Weekly Feminist Reader

I’m scheduling this post a day early, as the rain begins in Brooklyn and I obsessively refresh this page, in case by tomorrow morning I’m hunkered down with no electricity–but plenty of chili and wine–thanks to Hurricane Irene.

Image of Hurricane Irene off the east coast of the U.S.

Hurricane Irene approaching the East Coast on Friday. Image credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

WTF. Despite being in the mandatory evacuation area, New York City’s Riker’s Island prison was not evacuated. A plan for evacuating the roughly 12,000 inmates there doesn’t even exist.

Depressing chart of the week: Student loan debt has grown by 511% since 1999.

Clutch puts together a list of 10 black women making moves in the film industry.

A review of the original 1972 edition of The Joy of Sex, which includes such gems as: “Hide-and-seek with the woman’s pubic triangle is one of the oldest human games.”

“The First Lady can double-dutch, can you?” I can! I was really good in middle school.

On the problem of self-objectification within geek culture.

An awful story of a trans woman who was raped by a prison guard and then transferred to a male prison after reporting the assault.

Susan Stewart reviews four recent elegies by woman poets.

Very sad news: Legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt has been diagnosed with early onset dementia.

Hundreds have been arrested at the “Stop the Pipeline” protest outside the White House–which is being called the biggest act of civil disobedience in the history of the climate movement. Join the effort.

Apparently GQ couldn’t think of a single woman to include in its list of the “25 Coolest Athletes of All Time.”

I agree with Pat Robertson that the crack in the Washington Monument is a sign from God. I think it’s a message about our shameful class war against the poor.

Amanda Hess notes that a new study on weight gain after marriage shows one of “the many social perks of marrying as a man.”

The community comes together to protect a 82-year-old woman from eviction in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

Leila Ahmed explains how “the oppression of women in Islam” is used as justification for war and imperialism.

“To love without labor is a beautiful thing.” On women and unrequited love.

What have you been reading/writing this week?

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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