Mika in Real Life: A Novel By Emiko Jean (William Morrow) At 35, Mika Suzuki is nowhere near where her younger self had hoped she would be. Single, recently fired, living with her best friend slash possible hoarder, and an ongoing disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents, Mika can’t seem to put out one fire before another begins. When Penny, the daughter she placed for adoption 16 years ago, reaches out, Mika believes that the only path forward is a semi-fictionalized one, giving the facade of her life a… Read more

In the high-stakes world of information security, social engineers—hackers who use deception to manipulate their targets into divulging confidential info—are both a constant threat and a secret weapon. So why are women so much better at this job than men? Alethe Denis always wanted to be a spy. She first experienced the thrill of changing identities as a teen when she divided her time between South Africa and California, bouncing between different cultures, learning how to fit into a variety of situations. While she… Read more

The Royal Treatment Plant Kween Christopher Griffin shares their best tips for growth—Your Greenery's, and Your Own No one exalts in the joys of plant parenthood like Christopher Griffin aka @plantkween. “When I water my green gurls, I make it a party! I blast music, I put on a fun outfit, I pour myself a lil’ cocktail,” they say. “It’s a whole entire mood.” And it’s infectious. They may have nearly 200 houseplants now, but a single Marble Queen Pothos, and the legacy of their garden-loving grandma, set this green… Read more

In a post-Roe v. Wade world, people who may need abortions are wondering what access will look like in their own lives going forward. For many, this consideration includes factors related to their personal finances and the attitudes of their employers towards proper healthcare. Corporations like Wells Fargo and Dick’s Sporting Goods have made a pledge to their employees to make it financially possible for anyone on their company health insurance, including dependents of the employee, to travel out of state to obtain an… Read more

Artist Katy Horan (@goodyhoran) made the comic, Bodies, the day after the SCOTUS draft was leaked. "I had to get to the root of why it felt so violent and cruel," she explains. "As the owner of a uterus and a sexual assault survivor, these words and images communicate how I have felt about living in this world with a female body since I was a teenager. Moving forward, I want to make comics telling real-life stories of those who have chosen abortion. The anti-choice movement uses grossly oversimplified narratives to… Read more

SUN’S SIGNATURE Self-titled (Partisan Records) The latest release from dream-pop and trip-hop legends Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) and Damon Reece (Lupine Howl, Massive Attack) may have been years in the making, but it was worth the wait. Partners in both life and music, the duo meticulously crafted and collaborated on every intricate arrangement of this five-track EP. Some of the songs (“Golden Air,” “Make Lovely the Day”) materialized when Fraser did a rare live performance in 2012, while traces of others… Read more

“Dad does so much for the family! This Father’s Day, give him what he really needs. Not a home brewing kit, not socks; give him safe and legal access to abortion.” Abortion Access Front’s recent video opens with a family celebrating Father’s Day, opening gifts and celebrating dad. As soon as the voiceover chimes in with this, the scene comes to a screeching halt. Comedian and father of two, W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby, United Shades of America) enters the scene, bringing snark and tongue-in-cheek humor… Read more

Kasia Szarek CASTING DIRECTOR, ACTOR, AND INFLUENCER, @KASIA LOS ANGELES, CA Tell me everything about this look. I’ll keep pieces in my closet for a while and give them new life. This rainbow ombré swimsuit is one of them. I wish I could say where it’s from, but it’s a resurrected piece! I am a huge fan of frilly socks with shoes; they can pull together an outfit and add so much flair. The shoes are from Sugar Thrillz. I am obsessed with all sorts of fluffy heels—almost all of my shoes have fluff in some way. The hair… Read more

Netta Barzilai, better known by her one-word rockstar moniker Netta, is an Israeli pop singer, songwriter, and looping artist who rocketed to international fame in 2018 when she won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Toy." Since then, she has released two albums, “Goody Bag” and “The Best of Netta’s Office Volume One.” And her new single “I Love My Nails” has been racking up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube since the official video debuted May 12. She has a very busy Summer coming up here in the U.S.… Read more

Midsummer marks the beginning of a new season. It occurs from June 19-25 (Midsummer’s Eve occurs this weekend), at the beginning of the summer solstice. This occurs when the sun is at its most vibrant and highest potency, making it a celebration of life and love. Being that these days are the longest and fullest of the year, it’s a wonderful time to soak up the sun and breathe in life. You can charge your crystals and tarot cards under the sun to give them a boost of energy, as well as meditate outside to connect with… Read more

