Weekly Feminist Reader

http://youtu.be/YFcpvU54D2U

Anna Holmes on Girls, Sheila Heti’s new book How Should a Person Be? and the profundity–and sometimes ugliness–of female friendships.

The Guardian profiles four widowed Syrian women who’ve fled into Jordan.

Feel like your BBQ-ing skills were lacking this July 4th? You must not have read this sexist grilling guide presented by “The Other White Meat” campaign.

Jessica Francis Kane interviews her mother about her time as a Playboy secretary in 1960s New York City.

Women athletes in Saudi Arabia are afraid that the government will respond to the international pressure to send women to the Olympics by cracking down on female sports in the country.

“May we all be so lucky as to rebuff our contemporary expectations of how a relationship is supposed to work.”

So many grumpy white dudes on TV this summer.

The National Right To Life Committee’s media guidebook includes such gems as: “It is always easy to smile when you are mentioning saving babies’ lives or helping their moms! Frown when you mention the abortionists!”

Frank Ocean’s mom responds to her son’s beautiful coming out post: “My son is the most incredible human I know.”

The harassment campaign against Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist video blogger who angered misogynist video gamers by daring to start a Kickstarter campaign, continues with an online game that allows players to beat her up.

Rachel Maddow talks to the abortion clinic owner who is giving anti-choicers a taste of their own medicine.

Michele Goldberg and Jennifer Block go back and forth on the safety of home births.

North Carolina lawmakers are trying to defund Planned Parenthood again, even the courts stopped them the first time around.

We tend to recognize sexual objectification when we see it, but here’s the Sex Object Test (SOT) to help out.

The number of homeless students in the US during the 2010-2011 school year: 1,000,000+

A dozen male Air Force instructors are under investigation for sexual assault or misconduct against more than 30 female recruits.

Katherine Losse recalls her time as one of the few women working at Facebook in its early days.

What have you been reading/writing/watching/learning this week?