Progressive and feminist activists were in the national spotlight this week as they took to the streets of cities and towns across the country in protest of corporate greed and rape culture. The Occupy Wall Street movement continued to gain momentum, spreading from New York City’s Liberty Square to 18 other cities in the U.S. and […]
Editor Picks Round-Up (Series)
Going Postal, Occupying Wall Street and KKK Analogies: Editors’ Picks, 9/23–10/1
When a woman of color says something you don’t like about politics, naturally her race and gender are to blame. Or so we’d be led to believe by the backlash this week against Melissa Harris-Perry (for those not familiar, an esteemed black feminist scholar, frequent MSNBC commentator and author of an acclaimed new book on the […]
Troy Davis and a New Fight Against The Death Penalty: Editors’ Picks, 9/18-9/24
Like countless people across the globe, this week we were glued to coverage of the impending execution of Troy Davis. In 1991, Davis was convicted of, and sentenced to death for, the 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Georgia. There was no physical evidence against Davis, and the prosecution’s case […]
Pioneering Trans Kids, Slave-Inspired Earrings and Gaddafi’s Guards: Editors’ Picks, 8/28-9/3
The Washington Post reports that five of Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s female bodyguards have come forward to say that they were systematically raped and abused by the now fugitive Libyan leader, his sons and other members of the regime. Since the 1970s, Gaddafi has maintained an elite team of about 30 women, known as his Amazonian guard. […]
Editors’ Picks, #HERvotes Edition
Over the past few days, dozens of leading feminists from all walks of life have shared personal stories, compelling essays, policy solutions and calls to action in an effort to mobilize women voters in 2012. So many have raised their voices that even if you have been following the HERvotes blog carnival, there are probably […]
Economic Woes, Nefarious PACs and 100 Years of Lucy: Editors’ Picks, July 31-August 6
For anyone who depends on money to fund their existence, getting through this week may have been an emotional roller coaster. The Senate finally approved the so-called “Satan sandwich” debt plan just hours before the deadline on Tuesday. In spite of that agreement, however, the Dow fell 512.76 points on Thursday, marking the first time […]
Rosa Parks Revelations and Fearless Feminist Governors: Editors’ Picks, July 24-30
A new revelation about the life of Rosa Parks surfaced this week: Among thousands of her personal items collected by Guernsey’s Auctioneers was a six-page, handwritten account of an attempted rape by a white neighbor in 1931. Civil-rights historian Danielle McGuire called the discovery astounding, saying she had never before come across a mention of […]
DADT, DOMA and the Truth About Fathers’ Rights Groups: Editors’ Picks: July 17-23
Friday marked the official end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that openly gay service members will begin to be integrated into the military. Many still bemoan how protracted the repeal process has been, but others are celebrating the fact that a date has […]
Apparently Richard Dawkins Is a Jerk and Miscarrying Is a Crime: Editors’ Picks, July 3-July 9
World-renowned evolutionary biologist/atheist/smarty-pants Richard Dawkins showed his true colors this week (which, one assumes, are the colors of the official flag of privilege) when he instigated a comment war with feminists after leaving a particularly clueless and vile sarcastic response to a post on activist Rebecca Watson’s blog. The Atlantic Wire has the play-by-play. A […]
Imaginary Lesbians, Pro-Choice Christians and Santorum’s Gay Friends: Editors’ Picks, 6/12-6/18
This week the blogosphere was shocked when it was revealed that the popular American-born Syrian lesbian blogger Amina Abdullah Araf, the voice of the widely read blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” who was purportedly abducted last week by three armed men, was actually the fictional online persona of Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old, white U.S.-born […]