“I chose journalism to be close to people. It might not be easy to change the reality but at least I could bring their voice to the world. I am Shireen Abu Akleh.” Perhaps by now we’ve all heard of Shireen Abu Akleh. If you have not, you should. …

The Gnostics ask: “How long will men make war?” And the answer? “As long as women have children.” There are so many ways to interpret this, but one explanation is this: Men make war because women have children. Women are breeders of soldiers. Or so is said. But this seems…

I first read The Handmaid’s Tale in 1989, four years after it was published. I was in high school. And I was appalled. The story takes place in a supposedly-fictional patriarchal state, where women known as “handmaids” are forced to bear children. Margaret Atwood’s “futuristic dystopian” novel was, to me…

Catcalling never seems to die. You look like you need a big d***! That’s the kind of a** I’d like to bite! Look at that tight white t-shirt on a cold day! Why don’t you just… smile!? Sound familiar? At least in some form? For women and girls, that is. …

Young feminists. We say they have a voice, that they are engaged, that they are leading in their own right, that they are strong and unrelenting. We assume they are a monolith. We assume we’ve adequately supported them and paved the way for them to take over. We assume we…

I talk about violence against women a lot. Like, a LOT. When I do, I refer to it as “male violence against females” to be specific about the forms of violence I focus on, and to be specific about who the survivor is, and to be specific about who the…

I spent the weekend interviewing my seven-year-old niece about women’s rights. She had a lot to say. So, let’s get this interview started. How old are you? Well, I’m basically eight. Ok, seven and a half. Ok, more than a half. We’ve talked about what I do… Do you remember…

It’s the end of March, the end of so-called Women’s History Month, the month when we “celebrate” women’s contributions by exponentially increasing their emotional labor. Ironic, in a month that was created to recognize and value women’s contributions and women’s work. Why, then, do I have to organize my own…

Madeleine Albright died today. She was 84. Much will be written about her life and legacy in the coming hours and days. But the question I want to tackle is this: Was Madeleine Albright a feminist? She was a “first”. The first woman to serve as US Secretary of State…