Lynn Beisner describes the harrowing internal debate over whether or not to report her 14-year-old daughter’s grossly inappropriate encounter with a male friend. At the end of my daughter’s first year of high school, she asked to throw a party. She had really struggled that year, taking advanced placement classes with kids in their senior […]
Soraya Chemaly shares the importance of teaching your children to respect other children’s rights. For months, every morning when my daughter was in preschool, I watched her construct an elaborate castle out of blocks, colorful plastic discs, bits of rope, ribbons, and feathers. Only to have the same little boy gleefully destroy it within seconds […]
Just as nothing that is said justifies violence, nothing that is worn excuses rape or harassment, says Hugo Schwyzer. One of the great global debates of the 21st century concerns what, for lack of a better phrase, might be termed “provocation and its limits.” Last month, violence erupted in various parts of the Muslim world […]
Many people praise the power of sports for their potential to increase a young girl’s sense of self-worth and ability to avoid sexual pitfalls, but there are always outliers. I was driving the other day thinking about the power of sports to embolden young women to understand their bodies, feel ownership and control over them, […]
When did the word “victim” become synonymous with “moral failure”? The longer the conversation about Mitt Romney’s 47% goes on, the more worried I become. I am concerned because embedded in Romney’s speech to millionaires is a dangerous premise that if left unchallenged will have serious consequences for all Americans, but especially for women. That […]
Because activist groups so ardently fight for a particular cause, a female members’ basic rights are often overlooked, says Hugo Schwyzer. One of the better students I’ve had in recent years came by to see me the other day; she’s transferred on but wanted to stop by and say hello before leaving junior college for […]
Vince Skolny takes a closer look at the idiotic rape comments made by Pennsylvania Senate candidate Tom Smith earlier this week, which have added another nail to the self-made GOP coffin. If you have been to a wedding, you’ve likely heard the question: Who gives this woman to this man? It is so steeped in […]
Hugo Schwyzer offers his take on the recent sexual harassment allegations against a female official with Homeland Security. Women can sexually harass men. A reminder of that obvious truth came this week with the report that Suzanne Barr, a top aide to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, has been placed on leave following allegations that […]
Lynn Beisner wonders if Daniel Tosh’s recent rape joke—directed at a female audience member at The Laugh Factory—is simply a product of a generation desensitized to insults about sexual violence. Like most feminists I know, I am appalled by comedian Daniel Tosh’s crude rape joke. And just to be clear, the remarks I am about […]
Hugo Schwyzer compares the attacks made on him because of his controversial past and those recently made on Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist blogger, and asserts that women have it worse online. Lest there be any doubt that the Internet remains a much more hostile place for women than men, consider what’s been happening lately to […]
This originally appeared on Fem2.0. Republished here with permission. Feminists have no sense of humor. We flip out at every tiny thing. We make a big fuss about inconsequential, totally minor things that absolutely aren’t a big deal instead of focusing on the big and important issues. Lipstick feminism, it’s called. So why are jokes […]
This originally appeared at Alas! A Blog. Republished here with permission. About a year and a half ago, as I walked home after work at about 11 p.m., I passed a couple talking about 30 feet from the entrance to my building. The woman was leaning with her back against the driver’s side front window […]
