Articles
The Women History Left Outside the FramePeriod dramas often promise access to lives that official history has neglected. Yet when the subject is queer women, the past is frequently made palatable by…
Why the Cool Aunt Trope Lets Characters Skip the Hard Part of MotherhoodFor decades, television writers have relied on the cool aunt figure to deliver childlike wonder and boundary-free fun without the slog of bedtime routines and…
When fury became a filter: How female rage lost its teethSomewhere between the second wave and the algorithm, women were told to be angry on cue. The instruction came through glossy editorials, through indie films…
Rewriting the rules: female choreographers in music videosPop music videos are saturated with motion, yet the names of the people crafting that movement rarely appear in the credits audiences read. While…
The Sexy Lamp Test Is No Longer Enough for TV WritersThe Sexy Lamp Test, coined by comic writer Kelly Sue DeConnick more than a decade ago, was a quick gut-check for storytellers. Could a female character be…
What the Hysterical Woman Trope Does to Female ComediansFemale comedians are often expected to be warm, likeable and slightly self-deprecating, even when their male colleagues can be abrasive, sexual or openly…
How the Lean In Era Gave Way to Quiet Quitting for WomenFor years, professional women were told that workplace equality was a personal branding exercise. Speak up in meetings, negotiate harder, find a sponsor, build…
Why Courts Still Fail Survivors Who Kill Their AbusersWhen a woman kills the person abusing her, public discussion often turns on a deceptively simple question: why did she not leave? In court, that question can…
The Gendered Labor of Being the Designated SurvivorIn many friend groups, one person becomes the emergency contact, itinerary keeper, emotional first responder and quiet fixer. They know who has allergies, who…
What Main Character Energy Gets Wrong About Oppression“Main character energy” began as a playful way to describe confidence, self-possession and the feeling that your life deserves attention. Online, the phrase…