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Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Reclaims the Diversity of the Ancient World

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey validates the culture through this quarter-billion-dollar Hollywood production—best seen and appreciated in movie theaters. So, why did some react to this latest retelling of The Odyssey as if the mere presence of a Black woman would delegitimize its place in history? And should we ignore them as out-of-touch fringe extremists? 

Before The Odyssey even reached theaters, Nyong’o’s casting as Helen of Troy ignited predictable outrage from white supremacists and anti-“woke” commentators who claimed a Black actor had no place in one of Western civilization’s foundational myths. But as scholars of antiquity make clear, that backlash says far more about modern racial politics than it does about the ancient world itself.

Nolan’s sweeping adaptation arrives at a moment when the fight over history is also a fight over power. By embracing a multiracial cast, The Odyssey challenges centuries of whitewashing and reminds us that the ancient Mediterranean was far more diverse than many have been taught to believe.

The diversity of the ancient world is our collective heritage—not the exclusive property of those seeking to rewrite the past.

‘Access to Reproductive Choices Gave Me the Freedom To…’: 12 Answers We Can’t Stop Thinking About

Four years after Dobbs, it’s clear that reproductive freedom is not an abstract political issue. It is the freedom to build a life.

This week, we’re launching The Majority campaign—and we want you in it. The ask is simple: Finish the sentence, “Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to …”

The responses so far are from women and men, parents and nonparents, abortion patients and birth control users, people who needed miscarriage care, gender-affirming healthcare, fertility treatment, or simply the ability to decide their own future.

These are some of the stories we can’t stop thinking about.

Democratizing America’s Lawmaking Institutions: Why Feminists Should Stop Waiting for Congress and the Court

A feminist pro-democracy agenda must include new lawmaking institutions that can ensure our democracy is more inclusive, more democratic, more representative, and more responsive to the needs of all the people who call America home.

The past decade has brought two major failures of existing institutions to establish the basic requirements of non-patriarchal democracy: Congress’ failure to add the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s failure to guard women’s constitutional right to control their reproductive lives. After calling out these outrages and trying to reverse them for years, it’s time for feminists to confront the deeper causes of these failures: the dysfunctional lawmaking institutions that were created by the Constitution over 200 years ago to govern the nation.

(This is part of a new miniseries FEMINIST 250: Democracy’s Feminist Future, a special Ms. series examining the next chapter of American democracy through a feminist lens. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the series explores how women and marginalized communities have shaped democratic progress, what lessons history offers for the challenges ahead, and how a more inclusive, representative and equitable democracy can be built for the next 250 years.)

Judge Stops Trump Administration From Funding Antiabortion Extremists, for Now

On Friday, in response to a lawsuit brought by Democracy Forward, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund—which would have directly funded the work of antiabortion extremists. The $1.8 billon fund’s announcement explicitly identified antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act as presumptive recipients—the same FACE Act violators Donald Trump pardoned in January 2025.

The restraining order against the fund is intended to make sure that no funds are distributed before the lawsuit brought on behalf of the National Abortion Federation; Andrew Floyd, a former Jan. 6 prosecutor; professor John Caravello of New Haven, Conn.; and Common Cause, a government accountability group, has a chance to play out. It will pause the fund’s establishment until at least June 12.  

“President Trump wants to take your hard-earned tax dollars and hand them over to criminals, cronies, and insurrectionists,” said Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón in a statement announcing the lawsuit against the fund. “It’s unconscionable, and more importantly, it’s illegal.”

Mr. President, If You Care About Families, Stop Cutting What They Need to Survive

Some conservative policymakers and analysts have tried to use proposals like “Trump accounts” and medals for motherhood to frame the administration’s agenda as “pro-family.” But in reality, that framing is centered on an overly narrow definition of family: a married husband and wife, with the wife ideally staying home to care for children. (Some conservatives have also long touted the idea that public assistance is destroying the “traditional” American family.) Many of these policies make it harder for families of all types to care for their children.

Genuine support for families looks like meeting families where they are and helping to ensure that they have the resources they need to succeed. This includes policies that support everyone’s reproductive decisions, family planning goals and ability to raise children in safe and healthy environments. Access to healthcare and food assistance improves children’s chances of graduating from high school and college and leads to better health as adults. When parents facing financial hardship have access to cash support or rental assistance, they are better able to afford basic essentials for their children like housing, diapers and school supplies. 

