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 [...]

Kelly Rowland’s new song references being in an abusive relationship.

House Republicans vote for the millionth time to repeal Obamacare.

I cried when I watched this trailer. Because it makes me cry to watch unapologetically fat, confident women being really good at their jobs, being recognised for it, and making their revolutionary bodies part of that success. It makes me cry like a big feminist baby. http://youtu.be/pg1RtDr-cHE Damn, Rebel Wilson, you make me (even) proud(er) [...]

Could it be because the people put in charge of preventing it are themselves committing acts of sexual violence? Last week it was the Air Force’s designated sexual violence prevention officer who was arrested for sexual violence . This week it’s the Army’s. From New York magazine: the Army has its own scandal as it investigates a sergeant who [...]

**Trigger warning** This is a guest post from an anonymous Feministing reader. You could say I’m a words person. Communications, in all forms, is what I’m good at, it’s what I gravitate towards. I’ll do the crossword puzzle over the Sudoku. Words to me are pieces to play with, tell stories with, pitch clients with. I’ve never [...]

The North Carolina Senate voted to give a second reading to a bill that requires schools to teach that abortion causes premature birth in subsequent pregnancies. The Obama Administration asked for an extension of the deadline to make Plan B available over the counter without an age restriction. The judge said no. California passes new protections for transgender [...]

That’s a pretty depressing number. Newspoll just released the finding, and the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) is using it as an opportunity to draw the connection between education and political leadership. Just 50% of Indigenous kids finish high school at the moment, and among kids in AIEF programs, which it calls “Australia’s most proven and [...]

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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 [...]

Kathryn Joyce on Mitt Romney’s advice to new graduates that they should get married and start making babies asap. Climate changes hurts women , and the Wall Street Journal thinks it’s a joke. Unsurprisingly, most women in the US would  like to be able to get birth control over-the-counter . ” Suspended for twerking . What do I do? Twerk. At the beach. [...]

Spoiler alert: It’s not by chance. You must read TNC’s piece at The Atlantic today, about housing policy in the 1950s and how it created and reinforced the racial wealth gap. It’s a story of legalized exploitation, of how the structures and policies of the United States government were not perverted, but used as intended, to [...]

It’s an ad for the new EMILY’s List campaign , Madam President, which is about the need for a woman POTUS. You might also enjoy the campaign video, in which a gaggle of eloquent little girls snort at the idea that only boys can grow up to be President. I disagree with the claim that “there’s one [...]

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 [...]