Ed note: This is a guest post by Kelly Castagnaro, Communications Director at the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) . Only days before today, the International Day against Homophobia , a Russian man was beaten, mutilated, and murdered after revealing he was gay to two strangers.  His death reminded me of the many other deaths and injustices that occur [...]

Photo via Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Central NC. In North Carolina, lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow any boss to decide if employees can access affordable birth control, rolling back the clock on decades of progress. So women’s health advocates showed up to protest the bill dressed in retro attire. Their mantra? “We [...]

Minnesota resident Julie Vidna holds a sign in support of same-sex marriage outside the MN House chamber. (MPR Photo/Jennifer Simonson). The Minnesota House has just approved gay marriage ! View more amazing photos of the day’s events here. Ariel Castro has been charged  in the horrific rape and kidnapping case in Cleveland. It’s a busy week for Canadian feminism: [...]

The Guttmacher Institute has published a new study on payment for abortion care among U.S. women showing that as much as *half* of all abortion patients rely on assistance to cover the costs. Among the most disturbing and frustrating findings is that many women who are covered by insurance are not able to use the insurance, [...]

Coverflip created by Hannah Yesterday author Maureen Johnson, fed up with sexist responses to the perceived gender appeal of her books covers, issued a challenge to her followers. She writes:

You are informed about a book’s perceived quality through a number of ways. Probably the biggest is the cover…. And the simple fact of the matter is, if [...]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/331907383771148288 We reported on this yesterday but I wanted to follow up since Donald Trump is unfortunately not alone in his ignorance. So despite our wishes that he just stop talking we must continue to highlight his comments because  they provide us with an opportunity to say it one more time loud and clear: there is nothing inevitable [...]

Alas, this image is too good to be true. It is photoshopped from this original image . But the shirt is amazing- here’s a link to purchase! Via Shelby Knox. Related: Willow Smith: “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Yourself” The Smiths Believe in Raising a Girl in Command of Her Own Body Also related: I want the leggings too [...]

Happy May Day. Workers of the World Unite. Check out this awesome new feminist bioethics blog . Welcome to the blogosphere! Maybe men don’t “want it all” because they find childcare to be boring ? Transphobia has no place in feminism.  By way of update to Sesali’s earlier post , there is now a petition on change.org to drop the charges against Kiera Wilmot. You [...]

Feministing co-founder Jessica Valenti has a well written and compelling piece in the Nation today on the FDA’s decision to make emergency contraception, or the morning after pill, available over the counter to women older than 15 years old who can “prove their age”. From the FDA press release :

The product will now be labeled “ not for sale to [...]

This morning the Guardian hosted a kick-ass live panel discussion with technical experts, advocates, teachers, writers, and more (see details below) to talk about one thing: how can we give young people better sex education? This is a topic that comes up all the time on the blog because it is SO connected to, well, everything we write about. [...]

Former executive editor of Ms. Magazine and current editor-in-chief at the Women’s Media Center, Mary Thom died suddenly in a motorcycle accident on Saturday April 27th. Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center writes, “Mary was one of the great writers, editors, and visionaries of the women’s movement, and the heart and soul of  Women’s Media Center’s [...]

*Trigger warning* It’s been another week of protests in India as the rape of a 5-year old girl is investigated . To suggest, “rape is an epidemic” would be an unjust reduction of the very complex, harrowing and difficult situation faced by sexual assault survivors and their allies in India — as they work against a system that [...]

Police confronted women in New Delhi on Sunday who were protesting the rape of a 5-year-old girl. Manish Swarup/Associated Press. Via. Horrible. New protests in India after the rape of a 5 year old . France is set to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption, while homophobic violence is on the rise. Is feminism on life support “with a DNR [...]

From L to R: Lori, Jos and Maya, the birthday girl, traveling to Winona State for the Feministing spring campus tour this April. (Of course Maya brought snacks, like a BAWS.) How much do you really know about Maya Dusenbery ? You make have heard that Maya’s click moment came after she realized the absurdity of abstinence-only education.  You may know [...]

Feminist Majority Foundation intern Colleen Osborne at the Virginia Board of Health protesting TRAP laws. Pic via. Earlier this month, the Virginia Board of Health voted 11 to 2 for new, irrational regulations on abortion clinics in the state, which many reproductive health and justice advocates correctly noted were intended not to make clinics safer for [...]

To say this week has been incredibly difficult would be an understatement. Here’s a beautiful video about family and love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdsvTftkjA&sns=tw Germany has voted in favor of quotes for leading companies to be compelled to increase the number of women on their boards. Malala is on the cover of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People issue. Under pressure from feminists [...]

http://youtu.be/WYoFDt1AycM

“You’ve just been raped by a student who lives down the hall from you. You suppose you’ll have to stick out the rest of the year seeing him every morning on your way to class. You work with him at your campus job. You decide you’ll just have to grin and bear it. He begins [...]