Author: Avital Norman Nathman

Avital Norman Nathman is a freelance writer and editor who has written for a variety of print and online outlets like The New York Times, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, VICE and more. Much of her work focuses on reproductive and maternal health. Her first book, The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality, provides a platform for diverse voices that often get left out of the conversations surrounding parenting. Her upcoming book combines research, expert analysis and narrative experiences to better understand the broken birth system in the U.S.

The Femisphere: Trans Feminist Bloggers (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of my roundtable discussion with trans-feminist bloggers for The Femisphere, a series on the many diverse corners of the feminist blogosphere. You can find Part 1 here. The bloggers: Emily Manuel from Global Comment, Monica Maldonado from TransActivisty, Stephen Ira from Supermattachine and Avory Faucette from Radically Queer and Queer Feminism. […]

The Femisphere: Trans Feminist Bloggers (Part 1)

The relationship between the trans community and the feminist one has been riddled with frustration, anger and accusations of exclusivity. Despite myriad challenges, however, there are those who feel that trans issues and feminist issues can co-exist and even that they naturally intersect. I recently conducted a roundtable with four trans feminist bloggers on this […]

The Femisphere: Reproductive Rights Bloggers

Sites such as RH Reality Check and Abortion Gang have long comprised a thriving reproductive-rights blogosphere. In the past year, their numbers have swelled, as legions of pissed-off feminists take to the Internet to oppose the growing war on women’s reproductive rights. One of the new kids on the repro-rights block is Keep your Boehner […]

The Femisphere: “Mommy” Bloggers

Last month I wrote a quick overview of feminist parenting bloggers for Ms.‘s “Future of Feminism” series. The huge response I received spurred me to launch “The Femisphere,” a virtual tour of the feminist blogosphere’s overlooked corners. So it feels quite fitting to begin my series with an in-depth look at mothering bloggers. If I had […]

The Femisphere: Welcome to a New Series

All too often, when mainstream media turns its attention toward anything related to feminism, one of two things happens. The first is a heavy-handed criticism of feminism, either for being too radical or too obsolete in “this day and age.” The second is that contemporary feminism is given due credit for its incredible energy and […]

Future of Feminism: Music To Our Ears

For every little girl who grew up fantasizing of becoming a fairytale princess, there was another who dreamed of being a rock ‘n’ roll queen. Thankfully, there are organizations popping up across the country who help girls explore such musical dreams, the Institute for Musical Arts (IMA) in Western Massachusetts being one of them. Founded […]

Girls in Pearls, Guys in Ties?

A Virginia school district is currently considering a new type of clothing ban that would impact more than 14,000 students. The district wants to prohibit students from wearing clothing “not in keeping with a student’s gender” and that “causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the education process or poses a health or safety concern.”