Today, June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned their decision on Roe v Wade, which means that Americans have lost their Constitutional right to safe abortions, and 26 states are either definitely or likely to ban on abortion. But even before this decision came down, states that oppose abortion had made the process of going to a clinic as miserable and tedious as possible. Six states require an ultrasound before receiving an abortion, a glaringly obvious attempt to guilt patients into changing their… Read more

Today, June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned their decision on Roe v Wade, which means that Americans have lost their Constitutional right to safe abortions, and 26 states are either definitely or likely to ban on abortion. Today and tomorrow join countless citizens as they protest the government’s decision. Atlanta 5:00 pm CNN Marietta @ Centennial Olympic Park Drive 6:30 pm East steps of the Capital, 227 Capital Ave SW Austin 5:00 pm US Courthouse Plaza 501 West 5th Boston 5:00 pm Park Street T… Read more

Lately, one of the most essential pieces of infrastructure in New York City—the subway system— has become less and less appealing to riders. That isn’t surprising, given how discouraging the numbers appear. NYC reported 34 transit crimes last week. At this time in 2021, 695 transit crimes had been reported since the start of the year—-this year, in the same time span, that number is up to 1072. Then there are the stories in the news cycle, which detail constant, often senseless violence against people just trying to… Read more

L.A.-based novelist Ottessa Moshfegh made a grand entrance into the literary world in 2015 when her debut, Eileen, won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her avid readership has grown exponentially since then thanks to the popularity of her subsequent books including My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Death in Her Hands, and her latest, Lapvona, out June 23. Here, Moshfegh spills the tea on how her imaginary worlds come… Read more

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Directed by Sophie Hyde Out June 17 Good Luck to You, Leo Grande leads with an intriguing premise: an Emma Thompson-led sex comedy. Thompson plays Nancy, a widowed, former religious-education teacher who has only had sex with her husband and never had an orgasm. That is, until she hires sex worker Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack). Before they can get around to getting down, however, Leo needs to find his way through Nancy’s emotional fortress. Not the raunch-fest suggested by the plot, the film… Read more

If you’ve been baffled by the holes in the shelves your favorite tampons once inhabited, rest assured, you’re not losing it. Time Magazine reported earlier this month that due to supply chain issues caused by COVID-19, the United States is facing a national shortage of tampons. The prices of materials like cotton, which tampons are made of, have skyrocketed, making the tampon production process far more strenuous. There are some tampon makers, such as U by Kotex, who claim that they’ve not been affected by supply chain… Read more

This month, Kate Bush broke into the US Top Ten for the first time in her career with the hit song “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God),” after it was centrally featured in season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things. This makes the 63-year-old Bush the oldest woman to ever appear on this chart, thereby usurping that title from Cher (who, in true Cher style, tweeted in loving support of Bush after seeing her record broken). Bravo Kate🙌🏼Records Are Meant 2 Be Broken‼️Remember Back In The Day,When Women Had SHORT SELL BY… Read more

"There is so much more to drag than what you see on television."–LA drag queen Psycadella Facade. If the scope of your drag knowledge starts and ends with RuPaul's Drag Race,, a few drag brunches, and bachelorette parties, you're doing yourself a disservice. TV shows like RuPaul's Drag Race helped bring drag from the underground to the cultural mainstream, but have also drawn criticism from queer and drag communities into what drag is, was, and could be. From Brooklyn based artist and lifelong drag performer Harry… Read more

Queen B, you sly minx, you have done it again. After creating 2016’s Lemonade, an album that many consider a masterpiece and left many wondering, “where does music go from here?” Since the release of Lemonade, Beyonce has come out with Homecoming: The Live Album to accompany her Netflix documentary of the same name and voiced Adult Nala in the remake 2019 retelling of The Lion King, which she compiled and was featured on the accompanying soundtrack of, The Lion King: The Gift. In 2018, Bey and her husband, Jay-Z,… Read more

Murray Hill is busy. When we speak in March, he’s got three different TV shows streaming on three different networks, he’s writing a memoir, and he’s working on a pitch for his own Murray-led detective show. Even his recent well-deserved Miami vacation turned chaotic when the mayor enacted a curfew following two shootings in one weekend. “As much as it’s nuts, I didn’t realize it was spring break,” he explains from the safety of his home in New York City. “Why are there cops on horses and children with coolers and… Read more

