Sexual Subject vs. Object...

In an interview with The New York Daily News last month, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was quoted as saying: The notion that Playboy turns women into sex objects is ridiculous. Women are sex objects. If women weren’t sex objects, there wouldn’t be another generation. It’s the attraction between the...

I Ain’t Sayin’ You’re ...

I suppose I shouldn’t expect much from a discussion about women, men, and money that includes the authors of Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We’re Still Single and Smart Man Hunting: A Fast-Track Dating Guide for Finding Mr. Right. Correction:  I shouldn’t expect much more...

Newsflash: Machismo Bad for Women AND th...

I’ve been sitting on an excellent bit of analysis from the New York Times for a couple weeks now, but didn’t want to let it slip by without sharing. Titled “Counting the Cost of Machismo“, the article describes how Northern European countries where the culture encourages women’s...

Hair Matters...

The Washington Post has an excellent column today by Robin Givhan entitled “In her latest act of defiance, Hillary Rodham Clinton gets a new, longer, hairdo.” The whole piece is worth reading, and there’s a good slide show, too. Givhan points out the not-so-subtle cultural pressures...

Poetry Saturdays: Gwendolyn Brooks...

I felt I might want to live up to some of my own principles this week and bring you something written by someone other than a white man.  More on Brooks and other poems here. The Lovers of the Poor arrive. The Ladies from the Ladies’ Betterment League Arrive in the afternoon, the late light slanting In...

“What’s This We, White Man?&...

My motivation for posting that Adichie video was that I was in the middle of drafting another post at the Awl, about the kerfuffle between Franzen and women writers Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner: Which brings us to the question of why praise does tend to aggregate around white men, still, in a way...

Mom Will Clean it Up!: A Rant...

Via solarnu @ Flickr.My boyfriend laughs whenever a cleaning product commercial comes on the television, knowing that I will soon be clicking my tongue and/or throwing my head back in disgust. “Here comes mom to clean it up!!!” we exclaim, when the lady of the house cheerfully grabs her [product]...

Chimamanda Adichie on The Danger of the ...

Monday Comic Relief: The Wankh Awards...

Another DH Lawrence contender. The literary section of the Guardian had done it again. Perhaps as a companion to their Bad Sex Award, there’s a new contest—for the most unintentionally hilarious title. Inadvertently lewd? Snigger-worthy? Send in your candidates for The Wankh Award! The name...

NYT Wants To Talk About A Revolution...

A reader sent in what she termed the most annoying article in the world, ever. We felt like sharing the misery with you, our readers, so here you go: This is understandable, as it all seemed like sweetness and light at the Mini-R.A.D., short for Revolutionary Artistic Development: a fledgling home school...

Guest Post: Mackey on the Australian Ele...

So fellow harpies, I am an avid election watcher, participator, how to vote hander outerer, and election party partier, especially with federal elections. On the 21st August 2010 Australia went to the polls, with a unique situation – the first female Australian Prime Minister leading the Labor...

Women Hit Hard by Pakistan Flood...

Via Save the Children @ Flickr. Photo Credit: Jason TannerYou wouldn’t know it by watching American media, but Pakistan has suffered what the United Nations called “the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history.” Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rain have displaced millions and...