2012 June Archive | Feministing

Anne-Marie Slaughter websplosion: Response roundup on “Having It All” (and tweet chat!)

We can guess that all of you have read this. You can probably guess that all of us here at Feministing have a ton to say about the piece. This is why we’ll be weighing into Women’s Media Center #sheparty Tweet chat today at 3pm ET on the article and subsequent poopstorm that’s come out of it. So check it (and us!) out! In the meantime, we thought we’d give a roundup of some interesting responses we’ve seen on the piece.

We can guess that all of you have read this. You can probably guess that all of us here at Feministing have a ton to say about the piece. This is why we’ll be weighing ...

By Lori Adelman • 11 years ago

The Wednesday Weigh-In: Male birth control edition

It’s no secret that dudes love to talk about hormonal birth control. But until now, their more direct involvement, namely, being able to take it themselves to effectively prevent against unwanted pregnancy, has been somewhat limited, as there are no options for male hormonal birth control out there just yet.

Well to all my sistas tired of being the only ones to shoulder the burden of taking hormonal birth control, Christmas may have come early this year. The LA Times is reporting that a method of birth control targeted for men is showing some strong potential:

“A birth control gel for men sharply lowered sperm counts with few side effects, researchers reported Tuesday. The gel, containing ...

By Vanessa • 11 years ago

80% of 10-year-old girls in the U.S. say they’ve been on a diet

Tell me there’s not something seriously fucking wrong with this fact.

This is just one of many that have compelled Miss Representation, SPARK, Endangered Bodies and other organizations to host a 3-day long challenge to encourage the public to push women’s and girl’s magazines to take accountability for their direct impact on the epidemic of shame, self-loathing and starvation among young women in the U.S. And things aren’t getting better.

Their ask? A pledge by these magazines to use at least one unphotoshopped image in each of their issues. This is a larger follow-up campaign to 14-year-old Julia Bluhm’s quest you may have heard about, where she asked for this very thing of Seventeen magazine; while she ...

Tell me there’s not something seriously fucking wrong with this fact.

This is just one of many that have compelled Miss Representation, SPARK, Endangered Bodies and other organizations to host a 3-day long challenge ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron, 1941-2012

Essayist and filmmaker Nora Ephron has died.

Nora Ephron was a giant. Ephron wrote the screenplay for “Silkwood”, best known as the writer of the seminal romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally” and wrote and directed the wildly successful (and still one of my favorites) “You’ve Got Mail”. If you haven’t seen “Silkwood”, please seek to remedy that fact immediately.

But I leave you with Ephron’s commencement address to the Wellesley Class of 1996:

Don’t let the number of women in the work force trick you — there are still lots of magazines devoted almost exclusively to making perfect casseroles and turning various things into tents.

Don’t underestimate how much antagonism there is toward women and how many people wish we ...

Essayist and filmmaker Nora Ephron has died.

Nora Ephron was a giant. Ephron wrote the screenplay for “Silkwood”, best known as the writer of the seminal romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally” and wrote and directed ...

By Samhita • 11 years ago

What we missed

Rachel Sklar on the women that were missed in the Daily Beast’s list of Digital Influence.

The people of Arizona will not be complying with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling.

After pride–a reflection on how queer is a class issue–Laura Flanders asks where should the GLBTQ movement go next?

n+1 on Republicans being BIG BABIES.

If Presidents are supposed to be like our boyfriend, Mitt Romney would make a terrible one

Mitt Romney has joined the race for our affections, but he’s struggling to close the deal. His responses to major political issues are vague at best and his lack of commitment is apparent in his inability to take any firm positions. No one wants to date Mitt Romney.

I hate to say it but Romney’s painful evasiveness on specifics reminds me of my problematic relationships in the past. You ask him straight up when he walks in after being out all night, “Where have you been?” And Romney would say, “I’ll get back to you on that,” like his campaign responded to direct questions about where the candidate stood on the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Would a President Romney ...

By Samhita • 11 years ago

Five ways the myth of the “model minority” hurts all of us

Last week the Pew Center released a report that confirmed preconceived notions about Asian Americans (all of us!)–and found that as an immigrant group we earn more money, we get more education and we take marriage more seriously. You can’t argue with concrete evidence if you haven’t done your own research (what–you don’t like a sample size of Samhita?) but you can critique the framing and the methodology.

From a cultural standpoint, they are missing a lot of little nuances that make up the “Asian” experience in the US. It’s not actually the peachy, pull yourself by your boot straps, American dream story that Republicans like to jack off to. Our lives are diverse, complex and we didn’t all graduate with ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

‘Brave’ has a gender problem

*If you haven’t yet seen Brave and want to avoid any spoilers at all, avoid this post. If you don’t mind minor spoilers for plot points (but not outcome) continue reading*

I avoided any reviews or spoilers before seeing the new Pixar movie Brave yesterday. I wanted to go into the movie about a young heroine archer Merida unbiased by group think.

While I enjoyed the film, I was underwhelmed. Perhaps, I was in need of a plot, centered around this medieval Scottish princess with firey red curls, that packed more of an emotional punch. After I got home I went to read my favorite culture blogger Alyssa Rosenberg over at ThinkProgress who highlighted one of the more problematic themes in ...

*If you haven’t yet seen Brave and want to avoid any spoilers at all, avoid this post. If you don’t mind minor spoilers for plot points (but not outcome) continue reading*

I avoided any reviews or spoilers before ...