WMC Women Under Siege
Siege talks to BBC about why sexualized violence against women is under-reported
With the story of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by an extremist group in Nigeria hot in the news, we spoke to the BBC about why coverage of such violence against women and girls in conflict is so sporadic—and what can be done to make a lasting difference once and for all in the media and in the lives of those affected around the world.
WMC News & Features
May 07, 2014 | Shazia Z. Rafi |
Laying Claim to Our Bodies
As parliament considers a law to roll back abortion rights, women in Spain are trying a novel approach to assert ownership of their bodies.
WMC FBomb
May 06, 2014 | Katie Koestner |
Feminism,
Gender-based violence,
Media,
Politics,
Violence against women
An Open Letter to TBTN Event Holders
I was 18 years old when I joined you. Many of you had been holding Take Back the Night events in rain or snow, amid hecklers, for years. Some of you were already making your way to radical, already p...
WMC FBomb
America Voted for Laverne Cox, So Why Didn't TIME Magazine Listen?
When I was in 12th grade, I asked my parents to buy me a subscription to TIME Magazine so I could learn more about current events before heading off to college. I still remember when the TIME 100 Most...
WMC Women Under Siege
The Index: Justice for Rape in War
Year in which General Andrew Jackson is credited with coining the phrase “booty and beauty” to make clear what kind of “spoils…to the victor go”: 1812 ... Year in which an international tribunal established that sexualized violence is a crime against humanity and potentially an act of genocide: 1995 ...
WMC News & Features
May 02, 2014 | Robin Morgan |
Still Speaking Truth: Anita Hill in a Conversation With Robin Morgan
More than 23 years after Anita Hill testified before a Senate committee of 14 white men about the sexual harassment she had experienced at the hands of then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, th...
WMC FBomb
Changing the Dialogue About Women’s Sports
It has been a pretty good month to be from Connecticut. March Madness came to a close on Monday, April 7th and Tuesday, April 8th, with the championship victories of the Men and Women’s National Baske...
WMC FBomb
Lady Promposals: I'm Breaking the Prom Double Standard -- Right Now
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="267" caption="The art of the promposal"][/caption]
With my grade's school day countdown approaching the twenties, obligatory end-of-high-school events are beco...
WMC FBomb
April 23, 2014 | Darializa Avila-Chevalier |
Arts and culture,
Education,
Feminism,
Media,
Race/Ethnicity
Choosing Not to Support Marginalization of Minority Groups Through Illustration
As an artist for my college's newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, I sometimes have to illustrate pieces laced with unrecognized privilege. I’ve drawn for articles that fetishize poverty in Spanish Harl...
WMC News & Features
April 23, 2014 | Trish Bendix |
Women Find Themselves on the Web
Amid ample evidence that both the small and big screens are still a man’s world, women are finding audiences by creating their own series and making them available on the web.
WMC Women Under Siege
A Delhi street where sex workers are forgotten
With painted faces and shiny clothes, almost every day of their lives these women are forced to sell themselves for sex. Their work and lives are at the bottom of everyone’s concern, but they are still tied to Garstin Bastion Road—commonly known as GB Road—Delhi’s biggest red light area, which lies at the center of a busy commercial corner of the capital.
WMC FBomb
Exciting News: The FBomb Is Joining the Women's Media Center
Discovering the world of feminist blogging was an experience of simultaneous relief and isolation: just as Second Wave feminists have described the way consciousness raising allowed them to realize th...
WMC News & Features
April 18, 2014 | Kate Rounds |
One-Stop Shopping
A Buffalo abortion clinic adds a birthing center, creating a new model of a full-service facility for women’s reproductive health.
WMC FBomb
Why We Must Speak Out
I love Sara Bareilles’ Brave. Who doesn’t love a message about overcoming fear in order to express one’s opinions?
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
W...
WMC FBomb
Not "Crazy," Just Dedicated
When girls are young, Cinderella tells them “dreams really do come true.” As we get older, that philosophy changes and we learn that life isn’t actually a fairytale. You have to work hard in order to ...
WMC Women Under Siege
‘Everybody knew who testified’: Can disguises work for rape survivors?
A woman sits, microphone in hand, behind a billowing, black curtain—further obscured by a black veil that hides her face, her body, and even her hands—as she finds the courage to recount her rape by government soldiers in Minova, Democratic Republic of Congo.
WMC Women Under Siege
‘The system is designed to make you give up’: An American tackles domestic violence in China
Kim Lee met Li Yang on a trip to China in 1999, when he was lecturing about “Crazy English,” a way of learning the language that involved overcoming inhibitions through shouting slogans such as “Conquer English to Make China Stronger!”
WMC News & Features
April 09, 2014 | Dr. Martha Lauzen |
Moving Beyond the Bechdel Test
The author, a leading expert on women in the film industry, introduces new research that goes beyond the numbers, revealing the quality of films’ portrayals of women.
WMC FBomb
Are We Sexually Equal?
Women have made great strides towards social, political and economic equality in the past decades, but where do we stand in terms of sexual equality? Humans are sexual creatures who all want to explor...
WMC Women Under Siege
Where sisterhood ends: The victim in your own home
When the case of a 23-year-old Indonesian domestic worker made international headlines, readers were shocked to hear of the physical abuse that left the once vibrant young woman nearly disabled. But just as shocking to the international community was the subsequent revelation that her employer—a 40-year-old mother of two—had been charged with the attacks.
WMC FBomb
Girls: Do We Run The World?
I love Beyonce’s song Girls Run The World, it has an awesome chorus, a pumping beat, and a great message about the power of women. But unfortunately I think James Brown more accurately depicts our...
WMC News & Features
April 03, 2014 | Rikki Rogers |
Meet Your Brand’s New Spokesperson: Funny, Female, and Fully Clothed
The author, a marketing professional, takes note of some new and different female characters in TV ads—and hopes that they will set a trend.
WMC FBomb
Body Shaming In College Health Services Needs to Stop
“So it says on your record that you have a history with an eating disorder.”
“Yes,” I sputtered. I know it’s true, but no matter how many times the nurse practitioners read it to me at Barnard Colleg...
WMC FBomb
March 30, 2014 | Maya Richard-Craven |
Feminism
Would You Change Your Name?
It all started after a commentator on Thought Catalog assumed I was married after reading one of my articles. Although the article focused on questions surrounding racial bias in college hook-up cultu...
WMC Women Under Siege
Mind the digital gender gap: Empowering women online
Women face a variety of barriers to full and equal access, including cost, lack of digital literacy, lack of awareness of the Internet’s potential, and entrenched cultural and gender norms that limit them from forming independent connections outside their home or community. These obstacles are worth overcoming.