For Women in America, the Fight for ‘Real Self‑Care’ Never Ends

An excerpt of Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included) by Pooja Lakshmin, out March 14, 2023.

“The work of real self‑care is about changing our relationships with ourselves, and, in turn, what naturally follows such internal change is a reorganizing of larger systems. … The energy and collective power that was harnessed by individuals in 2021 has led to real and tangible changes at the state level and in the corporate sector.”

‘Listen, World!’: The Story of America’s Most-Read Woman, Elsie Robinson

Elsie Robinson was a journalist known for her syndicated Hearst column “Listen, World!” Born into poverty in 1880s California, Robinson risked everything to chase her dream of becoming a writer and lead a life beyond what was prescribed to women at the time—even working in a gold mine as the sole female mucker as she tried to break into magazines. Ultimately, after a long and bumpy road, she succeeded and used her nationwide column to advocate for the rights of women, people of color and other underrepresented groups.

Emerald Garner on Trauma, Picking up the Pieces and Finding Her Voice

An excerpt from Finding My Voice: On Grieving My Father, Eric Garner, and Pushing for Justice by Emerald Garner, Monet Dunham and Etan Thomas:

“While you haven’t even fully grieved, you’re now linked to other cases, and you only have the bond that your loved one was also murdered by the police. … We didn’t choose for my father to be murdered, but we were left to pick up the pieces after, and that just wasn’t fair.”

From the Vault: ‘Math Anxiety’ by Sheila Tobias (September 1976)

In 1976, in the pages of Ms. magazine, Sheila Tobias explored the topic of “math anxiety:” the tendency of women to avoid mathematics as it became more difficult, which stemmed, in part, from gender roles in academia.

“A culture that makes math ability a masculine attribute, that punishes women for doing well in math, and that soothes the slower math learner by telling her she does not have a ‘mathematical mind.'”

Our Abortion Stories: Red Stain on a Yellow Dress

“Serena’s going back to Maggie’s Farm but not for long. Where, after that, she doesn’t know, but it does not seem to matter. Because she knows now that it is over. Soon she will stop bleeding. She can go on with her life.”

In 2021, writer Julia MacDonnell published a collection, The Topography of Hidden Stories, which included a story particularly relevant at this historical moment. Recently, she described this story, “Red Stain on Yellow Dress,” as a “fictional meditation on what young women may have experienced in the epoch before the passage of Roe v. Wade” and added a warning that the story is “gritty and bloody, the way things used to be. Maybe you’ll weep when you read it, the way I did when I wrote it.”

Intersex Justice and the Care We Deserve: “I Want People to Feel at Home in Their Bodies Again”

In this excerpt from “The Care We Dream Of,” author Zena Sharman interviews intersex activist, visual artist and public health researcher Sean Saifa Wall on intersex justice.

“The crux of intersex justice is recognizing the harm that has befallen intersex individuals who are born with atypical bodies and have been harmed by the medical establishment. But it’s also about allowing people who are intersex to be in their bodies and to be free.”

You’re Pretty Gay, a Short Fiction Collection: “Fickle”

“Fickle” is one of several essays featured in Drew Pisarra’s latest collection of short fiction stories You’re Pretty Gay. The collection of essays draws from his own life experiences as a queer person dealing with the world’s heternormative expectations.

“I moved to Seattle. Of course, Dick followed shortly thereafter. There was no separating Dick and me. It’s been me and Dick since the beginning and it’ll be Dick and me in the end. Actually Dick and I broke up recently, I’m sorry to say. Although I swear I bumped into him at a bar last week.”