In Karen Sander's dystopian young adult book Tankborn, the world is a stringent caste system where race and origins determine all status. Tankborn was a hit and the sequel, Awakening, just came out this April, which means now is a great time to discuss the race and gender angle of the book. 

Here's all the feminist news that caught my eye today!

• Nooobama! The president's administration moved yesterday to challenge the science-backed decision to make Plan B available over-the-counter to girls under 15. [New York Times]  

• Climate change hurts women. Does anyone care? [Grist] 

• Seattle's May Day protests last night turned into a mess, complete with tear gas and dozens of police. Here's a rundown of what happened. [The Stranger]

• Survey says: Doctors aren't mean to fat patients, but just nicer to thin ones. [Jezebel] 

• The New York State GOP is blocking a bill backed by the governor that would reaffirm the right to abortion. [NYTimes City Room] 

• Mountain Dew yanks an absurd ad that manages to make light of sexual assault and stereotype Black men all in the name of selling soda. [Mediaite] 

• Remembering the Catholic reform homes for girls: A survivor of the Magdalene Laundries tells her story. [Washington Times] 

• There are two interesting pieces on adoption in the news today: The issues of representing trans-racial adoptions and the sad, dark side of domestic adoption.  [Sociological Images, Atlantic] 

• More on Femen's "topless jihad": One writer argues for why it was right. [Atlantic] 

What did I miss? Add it to the comments! 

There are all kinds of women warriors in pop culture: The Wonder Woman Amazon, the Black Widow martial arts expert, the Lara Croft tough-as-nails adventurer. And then there's the including equestrian heroines, like Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001) and Mulan (1998). Numerous factors influenced the design of these characters—like how well they could be turned into merchandise—but it's interesting that both Xena and Mulan address the same issues of feminiity that female heroes have been have been dealing with since Ancient Greece.