When I recently opened the September issue of Vogue, I was (for once) surprised by what I found. Hidden in the midst of 832 pages of fashion coverage was a 2-page ad featuring plus-size models dramati...
Growing up, neither my parents nor anybody in my religious community spoke honestly about women's sexual wants or needs. I was taught to follow a single rule: to remain pure until I got married and co...
*This piece contains spoilers.*
I was excited to see The Intern. The cast, including Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, is impressive and the unconventional story of an inter-generational friendship s...
I have seen evidence of gender-based discrimination in school since I was in fourth grade. I saw my teachers favor boys over girls and was constantly given less attention than my male classmates. I wa...
When I was 23 years old I dated two men at once. One taught me how I should be treated and the other taught me just the opposite. I regret neither relationship.
I met Noel first and he was everything...
The mainstream media has been fascinated with (especially female) college students’ sexuality for years. Rather than reflect the nuanced reality of their lives, however, women have largely been reduce...
The phrase “sexism is prevalent in Hollywood” feels a little bit like saying “water is wet.” Headlines abound about this unfortunate reality and industry insiders themselves are speaking out more than...
The music video for "Blurred Lines" marked an important moment in our culture — not because of the (highly sexist) video itself, but because feminist and anti-racist critiques of the video were widely...
College is a place where all students should feel empowered to discover their passions and prepare for their future careers. The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) was the place where I ...
Trigger Warning: Mention of sexual assault.
Out of every 6 American women, at least 1 will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. This horrifying yet all too common experien...
In March, Matt McGorry shared the dictionary’s definition of feminism on his Facebook Timeline. He explained that he was “embarrassed to admit that I only recently discovered the ACTUAL definition of ...
If a woman were to take over his role, the Dalai Lama said in September, she "must be attractive, otherwise it is not much use."
The self-proclaimed feminist's comment predictably and justifiably spur...
The Hunting Ground is an unabashed and damning portrayal of the still crucial and widespread problem of rape culture on college campuses. In fact, an estimated 20 to 25% of women in higher educational...
I took a seat on a vinyl chair next to my father in the event room of the American Legion in Weehawken, New Jersey. Weehawken is an urban township across the Hudson River from New York City, and its g...
A few weeks ago, I sat in the Chapel at Vassar College, surrounded by a multitude of individuals with varying intersectional identities and causes, listening to feminist scholar Angela Davis speak. Th...
I recently came across a great piece of advice from the inimitable Mindy Kaling: Your image in high school, she observed, usually has very little to do with your success later in life. In fact, they’r...
The announcement that a gender-swapped reboot of Ghostbusters will soon be in theaters has generated quite a bit of excitement. Considering the top-notch comedy actresses at the project's helm, includ...
21-year-old Seattle-based photographer and filmmaker Ashley Armitage's work is largely a tribute to female friendships and femininity. Her dreamy, nuanced photography lets viewers into the intimate, m...
“It’s just an excuse for sluts to be naked all the time.”
This was my mother's response to my attempt to explain the importance of the Free the Nipple movement. Although I disagree, I also know that ...
It's no secret that Hollywood is sexist. Studies, industry insiders and even the ACLU all confirm this. But as the many female creatives who won in their categories at the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards j...
The musical duo Harmony Trividad and Cleo Tucker, also known as "Girlpool," have a lot to say about the rigid expectations girls face growing up in America. Through unsettling harmonies and raw, cre...
A few weeks ago, I took my seat in the huge auditorium of my East Coast college preparatory boarding school for Proctor Training. The week-long event involved a series of workshops and lectures that t...
Though it appeared in Vanity Fair last year, a photo for which Kate Winslet posed sans makeup recently inspired a social media-based no-makeup selfie campaign. Fans were encouraged to post their own n...
"Where are you really from?"
"What are you?"
"You don't look Latina."
"Microaggressions" are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unint...
In theory, dating can be an incredible opportunity for two individuals to model gender-based equality and mutual respect. In practice, however, women are still frequently degraded and regarded as subm...