You’ve been hearing plenty about Hurricane Isaac this summer, but did you ever wonder why Isaac is called Isaac, and not Isa or Ingrid?   Until 1979, hurricanes were always named after women. The system started during WWII, when U.S. Air Force and Navy meteorologists needed a way to identify hurricanes while analyzing weather maps. Many of those meteorologists – male, of course - began naming the hurricanes after their ... Read More

  There was a breach in security at the Republican National Convention in Tampa last Wednesday, but the gatecrashers in question weren't there to get violent. The perpetrators were 21-year-old Laura Mills, a recent college graduate from Illinois' Knox College, and retired colonel Ann Wright. The two feminists are members of the women’s anti-war group, CodePink, and caused a scene to interrupt the speech of Vice President ... Read More

  Jaws dropped across the world after Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's “legitimate” rape comment was made public. The outrage was palpable, and among those speaking out is Tony Award winning playwright, performer, and activist Eve Ensler.   She addressed an open letter to Akin through The Huffington Post in which she wrote, “You used the expression ‘legitimate’ rape as if to imply there ... Read More

    Expendables 2 grabbed the top spot at last weekend’s box office, grossing $28.6 million, according to the Washington Post. Makes sense – folks love watching good triumph over evil in gory bloodbaths. But if you’re tired of all-dude action movies in which an entirely male cast, most of who are well past their fighting prime, blow people to bits in an hour and a half, you’re not alone. I was wondering ... Read More

  It sure isn’t easy being a girl, but Caitlin Moran’s got some pointers in her book, How To Be A Woman. In this part-memoir, part-rant, the TV critic and columnist for The Times in London takes us on a journey from puberty to motherhood. With each chapter title, she exclaims like a little kid, “I start to bleed!” “I get furry!” But don’t be fooled, this book is about more than periods and pubic hair. Yes, Moran does her ... Read More