http://youtu.be/GUcXI2BIUOQ Happy Birthday, Nina. People Magazine editor and trans activist Janet Mock has been honored for Black History Month at The Grio as one of the one hundred most influential people in the African-American community. An important piece from Jill on sexual assault statistics and rape in the U.S. prison system. Go fuck yourself, Bob Morris. A new report [...]

I think the last time I was this excited to get up on a weekend was for Saturday morning cartoons back in ’87 (Gummi Bears, anyone?). Seriously though, I don’t doubt that every feminist in America was freaking over this past weekend’s debut of Melissa Harris-Perry’s new show on MSNBC, which was — not surprisingly — [...]

NYT reports:

Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a major case on affirmative action in higher education, adding another potential blockbuster to a docket already studded with them. The court’s decision in the new case holds the potential to undo an accommodation reached in the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger: that [...]

After a thousand people stood arm in arm outside of the Virginia state capitol in protest yesterday, the legislature decided to delay a vote on the highly controversial state-sanctioned rape bill that would require doctors to perform a medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound on individuals seeking an abortion. This comes after a poll was just released revealed that 55% [...]

As we’re taking the day off from blogging and will be back in full swing tomorrow. In the meantime, Amy Poehler rocks our world.

Lela and Steph: The first gay couple to marry in the Empire State Building yesterday. Fuck yeah, New York! The Women’s Media Center has released a new report on the status of women in U.S. media. A new study shows that family acceptance and support is a key factor in preventing suicide among LGBT youth. The Virginia House has [...]

It’s truly hard to digest how hilarious this video is from the American Life League on Planned Parenthood and their “agenda” to lure your children into sex addiction with candy penis pops and vagina fruit roll-ups so they can sell them abortions and birth control. The gateway drug? Masturbation. I repeat, folks — this is [...]

I have to admit, I was pretty pumped the other day to get my first anti-feminist email in quite a while. As you may know, they can be pretty fun. But then I read it:

Your Name: Jack Your Email: Jevans7504@gmail.com Subject: Feministing Is feministing just for lesbians or do hetero women fist as well? Peace, Love, & Understanding, Jack Chicago

What [...]

Quote of the Day by Paul Krugman: “aybe traditional social values are eroding in the white working class — but maybe those traditional social values aren’t as essential to a good society as conservatives like to imagine.” Headline of the Day by Pam Spaulding: “Lactating boobies in the workplace will kill job creation (and other signs of [...]

If this isn’t proof that “religious liberty” has squat to do with this debacle, I don’t know what is. Via Think Progress , we find that the Catholic Bishops who have been leading the attack on Obama’s birth control decision to protect birth control coverage in the Affordable Care Act don’t just want an exemption from certain religious [...]

Amazing. After Oklahoma conservatives introduced a “personhood” bill to the state Senate on Monday, Sen. Constance Johnson decided to follow in Virginia Senator Janet Howell’s footsteps and attach an amendment in protest, which would add this language to the bill:

However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall [...]

http://youtu.be/uykCRoU_Yf8 Samhita and I went to a panel on Friday for Planned Parenthood’s new 2012 elections campaign (which I’m doing some work with them on) where amazing pro-choice celebs Julianne Moore , Gabrielle Union, America Ferrera and Maggie Gyllenhaal told us why they support Planned Parenthood. And naturally, they were all very swoon-worthy. In case you didn’t catch the debate last [...]

“If somebody is willing to die for America, then certainly they deserve a chance at life in America.”

No joke, this is what Rep. David Rivera (R-Miami) said when he proposed a bill last week that takes the “DREAM” out of the DREAM Act and replace it as the ARMS (Adjusted Residency for Military Service) [...]

Three years ago yesterday, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act — the first legislation he signed as president (which you have to admit is kinda awesome). What really inspired me about this legislation and Ledbetter’s fight was that it reminds us of the importance of storytelling and putting real stories to a [...]

You heard the one about Rick Santorum telling rape victims seeking abortion that their unwanted pregnancy is a gift from God? Yeah. A strapping young man who would like Kirsten Gillibrand’s senate seat has been outed as a serious online misogynist. Unbreakable: An awesome online photography project for sexual abuse survivors. Privilege and literature , lipstick feminism and more at the Community [...]

A new study has revealed that abortion is a procedure that is not only safer than giving birth, but people are 14 times more likely to die during childbirth than during an abortion :

Dr. Elizabeth Raymond from Gynuity Health Projects in New York City and Dr. David Grimes of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel [...]

Yesterday, Pam’s House Blend divulged of Washington Senator Mary Margaret Haugen’s announcement that she was supporting marriage equality, making her the 25th — and final — vote needed to pass the state’s marriage equality bill ( SB 6239 ). PHB’s note of Haugen’s statement on her decision was one that struck me:

“Years ago I took exception to my parents’ [...]

Post-racial America my ass. Arfa Karim, Microsoft’s youngest certified professional, passed away this weekend after a month of being in a coma from an epileptic seizure and cardiac arrest. She was 16-years old. One of Rick Santorum’s aides sent an email out saying that it’s not a women’s role to be president. Yes, really. Anti-choice teddy bear fail in [...]

Apparently my go-to back-up country in case the U.S. goes to shit (oh, wait…) of lovely liberal idealism isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. In fact, their law around transgender individuals seeking to legally change their assigned gender is pretty fucking archaic — but what’s worst is that they recently decided to not change [...]

Adding it to the ton of other states where the fertilized-egg-as-person a.k.a. “personhood” amendments are in the works, but this one could actually result in something. Via AP:

Twenty-five Kansas House members have agreed to sponsor a proposed “personhood” amendment to the state constitution to ban abortion and are close to introducing it, the leader of a [...]