Just Another Business Decision for Komen

In the midst of the many attacks against Planned Parenthood and abortion rights over the past year, the news that Komen for the Cure was halting future funding of breast cancer screening and breast health education to Planned Parenthood affiliates has still managed to create shock waves in women’s health advocacy circles. Many feel hurt [...]

The Sound of Silence: Where Is the Anti-Choice Outcry Over North Carolina’s Forced Sterilization of Women of Color?

A task force in North Carolina recently ruled that survivors of that state’s eugenics program should be paid $50,000 each in financial compensation. Eugenics is often defined as the science of “improving” a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of “desirable” heritable characteristics. The practice of eugenics was not limited to Nazi Germany nor [...]

If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion

“My passion for fashion can sometimes seem a shameful secret life,” wrote Princeton University English professor Elaine Showalter in 1997. And indeed, after these words appeared in Vogue, more shame was heaped on her. Surely she must have “better things to do,” said one colleague. Fashion, like so many other things associated primarily with women, [...]

We Spleen: Michele Bachmann’s Planned Parenthood-Bashing

This past weekend, many conservatives, including several presidential hopefuls, gathered at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., to campaign for the 2012 elections share their values. Speakers included Paul Ryan, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and the consistently deranged always entertaining Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. After insinuating that the U.S. is on the path to [...]

“The Next Nancy” Takes on a New Leadership Role

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been announced as the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Sometimes referred to as “the next Nancy,” Wasserman Schultz is highly regarded as a hard-working and dedicated legislator who does what is right for women and children. In her new position as DNC chair, she’ll be able to [...]

Boehner Bias?

On Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi handed over the speaker’s gavel to John Boehner, who is charged with leading the “Tea Party Congress” in their efforts to repeal health care reform, disband the Select Committee on Global Warming, defund Planned Parenthood and do a bunch of other things that people who have never held elected office think [...]

Vote No on Sexist Politics

“Man up,” “Get your man-pants on,” and “Whore.”  These are some of the finer examples of sexist rhetoric that infiltrated the midterm elections. Though the media dubiously declared this political season the “Year of the Woman,” the midterms seemed to be a tipping point for public declarations and acceptance of sexism. The disturbing language wasn’t [...]

The Dark and Terrifying C-Street “Family”

There aren’t many women in Jeff Sharlet’s new book C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. In the world of the Family, the secretive U.S.-based religious network reported on by Sharlet, women play supporting roles at best. Most famously, they’re the wronged wives in sex scandals: Jenny Sanford (wife of Gov. Mark Sanford, he [...]

No Separation of Sex and State in Czech Republic

As of last May’s elections, women now hold a record 44 of the 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament. And if their presence in parliament isn’t enough, the Public Affairs party is now selling a calendar featuring six of its youngest and most beautiful women members posed [...]