We certainly hope not, but a recent study in the United Kingdom quizzed 18-25 year olds (women only, of course. Men surely don't worry about such things...) about body image, and the group's answers are more than a little unnerving. The survey found that 41% of women respondents would rather have bigger breasts than a high IQ. For women who aren't necessarily that into the idea of a buxom bust, the survey offers a "slim figure" instead, which 44% would choose over high intelligence. The most staggering...

I think I can say with almost 100% certainty that most of us have seen and loved the many incarnations of the “Hey Girl” Ryan Gosling meme. From the original Feminist Ryan Gosling to Sex Radical Ryan Gosling, us Internet-dwellers have looked to Ryan's face for deep and meaningful social commentary (and eye candy, of course). But now the “Hey Girl” meme has evolved away from Ryan's chiseled cheekbones to other familiar faces. As a lady who is very interested in politics, I was ecstatic to discover Hey Girl,...

Yesterday, the Senate narrowly avoided another political attack on women's health when they voted 51 to 48 against the Blunt Amendment. Even though Republicans tried to assure everyone that this bill wasn't actually contributing to their war on women, (just their war on citizens who believe in the separation between church and state), it would have allowed employers to refuse to cover any health care service for their employees, and only have to cite  "moral reasons."So it's not like these super-moral people would mostly single...

President Obama called Sandra Fluke, the woman who testified about contraception in front of Congress and was called a "slut" by Rush Limbaugh, to make sure she's okay.    “He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women,” Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student said. “And what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my...

At this point, dealing with the shit that spews from Rush Limbaugh’s mouth becomes physically exhausting. I don’t know how he manages to keep topping himself, but he’s done it again – this time in the form of a horribly misogynistic (and just plain creepy) radio rant against Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke.  Fluke testified during an unofficial hearing headed by Nancy Pelosi, giving a personal account about the health problems caused due to inaccessibility to contraception.  On his show, Limbaugh called her out by name as...

A San Diego sports anchor has been suspended from work for a week without pay for comments he made about Nascar driver Danica Patrick during a live broadcast. The sports segment focused on Danica’s move from indie driver to Nascar driver and showed a clip of her talking about her distaste for the words used to describe female athletes, particularly descriptions of their looks, such as "sexy". The anchor responded, “I’ve got a few words. It’s starts with a ‘b’ and it’s not beautiful.” The...

Today the Senate shut down Sen. Roy Blunt's controversial amendment which would allow any employer the right to refuse coverage for any health service in conflict with their religious beliefs.   The debate centered around women's health, namely contraception, and brought us that lovely all-male hearing on the issue and a lot of ungrounded slut shaming from conservative pundits. Most Democrats and Republican Olympia Snowe voted no on the measure, citing the amendment's broad language as a cynical attack on women's rights. Republican supporters of the amendment...

When this Finnish HIV/AIDS awareness ad came out, it sparked a lot of controversy: was it empowering or was it slut-shaming? Was it slut-shaming, or female-shaming in general? Just because there is another ad with a man on it, does that make it okay? I'm still not completely sure. At first I was shocked and disgusted by the ad--it's been traveling the Tumblr circuit recently, which is where I first came across it--because the objectification of the woman (at first) seemed so obvious. I reblogged...

Off-color? Possibly. Inappropriate for an elected official? Maybe. Absolutely awesome? Definitely. At a personhood rally at the Oklahoma Capitol on Tuesday, Senator Judy Eason McIntyre of Tulsa, earned an audible “You go, girl!” from yours truly when she held up a sign reading, “If I wanted the government in my womb I'd fuck a senator.” Senator McIntyre didn’t bring the sign to the rally herself, but stated that when she saw it, she just had to have a photo with it. The rally (which had close to...

Recently Virginia lawmakers threw their hat in the race for Worst State to be a Woman In when they introduced anti-choice legislation. People across the state responded on Monday, February 20th, when over 1,200 people gathered on the Capitol grounds in silent protest. Despite that message, this week the House of Delegates passed SB 484, legislation which will force women seeking an abortion to undergo an expensive and medically unnecessary (not to mention invasive) ultrasound. Now more damaging legislation is making its way through the...