How to choose the right SPF for your skin Sun care is a year-round skin essential, but summer’s ultra-strong rays and ample outdoors time calls for a full-body overhaul of your sunscreen game plan. First things first: There’s no one-SPF-fits-all option. “Sunscreen use is such a personal preference,” says Dr. Sheila Farhang, MD, a Tuscon-based dermatologist and skin cancer surgeon. A key differentiating factor is whether to opt for a physical (aka mineral-based) versus chemical sunscreen. “Physical sunscreens formulated… Read more

How old were you when you realized that your health teacher’s mumbled, 10-minute tangent about how you should always use a condom or else you’ll die instantly was not an exhaustive and inclusive sex education? Was it when you had queer sex for the first time and realized you weren’t quite sure about any of the details? Maybe it was when you heard from a friend-of-a-friend that sex was supposed to feel good, even for people with vaginas? It could’ve been when your friend tested positive for HIV because they weren’t… Read more

This Sunday, Jennifer Hudson achieved one of the greatest honors in the entertainment industry: she became an EGOT winner. Hudson has previously received an Emmy as a producer of Baba Yaga, two Grammys; one for her self-titled album, another for her work on The Color Purple, an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress following her appearance in Dreamgirls, and, most recently, a Tony after producing the Best Musical winner A Strange Loop. This made Hudson the seventeenth entertainer in history to hit this admirable quadfecta,… Read more

The record-breaking debut of the fourth season of Strangers Things racked up millions of views and nationwide applause. Like most fans of the show, I was excited to see what Season 4 had in store after more than 2 years since the release of the third season. I anticipated a groundbreaking performance by Millie Bobbi Brown that would pave the way for more young and powerful protagonists like Eleven. What I didn’t expect was the opening of a massacre that mirrored the tragedy that killed 19 children and 2 teachers in… Read more

Tank and the Bangas say their third studio album is “coming straight for your heart and your neck.” Like the New Orleans-based group themselves, Red Balloon brazenly blossoms into a rambunctious, free-flowing celebration that dives soul first into a heady nu-funk groove. Conceptually tied to Green Balloon, their latest release was intended to be a companion piece to its pensive 2019 predecessor. Post touring hiatus, a joyously colorful jam fest ensued instead, and each track came together in real time. At one with… Read more

This is a big year for legendary painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, teacher, and MacArthur “genius” fellow Lynda Barry. Drawn & Quarterly is re-releasing three collections of her serialized coming-of-age strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek in 2022—Come Over Come Over (out now), My Perfect Life (June 14), and It’s So Magic (September 20). Centering on the life of tortured junior-high misfit Maybonne Mullen and her little sister Marlys, Barry’s “Comeek” was an underground sensation that was syndicated in over 70… Read more

Abbi Jacobson, best known as one of the two broads on Broad City, is co-creating a new TV series,A League of Their Own,, based on the 1990s baseball film of the same name. Amazon Prime released the trailer this week. Spoiler Alert: It’s queer and inclusive! The original film featuring Geena Davis, Madonna, and Tom Hanks was directed by Penny Marshall and took place in the 1940s when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was established in response to the World War II draft that pulled millions of… Read more

Rebel Wilson gave Disney some queer inspiration with an Instagram post yesterday that read, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess 💗🌈💗#loveislove" The photo of Wilson and her girlfriend, fashion designer Ramona Agruma, garnered over a million likes after just one day. The Australian comedian is being showered with love and support from her new queer community. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rebel Wilson (@rebelwilson) Stars like… Read more

Sometimes it takes life-altering events for an artist to reach the pinnacle of their creative identity. This is the heart of Angel Olsen's Big Time. While the singer/songwriter always had a layer of vulnerability in her work, she's exploring its depths like never before. Opener "All the Good Times" is an idyllic entry as Olsen coos with nostalgia, and she continues that emotion with "Dream Thing". Having lost her parents in tandem, she taps into that grief on "This Is How It Works", where her feelings are palpable. "Go… Read more

In her 2020 Netflix standup special 3 in the Morning, comedian Sam Jay tells a story about taking ‘shrooms and going to The British Museum. “I walked in and I was, like, ‘Holy shit!’” she says. “Because it was wing, after wing, after wing of stuff and…I was, like, ‘Wow! White people stole all this shit! Stole so much shit! That’s crazy. They stole everything in this motherfucker.’ The audacity! That’s the real word to describe white people. Not racist. Audacious.” Like any comedian worth their salt, Jay is not afraid… Read more

