Cats have stereotypically been associated with women, particularly spinsters and lesbians, enforced by the myth of the “crazy old cat lady.”  This is actually an old-fashioned stereotype and has roots in the suffragette movement. Surprisingly, cats were used as symbols in anti-suffragette postcards to rally public opinion against the women's vote. The card's purpose was to portray suffragettes as “silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement, ” per Jezebel. Check out these postcards below.     During the suffragette movement, cats were featured in anti-suffrage cartoons and...

Donald Trump gained notoriety for falsely claiming that President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was not a U.S. citizen and was lying about his birthplace. This statement was the genesis of the “birtherism” movement where people suspected Obama was lying about his nationality and demanded to see his birth certificate. Many people falsely claimed that Barack Obama was a Muslim. And despite there being nothing wrong with being a Muslim, it was a bald-faced lie, a movement rooted in racism and xenophobia. Even...

In the UK, Tampax recently released a new television ad campaign which shows viewers how to properly insert a tampon. This ad campaign, dubbed “Tampons and Tea,” was launched after Tampax did research and came to the conclusion that 42 percent of tampon users were not inserting it correctly. The number jumps higher to 58 percent in the age bracket of 18- to 24-year-olds. The ad features a fictional daytime show where the host asks the question, “How many of you ever feel your tampon?” After...

Today marks Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, signifying the number of days that a Black woman has to work to earn what white men earned in 2019. That is to say, it takes Black women 226 days to catch up to their white male coworkers’ earnings.  Why so long? To this day, Black women continue to make 62 cents to every dollar that a white man earns. This is a pay disparity that has not tapered for the last 25 years.  It’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day...

Last night, there was a TikTok posted by Jimi Ono, also known as Melissa Lingafelt, where she accused Drake Bell of verbal and physical abuse during their relationship, which lasted over two years. Bell is best known for his role on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh. @jimiono This is my truth. I hope this message reaches young girls, and that no one has to go through what I did. ##2020survivor ♬ original sound - jimiono In the TikTok, Ono claimed that she started dating Bell when she 16,...

“We should vote for women because they’re women,” former U.S. representative Katie Hill said in an article for Bustle. Although I understand the sentiment behind her statement, I don’t necessarily agree. Women have been fighting for seats in politics forever. In 2018, the largest class of women came into Congress at 127, but they still only make up 23.7% of the Congress population. So, there is definitely more work to do.  But, as much as we would all like to have more representation in the places that...

Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running candidate for Vice President yesterday via email and twitter. Kamala Harris is the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated for national office by a major party, and only the fourth woman in history to be chosen for one of their presidential tickets according to The New York Times. Even all-adored Bernie Sanders is endorsing Kamala Harris new running candiancy.   I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris —...

If you’ve heard of catfishing and Blackfishing, get ready for another wild phenomenon: wokefishing. Apparently, wokefishing is what happens when men on dating apps pretend that they’re “woke” in order to entice potential partners. The term was coined by Serena Smith in a Vice article about people who had been with their partners until finding out they held problematic beliefs...to say the very least.  Smith writes “A wokefish may at first present themselves as a protest-attending, sex-positive, anti-racist, intersectional feminist who drinks ethically sourced oat milk...

In many parts of India, menstruation is often associated with dirtiness, making it a taboo subject. The origin of this taboo can be traced back to The Vedas, or ancient Hindu scriptures, which associates menstruation with the myth of Indra’s slaying of Vritras. In the text, menstrual flow is a manifestation of Indra’s guilt for the murder and appears every month for women because they have taken the guilt upon themselves. This core myth, along with other cultural factors, has contributed to the country’s modern...

Studies have shown that women are one third as likely to ride a bicycle than men. Globally, men are 6.7% more likely than women to commute to work via bicycle. There are many reasons as to why this gender gap exists, but one theory is that (at least in the U.S.) women are less willing to ride in traffic. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, decreased traffic has left streets unclogged and more friendly to cyclists, leading to an influx of women taking their wheels...