass, surrounded by books.

Allowed to Imagine: What We Lose When Migrant Folks Aren’t Able to Create

by Tina Vasquez
August 21, 2020 at 11:28am
There’s a rich and beautiful tapestry of migrant artists, writers, poets, and musicians. Read more »
Seth Rogen plays a millennial man and his relative; the two sit across the table from each other and make eye contact.

“An American Pickle” Finds Humor in Uniquely Jewish Hardship

by Rachel Klein
August 21, 2020 at 11:25am
Seth Rogen embodies both his own Jewish present and a collective and just-out-of-reach Jewish past.  Read more »

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Best of Bitch

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 »

Saying Goodbye to Maria and the End of a Sesame Street Era

by Angely Mercado
August 13, 2015 at 5:52pm
Growing up, Sesame Street's Maria was one of the best Latina role models I had. Read more »

The Forgotten History of the Women Who Shaped Modern Advertising

a white woman smoking a cigarette walks through an office with a box
by Ciara Lavelle
March 21, 2019 at 9:00am
It's easy to dismiss advertising as an anti-feminist industry. Read more »

No Disrespect: Black Women and the Burden of Respectability

an illustration of Black women standing around together in a circle
by Tamara Winfrey-Harris
Summer 2012 • Fame + Fortune
Hollywood still filters (and distorts) the lives and histories of minorities through the eyes of the majority. Read more »