WMC Women Under Siege
Why are we still surprised that Egypt’s women are not free?
Egyptians often tout their country as a beacon of culture, liberalism, and Muslim modesty in the Middle East. But in terms of freedoms for women, a recent study on how people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public showed that Egypt is significantly more conservative than its Arab neighbors.
WMC FBomb
Why Girls Want American Girl to Commit To Diversity
When I was younger, I owned an American Girl doll, like many girls my age. I wasn’t as big a fan as some girls, but I really loved the books that went with each doll. I read all the stories that were ...
WMC Women Under Siege
New report details ongoing sexualized violence in Burma
On November 27, 2012, a 26-year-old woman was gang-raped by seven Burmese soldiers. When the woman’s husband returned home, the soldiers threatened to kill him. “Even if you tell other people, there is no one who will take action,” they said. “We have the authority to rape women.”
WMC FBomb
Feminism Has Changed Me: Claiming My Black Latina Identity
Throughout the last few weeks, I have been introduced to a powerful movement called feminism. I have never been as inspired and motivated to use my voice than I am right now. The more that I have been...
WMC FBomb
Support Women Artists Sunday: Lizzo
Melissa Jefferson, better known by her stage name Lizzo, is an American alternative hip hop artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a founding member of indie hip hop groups The Chalice, Grrrl ...
WMC FBomb
Saturday Vids: Celebrating the Heroic Women of 2013
Is this a corporate video produced by Microsoft as a way to promote their products? Yes. Did it still make me happy to see clips of inspiring women who made 2013 great set to an over-played pop song? ...
WMC FBomb
Advice to My Thirteen-Year-Old Self
I was inspired to start Advice to My Thirteen-Year-Old Self, an anthology of advice letters written by fifty women to their teenage selves, because next year, my daughter will be turning thirteen. I w...
WMC News & Features
January 08, 2014 | Katti Gray |
Shedding New Light on Race and the Movies
Several notable films featuring black lead characters garnered much media attention in 2013. But a new study of 500 films takes a deeper look at who audiences are seeing on screen—and how that is affected by who is behind the camera.
WMC Women Under Siege
‘How to rape a woman’: Searching for porn, ending up here
Sometimes I look at the Google Analytics for this site. Usually while I’m doing research or working on our social media, I’ll click over to a window I have open and see who is on the site right now—what countries they’re reading from, what stories they’ve landed on, and, sometimes, what words they searched to get to our project. It’s pretty interesting overall.
WMC FBomb
Women's Football: Feminist or Sexist?
Football seems to be the sport that excludes women the most. In this day in age we have women's leagues for softball, baseball, and the WNBA, but football always had men in the spotlight being cheere...
WMC Women Under Siege
Why has it become normal to dehumanize women in India?
Two years ago, on New Year’s Eve, a girl was molested on the streets of Delhi in front of a crowd. The video went viral—as did the spectacle of a mob of men falling upon the woman and the police thrashing the rabid mob with lathis (batons) like a pack of dogs.
WMC FBomb
Recovering from an Abusive Relationship
After I escaped my abusive relationship I overexerted and exhausted myself at my own expense for the sake of resolving public opinion. I felt I needed to explain why I had been behaving so differently...
WMC FBomb
Support Women Artists Sunday: Beatrice Eli
Beatrice was born in 1987 and received much of her musical upbringing via MTV and the American soul / R & B / hip-hop videos that channel served. Alongside the influential music channel she grew u...
WMC FBomb
Saturday Vids: Support Obvious Child
Gillian Robespierre, Writer/Director: "I first made the 'Obvious Child' short film in the Winter of 2009 with my friends Anna Bean and Karen Maine. We were frustrated by the limited representations of...
WMC News & Features
Global Feminism in One Place? It’s Possible!
An innovative new project is giving feminists worldwide the tools to be visible, connected, and more powerful.
WMC FBomb
On Eradicating Violence Against Women
My college’s office of sexual assault prevention recently hosted a talk by Leslie Morgan Steiner. Steiner, a Harvard graduate, TED talk speaker, and author of Crazy Love, spoke about her experience...
WMC Women Under Siege
10 ways women are criminalized for being brutalized—as seen in a single story
On December 30, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about Lalasa Devi, a woman in her mid-30s who is part of India’s “untouchable” cast. Devi says a man raped her one night nine months ago and that she has seen no justice since. I’ve rarely read a case that speaks as clearly as this one does to why women don’t report rape.
WMC Women Under Siege
Silent slaves: Stories of human trafficking in India
In a women’s ward in a New Delhi hospital lies a frail 15-year-old girl. Her face and head are bandaged, leaving visible only a bruised blue-black eye and swollen lips. Burn marks and scabs extend down her neck to her whole body, and a strange stench surrounds her.
WMC FBomb
Helle Thorning-Schmidt vs. Mary Beard or Why Women Just Can't Get It Right
You've been living under a rock if you're not in the know about the Obama #selfie pic which circulated after the Nelson Mandela memorial service. If you have in fact been residing under said rock then...
WMC Women Under Siege
December 23, 2013 International,
Violence against women
2013 #MustReads on WMC’s Women Under Siege
We started off the year with a call to end the “culture of rape in 2013,” leading to a widely used hashtag offering ideas as to how at #2013EndRape. From there, we looked at the big picture of violence—why it’s so widespread and continues unabated, who it affects and how it is measured—in a number of pieces including...
WMC FBomb
December 23, 2013 | Tanvi S |
Feminism
On Keeping Your Last Name
There are so many little things we do that unconsciously lock us into the mindset that women are inferior. There are of course the big things that cause inequality that we obviously need to change, li...
WMC Women Under Siege
December 18, 2013 | Reem Abdel-Razek |
Disability,
International,
Violence against women,
WMC Loreen Arbus Journalism Program
Did not wearing a veil lead to an acid attack in Egypt?
A few weeks ago I received a message from a friend in Cairo about a horrible attack on her sister, Esraa Mohamed. Esraa was walking in her own neighborhood at 3 p.m. when she realized she was being followed by a well-dressed, respectable looking stranger. He said, “I am not harassing you but don’t forget to wipe off your pants.”
WMC News & Features
The Winter Holiday War: It’s Older Than You Think
In the midst of media-fed notions of a “war on Christmas,” let us remember that mid-winter holidays have a long and rich history, and that the season belongs to all of us.
WMC Women Under Siege
What does it mean when women perpetrate gang rapes?
When I research rape in war, particularly gang rape, three thoughts prevail: First, the repeated illustration that rape is the expression of dominance, a vicious and complex way of ensuring that certain people and institutions function and thrive; second, that sexualized violence is not inevitable; and third, that women in the world experience life the way that imprisoned men do.
WMC FBomb
The Art of Recreating Yourself
I’ve always made “New Years Resolutions” and “School Year Resolutions.” Sometimes, “Summer Vacation Resolutions.” The idea of change has always appealed to me, and that includes feeling the need to ch...