Elizabeth Kissling's Posts

The Million-Dollar Diet

I learned this week of a new twist on college fundraising. Perhaps I should say twisted fundraising, as this scheme at Stephens College, a private women’s college in Columbia, Mo., blends the worst of reality-TV concepts with conventional donations. In a conversation with an anonymous alumna, Stephens president Dianne Lynch acknowledged that her schedule doesn’t [...]

The Leap from Younger Puberty to Fat-Shaming

When the story that girls are reaching puberty earlier than ever began popping up everywhere this week, I did not doubt its veracity. It was no coincidence that I received an email from a friend yesterday, observing with mixed feelings that she had just purchased a first bra for her oldest daughter. Her daughter is [...]

Covered: New Documentary on Women and Tattoos

What does it mean to be a tattooed woman in a culture that objectifies your body? In the new documentary Covered, Beverly Yuen Thompson has created an innovative, personal, honest and feminist exploration of women tattooists and tattooed women. In a refreshing change from mainstream media’s coverage, the film talks very little about what individual [...]

A Pill for Men–Still Five Years Away

The Internet, especially the feminist blogosphere, is all abuzz this week with the promise of a new contraceptive pill for men within the next five years. But researchers always say a pill for men is just five years away, according to University of Washington medical professor John K. Amory. The spark of new hope stems [...]

Where’d the Diaphragm Disappear To?

Did you know that last year’s combined sales of Yaz and Yasmin, the most popular oral contraceptives in the U.S., totaled $1.64 billion? Did you know the drugs are also the target of 1,100 lawsuits for potentially fatal blood clots? Did you know that an estimated 50 women have died from taking those contraceptives? Despite such [...]

How The Pill Gave Birth to the Women’s Health Movement

Only a latter-day Rip Van Winkle could avoid knowing that this month marks the 50th anniversary of the FDA’s approval of Enovid, the world’s first birth control pill. Hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles have marked this anniversary. Many incorrectly credit the pill with giving birth to feminism. As Elaine Tyler May notes in the [...]

Book Review: In Our (Birth) Control

Laura Eldridge’s new book In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women (Seven Stories Press, 2010) isn’t kidding with that subtitle. The last time I remember reading so much detail about contraceptive options was poring over Our Bodies, Ourselves when I was in my 20s. Eldridge reviews every method of birth control [...]