My Nintendo Wii thinks I am 83-years-old. It really does--this is not hyperbole. That's because when I took the physical fitness test offered on Wii Sports, the console could tell I was not the most athletic nor coordinated person alive. I can't truthfully say this was shocking news.  Unlike Fergie, I'm not frequently up in the gym working on my fitness. One time I tried to do those Biggest Loser 30 Day Shred videos but I didn't have weights so I used bottles of wine...

Catholic colleges around the country are making it damn near impossible for students to stage the Vagina Monologues. Since 2003 Patrick J. Reilly, president of the group Cardinal Newman Society, has rallied thousands of CNS members to oppose the play on Catholic campuses using straight-up stalker tactics like hardcore e-mailing and letter writing. The CNS, a group dedicated to renewing Catholic traditions in Catholic colleges, sends letters urging alumni to freeze funding until the administration agrees to ban The Vagina Monologues....

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, made a shocking announcement Tuesday afternoon--they're ending their longtime partnership with Planned Parenthood. SGK's Facebook page has been flooded with reactions since then. Nancy G. Brinker, the organization's founder and ambassador, uploaded a video meant to give "straight talk" about the controversial decision.  The choice to siphon most future grant money away from Planned Parenthood and into other organizations is allegedly due to "new granting strategies." However, many...

If you’re in the Northeast this weekend, you should really check out Ladyfest, a 3-day art and music festival featuring workshops, vendors, readings and discussions by feminist organizations and punk legends (Alice Bag!), and over 20 bands. Ladyfest goes down Feb. 3-5 at the YMCA in Cambridge, MA, organized by volunteers with the goal of creating a safe, empowering space for women in the arts.  The very first Ladyfest took place in Olympia, WA in 2000, and included performances by Sleater-Kinney, Bratmobile, and The Gossip; since...

Leave it to The Gray Lady to publish a story about a very current case involving New York cheerleaders that uses archaic, offensive, and misogynistic language.  The cheerleaders' woes began some three months ago when a group of girls from a high school outside Buffalo, NY, began to exhibit uncontrollable tics. Last week it was widely reported that the cause was "conversion disorder." The Today Show also flashed around the words "mass hysteria," but the doctor and even the anchors who described the very real symptoms...

In recent years, several brands have made a name for themselves by making bras for women of every shape and size, celebrating each customer's individuality. But what about color? What's Your Nude is a new campaign set to launch February 1st that hopes to send a message to bra manufacturers and retailers. Tara Raines, the psychologist who started the movement, is fed up with the lack of diversity offered to women of color in the lingerie department at major stores across the country and is...

  Apparently no one really knows why women seem to have a harder time getting into the mathematical and scientific fields-- but University of Missouri researcher David Geary and his University of Leeds colleague Gijsbert Stoet want to find out. The University of Missouri reports that they're trying to get to understand the gender gap-- and correct it for the future.In 1999, a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology stated that women did poorly in math because of their belief in the stereotype that they were...

If you've ever looked for a job on Craigslist or scanned the bulletin boards on your college campus, you’ve come across ads promising thousands of dollars for your tall, intelligent Jewish/Asian/Russian/etc. eggs. Have you ever wondered what happens to the young women who answer these ads? Are you one of the women who wanted to answer an ad but didn’t go through with the job? You might want to see Eggsploitation, a new documentary by Jennifer Lahl and The Center for Bioethics and Culture bent...

  Interesting news from the North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill--a study being published in the February issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Dr. David Grimes and his team of researchers show that between the years 1998 and 2005, the risk of death associated with live births (full-term pregnancies) was significantly higher than those of documented legal abortions. Though the risk of death is low for both procedures, live births had a rate of 8.8 deaths per 100,000 women while legal abortions averaged at...

Flavorwire recently ran a piece on “10 Legendary Bad Boys of Literature,” and, as game as I am for any discussion of Lord Byron’s poetry/incestuous affairs/commitment to culturally-appropriated fashion, I couldn’t help but agree with one commenter that the “bad girls” of literature deserved their due-- and are, in fact, even more compelling than their male counterparts.  Luckily, Flavorwire editor Judy Berman responded to the call, and compiled a list of ladies who broke rules and wrote game-changing, enduring literature. And, no offense to Flavorwire’s...