The happy ending to a terrible and frightening story of three missing women held in captivity in a Cleveland neighborhood for over ten years:  They have been reunited with their families because a neighbor intervened in what he thought was a domestic violence incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCn04iXkBg Charles Ramsey “heard screaming. I’m eating McDonald’s. I see this [...]

This case bullshit right here is what one would call a “circular reference”:

An Air Force officer was arrested for sexual assault. The remarkable thing is the accused man was the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention unit. The mug shot of Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski shows signs of struggle on his face. The police report [...]

“Some things can’t be covered.” A powerful anti-domestic violence ad campaign from Saudi Arabia. Obama offers strong arguments to close Guantanamo (again). Some thoughts on the reactions to Jason Collins and Brittney Griner coming out  from  Trudy and Jessica Luther . Megan Erickson at Jacobin breaks down the NYC bus strike as well as the state of labor for NYC teachers. Pink talks to [...]

*Trigger warning* Could it be the greatest irony in our history is that our nation actively prosecuted perpetrators of rape and sexual violence during the Civil War? In 1863, President Lincoln signed an executive order known as the Lieber Codes that governed Union soldiers and protected civilian women. Historian Crystal Feimster writes in the New York Times :

Union military [...]

While the sports world acknowledges the reality that prominent gay professional athletes like Jason Collins exist, our friends at Buzzfeed remind us that the ladies have been breaking barriers as self-identified lesbians for decades. Of course, it can’t be overstated how powerful Jason Collins’ coming out is–what the impact will be for other male athletes in football, [...]

All Architects of the Capitol, Librarians of Congress, Secretaries of the Treasury, and Postmasters General of the United States. The 100 Percent Men Tumblr serves up a depressing sampling of “boys clubs” in areas of leadership, business, publishing, the arts, you name it. It’s a high-impact visual reminder of just how bro-tastic the world still is–and motivation to keep working to shake [...]

It really does. How in holy hell does a measure that has over 90% support in the public fail in the Senate? Apparently, a reasoned approach to gun ownership and safety, or any tools to mitigate gun violence in America, is patently ridiculous to members of Congress. Gabby Giffords sounded off in a New York Times op-ed  published late yesterday [...]

Paul Ryan is still talking . This time he’s talking about building allies (ahem, co-opting pro-choice supporters):

Ryan, R-Wis., said in a speech to the Susan B. Anthony List that those who oppose abortion “need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice – because our task isn’t to purge our ranks. It’s to grow them.” “We don’t want [...]

This ad is probably the most persuasive argument for gun control that I’ve ever seen: http://youtu.be/qFH1MtYhszs Some have argued that in the few months since the Sandy Hook shooting raised serious questions about masculinity and gun violence in this country, our collective passion for gun control has diminished. And gun enthusiasts have tried everything to reinforce [...]

Today marks 1000 days to the end of 2015 — the target date for the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. Much of these deal with highly feminist issues like health and rights. Check out a statement from UN Women to mark the occasion and click here to view charts, photos, articles, and more about the Goals. Our [...]

Whoo hooo! Now this just makes common sense :

 A federal judge has ruled that the Unites States government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and under. The decision, on a fraught and politically controversial subject, comes after a decade-long fight over who [...]

Writer  Stacia L . Brown is changing the conversation around single motherhood within communities of color and beyond. Brown rightly highlights the glaring omission in recent trend pieces reporting exploring the rise of single parenting in America.

“The latest numbers on unmarried parenting are out. The National Marriage Project reports that 58 percent of first births in lower-middle-class households and 40 [...]

Let Malala Yousafzai be a reminder to all of us of strength, courage and unflinching determination to survive and succeed in a world that demands you to fail. The artists at Zen Pencils have created a beautiful and moving comic of Malala’s story, centering around her profound conviction of the right to educate girls in Pakistan. As [...]

Alyssa Rosenberg points out a pretty hilarious and preciously out of context read from Limbaugh of King Bey’s latest single. Limbaugh extols praise on Bow Down as some sort of ode to wifely submission to husbands:

“Let me give you a little history on Beyonce… Beyonce used to be the lead for a 3-girl group..Destiny’s Child and [...]

I’m not sure you’re getting it. Why ultimately there will always be a backlash against ‘high concept’ portraiture of white women in blackface or redface or yellowface. I don’t understand how, in 2013, we are still having the same conversation with you regarding beauty in representation. But alas, we’ve come to yet another one of [...]

A Throwback Thursday quote for our intensely national focus on rape in our culture and institutions from the late feminist activist, Andrea Dworkin:

“I don’t believe rape is inevitable or natural. If I did, I would have no reason to be here. If I did, my political practice would be different than it is. Have you [...]

I’m off to Boston for the annual Association of Writing Programs (AWP) Conference this week, where +/- 10k writers, editors, agents, publishers descend on the city and nerd out over craft, and geek out and build friendships with their favorite writers and editors. I anticipate a good piece of the talk around the conference will center [...]