Culture

photo-illustration of Sherman Alexie holding a #MeToo placard

Where There's Smoke: Sherman Alexie and the Toll of Literary Tokenism

by Amanda Gokee
September 8, 2021 at 1:43pm
Alexie was the singular voice of Native American literature. Maybe he shouldn’t have been. Read more »
Steve Zahn as Mark, a distraught white man sitting at the bar beside iMurray Bartlett as Armond, a white man wearing a colorful shirt, in The White Lotus

“The White Lotus” Shines Its Tiki Torch on Settler Colonialism

by Dejan Jotanovic
September 2, 2021 at 9:00am
The White Lotus looks to critique masculinity and its many toxicities. Read more »
A photograph of a Black woman sitting outside engrossed in a book, with greenery out of focus in the background.

BitchReads: 11 Books Feminists Should Read in September

by Evette Dionne
September 1, 2021 at 12:03pm
Greet fall with these upcoming titles. Read more »
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Anthony, a dark-skinned, tall Black man, who is wearing a paint-splattered jean jacket in Candyman

Summoning Yourself: The Role of Conjure in “Candyman”

by Lea Anderson
September 1, 2021 at 9:00am
Sometimes desire is layered with disbelief, but the summoner gets what they asked for regardless. Read more »
Lorde, a thin, white woman is shown from below in a yellow body suit on the cover of Solar Power

Sun Worshiper: Lorde Doesn’t Want to be a Messiah—or Does She?

by Torrey Crim
August 31, 2021 at 11:27am
She doesn’t want to be a messiah; she wants to be a devotee. Read more »
a collage of two book covers: How We Fall Apart, a photo of an Asian teenage girl with black hair split up into various pieces and A Lesson in Vengeance, a black book cover with an illustration of purple flowers and cobwebs

Academia Is Even Darker than We Thought

by Alaina Leary
August 31, 2021 at 11:24am
Katie Zhao and Victoria Lee are shaping the canon of dark academia. Read more »
A colorful illustration of Pip Millett, Lion Babe, Billie Eilish, Torres, and Tinashe

5 Feminist Albums That Got Us Through August

by DeAsia Paige
August 31, 2021 at 10:38am
As summer winds down, new releases from artists such as Cleo Sol, Billie Eilish, and Tinashe will hit the spot. Read more »
Made in China, a yellow book cover that features a photo of rusty scissors, is cropped against a photo of Anna Qu, a thin, Chinese woman with a black bob

Loose Threads: Anna Qu Wants Us to Know the Truth About Garment Factories

by Hannah Bae
August 26, 2021 at 1:20pm
Anna Qu relied on her powers of observation to survive a punishing home environment. Read more »
a picture of a cell phone with OnlyFans pulled up surrounded by icy blue bear traps

Sex Workers Deserve Better than OnlyFans

by Kitty Stryker
August 26, 2021 at 1:18pm
Why would OnlyFans bite the hand that feeds it? Read more »
Kerri Strug, a white female gymnast with short light brown hair, and Simone Biles, a Black female gymnast with black hair pulled off her face.

Twists and Turns: Simone Biles, Kerri Strug, and the Trouble with “Taking One for the Team”

by Lorelei Ignas
August 26, 2021 at 1:17pm
She showed the world she was more than a mule for Olympic medals. Read more »

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Best of Bitch

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

by Sarah Mirk
April 23, 2014 at 3:52pm
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 »

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

by Zetta Elliott
December 17, 2013 at 3:19pm
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 »

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 »

The Dramatic History of American Sex-Ed Films

by Sarah Mirk
June 17, 2014 at 10:29am
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 »