Entitlement, Harassment and Retaliation: The Justin Baldoni Story

PUBLISHED 3/11/2025 by

The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has been messy. There are several players, including multi-billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is furnishing near-unlimited resources for Baldoni’s legal and PR crusades, a variety of complaints in several courts, and misinformation spreaders all over social media. Coverage has been rife with misogynistic and confusing storytelling. Baldoni and Jamey Heath (the CEO of Baldoni’s studio) have made (profitable) careers out of being male feminists, and this battle endangers their carefully crafted public personas.

This piece aims to add context at a time when Baldoni continues to play his cases out in the press. It is for a court to decide whose claims are most legally compelling, but I am going to sketch out Baldoni’s feminism, the movie release and controversy, ongoing court cases, and Lively’s allegations and Baldoni’s meager responses—so that readers might find, as I do, that this battle actually looks quite similar to what happens any time a woman stands up for herself against a well-resourced man. 

The Witch Hunts of Abortion Providers: How Reproductive Care Became a Crime

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by
St Walburga of Eichstatt with Nuns

In 1618, in the German town of Eichstätt, Anna Harding was interrogated repeatedly about her life and abortion practice, sometimes under torture.

Harding worked as a healer for decades. She and other women like her had their ordinary medical practices transformed into evidence of magic by misogynist fantasies of male interrogators and a larger cultural shift that sought to control female sexuality in the interests of Church and state. Abortion became associated with witchcraft because it was a routine part of women’s lives and healing practices.

Trump’s Speech to Congress Shows the Working Class Is on Their Own 

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by , and

President Trump’s first seven weeks back in office have been spent abandoning the American people—tearing apart vital programs, withholding funds that save lives and purging the federal workforce. Last Tuesday, he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time in his second term. Throughout the speech, he boasted about abandoning international agreements, expediting environmental deregulation and gutting federal resources.

The GOP’s Next Target? No-Fault Divorce and Women’s Right to Leave

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by

As the GOP ramps up its culture war, no-fault divorce is emerging as its latest target, with conservative politicians and activists calling for its restriction or elimination. While no-fault divorce has been law in all 50 states since 2010, its repeal would disproportionately harm women—especially survivors of domestic violence—by making it harder to leave unsafe or unhappy marriages. Framing divorce as “too easy,” right-wing leaders are pushing a regressive agenda that prioritizes traditional family structures over women’s autonomy and safety.

‘Abortion Care Is an Act of Love’: What Abortion Providers Want You to Know About Practicing Today

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by

With increasing attacks on abortion and the people who provide them, we talked to abortion providers across the U.S. about what they want their communities to know and what keeps them motivated to continue the work. 

Abortion providers Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, CEO of Power to Decide and practicing OB-GYN; Dr. Jamila Perritt, OB-GYN in Washington, D.C., and president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health; and Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and trans care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast shared with Ms. their thoughts on an increasingly hostile federal government, what antiabortion lawmakers get wrong and what they think Ms. readers should know about being an abortion provider today.

Anti-Gay Marriage Former County Clerk Kim Davis Lost Again, Unanimously—But This Still Might Not Be the End

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by

Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses, lost her appeal on Thursday of a lawsuit she previously lost at trial that was brought by same-sex couples whose constitutional right to marry she violated.

All three judges on the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit—which included one Trump appointee—agreed that Davis should lose her appeal.

But … Davis and her lawyers could now seek Supreme Court review. In seeking such review, Davis’ lawyers could raise the question of overturning Obergefell directly to the justices.

For now, though, Davis lost—again, and unanimously—from a panel of 6th Circuit.

Screaming for Change: Documentary Turning Women’s Fury Into Power Hits AMC+

PUBLISHED 3/9/2025 by

In OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage, Clare Major’s powerful direction and classical-violinist-turned-punk-singer Paris Hurley’s (of Object as Subject, an LA-based art punk band) high-octane music frame this riveting 30-minute documentary on Whitney Bradshaw’s ongoing social practice project, OUTCRY.

The short film follows the photographer from her home in Chicago to D.C. for a reproductive freedom march, then to Denver for an OUTCRY exhibition, and on to Dayton, Ohio, for a scream session just prior to voting on Issue 1, which enshrined abortion rights into the Ohio Constitution.

This film is available to stream from March 14 to April 12 in the AMC + “Future of Film: Athena Rising Stars” collection. 

A Young Black Scientist Discovered a Pivotal Leprosy Treatment in the 1920s. An Older White Male Colleague Took the Credit.

PUBLISHED 3/8/2025 by

Hansen’s disease, also called leprosy, is treatable today—and that’s partly thanks to a curious tree and the work of a pioneering young scientist Alice Ball in the 1920s. She laid fundamental groundwork for the first effective leprosy treatment globally. But her legacy still prompts conversations about the marginalization of women and people of color in science today.

Sixty Years After Bloody Sunday, the Fight for Justice Continues

PUBLISHED 3/7/2025 by

Sixty years after the Selma to Montgomery marches, the lessons of Bloody Sunday remain urgent. The brutal attack on marchers fighting for voting rights in 1965 exposed how laws can be weaponized to uphold inequality—a reality that persists today. From efforts to suppress voting rights to attacks on academic freedom, the struggle for justice continues. As history warns, democracy and the rule of law must be actively defended, not just written on paper.