The Psychiatrist in My Writing Class and His ‘Gift’ of Hate By Rani Neutill Feature Rani Neutill recalls a literary workshop in which a white man critiqued her ability to write in “proper” English.
There Is No Other Way To Say This By Melissa Batchelor Warnke Feature “Tell them on the outside,” Carolyn Forché’s Salvadoran mentor instructed her. Her memoir is her latest attempt. Its elliptical lyricism, like that of her poetry, runs circles around censorship.
Game of Crones By Laura Lippman Feature It wasn’t entirely Laura Lippman’s idea to become a mother in her 50s. But when it happened, she leaned in hard.
The Women Characters Rarely End Up Free: Remembering Rachel Ingalls By Ruby Brunton Feature The recently re-appreciated novelist Rachel Ingalls passed away last month. She was among a cohort of twentieth-century women writers who were ‘famous for not being famous.’
A Woman’s Work: The Inside Story By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson examines some of the inner workings of a woman’s body from puberty to menopause.
For the Thirsty Girl By Soraya Roberts Feature Thirst used to be desperation, now it’s aspiration. And men are finding it hard to quench.
If Following McMillan Cottom and Gay on Twitter Isn’t Enough, Here You Go By Michelle Weber Highlight More of this sort of thing, thanks.
How Does a Person Lose Track of Their Diary? By Sophie Lucido Johnson Feature Stumbling upon someone’s lost journal in a used book store leads Sophie Lucido Johnson down a path she couldn’t have expected.
Queens of Infamy: Josephine Bonaparte, from Malmaison to More-Than-Monarch By Anne Thériault Feature In fraught games of power politics, sometimes the best revenge is not being exiled to die alone on an island in the South Atlantic.
Dancing Backup: Puerto Ricans in the American Muchedumbre By Carina del Valle Schorske Feature Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo.
Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Land Grabs By Melissa Chadburn Feature Melissa Chadburn challenges her own belief that environmental justice issues are reserved for people of privilege.
Queens of Infamy: Josephine Bonaparte, from Martinique to Merveilleuse By Anne Thériault Feature Even the Reign of Terror was no match for a determined young woman with a pug and a prophecy on her side.
Someone Called Mother By Max and Jill Talbot Feature Their mothers were secrets, right up until their deaths.
Who You Were Is Who You Are Is Who You Will Be By Michelle Weber Highlight Some of the trappings might change, but you at 27 is fundamentally you at 37 is you at 47. La plus ça change!
Preparing for a Post-Roe America By Laura Barcella Feature Activist and author Robin Marty says the biggest threat facing women in a post-Roe America would be arrest, not death.
We’ve All Been Unreliable Witnesses to Lorena By Michelle Weber Highlight “I’ll put myself through the jokes and everything as long as I can shine a light on domestic violence and sexual assault and marital rape.”
Labor Pains: A Reading List By Sara Benincasa Reading List No one ever said expelling a tiny human our of your body would be easy — or if they did, they shouldn’t have.
Elegy in Times Square By Lily Burana Feature A former teenage peep show girl looks back on a queer love story that began in New York’s notorious red-light district.
The Indignities of Poverty, Compounded by the Requirement to Prove It By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from her debut memoir, Stephanie Land recalls being poor, and moving with her young daughter from a homeless shelter to transitional housing.
There Was Nothing We Could Have Done, Because We’re Racist and You’re Black By Michelle Weber Highlight “The prevalent perception of black women as unruly bodies and incompetent caretakers overrules even the most dominant stereotype about us—namely, that we are superhuman.”
The Silence of Women By Longreads Feature Women who spoke too angrily or too publicly were punished in cruel and unusual ways.
Repairman-man-man-(wo)man By Catherine Cusick Highlight Lauren Hough recounts a decade of misadventures as a female cable tech in the DC Metro Area.
The Thrill (and the Heavy Emotional Burden) of Blazing a Trail for Black Women Journalists By Longreads Feature Dorothy Butler Gilliam remembers how exciting it was to integrate The Washington Post, but also how lonely — and often attacked — she felt as the first black woman reporter in the newsroom.
A Woman’s Work: The Outside Story By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson catalogues her efforts to maintain her appearance from about 1970 to 2018.
Swipe White By Jennifer Chong Schneider Feature Jennifer Chong Schneider considers what it is to be Asian, maligned, and fetishized in dating — and questions her own desire when she dates someone of her own ethnicity for the first time.
They Wanted Her Body By Rafia Zakaria Feature Thinking of Qandeel Baloch’s murder as an honor killing doesn’t capture the whole truth. She was silenced for revealing men’s hypocrisy.
As Beauty Does By Chaya Bhuvaneswar Feature Chaya Bhuvaneswar contemplates the powerful evolution of a woman’s beauty over time.
Thank You for Not Being Afraid, Pat Maginnis By Michelle Weber Highlight Compromise and political reform only take you so far; sometimes you need to shake the whole system.
Queens of Infamy: Zenobia By Anne Thériault Feature In third-century Syria, a widowed monarch dared to be wildly ambitious — and almost brought the Roman Empire to its knees.
