gender

Gina Frangello Writes Complex Women. Is That Why She’s “Unlikeable?”

Gina Frangello, a white author with shoulder-length brown hair, sits in a leather-backed black chair and smiles at the camera

by Jennifer Berney

May 6, 2021 at 1:30pm

Gina Frangello is surprised to find herself suddenly being a poster girl for rage.

Blonde woman smiling in front of a Sundance Film Festival backdrop.

A Woman Hasn’t Won a Writing Oscar in 13 Years. That Could Change on Sunday.

by Alexis Schwartz

April 23, 2021 at 9:45am

A female screenwriter hasn’t won an Oscar since George W. Bush was in office. Read more »

Emily Contois, a white woman with brown hair pulled back, smiles slyly outside

“Diners, Dudes, and Diets” Reveals the Absurdity of Gendered Food

by Andréa Becker

April 20, 2021 at 9:00am

By naming and examining dude food, Emily J.H. Contois gives us the language and historical context for an omnipresent phenomenon we’ve all surely noticed. Read more »

The Act of Naming: “Girlhood” Embraces the Monster Within

by Stephanie Buschardt

March 30, 2021 at 9:12am

We’ll still be called sluts, witches, and harpies, so we may as well rise to the occasion. Read more »

An older white woman with blond hair wears a crown and blue dress and stands beside her granddaughter, a brunette who wears sunglasses and headphones and a crown.

Soul Makeover: “The Princess Diaries” Is a Time Capsule of the Girl Power Era

by Neyat Yohannes

March 11, 2021 at 9:00am

The one positive outcome that sometimes arises from the genre is a makeover of the soul. Read more »

Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a white woman with long blond hair who wears a pink dress and smiles.

What, like It’s Hard?: The Enduring Legacy of “Legally Blonde”

by Erin Taylor

March 3, 2021 at 8:44am

Elle is not only harassed, but also has the harassment weaponized against her. Read more »

Britney Spears wears a red dress. Her hair is blond and in a high ponytail.

“Framing Britney Spears” Is a Portrait of a Pop Star on Fire

by Vanessa Willoughby

February 19, 2021 at 1:04pm

Framing Britney Spears is a clear indictment of society’s stigmatization of mental illness. Read more »

screenshot of a video game where two female anime characters are embracing each other about to kiss

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

by Nina St. Pierre

February 2, 2021 at 10:01am

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

Harry Styles, a white boy with a small frame, is covered in tattoos and shirtless. He wears a yellow rain hat and stands on a cliff by a river.

Slippery Soft: The Rise of the Manic Pixie Dream Boy

by Madeleine Pollard

January 28, 2021 at 11:03am

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

Kathryn Newton wearing a red leather jacket, jeans, and red lipstick staring angrily in the middle of a school hallway as other students gawk at her

Switching Fears: “Freaky” Is an Empowering Body-Swap Horror Comedy

by Sezin Koehler

December 23, 2020 at 11:00am

Freaky explores gender and body horror in a captivating (and extremely funny) way. Read more »

Anna and Maya, two teen girls, lay poolside.

In Season 2, “PEN15” Gets Real About Teenage Slut-Shaming

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

September 18, 2020 at 10:19am

While the first season of PEN15 highlights teen girls’ sexuality, the second showcases the ways they’re punished for it. Read more »

Best of Bitch

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

by Andi Zeisler

February 19, 2014 at 2:29pm

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