2011 September Archive

A character on Grey’s Anatomy had an abortion

*spoiler alert*

As a long-time advocate for showing abortion on television and a devoted Grey’s Anatomy fan (seriously, I even stuck with it through the ill-advised supernatural turn), I was thrilled about what happened on last week’s season premiere. It was one of those rare television events: a character actually got an abortion.

She didn’t just consider it. She didn’t have a miscarriage at the last minute. She didn’t talk about it in hushed euphemisms. She said the word. Other people said it. She didn’t even do it off-screen. They showed her in the stirrups and the doctor even talked about numbing her cervix. And although all that happens every day to real women across the country, it has hardly ever ...

*spoiler alert*

By Samhita • 12 years ago

Do women still worry about their “number?”

What seems like a title for a romantic comedy where women are asked for their phone numbers (an equally annoying number ask, at least when unwanted), “What’s Your Number?” is based on a different premise–how many people you have slept with in your now 30-something unmarried state and if that number is going to impact your future relationship prospects.

Out next week, “What’s Your Number?” has all the makings of another rom com that repeats the tired clichés about women and sexuality that haunt us in the mainstream media.

A description of the movie via Yahoo,

“Ally Darling embarks on a quest to find the best “ex” of her life, by any means necessary, when she reads a magazine article warning that ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

More than 40,000 women fill the stands at a women-only Turkish soccer match.

Some more on the murder of Troy Davis.

6 Obnoxious Assumptions Hollywood Makes About Women

A profile of “Mother Robin,” a midwife who runs free birth clinics serving poor women in Indonesia.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Julian Assange both continue to claim the rapes they’re accused of were consensual. But while Assange allows that he “may be a chauvinist pig,” DSK insists: “I respect women.”

In just days, online gamers cracked a puzzle in AIDS research that has stumped scientists for years.

“What did I opt for—my dignity or decent coverage?” On getting health insurance while fat.

10 historic female scientists you ...

More than 40,000 women fill the stands at a women-only Turkish soccer match.

Some more on the murder of Troy Davis.

6 Obnoxious Assumptions Hollywood Makes About Women

A profile of “Mother Robin,” a ...

By Anna • 12 years ago

The Feministing Five: Hope Lehman

I met Hope during our time together in a program called Public Allies, the only social justice-specific AmeriCorps program. It’s clear to anyone that meets Hope that she has a special drive and passion for the work she does. I always joke with her that she reminds me of the Blue Scholars’ song, “No Rest for the Weary.” She’s an artist in every aspect of the word–she paints, draws, does theatre and dances to name a few of her talents. More importantly, however, she makes sure to bring all these sides of her to the youth work she does.

Currently a second year Public Ally and placed at BUILD in East Oakland, Hope works with ...

I met Hope during our time together in a program called Public Allies, the only social justice-specific AmeriCorps program. It’s clear to anyone that meets Hope that she has a special drive and ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

What We Missed

Anna Holmes on why there is a crisis for girls in science.

Feeling inspired by the murder of Troy Davis to work against the death penalty? Sign this petition to abolish capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Also, if you want to support organizing in the South, consider donating to Project South. We need major interventions to stop the school to prison pipeline for people of color, and we need major organizing to do it.

Melissa Harris-Perry on why white liberals are abandoning Obama.

Monica Potts at The American Prospect asks: How can a woman be an avatar for an evangelical movement that argues that women must obey men?

Melissa Gira Grant questions the rhetoric of the ...

Anna Holmes on why there is a crisis for girls in science.

Feeling inspired by the murder of Troy Davis to work against the death penalty? Sign this petition to abolish capital punishment in Pennsylvania. ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

The new fall TV season is dominated by women

Studio 360 has a new article about gender in the fall TV lineup and it’s good news for women actors:

The new fall TV season is upon us and there’s a not so subtle subtext: women rule.

The primetime lineup is dominated by new half-hour comedies featuring women in the lead roles, including HBO’s much anticipated Girls and network sitcoms New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel (FOX), Two Broke Girls (CBS) and Whitney (NBC).

Of course, women in leading roles doesn’t mean the shows themselves don’t still play off the same sexist stereotypes we’ve come to know and hate. As an added bonus (not), all the leading ladies are also white, skinny and able-bodied.

The “romantic vulnerability” that ...

Studio 360 has a new article about gender in the fall TV lineup and it’s good news for women actors:

The new fall TV season is upon us and there’s a not so subtle subtext: women rule.

The ...

By Miriam • 12 years ago

Guest Post: Latest GOP debate features flip flops and falsities

By Silpa Kovvali

So, before I get started, I think it’s important to preface my debate analysis by saying it sucks. Shouting “BEHOLD, RIDICULOUS PEOPLE SAYING RIDICULOUS THINGS” makes me feel superior and all, but it doesn’t offer a challenge or the chance to change my mind or mature. And I’m not the only American of voting age. 225 million lost opportunities are just some of the many reasons why last night was bad for our country.

These candidates have legitimate differences of opinion, and that some of them have beliefs other reasonably-minded people hold. I would have enjoyed watching a Republican Primary debate that addressed these differences in a well-informed, rigorous, non-personal fashion. I would have enjoyed hashing out those viewpoints ...

By Silpa Kovvali

By Miriam • 12 years ago

Quick Hit: Activism and the Academy happening today

There is a great conference that we’re a media partner for happening today at Barnard College, Activism and the Academy: Celebrating 40 Years of Feminist Scholarship and Action.

Our gal Courtney is speaking on a panel, and will likely be tweeting from the event (@courtwrites), but you can also follow along the hashtag #bcrw40 if you aren’t able to attend the event.

It’s an incredible line-up of discussions about activism in the academy, so tune in!

There is a great conference that we’re a media partner for happening today at Barnard College, Activism and the Academy: Celebrating 40 Years of Feminist Scholarship and Action.

Our gal Courtney is speaking on a panel, and ...