In 1989, Queen Latifah and Monie Love dropped “Ladies First,” a feminist anthem for Generation X. That same year, a 20-year-old Claudia Gold hit the streets with spray can in hand, becoming one of the few women writers in the male-dominated world of graffiti, under the name "Claw Money." Initially written off by the highly political graff world, Gold, a native New Yorker, went hard and earned her rightful place through innovation, dedication, and audacity. She transformed the “W” in “CLAW” into a three-taloned paw,… Read more

If you’re checking whether or not a piece of media is feminist, the Bechdel Test—coined by writer Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For—is a good place to start. It asks just three questions: are two women present in the work? If so, do those women have at least one conversation? And is that conversation about anything but a man? If the answer to all of those questions is yes, the test is passed! Though the Bechdel Test has become widely popularized, it’s imperfect. There’s simply no way any set… Read more

Although worshipping at the altar of Kate Bush is nothing new to us here at BUST, Bush gained a new fanbase this month after her song “Running Up The Hill (A Deal With God)” was featured at a pivotal moment in the new season of Stranger Things. Subsequently, the song has re-entered the public consciousness in a big way, spawning a viral TikTok trend and breaking into the Top 10 on the Official UK Singles Chart. Remarkably, this song's resurgence has put Kate in the #1 spot on the US times for the first time in her… Read more

Famed footwear designer John Fluevog has teamed up with textile maven Zandra Rhodes for an epic match a long time in the making. Both designers developed their brands in the ‘70s, and have remained iconic since. Fluevog gained major notoriety in the early '90s with his iconic Munster shoe, which featured the brand’s signature heel shape—thin at the top then flares out into a triangle shape—and a large front buckle. Munster shoes were seen on the feet of everyone from Madonna to Deee-Lite’s Lady Miss Kier. More… Read more

It’s Pride Month, which means New York City will be brimming with LGBTQ+ events and festivities for the foreseeable future. One such event is the Dyke March, an annual protest which the organizers say is open to anyone identifying as a dyke. The march celebrates dykes, while dually protesting against the discrimination targeted at dykes. It begins in Bryant Park, NYC, at 5pm on June 25th, and ends in Washington Square Park at 8PM—but the events don’t stop once the marching does. Afterparties are a hallmark of pride… Read more

Savonn Barnes-Poags remembers the vibes being off when she pulled into a truck stop one night in the middle of Arkansas. After using the restroom, she saw a man standing in front of the semi truck she drives for a living. Barnes-Poags, who is 24 and four-foot-nine, “could tell this man had ill intentions,” so she called for her husband, also a truck driver, who was sleeping in the cab of the truck. The stranger jumped back and left them alone. “You really have to check your p’s and q’s when you’re a female truck… Read more

Our columnist, Sarah Potter, provides this season's tarot readings for the signs. Gemini The Lovers Reversed (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Make better choices, Gemini. This latest bout of indecision is plaguing you as you wrestle with what to do next. This is going to take some time, so release your desire for immediate gratification and sit with your feelings a little longer. The unknown is uncomfortable, but don’t be rash or impulsive. (That’s just self-sabotage at work!) Consider your options carefully before fully committing… Read more

If you’ve been on the Internet at all in the past few weeks, you’ve probably been exposed, maybe unwillingly, to the Depp v. Heard trial. It was more intoxicating than fiction, and streaming free on YouTube! Despite what the fancams and the conspiracies will have you believe, this wasn’t the story of a hero conquering his tormentor; it was a trial about a woman who spoke out about domestic abuse, and the vilification she received as a result. The trial’s outcome is sure to have cultural reverberations for years to… Read more

Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s Neptune Frost is a gorgeous, Afrofuturist musical that tells a story of love, loss, and anti-capitalism. With a script by Williams, an actor/poet/playwright whose work defies easy categorization, Neptune Frost is a cultural experience that is open for interpretation while still conveying a specific message about surpassing the boundaries. Uzeyman, a Rwandan actor/playwright/director and the film’s cinematographer, communicates beauty and pain through vibrant colors and beautiful Black… Read more

Governor Phil Bryant knew what he was doing when he signed The Gestational Age Act into law. “We’ll probably be sued here in about a half hour, and that’ll be fine with me. It is worth fighting over,” he proclaimed, as a flick of his pen set into motion the most significant challenge to abortion rights in 50 years. As Bryant predicted, legal action was rapid; just hours after the ink had dried, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in all of Mississippi, sued Mississippi, on the same day the… Read more

