The truth is, the traits these characters lacked, the ones treated as impediments to success, were exactly the ones associated with traditional femininity: emotionality, vulnerability, and empathy.
by framing everything they have to say as “women’s,” the label of “women’s fiction” effectively bars female writers from participation in broader, ungendered discussion through their work.
"The disparity between the facile attempts at female empowerment on Instagram and the ways women’s rights are under threat demonstrates how misdirected good intentions can actually be more harmful than empowering."
The year 2020 marks the 100th year anniversary of women’s suffrage in America. It is worth quickly reflecting on the change since the landmark amendment had passed (partially thanks to... Read more
Note: Spoilers for The Kitchen ahead. I arrived at my local AMC one August afternoon feeling skeptical. I was about to watch Melissa McCarthy in a serious role, and I... Read more
When game designer Luke Crane asked a deceptively simple question on Twitter: “Why are there so few lady game creators,” he might not have expected an overflow of responses from... Read more
There are many different genres of music. There’s pop, country, hip-hop, R&B, classical, folk, sad boy, sad girl, sad person of any gender. There’s long songs and short songs, fast... Read more
Coming to Washington, D.C., for college, I looked forward to my first Women’s March. In the weeks leading up to the event, I ordered red bandanas from Amazon to resemble... Read more
If there are three things I love, they’re the smell of coffee, a hot bath after a long day, and watching attractive people be brutally murdered in sequential order. Before... Read more
Halfway through my freshman year, I looked in the mirror, considered what I had eaten that day, and decided that something had to be done. I came to what I... Read more
Disclaimer: This post is dark and full of spoilers. You’re not a true Game of Thrones fan unless you’ve spent a sizable amount of time between seasons scavenging the internet... Read more
As a woman in science, I consider myself extraordinarily blessed by my upbringing. Throughout my childhood and early education, I never perceived any indication that women were less capable of... Read more
Women and men of all ages and ethnic backgrounds wearing pink hats with pointed, ear-like appendages on either side carried signs emblazoned with clever slogans: “There is no Planet B,”... Read more
If you can’t be royalty, drop everything and become Olivia Pope. My addiction for the show Scandal goes all the way back to the first season when Olivia Pope, the... Read more
The Bechdel Test was concocted by the eponymous Alison Bechdel as a method for determining how well a film represents female characters. Bechdel was a cartoonist who originally came up... Read more
