Content warning: This article contains personal accounts and descriptions of sexual violence and its effects. Recently, there's been an explosion of articles about rape in videogames, both the depiction of the act and how the word gets used in slang. This one's going to be different. You're not…

If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock…

I raised my hand. Professor Wiman nodded at me. “I can’t stand female poets,” I said loudly, “because they constantly write about women’s issues instead of normal things.” My words hung heavy in the air. Wiman blinked and moved on, and I slowly realized I’d said something strange. Worse, though, was…

If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock…

Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. You still love him. But you don’t want to be around him. This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the…

The 112th Congress is a no good, very bad, terrible Congress. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg) This week, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On its own, such a vote would be unremarkable. Republicans control the House, they oppose President Obama’s health reform law, and…

This blog post by @isaacinspace elucidates why I have no more beef with Westboro than with any other Christians: http://t.co/sFQB9x0q

Janet Stemwedel | Women & Science | June 2012 I have always known that I loved science, that delicious alliance of imagination and methodical testing that could help you figure out something about how a piece of the world worked. However, being born at the tail-end of the 1960s, I grew up in a…

In 2004, Carolina Izquierdo, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, spent several months with the Matsigenka, a tribe of about twelve thousand people who live in the Peruvian Amazon. The Matsigenka hunt for monkeys and parrots, grow yucca and bananas, and build houses that…

Might as well quit now, kid. Your classmate is already doing Advanced Calculus. Dear Baby Boomers and Generation X, Believe us, we bloody well know. Earlier this month, Wellesley high school teacher David McCullough, Jr., delivered what was perhaps the world’s first commencement dirge to a crowd of…

If you read 1 political article this month, read this: Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics http://t.co/BBlLaIpo

About a week ago, I wrote a post on Penny Arcade vs. Rape Culture, which sent my blog traffic skyrocketing after it was linked on Reddit. However, both in comments on the post itself and elsewhere on Reddit, quite a few people seemed to be missing the point: or, more specifically, misunderstanding…

Here at the Sexist, one of the most persistent rape myths offered up to excuse sexual assault is the idea that rape is just one big misunderstanding. Under this theory, rape isn't a conscious assault against a person who hasn't consented to sex; it's the result of an honest miscommunication that…

I’ve been thinking of a way to explain to straight white men how life works for them, without invoking the dreaded word “privilege,” to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon. It’s not that the word “privilege” is incorrect, it’s that it’s not their word. When confronted…

It is written: If you want to fight a battle on the internet—like, say, "sexism is bad"—no matter how many times that battle has been fought before, you're going to have to spend a few million preliminary hours bashing your head against faux-incredulous gaslighting morons. "How can I be sexist when…

By Michele Catalano, May 31, 2012 Back in the early 80s, I joined a baseball fantasy league. It was called a Rotisserie League back then, before the internet and before everyone and their uncle paid big bucks to enter fantasy drafts sponsored by beer companies. I was the only girl in the league,…

I like to compare those using Black Bloc tactics at a nonviolent protest to taking a six-year-old kid to the symphony. You'll likely find yourself constantly apologizing to those sitting in your row when the child makes fart jokes every time he hears the tympani. No matter what you do, how nice you…

Lindsey Bieda The Elephant in the Computer Lab The lack of women in the computing fields is something that is surprisingly controversial. I've dug through countless websites and threads following the discussion of this issue and found many arguments, shockingly, against treating this as a problem…

I’ve tried consulting a couple times. The most recent of those, I tried it with a partner. He didn’t know much about web development. I had to teach him a lot. He got significantly better, but he was still what I’d consider junior. At some point after we gave up on consulting, he was applying for a…

“You know spies, they’re a bunch of bitchy little girls.” – “Burn Notice” Dear daughter- You should know that you are hated. I’m not sure why they hate you. You didn’t do anything to them. You don your princess crown, take up your sword, and pretend at Pokemon. You read your books and you learn how…

To extreme social conservatives of the far right, the word “prude” is not an insult — it’s a badge of honor. “Prudes,” they would argue, should be upheld as exemplary role models because a sexually repressive society is also a society with fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer sexually transmitted…

I went to an UnConference for the Seattle Tech Community today, thinking that I was going to give a talk about the creeping sexism in the tech world that has come to be called brogramming. As luck would have it, someone else wanted to talk about the same thing, so we wound up joining forces and…

