How immigration reform could help improve women’s economic security. VICE ran a fashion spread based on the suicides of female authors. In terrible news, two women sue a Texas jail for running a ” rape camp .” Comedian Patton Oswald changes his position on rape jokes. I’m glad, because he’s too smart not to acknowledge the existence of rape culture. [...]

As Congress debates imposing a 20 week ban on abortion, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) urges banning the procedure at 15 or 16 weeks. Why, you ask? Because, simply put, fetuses like to jerk off . And how could we deny them of that god-given right? Burgess, who was also an OB/GYN said:

“Watch a sonogram of a 15-week [...]

Those of us concerned about the sexual assault epidemic ravaging the military can all the chill out, thanks to some really awesome news: women who join the military are pathological freaks who make up stories about being raped out of spite, for money or for attention. This, at least, is the opinion of esteemed (by fellow homophobic-racist- [...]

GOP Congressman Channels Todd Akin: ‘The Incidence Of Rape Resulting In Pregnancy Are Very Low ’ Female anti-immigrant lawmaker tells men to patronize Danish prostitutes to combat trafficking Cambodian Nike Factory Fires 300 Striking Workers We Are Beatriz: These are our Stories The man imprisoned for killing Kansas late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller will be penalized for trying to intimidate [...]

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been one of the most vocal and valiant critics of the way the military has responded to the epidemic of sexual assault. Gillibrand had put forth a proposal, which had 27 co-sponsors, including 4 Republicans, to remove sexual assault cases from the chain of command and place them in hands of an [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnwmr-qiKc4 Great news! The Obama administration announced late Monday that it would dropping its effort to limit sales of Plan B to girls and women 15 and over. This means girls of any age will be able to buy the pill, which can prevent pregnancy up to 72 hours after unprotected sex, over the counter without [...]

As an actor, Martha Plimpton has conquered the stage, screen and television. The Emmy Award-winning thespian, has been in over 30 films including, of course, The Goonies, Running on Empty, Pecker, Parenthood (“electric ear cleaner ,” anyone?) and I Shot Andy Warhol . As an outspoken activist, Plimpton is taking on misogyny and the attack on our reproductive rights, [...]

Rehtaeh Parsons was a 17-year-old Canadian high student who hanged herself in April. Rehtaeh started having suicidal thoughts when she was 15 after she was raped by four boys who photographed the violation and sent it around to their friends and classmates. As if that weren’t bad enough, for the next 17 months, Rehtaeh’s classmates shunned, tormented and [...]

How Raising The Minimum Wage Would Help Close The Gender Wage Gap Jada Pinkett Smith defends Beyoncé’s Chime for Change concert costume House Republicans Booed As They Vote To Deport DREAMers Texas Says It’s OK to Shoot an Escort If She Won’t Have Sex With You You’ll Never Believe What Our Nation’s Highest Ranking Leaders Said About Porn Slut-shaming Kate Winslet [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dhe_j3EZgwE#! What do 222 million women in developing nations around the world have in common? They all want access to modern contraceptive. In a new video and infographic, Population Action International explains that if the U.S. contributed a mere .03% of its federal budget towards international family planning, they could provide the 222 million women– more [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVGzYYDs64 I wrote about Beatriz, who has been denied a life-saving abortion. You can contribute to her extremely important cause here. Above is a video in which Beatriz pleads for an abortion. Another example of why prostitution should be legal: woman charged with prostitution after calling police to complain of treatment by her pimp. Is Dartmouth cracking down on [...]

Beyonce, Madonna, Gloria Steinem, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Florence + the Machine and Jennifer Lopez are headlining a London concert that will raise money for projects helping girls and women on Saturday, June 2nd in London. The show, “Sound of Change Live,” will be broadcast live from Twickenham sports stadium to 150 countries, and on primetime TV in [...]

Update: you can donate to Beatriz’s cause and help her pay her legal and medical fees here. In terrible news, the Supreme Court of El Salvador denied a 22-year old woman the abortion that could save her life on Wednesday.  “Beatriz,” the pseudonym for the 26-week pregnant woman, is 22 years-old, and has lupus and kidney problems that doctors [...]

As was noted in yesterday’s Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet, Women, Action, and the Media (WAM!) launched a great social media initiative on Tuesday, taking on gender-based hate on Facebook. Specifically, WAM and other great organizations are ” calling on Facebook users to contact advertisers whose ads on Facebook appear next to content that targets women for violence, to ask [...]

On May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider in Wichita, Kansas was at church, serving as an usher during the Sunday morning service. Anti-choice zealot Scott Roeder shot Tiller through the eye and killed him. Roeder, who publicly confessed to the crime, was convicted of murder. Now Roeder is accused of threatening Julie Burkhart, executive director of the non-profit [...]

Last week, a top general in the U.S. Air Force chocked up the military’s sexual assault epidemic to a “hook up” mentality. This week, Hong Kong’s security minister attributed rape to alcohol, saying that women should avoid drinking too much if they don’t want to get raped. It’s really touching to see how a culture of rape apology can transcend [...]

If you watch TV, read the news, or follow politics, you’ve seen or read or heard Katrina vanden Heuvel, a true icon for the progressive movement and media. Vanden Heuvel is the editor and publisher of The Nation , the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, founded in 1865.  Vanden Heuvel’s blog “Editor’s Cut,” appears [...]

 In Egypt, Some Women Fight Sexual Harassment With Karate Chops 17 Black Women Bloggers To Know in 2013 North Carolina May Force Teens To Get Notarized Parental Consent Before Getting STD Tests Delaware Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage Rachel Maddow school Politifact on LGBT marriage laws and Martina Navratilova Study: women undervalue themselves when working with men New Canadian fashion magazine Dare celebrates plus-size women NRA courts [...]

In an interesting speech, Pope Francis urged 800 nuns representing  international women’s congregations  to be mothers and not spinsters.

1 : a woman whose occupation is to spin

2: a: archaic: an unmarried woman of gentle family b: an unmarried woman and especially one past the common age for marrying

3 : a woman who seems unlikely to [...]

First, the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention unit was arrested for sexual assault. Then the Pentagon released a report showing that sexual assault had jumped from 19,000 cases in 2010 to 26,000 in 2012. Now, we have the Air Force’s top commander, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, saying that sexual assault happens all the time outside [...]