Kate Whittle's Posts

We Heart: YouTube Response to Beyonce

Recently, we posted about the problems with Beyonce’s brand image: We love the girl power, not so much the racialized and sexualized fetishization. As blogger Janell Hobson wrote, Beyonce’s video for Run the World (Girls) presents a “cliched, sexualized display of the Battle of the Sexes in which power derives only from sexual and embodied [...]

Rutgers’ Co-Ed Dorms: A Step in the Right Direction

This fall, Rutgers University will join a small number of colleges in the U.S. that allow mixed-gender dorms. Some attribute Rutger’s decision to the recent suicide of Tyler Clementi, a freshman who was harassed after his roommate videotaped him having sex with a man, but Rutgers staff say it’s to better serve their lesbian, gay [...]

A Feminist’s First Pap Smear

I’m officially a woman now. I’ve had my first annual visit to the gynecologist. I’ve been putting it off, even though doctors recommend a woman start getting exams when she turns 18 or becomes sexually active. (And both those ships have sailed for me.) As a feminist journalist, I spend much of my time eagerly discussing women’s [...]

Newsflash: Senate Appoints Elena Kagan to Supreme Court

Today, Elena Kagan became the fourth woman justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Ms. has been following Kagan’s path to the court closely. Justine Andronici outlined in May why we need women justices: As Obama and subsequent presidents continue to make selections … we can only hope that they will do so with [...]

Oh SNAP! Reduced Food Stamps Are a Feminist Issue

The Senate has voted to cut funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Over 40 million Americans receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. In 2014, the assistance for a family of three will drop by about $50 a month. This is going to hit low-income women hard. SNAP statistics don’t break down recipients by [...]

With Miss Cougar 2010, Is the Word Losing Its Teeth?

In 2010, it’s officially beyond a doubt that “cougar” is a part of our cultural lexicon. That’s especially true now that the 40-years-and-older women who date younger men have their own beauty pageant. Los Angeles resident CC Perkinson was crowned Miss Cougar 2010 Del Mar last week in the second annual contest. The LA Weekly [...]

Global Gag Rule May Permanently Bite the Dust

The Global Gag Rule, originally an executive order from President Ronald Reagan to prevent U.S. funds from reaching organizations that provided abortion-related services overseas, may soon be permanently struck down. President Obama signed an executive order repealing the Gag Rule in 2009, but the Senate’s new amendment to its Foreign Operations bill would once and for [...]

Newsflash: Federal Judge Blocks Parts of Arizona Immigration Law

The most controversial parts of Arizona’s new immigration law won’t take effect at midnight as originally scheduled, thanks to federal judge Susan Bolton. SB 1070, signed into law in late April, would have allowed police to detain people based on suspected immigration status and would have made it a state crime for a person to [...]

Women Musicians Tell NPR It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World

Women in rock have come a long way since Joan Jett was told girls don’t play electric guitar. We have guitars made for women, by women. We have girl rock camps. Surely the music world is a friendlier place in this day and age. Right? Maybe not so much. In March, National Public Radio surveyed [...]

Why Kids in Montana (and Everywhere Else) Need Decent Sex Ed

The capital of my home state of Montana is making national headlines for a totally wild concept: comprehensive and age-appropriate sex education starting in kindergarten. The Helena school board was inundated with protests from concerned parents at their curriculum meeting in early July. According to the AP, the controversial parts of Helena’s program include teaching [...]

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