More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Recent headlines about Vice President Harris are part of a troubling pattern regarding how the press reports on women in positions of power. There’s the buildup, with flattering interviews and gushing features filled with overwhelming positive quotes from friends, colleagues and admirers. There’s the anointment, with the magazine covers and prime-time interviews and accolades.
And then comes the tear down.
A case study of Charlie Rose’s explicit actions in the newsroom and the workplace culture that allowed it to go on, is the center of a new teaching module designed to educate aspiring journalists in becoming effective and ethical leaders. It’s part of an effort to create media workplaces free of sexual harassment and employment discrimination.
Journalists who covered the story and individuals directly impacted by Rose’s behavior were interviewed to inform the study. Throughout the course, students are provided with knowledge of the legal tools they can use to fight sexual harassment, as they are often asked to wrestle with these issues and consider what they might have done in such a situation.
“How could I, a highly-trained physician, not recognize the symptoms I taught trainees everyday?”
Society has convinced women we have to do it all: be successful in the workplace while fulfilling the lion’s share of care work at home. Women overcompensate by outperforming in both their fields and families—but the cost many face to their personal well-being is not worth it. Women must forgo this illusion and work to find balance in their life that works for them, accepting that they themselves have to be their own top priority.
Hugh Hefner eventually became the darling of high society and the media. But it wasn’t luxury, sensuality or independence that Hefner was selling. He was only ever hawking old-fashioned misogyny. Now, we have irrefutable proof that Hefner’s empire was built on the horrific abuse of women.
A new documentary series on A&E, Secrets of Playboy, shows what feminists always knew: Hugh Hefner was a vile misogynist.
Due to a culture of stigmatization and shame, fueled by deficient laws and a criminal justice system that rarely takes victims of sexual abuse seriously, survivors are often reluctant to come forward with their experiences. Recently, a worrying trend has further raised the stakes for survivors who choose to speak out: the weaponization of defamation lawsuits. This happens when the person accused of sexual violence attempts to use the courts to punish the survivor for having spoken out about the abuse she allegedly experienced—even, in some cases, after an official confirmation of the abuse has been made.
The Last Duel fails to interrogate sexual violence in a feminist way.
Enduring yet another portrayal of sexual violence where the rapist is so smitten with his victim that he is unable to control himself is an insult to my intelligence. Rape is fueled by power and control—not love.
Blackfishing, as generally defined online, is a term that refers to a non-Black person’s manipulation of Black aesthetics for the purpose of attaining social capital or monetary benefit. What kind of representations are these artists attempting to convey through the manipulation of such aesthetics?
If we are serious about ending sex trafficking by future Ghislaine Maxwells and Jeffrey Epsteins, we should not allow ourselves to be seduced by racist images of porn and pop culture—while rich and sophisticated white pimps, and their equally well-connected shills, sexually exploit girls in plain sight.
For decades, Howard Stern has used his celebrity status to normalize porn and misogyny. Last month, Billie Eilish, only 20, made a shocking revelation on Stern’s show: “I used to watch a lot of porn. I think it really destroyed my brain.”
Eilish is right—research shows conclusively that pornography is harmful for young people and, indeed, all brains. But kids take to porn because they find the sexual education offered by their schools and parents to be unhelpful and unreal.
I want to be a king. Just one that happens to be a girl.
Although words themselves are not responsible for sexism, many perpetuate the idea that men and women are so different that you must use separate words—even if they are doing the same thing.
