Weekly Feminist Reader

On names and gender connotation.
Biologist James Watson retires in the wake of his racist remarks.
Jenna Bush understands a few things her father doesn’t.
Supporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s non-violent struggle
Massachusetts expands buffer zones around women’s health clinics.
Vietnam’s “Paris Hilton moment.”
Because no woman would ever need to know how to fix her own plumbing or install virus-scanning software on her computer.
Female lawmakers in Illinois start a listening tour, asking women about their concerns.
Queen Latifah: “Beauty is not just a white girl.”
The CIA’s glass ceiling.
An international court rules that it’s a human right to be protected from domestic violence.
The Kansas Supreme Court halts the proceedings against Dr. Tiller.
Wisconsin courts consider whether transgender inmates have a right to continue taking hormones while in state custody.
On masculinity and public displays of male dominance.
…and how rape is a “crisis of manliness.”
Justice Ginsburg on how criminalizing abortion only serves to punish poor women.
“I’m exhausted from constantly trying to explain why this conversation, one that involves playing a guessing game based on incredibly sexist and archaic gender norms, in order to figure out which men are gay in one’s group of friends, office environment, or even a set of total strangers, is kinda wrong.”
Married… without children.

The toxic reality of cosmetics.

Boys don’t cry, apparently.
The media always seem to remember that October is breast cancer awareness month, and forget that it’s also domestic violence awareness month.
Syracuse, NY approves same-sex partner benefits for school district employees.
I talked to Katha Pollitt about her new book.