The following review of All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister appears in the spring 2016 issue of Ms. Subscribe today for more reviews […]
Author: Audrey Bilger
Audrey Bilger is the current president of Reed College, and previously served as vice president and dean of Pomona College. She is also a former professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College and faculty director of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse. She also teaches gender studies, and occasionally yoga. Her latest book, which she co-edited with Michele Kort, is Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage (Seal Press, 2012). She is also the author of Laughing Feminism, editor of an edition of Jane Collier’s 1753 satire "An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting," and a frequent contributor to Bitch magazine. Her work has been featured in The Paris Review, Rockrgrl, the Huffington Post and the Women's Media Center.
Through the Glass Ceiling and Beyond! Sally Ride’s Feminist Legacy
In the early 1960s, when Sally Ride was a child, her parents gave her a chemistry set and a subscription to Scientific American. They got her a microscope and a telescope, […]
Sexism in the Music Business? Taylor Swift & Ryan Adams Shake it Off!
It may have started as a joke. Or maybe a form of break-up therapy. Whatever led alt-rock singer-songwriter Ryan Adams to record his own track-by-track version of Taylor Swift’s mega-hit […]
Proof That Jane Austen and Amy Schumer Would Have Been Friends
[Spoilers ahead!] Jane Austen would have appreciated Amy Schumer’s blockbuster summer rom-com Trainwreck. With its flawed protagonist, who alternately feels superior to those around her and unworthy of love, the film draws on themes that […]
How Feminism Helped Pave the Way for Marriage Equality
The Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality is, as President Obama declared in his remarks following the ruling, “a victory for America.” It’s also a major win for feminism. In the majority […]
Marriage Equality Forecast: Victory Is Near!
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the broad question of whether marriage is a constitutionally protected right for same-sex couples, a nationwide victory may be less than […]
Marriage Equality Keeps on Winning
Six months ago, when Marc Solomon went to press with his new book, Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took on the Politicians and Pundits—and Won, there were […]
For Amy Poehler, Writing is Hard, Feminism Comes Naturally
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” Well, Amy Poehler makes comedy look easy, but her new memoir, Yes Please, nearly killed her. Or so she says […]
The Private Life and Natural Feminism of Sally Ride
When astronaut/physicist Sally Ride passed away in 2012, her obituary revealed for the first time publicly that she was a lesbian. In the recently published biography, Sally Ride: America’s […]
Joan Rivers: Certainly Unforgettable, But a Paragon of Feminism?
Since her death a week ago, a number of tributes to Joan Rivers have called her a “feminist icon“—mainly, it seems, because she was a trailblazer and door-opener for women […]