We can help families thrive by strengthening vital supports and services, rather than cutting them. Both federal and state policymakers can play a critical role in helping families thrive.

Stop Calling Hungary an Authoritarian Playbook

A popular explanation for today’s attacks on academic freedom is that the Trump administration is following an authoritarian playbook, with Hungary under Viktor Orbán cast as the model. This metaphor suggests the future is inevitable. It’s not. And now, with Orbán voted out of power after 16 years, that assumption looks even more fragile.

For the feminist scholars who experienced—and resisted—Hungary’s attacks on higher education, the idea that Orbán fashioned a playbook that others are now copying misses the point.

Instead, what we are seeing is an international illiberal movement that circulates money, ideas and strategies across borders. When Hungarian politicians attack “gender” and higher education, they use these concepts as a shorthand for rejecting the liberal world order.

That means Hungary’s approach should serve as a warning, but not a script.

The attacks succeed when the conditions are ripe. And those conditions are not fixed. As Hungary’s recent election makes clear, expecting the worst won’t save U.S. higher education. Treating democratic backsliding as inevitable risks obscuring the very possibility of change.

The Grok Generation: The Consent Crisis No One Is Stopping

Grok, the AI chatbot used on Musk’s platform X, has been under fire for generating nude or sexualized images of real people, including individuals who are minors. In one estimate, Grok produced one nonconsensual sexual image per minute over a 24-hour period. Prompts such as “put her in a transparent bikini” produced altered images that were then circulated publicly, some accumulating thousands of likes. The targets are real women and underage girls whose images were manipulated without their knowledge or permission.

Elon Musk responded by making a joke, requesting a Grok-generated image of himself in a bikini and reacting with laughing emojis. When the platform’s most powerful figure and one of the country’s most powerful men treats the abuse as a punchline, it sends a message about what is actually harmful versus what he thinks should be considered humor—and provides a tacit granting of consent to young men on the platform to keep making these images.

Much of the public conversation about young people and AI has focused on cheating in school or declining literacy. Far less attention has been paid to what it means when a middle school boy can type a sentence and produce a sexualized image of a female classmate in seconds as a joke or for attention—or to pretend he received it from her for status.

For girls growing up in this online environment, the message is unmistakable: Your image is not protected as yours. Your body can be altered, distributed and consumed for entertainment. Its violation can be dismissed as a joke. 

Teachers, parents, lawmakers and platform leaders are behind. The question is not whether this will shape the next generation’s understanding of power and intimacy—but what we will step in to do about it. 

‘America’s Next Top Model’ Was a Microcosm of the Modeling Industry’s Power Problem

Modeling appears glamorous. Beautiful people, high end clothing and photo shoots in exotic locations. But the reality is far more bleak. 

I was ecstatic when I was selected to be on America’s Next Top Model. By the time I understood how little control I had, it felt too late to ask questions. Personal phones were gone. Contact with the outside world was restricted.

When Netflix released Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, my reaction was not shock. It was recognition.

The New Misogyny, Violent Extremism and What It Will Take to Stop It: RSVP for a Live Conversation (Online or in L.A.; Wednesday, Feb. 18)

Across ideologies, the clearest and most consistent predictor of mass shootings is not political extremism alone—it is rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.

That is the focus of Miller-Idriss’ groundbreaking new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism.

On Feb. 18, 2026, Miller-Idriss and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar will explore how misogyny fuels radicalization, how gender-based grievances are weaponized by extremist movements, and why confronting patriarchy is essential to preventing future violence. Join us in person or online.

Musk Isn’t Stopping Grok From Creating Explicit Photos of Minors Using AI. Here’s What Can Be Done.

Since the end of December, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, has responded to many users’ requests to undress real people by turning photos of the people into sexually explicit material. After people began using the feature, the social platform company faced global scrutiny for enabling users to generate nonconsensual sexually explicit depictions of real people.

The Grok account has posted thousands of “nudified” and sexually suggestive images per hour. Even more disturbing, Grok has generated sexualized images and sexually explicit material of minors.

X’s response: Blame the platform’s users, not us.