When Alice Sebold, the award-winning author of the book The Lovely Bones, was a student at Syracuse University in 1981, she was the victim of sexual assault. After a few months, she encountered Anthony Broadwater, a Black man, and was convinced that she recognized him as being her rapist. In 1982, Broadwater was found guilty based on Sebold’s testimony and hair analysis that tied him to the crime. Broadwater never pled guilty and was denied parole several times. In 1999, Sebold published Lucky, in which...

It seems that Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett is upholding her prescribed role in the Supreme Court as she pushes for the overruling of Roe v. Wade. Following Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case that makes abortions illegal after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the court’s oral arguments highlight a clear divide between liberal and conservative judges while driving at the central question of abortion as a states’ issue or Constitutional right. While Justice Barrett advocates for forced...

Sarah Everard was a 33-year-old white woman who went missing after leaving a friend’s house in the evening and walking to her home in Clapham on March 3, 2021. She was missing for a week until her body was found on March 10th. Six months later, it was revealed that police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, had handcuffed Everard in a fake COVID arrest, before raping and murdering her.  In the week when Everard was missing, the media kept the public up-to-date with the search for her...

Davina McCall continues to speak out about menopause, announcing that there'll be a follow up documentary to her Channel 4 doc, Davina McCall: Sex, Myths, and the Menopause, in 2022. “You don’t have to be menopausal. You don’t have to be a woman. This is something everyone needs to know,” says McCall in the opening of her first documentary.  The first documentary, which has been watched by over two million people, has received 3 television awards including a BAFTA Scotland. The follow up documentary which will...

On November 12th,  the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), held in Glasgow, Scotland, brought down the curtain on  two weeks of meetings between leaders from all over the world. Although the outcomes are widely discussed by many climate change activists, one point was raised during the event: the intricate relationship between gender and environmental crisis.  According to the International Panel on Climate Change, women would be even more touched by climate change than men because of their socio-economic status. According to the UN, women in...

Peng Shuai, former Wimbeldon and French Open doubles champ, posted a 1,600 word post on her Weibo account chronicaling a 10 year relationship with former Communist Party leader Zhang Gaoli on Tuesday, November 2, including allegations of sexual assault. The post, written as an open letter to Zhang, was deleted within half an hour and searches for Peng Shuai’s name yielded no results. Zhang served as Vice Premier during President Xi Jinping’s first term, 2012 to 2017, before retiring in 2018. China’s constitution includes freedom of...

Over the last month, the battle between Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Paul Gosar has continued to heat up. On Sunday, November 7th, Gosar took to Twitter to share an anime-themed parody video featuring many political faces. In the 92-second short video with the caption, “Any anime fans out there?” Gosar, along with other GOP members were depicted battling a giant monster with the face of Ocasio-Cortez . Gosar, starring as the Attack on Titans’ protagonist Eren Yaeger, later launches into the sky to...

  Asanni Armon looks radiant, dominating the room in a white column silk dress, her striking, attentive eyes peeking out from her long blond extensions. Her skin is luminous and makeup impeccable. She takes breaks from a photo shoot to check her phone to see when the opening DJ will be arriving – ensuring that everything is on track before her guests arrive. “Excuse me for a moment because I have to check on the DJ and whether the tables are ready for the guests,” she...

November marks Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate and explore the extraordinary cultures, traditions, contributions, and histories of Native American communities and individuals. Womanica is a daily women’s history podcast from Wonder Media Network, and for the month of November we're helping BUST highlight indigenous women from around the globe, with a particular focus on Native American women in honor of this important month. While we’ve covered quite a few Indigenous women on the podcast over the years, the opportunity to research a month’s worth of...

If the thought of child marriage conjures clichés of religious extremists in far-away lands, think again. Girls from every race, religion, and social class are being married off to adult men—right here in America. “I never wanted to get married but I don’t think I had a choice, he was going to get charged with statutory rape,” former child bride Brittany Koerselman tells me from her home in Pocahontas, IA. Now 23, she was 15 when she married her 21-year-old boyfriend in 2014. Seven months pregnant...