WMC Women Under Siege
Do we really need Angelina Jolie?
Everyone keeps asking me if we need Angelina Jolie. Leading up to the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which Jolie and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague are chairing in London this week, they want to know whether she is useful to this cause. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and have been searching for an answer. And I think I’ve found it.
WMC FBomb
Obvious Child Was Obviously Awesome
Last week, I was able to score some passes to a screening of Obvious Child from Feministing.com. Just the idea of a romantic comedy about abortion made my feminist mind little-kid-giddy. Obvious Child...
WMC Women Under Siege
Stigma remains in place as sexualized violence increases in CAR
The Central African Republic may have a new leader for now—Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza was sworn in in January—but there are still old problems that exist when it comes to the country’s long history of sexualized violence.
WMC FBomb
On YouTube Celebrities and Blurred Consent
Once considered niche performers, YouTube vloggers are increasingly jumping off our computer screens and becoming celebrities in the real-world sense. They play concerts around the world, have clothin...
WMC FBomb
Erasing the Gray Area: Why Enthusiastic Consent Is Essential To Eradicating Sexual Assault
One Friday evening this spring, I stood in the courtyard outside my dorm with a friend. The sun was setting and students were performing their pre-party rituals around us. It was the first temperate d...
WMC News & Features
June 05, 2014 | Kendall Hunter |
Sisters in Spirit
Activists are increasing pressure on the Canadian government to take action on the crisis of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
WMC FBomb
"You're Pretty, For A Black Girl"
“My dick really isn’t attracted to black girls.”
I tried to explain how his comment could come off as a tad bit racist.
“Well, it’s just that I don’t usually like girls like you.”
“You mean, you ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Safety a click away: The tech industry’s response to violence against women
To combat sexualized violence, advocates and technologists have created new, tech-based apps and services in recent years. Some recent anti-rape device creations include rape-resistant underwear, female condoms with teeth, hairy leg tights, and even “killer tampons.” But not all of the creations are that bizarre. Some tech-based responses include smartphone apps, GPS tools, and other personal safety services and software that may be useful in the right—or wrong—situation.
WMC FBomb
*Trigger Warning* Why Aren't Women Safe in College and the Military?
While women in the United States still undeniably have a long way to go before we achieve equality, we have made progress in various realms. For example, in terms of education, Oberlin College of Ohio...
WMC News & Features
May 30, 2014 | Amy Baker |
Women in Foreclosure: Not Out of the Woods
In the second of a two-part series, the author reports that the federal response to the foreclosure crisis rescued the banking industry but provided only temporary relief for homeowners, and warns that as time is running out on homeowners’ protections, a failed safety net and poor job benefits leave women at risk. This feature is based on her March article in the University of Chicago’s journal Social Service Review.
WMC FBomb
Anorexia: A Disease, Not A Diet
“She was like, totally, anorexic,” my coworker stated, gesturing towards my other coworker. The formerly “anorexic” coworker in question nodded her head enthusiastically, as if being referred to as ha...
WMC FBomb
Why Does ‘Success’ For Women Still Ignore Tech?
I recently had the chance to attend two events meant to inspire my burgeoning professional career: Glamour Magazine’s “Top Ten College Women” event and the Bloomberg Enterprise Tech Summit. However, I...
WMC News & Features
May 27, 2014 | Robin Morgan |
What to Make of the Jill Abramson Firing
A special edition of Women’s Media Center Live With Robin Morgan devoted the entire hour to a roundtable of four distinguished journalists, all members of the WMC board of directors—Soraya Chemaly, Carol Jenkins, Geneva Overholser, and Gloria Steinem— delving into the implications of this firing. Following is an edited excerpt from that conversation. The full program is available at WMCLive.com and iTunes.
WMC FBomb
Why Sansa Stark Doesn’t Owe You Anything
I’m hesitant to trust people who call Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark whiney, basic, boring and weak. How someone feels about Sansa Stark tells me a lot about how they think about women.
Sansa Stark is ...
WMC FBomb
Don't Blame Girls for Their Own Sexualization
I was over the moon when I was able to attend to the Women in the World Summit this year, thanks to my best friend generously giving me her ticket. It was was awe-inspiring and powerful day. I felt li...
WMC News & Features
Women in Foreclosure: How We Got Here
In the first of a two-part series, the author describes the origins of the mortgage crisis and its impact on women. This feature is based on her March article in the University of Chicago’s journal Social Service Review.
WMC FBomb
Why We Need To Stop Romanticizing Mental Illness Amongst Teen Girls
I realized recently that my generation has a strange fascination with the perception of mental illness, especially as it relates to teenage girls. I've noticed young women posting many quotes about me...
WMC Women Under Siege
Rape is being used as tool of ethnic violence in South Sudan
In what experts are calling the single worst atrocity since fighting broke out in South Sudan last December, hundreds of men, women, and children were killed last month when rebels seized the northern oil town of Bentiu. The rebels denied the allegations, saying it was retreating government troops who perpetrated the murders. Then, fighters took to radio airwaves—the means by which most South Sudanese citizens access news—and broadcast “hate messages” calling on men to rape women.
WMC FBomb
The Fault In This Star
Shailene Woodley certainly seems to be a star on the rise. She has starred in numerous successful teen movies in the past year alone, such as The Spectacular Now, Divergent and the soon to be released...
WMC FBomb
What Young Women Really Need to Know About College
I went off to college my freshman year under the impression that I was headed towards the greatest experience of my life. Hastily-constructed college movies full of crappy dialogue and 30-year-old act...
WMC News & Features
May 14, 2014 | Latanya Mapp Frett |
Why Is It So Easy to Look Away When the Story Is about Women and Girls?
When in comes to telling the urgent story of the kidnapped Nigerian students, mainstream media have been slow to mobilize. The author, an international spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reveals why, and demands that we do better.
WMC Women Under Siege
Abduction of schoolgirls highlights Nigeria’s booming sex trafficking industry
On April 14, nearly 300 Nigerian girls were abducted from their dormitories in a school in the northeastern town of Chibok. But this is hardly the first time Nigerian children have been kidnapped en masse for the purposes of sex—in fact, Nigeria is the birthplace of a sex-trafficking pipeline that leads directly to Italy.
WMC FBomb
May 11, 2014 | Sabrina N |
Body image and body standards,
Feminism
On Overcoming Body Hatred
The first time I felt bad about my body was at my best friend’s swimming pool birthday party, when I was just 11 years old. My friend, who has a very different body shape than I do, was much smaller t...
WMC Women Under Siege
Exposing the secret of domestic abuse in Egypt
It wasn’t easy growing up as a teenage Muslim girl, with a father who thought he owned your body just because he put a roof over your head or food on the table. Not just that—this was a Muslim man who perverted the teachings of his own religion to justify the sexual abuse that he inflicted upon me, his own daughter.
WMC FBomb
Explaining the "Fake Geek Girl"
A few days ago, a friend of mine came to me with an all too common complaint. She was trying to get into a predominantly male fandom and was being met with accusations of being a “Fake Geek Girl”. For...