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On Our Radar: Feminist News Roundup

News post by Erica Thomas on April 18, 2014 - 9:30am;

Here's all the feminist news on our radar today.

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) has already started bullying the nominee for head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Mathews Burwell. He doesn't seem to mind that fact checkers at Politifact proved his Obamacare criticisms are false. [Salon]

• Chelsea Clinton announced that she is pregnant during an event promoting the “No Ceilings” initiative—a Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation initiative to advance women and girls. [NY Times]

• Speaking of which, check out Jennifer Ajaya's new essay explaining why asking someone when they are going to have kids makes you an insensitive jerk. [Huffington Post]

• “What’s up with chicks and science?” Neil DeGrasse Tyson—my absolute favorite scientist and one of my favorite humans—takes on this super-offensive question posed by former Treasury Security and Harvard University President Lawrence Summers during a panel discussion sponsored by the Center for Inquiry. [Upworthy]

• Female superheroes like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow character in recent Marvel comic movies can’t break the glass ceiling: “Clad in skintight black, she is closer to a BDSM fantasy than a genuine threat to the male hierarchy.” [PolicyMic]

• I wonder what the Guerrilla Girls think about the fact that their feminist work "Do women have to be nude to get into the Met Museum?" was included on this list of the “Top 10 Female Nudes in Art”? [The Guardian]

• This awesome high school couple is speaking out against the transphobic school administrators at Martin Luther High School in Queens who banned them from their prom. Administrators called Nathaniel Baez’s transition “unconventional” and “not beneficial”—whatever that means. [Huffington Post]

a photo of the high school couple

What news is on your radar? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Read the List of 2013's Most Frequently Banned Books

Books post by Erin Blakemore on April 17, 2014 - 4:05pm; tagged education, YA.

an american flag made from banned books

The Dayton Metro Library created this flag of the 100 most-challenged books from 1990-2000. Photo via Flickr.

On Monday of this week, the American Library Association released the list of 2013’s top ten most frequently challenged books. You’d expect it to be packed with racy titles, yes? In fact, seven out of the ten top titles would be shelved in a bookstore’s young adult or children’s section.

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"Orphan Black" is the Sci-Fi Thriller I've Been Waiting For.

TV post by Emily Gaudette on April 17, 2014 - 1:56pm; tagged General nerditry, Sci-Fi.

three clones of Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the most popular sci-fi on television didn’t involve a ton of misogyny? And had real, complex female characters? I’m looking at you, The Walking Dead. You dropped the ball so early in your first season that it rolled down the hill and I forgot you had a ball in the first place.

Enter Orphan Black, the BBC drama starring Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany whose second season premieres April 19.

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Ms. Opinionated: How Do I Deal With a Racist Friend-of-a-Friend?

Ms. Opinionated post by Sydette Harry on April 17, 2014 - 10:34am; tagged advice, internets, Race.

Welcome to Ms. Opinionated, our weekly advice column dealing with questions of life, love, feminism, and pop culture. Submit your anonymous questions here. This week, Sydette Harry responds to a reader who's struggling with a person who fills their Facebook feed with racist jokes.

Dear Ms. Opinionated,

I have been with my current partner for over two years now and we are happily living together with set plans to get married in the very near future. My partner has a few friends that I sometimes I ask myself how a smart and insightful person such as himself could be friends with, but I've brushed it off as nothing until today. My partner has a certain friend who is extremely (not that you can place racism on a continuum scale) racist towards Middle Eastern people.

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On Our Radar: Feminist News Roundup

News post by Sarah Mirk on April 17, 2014 - 10:00am;

Here's all the feminist news we're reading today:

• The Egyptian government has staged a series of raids on the homes of gay people, raising fears of an anti-gay crackdown in the country. [Guardian]

• Yikes. The director of the X-Men movies, Bryan Singer, is accused of raping a 17-year-old boy. [The Frisky]

• Should shows like RuPaul's Drag Race strike "the t word" from their vocabulary? Transgender Drag Race contestant Carmen Carrera says using the word "tranny" is like "saying 'faggot,' 'spic,' or the n word. It's just these words you don't speak." [The Advocate]

• I've often thought of football and feminism as being at odds with each other, but this compelling essay from writer Jessica Luther explains how changing football culture can lead to changing rape culture. [The Nation]

• The Ladydrawers and Truthout have a new original comic about a garment factory in Cambodia that employs women who might otherwise become sex workers. [Truthout]

• Why are people always surprised to discover that there's rampant misogyny online? [This Ain't Livin']

• Check out the first four minutes of upcoming documentary The Illusionists, which explores the global spread of white and Western beauty standards. [Sociological Images]

• And what's this? The trailer for the new season of Orange is the New Black came out?! Excuse me, I need to spend the next 20 minutes watching this on repeat.

What did I miss? Add what you're reading to the comments.

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Once and For All: No Bras Were Burned in the Making of Feminism

History post by Sarah Mirk on April 16, 2014 - 1:47pm; tagged Adventures in Feministory, media.

the 1968 miss america protest

The 1968 Miss America protest where, contrary to popular belief, no bras were burned. Photo via Media Myth Alert.

In this excerpt from his new book Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World author Kembrew McLeod challenges some rosy visions of 1960s progressive movements.

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On Our Radar: Feminist News Roundup

News post by Sarah Mirk on April 16, 2014 - 10:41am;

Here's all the feminist news on our radar today:

• Some funny ladies in the Bay Area (above) are gearing up for Femprov, San Francisco's first all-women improv festival. [Femprov]

• Columbia University announced the Pulitzer Prize winners this week—here's a rundown of all the nominated stories that deal with issues of race. [Codeswitch]

• Writer Melanie Green tells us everything we never thought to ask about mammoplasty. [The Toast]

• Who's watching new HBO show Silicon Valley? I haven't seen the show about the tech industry scene, but blogger Dr. Goddess wrote this disheartening response to the series' only black characters so far. [Dr. Goddess]

• Here's a really interesting look at the creation of "teenagers" as a distinct age group between kids and adulthood. [Collector's Weekly]