1. The Janes on HBO Max With abortion rights being whittled away state by state, The Janes is the perfect documentary to remind us of where we’ve been and why we can’t go back. A collection of archival footage and rare interviews, the film—co-directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes—features a group of heroic women who started an underground organization in Chicago in the late ‘60s to help pregnant people get safe, affordable abortions pre-Roe v. Wade. Premieres June 8 on HBO Max. 2. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Jenny… Read more

Twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Díaz make up the musical duo Ibeyi. The Afro-Cuban French musicians burst onto the scene in 2015 with their self-titled debut album, Ibeyi, a collection of tracks about love, family, and death. The second single “River” peaked at number 15 in France and received acclaim for the powerful and minimalist video concept. Appearances in Beyonce’s short film for 2016’s Lemonade, soon followed as well as a second album, Ash, in 2017. The children of acclaimed Cuban percussionist Anga Diaz,… Read more

Did you know May is national masturbation month? Yup, an entire month dedicated to touching yourself. The month came as a result of the then-Surgeon general, Joycelyn Elders, deciding that masturbation should be a part of sex education in 1994. She was fired by former president Clinton for this act. A few years ago a Somatic Educator I had hired to run a workshop, asked for volunteers to join a “Masturbation for Science” Group- a Facebook group where we committed to masturbating every day and writing about our… Read more

Interviewed by Sabrina Ford and photographed by Erik Carter, R & B artist Kehlani opens up about her infamous ink, coming out as lesbian, and how they're "just now starting to really know myself," in BUST magazine's new summer 2022 issue, on sale now. magazine's new summer 2022 issue, on sale now. On coming out as a lesbian, and finally finding true love: “I was dating a man, and then literally mid-relationship, I was like, ‘Wait, I gotta have a conversation with you, bro! I think we’re…friends.’” “I’ve done a lot of… Read more

Update: On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned their decision on Roe v Wade, which means that Americans have lost their Constitutonal right to safe abortions, and 26 states are either definitely or likely to ban on abortion. On May 2nd in a leaked memo, it was reported that the Supreme Court intends to overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States. Since then, we’ve mobilized, we’ve protested, and we’ve disseminated resources through every media… Read more

My neighbors probably hate me. This morning I opened my front door, lit some incense, and grabbed some pots and pans. One would naturally assume I would start frying an egg for breakfast, but my intentions were quite different (much to my neighbor’s demise). Once I felt ready, I began to clang the metal pots together, creating a powerful noise that vibrated in my hands. It could have been my imagination, but the air felt cleaner. Maybe my ancestors were onto something; maybe this really does cleanse the atmosphere of… Read more

BIG THIEF Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD) It’s impossible not to listen to the opening track, “Change,” off Big Thief’s latest album without getting emotional. Adrianne Lenker’s vocals (backed by Buck Meek) coat the sublimely melodic track in a soothing way during troubling times. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is a cautiously optimistic project, harnessing all of Big Thief’s superpowers in both songwriting and woozy folk-rock. Songs like “Time Escaping” and “Blurred View” challenge rock… Read more

A Love Letter to Marsha, the spontaneous statue of transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson that was erected at Christopher Park on August 24,2021, the day that would have been her 76th birthday, is getting a new home at New York’s The Center. The original monument, created by sculptor Jesse Pallotta, came about out of frustration with local government after plans to add a statue of the queer icon were halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eli Erlick, an activist involved in the project told Fox5 NYC, “The city has… Read more

What is a hot girl walk? Walking is the fitness trend that is hardly a trend, but thanks to a 22-year-old Tiktok-er by the name of Mia Lind, the oldest exercise in the world is getting a rebrand. The Los Angeles native started going on what she called "hot girl walks" in 2021 as a way to put focus back on herself, instead of things outside of her control. “The way that I was living was focused on other people, full of anxiety, a bad relationship with food and a bad relationship with myself.” The hashtag #hotgirlwalk… Read more

The sphere of mental health has witnessed monumental advancements over the past many years. What spearheaded this change was the replacement of asylums with community-based mental health services in the 1960s, that helped foster the holistic well-being of people battling mental illnesses. Moreover, in 1949, May was established as the Mental Health Awareness Month to acknowledge the existence of mental health struggles and spread awareness about how one can emerge from them. And ever since then, we have come a long way… Read more