by Erin DeJesus In our Apr/May "Men We Love" issue, we saluted five men who have joined the front lines in the fight for women's rights. Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times Op-ed columnist and author — along with his wife Sheryl WuDunn — of the fantastic book Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide —  made our list for his efforts to make empowering women front-page news. We have the rest of our interview with him here: You mentioned in the Times...

This past Saturday, a group of women and men protested double-standards—by going topless. Maine is one of only a handful of states that allows women to go topless in public. The group marched down the streets of Portland without incident, though there were many onlookers—some with cameras—who merely gawked. According to an article in the Portland Press Herald: "[Ty] MacDowell [the organizer of the march] said she was surprised by the turnout of those interested less in challenging societal convention than in seeing partially undressed women. 'I'm...

A happy ending after all: Constance McMillen, the high school senior whose high school canceled the prom after she requested that she be able to wear a tux and bring her girlfriend, got to go to prom this past Friday. The makeshift prom had been organized by community members and parents of the students in the school and, because it was affiliated with the school (and the courts had ruled that their "rule" of no same-sex couples was discrimination), Constance and her girlfriend were invited,...

It is now a radical act to stay at home, so writes Shannon Hayes in her new book, "Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture."  While many women are increasingly engaging in careers and distancing themselves from the titles of "homemakers," Hayes argues that homemaking does not have to be a four-letter-word, and that, in fact, it is a powerful political and ecological act. Hayes discusses homemaking through a modern lense- one that has been reworked through the feats of feminism and through a larger...

The Chicago Reader's Jessica Hopper reported yesterday that on the revived Lilith Fair's Facebook page, fans are encouraged to choose a women's charity in their hometown to receive $1 for every ticket sold to the Lilith concert in that city. Cool right? But the truth about what organizations are in the running for this grant is not so cool. According to Hopper: "Minneapolis and Indianapolis fans are given the option of supporting Metro Women's Center and Indianapolis Life Center, respectively—institutions whose approach to women's reproductive...

Nicholas Kristof is normally my man but I'm not a huge fan of his latest column "The Boys Have Fallen Behind." In it he's talking about how boys are falling behind girls in public school and colleges are having to do affirmative action for boys to keep gender ratios from getting too skewed.  Boys are acting out, boys can't read, boys are bored, there's too much girl power, boys aren't going to college, OMGZ THE GIRLS ARE TAKING OVER! While there's no denying that Kristof is a...

In a time when hot topics of women and health care revolve around setbacks like the Stupak Amendment, it's refreshing to read an article from the New York Times titled, "Health Law Cuts the Cost of Being a Woman," about a new health care law that protects women from discrimination from the health care industry. In the past, no laws were in place protecting women from sex-based health insurance discrimination.  Women who had individualized policies were generally charged more than men, based on the theory that...

The disappearance of women’s studies programs from college campuses across the U.S. is a trend that matches the women’s movement itself. As author Susan Faludi pointed out last weekend in New York, it's an ebb and flow that often appears fatal. Faludi described a pattern that has been marked by conflict since the smoking and drinking flappers of the 1920s denounced the "humorless prudes" who were their suffragette elders. The current craze of women who don’t want to be called feminists clearly follows the pattern. But...

I'm a pretty much a textbook third-wave, sex-positive feminist.  I wear make-up and mini-skirts (no high heels though, I can barely balance in my Converse.)  Occasionally for parties, I'll dress up in sexy costumes (sexy Hester Prynne is my masterpiece.)  I even straighten my hair sometimes.   And I don't see anything wrong with that. Now, I recognize that by doing these things, I'm engaging in practices sold to me by a capitalist patriarchal society (say that five times fast).  These industries get off on telling...

The Guardian posts an interesting statement this morning: Iceland may be the most feminist country in the world. This accolade comes on the heels of a new law in Iceland banning strip clubs, topless bars, and the like—it would ban any business from profiting from the nudity of its employees. Iceland is a tiny country with a population of roughly 320,000—smaller than any US State—and, while it stands to reason that they may not have that many strip clubs to begin with, the number has...