Female Genital Mutilation in Infancy Still Common, Gambian Mothers Say

PUBLISHED 9/13/2025 by

Hulay Damba, 55, spent years performing female genital mutilation on girls in her community. Her role as a practitioner was passed down from her grandmother. “It was what I was taught,” she explained. 

Despite years of steady advocacy in the Gambia, rates of female genital mutilation remain high, even among younger generations. According to 2021 data, almost three quarters of girls aged 15 to 19 have been subjected to female genital mutilation, roughly the same proportion as women a generation older than them (aged 45 to 49). 

Surveys of mothers also show mixed progress: When women with daughters aged 25 and under were asked whether their daughters had been been subjected to female genital mutilation, 54 percent said no. But 22 percent said that their daughters had not only undergone the practice—they had experienced it by their first birthday.

The Kirk Assassination Exposes Media’s Reluctance to Confront Violent Masculinity

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a major sociocultural event and media spectacle that has generated a tremendous amount of media commentary and social media discourse. 

Unfortunately, much of the analysis suffers from the same blind spot that typically characterizes media narratives about violence: It is de-gendered.

Imagine if women committed the overwhelming majority of political violence, and over 98 percent of mass shootings. Would anyone commenting about the latest violent incident talk about the “shooter,” and fail to mention it’s a woman, and seek to explore the ways in which cultural ideas about femininity might factor in?

Texas’ Newest Abortion Law Allows $100,000 Rewards for Snitching on Pregnant Women

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

Texas Republicans recently passed another law to prevent abortions—one that rewards family members with at least $100,000 for snitching.

House Bill 7 passed the Texas Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign it by Sept. 24, which is the deadline for him to take action on it. 

It would allow private citizens to file lawsuits against any person intending to help obtain abortion pills in the state, anyone distributing abortion pills or any company shipping abortion pills into Texas. If the lawsuit is successful, they’d receive at least $100,000 for their efforts.

There’s a caveat: If the private citizen is not related to a pregnant woman seeking abortion pills, they would only receive $10,000, with $90,000 going to the charity of their choice, if they win their lawsuit. If the private citizen is related to a pregnant woman seeking abortion pills, however, they’d get to keep the full $100,000.

Plus, in a dangerous twist for medical providers across the country, a woman who was pregnant and used abortion medications to end her pregnancy can actually turn around and sue her own provider in an attempt to get $100,000.   

‘You’re Either Going to Be on the Right Side of History, or on the Sidelines Watching Us Make History’: ERA Champion Pat Spearman Is Ready for the Feminist Future

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

Pat Spearman had a habit of making history during her three terms in the Nevada Senate.

Spearman became the first openly lesbian member of the Nevada Legislature when she was first elected in 2012. In her second term, she was the chief sponsor of legislation ratifying the ERA in the Silver State in 2017—35 years after the deadline imposed by Congress on ERA ratification had expired—reigniting the movement for constitutional equality and leading a three-state wave that pushed the ERA over the finish line for addition to the U.S. Constitution. And in her third term, Spearman also drove the successful effort to add the most inclusive and expansive ERA on record to Nevada’s own state constitution in 2022, “guaranteeing rights regardless of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.”

“I want us to hurry up and get this done,” she said in the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “because I’m ready to pick another fight.”

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “The Feminist Fight For The Equal Rights Amendment Is Far From Over—and More Urgent Than Ever (with Pat Spearman, Ellie Smeal, Carol Moseley Braun, Kathy Spillar, and Ting Ting Cheng)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.  

Texas A&M Fires Professor for Discussing Gender Identity in Class

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

A professor at Texas A&M University was fired this week for discussing gender identity in a children’s literature course. Two administrators were also stripped of their titles. 

The actions came after a video of a student confronting a professor over discussing gender identity in a class went viral. The video sparked backlash from Republican lawmakers who demanded an investigation into the university’s coursework. 

The interference from lawmakers comes after SB 37 took effect on Sept. 1. The bill—the first of its kind in the nation—allows the Texas government to have a say in the core curriculum taught at colleges and universities.

“Neither Senate Bill 37 nor President Trump’s executive orders supersede the United States Constitution,” Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said in a statement following the professor’s termination. “Nothing in law strips faculty of their right to due process or free speech.” 

Complying With Trump Administration’s Attack on DEI Could Get Employers Into Legal Trouble

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by , , and

Since the Trump administration made diversity, equality and inclusion “immoral” and “illegal,” a large part of workplace discrimination in the country still remains to be experienced by women and members of racial minority groups. Now, these groups have less of a platform to make complaints about such discrimination.

Nevada Just Made Teen Abortion Way Harder—Even in the Worst Situations

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

Imagine you’re a teen in foster care, and you’re pregnant. The father is your abusive foster parent. Nevada’s newly enforced parental notification law means you can’t get an abortion without telling him. 

“The assumption that a parent is always the safest and most trusted person in an adolescent’s life is a falsehood,” said Dr. Laura Dalton. “Sometimes parents are abusive. Sometimes the parent is the perpetrator of sexual assault. For these patients, requiring parental involvement can be dangerous.”

New Mexico Will Be the First State to Make Childcare Free

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by

In an unprecedented move, New Mexico is making childcare free. 

Beginning in November, it will be the first state in the nation to provide childcare to all residents regardless of income, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced this week. The state has been working to lower child care care costs since 2019, when it created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department and started to expand eligibility for universal childcare.

The initiative is expected to save families $12,000 per child annually. 

“Childcare is essential to family stability, workforce participation and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” Lujan Grisham said in her announcement. “By investing in universal childcare, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”

Dying to Be Men: American Masculinity as Death Cult

PUBLISHED 9/11/2025 by

Much as owing guns at home is most likely to injure or kill the people living with those guns than the supposed threats posed by home invaders, the violent discourse espoused by Charlie Kirk and many others has resulted in his murder in front of a crowd of thousands of students.

Kirk built his career on racism and misogyny, encouraging young Americans to the side of a fully radicalized and extremist Republican party that has abandoned any pretense of caring for Americans and instead has become a propaganda machine pathetically flaying to prove that they are all men.

I’m sorry for Charlie Kirk and all the other men like him that have been raised in this America and with these ideals of masculinity. I’m sorry that he decided to adopt this hateful ideology and to profit from it. And as the mother to a boy and a girl, my heart breaks for the America these children are growing up in. Here’s hoping we can save ourselves.

‘These Aren’t Decorative Constitutional Provisions—They’re Powerful Tools Waiting to Be Used’: How the ERA Project Is Advancing the Feminist Agenda, State by State

PUBLISHED 9/10/2025 by

In the final episode of the Ms. Studios podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward, ERA Project director Ting Ting Cheng breaks down the power of state Equal Rights Amendments—and how activists and lawmakers can leverage them to build a stronger foundation for federal constitutional equality for everyone.

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “The Feminist Fight For The Equal Rights Amendment Is Far From Over—and More Urgent Than Ever (with Pat Spearman, Ellie Smeal, Carol Moseley Braun, Kathy Spillar, and Ting Ting Cheng)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.