The French Revolution, the Declaration, and Olympe de Gouges’s Rights of Woman By Emily Sosolik   Homme, es-tu capable d’être juste ? C’est une femme qui t’en fait la question ; tu ne lui ôteras pas moins ce droit. Dis-moi ? Qui t’a donné le souverain empire d’opprimer mon sexe ? Ta force ? Tes […]

By Emily Tobey   Ever since the word feminism first appeared in public discourse in the late 1800’s, it has stimulated debate and disagreement about its meaning and purpose. The basic definition of feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality with men. The fundamental tenor of […]

After having read countless authors who cite Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and having intuitively come to many Jane Jacobs-esque conclusions on my own over the years, I finally decided it was time to read the original work. Many of the conclusions Jacobs comes to resonate with my personal experience. Critiquing the notion […]

After the poet dies, people like to argue about the relevance of their work. Was it innovative? Did it do something new for form, for formality, for fluency. Does it deserve to be reread in schools or university seminars? Sometimes this discussion is valid. Sometimes the poetry in question is perhaps only marginally relevant. Other times the […]

Hillary Clinton has officially announced her candidacy in the 2016 Presidential election. In her announcement video (above), Clinton claims that “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top (1:41-4).” It is hard to argue with her, given that she is the wife of a former President. Insofar as U.S. voters are […]

This post juxtaposes brief notes with reproductions of five women-focused works at Chicago’s Art Institute. Readers are invited to make whatever connections they will and draw whatever conclusions they might between the art works, which seem to me unified only in their focus on women, in the genius of their making (by men, by the way), and […]

It’s popular for leftists this time of year to point out the (debatable) fact that International Women’s Day was originally known as International Working Women’s Day. I’m all for intersectional studies, and believe that the world would benefit from examining a different intersection of oppression every day. Insofar as there is going to be a Labor Day, […]

Today I stumbled upon these photos from a 1946 yearbook uploaded to Imgur. The captions speak for themselves, with descriptions like: Vera Brumfield: Our pretty little “fat” girl–nice as they come. Doesn’t really need reducing. Mildred Howerton: Here comes the Navy. She’s got the ring but Mildred, remember, a sailor’s got a gal in every […]

The holiday season ended with my brother, who went to high school with Azealia Banks, showing me her 212 video, which is amazing, but which was inevitably followed by my first Iggy Azalea video, which was less so. Iggy Azalea’s behavior, for anybody who’s watched or listened to Fancy, is obviously problematic. Nevertheless, it’s important to discern between what we […]

Sixties icon Marianne Faithfull, who now lives in Paris, did a great concert in Rouen a few weeks ago. I was intrigued by ‘Mother Wolf’, one of the songs she sang from her new album, Give My Love to London. Mother Wolf, a character taken from Kipling’s Jungle Book, is of harboring a cub that […]

            For a little seasonal fun this week, I offer you 7 Classic Christmas Songs Greatly Improved by Reversing the Gender Roles from Stylite.com. I appreciate the choice of words for the title, as they are indeed “greatly improved,” but admittedly still playing heavily into gender stereotypes. Don’t bypass the commentary above […]