The Women in Poverty Epidemic, Visualized

Released last week, the United States Census Bureau’s latest data on household income left no doubt that more and more American women are sinking into poverty. According to a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the census data, the poverty rate for women grew from 13.9 percent in 2009 to 14.5 percent in 2010. It’s [...]

No Comment: The Sexist T-Shirt J.C. Penney DIDN’T Remove

This week, feminists celebrated a victory when J.C. Penney halted the sale of a girls’ T-shirt that reads “Too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” The shirt, suggesting girls should be too consumed with their looks to care about being smart, was pulled from the company website after [...]

No Comment: Zazzle’s Pro-Anorexia Kids’ Tees

Last week, the online retailer Zazzle–which “empowers” customers to create custom T-shirts, cards and other paraphernalia–ended sales of a kids’ T-shirt and onesie that featured a pro-eating-disorder message in a scribbled font. The decision came only after the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority banned ads of the shirts for encouraging “an unsafe practice that may result [...]

Homelessness Creeps Up on Working Americans

Many cities will begin the New Year with a sad resolution: to make sure the number of homeless families doesn’t grow as much as it did the year before. A new survey of homelessness covering 27 cities, published by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, sheds light on the epidemic. A rise in family homelessness in many [...]

Childless by CHOICE, Get It?

I don’t want kids. Never have. I consider birth control the greatest invention of the 20th century and I’ve been taking it religiously for nearly a decade. No pregnancies to date, and in the rare event of one I’d be first in line at my local abortion clinic before that zygote even mildly resembled a [...]

Why Does a 30-Something Feminist Care About Dora the Explorer?

I can’t lie: I like Dora the Explorer, and I am 35 years old. My students bring me Dora paraphernalia and it adorns my office. Still, Dora and I have a complicated relationship. I’ve been following her career since I saw an ad about her in Latina Magazine in 1999, announcing the arrival of the [...]

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 [...]

Will Naomi Campbell Model Feminism in Charles Taylor’s Trial?

British supermodel Naomi Campbell has been called to testify in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Ghankay Taylor at The Hague in the Netherlands. Taylor faces 11 charges of crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone’s civil war, three of which relate to sexual violence. According to Time, prosecutors believe Taylor aided rebels in many killings [...]

Third Time Still Not the Charm for Toy Story’s Female Characters

Toy Story 3 opens on a woman-empowerment high, with Mrs. Potato-Head displaying mad train-robbing skills and cowgirl Jessie skillfully steering her faithful horse Bullseye in the ensuing chase. And that’s the end of that: From there on, the film displays the same careless sexism as its predecessors. Out of seven new toy characters at the [...]

Newsflash: Dept. of Labor Expands Definition of “Parent”

In a victory for non-traditional families, the U.S. Department of Labor has expanded the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so that anyone who assumes caregiving duties for a child may take parental leave regardless of legal or biological relationship. The words “son and daughter” under the FMLA now mean a “biological, adopted or foster [...]

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