Dakota Fanning reclines in a tiny pink dress, innocent look on her face, large phallic bottle of Lola Marc Jacobs perfume between her outstretched legs. I’ll give you a moment to calm the titillation you might be experiencing. Would it help if I said that she looks no older than 14? No? Interestingly enough, you [...]
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Domesticity Doesn’t Equal Anti-Feminist
I read a piece in the Washington Post on Sunday that is still rolling around in my head. Emily Matchar wrote about The New Domesticity. Basically she’s asking a simple question: is the new wave of hobbies for women around knitting, sewing, canning, cooking, etc. a step back or a step forward for women. When [...]
Jerry Sandusky and Victim Blaming
In the reactions to the revelations that coach Jerry Sandusky raped and abused at least eight boys and young teens, one thing has been absent: victim-blaming. No one has asked: What did the boy do to ask for it? What was he wearing? Why did he go into the showers with Sandusky if he wasn’t [...]
When Talking About Fertility, Try a Little Tenderness
When the New York Times recently asked “Are You as Fertile as You Look?” the question was rhetorical. The reporter suggested womenfolk are ignorant about their declining fertility because they confuse youthful looks with having youthful ovaries. It’s easy to judge women like the ones trotted out for this piece; in their late 30s through mid 40s, they [...]
The Ultimate Fighting Championship Has No Problem with Hate Speech
The mantel of hero has always been heavy. In the comics, Spiderman is told that with great power comes great responsibility. And even though the web-slinger might not be a real person, the advice rings true for our flesh-and-blood heroes, too. In these modern times, heroes come in a variety of forms built up by [...]
The Students of Penn State: Not the Generation We Have Been Waiting For
To the Students of Penn State: Something is really wrong here. ƒWhile I did not attend a university with a football team, I respect that football is what makes your school tick, and that Mr. Paterno’s exceptional skills are necessary for the team’s success. You have every right to be angry that he will [...]
What Not to Wear
Recently, New York police officers in Park Slope, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, have been calling out women wearing short skirts and shorts, warning the women that they are an easy target for sexual predators. So when did it become police business to decide the dress code of New York City women? When did victim-blaming become [...]
Charlotte Allen Suggests Last-Minute Halloween Costume Idea: Misogynist Concern Troll
This piece was cross-posted at the Sidney Hillman Foundation Unaccountably, Washington Post The LA Times gave Charlotte Allen space to insinuate that skimpy Halloween costumes cause rape. Allen, a contributing editor at a conservative website called “Minding the Campus” is deeply concerned that the feminist anti-rape activists of SlutWalk and the Halloween-industrial-complex are accessories to sexual [...]
The Ides of March and the Myth of Female Sex Objects in Politics
There she was – pretty and flirty and blonde and sexy and damn cute. Like all female political interns, of course. Because both I and the guy are former political staffers and current young professionals living in our nation’s capital, I wasn’t surprised at all when his idea for a first date was to go [...]
The Plan to Eventually Love My Body
I don’t know how they do it. Women who shout from the rooftops how much they love themselves and their bodies – celebrating their awesome “shero” female power! I think they are either the most enlightened and strong and amazing women EVER, or else they are practicing positive affirmation – telling themselves something in the [...]