Weekly Feminist Reader

RIP Whitney Houston. She will be missed.

Rick Santorum thinks birth control shouldn’t be covered by insurance at all because it’s so affordable. Georgia Rep. Tom Price goes farther and claims that “not one woman” has ever been denied access to birth control because she could not afford it.

Plan B in a university vending machine? Sounds good to us. Remember how science said it was supposed to be over-the-counter anyway?

Hell yeah Ellen.

Liz Phair on why Lana Del Rey scares rock’s boys club. Flavia has more thoughts.

Egypt’s feminists prepare for a long battle.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Sesame Street? Yes please.

Not one Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. “Recalcitrant Republicans should be made to explain to voters why they refuse to get behind the federal fight against domestic violence and sexual assaults.” Indeed.

Have an idea for an app that could help women ensure that they’re being paid fairly? The Obama administration wants to hear from you!

Sasha Frere-Jones says M.I.A. shouldn’t have apologized for flipping the bird at the Super Bowl. Agreed.

An interview with Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, who has helped organize weekly demonstrations in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for the last year.

What has marriage been “since the beginning of human history?” Fact-check from an anthropologist.

“A woman’s right to choose is under attack as much as it’s ever been, and that’s a terrible and dangerous thing for this country.” That’s the incredible Joss Whedon talking about Buffy’s decision to have an abortion in the latest issue of the comic series of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

What have you been reading/writing/watching/learning 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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