On Sunday night, shortly before International Women’s Day began at 12:01am on Monday, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Director (view her acceptance speech here). Her film The Hurt Locker, a war drama about a bomb squad in Iraq, also took Best Picture honors. She was only the [...]

My first thought when the live stream of the health care summit came on was pretty simple: um, where are all the women?
After a few strategic camera pans, I saw Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to the President’s right, and Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to his left. A good start, I [...]

I don’t know about you guys, but I was hoping to spend Sunday evening watching the Saints beat the Colts, The Who play "Baba O’Reilly" at halftime and some creative ads about Clydesdales. I was not hoping to get a side of abortion politics with my guacamole and buffalo wings. But, alas, CBS is apparently [...]

Last week’s debate at The Economist over the motion “This house believes that in the developed world, women have never had it so good” was frustrating to observe. The end result was a strong majority in favor of the aforementioned statement despite the best efforts of Terry O’Neill, president of NOW, to point out the [...]

My reaction to Angry Mouse’s post on DailyKos criticizing the mainstream feminist organizations for inactivity and lack of political influence mirrored those of other feminist bloggers: there was certainly some truth to the author’s words, but the post glossed over the practical challenges faced by such organizations, especially in a recession. And as Miriam Perez [...]

Ever since I read Susan J. Douglas’ Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media when I was 17, I have found myself searching in television and film for the nuggets of feminism that women can now find in popular culture. As the ‘00 decade concludes, quite a bit of feminist gold [...]

Democracies are run by those who show up. Which is why Tryce Czyczynska’s article on the low turnout for Stop Stupak rallies last week is more than a little bit troubling. Czyczynska observed that those who attended the rally in San Diego were largely seasoned political activists:

Of the 80 to 90 attendees, too many were [...]

If the story of Sarah Palin teaches us anything about sexism, it is that its impact can always be more complicated than we think. Out of context, Newsweek’s cover image of the former Alaska governor in jogging shorts (which they have refused to apologize for) is completely inappropriate. But Palin’s new book and accompanying publicity [...]

The now-infamous Stupak-Pitts Amendment, attached late Saturday night to the House health care reform bill, might stand out for its unprecedented assault on a woman’s right to choose (not to mention the right of individuals and insurance companies to operate independently of Catholic bishops). But it is also the latest in a long line of [...]