Emilie Littlehales says it’s time to reevaluate what it means to “nag” and the impact it can have on gender and relationship dynamics. Curious about the origins of the verb to nag, I decided to look it up. The definitions I found in the dictionaries I consulted (Merriam-Webster, the OED, and dictionary.com) showed a consensus about the […]
Feminists aren’t supposed to let their singledom bother them during the holidays, but not everyone is immune. I never thought I would internalize all the crap out there about being a single, straight woman, but somehow this holiday season I found myself unwittingly trapped in a rom-com desperation cliche. “Meet Leah. She’s an independent woman […]
Laurie Cunningham became a first-time mom just days shy of her 40th birthday. She shares why she refuses to worry about all the risks associated with older parents. A few days ago I was Christmas shopping with my friend, Erin, when we stopped at a café to grab lunch. For the two hours we’d been […]
Must women transcend their femininity to truly be considered funny? In a recent piece on women and raunch culture, Emily Heist Moss wrote the following: “There’s a danger here that we [will] slide too far past refreshing, humanizing, true-to-life humor, and skid into the arena of that lowest common denominator humor that my mother was […]
Jenn Leyva’s tired of all the plucking, waxing, and shaving, so she’s letting it all go—because she says it’s not her job to make you feel comfortable. I’ve been spending more time and attention on my lips lately. I spent two hours browsing Sephora and trying on different lipsticks, liners, and glosses. I notice the […]
Emily Rapp didn’t always speak up, but finally finding her voice was thrilling and liberating. If I had to choose a word to describe a large portion of my current life it would be “aloud.” I talk a lot. In front of a classroom, on the phone, to students, to friends, to my long-suffering therapist, […]
Lyla Cicero is all for equal parenting, but a part of her still wanted her kids to think of her as #1. Only when my twins were 20 months old did they master the correct use of the words “mama” and “dada.” They took quite a long time to even say these words, despite beginning […]
Emily Heist Moss is sick and tired of the men who harass her and make her feel unsafe in public spaces. It’s a drizzly Friday in Chicago and I’m leaving a bar with my roommate sometime after midnight. We’re on a quest for tacos and we’re discussing the finer points—Should we get pork or beef? […]
Constantly living your life in fear keeps you from truly living. Today while perusing the sale rack at the “spa store” inside the hotel where I’m staying to teach for 10 days in Palm Springs, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine who was recently engaged. As I let glossy price tags […]
Alyssa Robinson proves that even some of today’s feminists adored pink and girly gifts when they were children. Please take a moment to stifle your gag reflexes, because I’m about to take you down gender normative lane. I’m going to take you back to the 1990s, when I was all cute and tiny, and when […]
As an adult, Chanel Dubofsky now sees that many of the lessons she was taught as a child were products of her mother’s and grandmother’s own insecurity. I think often of what my mother would say about this life I’m living. I think about it when I’m at home, (where I live with many people, […]
Emily Heist Moss is a sex-positive, 21st century woman, but still can’t help but care every time her “number” goes up. I recently slept with someone new the night before he up and moved across the country. I knew that I would likely never hear from him or see him again, and I didn’t mind […]
