2013 March Archive | Feministing

By Alexandra Brodsky • 11 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

Princeton alum tells female students to hurry up and find a husband already.

Sandberg, Slaughter, et al. are advocating for a new feminism devoid of social justice.

In memory of Pastor Henry Enuta.

Duh: pre-viability abortions bans are unconstitutional.

Feminists don’t hate men–they just hate you, MRA dude.

Conservative justices thought this year was their last chance to fight same-sex marriage.

Check out the trailer from “Feminist: Stories from Women’s Liberation,” which won top honors at the 2013 L.A. Women’s Film Festival.

“Leaning in” in Iraq.

Bill Gates wants you to invent a better condom.

Rape is not a punch line, Rick Ross.

So what if Victoria’s Secret sells ...

Princeton alum tells female students to hurry up and find a husband already.

Sandberg, Slaughter, et al. are advocating for a new feminism devoid of social justice.

In memory of Pastor Henry Enuta.

By Anna • 11 years ago

The Feministing Five: Renee Bracey Sherman

Renee Bracey Sherman is an activist from Chicago, Illinois. While studying economics and sociology at Northeastern Illinois University, she found her passion working to break down barriers of multiple oppressions that people face each day through story sharing. Renee identifies as a biracial queer ally and found that discussing her own abortion experience and identities has helped to build conversations across movements. Renee moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to serve in AmeriCorps through the social justice service program, Public Allies.

By day, Renee is a fundraiser for Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, and in her spare time, she volunteers for ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, is an ...

By Amy S. Choi • 11 years ago

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: Paid sick leave is coming to NYC!

Wired tackles misandry, feminism, and Donglegate.

Oh look, another violent gendered online campaign against a woman doing good: In this case, the female reporter who exposed a racist New York City EMT.

On being a female monk.

6 things that happened while y’all were preoccupied with gay marriage.

Malala gets a $3 million book deal. Good.

A Yale physicist on gender bias in the sciences.

Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: Paid sick leave is coming to NYC!

Wired tackles misandry, feminism, and Donglegate.

Oh look, another violent gendered online campaign against a woman doing good: In this case, the female ...

By Amy S. Choi • 11 years ago

In defense of crying at work

Sheryl Sandberg says in Lean In that it’s cool to cry at work. Anne Kreamer reports in her book It’s Always Personal: Emotion in the New Workplace (2011) that 41 percent of women and 9 percent of men had cried in front of others at work and it had not impacted them negatively. Dr. Peggy Drexler, in a recent article for The Daily Beast, argues that crying at work, particularly in response to institutional frustration or stress (not because of perceived personal criticism), can actually be productive by creating bonds, clearing tension, and fostering empathy among co-workers.

And yet — and yet.

And yet there’s still a debate over whether crying is something to embrace, or avoid at all costs. That’s because when ...

By Amy S. Choi • 11 years ago

Vagina, vagina, vagina!

Tim McDaniel, a 10th-grade science teacher in Dietrich, Idaho, is being investigated by the Idaho State Board of Education for “possible controversial lesson content.”

The content? Sex ed. The reason it’s being taught in science class? Because the school’s health teacher isn’t comfortable teaching students about birth control and STDs.

“Since I started working here about 17 years ago, I agreed to teach about the reproduction system because I was comfortable with it and he wasn’t,” McDaniel said. “This is the first time someone has objected to the material.” McDaniel, who teaches directly from a school-approved textbook, says that some parents are unhappy with him using the word “vagina” to teach biology.

Dietrich is squarely in the ...

Tim McDaniel, a 10th-grade science teacher in Dietrich, Idaho, is being investigated by the Idaho State Board of Education for “possible controversial lesson content.”

The content? Sex ed. The reason it’s ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Remembering Adrienne Rich: “Poetry was a feminist practice”

Ed. note: We regret publishing this piece without acknowledging or critiquing Rich’s history of transphobia and in particular her support for Janice G. Raymond, author of the discriminatory and hateful “The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male.” To be clear: By failing to acknowledge the late author’s views on womanhood, feminists risk writing trans people out of the movement. Please see this piece for a comment from our Executive Editor on this issue.

This past Wednesday marked the anniversary of the death of poet and feminist Adrienne Rich. As we close out Women’s History Month and begin National Poetry Month this Monday, it seems fitting to remember wise words from one of the most prominent voices in ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Quick Hit: Stacia L. Brown’s advocacy for the voices of single mothers

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 percent of all U.S. births are to unwed mothers. Like clockwork, society has turned its collective gaze to the social and economic crises facing the single mother. And like clockwork, we mothers these statistics represent brace ourselves for the public’s moral scrutiny and fiscal concern. We become like specters; we may be at the center of national conversation, ...

By Samhita • 11 years ago

Lesson #3: Strong-ties and warm-fuzzy feelings are essential

Editor’s note: To close out Women’s history month we are running this series of guest posts from Emily May and Samuel Carter co-founders of Hollaback as they reflect on taking an idea and moving it to action, the best practices they have learned along the way and documenting for us that feminist history is happening right now.

When Malcolm Gladwell wrote “The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” in The New Yorker, he argued that the revolution would not happen through social media because the revolution requires “strong ties” and the Internet only facilitated “weak ties.” There are lots of abstract ways to measure “strong” vs. “weak” ties, but the founders of Hollaback! felt that Gladwell was missing the mark. Neuroeconomist Paul Zak’s research shows that ...