Feminism
News
Topless Sunbathers Read Pulp Fiction, Fight for Equality

photo via the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society When we first heard about the NYC-based group calling itself the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, we initially assumed that it involved topless people watching the Tarantino movie outdoors somewhere, in some weird take on the whole ROCKY HORROR phenomenon. We were relieved to learn […]

Research
The Media’s Pornification of Women

Here’s a fascinating but not all that surprising study from the University of Buffalo: they recently analyzed more than 1,000 images of men and women on Rolling Stone covers over the course of 43 years (they chose Rolling Stone since it’s a well-established, pop-culture media outlet) and found the following: In the 1960s, 11 percent of […]

Pop Culture
My Body Gallery

My Body Gallery is a new online photo collecting project with this goal: “to help women objectively see what we look like, break the pact of silence around ‘weight’ and come to some acceptance that we are all beautiful.” The idea is that all sorts of real women upload full-body images of themselves (their faces […]

TV
Sexist Bill Maher on Sexism

We’re two of those poor HBO-less saps who have to wait until the following Wednesday to get the free podcast of the previous Friday night’s episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” And so we only just discovered his final “New Rule” from last week: “Republicans have to stop thinking up intricate, psychological explanations for why […]

Confessions
Comment of the Week: Oh, Bachmann

Michelle, in response to news about Michele Bachmann signing The Marriage Vow, a moral policing pledge that required her promise not to support porn, adultery, divorce, or marriage equality: I consider myself more conservative than liberal, in fact I’m a registered Republican. But damnit, Michelle Bachmann makes me want to give my vaigna and voter registration […]

Pop Culture
Beyonce, Who Run the World? Not Girls.

Beyonce’s latest hit “Run the World” is a girl-power anthem, sort of: “Who run the world? Girls” over and over. Maybe it’s aspirational. Eh, probably not. We think this smart and harsh take by Vlogger “Nineteen Percent” is a better breakdown of the song: we don’t run the world, we do get disrespected, gypped at […]

Wise Guys
Wise Guys: What Would You Think of a Woman Proposing?

Advice from three of EMandLO.com’s guy friends. This week they answer the following: “Would most men be cool with a woman proposing marriage to them? (assuming they’re in a serious committed relationship where marriage has become an unspoken expectation for both parties).” To ask the guys your own question, click here. Straight Married Guy (Figleaf): […]

Confessions
Comments of the Week: Viva La Feminism!

feminist majority T In response to last week’s Wise Guy discussion, wherein the fellas basically said men aren’t feminists and feminism is dead, a few uppity women* had some serious straight-settling to do: Tiffany: Wow. I’m shocked at the general consensus that the work of feminism is somehow “done.” We’ve come a long way for […]

Wise Guys
Wise Guys: Do Most Men Consider Themselves Feminists?

Advice from three of EMandLO.com’s guy friends. This week they answer the following: “Do most guys you know consider themselves feminists? Why or why not?” To ask the guys your own question, click here. Straight Married Guy (David Jacobs): No, most of my friends are sexist, racist, classist pigs. What can I say? They’re just […]

Personal Essays
Confession: I’m a White-Picket-Fence Feminist

Our contributor Abby Spector, who is majoring in Feminine/Gender/Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University, has a confession to make: My armpits are hairy. I study gender and sexuality. The Birkenstocks in my closet are held together by duct tape. If it were the sixties, my bra would probably be burning in the town square (if women […]

Personal Essays
Confession: I’m a Sloppy College Kid with a Secret Lingerie Obsession

photo by jenny downing A college-student contributor friend of ours, who wishes to remain anonymous, has a confession to make: Early into the sexual getting-to-know-you phase of my most recent relationship, my then-new beau surfaced for air mid-tumble long enough to exclaim, confused and generally pleased, “Dude, you wear some scandalous underwear!” And, you know […]

Research
Forget the Witch; the Disney Princesses Are Truly Terrifying

photo by hairgeek Disney isn’t necessarily to blame for the princess mania that is currently engulfing our culture in swathes of pink tulle, but they’re certainly making a shit-ton of money off it. As Peggy Orenstein reports in her new book Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, […]

Research
Why Do Lesbians Earn More Than Straight Women?

photo by janet calcaterra Research shows that lesbian women earn more than straight women — even when you control for the facts that lesbian women tend to be better-educated, more likely to be white, live in cities, have fewer children, and more likely to be professionals. So how to explain this wage gap? Economics professor Marina Adshade […]

News
Valerie Jarrett on Gender Parity

photo by burningkarma Rahim Kanani, a Research Associate for the Justice and Human Rights domain of practice at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University, recently conducted an in-depth interview in the West Wing with Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls. […]

Pop Culture
The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences

One of our biggest pet peeves is our society’s automatic acceptance — the giddy embrace, even — of the theory that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, with nary a space shuttle between them. We’ve written before on the lazy scientists who are suckers for a sexy headline about the “innate” differences […]

Pop Culture
Hysteria, a Vibrator Rom-Com

image of antique vibrator from GoodVibes’ Antique Vibrator Museum Back in the 1800s, hysteria (literally, “womb disease”) was considered the most common “disorder” among women; its symptoms were mental and emotional distress, thought to be brought on by the womb’s revolt against sexual deprivation. (Live in a sexist society where you can’t vote or work […]