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Lessons from Riley Gaines on participation trophies and main character syndrome
Women’s sports rarely get the respect they deserve and very few female athletes ever break through to become household names. Stellar performances by Brittney Griner, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and many more have made the WNBA what it is today. But it’s not a coincidence that the arrival of Caitlin Clark, a white University of […]
First the GOP came for abortion. Birth control, surrogacy and IVF are next.
For girls like me who came of age in the ‘80s while the backlash to the women’s liberation movement raged, it was a profoundly confusing time. On one hand, we grew up listening to “Free to Be … You and Me” combat harmful sexist stereotypes, but the decade was also marked by stifling pressures to […]
For the mothers the pandemic has left behind
Moms are tired. Bone-tired. That’s the word that comes up again and again whenever I talk to other mothers these days. No matter how strong you think you are, the last few years have taken a crushing toll. Everyone bears the scars of the pandemic in different ways. But there have been so many other […]
The far-right’s repulsive ‘groomer’ attack is a clarion call for violence
Earlier this month, Michigan state Sen. Lana Theis used her invocation on the Senate dais to launch a political tirade that children are “under attack” from “forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know.” That prompted walkouts from some Democratic senators, so Theis saw an opportunity to […]
How do you solve poverty? Throw money at the problem.
If there’s one enduring myth in America, it’s that there’s nothing we can really do to end poverty. Most policy prescriptions during the last few decades — from setting up Byzantine barriers to programs like food stamps and Medicaid to doing nothing at all — are rooted in condescending lore that poor people deserve to […]
Why didn’t COVID make us question what the ‘pro-life’ movement is about?
Last week, my almost 19-year-old daughter stepped foot on her college campus to take classes for the first time (a year late thanks to the loud, selfish minority’s continual refusal to take COVID seriously). As I hugged her goodbye, it occurred to me that she now has fewer rights as a woman than I did […]
Ford, 21 AGs tell congressional leaders to guard against voter suppression
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, along with 21 other attorneys general, on Monday sent a letter to bipartisan congressional leaders urging them to pass legislation protecting against both voter suppression and election subversion and possibly reform the filibuster. “Following the 2020 presidential election, we witnessed something many of us considered unthinkable: an attempt by the […]
It’s never our time: Why we won’t have a female president next year
The 2020 Democratic presidential race, which, at one point, was brimming with promise with a high water mark of six women contenders, has dwindled to one. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) exited the race Thursday, leaving just U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). (I’ll leave myself a pundit-y out here, but it doesn’t look good). And, in […]