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - Columnist and gay-rights advocate Dan Savage is standing by his comment that “we can learn to ignore the bulls**t in the Bible about gay people” at a recent conference for high school students, a line that prompted some to walk out and spurred intense…

In 1884, in the Berlin Conference, the Europeans decided to set off for Africa. Which in the mid 1800's was considered a land ripe for violation - they, of course, used the terms trade, exploration and settlement. In arrogant rhetoric, the Europeans considered Africa a "disputed territory".This…

This week the Georgia State Legislature debated a bill in the House that would make it necessary for some women to carry stillborn or dying fetuses until they "naturally" go into labor. In arguing for this bill Representative Terry England described his empathy for pregnant cows and pigs in the same…

That’s why Republican state Senator Steve King wants Colorado to set a legal limit for marijuana intoxication, somewhat similar to the 0.08 percent blood alcohol limit states put on driving under the influence of alcohol. And in California, Democratic Assemblywoman Norma Torres wants to set a…

This interview with Phil Libin, chief executive of Evernote, a provider of note-taking and archiving technology, based in Mountain View, Calif., was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Q. Do you remember the first time you were somebody’s boss? A. I’m a programmer by training. I just worked as…

Categories: Trade, Government 11:23 am April 2, 2012 Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz inaugurates the Al-Qatif new oil production plant, 300 kms east of Riyadh, with a capacity of 800,000 barrels per day. Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz inaugurates the Al-Qatif new oil…

In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass…

May 29, 2009 by Nathan J. Winograd If you can’t shoot the message, shoot the messenger. PETA wants to discredit me. To PETA, I am a threat. Why? Because I eat meat? No, that can’t be it. I’m an ethical vegan of 20 years living with a vegan wife, two vegan kids, and vegan dogs. I even have a vegan…

His first memory is an execution. He walked with his mother to a wheat field, where guards had rounded up several thousand prisoners. The boy crawled between legs to the front row, where he saw guards tying a man to a wooden pole. Shin In Geun was four years old, too young to understand the speech…

Having sex is pretty good fun, isn’t it? I enjoy it. I dare say you enjoy it. But, tell me, is it really appropriate for me to associate your products with having an erect penis? You see, being a heterosexual male, I’m biologically predisposed to be sexually stimulated by images and videos of women…

View Photo Gallery: Meet the Route 29 Batman. Police pulled a man over on Route 29 in Silver Spring last week because of a problem with his plates. This would not ordinarily make international news, but the car was a black Lamborghini, the license plate was the Batman symbol, and the driver was…

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is a phenominal portrait of a man who was a virtuoso in a very peculiar talent: control. Steve was able to control others and bend them to his will. He had perfected the zen stare where he would do such intense eye contact without blinking that others felt…

This piece was originally published on AlterNet. "Sure, you deny God now. But when you're looking death in the face -- when you're sick or in an accident or staring down the barrel of a gun -- you'll change your mind. You'll beg for God then. There are no atheists in foxholes." This is one of the…

Kirk Cameron, former child star and current subscriber to an apparently particularly uneducated brand of evangelical Christianity, is shocked and appalled that when he makes public statements on a nationally-televised talk show about homosexuality (and thus, the people who are homosexual) being…

This week the Georgia State legislature debated a bill in the House, that would make it necessary for a woman to carry a stillborn baby until she 'naturally' goes into labor just as, according to Representative Terry England, pregnant cows and pigs do. I have a question for Terry Edwards, Sam…

« The Littlest Intern 21 March 2012 Recently, I was asked why a woman that loves coding would ever leave the field. It's true: at one point in my life, I decided that coding would be something I'd do only in private. I was only slowly pulled back into the fold. Let me tell you, I love coding. Been…

March 23rd, 2012 § Several times in the last several weeks, I’ve found myself involved in an internet dust-up on twitter about “women in tech”. This is the politically correct term. But what it’s really about is the rampant misogyny and sexism in the tech industry. The most recent kerfuffle involved…

There’s been a load of drama about the Boston API Jam. See Hacker News and The Guardian for more. Let’s remember what Boston API Jam’s advertising said. As one of the features of the event, they listed… Women: Need another beer? Let one of our friendly (female) event staff get that for you. When…