Comics often get a bad rap when it comes to their portrayals of women. In many cases these critiques are well-deserved; In others, this generalization is unfair; women in comics are vibrant, hilarious, and sometimes more stereotype-defying than their counterparts on TV. Enter Kate Beaton, author of the immensely popular Hark, a Vagrant, and one of [...]
With excitement building for the final Harry Potter movie, we’re hosting a week of posts about the series on the Ms. Blog. Today we’ve got a report on gender equity at the heart of the hardest-core Harry Potter fanbase: the people who actually play Quidditch. For the uninitiated, “Muggle” Quidditch is a land-based version of [...]
Like many a Star-(Trek)-struck 7-year old, I had the maddest crush on Wil Wheaton, the youngest actor on the Star Trek: The Next Generation set, playing Wesley Crusher. As I grew to own my geekiness–instead of just accepting it as something I inherited from my parents–I saw him again on Felicia Day’s famously geek-tastic webseries [...]
Ms. Blogger Aimee Liu is the author of the first American memoir of anorexia nervosa, Solitaire (1979) and most recently published Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders, (2007). Her forthcoming book on the subject is Restoring our Bodies, Reclaiming our Lives (April). Apart from her work on eating disorders, she has published various works [...]
Regardless of your feelings on Valentine’s Day–whether you were the cis-girl who staged Valentine’s day protests, the trans-boy who nervously wondered if the girl he liked could get past their cissexism, or the teacher who smiled on it all–the gift of flowers is usually considered a harmless staple. However, like many other products that reach [...]
In case you missed out, it’s My Little Pony week on the Ms. blog! Having been thoroughly indoctrinated as a child to love ponies–and My Little Pony in particular–much of my understandings of femininity and heteronormativity come directly from my childhood interactions with cartoon ponies. (Diary excerpt: “I love wearing heels, it makes me feel [...]
Interviewer: So what is it that you’re passionate about when it comes to code? Ali: I’m passionate about the fact that I’m good at it. I really only do things that I’m good at so. Kate: I really love code, you know? And I feel like it could change the world. Interviewer: I’d love to [...]
Anushay Hossain began her feminist career as an intern in her native country, Bangladesh, at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) where she worked on microfinance and primary education programs for women and girls. As global programs director for the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), Anushay analyzes the effect of U.S. foreign policy on the health [...]
Finally, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris was declared the winner of the Nov. 2 election for California State Attorney General. She is not only the first woman to be elected to this position, but also the first Indian American and African American, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The race between Harris and her [...]
Fifty-five years ago today, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man, as was required by Alabama law at the time. She was arrested and fined, which sparked a 13-month boycott against the Montgomery bus system that nearly bankrupted the bus company and led to a 1956 [...]
