According to the virginity movement, men have no self-control when it comes to anything sexual.

There have been women who stumbled across Feministing randomly, through a bizarre Google search or something, and had no idea what feminism was. They thought it was something older women do, or bought into the...

Be as pissed off as you want to be. Don’t hold back because you think it’s unladylike or some such nonsense. We shouldn’t be shamed out of our anger. We should be using it. Using...

The truth is that we don’t need everyone to like us; we need a few people to love us. Because what’s better than being roundly liked is being fully known – an impossibility both professionally...

There is no public space for women; the whole world is a prison where you have to be constantly aware at all times that you’re a potential victim. What’s more terrifying is that it’s not...

It’s not always easy being a full-time feminist – especially as a young woman – when you’re constantly being told that what you do is irrelevant. I’m on the defense all the time.

And really, how insulting is it that to suggest that the best thing women can do is raise other people to do incredible things? I’m betting some of those women would like to do great...

[Robert] Jensen calls for an end to our current understanding of masculinity. He says, “We men can settle for being men, or we can strive to be human beings.” What’s funny is that that statement...

Whether it’s repro rights, violence against women, or just plain old vanilla sexism, most issues affecting women have one thing in common – they exist to keep women ‘in their place.’ To make sure that...

deep”?Men who are serious are just that—serious. Think laconic cowboys and Clint Eastwood-style movie heroes. Strong and silent is a desirable personality trait for men—women, not so much. Because where silence in men is seen...

The implications of likability are long-lasting and serious. Women adjust their behavior to be likable and as a result have less power in the world. And this desire to be liked and accepted goes beyond...

Even the notion that women should have children at all is based on the idea that a woman’s inherent and most important role is that of mother. Shockingly, men’s ‘innate’ roles are a lot more...

I hope that by modeling feminism in my own life, work and relationships that it will haut become an organic part of my daughter’s life. But I’m also fully prepared for her to become a...

The desirable virgin is sexy but not sexual. She’s young, white, and skinny. She’s a cheerleader, a babysitter; she’s accessible and eager to please (remember those ethics of passivity!). She’s never a woman of color....

Now, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women don’t get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women...

Child-rearing can be a tedious and thankless undertaking.

When are we going to realize that hating other women – no matter how much money they have or how far they’ve fallen – is just as bad for ourselves as it is for anyone...

If feminism wasn’t powerful, if feminism wasn’t influential, people wouldn’t spend so much time putting it down.

Women are brought up to believe you are going to be the better parent and you know what’s best. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. As much as we have to ask men to step...

Value yourself for what the media doesn’t – your intelligence, your street smarts, your ability to play a kick-ass game of pool, whatever. So long as it’s not just valuing yourself for your ability to...

In 2008, I was one of the young feminist whippersnappers who voted for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries – or as many of my older counterparts called me at the time,...

For women especially, virginity has become the easy answer- the morality quick fix. You can be vapid, stupid, and unethical, but so long as you’ve never had sex, you’re a “good” (i.e. “moral) girl and...

In addition to shaming sexual-assault victims, positioning abstinence as women’s domain further promotes the notion that it’s women’s morality that’s on the line when it comes to sex, men just can’t help themselves, so their...

As a kid, I wasn’t sure that I would ever get married – I was not the kind of little girl who played at being a bride.

Do you think it is fair that guy will make more money doing the same job as you? Does it piss you off and scare you when you find out about your friends getting raped?...

Dismissing socialization and gender roles as piddling compared to this amorphous idea of ‘maternal imperative’ is part of the reason progress is stalled for family-friendly policies.

It’s become impossible to enjoy most quality television shows because the hurt or endangered women device is so frequently used.

There were a WHOLE LOTTA us not having sex at Harvard . . . but none of us thought that that was special enough to start a club about it, for pete’s sake.

My problem with the wedding industry started when I studied in college and liked to have the television on in the background, and ‘A Wedding Story’ on TLC always came on, and I’d get irritated...

While falling in love is fun, it’s not everything, and it’s not the antidote to an unfulfilled life, despite what Reese Witherspoon movies may tell you.

While boys are taught that the things that make them men–good men–are universally accepted ethical ideals, women are led to believe that our moral compass lies somewhere between our legs. Literally.

You come to a point where you give up on holding yourself to a perfect feminist ideal – it just feels stifling.

morality.” When young women are taught about morality, there’s not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens

I revisit old favorites like ‘Buffy’ and ‘Battlestar Galactica’ when I’m bored. I am obsessed with ‘Scandal.’ I love TV.

Social media is not just another way to connect feminist and activist voices – it amplifies our messages as well.

Sex for pleasure, for fun, or even for building relationships is completely absent from our national conversation. Yet taking the joy out of sexuality is a surefire way to ensure not that young women won’t...

People ask me a lot, ‘Well, can you be pro-life and be feminist? Can you be conservative and be feminist?’ And I think that, yeah, maybe personally you can be those things. But I think...

If you spend any amount of time doing media analysis, it’s clear that the most frenzied moral panic surrounding young women’s sexuality comes from the mainstream media, which loves to report about how promiscuous girls...

Young women are not putting themselves in danger. The people around them are doing the real damage. Who? you might wonder. The abstinence teacher who tells her students that they’ll go to jail if they...

I kind of love that there’s not really a feminist canon; or maybe there is, but it’s being changed, that it’s a constantly moving canon in the feminist blogosphere. I love that.

Shit is fucked up when it comes to appearances and women. We’re expected to be hot – but if we are, we’re vain and stupid. And if we’re not hot we’re useless. Kind of hard...

Wedding fever is one of the scariest diseases I have ever seen.

I think talking is as casual as blogging, and sometimes writing can be as casual as talking. My informal writing style is a political choice, because I want feminism to be more accessible.

I think virginity is fine, just as I think having sex is fine. I don’t really care what women do sexually, and neither should you. In fact, that’s the point. I believe that a young...

The stereotypes of feminists as ugly, or man-haters, or hairy, or whatever it is – that’s really strategic. That’s a really smart way to keep young women away from feminism, is to kind of put...

Antifeminists are the only ones who benefit from their version of working on women’s behalf; in reality, they put other women at risk and fail to solve any larger problems.

When abstinence curricula contain information about sexual abuse or assault (though they often don’t), the message is similar: The onus of preventing sexual assault is on girls, not on men.

Once you get married, women are still implicitly expected to do the majority of the housework and take care of any future children.

Given the reality of unintended parenthood and parental unhappiness, one would think that women and men who make the decision not to have children – who are deliberate and thoughtful about the choice to bring...

The only purpose of an engagement ring is to show you ‘belong’ to someone, and your man makes bank.