NY Women's Issues Examiner

Must... not... graffitti...

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:26:29 -0700

I keep seeing these posters when I'm waiting for the subway.

And I keep being tempted to write on them: "Totally unrealistic standards of beauty. What could go wrong?"

Must... not... grafitti...

Cooking: chore or choice?

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:24:59 -0700

The cover story of this weekend’s New York Times Magazine is an article by Michael Pollan, in which the author of In Defense of Food laments the disappearance of cooking from American homes. He also observes, with dismay, the ever-increasing ...

Adventures in really bad marketing

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:55:52 -0700

Um, what?As I stood at the checkout counter of my local Fairway supermarket today, I made two very important discoveries. The first is that Fairway carries Darrell Lea soft licorice, which until today I thought was only available in my home country, ...

The return of student activism

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:56:32 -0700

A huge high-five to the students at NYU Law School, who last week engaged in a bit of what used to be called, when my parents were in college, “student activism.” We don’t see as much of it as we’d like these days, but the stu...

Counting roses and reading Irigaray

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:03:24 -0700

In last Friday’s Times, a member of the Middlebury class of 2012, an eighteen-year-old rising sophomore, wrote about her struggle with anorexia in high school, and described how heading to college inspired her to recover.Dana Walters, an Engl...

Women's rights and women's opportunities

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:00:05 -0700

A few days ago, during a job interview, I had a question thrown at me that I’ve come to dread answering in many circles. What, my potential boss asked me, is my dream job? Since the job I was interviewing for – part-time receptionist &n...

Imagine this scene with the genders reversed

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:21:03 -0700

Yesterday, I wrote about how to combat the unpleasant trend of using the term “rape” to describe a particularly bad experience. I argued that to use the word “rape” to describe something like being forced to sit through a ba...

"That's not funny": a guide to feminist buzzkillery

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:39:32 -0700

“I was forced to watch High School Musical 2 last night,” my friend Will told me this afternoon as we sat in the theatre together, waiting for a show to start. “It was like date rape.”I frowned at him and said, “That&...

Making our mothers proud

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:00:53 -0700

Today, Friday, is the final day of the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy. On the agenda for the high-profile annual gathering were a number of issues, including the economic crisis, climate change and Third World development. In the days an...

Mourning Marwa

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:25:59 -0700

APThere are some stories that are so heartbreaking, so horrifying, that it’s difficult to know how to even begin telling them. The story of Marwa el-Sherbini, the woman now being called a “headscarf martyr,” is one of those stories...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:06:57 -0700

Well, we did it. We graduated. We made it through all the lectures and papers and midterms and finals and we’re ready to take on the big, bad world. In which there are no jobs.Shit.For my graduating class, the great class of 2009,...

Your husband called...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:54:09 -0700

I’ve always been a fan of the site Overheard in New York. It’s proof that the best comedy is rarely written by screenwriters. Often it isn’t even written at all – at least, not until the person standing behind you comm...

Heidi Montag: OB/Genius

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:59:51 -0700

Reality TV star Heidi Montag gave a radio interview a few days ago, and oh my goodness does she have some interesting beliefs about birth control. Jezebel reports:I was just saying about birth control, because I got very scared about it the ...

At Wimbledon, talent doesn't sell tickets

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:21:02 -0700

It’s a pity I don’t particularly like tennis. I took lessons when I was a kid, but I was a pretty talentless player. Once, in a dramatic attempt to run to the net and volley, I somehow managed to clock my doubles partner rather hard in th...

Woman has period, men have field day

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:35:39 -0700

“Jankovic blames women’s problems,” the headlines are screaming. Or at least, the headlines outside the US. Most American papers are fixated on the fact that Melanie Oudin, the 17-year-old nobody who bested 6th-seeded Jelena Jankovi...

Diets don't work. Really.

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:38:24 -0700

Diets don’t work. It sounds like heresy, I know. But stay with me.A few years ago, I decided to try doing something that often seems impossible in this culture. I decided to stop hating my body. I decided to stop critiquing it and starv...