Anonymous Prosecutor: Chris Brown and Ri...

This is not actually the Anonymous Prosecutor. As an Assistant District Attorney, Anonymous Prosecutor has specialized in prosecuting crimes against women, including sex crimes, domestic violence and child abuse, as well as homicide, in New York City and its suburbs.  Now that Rihanna and Chris Brown...

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Rihanna&...

As you have undoubtedly already heard, reports are surging in that Chris Brown and Rihanna are back together.  (One supposes these reports could be untrue but no one seems to be out there denying them.)  Which is at once infuriating and unsurprising to people who have lived with and/or known of domestic...

It’s Not Her, It’s You...

Dear readers, I bring you another gem of howlingly stupid “journalism.” Read on, so that we can all feel smart and accomplished and unanimously delight in the knowledge that we never would have written it ourselves.  To wit: a mean girl body snark that takes me right back to the 8th-grade...

The Feminist Bookshelf...

This picture makes me all drooly. Via Here's Kate @ Flickr. Welcome to Harpy Seminar, a regular feature we plan to have at regular intervals, unless we get too busy to have it at regular intervals, in which case it shall appear whenever we have time and inclination for it. Each Seminar begins with...

Faces Not Even a Mother Could Love?...

Mother and daughter, via Pomegranates @ Flickr. When I was nine or ten, I brought my class picture home to my mother and asked, “Who do you think is the prettiest?” “You!” she replied. “I think Maura’s the prettiest. She’s prettier than me.” Mom would...

In Which I Wonder If I’m Crazy for...

This is hard to write.  But I have to do it.  I have to be honest with myself.  All the relationship books apparently say that honesty is the cornerstone of every romantic relationship. (Note: I do not actually read any of these books.) Jon Stewart, I watch your show every night.  Well, every morning,...

Happy Monthiversary, Harpies!...

Cupcakes for everyone! Via bookgrl @ Flickr. Well, The Pursuit of Harpyness is officially one month old today! The older you get, the faster time seems to run, so we wanted to pause–however briefly–to recognize the accomplishments of our first month. In the last 30 days, we have: -Written...

Feminist Food for Thought: bell hooks...

This recurring feature, curated for now by Pilgrim Soul unless other Harpies wish to leap in, directs Harpy readers to important feminist thoughts and concepts as spoken by some of her favourite feminists on and off the web. The appraisal of the value of these snippets is, of course, entirely Pilgrim...

Harpy Hall of Fame: Abigail Adams (1744-...

Portrait from the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society The Harpy Hall of Fame is dedicated to those women who worked on behalf of advancing women’s rights, contributed to reshaping gender roles, or were just generally awesome and badass. Unstinting in their desire to achieve their...

Heads Up: It’s National Eating Di...

Love yourself, love the world. Via Angela Layana @ Flickr.If you weren’t already aware, this week, February 22-28, is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  They’re not “fun” to talk about, they’re not sexy or pretty (no matter what fashions might indicate), but...

In Which The Grey Lady Gets Punked...

Always willing to believe the worst of women–or perhaps simply too stupid to do their homework–the Times now admits that their January 28 piece on the DABAs was not completely on the level: Editors’ Note An article on Jan. 28 about women who commiserated over dating Wall Street bankers...

Compassion is a Renewable Resource*...

I'm important. Via SarahMC In reaction to news that Washington state may extend domestic violence restraining order protection to pets, some Jezebel commenters expressed outrage that people allegedly care more about animals than women and children. Ignore, for a moment, the fact that this potential...