It’s time to set the record straight on why it’s not OK to borrow culture rather than exchange it. In sections of the media concerned with representation and social justice, it seems we can barely endure a week without a newsworthy incident about “cultural appropriation.” While examples of cultural appropriation can be found in just about […]
The reality is, you can’t care about someone you don’t know. And you really can’t know someone unless you listen to them. I remember his hands. They were big and strong. They were soft and comforting. I remember noticing how his skin looked different than mine—dark on top and lighter on the palms. We liked […]
The only real solution to the insidious problem of rape injustice starts and ends with our culture. I cannot say that you should never report being sexually assaulted. That is a personal decision, and a choice that I don’t think should be taken away from you. Ever. But if you look at the likelihood of getting justice, at […]
No matter what path we take, as women our health conditions are viewed with mistrust and scorn. After Hillary Clinton was escorted from a 9/11 memorial for “overheating,” the nation erupted in a storm of conjecture about her health. Clinton was even called upon to release her personal health information so the American public could […]
Oh, honey. How can you argue against something that you don’t understand? Dear Dave, When I first read your article thanks to a wonderful feminist I know who shared it (who is also a devoted wife to a husband and mother to a son—doesn’t that just blow your mind?), I told her that I was […]
I want to see Gilmore Girls resist cultural taboos that tell women we need men in order to be affirmed or successful, or that a family absent of men is somehow less of a family than one composed solely of women. My mother died in April 2002, the same week cherry tree blossoms unfurled outside […]
“I’m With Her” is a bold subversion of how gender and power relations are accepted in America, and a step forward for women in politics. One of my favorite ways to demonstrate the importance of strong writing and deliberate word choice to students was to incorporate marketing activities into my lesson plans. We live in […]
We should not pretend that someone is amazing at death when they were wicked at life. People often say to “not speak ill of the dead.” I, too, was guilty of using this popular catchphrase until I realized that changing the way I spoke about someone at death created a wicked lie of how they […]
