Culture

“What Doesn’t Kill You” Tells the Gut-Churning Truth about Chronic Illness

Crohn’s disease is unpredictable, cruel, and gross. There’s no way around that. Read more »

In “We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire,” Women’s History is Lifesaving

The novel is a meditation on the power of uncovering past heroines. Read more »

Twisted Trauma: “Malcolm & Marie” Evaluates the Young, Female Muse

Marie is a muse without divine favor: She must know invisibility so that he might know its opposite. Read more »

Under the Red Light: Privacy Concerns Abound with the Silhouette Challenge

Though the challenge was meant to be empowering, it quickly backfired. Read more »

What the T.I. and Tiny Abuse Allegations Reveal about Hip Hop and Power

We don’t live in a society where the abused get justice. Read more »

Meet Fantastic Frankey, the YouTuber Changing Nerdom from Inside Out

That’s what the Fanboy Fighter moniker is: fighting men who are protecting the genre. Read more »

In It Not to Win It: Indie Game Designers Queer Time, Space, and Play

Queering virtual worlds goes beyond including LGBTQ characters or storylines. Read more »

No, Shitty Men Have Not Been Purged From Media

Every woman, nonbinary person, or person of color who is driven from journalism because of the shitty men in charge leaves us poorer as a culture. Read more »

Very Online: Can Claudia Conway’s Platform Save Her?

“My mom deserves to go to jail—that’s unreal.” Read more »

Slippery Soft: The Rise of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy

Manic Pixie Dream Boyism resists the clean-cut mold of macho masculinity. Read more »

Pages

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 »

Mad Science: Deconstructing Bunk Reporting in 5 Easy Steps

British scientists have uncovered the truth behind one of modern culture's greatest mysteries: why little girls play with pink toys. Is it...

Read more »

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

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 »

Ms. Opinionated: I'm a Man. How Can I Help the Feminist Movement?

Welcome to Ms. Opinionated, our weekly advice column dealing with questions of life, love, feminism, and pop culture. This week, a reader... Read more »